The battle had ended not long after Seo Junho lost consciousness.
The monster collapsed with a thunderous crash. It was Esper Shim Tae-seong who, using nothing but sheer physical strength, crushed the monster’s head and sent the signal confirming the battle’s end. The backup team, which had been waiting at a safe distance, rushed in all at once.
“Chairman, your arm—should we treat you…?”
“I’m fine.”
Shim Tae-seong raised his hand, stopping them in their tracks. Concerned gazes fixated on one of his forearms, where the skin looked as if it had melted. But rather than worry, the atmosphere was filled more with awe—despite how brutal the close-quarters fight had been, that injury was the only visible trace of the monster’s blood on him. There wasn’t a single other wound on his body.
Shim Tae-seong spoke calmly.
“I can detoxify myself. Focus on locating survivors.”
Emergency treatment was for civilians barely clinging to life, not for someone like him. Though the spreading poison couldn’t be fully blocked, he scanned his surroundings. The dead clearly outnumbered the living. Most had either been crushed beneath collapsed buildings or killed by violent impact. The blood sprayed from the monster had caused its own share of devastation.
A flicker of regret crossed his mind—he should have exercised more caution. If he’d done things his usual way and lured the monster to a deserted location for the fight, the casualty count wouldn’t be nearly this high.
But… the greatest threat to the battle’s outcome wasn’t logistics, it was his own ability. Right now, his power was like a noose tightly coiled around his brain; using it would be the same as yanking that rope with all his might. He had to be careful—not for his safety, but to avoid shattering the last of his reason and sanity.
“There’s a survivor here!”
There’s a survivor here…
The voices of the rescue team, immersed in their work, echoed distantly in his ears. Shim Tae-seong’s expression stiffened. His mind fogged over, as if swallowed by mist.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d slept. With his damaged power pushed to its limits, his heightened senses picked up on everything too intensely, long past their threshold. His mind rejected the pain, and at times like this, it slipped into a haze. His body and consciousness were no longer in sync.
Toxic smoke curling in every direction. The scent from a shattered perfume bottle bleeding into the air. The screams and sobs of the conscious.
Shim Tae-seong dazedly stared at one of the people being carried away near him. Blood had streamed down from the survivor’s head, obscuring their face—but something about them felt oddly familiar as their limp body was taken away.
“Chairman, please leave the corpse recovery to us for today. You should go.”
An Esper from the Association’s follow-up unit approached and cautiously suggested it. He was well aware of Shim Tae-seong’s recent restraint in using his powers. Outwardly, Shim Tae-seong appeared stoic and silent, like always—but as a fellow Esper, the man understood that inside, he must be a complete wreck.
…No. No one could truly comprehend the level of agony an S-rank had to endure.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Shim Tae-seong gave a small nod to the Espers watching him with a mix of reverence and concern. Then, without another word, he turned and walked toward the outside of the building—what remained of it, anyway, given that most of the walls had been blown out.
He slowly exhaled, clenching his fist with dulled tension.
Tomorrow.
Just one more day…
***
Joo Cheong-gyeong was relentless in the way he explored my body—a body that had long since learned to find pleasure even without provocation. He drove my senses to their peak, forcing ecstasy to build until I couldn’t help but writhe. Only once I was fully inflamed with arousal did he allow himself to be satisfied.
Despite the luxurious meals that didn’t suit a prison-like existence, I never had the chance to gain weight. Day by day, I grew more worn down. Every time we had sex, I was too busy crying and moaning in pleasure to resist. I often passed out afterward, either slipping into a faint sleep or truly losing consciousness.
And when I came to—every single time—I would find myself crumbling under the unbearable waves of pleasure that had just consumed me. I’d cry, not just from the humiliation of how easily I shattered, but from the cold, aching reality that my own brother had abandoned me.
At those moments, Joo Cheong-gyeong would just watch, like trash observing a spectacle, almost as if daring me to cry more.
But as much as he seemed to revel in my pitiful state, there was something else in his gaze—something more conflicted. An ambiguous, contradictory glint in his eyes revealed a side of him he couldn’t quite suppress.
I cast a glance around the suffocatingly silent room. For once, I was alone. Curling up, I buried my face in my knees.
Come to think of it, who had that man been a few days ago—the one Joo Cheong-gyeong used for his amusement? At the time, the guy’s body had been entirely dominated by Cheong-gyeong’s control, but having witnessed the raw, graphic intensity of what went on, I couldn’t help but be curious about who he was.
Dding!
[Synchronizing with system……]
[You cannot use Authority until synchronization is complete.]
So I had tried to activate the Third Eye—but all I got was that damn notice. No abilities, no insights. Just a blinking message telling me to wait.
