'I-yeon, why tell such an easily exposed lie?'
The bastard with merely a passable face was nowhere to be seen. As always, he was right. Indeed, his assumptions had never once strayed off course.
Now, it was time to take her back.
However…….
Hwang Jo-yoon tried to move his body, but his limbs were tightly bound with rope, making it impossible to stand.
Each time he writhed like a snake, the thick smell of fertilizer that had been thoroughly rubbed into his philtrum wafted intensely.
"Mmph……. Mmmmm……!"
He screamed desperately with a gag in his mouth. The rag that had been shoved deep into his fading consciousness remained vivid. The cloth plugging his throat triggered endless retching.
"Tied up well, isn't he?"
The man bent one knee and studied the knots intently.
"I learned it in case I might need it someday."
"How did you catch him?"
"With a pepper spray gun. I heard it's effective on bugs like him, so I prepared one in advance. I had a feeling Hwang Jo-yun might break into the house someday. It's purely plant-based tear gas, so I found it personally interesting too."
"I-yeon, you're impressive."
He rested his arm on his knee and looked up at her warmly.
Hwang Jo-yoon glared at this peaceful atmosphere.
"Mmmmm……!"
Why is that bastard coming out of the house……?!
"Mmmmph!"
"……."
"……."
The two people tilting their heads as if looking down at an insect were identical, as if coordinated.
Especially the man's gaze, looking as if he would gut him at any moment, lacked any humanity. His pale-colored eyes were exactly like the husk of a yellow wasp, making cold sweat break out.
"From here on, leave it to me."
He stood up without taking his eyes off Hwang Jo-yoon. I-yeon grabbed Kwon Chae-woo's hem and pleaded.
"N-no police! He'll definitely get released. I installed CCTV in the yard, but everything showing me attacking him got recorded too. No one will acknowledge my self-defense!"
"……."
"Especially people with money and connections……."
I-yeon's gaze turned meaningfully toward Kwon Chae-woo.
The man lightly placed his hand on I-yeon's head, which looked anxious. Then he bent his waist and gently rubbed her tensed brow.
"I won't report it."
"……."
"Did you forget? I only do what I-yeon tells me to do. So don't worry about what others think and tell me. What do you want from me? How should I handle this for you?"
He whispered, coaxing her.
When she first heard the word 'carnivore' as a child, I-yeon thought it was a type of plant. 'A tree that eats meat?' she had imagined absurdly.
But carnivore was a term referring to meat-eating animals, and now that language seemed to have taken physical form.
His light brown eyes were waiting happily to snatch something away and claw at it.
"If I-yeon tells me to lick, I'll lick―"
"……."
"If you tell me to strip the bones, I'll do that."
Her shoulders flinched, but she wasn't scared like before.
"J-just……."
"Yes."
"I don't want him to ever appear before me again."
Kwon Chae-woo nodded quietly.
"That would be best."
"……But that doesn't mean k-kill him!"
The most important thing in using Kwon Chae-woo was to stop at a reasonably safe line. Using blanks, not live ammunition.
The man snorted, making a sound of deflating air.
"I won't kill him."
The words came out sensibly. When I-yeon looked at him with fresh eyes, a soft and affectionate gaze immediately returned.
Right, perhaps Chu-ja's words were correct. Kwon Chae-woo was still an empty vessel. What would fill it depended on his future environment―
"You can't do that here."
"……."
"This isn't a good place to kill, is it?"
I-yeon's thoughts, which had been turning positive, stopped abruptly.
"I-I don't want to be arrested as a murder suspect!"
She cried out as if vomiting blood, and Kwon Chae-woo's smile deepened.
"I'll just talk some sense into him. I-yeon, go inside the house and get some sleep. I'll come in soon too."
I-yeon hesitated in her steps then made a request to him.
"……Kwon Chae-woo, I caught him. Don't forget that."
Kwon Chae-woo slowly raised one eyebrow. He couldn't easily grasp her intentions.
"I'm not telling you to get angry on my behalf as a substitute. So don't get too upset. What if you get a headache? That shouldn't happen……!"
For some reason, he wanted to laugh out loud.
"Kwon Chae-woo, you're still a patient. We promised to only see pretty and good things, but I broke that promise first, so I'm sorry about that……."
