Chapter 14
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 14
A tickle on the tip of my nose. The sensation of something rough brushing against it. My facial muscles twitched, trying to drive away the itch.
“Hehe…”
A soft, silly giggle echoed in my ear.
‘Who is it? Mom? Did I come home to my parents' house?’
My mind was foggy, my thoughts refusing to cohere. A profound lethargy saturated my body, pinning my eyelids shut. All I could manage were a few strained groans.
“P-please… wake up…”
The voice came again. Realizing someone was calling me, I forced my heavy eyelids open and struggled to grasp my consciousness. My vision slowly focused, roaming the dark room until it settled on a figure standing in the faint light. A moment later, the silhouette wavered.
“Y-you're… awake…?”
“Nngghh…”
My entire body ached with stiffness. A pained groan escaped my lips before I could stop it. Even in my daze, my mind began to process who was speaking to me.
A somber complexion that couldn't conceal an underlying elegance. A lifeless beauty, more akin to a work of art than a living person. My thoughts sifted through my memories, trying to place her.
Soon, my most recent memory surfaced, and with it, her identity. Emergency lights began flashing in my mind.
“Hah!”
Flicker!
My eyes flew wide open. I lunged forward, but something around my waist pulled me up short, and the recoil sent me tumbling back down. The figure before me watched the pathetic display in silence. Then, Go Eun-ah smiled faintly and spoke.
“G-good morning…”
“Y-yes. Good morning.”
Even in my panic, my mouth moved dutifully. The lingering pain in my wrists made sure of it.
‘Ah, right. I was kidnapped.’
Finally recalling my situation, I let out a soft sigh. A delayed wave of terror washed over me, bringing with it a familiar despair.
It was a despair I had only felt once before in my life: the morning I woke up in the barracks on my second day of basic training.
“N-now that you're awake, I-I'll go get… get your meal…!”
As I floundered in the despair that was churning through my mind, I heard Eun-ah's voice. I looked up to see her turning away with a shy smile, heading out the door.
“Hah…”
A throb of pain shot up from my wrists. My body, bound all through the night, was painfully stiff. I wished this was all just a horrible nightmare, but reality offered only its cruel truth.
‘Fuck…’
She hadn't closed the door completely, so I couldn't even curse freely for fear the sound would carry. Through the crack, I could hear the clatter of dishes. After a while, the sounds stopped, and Eun-ah, apparently finished with her preparations, entered with a tray and sat on the edge of my bed. The scent of soybean paste stew drifted to my nose.
“J-just a moment…”
Sitting on the bed, Eun-ah reached out and untied the cord around my waist. A faint sense of liberation washed over me. As my body was freed, I pushed myself into a sitting position and spoke to her.
“Thank you.”
“Hehe… Sh-shall we eat now?”
“Yes.”
The aroma tickling my nose stirred my hunger. It was understandable, considering the only thing I'd eaten the day before was thin porridge. With the meal set before me, I waited for her to scoop up some rice and feed it to me.
My pathetic situation—unable to even eat without her permission—felt utterly miserable, but I steeled myself, shaking off the gloom with a single thought: I had to survive. Escaping, enduring this woman… I had to be alive to do any of it.
As I braced myself and waited for her to feed me, I sensed something was wrong. Eun-ah wasn't moving. I lifted my head, and only then did I see her expression.
Her smile had vanished completely. Her eyebrows were drawn together, a clear sign of displeasure. It was the prelude to an episode.
‘Fuck, what is it now!’
Tension spiked in an instant. My mind raced, replaying the situation, but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't find a clear answer. This time, I was truly lost.
‘What is it? Did I say something in my sleep? Or did she get upset just by looking at my face?’
A wave of bewilderment and urgency washed over me. Her stare was piercing. I was terrified she might flip the tray and smash it into my face at any moment. I wracked my brain, but I just couldn't figure out the cause. Just as I was about to give up, Eun-ah, who had been silent until then, finally spoke.
“I… I will eat well…”
“Pardon?”
The sentence was completely out of context. Not understanding what she meant, I asked her to repeat herself.
“Y-you have to… say it…”
“Ah…”
A small sigh escaped my lips.
‘What the…’
Bewilderment morphed into hollow disbelief, then into rage, churning inside me. So, this woman was throwing a fit because I hadn't said, “I will eat well,” the customary phrase before a meal.
‘For fuck's sake.’
“Haha. That's right! I'm still a bit out of it from waking up. I will eat well!”
A torrent of curses raged in my mind, but my lips moved the instant I understood the problem. Pride was a worthless emotion in the face of pain and fear. As soon as I complied with her demand, her expression brightened, and she spoke with a smile.
“Hehe… Yes, p-please… eat a lot…!”
