Chapter 3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 3
Thump. Thump.
My heart was pounding like it would burst. I tried to calm my racing chest, but it was a futile effort. A burgeoning fear that she might notice my condition swelled up and tore through my mind.
No, perhaps she already had. The faint smile she’d been wearing as she stared at me began to etch itself onto her face with growing clarity, and at some point, it started to pour down on me, thick and cloying.
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly.
What do I do?
Goni.
The author of The Girl Who Catches Bugs, the novel I had been passionately championing until a month ago.
If what she said was true, if she was really the one who wrote it…
Fuck… If I’d known she was this kind of crazy bitch, I never would have even touched it!
It was a pointless hypothetical, a meaningless regret.
But it was the truth. Who could have possibly imagined it? That the author of a novel I was reading would end up kidnapping me.
Why… Why me? What did I do? Why did she kidnap me?
Dokyun couldn’t fathom why on earth this woman had kidnapped him.
Hate comments? That’s ridiculous.
If anything, he’d written comments that worshipped the author; he had never once posted a malicious comment in his life.
Donations? Was it not enough money?
No, that wasn’t it either. If she needed money, there were plenty of better ways to get it. Dokyun could think of at least five off the top of his head.
Besides, if it was about money, she would have kidnapped someone rich, not him.
Then what the fuck is it!
All that came out was a stream of curses. He tried to find the answer in the novel, the only link between him and this woman, but Dokyun’s mind couldn’t deduce any plausible reason.
As Dokyun wracked his brain, Eun-ah, who had been quietly watching him with a smile, finally spoke.
“Y-You know… I… I really t-tried my best…”
“What…?”
“I really… I really tried so, so hard…”
As Eun-ah lifted her head slightly, a shimmering moisture began to well up in her large eyes.
Fuck, why! Why is she crying again!
He was the one who wanted to cry. He was the one who’d been suddenly kidnapped and brought to this unknown place, forced to watch the incomprehensible actions of a madwoman.
But regardless of the silent screams in his head, Eun-ah continued to speak.
“I… I liked it when you praised me, Honeybee… It gave me strength… so I worked hard every single day… and… and I wrote…”
As if to prove that light could exist even in this dark space, the teardrops gathering in Eun-ah’s eyes glittered.
“I… I really… really wanted to stop… I wanted to quit… but I wanted to be praised by you, Honeybee, so…”
Drip.
The moisture that filled her eyes could no longer bear its own weight and trickled down the bridge of her nose.
“B-But then, Honeybee… you… you went somewhere else… to that… that kind of trash…”
The tear that had slid down her nose gathered itself once more before falling, striking Dokyun’s cheek.
“Y-You were… only supposed to p-praise me…”
Eun-ah’s lips trembled as she spat out the resentful words.
“This is all… because you were bad, Honeybee…”
Her expression contorted.
F… Fuck…!
It looked like she was about to have another fit. The cheek she’d pinched earlier throbbed.
“I’m, I’m sorr—”
“N-No!”
Just as Dokyun, terrified, reflexively tried to apologize, Eun-ah’s sharp cry echoed through the space.
“Nnngh… no…”
The contorted expression instantly smoothed out, and a smile bloomed on her lips.
“The… the bad ones are the bad bugs who lured you away, Honeybee…”
Heehee.
It was a bloodcurdling laugh.
“B-But. It’s o-okay here…”
Eun-ah’s hand gently caressed her earlobe.
“Because I’m right here next to you…”
As she lifted her upper body slightly, her disheveled hair swept across Dokyun’s chest.
“I’ll get rid of all the bad bugs for you…”
With that, Eun-ah collapsed onto Dokyun’s chest as if fainting, and began to nuzzle her head against him.
Ssssup—.
Haaa—.
As her warm breath tickled his chest, a horrifying chill crawled over Dokyun, as if an insect were skittering across his skin.
“Haaah…”
A moan, thick with satisfaction, escaped her lips, tightening around his neck with a terrifying chill.
Flash—.
Just then, Eun-ah, who had been rubbing her head on his chest, abruptly lifted her head as if she’d remembered something.
“Oh… right!”
Now what!
He was scared. Truly, terrifyingly, bone-chillingly scared. He couldn’t understand a single one of her actions, so his heart leaped into his throat every time she made a move to do something.
He would have preferred she just kept rubbing her face on his body and did nothing, like before, rather than these sudden outbursts.
Dokyun flinched and looked at her. Their eyes met, and Eun-ah spoke, her voice full of laughter.
“I’ll, I’ll show you the manuscript…! The manuscript…!”
“…What?”
“Mmm… your comments stopped at the part where she runs away from the Queen Bug, so…”
Eun-ah muttered to herself, seemingly recalling something.
“I’ll show you e~verything from chapter 4… 47 onwards…!”
Her eyes raked over Dokyun’s body as if licking him.
