The underground chamber, which Yeo-min revisited after several days, reeked of an even heavier, more oppressive dampness than before. Raising an arm to cover his nose, Yeo-min showed his access pass to the guard before proceeding deeper inside.
The deeper he ventured, the stronger the stench became under the glow of his flashlight. It was a sickening odor, as if rotting filth had been left to fester for an eternity—so foul it was nearly unbearable.
“Sir, are you all right?”
Barely suppressing his gag reflex, Yeo-min arrived in front of the cell where the apostle had been imprisoned. But the apostle was nowhere to be found.
Sweeping his flashlight across the cell, he searched every corner, but there was no sign of the man. The space was eerily spotless, as if no one had ever been there in the first place.
“My lord?”
Thinking he might have been moved to another room, Yeo-min checked every nearby cell. But the man was nowhere to be found. He had vanished without a trace.
He had heard that interrogations had begun recently, but could it be that the apostle had died in the process? They called it an interrogation, but it was nothing more than a brutal, inhumane torture session meant to force confessions.
However, if someone had died within the estate, there was no way Yeo-min wouldn’t have known. Especially if that someone was a high-ranking elder of Night—such a thing would never have been kept quiet.
That meant the apostle had been moved somewhere outside of the prison. But where? He had no way of knowing. Time was running out, and it was impossible to scour every inch of this damned enormous estate.
“Do you know where the man in the last cell went?”
“Ughhh…”
“I’m asking about the man who was in that last cell. Do you have any idea where he was taken—”
“Hnnngh…”
Yeo-min tried questioning the other prisoners, but all they did was groan and make incoherent noises. He searched for someone capable of speech, but there was no one. Clicking his tongue in irritation, he left the prison for now.
He had to find the apostle before the district meeting took place. If things continued like this, the entire plan would fall apart. Even after returning to his quarters, Yeo-min couldn’t hide his growing anxiety, pacing restlessly.
He recalled the layout of the mansion that he had memorized over the past year, but there were simply too many places where the apostle could be hidden. The number of empty rooms alone easily exceeded a hundred—there was no time to search them all one by one.
If worst came to worst, he would have to proceed with the plan without the apostle. But if the Shining faction had hidden the apostle and used him as a hostage, then the entire plan could fail.
‘What the hell am I supposed to do?’
Yeo-min rubbed his face roughly, forcing himself to shake off the creeping sense of helplessness. Only a few days remained, but if he thought about it differently, he still had a few days left. That was enough time to find the apostle. He just had to stay calm.
“Ugh…”
“Seo-yul-nim?”
Hearing a pained groan, Yeo-min immediately abandoned his thoughts and rushed to Seo-yul’s side. Seo-yul, who had been gasping for breath in discomfort, slowly lifted his heavy eyelids as he sensed someone approaching.
“…Iya…?”
Muttering an indistinct name, Seo-yul’s trembling hand reached for Yeo-min’s collar. But rather than gripping it, his fingers merely brushed against the fabric before slipping away, powerless.
“Are you all right?”
“…Ah, Choi Yeo-min.”
Seo-yul finally recognized him and gave a faint smile. Had he been having a nightmare? His face was as pale as a sheet, and the sight of it made Yeo-min’s chest ache. It was pitiful. Heartbreaking.
“Could you bring me some water?”
At Seo-yul’s request, Yeo-min quickly fetched a glass of water. Seo-yul nodded slightly in thanks and accepted it from him. Taking slow sips, he let out a soft sigh, smiling as if he could finally breathe again.
“You’re not feeling unwell, are you?”
Though he seemed better than before, Seo-yul’s complexion was still poor. Yeo-min knew he was frail, but every time he saw him like this—so weak and unwell—it unsettled him.
What if one day, he really just… died?
“No, not at all. I just had a restless sleep.”
“A nightmare?”
“Seems like it.”
Seo-yul admitted he had been dreaming but couldn’t recall the details. When Yeo-min told him to just forget it if it wasn’t worth remembering, he nodded in agreement.
“If you’re feeling stuffy, would you like to go for a walk?”
“No, I don’t feel like it right now.”
His response was gentle but firm, leaving no room for argument. Left without anything else to say, Yeo-min awkwardly scratched the back of his neck before returning to his seat. Seo-yul remained seated against the headboard, staring at the curtain-drawn window in silence.