With a beaming smile, she scooped up some rice and brought it to my lips. I swallowed the spoonful that touched my mouth and cursed her in my head.
‘Fucking bitch.’
I nearly had a heart attack the moment I opened my eyes. How could a person be so utterly devoid of context? I felt like I was going to die of suppressed rage, but even as I seethed, I filed away the new information.
‘The triggers identified so far are…’
Anger, refusal, cleanliness.
‘And.’
Manners. Beyond that, there were other, unknown triggers—like that terrifying glint in her eye last night when she saw my restraints had come loose—but this was enough to establish a basic survival strategy.
Be polite, be clean, be obedient.
‘She wants so fucking much.’
What a dynamic morning. Facing a crisis the moment I woke up was more effective than any alarm clock. No bugle call needed here. As I was mulling this over and swallowing another bite, Eun-ah, who had been diligently feeding me, spoke.
“H-how is it…?”
“Ah, it's really delicious. You could be a chef.”
“Hehe… I'm so glad…”
A smile mixing joy and pride spread across her face. Watching her, I was suddenly struck by a sense of shame. It was shame at myself, at how I reflexively spat out the correct answer even while my mind was elsewhere.
If she was using these outbursts to train me, then she was a brilliant animal tamer. In just a single day, my body had already surrendered, bowing and scraping before her.
After squirming in shame for a long moment, I finally bit down on the cloying emotion, swallowed it, and stoked the embers of my fighting spirit. I repeated a vow to myself.
‘Don't think that just because my body has surrendered, my spirit will break too…!’
I will escape this place. I will reclaim the life I deserve, and I will throw that woman in a prison cell. I repeated this vow internally as I accepted another spoonful. After diligently chewing and swallowing for a while longer, I saw the bowl was empty.
Seeing the bottom of the bowl, I quickly plastered on a smile and spoke.
“That was delicious. Thank you for the breakfast.”
“Hehe… I-I'm… g-g-glad… you enjoyed it…!”
Apparently quite satisfied with my prompt response, Eun-ah blushed and replied.
“W-well… I'll go clean this up now…!”
Twisting her body and giggling, Eun-ah retied the cord around my waist, picked up the tray, and left the room.
Thud.
The door closed. The room was once again a dark space, illuminated only by the faint glow of the bedside lamp.
‘Phew…’
I'd hoped she might leave me untied this time, but no such luck. For now, I had to use the time she was gone to come up with a plan to improve my situation.
‘No matter how I think about it…’
It was the same idea I'd had yesterday. The toilet and the shower. Those were the only two immediate possibilities for getting these restraints off.
‘She'll definitely try to wash me.’
Given her obsession with cleanliness, she wouldn't leave me like this for long. And to shower, I'd have to go to the bathroom. To do that, she'd have to untie me.
As the thought crossed my mind, I felt my face flush with humiliation. I squeezed my eyes shut at the thought of having to show her my bare skin, but with no other options, I forced the feeling down.
‘Endure it. You have to endure it, Dokyun. Just think of how much information you'll get if you can just leave this room.’
Beyond the benefit of being untied, the world outside this room would hold far more clues for my escape than this prison cell.
Judging by the clatter of dishes I'd heard from beyond the door, and the sound of running water when she went to wash yesterday, this place had to have the basic necessities of a normal home. That meant there might be useful tools or other objects I could use.
On top of that.
‘I need to find out where I am.’
My target was the balcony. If this was a normal residence and not some isolated, windowless building, I should be able to see the outside from a balcony. A detached house, an apartment, or maybe an officetel in the city? I had to find out.
‘If it's a private house, I don't need to look for anything else. I can just break the window on the spot and run.’
If it was a high-rise building like an apartment or officetel, I'd need a different plan, but it wouldn't be impossible.
‘I hope it's a detached house…’
If it's a high-rise, things get much more complicated. I'd have to find a chance to pick the front door lock and get out, but it doesn't seem like that woman would give me such an opening.
“Ugh…”
Maybe I'd overtaxed my brain right after waking up, because a dull ache started to throb in my temples. I was wracking my brain for a long while when, suddenly, I felt my lower abdomen sending me a signal.
“…Huh?”
A bewildered sound escaped my lips.
Gurgle-.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
‘Fuck, don't tell me.’
It was a familiar sensation, a signal that every living creature has to deal with for its entire life. The gurgling pain in my lower abdomen, beginning to assert itself, paralyzed the thoughts that had been racing just moments before.
And then, my mind recalled one fact I had forgotten.
‘Come to think of it… when was the last time I went to the bathroom?’
Sweat beaded on my forehead. The last time I'd used a toilet was two days ago, right after I got home from work. I hadn't gone a single time since.
My racing thoughts snapped to a halt, delivering a single, undeniable truth.
‘Ah…’
I'm fucked.