LLU 39

I swept my trembling gaze across the bed. Following the long, hideous chain with my eyes—the one that restrained me like a criminal—I snatched at it abruptly.

The metal lump was buried under the blanket. Seeing the shackle, which only Choi Junghan’s hand could unlock, now gaping open as if it had spat out my ankle, I shuddered.

My heart began to pound madly.

Choi Junghan had never once made such a mistake before. He often washed me when I collapsed in exhaustion at dawn and carried me back to bed. Today, it seemed he had forgotten to put the shackle back on after washing me.

A surge of exhilaration shot straight to the top of my head and stimulated my entire body. Forcibly pressing down my violently racing heart, I sprang up like lightning.

There was no reason to hesitate, no time to spare. Right now, I had to grab any clothes I could find and get out of here. Everything else could be thought about later. Just imagining leaving this house made my chest swell so much I felt it might burst.

But in an instant, a certain realization made me sink back down.

There would be security guards outside…

I stood motionless, sinking deep into thought. For a moment, my resolve nearly broke. But the conclusion came quickly. Even so, I could not just give up without even trying.

I would find a way somehow. If it did not work, I would poke their eyes or kick them in the groin to throw them off balance for a second and then run. Of course, the opponent would be a sturdy security guard, so it would not be easy, but how tightly could they really guard the front of this house where not even an ant had stirred for twenty-four hours? There had to be a gap somewhere.

For now, let me put some clothes on this half-naked body and think. There would be some way. Somehow…

A terrifyingly clear conviction sharpened my reason.

The opportunity was today only.

I ran frantically to Choi Junghan’s dressing room. While alone in the empty house, I had mostly been confined to my own room, but when Choi Junghan was present, he had taken me all over every corner of this house, so I had a rough idea of what each area was used for.

I glanced at the numerous suits hanging in perfect alignment and immediately looked away. I was in a situation where I needed to run until my ass fell off; I could not possibly flee wearing a huge suit that would drag down around me. Passing the densely packed suit section, I rummaged through the drawers indiscriminately.

Finally, I saw the section filled with casual clothes sorted by type. Even his ordinary T-shirts were big enough to cover down to my hips. Among them, I pulled out what looked like the smallest tracksuit, found the underwear drawer, took out a pair of briefs, and put them on. After quickly dressing from top to bottom, I ran to his study.

I searched the desk drawers. Where was my phone? I considered looking for my phone, or at least some cash, but quickly changed my mind. In the middle of escaping, I could not afford to carry extra items. First, I had to get my body to safety.

My plan was to leave this house, hail a taxi, and head straight to the hospital. I could get taxi fare from there. I would tell my mother the entire situation, have her discharged from there, and we would hide together. We could change our numbers and move somewhere far from Seoul.

At first she would be flustered, but once she heard the full story, my mother would surely follow my lead without question. Chairman Choi would not be able to stop such a mother either. Even if the two of them knew about my relationship with Choi Junghan, it would be impossible for them to stay together. The relationship between him and me was incestuous in itself.

Even after being dragged along helplessly according to Choi Junghan’s wishes following his threats, I had always doubted. I doubted the validity of the promise he made. How could I be sure that a man without blood or tears would not, after playing with me to his heart’s content, simply clean up my mother and me the way he had done with Chairman Choi’s previous women?

Yes, from the beginning, Choi Junghan was a disaster I could not handle alone. Before getting properly entangled with him, back when I was only slapped a few times, I should have run away. I should have left Choi Junghan behind without ever looking back.

It was already far too late for such regrets. But even now, even from this moment, I could escape from him. A broken body, a broken mind, a broken family—everything could be rebuilt. It was possible.

First, I would take my mother and put physical distance between us and Choi Junghan. I had no room to think about anything else. I had clothes on and money in hand, so I had to get out of the house first.

But…

“……”

My heart, which had been pounding with exhilaration, seemed to stop completely. The gaze that had been fixed on the front door, swollen with dreams, gradually cooled.

…My phone?

What was blatantly placed at the entrance was unmistakably my phone, no matter how many times I rubbed my eyes. Not only that, but my sneakers—the ones that had been missing all this time—were there too. And right beside them, a thick stack of high-denomination bills had been placed as if to show off.

“Fuck…”

A hoarse voice let out a dazed curse.

Something inside my head was collapsing. A massive crashing sound followed. It sounded almost exactly like his low, mocking laughter.

Everything had been bait.

The shackle around my ankle being unlocked was not Choi Junghan’s mistake. Yes, he had never been the kind of person to be so careless in the first place.

He was clearly inducing me to run away right now. He wanted me to put on the shoes I used to wear, take my phone, pick up the money he had left, and leave this house. The security guard who had been stationed at the door was undoubtedly gone now. That conviction settled in.

He had set up the entire environment perfectly to test me. It was like placing delicious cheese in a huge trap and releasing a starving little rat.

“Ha…”

I let out a rough sigh and swept my palm across my face.

After I smashed that pet cam or whatever the hell it was last time, he had gone ahead and installed CCTV. I had no idea where it was hidden watching me, but he was probably watching right now. Watching the sight of me running around with a face full of ecstatic joy at the dream of escape.

What kind of fucked-up prank was this…

Laughter kept leaking out of my deflated chest. The mad cackling went on for a long while before it finally stopped. After the emptiness swept through, only pure rage remained.

