B | Chapter 4

It’s really strange. It’s as if someone opened my skull and injected an anesthetic. Otherwise, there’s no way I could be this numb, without any tension or thoughts.

Was I shocked by the series of events that unfolded? Not really. I’ve experienced dirtier and more brutal things in my life. Did I fully understand the situation at hand? Not at all. There were countless questions and problems to solve. Yet, I wasn’t worried about anything. I was just blank.

Blankly, I was being dragged around by Jae Chaeui. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up, making me stagger as I walked. The office building, which usually echoed with voices and thumping noises from other rooms, was dead silent. No one appeared in front of us as Jae Chaeui led me out.

As soon as we stepped outside, a white sedan caught my eye.

Even to someone like me, who knows nothing about cars, it looked expensive, with a siren mounted on the driver’s side roof. The light it emitted wasn’t the usual red or blue of the police but a purple symbolizing Deschement.

Jae Chaeui yanked open the passenger door and practically shoved me into the seat. Then he slammed the door shut and moved to the driver’s side.

He drove with a stern face, not bothering with a seatbelt. I quickly scanned outside the window, wondering if a gate had appeared nearby or if a monster had shown up. But the surroundings were so calm that the flashy purple siren seemed unnecessary.

The flashing warning light was solely for pushing all the cars in front of us to the side of the road.

More than the current situation of speeding through the streets, ignoring red lights, what caught my attention was Jae Chaeui’s right hand.

While gripping the steering wheel with his left hand and driving roughly, he held my hand tightly with his right, interlocking our fingers so tightly that my fingers were numb, and my fingertips tingled.

Trying to read any emotion, I kept silent and observed his profile.

Just then, Jae Chaeui sharply turned the wheel. While his body in the driver’s seat didn’t budge, mine swung hard enough to hit my shoulder against the window. A belated sense of caution arose in my dull mind, and I quickly fastened my seatbelt.

The scenery outside changed rapidly and diligently. The buildings became more luxurious and affluent by the second, and the roads became cleaner and wider.

Soon, there were no vehicles visible on the gray road. A black mountain, swallowed by the late dawn darkness, suddenly appeared, resembling a giant lying on its belly. In the middle of the mountain was a tollgate.

Even to someone clueless like me, the tollgate raising its guard for Jae Chaeui’s white sedan seemed more for identifying passing vehicles than collecting tolls.

Without ever braking or slowing down, Jae Chaeui sped through the tollgate and into a bright tunnel.

Until we exited the tunnel, I couldn’t tell if it was long or short. The car’s speed made it hard to gauge the distance.

When the white sedan, which had been making a whooshing sound like a snort, finally stopped, a hotel came into view outside the window.

Jae Chaeui immediately jumped out of the driver’s seat and swiftly came around to yank open the passenger door. The way he grabbed and pulled my arm made my shoulder feel like it was about to dislocate.

There wasn’t much I could do.

All I could do was hurriedly unbuckle my seatbelt and be dragged along by his grip.

Meanwhile, I quickly observed the large building in front of me. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a hotel.

The reflective glass covering the large building flowed like a waterfall; it was the Deschement Center.

Following Jae Chaeui’s wide strides, I half-walked willingly, half-dragged my sneakers along. People in suits appeared in the grand entrance of the building, and a sudden sense of incongruity slapped me.

‘Why am I doing this?’

The sense of incongruity, which hadn’t come to me even while being led by a man I’d never seen before and riding in his car, was late. Struggling with all my might, I tried to plant my feet on the ground. And,

‘Don’t pull me. I’ll walk on my own.’

I opened my mouth to say that. But no voice came out. It was truly strange. My head was spinning, my heart was pounding erratically in panic, but my tongue was frozen. I couldn’t tell if it was because I was surprised, angry, or scared.

My full-strength resistance resulted in a very weak hesitation.

Still, I managed to stop.

