Chapter 11
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 11
No, before that.
Dokyun, having pushed himself up, focused his senses on the other side of the door. He had no idea how that woman would react if she found out he was moving freely around the room.
This time, it wouldn’t end with just his wrists getting carved up. It was only a possibility, but the thought that this act could pose a direct threat to his life sent a wave of tension surging through his body.
“Huuu…”
A strained sigh escaped his lips. As he imagined the worst-case scenario, fear began to rear its head. The stinging pain that crept up from his wrists only heightened his anxiety.
He strained his ears, concentrating on any sound from beyond the door. A deep silence. Only his own heavy breathing and the pounding of his heart began to fill the room.
After a short while, he heard the sound of rushing water from outside the door.
Sshhhhhhhhh—
The sound of a powerful stream of water, followed by intermittent splashing.
...Is she taking a shower?
That seemed likely. The woman appeared to be quite sensitive about cleanliness. Having deduced that much, Dokyun pulled his focus back from the door and continued his train of thought.
That means I have a bit of time.
Considering how long it would take for her to shower and return, he figured he had enough time to check behind the bed. With that thought, Dokyun’s gaze returned to the room’s interior, settling on the space beyond the bed frame. He took a deep breath, steeling himself.
Huuu—
It was time to check. This space could hold the key to his escape. Dokyun’s feet slowly carried him toward the back of the bed. One step. Then another. Reaching his destination, his eyes fell downward.
What he saw there was…
“A shelf?”
It was a three-tiered shelf. On the very top sat the lamp that had been dimly illuminating the room, and right next to it were bandages, disinfectant, and various first-aid medicines.
Things that should be within easy reach.
Things he could grab and use whenever necessary. He already knew about this part. He bent his body to check the second shelf, just below.
“Shit… it’s fucking dark.”
The only light in the room was the faint glow from the lamp, and it couldn’t reach the lower level, blocked by the shelf above it. Sighing, Dokyun leaned his head further forward. He had to check, no matter how hard it was to see.
Swoosh—
As he stuck his head out, a faint silhouette came into view. The first thing he saw was neatly folded clothes. A closer look revealed whose they were.
My clothes?
A few sets of the loungewear and underwear he often wore at home. It seemed she’d brought them when she kidnapped him. Dokyun stared intently at the clothes—more specifically, at the underwear.
Fucking hell, what kind of taste is this…
He must have had at least seven pairs of underwear at home, yet the ones she’d chosen to bring were the leopard print and the red ones.
You creepy bitch…
Her choice gave him a chilling glimpse into her preferences, sending a shiver down his spine.
No, this isn't the time for that.
Dokyun, who had been lost in thought for a moment, shook his head to clear it and began to examine the rest of the shelf. He had to see as much as he could, not knowing when she might return. His gaze moved past the clothes, and in the corner of the shelf, he saw a box smaller than the palm of his hand.
What’s this…?
It was shoved in the corner, making it hard to see. His head moved further forward, into the space between the third and second shelves.
Ugh…
Moving with his hands bound was restrictive in so many ways. Grunting with effort, he pushed his head in deeper, and only then did the object’s identity slowly come into focus. On the surface of the box, numbers and letters were written neatly in large print. Dokyun’s eyes narrowed as he slowly read them.
“So… 0.01…”
The moment he finished reading the text, Dokyun’s eyes flew wide open, and a curse filled with utter bewilderment shot from his mouth.
“Fuck!”
He yanked his head back in a hurry. In his shock, his head shot upward and slammed into the third shelf, creating a dull thud.
Thump!
“Hk!”
He gasped involuntarily. More than the pain of hitting his head, Dokyun was overwhelmed with shock at the noise he’d just made. He whipped his head toward the door.
Did she hear that?
Thump. Thump.
His heart hammered in his chest. It wasn’t a loud noise, but it wasn’t so quiet that someone paying attention would miss it. Tension coiled through his entire body. His senses were fixed on the door, his ears straining with all their might to read the situation outside the room.
Sshhhhhhhhh—
As he focused, he heard the sound of water again. It seemed she was still showering. There were no other unusual signs.
Sh-she couldn’t have heard it… right?
It must have been drowned out by the sound of the water. He wanted to believe that.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart pounded violently against his eardrums, and his clenched fists betrayed his shock.
That scared the shit out of me…
Seeing as the sound of the water hadn’t stopped, he could probably assume he hadn’t been caught. His startled heart slowly began to find its rhythm. Soon, as the tension drained from him, a heavy breath escaped Dokyun’s lips.
“Huuu…”
He thought his heart had stopped. He’d been so surprised that he’d moved too quickly and forgotten about the shelf. Just as his body was slowly returning to its normal rhythm, relieved that he’d gotten through the situation safely, Dokyun felt a surge of anger welling up inside him.
But fuck… that’s crossing the line.
Dokyun recalled what he had just seen. His eyes naturally glared at the second shelf.
Co-condoms…
0.01mm ultra-thin. In other words, a contraceptive. A wave of nausea churned in his stomach.
Creepy… no, you depraved bitch!
All the preparations were already complete. He was the only one who didn’t know. From the moment she kidnapped him, that bitch had been planning to fuck him. She was a vile rapist. Faced with something he could never have imagined, his tear ducts threatened to act up again.
Sh… shit…
A sense of injustice washed over him. Shame seeped through the fear that had filled his body, fueling his will to escape.
I have to get out… I have to get out of here, fast!
Sex? Fine. He fucking loved it. How many men in the world hated it? But the kind of sex he wanted wasn't a one-sided rape like this, where one person's feelings were completely ignored. It was the romantic act of sharing skin with someone you love.
I… I’m a pure-love kind of guy!
To put it another way, he didn’t have a single ounce of interest in enjoying himself while handcuffed in a kidnapping and confinement situation like this.
