Was it because he had spent too much time in Seo Ha-yoon’s body? Or because he had glimpsed Seo Ha-yoon’s memories through dreams so many times? Right now, Kim Min-seok felt as if he were Seo Ha-yoon himself. He wanted to take away all of Choi Sang-hyuk’s guilt.
“Don’t think like that. If Ha-yoon knew you were feeling this way, he would be really upset.”
“Upset?”
Choi Sang-hyuk muttered the word as if testing its weight. Kim Min-seok reached out, gently caressing Choi Sang-hyuk’s face as he nodded.
“Yes. He’d be upset.”
Instead of speaking for Seo Ha-yoon, Kim Min-seok voiced his own feelings.
Their eyes met naturally, drawn together like magnets. Kim Min-seok felt the pleasant rhythm of his own heartbeat. Their faces inched closer. And then, their lips met in a soft, tender kiss.
Chuup- Chup-
It was a gentle, affectionate kiss. Free of any sexual undertones, it was pure and sweet.
When the brief kiss ended, they embraced each other tightly as if on cue. Chest to chest, they felt each other’s racing heartbeats. The strong rhythm of Choi Sang-hyuk’s heart pulsed through their pressed bodies, pushing away the darkness that had seeped into Kim Min-seok’s mind and soul.
Kim Min-seok thought that if he could just take a little bit of this strong man’s strength, perhaps he, too, could be a little braver.
“I deleted the files on Seo Chang-seop’s phone and in the cloud. But there might be more cloud accounts, so we should check just in case.”
Kim Min-seok spoke, his words laced with the courage he had borrowed from Choi Sang-hyuk. Thankfully, his voice didn’t waver.
“I have that bastard’s phone with me. But when I turned it on, I saw it’s locked with a fingerprint. We’ll need Seo Chang-seop himself to unlock it so we can check inside.”
Choi Sang-hyuk’s voice was calm, but he held Kim Min-seok tightly, as if worried that merely mentioning Seo Chang-seop might send him into panic.
“Then let’s go see Seo Chang-seop. We need to check the phone and make sure he hasn’t stored the files anywhere else.”
“…Are you sure? I can handle this on my own.”
Choi Sang-hyuk asked, concerned. Kim Min-seok shook his head.
“I need to see it with my own eyes to be at peace. I need to confirm for myself that those files no longer exist in this world.”
“Alright. Then let’s do that. We’ll go together and check.”
Choi Sang-hyuk pressed a kiss to the crown of Kim Min-seok’s head. Kim Min-seok took a deep breath, filling his lungs with courage before exhaling slowly.
They left the hotel and headed to a nearby restaurant. It wasn’t the time to be wasting moments on a meal—but that thought lasted only briefly. The moment the scent of food brushed past his nose, a sudden hunger twisted in Kim Min-seok’s gut like a wrenching knot. It was a hunger so intense it caught him off guard.
Even after ordering, he fidgeted impatiently, wishing the food would arrive faster. Choi Sang-hyuk, noticing his restlessness, tapped the back of Kim Min-seok’s hand lightly with his fingers to calm him down.
“I’m so hungry I feel like I’m going crazy. Why is this happening all of a sudden?”
Kim Min-seok whispered, careful not to let others hear.
“It’s because of the drugs.”
Choi Sang-hyuk replied just as quietly.
With that, Kim Min-seok finally understood his condition. So it was the drugs making him this ravenous. They said the drugs turned people into beasts—whether it was for sex or for food… Either way, it was clear that drugs were something no human should ever touch.
At last, the food arrived. The moment it was placed before him, Kim Min-seok devoured it at an almost feral speed. He ate with such intensity that other diners sneaked curious glances in his direction. By the time he was finishing his first bowl, Choi Sang-hyuk had already ordered a second for him. Without even pausing to say thank you, Kim Min-seok inhaled the next bowl just as quickly.
“Looks like you’ve got a tadpole belly again.”
As he rubbed his now fully stuffed stomach, taking shallow breaths, Choi Sang-hyuk teased him. Kim Min-seok finally grabbed a tissue, wiped his mouth, and let out an embarrassed chuckle. Choi Sang-hyuk had finished his own bowl in the meantime. Well, after spending half the day having sex, it was no surprise that he was hungry too.
Only after finishing their meal did the two finally get into the car and head toward Seoul. Seo Chang-seop had already been moved there. The drive would take about an hour and a half. During the ride, they quietly held hands, letting time pass in silence.
By the time they arrived at their destination, Kim Min-seok, still holding onto Choi Sang-hyuk’s hand, was able to walk into the underground storage of an old building with steady, unwavering steps.
The basement was swallowed in darkness. Choi Sang-hyuk reached to the side and flicked on the lights, causing the old fluorescent bulbs to flicker to life all at once. The scene of the vast, empty storage room came into view. It was a hollow space, littered with bits of scattered trash, and in the middle of it all, a single rusted metal chair sat alone. Seo Chang-seop was tied to it.
His arms, legs, and torso were tightly bound, his head hanging limply. As the surroundings brightened, his body gave a twitch. Slowly, his head lifted.
Judging by his battered face, he had put up quite a fight either on the way here or while being restrained. His swollen features were a mess, bruised and bloodied beyond recognition.
