Chapter 196
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 196
"Get away from her, you crazy bastards!"
Si-woo screamed, swinging the fire extinguisher to drive away the men clinging to Se-hee Noona.
The girls shrieked.
Startled, the two men scrambled away from Se-hee.
"Se-hee! Get your clothes on!"
Si-woo stood protectively in front of her, shielding her with his body.
With a grim expression, he glared at Hyeok-jin Hyung and Seong-guk Hyung.
The two of them looked back and forth in confusion between Si-woo, who was glaring at them with a fire extinguisher in hand, and Jun Hyung, who was collapsed on the floor.
Si-woo stole a quick glance at Se-hee Noona behind him.
Reacting to his words, she was pulling the top of her dress back up over her breasts.
Fortunately, it seemed she wasn't so far gone that she couldn't understand him.
However, she looked too weak to get fully dressed on her own.
Si-woo reached for his jacket, which he had tossed onto the sofa, intending to cover her with it.
Just as he felt a flicker of relief, thinking he might be able to get her out of there—
Thud!
A sharp, agonizing pain shot through his side.
'Huh?!'
Still clutching the jacket in both hands, Si-woo felt his feet leave the floor as his body was hoisted into the air.
Crash!
A moment later, his head and back slammed into the floor with a heavy thud.
His vision went white, and his skull vibrated from the impact.
Before he could react, Hyeok-jin Hyung was already on top of him in a mount position.
The impact just now had been a massive tackle from Hyeok-jin.
It seemed he didn't just know how to box; he was trained in various martial arts.
Thwack! Thud! Crack!
Pinned to the floor, Si-woo’s face was pummeled by Hyeok-jin’s fists.
Soon, Seong-guk Hyung joined in, mercilessly stomping on Si-woo’s head.
Si-woo thrashed and struggled with all his might, but his opponents were fit, older men who trained regularly.
Taking down even one of them earlier had been a stroke of incredible luck.
He tried desperately to break free as they kicked and beat him, but it was futile.
He was subjected to a one-sided beating, losing track of how many times he’d been hit.
His lips and cheeks were torn open, blood splattering the floor.
His entire face—around his eyes, his forehead, his cheekbones—was swelling rapidly.
Is this how it ends?
A crushing sense of helplessness washed over him again.
Then, he felt something hard pressing into his back.
Lying beneath him was his navy suit jacket, the one he had picked up to cover Se-hee.
In his dazed state, grasping at straws, Si-woo twisted his body and reached for the jacket.
He felt the hard object near the outer pocket.
He immediately thrust his hand inside.
His fingers closed around the object, and he pulled it out.
What he held in his hand was a heavy, jagged shard of a broken glass bottle—something he hadn't had a chance to dispose of back in the bathroom.
Si-woo pressed the sharp edge of the glass deep into Hyeok-jin’s thigh and dragged it sideways in a long, jagged line.
"Aaaagh!!"
Hyeok-jin screamed, recoiling from the sharp, sudden pain.
Startled, Seong-guk Hyung grabbed Si-woo’s arm, the one holding the glass shard.
Squeezing out his last bit of strength, Si-woo desperately grabbed the clothes of both Hyeok-jin, who was still mounted on him, and Seong-guk, who was pinning his arm.
"Se-hee! Now! Run!"
Si-woo screamed with everything he had left.
But Se-hee Noona was still in no condition to move properly.
Hyeok-jin, still on top of him, began to choke him.
His breath was cut off, and his vision started to fade to white again.
If he passed out now, Se-hee Noona would be at their mercy with no one to help her.
"Se... Se-hee... run...!"
He fought to stay conscious, but as Hyeok-jin tightened his grip on his collar and throat, his awareness began to slip away.
"Se... Se-hee...!!!"
Even as he drifted off, Si-woo trembled, refusing to let go of their clothes until the very end.
Slowly, the strength left his arms.
Just as he thought it was all over—
BAM!!!
Hyeok-jin, who had been pinning him down, was sent flying across the floor by a sudden, forceful impact.
