At the Crossroads of Life and Death, a Tragic Choice to Protect Love
Though more than thirty minutes had already slipped away since their passionate coupling ended, time held absolutely no meaning for them.
Wrapped securely in Abel's embrace, Risa felt as though all the noise and danger of the outside world could never touch her. She pressed her ear against his chest, finding a profound sense of peace in the steady, rhythmic thrum of his heartbeat.
His shaft, still buried deep within her heat, offered a lingering, exquisite fullness, binding their bodies together as though they were a single, breathing organism.
The slick, sticky juices coating her inner walls created a warm, decadent sensation, lulling her into an even deeper state of serene comfort.
Abel, too, was lost in a haze of pure ecstasy, intoxicated by the softness of Risa's flesh and the gentle, rhythmic pulsing of her walls around him. He buried his face in her fiery red hair, letting out a long, shuddering breath.
Their tangled limbs, the friction of their bare skin, and the shared warmth of their bodies seemed to quiet every lingering anxiety.
A perfect, sacred silence enveloped them, as if they were the only two souls left in the entire universe. The bedsheets beneath them were tangled and stained, yet to them, the world was absolutely perfect.
But that peace was not meant to last.
Shattering the silence, a low, heavy rumble began to vibrate through the earth, creeping closer from the distance.
At first, it was a mere whisper carried on the wind, but it rapidly swelled into a violent, unmistakable tremor that shook the very air.
Like a colossal beast thrashing beneath the earth, the shockwaves traveled up the subterranean walls of the Revolutionary Army hideout, sending a chilling jolt straight through their spines.
And then, the world tore open.
BOOM—!!!
The deafening roar of an iron door being blasted off its hinges ripped through the air from just beyond the wall. The sheer force of the shockwave made the entire structure shudder violently.
The violent tremors surged up from the floorboards, rattling them to their very fingertips. The noise was so immense that it swallowed the frantic pounding of their own hearts.
Before they could even draw breath, a relentless torrent of noise followed.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT! BANG! BANG! BANG!
As if the very gates of Hell had burst wide open, a deafening barrage of automatic gunfire erupted. It was a sound far too mechanical and merciless to be called mere gunfire.
It was the raw, savage language of absolute violence—shredding the air, boring through iron and stone, and obliterating everything in its path.
The merciless, unending storm of bullets reverberated through the hideout. The ancient, cracked walls groaned and shuddered, creaking ominously as if the entire ceiling was about to cave in.
Plaster dust and jagged stone fragments rained down from above. The iron light fixture suspended from the ceiling rattled frantically, casting wild, swinging shadows.
Within seconds, the room was choked with a thick, suffocating fog of gray dust and pulverized stone. Through the cracks in the door, brilliant flashes of muzzle flare strobed like lightning, painting a vivid picture of the slaughter unfolding outside.
Piercing through the relentless gunfire came the agonizing shrieks of dying men and women.
"Aaaargh!"
Screams of pure terror and agony echoed in a horrific chorus, blending with the mechanical roar of the weapons to turn the hideout into a chaotic slaughterhouse.
The gunfire only grew more frenzied, and the shrieks of the dying multiplied, echoing from every corridor.
The desperate cries of the Revolutionary Army soldiers, the splintering of wood, and the deafening blasts of gunpowder fused into a sickening, hellish symphony.
The screech of tearing metal and the sharp cracks of collapsing support beams pushed the chaos to a fever pitch.
Risa and Abel froze. The warm, post-coital haze that had enveloped them just seconds ago evaporated instantly, as if they had been plunged into freezing water.
The lingering warmth of their ecstasy shattered, replaced instantly by raw, animalistic survival instincts and rising dread.
BOOM—!!!
At the sound of another massive blast, Risa gasped sharply. Abel immediately unwrapped his arms from her waist.
Without exchanging a single word, they moved in perfect, practiced unison.
Abel pulled out of her in one swift motion, and Risa scrambled backward, pushing herself off him.
As his thick shaft slid out of her tight channel, a slick trail of their combined fluids smeared across her thighs, but neither of them had the luxury to care. Holding their breath, they rolled to opposite sides of the bed.
Risa scrambled to grab her discarded underwear and trousers from the floor, pulling them on in a frantic rush before throwing her shirt over her head with trembling hands.
Abel didn't waste a single second. He yanked open the bedside drawer and pulled out two matte-black semi-automatic pistols. Tossing one to Risa, he spoke in a low, urgent tone.
"Our location's been compromised. They found us."
She caught the weapon out of the air, using her free hand to hastily tie back her long red hair, before leaning over to pinch out the single candle flickering in the center of the room.
The room plunged into pitch darkness, illuminated only by the sporadic, violent flashes of gunfire from the hallway that cast their desperate silhouettes against the walls.
Then, a voice cut through the din.
"Wipe them out! Leave none of these rats alive!"
The voice echoing from the corridor was chillingly cold and utterly devoid of mercy. It wasn't just an order; it was a death sentence. Risa bit her lower lip until it nearly bled, locking eyes with Abel. Her chest heaved with shallow breaths, but her gaze remained fiercely resolute.
The bed, which only moments ago had been a sanctuary of tender love, had transformed into the grim precipice of a slaughterhouse.
The moment that cruel, mocking voice reached Abel's ears, he knew exactly who it belonged to. A profound, icy dread settled over his features. He looked at Risa, his voice barely a whisper.
"...It's Baek Kang-ho."
At the mention of that name, Risa's face turned completely pale. The same paralyzing dread that gripped Abel mirrored in her eyes. Baek Kang-ho—the monstrous Duke who was the root of all their suffering and despair—had finally hunted them down to their last sanctuary.