“Should I open the curtains for you?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Even after that, Yeo-min continued asking if Seo-yul needed anything, but Seo-yul only repeated the same answer: I’m fine. Over and over, as if it were scripted. After so many refusals, Yeo-min eventually ran out of words.
“You said there wasn’t a place in this state you haven’t been to, right?”
Seo-yul suddenly broke the silence, his question snapping Yeo-min out of his daze. It took him a moment to gather himself before he replied.
“Yeah, I’ve been to most of them.”
“Which place did you like the most?”
“Hmm, District 2 was nice, and District 3 wasn’t bad either. Especially in District 3, there’s the largest lake—you can see the horizon because the ends are so far apart. They say it resembles the sea.”
As Yeo-min spoke, Seo-yul’s expression gradually brightened. Seeing the gloom lift from his face, Yeo-min became even more enthusiastic, eagerly recounting stories of the places he had visited.
“I want to go too. To all the places you’ve been, Choi Yeo-min.”
The sincerity in Seo-yul’s voice made something in Yeo-min’s chest ache. Seo-yul was smiling, but it was a strained smile, barely masking the deep emptiness beneath.
Seo-yul hadn’t chosen to be here. No sane person would willingly live confined to a bedroom and a small garden. This was all because of Vincent Shining.
Yeo-min felt sorry for Seo-yul. Pitied him. Found his situation unbearably tragic. If he could, he wanted to show him the world beyond these walls. When had that desire grown so strong?
“…What if you could go?”
“Huh?”
When the district meeting arrived and Night achieved its goal of bringing down the Lunar Order, this estate would be thrown into chaos. Smuggling out a single Omega in the midst of the disorder would be effortless.
So, would it be so wrong to indulge in this small desire? It wasn’t for selfish reasons—he simply couldn’t bear the thought of Seo-yul being locked away here forever. If there was something he could do, then he should do it.
“I’ll get you out of here.”
***
Ina Shining was utterly exasperated.
It was bad enough that an uninvited guest had barged into her chambers and disturbed her sleep. But to make matters worse, they had the audacity to drop a half-dead body on her floor like some kind of gift.
Two concubines who had been in the room screamed and fled at the sight of the blood-soaked figure, leaving Ina alone with this mess. Staring down at the limp form, she wondered how the hell she was supposed to deal with this.
Her first instinct was to tell them to take it back—there was no way she was handling a corpse in her bedroom. But before she could voice her protest, the man who had brought the body spoke first.
“Keep him alive. No matter what.”
No explanation. No name. Just an order.
Sure, Ina had agreed to work with him, but nowhere in that agreement had it said she’d be dealing with this.
“Look, I said I’d cooperate with you, but I never agreed to—hey! Where the hell are you going?!”
The man left without another word, leaving Ina clutching her throbbing forehead in frustration. She let out a deep sigh before giving the bloody figure on the floor a nudge with her foot.
A weak groan escaped from the body, proving that at least it wasn’t a corpse—yet. But judging by the condition he was in, he might as well be. At this rate, he wouldn’t last another day.
“I’m not a damn doctor. How the hell am I supposed to save this bastard?”
Annoyed beyond belief, Ina called for a servant and ordered them to fetch the physician. While waiting, she crouched down and examined the near-dead figure more closely.
“Who the hell are you, and why did they dump you here?”
The face was so swollen and mangled that she couldn’t recognize it, but there were plenty of other clues. The man’s fingernails and toenails had all been ripped out, and beneath his tattered clothing, dark smears of makeup clung to his skin—remnants of heavy disguise. All clear signs of torture.
There was only one place in this mansion where torture was carried out—the underground prison. And that place belonged entirely to him. It was his role to detain and extract confessions from criminals under the district leader’s orders.
And the last batch of prisoners brought to the underground had been none other than the apostles and high-ranking followers of Night—captured at the district border.
So that meant…
“This guy’s probably an apostle.”
But why bring him here? An apostle should still be locked up in the underground prison. Even if he wasn’t an apostle, why order her to keep the man alive?
Ina tapped her fingers idly against the man’s bruised cheek, thinking it over. But no matter how she turned it around in her mind, she couldn’t make sense of it.
Then again, trying to understand the mind of a Shining was a waste of time.
Sighing, Ina straightened up and stretched out her legs. The thick stench of blood filled the room, so she moved to open a window. Just as she did, the servant returned.
“The physician has arrived.”
“Let him in.”
