Flicker – The Endless Hell
Old fluorescent lights flickered with a neurotic tdidik-tak. Under that light, Jo Min-hyuk opened his eyes.
"Ugh..."
His head throbbed like it was splitting open. The drug's effects hadn't fully worn off yet. He blinked, trying to focus his blurry vision as he looked around.
Where... am I?
This was no scenic convalescent hospital. No pretty nurses, no plush beds. Just the stench of mold and rust assaulting his nose. Damp concrete floor. And thick iron chains binding his limbs. He was tied to a rusty metal chair.
"Wha...? Hey! What the hell! Let me go!"
Jo Min-hyuk screamed instinctively. But all that echoed back was his own pathetic voice.
Kkiiik—
Then, a heavy iron door creaked open, and someone entered. Click-clack, click-clack. Familiar high-heel footsteps.
"Awake already? Min-hyuk-ssi?"
It was Kang Min-woo—no, the monster lawyer who'd tricked him into coming here. She was still dressed in her prim suit, coffee cup in hand, tail swishing playfully as she approached.
"You... you bitch...! Where the hell is this? What are you gonna do to me!"
"What do you mean, where? This is your new hospital room."
Min-woo dragged over a chair and sat across from him, propping her chin on her hand as she observed the bound man with keen interest.
"Wow... so this is what it feels like."
"What?"
"Looking down at someone all tied up."
Min-woo murmured to herself. Her eyes clouded over strangely.
"I've been through it before, you know. In some stinking basement, stripped naked... Those bastards laughed their asses off while I begged for my life."
Her face smiled, but her words were anything but.
"One crazy bitch even shoved a tube in my dick and started ranting about cutting it off. I thought I was gonna lose my mind back then... But now that I'm on the other side, I get it. Why they laughed while tormenting me."
She flicked Jo Min-hyuk's nose with her finger.
"This is fun. Really."
"You... crazy bitch..."
A chill ran down Jo Min-hyuk's spine. This woman was insane. No reasoning with her.
"Alright, enough chit-chat. Your visitors are waiting."
Min-woo stood, clapping her hands.
"Come on in~"
Rumble.
Figures emerged from the darkness. Not just one or two—six, no, at least ten. Middle-aged men, housewives, even white-haired elders. Their clothes were ordinary, like everyday folks from the market. But what they held wasn't.
Hammers, pliers, awls, clubs.
"Wh-who are you people...?"
Jo Min-hyuk's voice trembled.
The middle-aged woman at the front spoke up.
"Don't you remember? You drugged my daughter and did unspeakable things... I'm Ji-eun's mom."
"You ruined my granddaughter's life and tossed us some pocket change... That animal bastard—you?"
The old man growled, snapping the pliers.
Victims' families. The powerless people Jo Min-hyuk had silenced with money and influence.
"N-no... We settled! I paid! You signed the agreements!"
Jo Min-hyuk shrieked. But his words fell on deaf ears. Their eyes burned with hatred and murder.
"Min-hyuk-ssi. You know what they say?"
Min-woo whispered from behind.
"The law is far, but the fist is close. They couldn't punish you through the courts, so they came themselves. Our company kindly arranged it."
"N-no! Stay back! Stay away!!"
"Well then. Shall we begin?"
With Min-woo's cheerful signal, the torture started.
"Gah! Aaaagh!!"
Screams erupted. But no one stopped. Even the housewife, who'd probably never hit anyone in her life, trembled as she gripped the sharp awl—not from fear, but from long-suppressed rage and resentment exploding out.
"My daughter... My daughter still screams in her nightmares every night!! Did you sleep soundly with your legs stretched out?!"
Stab! Stab!
"Ma'am! Hold on a sec! That's a vital spot—hits hard."
A black-suited man (an AB Bio employee) watching from the side interjected politely.
"Torture isn't just about hitting hard. It's about control. For stabbing with an awl, I recommend nails instead. Angle it 45 degrees between the nails to hit the nerves right."
"Oh... I see. Thanks, kid."
"No problem. Next up, over here. Ah, pliers for pulling teeth. Classic and popular. But these days, the trend is trimming from the top with clippers. Slice the nerves slowly—it doubles the pain."
The employees coached like friendly gym trainers giving a torture PT session. Jo Min-hyuk thrashed for his life, the families inflicted pain with clumsy but heartfelt sincerity, and Min-woo watched with warm satisfaction.
"Hng... hngh..."
Amid the wholesome scene, some families wept as they continued. Not from guilt—something more profound. A strange sense of liberation and ecstasy lit their faces. The pain inflicted on their family, ignored by police and law—they were repaying it with their own hands.
About an hour later, Jo Min-hyuk was no longer human. Nails and toenails yanked out, body a bloody mess. His voice gone, just wheezing like wind.
"Stop."
A deep voice rang out. The families paused, parting a path. Jang Hyun-soo stepped through.
"Executive Director Jang! You're here!"
The employees bowed. Jang Hyun-soo nodded curtly, then bowed to the families.
"You've all worked hard. We've prepared refreshments outside—go enjoy. I'll handle the cleanup."
They wiped their bloody hands and left, faces visibly relieved.
Now, just the half-dead Jo Min-hyuk and Jang Hyun-soo remained.
