I blinked and stared blankly at the bouquet of flowers.
He’d done nothing but fuck me senseless ever since he brought me here, and now all of a sudden, he was trying to set the mood? Seriously, what a fickle bastard.
“…….”
I quietly accepted the bouquet, pretending to play along with his sudden sweetness.
Having a plant in this space—where the only living beings were me and Jang Hee-gang—was… oddly welcome. Not that it would last long.
“It’s perfect since you said you can’t sleep…”
Jang Hee-gang gently stroked my hair.
“Wanna head downstairs for a bit?”
He scooped me up with one arm and picked up a cake box with the other.
My eyes widened.
He’s taking me out of here?
…What’s gotten into him?
Even though I wasn’t physically restrained, the way this place was built made it impossible to open the door from the inside. No matter how you looked at it, I was being kept here like a prisoner.
I’d been hoping he’d eventually get fed up with the confinement and decide to let me move around a little more.
What the hell was this space, anyway—some narcissistic fantasy? Surrounded on all sides by mirrors, like I was meant to admire myself all day. Honestly, this place could break even a sane person.
Good thing I wasn’t exactly “normal.”
Of course, when it came to sex, it didn’t get much more stimulating than this. No matter where you looked, you could see exactly how our bodies were entangled, in crystal-clear detail.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t to this extreme, but even my brother and Joo Cheong-gyeong had a thing for reflections in the bathroom mirror.
Seriously, are we all just a bunch of perverts? Maybe Shim Tae-seong’s the only normal one.
…Then again, he’s the one who sat me on a toilet and jerked off while watching himself cum.
Ah, right. Fuck… Whatever. In the end, I got turned on too, so who cares.
Still cradled in Jang Hee-gang’s arms like a child, we stepped outside the mirrored room. After walking down the hall and descending the stairs, a spacious living room unfolded before us. The atmosphere was mostly empty and dim, but the windows were open, letting in air that felt genuinely refreshing.
Now that I was finally out of that mirror room, I found myself holding the flowers tighter, some life returning to my expression.
He sat me down on a dining chair facing the dark window. Then he walked over to the sink, turning his back to me as he washed his hands.
“You look better than I expected.”
That low, chilling voice echoed in the air as it always did.
I flinched and looked toward Jang Hee-gang’s back. Didn’t seem like he actually expected an answer.
He sliced the cake and placed portions on plates. Then he pulled out a bottle of wine and filled two glasses. As he moved, the muscles of his back pressed through the fabric of his dress shirt, tracing faint contours.
Soon, Jang Hee-gang approached the table and set down the plates and glasses. The fruit-topped fresh cream cake looked genuinely appetizing.
“You must be pretty happy to be out of that room.”
He didn’t sit across from me—he took the seat right next to mine. I kept my lips tightly shut and stared down at the cake.
He had to know he was stating the obvious.
“In there… wherever I looked, all I could see was my own reflection.”
I hesitated, then parted my lips.
Jang Hee-gang lifted his glass and met my gaze.
“When I open my eyes sometimes and realize I’m alone…”
“…it’s terrifying. It feels like I can’t breathe.”
I looked at him with desperate eyes.
“I’m not asking to go outside. I’m not going to run away… Just let me move around the house.”
“Please… don’t lock me up in that room again.”
My voice trembled as I spoke. My eyes began to mist over. The bouquet I’d been clutching eventually crumbled to pieces in my arms.
How did it come to this? Why the hell was I in this situation?
If only I hadn’t played that damn game in the first place… maybe none of this would’ve happened.
Though I’d submitted under the weight of overwhelming force and fear, I couldn’t fully hide the lingering thoughts bubbling under the surface.
Seeing those buried feelings spill out despite the compliance, a flicker of thrill crossed Jang Hee-gang’s previously blank expression.
He set his glass down. Then, gently, he wiped the corner of my eye with his thumb.
“It’s a good day—no point in crying, right?”
Just like a true psychopath, he looked almost… pleased.
“If that’s what you really want, I don’t see any reason not to grant it.”
“…!”
I looked at him, shocked and relieved—like I couldn’t believe he’d actually say yes.
It really was unexpected. I’d assumed he’d demand something in return.
Was this some calculated move? Maybe he thought that easing up just a little after tightening the leash would make me start to develop positive feelings toward him. But Jang Hee-gang wasn’t the calculating type…He was more the do-whatever-the-fuck-he-wanted type.
“You ever had a drink before?”
He abruptly pointed to the wine and asked.
…Back when I lived a normal life, I’d drunk more than enough to last me.
But the way he phrased it—it felt like he was asking whether Cha Eun-soo had ever had alcohol.
I hurriedly wiped away the remaining tears with the back of my hand and gave a small nod, as if afraid Jang Hee-gang might take back his promise not to lock me in the mirror room again.
