Escape
Escape
Cheolkeok.
The moment the sound of the front door closing and the digital door lock engaging echoed through the cramped studio apartment,
Haram slid down with her back against the door and collapsed onto the floor.
"Haa, haa......."
Her breath was caught right in her throat.
Her heart was pounding frantically, as if it were about to smash through her ribs and burst out.
"Heok, heok."
Even though it was clear that no one was following them,
the moment she stepped out of the convenience store, Jeong Haram had grabbed Kang Doyoon and bolted.
Because her only thought was that she wanted to get the hell away from that damn convenience store.
After running like that, they arrived at the studio apartment.
Only after shutting the door and slumping down beside Kang Doyoon,
"Huu..."
did her mind, which had gone completely blank, begin to regain its senses.
What on earth.
What the hell had just happened?
It was barely ten minutes ago,
yet her memories were fragmented and choppy, as if she had lost consciousness and just woken up.
The memory of walking into the convenience store and being greeted by the clueless part-timer.
It felt like she had gotten caught on the ice cream freezer and suffered an unsightly wardrobe malfunction.
The heavily built guy who had snatched Haram as she was about to pay.
- "You like this kind of thing, don't you?"
That phys-ed student who spouted such a trashy line.
'That son of a bitch.'
The moment his face crossed her mind, rage surged straight to the top of her head.
Did that bastard shovel so much protein down his throat that his brain got filled with protein too?
Pulling down someone else's clothes out of nowhere, and what?
Telling her to go with him?
'Is that bastard's brain completely ruled by his dick?'
It was bastards like him that dragged down the average of men altogether.
Even as she seethed with anger,
Haram found it strange that the thought of taking revenge on that guy didn't even cross her mind.
"........"
The sheer force of the grip he used when holding her, claiming he just wanted to talk.
It was an overwhelming, violent grip strength that Haram had never experienced once in her twenty years of life.
No matter how much she struggled, her thinned wrist didn't budge an inch, as if it were shackled in iron.
In the face of the primal violence known as 'strength', she realized to her very bones for the first time in her life just how helpless and frail a woman's body was.
She had been so terrified,
that her brain had practically bleached white.
She had no memories after that.
She probably was being dragged along by that phys-ed student,
but she truly couldn't remember a single thing.
- "What are you doing holding onto my friend?"
Until she heard Kang Doyoon's voice, that was.
Kang Doyoon, having appeared out of nowhere, blocked the phys-ed student's path.
The guy who had always walked on eggshells around her like a total wimp stood blocking a man who was a whole head taller than him, shooting him a chilled glare.
When the flustered phys-ed student backed off, Doyoon brought Haram here to his studio apartment without a word.
"......."
Inside the room where only silence lingered,
Haram kept her head buried low and stared only at the floor.
'... I'm really going crazy.'
What was she supposed to say in this situation?
What would the usual Jeong Haram have done?
'Hey, what was that just now! That was hilarious, haha! Who do you think you are, a dark knight? It was so cringe I thought I was gonna die!' She would have burst out laughing, belittled Doyoon, and thoroughly made a laughingstock out of him.
Because that was always the pattern, and Haram's way of asserting dominance.
Yet right now, even that usual sarcasm wouldn't come out of her mouth.
As if her throat were completely blocked, it was overwhelming even just to breathe.
It was Doyoon who broke the silence.
"Are you okay? Does your wrist hurt?"
A calm, subdued voice.
At this single short question, Haram was instantly rendered speechless.
'Geez, anyone listening would think he's my boyfriend.'
If it were the usual Doyoon, he definitely would have panicked first, fidgeted, and stammered over his words.
It would be normal for him to make a huge fuss, saying, 'I was scared to death.'
Yet right now, the guy was unnervingly calm.
To the point where he looked after Haram as if this was nothing at all.
She wanted to snap back at him right away,
"........"
but perhaps because she had been so badly startled, her voice wouldn't come out.
Meanwhile,
the guy stepped forward and knelt down on one knee.
Then, he carefully reached out toward Haram's right arm, which she had been clutching.
Seueuk.
Doyoon's hand gently wrapped around Haram's wrist.
It was the exact spot the phys-ed student had roughly grabbed.
"It turned red. Doesn't it hurt?"
A vivid red mark clearly remained over her fair, slender wrist.
Doyoon furrowed his brow slightly and slowly stroked that reddened skin with the tip of his thumb.
"Eut......."
The moment their skin made contact, Haram inadvertently gasped.
The rough, dry body heat of a man transmitted from each knuckle of Doyoon's fingers.
That heat felt as if it were slithering up her blood vessels like a snake along her wrist.
Merely from their skin touching, a strange chill prickled straight down her spine.
It felt completely alien.
"...... A-Are you crazy? Let go."
Haram snapped curtly while averting her gaze.
