By Zephyria 
That was when it happened. The corner of Kang Pyeong-won’s ragged mouth curled upward as if it were about to tear.
“Ji Jun-il, you’re spouting some quite interesting words.”
It was his usual sinister voice. He crafted a soft tone using a low, coarse voice. It felt like a twisted painting—one of those bizarre images where a snake’s body is attached to a human face.
‘Gulp…’
Jun-il swallowed hard once more. The air felt crazily sticky. An unpleasant sensation, as if a strand of hair had gotten into his mouth. He stood on high alert, fearing that the madman might lung at him at any moment.
Soon, his mouth slowly opened.
“Have you ever looked through those two eyeballs?”
The words that followed were utterly random. Like a stray bullet fired by mistake.
“More nonsense like a lunatic…!”
Jun-il frowned sharply. How was it that he couldn’t communicate with this man even in a situation like this? He was sick and tired of the man disrupting the atmosphere with such nonsense.
“How long do you think thugs like you can keep running wild?”
Jun-il gripped his expandable baton tightly. If necessary, he intended to thrust it right into Kang Pyeong-won’s lower abdomen. Sweat poured down like rain from the tension, soaking his upper clothes.
“Do you think I’ll give up just because people like you use dirty hush money? I’m going to bite onto you like a dog and never let go.”
The heavy air was suffocating. His peripheral nerves were taut. It felt as if the back of his head was swelling up.
“I’m asking if you’ve ever seen how that small, soft baby would snuggle up to me.”
However, this madman continued to mutter, sounding truly like someone high on drugs.
…That he hadn’t even dared to think of hugging back, but instead had clung to him like a baby, pressing his two arms tightly against his armpits.
That he had followed him around, trailing after him like a chick that had just hatched from its egg. That he had babbled “I love you” every day, walking into the bed with those small, soft feet and pressing himself against the man’s side as if to crush his cheek.
Even though the man had gone ballistic, telling him to stop with the love talk, Eun-myeong’s eyes had simply welled up. Seeing him look so genuinely hurt, the man had felt an immense sense of pleasure internally.
“He was so pretty when he slept, breathing softly… My god.”
He suddenly covered his face with his large hand. He rubbed his face harshly, and surprisingly, his brow was furrowed as if he were truly dying of agony.
“It hurts because that is gone, yes…”
A streak of moonlight split his sharp nose in half. He wore an expression that almost looked like longing. Jun-il wondered what on earth he was looking at, only to realize it was none other than Eun-myeong’s underwear.
“Even at our first meeting, the baby’s bottom was just the size of my palm…”
It was a face that was excessively unfamiliar. Hadn’t Kang Pyeong-won’s only expressions been a blank face or a mask-like smile?
It was the face of someone who had lost something precious and cherished. To see such a damp expression of sorrow… he really seemed to be suffering from lovesickness.
Shudder. Goosebumps broke out on the back of Jun-il’s neck. It felt as if a beast were imitating a human. It was beyond cruel; it was disgusting, making his entire body break out in hives.
“I wonder if I’ve really gone mad. What do you think, in your eyes?”
His eyes gleamed wildly between his thick fingers, which were spread like scissors. His chest, which had been heaving for a while, suddenly stopped moving. Just like a corpse. This psycho had even stopped breathing.
“Do I look crazy even to a cop who upholds justice?”
“Hmm?” he asked, stepping closer.
“I’m asking how I look to you right now.”
The man clenched his fist and slammed it against the wall with a loud bang.
“Do I look like a man in love? Hmm? Do I look like a man driven mad by lovesickness after losing his lover?”
Jun-il kept his mouth shut tight. This insane human…
“I have to act properly so the baby will be fooled by my love. Only then will he return to me on his own.”
Not long ago, Jun-il had heard news from a hubae who followed Kang Pyeong-won. Apparently, he had cut off a perfectly healthy finger and then sewn it back on.
There are often people like that. Those who deliberately act like mindless lunatics. They do that madness to receive a reduced sentence.
Even so, at most, they would bang their heads against the iron bars or drool with their mouths open, pretending not to understand words; they didn’t act like psychopaths to this extent.
It was a level that an ordinary person couldn’t even mimic.
“Go on, spout more from that open mouth of yours.”
Suddenly, Kang Pyeong-won glared fiercely at Jun-il’s tongue. His gaze flickered wildly. It felt as if he might cut it off if things went slightly wrong.
Jun-il’s hand twitched. He tried to raise the baton, but crunch, the man’s leather shoe trampled down on Jun-il’s wrist.
“Ugh…!”
In the midst of this, a voice drifted in from the next room.
“Hello? Is this the police?”
The voice was kept very low, but the soundproofing was absolute garbage. It was so bad that even the heavy, ragged breathing could be heard.
“I reported this earlier, so when on earth are you coming? I’m telling you there’s a crazy person in our inn…! Last time, he smashed up the room next door.”
The person spoke in a hurried, whispering torrent, sounding desperate. Shaking as if they had seen a horror movie, it seemed the person in the next room had seen it.
