#178
This bastard is a psychopath with no chance of improvement. I’ll kill him right now. Finally end it all. Grinding his teeth with inner rage, he shouts once more. “Die, fuck, die!” With his hands tightening strongly, Jung Yi-dam’s neck is straight and soft, bending as if it might snap. And then he smiles.
“Hehe.”
To Lee Han-sol, that laugh feels like mockery. Yi-dam, who dragged him all the way here—a perfect stranger—simply because he wanted to die, because he didn’t want to take responsibility for his own fate that he should endure and suffer alone since he was born that way. Yi-dam, who not only plunged him into the same mud to achieve his purpose but ultimately assigned him this filthy task until the end. And now he has the audacity to giggle.
“Kuh, ugh…”
Demonic bastard. Han-sol gritted his teeth with mounting anger. He didn’t want to show this deranged, murderous side to Ki Baek-woo, but his emotions were rising rapidly. Die. Die. Just die. His mind turns hot and red. This is the same dizziness as that time. The day Yi-dam came to his old apartment. Back then, Han-sol also thought he really wanted to kill Yi-dam. His reason was so stirred by murderous intent and hatred, as if they were alive, that it was simply unbearable.
So he killed Yi-dam then too.
He rushed at him and strangled him. Just like now. Yi-dam’s face gradually turned bright red. Just like now. He kept adding more and more force with his hands. Just like right now. Die, die, die, die! As if he knew no other words, he uttered only those two words inside and out. And then…
“…Huh?”
Han-sol suddenly removed his hands from Yi-dam’s neck, as if electrocuted.
What is this? Why did I do this?
He panted heavily, unable to understand his own actions. Meanwhile, Yi-dam, whose complexion had returned, quietly looked up at him. Han-sol’s pupils, unable to hide his confusion, rolled from side to side, before briefly glancing toward Baek-woo standing in front of the gate core. Baek-woo’s black silhouette with white light shining behind him. Though he couldn’t see his expression, Han-sol could feel Baek-woo was looking at him. Han-sol brought his gaze to his own hands. His palms were flushed red and trembling.
Why?
Han-sol blinked mechanically at the inexplicable phenomenon. Hesitantly, his hands touched Yi-dam’s defenseless neck again. He applies pressure to strangle. A disgusting sensation pierced his mind like an arrow. The memory of that day, when he strangled Yi-dam’s neck. The sensation of bones twisting in his hands, the hazily dilated pupils bathed in ecstasy, and the movement of the Adam’s apple vividly felt on his palm. The texture of a living person.
“Ah…!”
The strength left his hands. His body stiffened. He couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be. His heart was beating frantically, and cold sweat ran down. It couldn’t be. Han-sol repeated only those words with his frozen mind.
It couldn’t be.
There’s no way I can’t do this one thing. I’ve already done it once. Although that bastard Yi-dam forcibly grabbed my hands, but still, I’ve done it…!
‘Why can’t I do it? This is the end…! Why…!’
He tried to put strength into his hands again. But his body wouldn’t listen. His hands gripping the neck had superficial strength applied, then dissipated, repeatedly.
“Uh…”
With his uncontrollable body, Han-sol just gaped like a fool. Uh… His brow furrowed, and a feeling like he might cry pounded his head. I can do it. I should be able to… Yi-dam is a demonic bastard. No, he’s just a demon. There’s no need to feel for him as a person, but why…
“Why…”
The chilling sensation of killing a person, which occasionally flashed through his mind even normally, was dominating his entire body. His spine stood rigid, and despite clearly being the murderer, he felt like the one being murdered.
Han-sol couldn’t kill Yi-dam. He feared that sensation. Just like his body had frozen before the destruction that had killed him.
“Continue.”
Yi-dam commanded in a half-hoarse voice. Han-sol’s bewildered, rolling eyes looked at him. When their gazes met—Han-sol’s terrified eyes stained with confusion—the composure disappeared from Yi-dam’s face.
“What are you doing.”
“That’s…”
“Continue.”
“……”
“Kill me!”
Desperation and madness began to fill Yi-dam’s black pupils. With a face distorted like a yaksha, Yi-dam grabbed Han-sol’s hands trembling in midair. He brings them to his own neck. Just like that time.
“Kill me!” Yi-dam screamed. “You said you would kill me! Kill me quickly! Kill me right now, how long do I have to keep breathing! Why! There’s no time, kill me! Kill me quickly before the others come and interfere!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Yi-dam howled like a beast. Han-sol instinctively shook his head. Let go. Let this go. Just let go for a moment, just a moment is enough, wait, you son of a bitch…! The meaningless struggle continued between Han-sol trying to pull his hands away and Yi-dam refusing to let go, trying to make Han-sol strangle him.
No, let go. Let this go. Please let go. I can’t do it, no, I can, but I need a moment, please just a moment…!
Han-sol, who had been grunting, shouted with tears welling up in his eyes.
“Let go of this, you son of a bitch!!!!!”
At that moment, the strength in Yi-dam’s persistent hands loosened. Han-sol, trembling violently, hastily backed away. And then he assessed the situation. Baek-woo, who had approached without notice, was twisting Yi-dam’s wrist.
“Baek-woo…?”
Baek-woo looked at Han-sol with a composed expression.
“I told you to give all the difficult things to me, hyung.”
He said quietly.
“I said I would take care of it somehow.”
And the next moment, Baek-woo stood over Yi-dam, planting his knee on the ground. His waist bent low. His hands strongly gripped Yi-dam’s neck.
“Kuk…!”
Yi-dam struggled, grabbing Baek-woo’s wrists, but it was useless. His viciously distorted face gradually became bloodshot. Baek-woo’s expression as he looked down at that was a cold, expressionless one. Han-sol sat down behind them, blankly watching the scene.
What is Baek-woo doing right now…? That was supposed to be what I did…
His surprised, frozen mind wasn’t working well. Han-sol thought haltingly. I was supposed to kill Yi-dam, and Baek-woo was supposed to handle the gate core… That’s what we had planned… It had to be that way. But why did it have to be that way…?
Just then, a laugh-like groan was heard: kueuk, kuk, kukkuk. It was Yi-dam. With dumb movements, Han-sol looked at Yi-dam’s face, now darkly reddened. Yi-dam was laughing as if screaming. Distorted eyes, fiercely opened mouth. He looked frightening, but he was clearly laughing.
Why is he laughing…?
As that question crossed his mind, something sticky fell and spread across Yi-dam’s venomous face. What is that? Han-sol focuses on it. He blinks.
‘Blood.’
Blood? Whose blood?
“Kuk…!”
A suppressed sound swallowing back a groan was heard. It wasn’t Yi-dam’s. Han-sol’s head slowly raised. He sees Baek-woo.
“…Baek-woo.”
He unconsciously whispered the name. “Baek-woo.” He calls once more. Something was wrong. From beneath Baek-woo’s high, sharp nose bridge, blood was dripping.
“Baek-woo…!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
