Chapter 89
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Silan (3)
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“Ugh... what the hell?”
Clank.
“...What?”
Clank. Clank.
“Wh-what is this...?”
Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t make sense of it. He’d suddenly opened his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar place, and his wrists were bound in restraints.
“What... what the fuck is going on...”
All sorts of thoughts raced through Joo Seung-hwan’s mind in an instant.
With restraints on his wrists, there were plenty of grim possibilities he could imagine.
Like being sold into slavery, for instance.
“...H-hey, is anyone there? Why are you doing this to me?!”
He mustered his courage and shouted, but the space remained deathly silent.
Not even the sound of a bug crawling by could be heard—it was chilling to the bone.
“Hey! Why the hell are you doing this?! Why me?! Do you even know who I am?!”
Even yelling at the top of his lungs brought no response, but he couldn’t bear the situation without saying something.
He was terrified, after all.
“I was an executive in the Incarnation Clan! How dare you... how dare anyone do this to me...!”
Click-clack. Click-clack.
As Joo Seung-hwan wallowed in extreme fear amid the inexplicable situation, the sound of footsteps reached his ears.
He held his breath and focused on the sound for a moment before a woman’s figure came into view.
At first, he didn’t recognize her, but as he peered closer at her face, realization dawned.
“...Y-you... Seo Yu-ju?”
“...You remember me, huh.”
Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t comprehend the situation.
On top of waking up bound in some unknown place, he had no idea why Seo Yu-ju was here.
“Wh-what... why are you...”
“Ha... Yeah, why am I here?”
“What...”
Slap!
Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t grasp what had just happened. Why his cheek burned, why his face was turned to the side.
It took five whole seconds to piece it together.
“You crazy bitch...!”
“Still haven’t figured it out? Don’t you know who knocked you out and dragged you here?”
“...Huh?”
Joo Seung-hwan’s muddled mind snapped clear at Seo Yu-ju’s ice-cold words.
“What... you... you did this to me...?”
“...Why’d you do it back then?”
“Do what...”
“........Because of you...”
Seo Yu-ju’s heart sank just thinking about that moment again.
She couldn’t contain her rage. The reason she’d started her second round might all have been for nothing because of one guy’s actions—she felt like she was going mad.
She hadn’t told the clan members, but she hadn’t slept properly for a while after that incident.
Because whenever she closed her eyes, the hellish scene from that day replayed vividly.
The sight of Yun-seong collapsed, bleeding out from his exploded arm.
“S-so what’s this about? I-is it because I tried to kill you?”
“...What?”
“Back then... I had no choice. I never meant to kill you! It was all because of that filthy bastard...!”
“Shut up...! Shut the fuck up! Who’re you calling a filthy bastard, you piece of shit!”
Joo Seung-hwan got chills at the sight of Seo Yu-ju’s bloodshot eyes. She didn’t look normal at all.
“W-wait...! Gah...!”
“I’ll... never forgive you. How much it must’ve hurt... how terrified he must’ve been...”
Seo Yu-ju muttered to herself while strangling him—pure terror for Joo Seung-hwan.
“Pl-please... I-I can’t... breathe... guh...”
Just as Joo Seung-hwan was on the verge of passing out, Seo Yu-ju released his throat and spoke.
“...Don’t get the wrong idea. You don’t get to die even if you want to. You think I’d give you an easy death like that...?”
“Gah... *cough*... hng...!”
Right. She absolutely couldn’t give this man an easy death.
Considering the pain Yun-seong had endured, it couldn’t end like this.
“I-I’m sorry... I was wrong... pl-please...”
Joo Seung-hwan begged, but Seo Yu-ju’s heart didn’t soften one bit.
She needed to hear screams of agony from that mouth to feel even a sliver of relief.
“...You didn’t even know what you did wrong, and now you’re pretending to apologize?”
“No, it’s not like that... I really, truly regret it. Please...”
“You... dared to touch someone you should never have laid a hand on.”
Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t understand it.
How could Seo Yu-ju, who’d entered this world not long ago, exude such an aura?
The air around her felt oppressively cold.
The hairs on his body standing on end weren’t his imagination amid this ominous atmosphere.
“What should I do to you to appease Yun-seong’s anger? What do I have to do to you...”
Hearing those words about what she’d do to him, Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t stay sane.
Her eyes were bloodshot, her gaze mad and unnatural.
“Feed you to the dogs...? No... there’s gotta be something more painful...”
“W-wait! Let’s talk this out! Yeah? Just talk first...”
Whether Joo Seung-hwan spoke or not, Seo Yu-ju muttered to herself, looking anything but normal.
“Water torture... yeah. Or burning with fire... that’s not bad either. Great idea!”