With a hardened face, I put on the shoes and tied the laces. I slipped the phone into my pocket and took the money he had so kindly left as well.

Choi Junghan was the kind of person who played with people’s minds and delighted in observing how they lost shape and got crushed. How much pleasure must he have felt while preparing this stunt?

He constantly tried to remind me of how low I had already fallen. Not content with breaking my stubborn pride, he had ground it into powder and thrown it in my face. If, even after he set up this environment for me, I still did not get scared and run away, Choi Junghan would use that to trample and humiliate my character step by step.

He would rejoice in the sense of accomplishment that he had finally tamed me. He would say that even though he had removed the collar, I had voluntarily stayed in this house, and treat me like a whore again.

So I would run away blatantly. Whatever this bait was, I would gladly bite it. Even if this entire act—including my escape—had been designed entirely within the palm of Choi Junghan’s hand, I would carry it out anyway. That was better than losing my will before even trying and meekly shutting myself away in the corner of the room.

Anyway, if I could just get to the hospital safely, it would all be over.

This time, no matter what, I would end this fucking connection with Choi Junghan…

My nerves were sharpened to a razor’s edge. My chest pounded wildly with bursting exhilaration. After completing all preparations, I looked around the house once.

Toward the space I would never return to, I raised my middle finger and waved it. Hoping Choi Junghan would see even this.

As expected, no one was guarding the front door. I rushed out of the officetel in a panic and hailed a taxi. At the thoughtfulness he had shown—charging my long-unused phone so it would not be dead—I let out a dumbfounded laugh.

“Please go to XX University Hospital.”

As soon as I got in the taxi, I connected to the school homepage on my phone. With an impatient heart, I searched for the Computer Engineering Department office number.

Choi Junghan was far more bold and resourceful than I had thought. Add to that his wealth, and if he set his mind to it, finding me within my own university would be easier for him than lifting a finger.

As long as Choi Junghan was fixated on me, I would not be able to attend that school for the time being.

It was unfair and absurd, but that was the conclusion I had no choice but to reach right now.

I quickly planned in my head. First, I would apply for a leave of absence this semester. Then I would go as far from Seoul as possible and hide for at least one semester.

No matter how engrossed Choi Junghan was in toying with me, after half a year of absence, he would probably lose interest. I could re-enroll later.

There was no time to visit the school in person, but there was probably some way to handle it online. I waited anxiously for the call to connect.

—Yes. This is the Computer Engineering Department office at XX University.

The dry voice felt like salvation. I called out to him with desperate urgency.

“Hello. My name is Pioon, a freshman in the Computer Engineering Department, class of 00. Due to personal circumstances, I would like to apply for a leave of absence. Is that possible? What procedures do I need to follow?”

—Please hold.

A short reply was followed by mechanical hold music. Since a negative response had not come first, it seemed it would not be difficult.

But the next words that came back shattered my mind to pieces in an instant.

—It has already been processed.

“…What? What do you—”

—Your leave of absence has been processed, Student Pioon.

“Yes?”

I kept repeating stupid questions. It felt like I had been hit hard on the head. My dulled mind could not comprehend the situation at all.

A leave of absence? When? …When had I ever gone through such procedures?

While living in Choi Junghan’s house, I had grown anxious every time I saw March approaching, but I had never specifically looked into the leave-of-absence process.

Completely stunned, I pulled the phone away from my face with trembling hands and checked the date. A week had passed since the start of the semester. So much time had already gone by, yet I had not even stepped foot on campus—much less registered on the homepage until just now. There was no way I had applied for a leave of absence myself and simply forgotten.

—Please log in to the homepage and check for yourself.

“Wait, wait, just a moment.”

I hurriedly stopped the staff member who was about to hang up. With a stupid voice, I struggled to continue the conversation.

“I… I’ve never submitted a leave of absence application.”

—Sigh… I don’t know about that part. In any case, your status for this semester is on leave of absence. Weren’t you planning to apply anyway?

“Then… I’m sorry, but the dormitory—”

—I’ll transfer you to that department.

With an indifferent voice, the mechanical hold music repeated again. I could not control my wildly pounding heart.

A sinister premonition crept in like a dark shadow. I did not know why, when, or how the leave of absence had been processed, but I had a vague idea of ‘who’ had done it.

No way.

No way…

—Student Pioon, you canceled the dormitory. Since the cancellation was made after the deadline, it was processed as a forced withdrawal. Therefore, additional applications are not possible this year.

At the dormitory staff member’s words, I quietly ended the call. My vision blurred, and I closed my eyes in a daze.

Inside the taxi heading to the hospital, I frantically dialed my mother over and over.

Choi Junghan constantly exceeded my expectations. He was not someone who could simply be defined as crazy. If it were possible to measure human madness, he would probably record one of the highest scores, and among man-eaters, he would occupy the top rank.

“Please, please pick up, please…”

I was so anxious my legs were shaking. I bit my nails down to stubs while dialing, but no matter how many times I tried, there was no response from my mother.

I was going insane. If he had gone this far with his schemes, he would not have left my mother alone either. What if something had happened to my mother? What if that was why she was not answering the phone…

Just thinking that made me feel like my mind would completely evaporate. I was so gripped by terror that I did not even notice the taxi driver glancing at me repeatedly through the rearview mirror.

Finally, the car slowly reduced speed in front of the hospital main gate.