Chapter 9
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 9
Eun-ah set the tray from her lap onto the floor and spoke.
“I... I have to... give you a p-punishment...”
Her glistening eyes, devoid of any emotion, combined with her skin so pale that her veins showed through, gave her the aura of a corpse.
Gulp.
He swallowed dryly, his throat tight with tension. Had he let his guard down because his stomach was full? A single moment of poor judgment had led to this catastrophe. Dokyun tried to ignore the rising terror, forcing a cheerful tone into his voice.
“Haha, I misspoke. I just said that because I felt like I was making you do all the work.”
“...”
“We have to brush our teeth! We’ll get cavities if we don’t, right?”
“...”
“...Eun-ah?”
Silence followed. Eun-ah’s gaze bored into Dokyun. Her cold eyes and the suffocating silence tightened around his neck, telling him this was no joke.
An eternity seemed to pass. Long after Dokyun’s gaze, seized by fear, had fallen to the floor, Eun-ah’s tightly sealed lips finally parted.
“N-no... b-bad children...”
It was the same stutter she always had, but Dokyun sensed a distinctly different atmosphere from her tone this time.
“I... I’m sorry.”
Terror washed over him again. The apology spilled from his lips automatically, a declaration of submission.
“I misspoke. I’m sorry.”
“Yes... sorry... you should be sorry...”
Nodding, Eun-ah moved closer to him.
Sssk—.
Her hand came to rest on his thigh.
Flinch.
A learned terror shot through Dokyun’s body. His hands began to tremble, refusing to obey him.
“I was... I was wrong... Just this once...”
He didn’t even have the mental capacity to think of a way out. His mouth could only pour out a stream of apologies. He looked up at Eun-ah with trembling eyes, but her frigid gaze froze him in place, like a frog before a snake.
Listening to his pleas, Eun-ah slowly shook her head.
“N-no... If I don’t punish you... you’ll get b-bad habits...”
Her hand moved from his thigh toward his cuffed wrists.
“This is... this is all for y-you, Honeybee...”
Squeeze—.
An incomprehensible strength. Her fingertips, filled with force, began to scrape hard against the inside of his wrist, as if trying to dig right through.
Scrape.
“Kkheup!”
Pain seized him. It was so intense he thought his wrist might be punctured.
Scrape.
“Why... why won’t you l-listen...?”
Scrape.
“I... I don’t want to do this either...”
Scrape.
“You... you can’t act like a b-bad child...”
Scrape.
“This is... this is a loving punishment... so you have to bear it...”
Scrape.
“Because... because it hurts me as much as it h-hurts you, Honeybee...”
Scrape.
“You... you have to reflect on what you’ve done...”
The chilling whispers circling his ears, the agony of skin being torn from his wrist, the grating sound of nails on flesh. These three things mixed together, gnawing away at his sanity.
Apologies burst from his lips intermittently, his voice choked with desperation. His wrist burned as if the skin were being peeled away whole.
How much time had passed? As Dokyun thrashed in the throes of fear and pain, he felt a new kind of agony shoot up from his wrist, on a different level from before.
Rrrrip—!
He thought he heard a sound like that. His mouth flew open and he let out a scream.
“Aaargh!!!”
It felt like his wrist was being torn off. As Dokyun’s eyes darted around, searching for the source of the pain, Eun-ah’s voice reached his ears.
“Ah, blood.”
At her words, Dokyun looked down at his wrist.
Eun-ah’s fingertips were soaked in blood. Behind them, several red lines trickled down his own wrist, following the path her nails had carved. Seeing the wounds, Dokyun’s eyes widened as if they would tear, and he screamed again.
“Aaaaaargh!!!”
“D-does it hurt...?”
Of course it hurt. It hurt so much he felt like he was going to die. No, he was going to die. If nothing was done, he would bleed to death. The wounds were that severe.
“H-help... me... please... I was wrong...”
His eyes burned hot as tears streamed out. Raw, unfiltered words tumbled from his mouth. Even in his delirium, some part of him knew that begging was his only path to survival, so every word that came out was an apology to her.
“You... you won’t be a bad boy again... right...?”
“Y-yes... hic... yes...”
He answered reflexively. He didn’t know what he had done wrong. He didn’t even want to know. He just wanted this to end. He wanted her to stop the bleeding.
At Dokyun’s trembling words, Eun-ah gave a little nod, and a smile bloomed on her face.
“Okay...! F-from now on... you’ll l-listen to me...!”
With that, Eun-ah hooked her pinky finger around Dokyun’s and began to shake it up and down.
“A p-promise~”
A hint of a giggle was woven into her words. Before, it would have sent a chill of revulsion through him, but he no longer had the capacity to even register it. His mind was filled with a single thought: he had to stop the bleeding.
“Sob... q-quickly, the blood... please...”
“Oh...! Yes! Just a moment~”
At Dokyun’s desperate plea, Eun-ah nodded, got up, and reached behind the bed, where the nightstand was.
“Let’s see~”
After rummaging for a moment, she pulled something out. Dokyun’s eyes fixed on her hands. Bandages and disinfectant. Eun-ah picked up the disinfectant and began to apply it to his wrist.
“This... this is gonna sting a little...”
As the liquid dripped onto the raw flesh of his wrist, a searing pain shot through the wounds.
“Kkheup...”
Dokyun clenched his teeth, enduring the pain. He wanted to scream his lungs out, but he was afraid that the smile on Eun-ah’s face would vanish again, so he held it in.