A glass was handed to me right away. The wine inside shimmered, a beautiful shade.
“Then I guess we can drink together.”
His face, tinted by the soft ambient lighting, curved into a faint smile.
***
At first, Jang Hee-gang had planned to simply let it go if he refused to drink. But the way the Guide pitifully appealed with his emotions—he felt it every time, but it was still incredibly provocative.
That mouth, which usually only spit out words denying or rejecting reality. And that desperate face, begging not to be locked away…When he drank and his self-control weakened, what secrets might he spill? Jang Hee-gang couldn’t help but be curious.
After some hesitation, Cha Eun-soo took a sip, then winced slightly, eyebrows furrowing at the bitterness. It was indeed a very strong wine. Yet he continued to sip as though he had no choice but to keep drinking. His desperation to escape confinement seemed to run that deep.
Jang Hee-gang didn’t feel a shred of pity—instead, he felt a growing thirst for conquest, boundless and insatiable.
“If it’s too bitter, you should eat something with it.”
He lifted a fork and pierced a piece of cake, holding it out to him.
Cha Eun-soo, his cheeks already tinged with a flush, obediently opened his mouth and accepted the bite. His pale cheek puffed up slightly as he chewed. There was something irresistibly cute, almost lovely, about the action. These unfamiliar emotions that he could only experience through Cha Eun-soo—Jang Hee-gang found them unexpectedly amusing.
“Looks like you’ve got a sweet tooth.”
He asked while watching him accept the food so well. Had he known earlier, he would’ve stuffed him full of sugary desserts, fattened him up. By any standard—objective or subjective—Cha Eun-soo was far too thin. Though, to be fair, it was an environment where even gained weight would quickly vanish.
“…No.”
Cha Eun-soo swallowed the cake a bit slowly before answering.
“Sometimes, if I happened to get some, I’d eat it.”
His eyes already looked slightly unfocused. His movements overall seemed sluggish.
Jang Hee-gang wiped the whipped cream from the corner of his lips and refilled the empty glass.
Cha Eun-soo drained the second glass faster than the first. A clear sign that the alcohol was starting to take effect.
“You really are a lightweight.”
Jang Hee-gang murmured as he sipped from his own glass.
Cha Eun-soo paused, then stared at him.
“I can still drink more.”
His light brown eyes drifted into empty space.
“When I drank with my family… how much did I drink back then…”
He furrowed his brow, trying to recall. But as he grew more absorbed in his thoughts, his expression began to fade slowly, almost imperceptibly. While recalling the past, the emotions he’d felt at the time began to well up again. His lips trembled visibly—perhaps from the sudden surge of emotion.
Like a drop of ink spreading through water, emotion bloomed across his beautiful face. Jang Hee-gang, lips tightly sealed, focused intently on the scene before him.
How long had it been since he’d dried those tears? Now, Cha Eun-soo’s eyes shimmered once more, slowly moistening all over again.
“I…”
The words spilled out, choked with emotion. But he couldn’t bring himself to continue. Instead, he buried his face in both hands.
Jang Hee-gang quietly watched those pale, slender fingers that now hid his small face. He could tell Eun-soo was thinking about the bonds he’d formed in his life.
Bonds he hadn’t even chosen for himself.
So why did he weep so sorrowfully?
Was it because he believed he had no right to even search for them—so much so that he couldn’t bring himself to say he missed his family?
“When you were born again…Did you really think it was all fake?”
And so, as always, Jang Hee-gang offered not a shred of comfort. Instead, like a lash of a whip, he pressed on the part he wanted to confirm.
Deep down, in the darkest corners of his heart, he did want to hold Cha Eun-soo and shield him unconditionally—but this was not the moment to give in to that impulse.
After all—The forsaken cannot offer comfort to the one they abandoned.
Yes, it was a one-sided longing on his part, but still… it was Cha Eun-soo who had initiated the entanglement. He had saved Jang Hee-gang in the beginning. Even if Eun-soo had believed he was just another graphic character.
…Still.
If he had walked away so easily because he thought this world was just a fictional game he’d played, a virtual reality—Then, perhaps, Jang Hee-gang could understand.
But Cha Eun-soo slowly shook his head. A clear and undeniable rejection.
The wide living room was consumed by silence.
“I see.”
Even though it wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear, Jang Hee-gang’s mood didn’t spiral further into displeasure.
The fury he’d once held toward the Guide who had run away had long since subsided—soothed by the physical closeness he had seized without mercy and the emotional security he had gradually clawed into being.
Besides… deep down, he’d already guessed the truth.
Hadn’t Cha Eun-soo writhed in guilt, not even resisting, when he was violated before he left?
That wasn’t the kind of reaction someone would have if they truly believed this was just a game.
