GMC 183

“I thought I’d been through quite a few incidents in my time, but being imprisoned by a cult is a first.”

Only after hearing that steady tone did Choi Hwan mutter, appearing finally relieved. Moon Gyeon-woo, who had been observing Yeon-rok intently with bloodshot eyes, let out a sigh. He bumped his head against the glass window once with a thud and anxiously chewed on his lips. His already chapped lips tore, and droplets of blood leaked out.

“……Fuck, seriously. This is driving me crazy. When the hell is Yeom Cheon-ho going to clean up this mess? We need to get him to a hospital quickly.”

He seemed completely unable to maintain his composure. Seeing this, Choi Hwan grew more anxious and asked Moon Gyeon-woo.

“You didn’t happen to make some kind of poison, did you?”

“……It’s not poison. In theory, it should work. But if everything worked according to theory, why would clinical trials exist in the world? There might be severe side effects.”

“No, but are you insane? You actually gave yourself a name erasure injection?”

Choi Hwan looked as if he couldn’t fathom what possible benefit there was in erasing one’s own name. Moon Gyeon-woo replied in a voice that was utterly flat.

“I wanted to prove that my feelings remain the same even without something like a name.”

“You crazy bastard.”

Choi Hwan muttered, appalled. However, there was almost no hostility in his voice. It was as if the days when he and Moon Gyeon-woo fought so sharply with one another had vanished. The current situation had a huge influence on this. No, in truth, Choi Hwan had been showing a slightly different side of himself even before this.

“Why didn’t you just make it roughly?”

“The environment didn’t allow for ‘roughly.’ There were multiple people monitoring me, and a researcher was attached to me. Above all, I thought they might come to rescue us before the drug was finished.”

A brief silence followed Moon Gyeon-woo’s words. Rubbing his forehead, where sweat kept forming, against the cool wall, Yeon-rok asked.

“How many days has it been since we arrived here?”

“Probably about five days as of today. I don’t understand why they can’t find us.”

Choi Hwan muttered gloomily. Moon Gyeon-woo, blinking as if the sleep he’d missed for two consecutive days was catching up to him, informed them.

“When we were being transferred to the fishing boat, the coast guard just let us through.”

“……What?”

“I regained consciousness halfway through and saw it myself. [Read on Read BL Novels]The coast guard just pretended not to see us and let them go. [visit our site]They’re probably fellow believers or they took bribes.”

Speechless, Choi Hwan let out a hollow laugh. The corrupt connections of the cult, which had persisted for decades, were deeper than he had imagined. Moon Gyeon-woo continued.

“Even if that man Yeom Cheon-ho is incompetent, that idiot disappeared so loudly that we’ll be rescued eventually. The problem is when.”

“Are you going to keep calling me an idiot?”

Choi Hwan glared, but he seemed to lack the energy to actually fight. Moon Gyeon-woo glanced back at him and muttered reluctantly.

“I can’t say it was a good idea to come all the way to that site with Yeon-rok, but I mean that doing the live broadcast was a good move.”

“Is this actually a compliment?”

Choi Hwan reacted skeptically to the first kind words he’d heard since parting with Moon Gyeon-woo. Yeon-rok laughed again. As his fever rose, the strength began to drain from his body. He squeezed out his remaining energy to speak.

“Still, it’s a relief. Gyeon-woo has the ability to create drugs like this, and you’re famous, Choi Hwan, so they won’t be able to harm you easily.”

As he spoke, he realized there was no reason why they couldn’t harm Yeon-rok himself. Was that why they tested the Name Removal Drug on him? Realizing this anew, Yeon-rok scratched his cheek. The other two seemed to share the same sentiment, as their expressions darkened instantly.

“We have to escape before that crazy [stolen content]cult leader does [visit our site]something else,” Moon Gyeon-woo said in a grim voice.

The three of them looked at each other, exchanging a silent gaze.

Since they didn’t know where ears might be eavesdropping, they couldn’t even discuss a way to escape. Just as Yeon-rok hadn’t mentioned Shin Se-young’s situation, he wondered if these two were hiding some clever plan. He was curious, but he only sighed and suffered in silence. It was because of the pain spreading across his chest again. He tried his best to stifle the groan, but Moon Gyeon-woo noticed sensitively.

“It hurts a lot, doesn’t it? Losing a name is just as painful as when it first appears.”

The experienced one, who had already gone through the same thing, spoke. Once the short burst of pain vanished, Yeon-rok barely managed to answer.

“How long will this last?”

“I’m not sure. This drug is an improved version of the one I injected back then.”

Yeon-rok sighed again. In truth, the fact that his name was disappearing was more distressing than the physical pain. This was the means by which he was connected to the three of them. It proved their relationship more certainly than dating or marriage. He felt melancholy that the name, which he once thought would be better off gone, was now disappearing piece by piece.