My upper body was pulled by Jae Chaeui’s hand, and my forcibly halted legs were about to collapse onto the gray ground, but I stopped nonetheless.

Yet, my knees didn’t touch the ground.

Jae Chaeui held my arm firmly at his height, leaving my collapsed body hanging from his hand.

“Don’t come closer.”

Jae Chaeui spoke. It wasn’t directed at me but at the staff rushing toward us. Turning my head, I saw their expressions were troubled as they stood in place. I looked up at Jae Chaeui. Our eyes met.

Jae Chaeui had been watching me all along. His dark eyes felt piercingly aggressive. There was no violence or profanity, but it was so terrifying that I thought I’d rather be hit and cursed at.

I blinked slowly.

“……”

A sudden cold sweat trickled down my forehead. Jae Chaeui forcibly pulled me to my feet. Then he used my body as a shield, walking forward. My legs wobbled continuously as I staggered like a criminal.

Jae Chaeui’s height, which seemed giant-like, wasn’t the issue. Neither was his overwhelming beauty, which seemed almost inhuman. The problem was his strength.

Starting from the arm he held tightly, I was numb to my fingertips. With no blood circulation, my skin tingled, and my bones ached. The color of the back of my hand was bluish when I glanced down.

Still, Jae Chaeui’s actions didn’t seem overly coercive.

Perhaps because I was used to being handled roughly by people everywhere, or maybe I was dazzled by the comfortable car and the luxurious surroundings, or perhaps I was overwhelmed by Jae Chaeui’s very presence, my sense of caution was paralyzed.

It just… felt like I was dreaming.

I’ve lived in a Trash Village villa, reeking of monster corpses. Jae Chaeui, with his bullish attitude, was arbitrary, yet indescribably terrifying and beautiful.

His nature couldn’t be expressed with the word charisma. Calling it an aura felt inadequate.

His immense presence felt more direct and significant to me than the ground beneath my feet, the long night, or the heart pounding against my ribs.

So it was strange. It was terrifying enough to make my knees weak, yet comforting… it was strange.

The dazzling exterior of the building, the wide facade, and the high, grand interior ceiling filled my view, creating a whole new world.

As we entered the first-floor lobby, I saw many staff members. They were all standing, watching Jae Chaeui. They seemed conscious of his command, not approaching but maintaining a distance, busy murmuring into their walkie-talkies.

Amidst countless gazes and passive observation, Jae Chaeui dragged me to the elevator. Eventually, the time my sneaker soles spent sliding sideways on the floor was longer than the time they stood firm.

Once inside the elevator, which was confusingly spacious, I seemed to have briefly passed out.

I was so out of it that I had to use the vague expression ‘seemed.’ When I opened my eyes, I saw a hallway with a white carpet, and when I closed and opened them again, I saw lights emitting different colors.

Jae Chaeui led me, sometimes supporting my shoulder, sometimes carrying my half-conscious body like luggage.

He kept walking.

Finally, he placed me inside an unknown white room.

By then, the relief of not being dragged around anymore outweighed any worry about the unfamiliar space.

Only after I slumped into a chair with a thud did I have a moment to catch my breath.

Beep, beep, beep…

The noise echoed in my ears again. It was the anti-theft alarm from the car with the dented roof, the echo of that noise.

Beep, beep, beep…

I covered my ears to wipe away the ringing in my head.

As I stretched my tired legs and lowered my head, Jae Chaeui approached and stood in front of me.

Suffering from the ringing, I looked up at him. He licked his lips with the tip of his red tongue, not blinking an eye. The sight made my eyes sting and my throat dry.

Jae Chaeui’s lips moved silently. His voice was hard to hear over the ringing sliding over my ears. But I could read his lips.

‘Found you.’

At the end of his words, the corners of his mouth slowly rose. I was captivated by his smiling lips, showing his white teeth. Again, Jae Chaeui’s lips moved silently to me.

‘Song Morae.’