That this man, Kang Pyeong-won, had broken into the place…
“No, he hasn’t done anything today, but I can tell just by looking at a person’s face. Physiognomy is a science, a science.”
Kang Pyeong-won slowly bent his knees in front of him. A large shadow loomed over him… Jun-il gripped the baton in his hand tightly.
“I’m telling you, that man has the eyes of a killer.”
Indeed, Kang Pyeong-won’s eyes flashed. The voice drifting from the side seemed to speak for Jun-il’s own heart. Eyes of a killer, was it?
He had seen countless crazy bastards until now, but he thought this was the first time he’d seen someone so devoid of emotion. But right now, he was boiling over with rage. It was literally a gaze that looked as if he wanted to grab something, kidnap it, and tear it apart.
“…….”
The reason Jun-il hadn’t been able to leave Gyeryong Bay was precisely because of this man. Because of him, who was like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.
A few days ago, someone had come forward on their own, claiming they had killed the Director, saying they couldn’t withstand the pressure because the news kept reporting it.
‘I did it…’
There was evidence, a motive, and no alibi.
And yet, why did doubts keep remaining? The case had already been transferred to another jurisdiction, and orders had come from above to wash their hands of it, but…
Was it a detective’s intuition? Jun-il couldn’t move a single step away from Gyeryong Bay.
A large hand reached out toward him. A pitch-black spider writhed within the shadow. The voice from the next room echoed like a thumping beat in his ears.
‘I’m telling you, that man has the eyes of a killer…’
Every pore of Jun-il’s body tightened, and his peripheral nerves were screaming.
That was when it happened. The tension that had been swirling rapidly was suddenly snapped. Buzz, buzz, buzz. The man’s cell phone began to ring.
“…….”
“…….”
At the end of the silence, the man’s gaze flickered back to his chest. He slid his hand inside his jacket, pulled out the cell phone, and looked down. The numbers on the screen were briefly visible. It was a number Jun-il knew. It was Lee Eun-joo.
Without answering the call, Kang Pyeong-won spoke.
“You say you know where Lee Eun-myeong is.”
Then, he fixed his gaze on the air and took a deep breath as if gauging something.
“But I don’t smell that flower here.”
He muttered as if talking to himself. Even staying for a moment, that fishy smell usually vibrated in his nose.
“Right, he wasn’t hiding in this house.”
The man’s eyelids trembled. Blue veins popped out on his neck as if a chill were running through his entire body. As if he had realized something, his pupils dilated like someone awakening from drugs.
He straightened his bent body. He then grabbed the underwear and stuffed it into his back pocket.
Step, step. Jun-il watched the back of the man as he left without hesitation.
“Stop right there!”
Coming back to his senses, Jun-il rushed out into the hallway barefoot. He wanted to hold him back by any means, but there was no crime to charge him with.
Eventually, the hallway became silent.
Drip, drip. Sweat ran down Jun-il’s forehead. His strength vanished. His intuition had triggered a terrifying warning. If it hadn’t been for the phone call in the middle… he might have died on the spot.
The man gripped the steering wheel frantically. He increased his speed wildly, swerving sharply.
—What are you going to do!
A voice that sounded like it was about to break erupted from the cell phone beside him. The proud Lee Eun-joo was crumbling.
—Just how far are you driving that child, for the child to…
She spat out the words with difficulty, her voice drenched in tears.
—What are you going to do, really… You should have told me, then I would have…
The voice soaked in indignation was soon drowned out by a loud crash! He smashed through a pitch-black iron gate with the car. Sharp rebar pierced through the glass windows.
“Oh my, Boss!”
The warden, who had been waiting at the entrance, ran out. Bear had contacted them in advance to ensure the path was cleared.
He followed the warden inside. Huff, puff. The smells of all sorts of humans who had passed through this place hit his nose, mixed up like a messy porridge.
“Since he’s an Omega, we gave him a private room specially. I wonder what brings you to look for him.”
Despite the voice beside him, the man didn’t give a single answer. He simply peered through the iron bars, which looked like open frames, one by one.
His heart throbbed wildly like a live fish. He had to stay sharp and find him. He couldn’t trust anyone. What if someone tried to scam him using Eun-myeong?
He didn’t blink once, fearing he might miss something.
And then.
A clue to the scent began to emerge.
The scent of lilac, damp with water. The man’s side heaved as if stabbed by a knife. His internal organs twisted again like an old python. As if he were about to scream and die right then and there.
His steady steps grew faster. Soon, his pace accelerated further, driven by the sound of his heart beating violently like a drum.
“B-Boss?”
In an instant, the prison warden was left far behind. The man alone reached the end of the hallway. A corner where darkness pooled deeply.
He took one more step. The incandescent light flickered on. A beam of light poured over his eyelids.
“…….”
Indeed, there was someone curled up small behind the iron bars.
He was wrapped tightly in a rag-like blanket, resembling a hanafuda card layout. Perhaps because such a place was too cold and scary, he was curling his white toes and hiding them under the blanket. It was none other than…
“Snooze, puff…”
It was Eun-myeong, his face not just pale, but ghostly blue.