I was still staring intently at the notification floating in front of me when—
Click.
The sound of the front door unlocking cut through the air.
“What are you looking at so intently, Eun-soo?”
A short question, followed by the steady sound of footsteps approaching.
Joo Cheong-gyeong entered the barred room, eyes calmly locked on me. I couldn’t respond right away—caught off guard by the sudden intrusion.
“I asked what you were looking at. There’s nothing there.”
He turned his head toward the direction I had been facing, asking again in a tone that made it clear he knew I hadn’t just been staring at nothing.
Shit.
A chill ran down my spine. Had he seen it when he came in? Fuck. I should’ve just acted spaced out or something.
Shrinking back a bit under his unnerving presence, I mumbled a reply in a quiet voice.
“……The clock.”
Coincidentally, there really was a clock hanging beyond the bars—right where I’d been looking.
“I was checking the time.”
I offered the excuse while internally breaking into a cold sweat. Joo Cheong-gyeong turned his head to look. Upon spotting the silently ticking clock, the tension in his expression slowly eased.
“Ah. The time.”
“…”
“Here I was thinking…”
He muttered under his breath.
…This bastard—was he seriously wondering if I still had some ability left? Maybe he’d been speculating about the nature of my connection to the system from different angles. Still, perhaps he figured if I actually had the power to escape this imprisonment, I would’ve already done so. Judging by how quickly his suspicion faded, he’d written off the idea for now.
“Looks like our Eun-soo was getting a bit bored all by himself.”
The man who had locked me up in this empty, barred room spoke with complete nonchalance. My heart pounded, but I kept my mouth shut and gave no reply. Unbothered, Joo Cheong-gyeong lowered himself to his knees and met my gaze.
“I didn’t want to be apart from you for even a second, Eun-soo. But I had no choice… I had to deliver a proper warning.”
Warning?
As I puzzled over his words, Joo Cheong-gyeong gently stroked my hair.
“Time’s moving way too fast for me.”
He muttered it with clear discontent in his voice.
“There’s still so much I haven’t done with you… So why did it have to be him? It just feels like someone’s snatching you away again.”
I immediately understood who he meant—Shim Tae-seong.
Remembering that it would be his turn soon, Joo Cheong-gyeong was expressing strong displeasure. Especially since it was always Shim Tae-seong—the one who repeatedly tried to rescue me from him. It must grate on him more than anyone else.
But really, wasn’t he the true villain here?
Watching him sulk while ignoring everything he had done to me from the start—it made it clear he had zero potential for redemption. The fact that this kind of person was out there slaughtering monsters just to “protect” me… It was almost laughable, in a horrifying sort of way.
I didn’t fully understand what Joo Cheong-gyeong meant by his words, but I had no desire to press further. I simply let a gloomy, resigned expression settle on my face. He stared at me for a long moment, then furrowed his brows slightly.
“Come here.”
Still on his knees, he opened his arms—a gesture that clearly meant come and let me hold you.
Like a machine following orders, I stepped into his embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around me and buried his face against my shoulder. His warm breath brushed across my skin.
Then he lifted his head, our faces close enough for our breaths to mix. His sharp gaze traced along my features. I could sense his mood—though I couldn’t quite define the emotion he held toward me, I was certain of one thing:
Once he let me go, it would leave him feeling deeply unsettled.
It was certain now.
Even while toying with me however he pleased, there was a clear irritation in his eyes when faced with my helpless, worn-out state—as if he didn’t find it as enjoyable as he wanted to. That frustration with himself was plain to see.
And maybe he realized it too, because his kiss landed on me with a sudden, impatient roughness.
His soft lips mashed against mine with such force that their shape distorted and flattened. There wasn’t any blood, but the kiss felt like he was trying to bite into me. A gasp escaped me. I didn’t know where he’d just come from or what he’d been doing, but there was a warped, twisted energy in his touch.
His tongue pushed its way into my mouth, pressing down hard against mine and scraping roughly along the roof with the tip. It slipped in deeper and deeper, moving with a deliberately provoking rhythm that sent a cold shiver up my spine. A hand grabbed my waist, pulling me in tight as my lower body jolted from the pressure. The sound of wet flesh invading mucous membrane and his heavy breathing tangled together and soaked into my ears.
“Mmgh…!”
Reflexively, I flinched and bit down on his tongue, recoiling from the overwhelming force that felt like he might ram it all the way down my throat—though of course, that would never actually happen. My shoulders tensed, but that defensive response seemed to strike a nerve in him. His gaze, still locked on me, grew murky and sticky with something darker.
Gripping the back of my neck with one hand, Joo Cheong-gyeong tilted his head and pushed in even deeper.
…Somehow, I knew—this was going to be the hardest day I’d spent here yet.