“A-Actually… there are parts I haven’t even serialized yet… I’m… I’m going to show you all of it!”
Having said that, she looked incredibly proud.
To put it in perspective, she spoke with the tone of a small child showing her parents the song she was going to sing at the school talent show. That was the only way Dokyun could describe her behavior.
He truly couldn’t find a single ounce of malice in her actions, her tone, or her expression.
It was that. That very purity that sent an even deeper chill down his spine.
Dokyun forced the corners of his mouth into a curve and spoke to Eun-ah.
“Um… I-I don’t think that’s a good idea…”
The expression vanished from Eun-ah’s face. Startled, Dokyun quickly continued.
“I mean! It’s rude to the other readers, isn’t it? It’s… it’s not fair, right?”
A clumsy excuse, one he hadn’t even thought through, tumbled from his lips.
Hearing him, Eun-ah shook her head as if she’d heard something utterly pointless.
“Nnngh… it’s okay now that I have you, Honeybee… It’s all okay…”
Then, she nodded to herself as if she’d come to some sort of understanding.
“Yes…! Now… it’s all okay…”
A soft smile.
Eun-ah’s cheeks flushed a pale pink.
“W-Well then, I’ll be right back… You have to be good. Be a good boy, okay~?”
With those words, Eun-ah patted Dokyun’s head, then pushed herself up and off his stomach.
Soon after, once she was completely off him.
Creeak—.
Thud—!
Click.
From outside his field of vision, Dokyun heard a door open and close, followed by the sound of it being locked again.
Hooo—.
Left alone in the dark space, Dokyun felt the tension drain from his entire body as he steadied his breathing.
Fuck… what did I just hear?
If he understood correctly, that crazy woman had just said she was going to show him all the stockpiled chapters of her novel, starting from the part where he stopped reading. That she had imprisoned him because he had dropped her novel.
“Is she insane?”
It seemed so.
Her behavior was not something a sane person would ever exhibit.
He had to find a way to escape.
Left alone, Dokyun lifted his body as much as he could and looked around.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake…”
It was dark. Too dark. He hadn’t been able to check properly while his attention was focused on her, but now that he had his wits about him, he saw the room was so dim he could only make out the faint silhouettes of the objects inside.
Tsk.
Living in a place like this, no wonder she turned out that way.
Dokyun clicked his tongue softly.
He understood the general context. He knew the circumstances and the purpose behind his kidnapping.
He couldn’t comprehend it, but knowing her motive meant he had at least found a clue for his escape.
But…
There was still something he didn’t know.
How did she find me?
And how did she manage to kidnap him? That question remained unanswered.
All he had ever done was leave comments on her novel, send donations, write a review in the community forums, and commission and deliver an illustration.
Their points of contact had existed solely on the internet.
As he thought about it, Dokyun felt a surge of anger.
I treated her so fucking well, and she kidnaps me?
Although he had dropped the novel, the effort he had poured into it for a month was truly tear-jerking.
Comments and recommendations were a given, he sent separate donations, and he’d even broken into his savings to pay a premium to hire a top-tier illustrator and get a priority slot.
Anger. He was seething with anger.
You fucking bitch!!!
He didn’t dare say it out loud, in case she was listening from outside, but Dokyun’s rage soared, threatening to pierce the heavens.
How well did I treat you! How fucking well did I treat you!
Instead of thanking me, maybe with some fried chicken, she kidnaps and imprisons me?
His insides boiled, but nothing changed.
He was currently handcuffed and imprisoned in a dark room. And since none of his actions should have revealed his real name or address, Dokyun’s confusion only deepened.
He had to find a way out.
He shifted his gaze, scanning his surroundings again. He needed to let his eyes adjust to the darkness.
Is it about… five pyeong? [Approx. 177 sq ft or 16.5 sq m]
It was not a large room. It was a cramped room, where the bed he was lying on took up a quarter of the space.
Across from the bed was an empty bookshelf, and next to it, a wardrobe that reached the ceiling.
He couldn’t turn his head to see, but judging from the situation just moments ago, there had to be a door behind his head.
Fuck… is there nothing useful here?
It was hopeless. Was there something he missed? He looked around once more, but he couldn’t see anything else that could be a clue.
At that moment.
Click—.
The door opened with a creak.
His heart plummeted.
This soon?
From beyond the open door, he heard Eun-ah’s voice.
“Hehe… y-you waited a long time, right~?”
Thump. Thump.
The sound of footsteps grew closer.
Soon, the footsteps stopped, and right next to Dokyun, he could hear soft, panting breaths.
Rustle.
Something like a black wave washed over Dokyun’s vision.
His sight, which had just grown accustomed to the dark room, was covered by a curtain of long, flowing hair, plunging him back into darkness.
Gulp—.
Dokyun swallowed dryly and lifted his head slightly.
“I-I’m back…!”
In his field of vision, the pale face of a woman was smiling down at him.