So It Was You
Basement Level 3, C-Block, Pump Room Three.
"Hah… hah…"
I crouched low, dragging in ragged breaths. Water lapped at the floor around me—damp, clammy, and above all else, filthy and exhausting.
God. Life.
I checked my watch. 5:10 p.m.
The ten minutes I'd promised Elise had come and gone a long time ago. Not ten minutes—over an hour.
I'm screwed.
Even if I made it out of here alive, that wouldn't solve anything. There was no way she would just sit still. Her personal air conditioner vanishing without a word? By now she was probably turning the Penthouse into a charcoal kiln.
Bang! Bang!
"Hey! You little rat! You coming out or what?"
"We know the gas is gone! Get out here!"
The prisoners' shouts carried over the barricade. With the steam clearing, they'd found their courage again. The one I'd knocked out earlier with Absolute Calm was already gone—dragged off, apparently.
"Clear this junk! Smash the door!"
Screeeech.
The scrap I'd piled up started to give. It wouldn't hold much longer. All I had in my hands was a bent steel pipe. My stamina was shot, and my mana was hanging by a thread after spamming Absolute Calm.
So this is where I die.
It felt so unfair. Getting killed like a dog over some petty senior's jealousy. My life really was spectacular.
"It's giving! Grab him!"
With a crash, the barricade finally collapsed. In the dark, the prisoners' gleaming eyes locked onto me.
"Found you, you little rat."
"You burned my arm? I'll peel your skin off for that."
The one in front raised his weapon. I tightened my grip on the pipe. Might as well go down swinging.
Hisssss—
"Huh?"
The cold water soaking my ankles suddenly turned lukewarm. No—not lukewarm. It was boiling.
"What the—?"
The prisoners felt it too and froze.
"Hey, what is this? Why's it suddenly so hot?"
"The water on the floor… it's boiling?"
Bubble, bubble.
Air rose from the standing water. At the same time, an impossible heat rolled in from the corridor outside the pump room—like the mouth of a giant blast furnace opening wide, a choking wall of heat.
And then.
Click. Click.
Through the sound of boiling water came the crisp strike of high heels. Approaching slowly. Arrogantly.
"…Ah."
I dropped the steel pipe. I knew that heat. That murderous aura that felt ready to sear flesh. The acrid scent of fire brushing my nose, laced with the sweet perfume of roses.
She was here.
"Move."
A low voice carried from the far end of the hall. Quiet as it was, it rang like an absolute command through the whole of C-Block.
"W-Who's there?!"
"What bitch is that?!"
The prisoners spun around and shouted. And then they saw it—the pitch-black corridor of C-Block lighting up bright crimson with roaring flame.
Whoosh!
A woman walked forward, red hair streaming behind her. With every step she took, the concrete floor blackened and burned. Sparks danced around her body.
"Number 001…?"
"Th-The witch! Why is the Witch of Hellfire here?!"
The prisoners' faces went white with terror. Every inmate in Abyss knew that absolute dread. Elise herself—disaster incarnate—had appeared right in front of them.
"It's hot… so annoying."
Elise didn't even glance at the prisoners. She fanned herself with one hand, muttering irritably. Through the heat-torn slits of her dress, pale thighs flashed bare, but not a single man dared look.
"I smell my air conditioner. So why are a bunch of rats blocking the way?"
Her crimson eyes swept over them. Wherever that gaze landed, prisoners screamed and scrambled backward.
"P-Please spare us!"
"We were just—!"
"Shut up."
Elise flicked her fingers.
BOOM—!
A massive explosion tore the iron bars and walls blocking the prisoners clean away. Bodies went flying like leaves in a storm. The ones hit dead-on blacked out without even a scream.
She strode down the ruined corridor like it was a runway and finally stopped at the pump room entrance. Our eyes met.
"…"
She looked me up and down—uniform soaked through like a drowned rat, torn sleeve, face drained pale. Her brow furrowed hard.
"What the hell happened to you."
"…Inmate."
"Disgusting."
She pinched her nose and scowled. But she didn't stop. She stepped through the boiling water and came straight to me.
"Why didn't you come."
She stood right in front of me. The heat pouring off her body dried my wet clothes in an instant—no, past drying, it felt ready to set them on fire.
"It's been more than ten minutes."
"I'm sorry. The door was locked, and—"
"Don't make excuses."
She reached out and seized me by the collar. Ordinarily I would have flinched from the heat, but right now that warmth was the most welcome thing in the world.
"I came to find you. I'm dying of the heat."
She yanked me in hard and buried her forehead against my chest with a dull thud.
"Cool me down. Right now."
It was an order, but her voice trembled, just a little. I lifted shaking hands and wrapped my arms around her back. Through the thin dress I felt hot, soft skin.
Absolute Calm
"…Sorry I'm late."
Hisssss.
The moment my hands touched her, the flames wreathing her body died down. Mana that had been a breath away from going berserk settled back into calm.
"Haa…"
Elise let out a long breath and leaned her full weight into me. She lifted her head and glared up at me. In those red eyes, murderous intent had been replaced by a strange, burning possessiveness.
"Who."
She growled low in her throat.
"Who did this to what's mine."
Instead of answering, I looked away—toward the prisoners huddled in the corner, shaking, and toward the speaker in the ceiling. Elise's gaze followed mine. She understood the situation in a single glance.
"Those pieces of trash?"
Whoosh.
Her hair flared crimson again. Supporting me with one arm, she stretched the other toward the prisoners.
"How dare you."
