By Zephyria 
The deeper they went into the main house, the fewer enemies stood in their way. But that only made Tae-hwon more vulnerable.
The structure of the traditional Korean house was familiar.
Woo Tae-hwon, a mere twenty-year-old low-level member, shouldn’t have known the layout of the Gyeongjeong main house so well, yet he could read its geography like an open book. What lurked ahead in the pouring rain and encroaching darkness… It was as if something was gradually awakening.
At the very end, their steps finally halted.
Kwon Rae-i and Woo Tae-hwon had arrived at the same place, side by side.
The office.
Chairman Kwon Jung-il’s favorite place during his lifetime, and the place where he took his last breath.
Kwon Rae-i reached out and opened the paper-screened door. It slid open silently, revealing a dim interior.
In the center of the room stood a traditional wooden desk and chair, with a study area behind it. The neatly arranged books were ancient texts written in Chinese characters, and the white porcelain and lamps showcased a refined traditional beauty that reflected Chairman Kwon’s taste.
The surrounding scenery stimulated Woo Tae-hwon more intensely than ever before, and a fierce outcry echoed in his mind.
Clang. The dagger Tae-hwon was holding fell to the floor. Tae-hwon slowly took steps forward, empty-handed, into the office that was empty and without its master.
It was as if someone was calling him from within.
As if trying to tell him who Woo Tae-hwon was.
Leaving Kwon Rae-i behind, Tae-hwon entered the office and barely stopped in front of the desk. Completely enveloped in darkness, his expression was unreadable.
Who was Woo Tae-hwon standing here now?
Which one?
Twenty years old?
Thirty years old?
Which…?
Tae-hwon’s hand slowly swept across the desk. Kwon Tae-oh’s belongings, which had been on the wooden desk, were pushed off by his touch. Files, papers, pens, and other office supplies rolled onto the floor. Finally facing the cleanly cleared desk, Tae-hwon placed both hands on it.
His heart pounded loudly.
He felt like he was going insane.
His mind was reeling.
And Kwon Rae-i… silently watched Woo Tae-hwon’s inexplicable behavior.
He was prepared to follow Woo Tae-hwon to whatever end they reached. Whether he regained his memories or not, it didn’t matter from the start.
He intended to possess Woo Tae-hwon completely, from beginning to end.
Even devouring Woo Tae-hwon, bone and all, leaving not a single drop of his blood, wouldn’t be enough. Kwon Rae-i always wanted everything. He had never tried to compromise, not even once.
“……”
The air in the study grew heavier and colder. The sound of the rain outside, heard through the paper-screened door, became louder and more violent. In the blackening darkness, Woo Tae-hwon’s vision blurred. It felt like gunshots were constantly ringing in his head.
Short, sharp sounds tore through his thoughts.
Tae-hwon instinctively gripped the edge of the desk. Veins stood out on his fingertips, and his breathing grew increasingly labored. He felt a suffocating pressure, as if someone was forcibly crushing his lungs. And in his blurred vision, red blood began to flicker.
A thin wave lapped on the floor of the study. Bright red blood surged unstably. It formed a pool of blood, then climbed up the desk legs, sticking to his ankles. The blood was so thick and red. He felt like he couldn’t take it anymore.
He had to get out of here.
He had to run away, far away, immediately.
But, contrary to his thoughts, his body remained frozen, unmoving. He couldn’t budge an inch.
Soon, the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness blurred, and Woo Tae-hwon’s nightmares and reality began to overlap more vividly.
A sea of blood. Arms reaching up. Gunshots. Harsh shouts. And, echoing like a reverberation…
He couldn’t breathe. It felt like his lungs were filling with blood. Everything Woo Tae-hwon had seen and heard that night, when the rain was pouring, burst forth vividly in his mind. It was a kind of explosion. His consciousness, twisted to its limit, completely lost control, and at that moment.
Rumble! Crash!
A deafening thunderclap resounded. At the same time, a massive bolt of lightning flashed through the paper-screened door, momentarily illuminating the dark room in white. The light was like a signal flare. A rapid, flickering, and noisy flashback occurred.
Fragmentary scenes flashed clearly in the intermittent bursts of light.