"……."
Ah, a sweet moan lingered from his throat.
"Hwang Jo-yoon kept doubting our marriage, so I showed him my husband. Just that much. You heard me, right?"
"I heard you well."
He frowned and scratched the end of his eyebrow with his thumb. If he didn't compose his face like that, laughter would inevitably leak out.
Otherwise, he would have picked her up like a baby monkey, tucked her under his arm, and carried her inside.
Neither option fit this situation.
Only then did I-yeon leave the backyard unsteadily, as if relieved.
"Mmmmph……. Ughhh!"
Meanwhile, Hwang Jo-yoon screamed in fury watching her walk away. He had no sense of reality about what the two had discussed.
He had been able to brazenly enter this house's yard because, after all, So I-yeon couldn't do anything.
A frightened woman could do nothing. Stiffening her whole body and trembling was the most she could do.
He had happily faced her pale face through the window.
'See, I-yeon. I still have this much influence.'
But his expectations went awry from that moment.
She walked out steadily and suddenly sprayed a spray gun directly into his eyes without hesitation. When he screamed at the feeling of his eyeballs burning, he was immediately beaten with a shovel.
What had So I-yeon's eyes looked like then?
Though her complexion was pale, those piercing eyes were…….
"Hwang Jo-yoon."
Yes, they were no different from this man before him.
How could a kid who was as gentle as a plant, barely there……!
But his belated complaints couldn't continue leisurely.
"Where is your house?"
Kwon Chae-woo, meeting his eyes again, gripped his jaw tightly. The strength in his grip didn't match his almost peaceful expression.
He wanted to resist but couldn't escape the man's grip at all. Hwang Jo-yoon clearly heard his molars grinding, kadduk.
"Mmm……. Mmmmm……!"
"I asked where your house is."
Kwon Chae-woo remained expressionless. A boredom that made him look like he might yawn showed through.
However, in contrast to his languid face, bunches of tendons were bulging on his wrist. He seemed intent on crushing the jawbone like this.
"Mmm……!"
"Ah, you can't speak. Now I see the gag is stuffed all the way to the back of the throat. I-yeon is really good at housework. Right?"
Kwon Chae-woo released his jaw and removed the gag.
"Khh……. Khh-khh……!"
Hwang Jo-yoon spat out the vomit he'd been holding back and drooled.
"……But I wonder where and from whom she learned that when stuffing something in a mouth, you have to push it deep into the throat."
He cracked his neck and muttered. His voice was full of distaste.
"You…… you people…… I'm going to sue you all!"
Hwang Jo-yoon glared at him with bloodshot eyes, but the man remained lost in other thoughts as if uninterested.
"You…… are you really So I-yeon's husband?"
"……."
Only then did the man's eyes, which had been directed at empty space, turn silently toward him. Without any flashy movement, he effortlessly took control of the atmosphere. Hwang Jo-yoon scooted backward on his buttocks and continued to protest.
"……Bring proof. Bring some documents or whatever and show me!"
"I don't like asking three times. Where is your house."
"Didn't you hear me? I said bring a piece of paper! There's no way you're So I-yeon's husband. That's impossible……!"
"Shall I guess?"
Before long, the man grabbed the back of Hwang Jo-yoon's neck, whose limbs were tied, and began dragging him somewhere.
"Argh……! Let go! I said let go!"
"You're noisy."
"I-yeon, I-yeon! I-yeon―!"
When Hwang Jo-yoon shouted, Kwon Chae-woo's face turned cold.
"I told you to stop calling another man's wife's name."
"I-yeon―!"
He thrashed about like a seizure. Tsk, clicking his tongue, Kwon Chae-woo grabbed a handful of stones from the yard, pried open his mouth, and poured them in.
"Khh……, mmph……!"
"I warn you nicely and you don't even listen."
"Argh……!"
"Don't wake up I-yeon and shut your trap."
Kwon Chae-woo once again gripped the man's face, which was bulging with stones. The stones in his mouth, subjected to pressure, began grinding against his teeth. It was pain as if thousands of needles were piercing his soft mucous membranes. Hwang Jo-yoon couldn't bear it and screamed.