By Zephyria “Are you crying?””
“…….”
Instead of answering, he shook off my hand. Pak, the hand that flew into the air hurt. Ouch…. A small groan made the panting stop. Eui-jae rubbed his throbbing hand and called him.
“Lee Sa-young.”
“…Don’t get up, sit down.”
“Don’t order me around, just answer.”
“Ah, yeah. Keep standing… if you want to be unable to walk.”
It was a rough voice, like a beast growling. My body instinctively stiffened. But Eui-jae gritted his teeth. If I backed down like this, nothing would change. Eui-jae took a step towards the table as if to show off. However.
What Eui-jae stepped on was not the floor, but something moderately hard, large, and tilted….
‘…Foot?’
It was probably Lee Sa-young’s foot. But before I could continue thinking, my body tilted forward. Fortunately, before I could fall completely, two strong hands grabbed Eui-jae’s shoulders. A growling voice said.
“I told you to sit down several times.”
“Explain it. Why are you doing this?”
“If I said there were shards of glass all over the floor, don’t move, would you sit down?”
I should sit down then. Eui-jae nodded, and a sigh was heard from above. He let go of the hand he was holding. This is the moment. Eui-jae knocked on the table.
“Come here.”
There was no answer, no sign of anyone. Only the sound of water continued relentlessly. Eui-jae called again.
“Come here. I don’t know where you are.”
As expected, Lee Sa-young requires a lot of attention. Eui-jae opened his arms wide.
How long had I waited? It was quite a long wait. Long enough for my arms to ache. He seemed to hesitate, then a large body rushed in as if pouring down. But he didn’t completely entrust his body to me like before. It was obvious that he would fall or get hurt if he did.
Skin touched skin, and a cold breath touched me. Goosebumps rose. An indescribable fear pressed down on my whole body. Oppression. The fear that my neck would be bitten off at any moment. My heart beat fast. The moment Eui-jae lowered his head.
A chilling voice whispered in my ear.
“Take a deep breath.”
“…….”
“Exhale…. That’s right….”
He had his fingers on Eui-jae’s back. As if examining the movement of the rising and falling chest and back. Eui-jae was overwhelmed with the fear that his fingers might pierce through his back. It would be very easy. To pierce through a body….
But Eui-jae did not push him away. He crumpled the hem of his coat with trembling hands and endured. Enduring even the nausea that rose up. Because I was confident in enduring. The voice muttered.
“What did you believe in to tell me to come? When you’re like this.”
“…Don’t talk to me.”
“Why… are you scared?”
Eui-jae tried to calm his breathing. The fingers touching my back groped around the shoulder blades and spine. My body stiffened each time his fingers touched me. Now I couldn’t even hear the sound of water. Only.
“…….”
Only the sound of holding back tears was clearly heard. Eui-jae removed his hand holding the coat and reached out to where his face should be. The hand groping in the air touched soft hair. I moved a little more. A wet liquid soaked my fingertips. Wet eyelashes tickled my fingertips.
“…….”
Eui-jae didn’t say anything and rubbed his hand to wipe away the tears. The skin touched by the tears burned. Does he have Poison in his tears too? I kept moving my hand while thinking nonsense, but the tears didn’t stop. Eui-jae muttered.
“You….”
“…….”
“Are you crying because of that… other guy again? Not crying of your own will?”
Otherwise, I don’t think you’d cry like this. Sa-young didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned his cheek on Eui-jae’s hand and rubbed it. The palm of my hand was soon soaked. Eui-jae cupped both cheeks with both hands. And slowly pulled it towards me. Tuk, forehead met forehead. My heart beat fast. Not something like excitement,
Because I’m scared.
Eui-jae forced out a voice that wouldn’t come out.
“…Don’t cry.”
“…….”
“I can’t hug you like last time.”
Sa-young only rubbed his cheek against the palm of my hand without saying a word. That made me feel more sorry, more scared, and my body kept trembling. Pity and fear of the unknown existence took turns raising their heads. The hand wet with tears was burning and sore. Damn it. This bastard must have Poison in his tears. It’s the worst.
Then, a chilling voice muttered.
“…So that’s why he died.”
“What?”
“He was trying to die before he Mutated into a strange Monster.”
That must have been it, probably. Eui-jae nodded slightly. A large hand stroked Eui-jae’s hair.
“Then the hair color.”
“…Huh?”
“Why does it keep turning white?”
“…….”
“Even if you dye it black, it seems to regain its color before long….”
The hands cupping Lee Sa-young’s cheeks are still wet. He kept shedding tears. But his voice was chillingly calm and cold.