Right then, a sound made their hearts leap into their throats. The brass doorknob of their room began to rattle violently. Rattle, rattle.
When the locked door refused to budge, a harsh, gruff voice barked from the other side.
"Your Grace! Someone's in here. The door is locked from the inside."
Baek Kang-ho's chilling response was immediate.
"Break it down."
A split second later—
BAM! BAM!
Heavy, brutal blows rained down on the wood. The old, rotting door groaned under the assault, splinters flying as it threatened to burst inward. The air in the room grew suffocatingly tense, stretched to its absolute breaking point.
Abel's eyes flared with desperate resolve. His mind raced at a frantic pace, his logic stripping away all useless thoughts until only one conclusion remained.
At this rate, we're both dead. I have to save Risa... even if it's just her!
He grabbed Risa's arm, whispering in a frantic, hushed panic.
"Risa, over here! Quick!"
His usual steady, reassuring tone was entirely gone, replaced by a raw, bleeding desperation.
He violently kicked aside the dusty rug beside the bed, revealing a small, concealed trapdoor built into the rotting floorboards.
With a sharp creak, he yanked the hatch open, revealing a cramped, pitch-black crawlspace barely large enough for a single adult to squeeze into. A musty smell of damp earth and old dust wafted up, carrying with it a suffocating sense of dread.
Abel turned to Risa, his eyes wide with terror.
"Get in! Hide, now!"
But Risa froze at the edge of the hatch. Staring down into the tiny, dark hole, she bit her lip so hard she drew blood. Her eyes swirled with a chaotic mix of confusion, terror, and profound sorrow.
"Only one person can fit in there... What about you, Abel? What about you?!"
Her voice cracked, trembling violently like a sob.
"Risa!"
Abel grabbed her shoulders, shaking her.
"There's no time! At least one of us has to make it out alive!"
His voice cracked with a mixture of agony and fierce devotion. The sheer, agonizing terror of losing the woman he loved bled through every syllable he uttered.
Risa's eyes welled with tears. The dam broke, and hot tears spilled down her dust-streaked cheeks.
"No... I won't leave you! How am I supposed to live if you die? I can't do this without you!"
She clung to his shoulders, her voice dissolving into a desperate, pleading wail.
But time was a luxury they did not possess. The wooden door was buckling, groaning under a barrage of heavy kicks. There was no room left for argument. Abel gripped her wrists, his voice hardening with absolute resolve.
"Risa, please! You have to survive! You—"
But he never got to finish his sentence.
CRACK!
A swift, brutal strike. The heavy steel butt of the pistol in Risa's hand slammed hard against the side of Abel's temple.
"Ah...!"
Caught completely off guard, Abel couldn't even register the betrayal before his eyes rolled back and his knees buckled.
His limp body collapsed onto the mattress, completely unconscious. Risa felt as though her own heart had been ripped from her chest, but she knew there was no other way.
"Forgive me, Abel..."
Risa gazed down at his peaceful, unconscious face, her voice cracking with a mixture of profound grief and grim determination.
"But... you cannot die here. If you die, the revolution dies with you. Everything we fought for... it all ends. I'm just... doing what I must to keep you alive."
Though hot tears streamed down her face, her hands did not falter.
Summoning every ounce of her strength, Risa dragged Abel's heavy, limp body off the bed and carefully lowered him into the cramped crawlspace. She cradled his head gently, terrified of injuring him further, but the frantic pounding on the door reminded her that she had seconds left.
Once he was safely tucked inside, she shut the heavy wooden hatch and dragged the dusty rug back over it, smoothing it out with slick, sweaty palms until the trapdoor was completely invisible.
Outside, the splintering of the door grew deafening. Holding her breath, enveloped in an icy shroud of terror, Risa offered a silent, desperate prayer for Abel's survival.
She knew exactly what horrific fate awaited her once that door fell, yet her only desire was that he would live to see another day.
The door groaned under one final, massive impact.
Risa roughly wiped the tears from her eyes, raised her trembling hand, and aimed the pistol squarely at the entrance.
Her heart hammered against her ribs like a bullet chambered and ready to fire. She knew she was facing her doom, but her gaze did not waver.
The weapon in her hand trembled slightly, but it was a tremor born of pure, unadulterated fury and tragic resolve, not fear.
BOOM—!!!
The door finally shattered into a thousand splinters, collapsing inward in a cloud of dust and debris. Through the haze, heavily armed soldiers poured into the room, their cold steel helmets gleaming and their rifle barrels pointed forward.
They flooded the small room in an instant, surrounding Risa in a tight, inescapable circle. A dozen black, menacing barrels locked onto her chest. Though she stood entirely alone, her grip on her pistol remained ironclad.
And then, parting the sea of soldiers, Baek Kang-ho stepped forward. Impeccably dressed and utterly unbothered, he strolled into the ruined room as casually as a nobleman taking a morning walk through his private gardens.
A chilling, sadistic smirk played on his lips, and his eyes gleamed with the absolute, suffocating arrogance of a man who ruled over life and death.
His eyes locked onto Risa, who stood defiantly in the center of the room with her gun raised. Her short, fiery red hair and deceptively delicate, cute features contrasted sharply with the murderous glare she directed at him—a sight that instantly piqued his depraved curiosity.
"A woman among the rebels? And a rather adorable one at that."
A vulgar, predatory grin spread across Baek Kang-ho's face. His gaze slithered down her body like a slimy serpent, visually stripping her of her clothes.
As his eyes lingered on the feminine curves hidden beneath her rugged uniform, a violent shudder of disgust rippled through Risa's entire body.
Though her hand trembled with a mixture of fear and rage, Risa refused to back down. She glared back at him, her eyes burning with a fierce, unyielding hatred that practically radiated a desire to tear him limb from limb.