KA-BOOM!
Flame erupted from her palm and slammed into the pump room wall. The prisoners squealed and crawled across the floor.
"You touched my toy? You got a death wish?"
When she took a step forward, they wet themselves and begged for their lives. She looked down at them like insects.
"I'd love to burn every last one of you…"
She glanced sideways at me. Seeing me hanging limp and spent, she clicked her tongue.
"Tch. I'll let it slide today."
She locked an arm firmly around my waist and hauled me upright, almost like a princess carry.
"We're leaving. This place stinks."
"Uh, Inmate. I can walk. People are watching, so maybe—"
"Shut up. I can see your legs giving out."
She was completely unreasonable. Leaning on an S-rank witch for support, I staggered out of the ruined C-Block.
In the corridor, the rapid-response team and guards who'd arrived late had formed a perimeter. They raised their guns at Elise—but no one fired. Because the warden—me—was in her arms.
"Number 001! Halt! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
The security chief bellowed through a megaphone. Elise snorted.
"Out of the way. My air conditioner's broken. I'm taking it in for repairs."
She strode straight through the encirclement. No one stopped her. Her eyes said, loud and clear, that anyone who touched her would die.
In front of the elevator, she pressed the button and murmured low.
"Remember this."
"Yes?"
"You're mine. If you break, I break you. If you get thrown away, I'm the one who throws you away."
She caught my chin and forced me to look at her. Those red eyes shone like they meant to swallow me whole.
"So don't go getting pushed around by other guys. It's embarrassing."
Rough, blunt words. But I thought I understood what was underneath them. Her own clumsy version of comfort, maybe.
…I made it.
The tension drained out of me and a crushing wave of sleep hit hard. I let my head rest on Elise's shoulder. The scent of fire rising from her body felt strangely warm today. And there was that oddly soft sensation, too.
"…Thank you."
She didn't answer my murmur. She only tightened the arm around my waist a little more.
Ding—
The elevator doors closed. That hellish day was finally ending, under the witch's salvation.
My mind was fogged. My vision crackled like a broken TV. Even so, the sensations stayed sharp—the soft, warm pressure against my back, and the acrid fire-scent mixed with sweet rose perfume teasing my nose.
…Is this a five-star mattress?
No. Way too hot for a bed. And beds don't walk around.
"Hey. You planning to wake up or what?"
That prickly voice by my ear. Elise. She was hauling my limp body along under one arm like a sack of luggage—or rather, like a rather precious treasure jar.
"You're heavy. When you wake up, first thing I'm doing is putting you on a diet."
She said it, but the arm supporting me was locked tight with strength. The germaphobe witch who normally would have snapped "Gross, get away from me" was hugging a guy covered in filthy water.
Was this real life?
Inmate 001's Possessiveness is rising.
Current Status: Who the hell broke my toy.
The damn system alert flickered through my head like a delusion.
Ding—
The elevator doors opened onto the lobby. And waiting there was the single biggest obstacle in my life.
"Well, well! Look who's back!"
Supervisor Park Minseok. Why the hell hadn't this guy clocked out yet. He came running over with a show of concern, but the corners of his mouth were twitching.
Serves you right, Kang Jinsoo.
That was what his eyes said. He clearly thought Elise hadn't rescued me—she'd hunted me down and dragged me out. Fair enough. Who would believe an S-rank witch would crawl into a sewer just to save an F-rank pack mule.
"Inmate 001! You've had quite the ordeal. Looks like this worthless trash caused another mess?"
Supervisor Park clicked his tongue as he approached.
"I tried so hard to educate him, but I guess an F-rank just doesn't have the brains for it. Must've been a real nuisance, right? Allow me to apologize on his behalf."
He grinned with greasy confidence and started buttering Elise up, clearly convinced they were bonding. He must have thought that if he spun a heroic tale about "teaching an uppity F-rank his place," the witch would pat him on the head and say, "Good job."
Stupid bastard. Wrong address entirely.
Elise stopped. Still supporting me, she looked down at Supervisor Park with a crooked tilt of her head.
"Educate?"
Her red lips twisted into a cold smirk.
"Yes, exactly! A man needs to know his place. Daring to call himself an S-rank specialist—completely absurd, don't you think? So I sent him down to clean Basement 3, and it seems he managed to cause another accident while he was at it."
Supervisor Park prattled on, delighted with himself, completely oblivious that his laughter was scraping raw against Elise's temper.
"I'll dispose of this garbage for you. Inmate 001, please head back to the Penthouse. Hey—hand him over."
Supervisor Park reached out to snatch my arm.
Thwack.
In that instant, Elise's pale hand clamped around his wrist.
"Uh…?"
Supervisor Park lifted his head with a blank look. What filled his vision were the witch's eyes, glowing red in the pitch-black dark.
"Who gave you permission to bark?"
Hisssss—!
"G-Gyaaah?!"
Supervisor Park's scream tore through the lobby. White smoke rose from the wrist Elise held. The smell of grilling pork—no, of burning flesh—filled the air.
"Let go. Don't touch what's mine with those filthy hands."
Elise flung his hand away hard. Supervisor Park clutched his wrist and rolled on the floor.
"Aaaargh! My hand! My hand!!"
"S-Supervisor!"
The surrounding guards recoiled in horror. Elise looked down at the fallen Park Minseok like he was a bug.
"So it was you."
Whoosh.
Her hair rose against gravity. The lobby temperature spiked to sauna-furnace levels in a heartbeat.
"The bastard who turned my toy into a rag."