That day in his memory.
That night.
Woo Tae-hwon’s face, soaked in hot blood, and the red droplets falling from his fingertips. And Chairman Kwon, growing cold. All the hidden truths of that day were revealed.
“Ugh!”
Tae-hwon clutched his head and hunched over. His crumbling legs could no longer support him. The memory that had become a nightmare began to revive from the end, and he finally collapsed, leaning against the desk. Lying on the cold floor, he stared into the air. His unfocused black eyes glared hatefully at someone.
“Tae-hwon! Tae-hwon! Can you hear me?”
Kwon Rae-i called out to Tae-hwon and entered the study. He rushed to the fallen man and supported him, but Tae-hwon remained limp and unable to rise.
Instead, a low, broken voice flowed from him.
“…Kwon Tae-oh.”
“What did you say?”
“Kwo, ugh, Kwon Tae-oh.”
Tae-hwon gasped raggedly, vehemently.
His eyes, filled with resentment and grief, had already changed color. They seemed to reflect a harder, more arduous past.
Barely enduring the splitting headache and mental instability, Woo Tae-hwon abruptly reached out his right arm and pulled Kwon Rae-i’s face closer. He pulled his chin close and growled in his ear.
“Kwon Tae-oh, that bastard… shot the Chairman.”
Cold sweat streamed down Tae-hwon’s face like rain. His complexion was pale, like someone suffocating. He seemed so overwhelmed, as if he would stop breathing at any moment, yet he did not stop fighting his memories. Even though he was showing almost convulsive symptoms.
He had to tell Kwon Rae-i. The truth that had surfaced in his mind.
It was too late, but still. Even now.
“It was him, Kwon Tae-oh, he… the Chairman, cough!”
“Tae-hwon, calm down. I understand. Don’t push yourself so hard!”
“I, I remember everything… I saw it. I… that day, that night, the Chairman secretly summoned Kwon Tae-oh and me, and here, he made a decision for Gyeongjeong, ugh! A decision, gasp…”
“I understand everything! So, that means Tae-hwon wasn’t the traitor. That’s enough. Stop talking. No more… shit, I’ll call a doctor right away.”
Kwon Rae-i urgently pulled out his smartphone from his pocket. As he pressed the speed dial, Tae-hwon grabbed his arm and desperately continued to speak. He had to tell him. The concealed truth. The hidden secret.
And this was not simply to reveal the culprit who killed Chairman Kwon, or to clear Woo Tae-hwon’s name.
Gyeongjeong.
It was about the terrible and sorrowful truth that had long been stagnant at the deep bottom of this vast and violent organization.
“Kwon Tae-oh, that bastard knows. That bastard… knew everything, and then, he did that…”
Tae-hwon gasped and continued to speak. Even though he felt like his consciousness was about to break, he pulled out his memories with only a desperate resolve. In his mind, there was no longer any animosity or contempt for the thirty-year-old Woo Tae-hwon. Woo Tae-hwon was Woo Tae-hwon, and his soul was always the same.
There was no time or room to explain right now, but this was the whole story that he had tried so hard to ignore and avoid. The twenty-year-old Woo Tae-hwon and the thirty-year-old Woo Tae-hwon. They were one. One person’s soul, the same being.
“Kwon Rae-i, you are the rightful heir to Gyeongjeong.”
“What are you talking about… what does that even matter! Tae-hwon is having a seizure right in front of me!”
Kwon Rae-i frowned deeply and examined Tae-hwon. He tried to take all the emergency measures he could, checking his pulse and pupil response. Tae-hwon was more focused on finishing what he had to say. He didn’t care what happened to his body right now.
“It’s okay. I, cough, I was wrong. The Chairman was right…”
“Huh?”
“The Chairman was right… Rae-i.”
“……”
“I, I, until the end, I will… you…”
“……”
“Your future… gasp.”
Woo Tae-hwon’s body, pushed beyond its limits, completely collapsed.
His vision turned black, and his consciousness snapped. It was as if he was falling back into an uncontrollable abyss. Swept away by the torrential rain, he didn’t know where he would drift this time.
Endlessly,
Endlessly,
He was devoured completely.