“When my name is completely gone…”

Eventually, Yeon-rok cautiously revealed his inner thoughts.

“……Will we still be the same then?”

Because it was a relationship bound by names, he felt fearful and anxious. Just imagining the name partners’ feelings cooling the moment the name vanished and being ignored as before made his heart ache. He had lived vibrantly with them for only a few months, and he didn’t have the confidence to live alone again.

“Even without something like a name, you and I are still family,” Choi Hwan answered in a voice devoid of any playfulness.

Then Moon Gyeon-woo spoke.

“My feelings for you remained the same even when my name disappeared.”

When Yeon-rok looked up, Moon Gyeon-woo gave him a tender smile.

“It’s not that you become lovers and family because a name appears. It’s that because you are the kind of relationship that can be so, a name appears in the first place.”

Hearing their words, his anxious heart calmed down a bit. Although Yeom Cheon-ho was not present, he felt certain that he would have given a similar answer.

That night, while in a light sleep, Yeon-rok felt that his name had completely vanished. Even without lifting his clothes to check, he could feel that there was nothing left in that spot. He looked at Moon Gyeon-woo and Choi Hwan, who were dozing off with tired faces.

He carefully searched his heart to see if anything had changed. ……It was the same. Gaining the relief and certainty that the three of them would be the same, Yeon-rok closed his eyelids again.

The next day, Yeom Cheon-ryul came to visit them. The pain had completely subsided, [Read on Read BL Novels]but stolen contentperhaps because unauthorized copyhis name was gone, Yeon-rok was leaning back without much energy. Looking down at him, Yeom Cheon-ryul commanded.

“Strip him.”

A believer promptly removed Yeon-rok’s top. Upon confirming that the clover-shaped name that had been there was gone, Yeom Cheon-ryul’s face brightened. As if the result exceeded his expectations, he smiled so wide his lips seemed to tear. It was a grotesque smile.

On the other hand, Yeon-rok’s heart sank. He had thought it would be fine for the name to disappear, but once he confirmed it actually was gone, he felt a void in his heart. Still, he steadfastly pretended to be unfazed. Because there were people who would suffer more if he showed his own distress.

“Hehe. Without a name, he won’t even be able to act as the leader of the Hwamyeong Cult,” Yeom Cheon-ryul muttered gloomily.

Yeon-rok scoffed inwardly. Having frequented the Hwamyeong Cult, he was certain that even if Yeom Cheon-ryul succeeded in removing Yeom Cheon-ho’s name, it wouldn’t matter.

The people there relied on Yeom Cheon-ho himself rather than a ‘name.’ Even if the name disappeared, Yeom Cheon-ho would still be Yeom Cheon-ho. Unlike Yeom Cheon-ryul, who could barely maintain his position because he had a fake name, the ability Yeom Cheon-ho had used to climb from the bottom wouldn’t go anywhere.

Did Yeom Cheon-ryul really not know that? Or was he pretending not to know?

Scanning the spot where Yeon-rok’s name had vanished with a satisfied gaze, Yeom Cheon-ryul held out his hand. What his aide placed in his hand was another injection. This time, Moon Gyeon-woo’s face turned pale.

“Stop! You don’t know what side effects there will be if he’s injected consecutively! I told you there would be no more cooperation if something happens to Yeon-rok!”

“Hehehe.”

Yeom Cheon-ryul ignored Moon Gyeon-woo. As he raised both arms and looked up at the sky, a strange radiance flickered in his eyes. He looked as if he were on drugs.

“Heaven is helping me! Finally, all these trials will end, and the world of this Yeom Cheon-ryul will truly arrive. So do not worry! This will surely succeed as well.”

Moon Gyeon-woo was momentarily speechless. He had calculated that if he could prove the drug actually worked, he could negotiate a plausible deal with Yeom Cheon-ryul. However, the point he failed to anticipate was that Yeom Cheon-ryul was not a rational leader, but a narcissistic cult leader.

Without a shred of hesitation, Yeom Cheon-ryul plunged the injection into Yeon-rok. Yeon-rok frowned at the pain. Choi Hwan, who had been frozen in silence, let out a single scream. Yeon-rok quietly swallowed his breath. Yeom Cheon-ryul shouted with a face full of ecstasy.

“Tomorrow, I shall lead you to a glorious position. Thousands of believers will witness with their own eyes the dignity of the Heavenly Emperor and the grace of Heaven that I have been granted.”

To the overwhelmed Yeom Cheon-ryul, Yeon-rok asked in a calm voice.

“What do you think misfortune is?”

“What?”

Thinking it was a random question, Yeom Cheon-ryul frowned.

“I don’t believe in things like gods, but stolen contentI do [unauthorized copy]believe in luck. I’ve [Read on Read BL Novels]lived unhappily all this time, but looking back lately, I’ve started to think that maybe that was actually luck.”