He clenched his trembling hands, forcing the shaking to stop. He took deep breaths, trying to calm his mind. For the sake of his escape, there was something he had to do first.
Composure… stay composed…
After wrestling with his emotions for a while, his mind settled to some degree. Dokyun opened his eyes again and cast his gaze toward the shelf.
Huuu… the only place I haven't checked is…
The very bottom. The first shelf.
Please, let there be something…!
Filled with desperation, Dokyun got on his stomach and stuck his head into the space. Since this level was almost on the floor, it was even darker than the second shelf.
There’s… something here.
Very faintly, he could make out a silhouette. It was flat, rectangular, and judging by its shape, it looked like a notebook and…
A picture frame…?
A rectangular frame with a tie-shaped leg sticking out diagonally from the middle. From the silhouette alone, it looked like a picture frame lying face down. To figure out exactly what it was, he would need to pull it out. Just as Dokyun thought that and began to pull his head out to reach for it with his bound hands, he heard footsteps in the distance.
Thud. Thud.
Go Eun-ah. That woman was coming back.
Has it been that long already?
She was fast. She had finished much faster than he’d expected.
No, it’s possible I just lost track of time.
He had nothing to judge the exact time with. It wasn’t like he’d been counting the seconds in his head. In any case, he had to get back to the bed now. Dokyun scrambled to his feet, took a few steps, and threw himself onto the bed.
Thump—
His body, launched like a projectile, sank into the mattress, creating a slight bounce. Then.
Click.
The door opened, and she came in. Entering the room, she paused for a moment, standing still without a word.
“…”
In response, Dokyun clenched his jaw, suppressing the anxiety rising within him.
Calm down. I didn’t touch anything with my hands. Right now, she can’t be sure of anything.
He suppressed his anxiety with logic and reason. He had to change the atmosphere. Having made that decision, Dokyun forced a bright tone into his voice and spoke.
“Ah, you’re back? You took a little while.”
“…Yes.”
Click—
The sound of Eun-ah’s reply overlapped with the sound of the door closing. Soon, she walked over to the bed and turned her head toward Dokyun. Their eyes met. After holding his gaze for a moment, Eun-ah’s lips parted.
“S-sorry… I… I had to t-take a shower…”
Her face flushed red as she spoke. Seeing this, Dokyun realized she hadn’t noticed what had happened earlier and let out a small, internal sigh of relief.
Huu… looks like I got away with it for now…
Feeling much more at ease, Dokyun replied in a more relaxed tone than before.
“Not at all. You must have had a hard day because of me…”
“Nnngh… n-no…”
As Dokyun spoke with his eyebrows slightly lowered in a look of concern, Eun-ah shook her head vigorously and moved onto the bed. Just as she had when she was reading the manuscript, she wriggled her way into the space between the wall and Dokyun. Once she had settled into her comfortable position, she beamed, expressing her satisfaction.
“Hehe…”
“Ha… haha…”
Dokyun hid his disgust and simply played along with her laugh. As if satisfied by his smile, Eun-ah, who had been fidgeting slightly, slid her arm up and wrapped it around Dokyun’s waist.
Flinch.
Dokyun’s body trembled at the sudden physical contact. His head tilted down slightly, toward Eun-ah’s face. Eun-ah, her arm around his waist, seemed to feel his gaze and peeked her head up. Finding Dokyun looking at her, she smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. Her smiling face seemed to say:
“H-how was today…?”
It was, without a doubt, the worst day of my life.
“It was good. It’s nice meeting you like this.”
“Hehe… th-then… how… how was the manuscript…?”
His lips parted for a moment before he managed to force the words out.
“It was really nice reading your work again after so long, Eun-ah. Your talent hasn’t gone anywhere.”
This… was partly true. Her talent as a storyteller was nothing short of demonic. He thought that if this had never happened, and if she had safely finished the novel, he probably would have binged the whole thing later. Her writing was that good.
“Th-that’s a relief…”
The way she beamed made his stomach churn. A murky feeling, a mixture of disgust and fear, spread from the part of his waist her arm was wrapped around. As Dokyun did his best not to let it show, wearing a mask of a smile, Eun-ah, who had been lying quietly in his arms, suddenly spoke.
“U-um… you know…”
“Yes?”
Eun-ah tapped Dokyun’s lower back with her fingertips. Tap. Tap. She continued.
“I have a q-question…”
“What is it?”
I’m not curious, but I have to ask. As Dokyun thought this and looked at her, Eun-ah lowered her gaze and, in a soft voice, uttered words he never expected to hear from her lips.
“I… I… I guess I left without… t-tying your waist…”
“Ah… you’re right. I was on the bed the whole time, so I didn’t notice…”
Silence followed. The hypothesis ‘No way’ popped into Dokyun’s head. In that instant, the air in the room changed. The arm wrapped around his waist. The fingertips tapping his back. Everything moved with a chilling quality that matched the altered atmosphere.
“Why… is the ointment on the f-floor…? I… I’m sure I put it on the shelf…”
The moment she said those words, a scene replayed in Dokyun’s mind. It was the moment from a little while ago, when he’d been so shocked by the discovery of the condoms that he’d hit his head on the shelf.
Ah, fuck.
That’s when it must have fallen. No matter how he thought about it, that was the only explanation. In that moment, Dokyun realized the true intent behind her words.
I’m under suspicion.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart began to race. The thought that he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have caused his body to slip from his control again. His head turned with a creak. He had to see her expression.
“I-it’s strange, isn’t it…?”
At the same time, her lowered head lifted, and her face came into view.
“Y-you know… by any chance…”
Her pupils shone with a hollow, empty light. He had never seen it before, an aura that overwhelmed him with its presence alone.
“…Did you see?”
They were eyes that held nothing at all.