However, the voice slipping from her lips was trembling pathetically,
and above all, her body didn't resist at all.
'W-Why is it doing this?'
Contrary to reason screaming that she should pull away this instant,
her held hand stayed still as if nailed to the spot.
Rather, an unfamiliar instinct wriggled within her, wanting to lean into that warm body heat.
'A-Am I seriously going crazy?'
Thinking this kind of crap.
It was seriously, overwhelmingly embarrassing.
Kang Doyoon won't notice this, right?
Yeah. There's no way.
There's no way a virgin bastard could notice something like this.
Jeong Haram stealthily looked up at Kang Doyoon.
Their eyes met directly.
"......!"
Reflected cleanly inside Doyoon's black pupils was the face of a beautiful girl wavering in total fluster.
"Let go... Let go, you crazy bastard! Why the fuck are you grabbing someone's arm?!"
"Ah. Sorry."
Even after barking at him without realizing it,
Haram grabbed her burning wrist with her other hand and screamed inwardly.
Only then did it really sink in that her arm had been held by Kang Doyoon.
'Crazy, crazy, crazy. Why the hell did I just stay still? I should have slapped it away! I should have cursed him out and kicked him!'
Her heart raced frantically.
It was qualitatively different from the fear-induced heart rate she felt when caught by the phys-ed student.
'Why is my heart beating like this? Right, it's just because I haven't calmed down from earlier. It must be because I was so shocked.'
Her desperate self-rationalization was only momentary.
Haram tried her best to act nonchalant, placing her hand on the floor and stumbling up to her feet.
Somehow.
I have to escape from this situation somehow.
Repeating that to herself, she feigned abrasiveness and changed the subject toward Doyoon, who was still looking up at her.
"A-About earlier...... why did you step up like that? Isn't that an overreaction?"
She put on as prickly a tone as possible.
She tried to convey the nuance of 'Who do you think you are, playing the hero?', but the end of her voice cracked badly.
Doyoon slowly stood up from his spot and chuckled softly.
It was a strange smile full of composure, with no mockery or ridicule mixed in.
"Then should I have just watched?"
"......!"
A short retort thrown back.
Haram was instantly choked up for words.
Normally, it was a situation where she would have immediately made fun of him and reclaimed dominance, saying, 'Yeah, you should have just popped some popcorn and watched, dumbass. Hyung would have taken care of everything.'
Yet right now, that cheeky mouth of hers felt glued shut and wouldn't budge.
Rather, the words 'thank you' were tickling near the edge of her throat, trying to surface.
Feeling grateful to that loser Kang Doyoon?
Me?
'I can never admit that.'
Whose fault was it that such a thing happened in the first place?
It was all because Kang Doyoon threatened her with the switch.
A mission?
Don't make me laugh.
Why did I even have to clear that?
She could practically hear the sound of her pride getting scratched.
Even so,
without Kang Doyoon, she probably would have been dragged away by that phys-ed student.
"......."
Honestly speaking,
that situation had been terrifying.
That was why,
after dodging his gaze back and forth, Haram finally mumbled in a small, crawling voice.
"......Well, thanks, but it's not like anything changes."
Even after saying it, she felt pathetic.
What on earth was this defensive, lame excuse?
She was getting completely swept into Doyoon's composed pace.
If she didn't shatter this distorted dynamic right now, she felt like she would truly be swallowed whole by that bastard's pace.
Just then,
"...Huh?"
A cold sensation touched Haram's fingertips.
Ah.
Haram's gaze turned to her left hand.
Even amidst panicking while being grabbed by the phys-ed student, the Lerona she bought at the convenience store was precariously held in her hand.
Having already begun to melt slightly, water droplets were beading all over the outer plastic wrapper.
In that instant, a spark flashed across Haram's mind.
Right, this was the most important thing.
Haram smirked and gripped the Lerona in her hand.
And then,
she threw it at Kang Doyoon's chest.
Peok!
The melting Lerona cleaved through the air and scored a direct hit on the chest of an off-guard Doyoon.
"What the!"
Catching the cold ice cream in bewilderment, Doyoon looked at Haram with a dumbfounded expression.
Looking at that expression,
Haram curved the corners of her lips into a grin.
That's right. Kang Doyoon, no matter how much you run and fly, you're beneath me.
"The Lerona you ordered is here."
Haram's gaze shifted in an instant.
The pupils that had been shaking anxiously just a few seconds ago were long gone.
"Hurry up and eat the damn thing."
Haram raised her chin, glared straight at Doyoon, and snapped her fingers with a flick.
"I cleared the convenience store errand you ordered. I presented the ice cream, so mission clear, right?"
There was no trembling anymore.
Haram strode a step forward and boldly held out her palm toward Doyoon.
"I cleared the mission, so hand it over. The switch."