"Jo Min-hyuk."
Jang Hyun-soo looked down at him, eyes dry. Anger long evaporated into merciless indifference.
"Pl-please..."
Jo Min-hyuk bubbled blood, mumbling.
"Kill... me... Please... kill me..."
Not begging to live—begging for the agony to end.
"Kill you?"
But Jang Hyun-soo smirked. He pulled a syringe from his pocket. Pink liquid sloshed inside.
"Sorry, can't do that."
"Wha...?"
"Special gift from our president. Far superior and rarer than the 'drugs' you loved so much."
Stab.
The needle plunged into Jo Min-hyuk's neck.
"Guhk...!"
As the drug injected, the impossible happened. Fresh flesh sprouted where nails had been pulled; torn skin knitted together. Pain vanished, body light as a lie.
Diluted Min-woo's blood (Prototype Recovery Serum).
"Wha... huh? No pain... I'm, I'm healing?"
Life returned to Jo Min-hyuk's eyes. He lived. He healed. The hellish torment ended!
"Ahaha... hahaha! I'm alive! No more pain!"
He laughed like a madman. But Jang Hyun-soo whispered cruelly.
"Yeah. You're healed. Body's perfect now."
He signaled a staffer, who brought a new tool: an electric shock device.
"Means we can start over from the beginning."
"...!!"
Jo Min-hyuk's laughter cut off.
This was hell. Avici, eternal suffering.
"No... nooo!!"
"Don't worry. We've got plenty of serum. You won't die even if you want to. This is your lifetime VIP suite."
Zzzap—!
Blue electricity crackled. Jo Min-hyuk's screams echoed through the abandoned factory again.
They'd last all night—no, forever.
Min-woo, watching, smiled brightly and shut the door.
"Get well soon, sir."
Bang.
Darkness swallowed them.
—
In front of the abandoned factory, the empty lot.
"Everyone, great job. It's late— we'll escort you home."
Under our staff's guidance, people boarded the bus. They carried thick envelopes (labeled "hard work fee," read as "hush money") and holiday gift sets like ham or tuna our employees had handed them.
For the price of brutal torture, such mundane, everyday gifts. Just hours ago, their faces had been twisted in rage and grief.
But now, they looked impossibly serene, burdens lifted.
"..."
I couldn't tear my eyes away until the bus vanished into the dark.
The thrill from tormenting Jo Min-hyuk moments ago was gone without a trace.
In its place... a bone-chilling void surged in.
Family...
I had one too. Dad greeting me brightly after my shift: "Oh, son’s home?" Mom nagging about graduation and jobs but always looking out for me. Little sister Yeon-ah, nagging "Oppa, be a man—what's that?!" but bragging about me to her friends.
Three years ago, crushed in those apartment ruins—my world.
Ruby...
Shining Ruby. That glittering bitch.
If I caught her and tore her apart worse than what we did to Jo Min-hyuk...
Would I smile like them? Feel that relief, return to ordinary Kang Min-woo?
"Haa..."
My chest tightened. I didn't know why.
Lately, I'd been happy. The happiest days of my life. Bathed in Abhos's love, playing with Kkkomul, flashing my fancy employee badge, living like a drama heroine, reveling in overflowing joy.
But this nagging unease reminded me my wounds still festered somewhere deep.
Slither.
Suddenly, soft warmth enveloped me from behind. Plush, ample pressure against my back. Warmth seeping through clothes. And that deep ocean scent circling my nose, numbing my brain... instantly reassuring.
"Abhos..."
As if I'd never been down, I smiled and turned.
She gazed down at me. Black hair fluttering in the night breeze, golden eyes mystically glowing in the moonlight.
"Why stand here like this?"
Her gloved hand gently lifted my chin.
"Your face is dark. Didn't like the revenge?"
"Ah... no, not that."
I shook my head, burying my face in her chest.
"Just... feeling weird. Seeing them..."
I hesitated, then mumbled my heart out.
"They're... family, right?"
"Huh?"
Abhos's eyes widened. The ever-poised, aloof her looked blankly at me for a moment.
Was "family" alien to a transcendent being like her?
But the daze passed in a flash. A soft, warm, utterly human smile—unlike any she'd shown—spread on her lips.
"What a foolish question."
She pulled my waist tight.
"Of course. You're my other half, my bride."
Family. Not bound by blood or law.
The unique bond sharing flesh, filling each other's voids.
"Hehe... right? Yeah?"
I giggled, hugging her neck.
Yeah. This was enough. I lost my old family, but now I had a new one.
An absolute ally to protect me, to shatter the world for me.
"Kkiruruk!"
Then, a black blob wedged between us. Kkkomul.
Protesting "Me too! I'm family!", it wrapped around my waist and Abhos's, acting cute.
"Pfft, okay okay. Kkkomul's family too."
"Really, who does it take after with that jealousy..."
We laughed over Kkkomul, gazes meeting.
Cold winter moonlight poured over the factory's bleak scene.
"I love you, Abhos."
"Me too, Min-woo."
Her face drew near. Under the moon, monster and human... no, monster and monster's lips met.
Unbelievable as the bloody revenge drama's end—romantic, sweet night.
