LLU 17

Choi Junghan was the kind of person who had slapped my cheek several times for the single reason that I had let out a sigh. He was also a psycho who, after sitting harmoniously around the dinner table for a meal with a perfectly normal face, would go upstairs and drag me around by my hair.

The employees had all left work earlier. My mother, who had become particularly susceptible to sleep since becoming pregnant, would fall asleep the moment she lay down in bed, and Chairman Choi was in a state of near unconsciousness. And tonight, I was trapped and had to spend the night in the same house with him.

What that meant was that right now, inside this villa, there was no shield to protect me.

In that moment, I shot up from my seat as if on a spring. I couldn’t stop the encroaching anxiety, not even knowing exactly what Choi Junghan’s words, “it’s going to be fun,” meant.

I quickly got up and dashed toward the stairs leading to the second floor. My rapidly spinning vision instinctively scanned the outside. The rain was still coming down in thick streams. Even if I called a taxi, no one would come out to this forest in this weather, at this hour.

Calm down. He might have just said it to tease me. Still, since I didn’t know what that psycho might do, I had to prepare at least a minimal refuge. Yes, let’s go up to my room right now and lock the door. For now, that should be enou—.

“Ack!”

It was the moment I hurriedly moved my feet and stepped on the highest part of the staircase. My wrist was yanked back sharply. Before I could even grasp the situation from the pulling force, a scream burst out of me.

Feeling like I was about to tumble down the stairs, my feet stumbled and desperately searched for a place to step. Soon, my body, which had been swaying like a creaky wooden doll, was blocked by something as hard as a rock.

I slowly turned my head, which wouldn’t move easily. Finally, within my connected vision, Choi Junghan was smiling.

“It’s just our time now, Oon-ah.”

His sticky voice spread around like a deadly poison mixed with water.

“Why, why are you doing this!”

Unpleasant goosebumps traveled up my wrist, up my forearm, and settled in my heart. I couldn’t stand the feeling, as if insects were swarming inside me.

I tried to shake off his hand with all my might. But Choi Junghan, who would usually let go obediently when I did that, didn’t let go today. His thick fingers and palm, clinging with a vice-like grip, squeezed my wrist even tighter.

Choi Junghan slowly climbed the stairs, keeping his eyes locked with mine. One step, then another step. In just three steps, he reached the top of the stairs.

My feet moved on their own to avoid him as he slowly approached. My body, which had been backpedaling in time with his steps, soon hit the wall of the second-floor hallway. Choi Junghan’s eyes, as he approached slowly like a viper with its head raised, ensnared my gaze, making it impossible for me to look away.

My lips trembled. The siren in my head was blaring so loudly it felt like I would go deaf. While looking at his face, which had taken control of me like a ghost, I couldn’t take any action.

Something about him today seemed possessed. I tried to glare at him with all my might as usual, but it didn’t work. I even felt a sense of suffocation from his presence pressing down on me.

He suddenly closed the distance. His thick thigh pushed its way between my legs without hesitation, restricting my movement. At some point, both of my wrists were firmly pinned to the wall. His face drew closer, and his high-bridged nose touched the nape of my neck.

In that state, Choi Junghan took a deep breath.

“Did you wash up? You smell like a baby.”

All the fine hairs on my body stood on end in response to his languidly drawn breath.

“Mm. I like it.”

My whole body froze as I heard his voice, like that of a well-fed lion. My mind felt like it had become the vast, expanding universe itself. The sensations I had just taken in gave birth to confusion, and then more confusion.

I couldn’t figure out his intentions at all. He had just, clearly, sniffed the nape of my neck. And said he liked it….

Until Choi Junghan had grabbed me, what I had imagined was an indiscriminate beating. Things like grabbing me by the hair and dragging me around or slapping my cheeks like last time. There would be no other way for him to punish me for being insolent. That’s what I thought.

But what on earth, what on earth is this…?

“Wh, what are you doing right now!”

A voice finally burst out of my frozen-solid throat. Even so, the voice, which was trembling pathetically, laid bare the psychology of someone who was utterly terrified.

As if he was pleased by my appearance, Choi Junghan generously lifted the corners of his mouth. Then he uttered in a casual tone.

“Let’s play, Oon-ah.”

For a moment, I doubted my ears. That I had heard nonsense from being overly tense. Otherwise, I couldn’t understand what I had just heard.

“Play? What kind of nonsense are you….”

“It’s a shame to just go to sleep, isn’t it? It’s the first day of you being an adult.”

A benevolent gaze and a gentle, low voice. I couldn’t understand the meaning of his words, as he acted friendly to the point of feeling incongruous.

Play.

Even though it was an ordinary word, coming out of Choi Junghan’s mouth, it was extremely unsettling, goosebump-inducing, and smelled of blood. I shuddered and retorted to him.

“So right now, with what intention are you spouting that kind of b**lshit…!”

“Ah. The rules of the game are.”

He raised one eyebrow jauntily. His expression and tone were light, as if he were truly explaining the rules of a game.

And then, Choi Junghan, with that same tone of voice, uttered something unbelievable.

“I’m going to r**e you starting now.”

“…What?”

“You can just do as you please, whether that’s obediently spreading your legs or running away.”

Creating a perfectly handsome smile, Choi Junghan’s eyes shone.

“How about it? It’ll be fun, right?”