Seo Chang-seop squinted, struggling to adjust to the light. Then, his gaze landed on Choi Sang-hyuk and Kim Min-seok. His bloodshot, unfocused eyes widened in pure shock.
“Mmff…! Mmff, mmfmm!!”
Muffled screams burst from behind the gag stuffing his mouth as he thrashed violently. The chair beneath him clattered noisily with his struggles.
He had always looked unkempt and pitiful, but now he was downright wretched. His already gaunt cheeks had sunken even further, making his face resemble a hollowed-out skull. And from the looks of it, he had wet himself while tied up—his pants were drenched between his legs.
Kim Min-seok’s disgust toward him deepened, his expression twisting in revulsion.
“Are you okay?” Choi Sang-hyuk asked.
Choi Sang-hyuk asked in a low voice.
“I’m fine. You’re here with me, after all.”
Kim Min-seok nodded as he answered.
Choi Sang-hyuk pulled Seo Chang-seop’s phone from his pocket. Then, after signaling Kim Min-seok to stay put, he strode toward Seo Chang-seop with slow, deliberate steps. The closer he got, the more violently Seo Chang-seop struggled, as if expecting Choi Sang-hyuk to kill him on the spot.
“If you want to live a little longer, stay still. I have no interest in touching your filthy body.”
Choi Sang-hyuk stopped right in front of him. At his words, Seo Chang-seop’s thrashing ceased as if he had been struck mute.
“The lock. It’s a thumbprint, isn’t it?”
Choi Sang-hyuk asked. Seo Chang-seop hesitated for a moment before nodding. As if he had expected that answer, Choi Sang-hyuk moved behind him, pressing the phone against his bound hand, forcing his thumb onto the sensor.
“Stay quiet. I hate unnecessary noise.”
Having achieved his goal, Choi Sang-hyuk issued a warning before walking back to Kim Min-seok. He held out the now-unlocked phone. The meaning was clear—delete everything himself, confirm with his own eyes that nothing remained.
Kim Min-seok took the phone, while Choi Sang-hyuk stepped back, leaning against a concrete pillar a few steps away. His posture made it clear—whatever came up on that screen, he wouldn’t look. This was Kim Min-seok’s task to finish.
Kim Min-seok glanced at the bound Seo Chang-seop before turning his focus to the phone screen. He began sifting through the apps, searching for any cloud storage.
He meticulously checked every installed app but found nothing besides the one he had already deleted back at the inn.
Was that really all of it?
Pausing for a moment, a thought struck Kim Min-seok. He quickly opened the app store and navigated to the list of previously installed apps. His eyes scanned the history, looking for any past cloud storage applications.
“Knew it…”
He muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Three additional cloud storage apps had been installed on this device before but were now deleted. Without hesitation, Kim Min-seok reinstalled them all.
“Seo Ha-yoon.”
As Kim Min-seok took a step toward Seo Chang-seop, Choi Sang-hyuk moved to block him. But Kim Min-seok shot him a reassuring glance before continuing forward.
He untied the cloth gag around Seo Chang-seop’s mouth. Immediately, saliva that had built up dribbled down his chin. The sight made Kim Min-seok’s stomach churn with disgust, but he had more important matters to deal with.
“What’s the cloud account ID and password?”
He held up the phone screen displaying the newly installed apps.
Seo Chang-seop rolled his eyes, then suddenly smirked.
“Fuck. So that’s my lifeline now, huh? You think I’ll just hand it over that easily?” He let out a dry chuckle. “Three hundred million. Bring me three hundred million in cash. Give me that, and put me on a boat to China. Then, I’ll tell you. It’s only three hundred million. For your boyfriend, that’s nothing, right? It’s not even a bad deal for you, huh?”
Kim Min-seok stared at Seo Chang-seop in sheer disbelief. Even now, after all of this, he was still trying to extort money and escape.
He wasn’t even his real son by blood, but he had been raised as one since childhood. Yet he had sexually abused the boy, filmed it, and taken photos and videos—like that wasn’t already monstrous enough.
He had used it to blackmail and extort money. To think he was witnessing such human trash with his own eyes.
Choi Sang-hyuk, who had been watching from a short distance away, turned and walked toward the far corner of the basement. There, an old metal office desk stood alone, abandoned long ago. He yanked open one of the drawers. The aged, rusted metal screeched unpleasantly as it scraped against itself.
Choi Sang-hyuk reached into the drawer and pulled something out before making his way back. As he drew closer, Kim Min-seok caught sight of what was in his hand—a large pair of bolt cutters.
The tool was covered in rust, its metal dull and aged, and it bore ominous dark brown stains whose origin Kim Min-seok didn’t even want to imagine.
“Fuck—what are you doing?! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”
Seo Chang-seop’s screams erupted as soon as he saw the bolt cutters. He thrashed wildly against his restraints, his entire body convulsing with frantic desperation.
Choi Sang-hyuk came to a stop in front of him and flexed his grip on the tool a few times, opening and closing its sharp jaws with a loud clack. The sheer weight and strength of the metal made it clear—it could easily snap through a human finger.
“What do you think I’m about to do?” Choi Sang-hyuk asked coldly.