“What if the Mutation has been progressing without you knowing?”
“…….”
“Even if we get out of this dog-like place and go back, what if the Mutation doesn’t stop?”
I’m scared.
Mutation? No.
The existence that grabbed me.
“Will you die then too?”
Eui-jae tried to say something but shook his head with difficulty. No voice came out. Lee Sa-young’s gaze was piercing into my whole body like sharp needles. The hand that was stroking my hair stopped.
“…Ah, is it hard to breathe?”
Yeah, I feel like I’m going to throw up. Eui-jae couldn’t even utter the words and only nodded slowly. Then cold leather gloves covered my cheeks. Eui-jae blinked his unseen eyes quickly. I had no idea what this bastard was going to do. Then, the fingers that were rubbing my cheeks dug between my lips.
“What―”
“You have to open your mouth and breathe.”
Ah, seriously. Thick fingers rummaged wildly in my mouth. Is he crazy! Eui-jae coughed and grabbed his wrist. He whispered.
“Don’t bite. You’ll break your teeth….”
“Hey!”
But the fingers didn’t stop. The fingers that had been rummaging in Eui-jae’s mouth finally came out after pressing down on his tongue. Heok, heok…, my already labored breathing became even more labored. Eui-jae pushed Sa-young away. Fortunately, he didn’t resist and was pushed away. Eui-jae roughly rubbed and wiped the corners of his mouth, which were wet with saliva.
“What are you doing…”
“Your mouth is clean.”
“What?”
A cold voice answered.
“I checked. In case there’s a Mutated spot.”
“…….”
“I want to see your whole body if possible….”
“Hey, wait a minute.”
“Ah, yeah…. Want to take off your clothes?”
“Wait a minute!”
A sharp gaze was scanning him. Eui-jae tried to step back and reached back with his hand, grabbing the back of the chair. Eui-jae cleared his throat and asked.
“What are you going to do… after checking that.”
“What else.”
Lee Sa-young answered.
“I have to see and remember everything.”
“…….”
“I have to check even after we go out. Whether there are traces of Mutation in the same place, or whether they appear later.”
Crazy bastard.
Eui-jae barely held back the curse that was about to come out. I could tell even though I couldn’t see. The fact that Lee Sa-young’s eyes were completely out of it. Eui-jae put strength into the hand holding the back of the chair. My hand was sore.
If I throw the chair, can I stop him even for a moment?
‘…I don’t think so.’
Rather, the chair will be shattered. The space I can move in will also be much narrower. I can’t run around ignoring the fragments in this body.
‘I can’t avoid it in the first place.’
A civilian running away from an S-class, it’s absurd. But if I get caught by Lee Sa-young with his eyes gone, I don’t know what he’ll do to me.
A monotonous voice called Cha Eui-jae.
“Come here. Hyung.”
I don’t know, it’s all or nothing! The moment Eui-jae tried to lift the chair.
Ziiing….
The phone vibrated. Eui-jae opened his eyes wide and looked for the source of the sound. Judging from the fact that I heard it from afar, it must be the phone in the room where I was lying down earlier. Eui-jae said towards the direction where Sa-young was standing.
“Whose phone is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Shouldn’t you answer it?”
“Ah…. Why would I?”
“It might be Honeybee-ssi’s call.”
“…….”
“Honeybee-ssi is also a colleague who came in with us. She might have found out something.”
“…Tsk.”
Lee Sa-young clicked his tongue as if to be heard and muttered.
“Don’t think about going anywhere.”
“I’m not going.”
“Don’t even think about moving from there.”
“I’m not moving.”
“I hope so. I don’t want to see blood again.”
Hwik, the wind passed Eui-jae. Only after Sa-young’s presence had faded away could I breathe properly. Eui-jae grabbed the chair and sat down on the floor as it was. Cold sweat poured down like rain. The constant nausea also subsided a little.
‘When will I recover?’
Can I face the Monsters in this body condition? Eui-jae clenched and unclenched his trembling hands. Then I heard footsteps from behind.
“Hyung.”
“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t collapse, I just sat down because I was tired.”
“That’s not it.”
Something suddenly approached. Eui-jae reached out and groped for it. It was a phone. Sa-young continued in a dissatisfied voice.
“Yoon Ga-eul contacted us.”
“Yoon Ga-eul? Why is Student Ga-eul?”
Eui-jae took the phone and put it to his ear. Before I could finish saying hello, Student Ga-eul’s voice burst out like a scream.
―J? Is it J?
Lee Sa-young added.
“To be exact, it’s Yoon Ga-eul from our world.”