Chapter 331: 340

     It was a clear and eerie sound.

     I raised my head.

Knock, knock–

     The noise outside the door continued once again. If I didn’t hear wrong, then someone must be standing outside the room… How strange. Currently, only Kim Sangyoon and I lived here. A chill passed through me.

     Strangely enough, Moon Issak continued to look at me without any reaction, as if he heard nothing.

     “There’s a knock……”

     “What?”

     “Someone knocked on the door from outside the room…”

     Upon hearing that, Moon Issak arched one eyebrow and stared at me for a moment. He then suddenly cupped my forehead with his big hand. Frowning, he asked, “Are you feverish?”

     “No…”

     “If someone approached the door close enough to knock, how would I not notice?”

     “……”

     “I knew something like this would happen when you wandered around because you felt ‘stifled.'” He dismissed the sound I heard as some auditory hallucination.

     Of course, I wasn’t convinced by that, but Moon Issak had already stood up and forcibly pulled my hand.

     I couldn’t resist him and was soon dragged to the bed. I don’t know whether my blood loss or the rapid deterioration of my physical condition was to blame, but my head was spinning, and I felt dizzy.

     Moon Issak embraced me lightly before laying me down on the bed. “Choi Lee-kyung. Starting today, going out to the garden is prohibited.”

     “……”

     As he said that, Moon Issak took out a handkerchief from his pocket and poured some potion onto it. Then, he used the damp cloth to wipe my bloody face.

     Was this what it meant to ‘Give someone medicine after giving them the illness in the first place?’ I grumbled sarcastically to myself, but I kept my eyes focused on the door where I heard those knocks earlier. I couldn’t hear anything after Moon Issak moved me to the bed, but, somehow, I imagined that there was someone outside…waiting for the door to open.

     Moon Issak sighed briefly after wiping my face with the potion; he seemed to realize where my distracted thoughts were.

     After throwing his handkerchief to the ground, he suddenly stood up and strode to the entrance of the room; the man flung the door open without any warning. From my viewpoint, I could see the corridor beyond.

     And, there…

     “Fine–are you satisfied?”

     “……”

     “Someone knocked on the door, hm? There’s no one there, right?”

     Contrary to Moon Issak’s words, someone was standing there.

     My eyes opened wide. An impossibly handsome–and somehow familiar–man stood right outside the door frame, staring back at me.

     Despite the undeniable presence of such a distinctive person that could hardly be ignored, Moon Issak continued to habitually berate me as if he couldn’t see the man. “Didn’t I tell you? You’ve got awful senses.”

[Lee-kyung-ah.]

     The man called my name in a sweet and low voice–honeyed enough for me to forget about Moon Issak’s verbal abuse. As I stared at the man, I almost forgot how to breathe.

     “From now on, don’t doubt my words and follow my orders. Do you understand?” Moon Issak ranted.

[You have to let me in.]

     I looked between Moon Issak and the man standing beyond the doorway. The two of them merely stared at me without being conscious of each other.

     Soon, Moon Issak seemed to realize that something was strange. He approached me with a frown on his face.

     Although I could see him step closer, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the man at the door. However, Moon Issak soon forced me to look at him by grabbing my collar, “Choi Lee-kyung, what are you looking at?”

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     “I… I…”

[Lee-kyung-ah, I told you earlier, right? Call my name.]

     Even at this moment, his desperate and mellow voice tickled my ears even though his body was hidden by Moon Issak’s towering stature.

     I was suddenly afraid.

     Have I gone mad? Was it as Moon Issak said? That my judgment was somehow impaired? As that thought crossed my mind, a lump formed in my throat; I held my head, feeling confused by the apparition of the man beyond the door.

     That man… who on earth was he? I didn’t even know his name. I don’t even remember anyone with that face. But…

     “Ah…”

     “What are you doing?”

Slap–!

     “Pay attention, hm?”

     “Ungh…”

     Moon Issak roughly slapped me on the cheek when I couldn’t return to my senses. Then, he fixed his gaze–those detestable sharp eyes–on me.

     Moon Issak began to torture me by implanting the visual image of worms crawling through my head. Plagued by these illusions, I cried and scratched at my head with my fingernails. At some point, I realized that the man who stood behind Moon Issak was no longer visible. No matter how many times I blinked, the figure that once filled the doorway was now completely gone.

     “Do your eyes work properly now?” Moon Issak asked.

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     “…….”

     Emotions surged within me–was it relief or disappointment?

     However, Moon Issak showed no consideration for my subdued, silent self. He brutally grabbed my chin and continued to force my eyes to meet his. This time, though, he didn’t plan on giving any painful delusions; however, it felt as if all my thoughts–everything in my head–was being scrutinized.