She uttered chilling words, her eyes lighting up like she’d had a brilliant epiphany—a horror movie scene for Joo Seung-hwan.
“Please, just listen to me...!”
“Quiet.”
Crunch!
“Hiiieeeeek—aaagh!”
Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t help screaming as a dagger pierced his cheek and into his mouth.
What he saw through tear-filled eyes of agony was Seo Yu-ju’s blood-splattered face, smiling eerily.
“...Why are you interrupting my thoughts?”
“Haaangh... s-save me...! Please...!”
“I told you, you won’t die. I said you can’t die even if you want to. Now open your mouth. Time for a potion.”
Seo Yu-ju yanked the dagger from his mouth and poured a potion down his throat.
Glug-glug—
Since it was a high-quality potion, Joo Seung-hwan’s wound healed in seconds.
But for him, the healing only amplified his terror.
He realized this pain wouldn’t end after just once.
“Sp-spare me! Please! I was wrong! I’m sorry! Please spare me!”
“......”
Stab—!
“Aaaargh!”
The agony of a spear piercing his thigh made him scream again.
Stab!
“How much!”
Stab!
“It hurt!”
Stab!
“How much!”
Stab!
“Were you scared?!”
“Haaaaargh! Pleeease! Aaaargh!”
The pain shooting through his leg made Joo Seung-hwan wail.
“...Scared?”
“Hngh... h-heuk...”
“This... is all it takes to scare you? Compared to Yun-seong’s pain... this is nothing. It has to hurt more... way more...”
“I-I’m sorry... I really...”
“Liar.”
“I really... I swe...”
Slice—
“Gaaaaargh!”
“You don’t need fingers to stay alive anyway.”
“You crazy bitch!”
In the end, Joo Seung-hwan felt every finger severed without anesthesia, raw and vivid.
No death allowed.
The potions Seo Yu-ju had brought wouldn’t let him die.
All he could do was scream in torment.
“Kill me... kill me... please kill me...”
It didn’t take long for pleas to be spared to turn into pleas for death.
“No. I told you this isn’t enough.”
“Grgh... kill me... kill me, damn it! Just fucking kill me!”
“......”
“Kill me! Kill me right now, you psycho bitch...!”
“.......Ha...!”
Joo Seung-hwan stopped his furious yelling at Seo Yu-ju’s sudden burst of laughter.
“Ahahaha!”
“Crazy... crazy bitch...!”
“You’re the one who drove me crazy? You tried to take... something precious from me.”
“Crazy bitch...! What you feel for that bastard... it’s not normal... you’re not...”
“...That bastard?”
Stab—
“Grrgh...!”
“Still haven’t fixed that filthy mouth. How dare you call Yun-seong that?!”
“Guh...”
“...We started over, and it’s still so fucking unstable! I’ve nearly died so many times already! Almost couldn’t protect him again!”
Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t make sense of her ramblings.
Started over? Couldn’t protect him? It was gibberish from a madwoman.
That poor newbie getting attention from this psycho was almost pitiful.
‘Fuck... fuck!’
In hindsight, he regretted messing with Lee Yun-seong at the training facility.
Not true remorse—just that he shouldn’t have tangled with those crazies.
“No, no... I can’t lose him. I won’t go through that pain again!”
‘Crazy... crazy bitch!’
“...You, Ha Yu-ri, all of you... I hate them all. You all hurt Yun-seong...”
“Grh...”
As Joo Seung-hwan groaned in pain, Seo Yu-ju poured potion on his wounds again. Then she uncorked a sinister-looking vial.
“Wh-what’s that...”
“Still... I have to kill you eventually, right? No traces left... or Yun-seong might run into you during an investigation...”
“W-wait...!”
He’d begged for death moments ago, but with it staring him down, instinct overrode everything.
A quick, painless death might’ve been fine, but the liquid in that vial looked ominous just by sight.
“What the hell are you doing?! Put that down! Don’t! I said don’t!”
“......”
Thankfully, she stopped at his plea.
But her next words were a death sentence.
“...Didn’t Yun-seong tell you not to do it?”
“Th-that’s... wait! M-money! I’ll give you money! I’ve got savings! Or anything you want, I’ll do it! Just...!”
Ignoring his desperate pleas, Seo Yu-ju popped the cork and doused him entirely.
“Haaaaargh! Hiiieeeeeek—!”
A human body melting away was a grotesque sight.
All the more if it was your own.
“...You’ll die tasting the worst agony. A fitting end for trash like you. Right?”
Joo Seung-hwan couldn’t respond to Seo Yu-ju’s words.
His body dissolved as he screamed beyond human limits, until death claimed him.
And so, one man’s trace vanished from the city.