* * *
"Haah...! Haah...! Gasp!"
With Hyeok-jin’s hands gone from his throat, Si-woo could finally breathe.
He immediately scrambled into a sitting position, gasping for air as he tried to clear his head.
Through his blurred vision, he saw Cheol-jin tangled in a brawl with both Hyeok-jin and Seong-guk.
The "object" that had sent Hyeok-jin flying was Cheol-jin, who had thrown his entire body into the man to save Si-woo.
Cheol-jin was focusing his attack on Hyeok-jin’s wounded thigh.
He had his arms wrapped around the injured leg, digging his fingers into the wound like a vice.
"Aaaagh! Argh!"
Hyeok-jin screamed like a madman.
"Let go! You little shit! Let go!!"
Thud! Thwack! Thud!
Seong-guk Hyung was frantically punching the back of Cheol-jin’s head, trying to tear him off.
Si-woo immediately lunged at Seong-guk, grabbing him by the waist and pinning him against the wall.
But his head spun—likely from the drugs or the beating—and his strength began to fail.
Even as they tumbled to the floor, Seong-guk kept swinging his fists.
Si-woo held on for dear life, pinning him down to keep him from moving.
In his hazy state, he glanced toward Cheol-jin.
Cheol-jin was still death-gripping Hyeok-jin’s leg.
Si-woo squeezed out every last drop of strength to keep Seong-guk pinned.
How much time had passed?
From far away, the faint sound of a siren echoed.
A moment later, the door burst open, and people in police uniforms flooded into the room.
Had someone called them?
Relief washed over him, and the strength left his hands. He slumped forward, collapsing over Seong-guk.
Si-woo caught one last glimpse of Se-hee Noona, who had managed to fix her clothes.
Then, he lost consciousness and his eyes drifted shut.
* * *
"Si-woo... Si-woo, wake up... please? Si-woo! Si-woo!"
Se-hee Noona’s voice, filled with desperation, echoed in his ears.
He could hear her, but his eyes were so swollen he couldn't open them to see.
The faint outline of her face shimmered before him like a ghost.
"Dammit, seriously!! Why did you push yourself so hard? If you knew it was dangerous, you should have just run away and left me!"
Her voice cracked with a sob.
"Look at all this blood! Your face is so swollen, and your lips are all torn up... hic... it hurts so much to see you like this... sob... please, wake up! Si-woo! Please!!"
He felt her warm tears falling onto his swollen cheek.
It felt like she had him lying on the sofa with his head in her lap, looking down at him as she wept.
To let her know he was awake, Si-woo reached out and gently placed his hand on her blurry cheek.
Se-hee Noona’s eyes widened as she felt his touch.
"Seriously! You really scared me! You always have to do the most reckless things!"
She cried out, then suddenly pulled his head into a fierce hug against her lap.
Si-woo was subjected to a crushing squeeze between her breasts and thighs.
"Ugh... ow! It hurts! It hurts, Se-hee!"
Si-woo groaned in pain from the intense pressure against his injuries.
She immediately loosened her grip and checked to see if he was okay.
"Are you... are you okay, Se-hee?"
Si-woo’s voice was a low, raspy whisper.
"Seriously!! Worry about yourself! Sob... what is wrong with you...!"
Her eyes were bloodshot as she choked back sobs, finally bursting into a fresh wave of tears.
Si-woo reached up, stroking her hair and arm to comfort her.
* * *
They were still inside the room at the private room cafe.
Si-woo sat up from Se-hee’s lap and looked around to assess the situation.
The room was a mess.
The remnants of the brutal struggle with the older guys were everywhere.
It seemed he had only been unconscious for a few minutes.
Se-mi Noona and Jun Hyung had apparently regained consciousness before him and were sitting up.
Hyeok-jin Hyung was receiving basic first aid for his thigh wound from the medical team that had arrived with the police.
Fortunately, the wound didn't seem as deep as Si-woo had feared.
In the center of the room, Cheol-jin was talking to the police, helping them wrap things up.
Surprisingly, the person who had called the police was Cheol-jin.