     Moon Issak delved into my mind, rummaging through it freely. He frowned and eventually averted his gaze. With a perplexed look on his face, he struggled to contain himself and pushed me back onto the bed.

     “Nngh…” I groaned.

     “Don’t make me annoyed. If you want to be turned into a dimwit, feel free to continue.”

     “…….”

     “From tomorrow onwards, I should ban you from meeting Kim Sangyoon as well.”

     Even though my entire body throbbed and ached, my head raised up at those words. I knew well that I was held captive in this place for the sake of Kim Sangyoon’s recovery, but it was excessively cruel for Moon Issak to forbid me from meeting the Warrior.

     I barely managed to hold his hand and begged, “Why…Why won’t you let me meet him?”

     “You had strange thoughts right now, didn’t you?”

     “But… But…”

     “I told you to pull yourself together, didn’t I?”

     “I… I will. So, let me continue seeing Sangyoon-ssi. Please…”

     “No? You’re still not alright in the head. Visual and auditory hallucinations… If Kim Sangyoon wakes up, you’ll have all new delusions as well.” Moon Issak answered, each word driving wedges into my blinking self. “It’s because you’re so unstable that I’m stopping him from waking up.”

     “…What?” I looked at him in surprise, reading between the lines of his words.

     He continued calmly, staring at my shocked face, “Why are you so surprised? Did you really think Kim Sangyoon wasn’t waking because he was too ill or hurt?”

     “Then… Y-you deliberately… kept him unconscious?” I felt a suffocating anger throttle my throat; my earlier assumptions were proven true. However, Moon Issak maintained an indifferent expression, as if he were watching a struggling bug.

     I had been trying to endure Moon Issak’s harassment and violence all for Kim Sangyoon… That gaze felt like pure mockery of my struggle.

     But before I could shout at him, Moon Issak shamelessly opened his mouth once more. His voice was disgustingly condescending; he even let out a small sigh as if he were a teacher dealing with a misbehaving student. “Haah… Choi Lee-kyung. How many times do I have to tell you? You brought this all on yourself.”

     “What…?”

     “Because you were uncooperative, Kim Sangyoon wasn’t able to wake up and withered away.”

     “What…!”

     “You didn’t trust me.” With his arms crossed, he looked down at me with an overbearing look. “Think about why Kim Sangyoon was injured in the first place. That’s your fault as well, hm?”

     “……”

     “But you couldn’t even fully open your heart and obey me. Didn’t you realize that Kim Sang-yoon’s life was in my hands?”

     “…Enough…”

     “So, is it unfair for me to call you selfish? I’m just stating facts.”

     “Stop it…!”

     His words were like battering rams against my heart, shattering it into pieces. It was similar to the feeling of a cold, sharp blade plunging itself into my chest.

     My mind went blank, and I couldn’t resist Moon Isak’s words. Everything was my fault, and to save Kim Sangyoon, I had to… give up. I didn’t even know what I had to give up, but it felt like I should let go of whatever I was desperately holding onto.

     It didn’t suit me…It’s too much… Yeah… I had been that way for a long time…

     “It’s all greed, Choi Lee-kyung.” Moon Issak said.

     “……”

     “Such power doesn’t suit someone of your level–it doesn’t suit you.”

     “……”

     “Look, what can you possibly do alone?” Moon Isak grabbed my neck. Slowly tightening his grip, he declared, “This is your fate–to be broken like this.”

     Suddenly, the ring finger of my left hand began to heat up, as if it opposed Moon Issak’s words.

     I turned my fidgety gaze towards my hand. And there, upon the crumpled finger where the ring was supposed to be, a shining sentence appeared.

     “…Ah.” I gasped in pain. Simultaneously, I felt the black fog in my head being washed away.

     “Have you gone crazy?” When he saw the corners of my lips quirking up into a smile, Moon Issak released the strength in his fingers. Perhaps he thought I wasn’t receiving enough oxygen.

     That was Moon Issak’s downfall. As soon as I was released from his grasp, my now violet lips moved, “[Seo Dawon].”

     “…What?”

     My voice didn’t come out clearly because I had just been strangled, but I knew well… I knew that my summons didn’t actually need my voice to be audible. What I needed was blood and my desire for revenge.

     “Choi Lee-kyung, what did you say?”

     “You should have… cut off… my tongue, instead…”

     “What the…” Moon Issak couldn’t understand the meaning behind my words and pulled my collar, brows wrinkled. Thanks to that, only I could see the darkness rising up from behind him.