It was a time for endurance, and more endurance. As she applied the disinfectant, placed cotton over the wounds, and tightly wrapped them with a bandage, he just prayed for the moment to pass quickly.
“All... all done...”
Eun-ah, seemingly pleased with her own handiwork, nodded in satisfaction and looked at Dokyun. When their eyes met, Dokyun, crushed by the madness seeping from her smile, offered his thanks in a trembling voice.
“Thank... thank you...”
“Hehe... you’re welcome...”
The first aid was done, but the pain wouldn’t subside. The tears wouldn’t stop. Seeing him, Eun-ah’s face crumpled into a pout.
“Hmph... n-now, now... stop crying...”
Sssk—.
Eun-ah’s hands reached for his face.
“Gasp!”
His body trembled and his head jerked back slightly. Realizing what he’d just done, Dokyun frantically checked her expression. She still had the same tearful pout. It seemed his reaction hadn’t bothered her much.
“The... the punishment is o-over now...”
Her hands, now on his cheeks, gently wiped away his tears.
“N-now, stop crying...!”
Pulling his head to her chest, Eun-ah hugged him and began to gently stroke the back of his hair, comforting him.
Fear spread through his entire body. It was as if he had completely forgotten the version of himself from a few hours ago who had vowed not to show any fear. His mind was now desperate to express its terror in any way it could.
Paradoxically, even in that state, the comforting touch, the steady heartbeat radiating from her chest, and her soft voice were rapidly calming his body, stopping his tears.
Dokyun felt that something was becoming very wrong with him, but he was too confused to figure out what to do about it.
“You’ve... you’ve stopped now, right...?”
Sensing that his breathing had stabilized, Eun-ah gently lifted his head to look at his face. Dokyun gave a reflexive answer.
“Yes... yes...”
“Hehe...”
A laugh bubbled from Eun-ah’s lips.
“Ah... now... I’ll go get things... ready to brush your teeth~”
After confirming that Dokyun had completely stopped crying, Eun-ah spoke as if she had just remembered, then picked up the tray and left the room.
Click.
The door locked. He was alone in the room. Once he was sure she was gone, Dokyun felt the strength drain from his body and went limp.
“Hk...”
He felt tears welling up again, but he held them back, not knowing when she might return. He hadn’t fully identified her triggers, so any rash display of emotion was forbidden. This resolve came from a simple desire to not be hurt again. The pain in his wrist was a constant reminder of the price for defying her.
“Mom...”
For the first time in a long, long time, he called for his mother. He didn’t know if it had been decades. His mind, its fuse blown by terror, had caused him to let out a childish whimper.
“Huuu...”
One day. It had only been one day. In a single day, she had broken him like this.
No.
This one day wasn’t even over yet. The first two times, he had somehow managed to fuel his defiance with hatred, but this time, even that was difficult. The moment he saw his own blood gushing out, his mind had gone white, filled with the single thought that he might die.
The sight of her face as she hurt him so casually had crushed his inner defiance.
Ah...
He was gone. He had lost himself.
*
Clatter, clatter.
Her hands moved busily as she washed the dishes. Worry crept in as she recalled what had just happened.
“Agh...” She had tried to give him a mature scolding, but she hadn’t been able to.
Worries swirled in her head. Did I show too much emotion? Did I forgive him too easily? Did I really teach him a lesson?
Maybe I should have been firmer...?
“N-no...! Honeybee is... is smart...!”
She shook her head, chasing away the bad thoughts. Just then, she remembered something from before.
“I... I said it...”
The words she’d blurted out while punishing him.
—This is... this is a loving punishment... so you have to bear it...—
Whoosh!
Her face flushed hot.
Ugh... I wonder if he heard...
She had told him she loved him. She should have been more calm and mature while scolding him, but seeing him in pain had made her sad, and she’d revealed her true feelings without thinking.
So embarrassing... She fidgeted, tapping her feet on the floor. Suddenly, her hand slipped while washing, and the bowl she was holding fell.
Clang!
“Oops...”
She quickly picked it up and inspected it. There didn’t seem to be any cracks.
“Th-thank goodness...”
If she let her heart get swayed by things like this, she couldn’t become a proper adult. She would become a beast ruled by emotion, just like the bugs outside. The thought snapped her back to her senses.
“N-no...!”
That wouldn’t do. She was an adult now; she had to think calmly and logically.
“C-calm down...!”
She took a deep breath to compose herself. She had to finish what she was doing. As she thought this and busied her hands with the dishes, she remembered him sobbing in her arms. She remembered how his tears, which had soaked her chest, gradually stopped at her touch until they ceased completely. The thought made her smile again.
“So cute...”
She wanted to take care of him, to shower him with affection. She wanted to return the praise and comfort he had given her, multiplied several times over. Because between adults, give-and-take had to be clear.
“Yes...!” She would warmly embrace and heal him, this person who had been contaminated by the bugs, and turn him into a wonderful adult.
As she renewed her vow, she realized the dishes were done.
“N-now...”
It was time to brush his teeth. He couldn’t move his hands right now, so she had to do it for him. She would put toothpaste on the brush and clean every corner of his mouth.
His... his tongue, too...
Whoosh!
“B-bad thoughts! S-stop!” A sharp squeal escaped her lips.
“Ahem...” That wasn’t very adult-like. Calm down, calm down.
Hoo, haa, hoo, haa. Calm thoughts, logical thoughts!
She controlled her heart with deep breaths. It was really time to go now.
“W-well then, shall we go~”
Oh, and for some reason, the corners of her mouth were misbehaving, curling up on their own.