My wavering vision, my trembling lips, my train of thought. Everything stopped. No, my world, which had been operating along with the flow of time, stopped.

A deafening roar erupted from somewhere. It felt like something had ruptured inside my brain. I even wondered if the part of me that listens to and understands words had been temporarily broken.

Right now, who, to whom, is going to do what…?

“…What?”

Only after a long while did the breath I had been holding burst sharply from my mouth. Gasp. A strange, metallic sound came out with it.

“What kind of, …b**lshit is this?”

“Didn’t you hear what the adults said earlier?”

Choi Junghan kindly elaborated.

“They told me to play with you. And to give you all sorts of good experiences.”

The heavy smell of wine and the scent of cologne wafted from him simultaneously as he whispered right in front of my nose.

“Is this your first time having s**? It’ll be a fun experience.”

My eyes widened on their own at the unbelievable word that came from him. My lips twitched and spasmed involuntarily.

“I, …I’m a man. You crazy b**t**d.”

“That’s great. I f**k men too.”

“F**k, you and I… are going to be brothers!”

At my desperate cry, Choi Junghan smiled faintly.

“Hearing you say that makes me even hornier.”

No matter what I said, he was impregnable. Like throwing a ball against a wall, all my words bounced back in vain.

Even as I desperately tried to deny what I had heard in my head, Choi Junghan kept reminding me of my position. He didn’t beat around the bush and directly revealed what he was going to do to me tonight.

In the face of a pure and immense madness I had never experienced before, I had no leeway to pretend I was okay. From the very beginning, he was not a suitable opponent for me to handle. Considering Choi Junghan’s actions up to now, the possibility that his words were a joke to mess with me was extremely low.

He was definitely, tonight, to me, going to… do that thing.

“You, crazy, fucking, lunatic, b**t**d…!”

I had to run. This wasn’t the time to worry about pride or power struggles. I had to get out of this situation. I couldn’t stay here, even if it meant collapsing while wandering alone in the rainy forest.

My panicked mind spun rapidly. Chairman Choi was already unconscious. The only person I could ask for help was my mother. I had to go back to the bedroom right now and wake my mother up. He wouldn’t dare do something like that in front of my mother.

The moment I opened my mouth to scream, something was forcefully shoved into it. What was jammed in with a force strong enough to be a fist was his handkerchief, thick with his scent.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

“Now then.”

Choi Junghan, who had stuffed the handkerchief into my mouth, made his eyes shine.

“Now, shall we start the game?”

He stated it as a question, his voice rising at the end, and then he stretched the corners of his mouth wide into a grin. At the same time, he even let go of the one hand that had been holding me. It was as if he was encouraging me to escape.

Run. Run. Run!

Someone was screaming their head off inside my mind. With the sudden freedom, I stumbled, unable to control my body. But that was all; soon, I desperately pulled away from him.

It was when I was desperately taking steps toward the staircase, only about five paces away. My neck was strongly choked, and my body was flung backward.

“Gag!”

He had intentionally grabbed my clothes from behind and pulled hard to choke me. My body, yanked back, hit the floor with a thud as I landed on my b**t. I immediately got up and threw myself toward the stairs again, but Choi Junghan pulled me back in the same way and threw me onto the floor.

A low, creepy laugh spread through the air. Just as he said about playing, he was intentionally toying with me.

“You son of a b**ch! You fucker!”

I screamed, having pulled out the handkerchief that had been shoved into my mouth. I could see Choi Junghan’s smiling face. Without losing his composure, he grabbed me with an agile movement, knocked me down onto my back in the hallway, and tried to stuff the handkerchief back into my mouth.

This time, I couldn’t just let it happen. I desperately panted and bared my teeth, aiming for him. The moment his fingers came inside, I planned to bite down with all my might. If I bit him with the intent to sever them, there was no way even he could endure it. So…

“Ugh!”

Choi Junghan mocked my resolve splendidly. He powerfully slapped the cheek of me who was baring my teeth, ready to bite.

Slap! Along with the sound, my entire vision shook. Into my mouth, which was hanging open in a daze, he once again stuffed the handkerchief with a brisk movement of his hands.

He immediately untied the necktie from his neck and, with skillful hands, gathered my two wrists and tied them together. While I was flailing, unable to come to my senses from the helpless violence I had suffered, by the time I belatedly tried to poke his eyes, both my wrists were already tied tightly.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

“Yes, that’s it. That’s the expression I thought you’d have. Haha! This is more arousing than I thought.”

Choi Junghan looked at me with eyes steeped in madness and laughed. What was making his voice tremble faintly was clearly exhilaration.

I was scared. For the first time, I was scared of Choi Junghan, who was on top of me. It was the first time that fear of him preceded my hatred. Would this be how it feels if a murderer held a knife to your throat? The fear I was feeling now would be by no means less than that.

“Shall we go to the bed now?”

He asked with a damp voice and smiled.

“It’s my little brother’s first time. I can’t have you do it on the floor.”

Choi Junghan pushed his body up. In that moment, the desire to live overcame my fear. As his overwhelming physique moved away, I lifted my leg with all my might and aimed for his g**in. I was going to crush his thing with my heel.

However, as if mocking me, Choi Junghan lightly snatched my ankle.

“Haha…, you ill-mannered little son of a b**ch.”