"If you don't want to get hit and lose your teeth, stay quiet."
"Mmph... mmph..."
He nodded in terror.
"Good girl."
Kwon Chae-u dragged him out of the house again. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single passerby in the neighborhood alley. Hwang Jo-yun couldn't help but tear up.
What was even more surprising was that Kwon Chae-u was walking precisely toward the house he had secretly purchased. His steps showed no hesitation.
"Mmph...!"
Hwang Jo-yun thrashed about, blood streaming from his torn mouth. It was instinct. He absolutely could not go into that house alone with this man.
"You're wondering how I found out about your hideout, aren't you, Mr. Hwang Jo-yun?"
"Mmph...!"
"When I first came outside, I looked at the house across the way and thought—if So Yi-yeon has sex, you could see everything from there."
The voice that had remained calm even through extraordinary violence suddenly twisted.
"If it were me, I would have bought that house."
"...!"
"You should have hidden it till the end. So Yi-yeon would never have noticed. If you're going to do it clumsily, you only cause suffering for the other person. If you're going to do it, do it right."
"Mmph..."
"Acting like a brat and getting fucked up—isn't it better to be a son of a bitch?"
Kwon Chae-u dragged the fully grown adult man with ridiculous ease. He kicked the front door of the house across the way as if breaking it down, forcing it open and entering.
Before they completely disappeared into the old house, Hwang Jo-yun's eyes met those of a resident walking leisurely with a plastic bag on his wrist.
"Mmph... mmph...!"
He screamed desperately. This was his last chance.
"Mmph...!"
The man in the baseball cap stopped abruptly. He seemed to quickly take in the sight of Hwang Jo-yun, bound hand and foot.
Yes, yes! Hope gleamed in Hwang Jo-yun's eyes.
But...
"...! Mmph...! Mmph...!"
The man indifferently turned his head and hurried on his way. The place he entered without looking back was, frustratingly enough, the very next house. That fact plunged Hwang Jo-yun into even deeper despair.
Where had all the humanity in this country gone!
There was no salvation for Hwang Jo-yun.
Squeak—bang. The gate closed.
Inside the house, a large high-magnification lens that could be mistaken for an astronomical telescope was installed near the window.
On the floor, casually lined with newspaper, already withering dark-red roses were piled in bunches.
After setting down a plastic bag on the table and removing his baseball cap, the man sat by the window and habitually checked So Yi-yeon's house first.
After all that chaos yesterday, it seemed he had finally been caught.
"Ha... how did he end up caught by the young master..."
It was the first time in years he had encountered Kwon Chae-u this close up.
But the emotion of reunion was brief; the moment he saw that still-formidable physique and grip strength, he shuddered.
If only he'd hurt his body rather than his head.
"Still, he should spare his hands a little. Those fingers are worth how much?"
The man wiped his teary eyes with his forearm and took out his phone.
Kwon Chae-u's eyes, glimpsed briefly, were strangely calm. Despite his fiery, crazy temperament, he sometimes dragged on languidly, but seeing him this docile, settled down like a tamed dog was a first. They said he'd lost his memory, and that seemed to be true.
"Director, this is Beom-hee."
Our young master would kill someone without a hitch even if his brain turned to mush, but he needed to make it look as clean as possible.
* * *
Yi-yeon slept in for the first time in a while.
Rustling as she sat up, she blankly savored this languor. She didn't feel any particular rejection at the strange scent permeating her pillow. Naturally, a man's face came to mind.
"...Ah!"
Her hazy eyes instantly regained their luster.
"Kwon Chae-u...!"
Yi-yeon hurriedly ran out to the living room.
The man was standing at the work table, trimming bright red flowers. The way he removed thorns and decisively snipped away withered leaves was quite skilled.
Yi-yeon stopped, eyes rounding. Kwon Chae-u noticed her standing there blankly and acknowledged her first.
"Did you sleep well, Yi-yeon?"
He smiled refreshingly and set down the flower. Watching that smile, the past week of parched exhaustion felt unreal. When he turned completely toward her, she approached as if drawn.
"...What were you doing?"
"Practicing flower arranging."
"Why?"
"I want to work again. I need to get back to daily life quickly."
"..."
Her chest twinged. She had no regrets about the lie. Yi-yeon had no lingering attachment to the first button she'd wrongly fastened herself. But at this very moment, it was hard to face him. She deliberately averted her gaze.
"Where did the flowers come from?"
"Picked them."
"Picked them?"
"Yes. They were blooming right in front."
He gestured toward outside the window with his eyes.
In that brief moment, Yi-yeon scanned his profile. From jawline to ear, his skin was flawlessly smooth and even. When he turned his head back, their eyes met.
"Shall I tie your hair?"
"...Ah, I, I do look a bit messy right now, don't I?"
Flustered, Yi-yeon combed through her tousled hair with her fingers.
"That's not what I meant."
He calmly turned Yi-yeon around by catching her.
"I want to touch it."
Taking the rubber band that had been binding the flowers, he held it between his lips. Lifting her hair with both hands, the nape of her neck revealed like a secret was delicate and clean.
"Hwang Jo-yun won't be able to do such things anymore."
He felt her flinch and stiffen. Kwon Chae-u gently gathered her hair into one bundle.
"So don't worry and rest easy."
Yi-yeon awkwardly touched the crown of her head. Her hair, usually just loosely tied at the bottom with an elastic band, was suddenly pulled up tight, making her look quite different.
"Pretty."
"Huh... me?"
She reacted slowly. The man chuckled, leaning against the table.
"Yi-yeon, you really didn't know. When you go out, even hiding behind work clothes, at night you come to my bed all washed."
"...!"
"Do you know how that bare face drives people crazy?"
Yi-yeon stood there as if hit by a bomb, then suddenly covered her face with both hands.
* * *
Crimson sunset illuminated her small back.
Yi-yeon was wearing surgical latex gloves, absorbed in tending the flower bed. Watering, adding fresh soil, trimming stray branches—her practiced hands showed devotion.
The way she handled leaves that hadn't fully grown was so serious and ardent that Kwon Chae-u wanted to steal her focus.
'Did she take care of me like that when I was a vegetative state?'
Kwon Chae-u didn't take his eyes off her for a moment as she busily moved.
Working, she looked like a young woodcutter from a folk tale. Springing out of an illustration, pattering about—if he could, he wanted to stuff her into a carrying basket and take her away.
Like that, beyond necessity, he was drawn and greedy.
If a stranger, he'd cut and paste a connection; if already close, he'd mate like a beast. For some time, such thoughts had filled his head.
When going out, So Yi-yeon tried to cover up this and that, but stripped of the shell, she was surprisingly pale and pure.
Neat eyebrows, kind eyes, small round nose, plump red lips. So Yi-yeon clearly didn't know the effect these had.
Good thing.
Always expressionless, Kwon Chae-u tried mimicking her smile but only felt an empty thirst.
Yi-yeon was holding that tiny leaf, yet why did his body twitch?
Everything flowed slowly.
Yi-yeon wiped sweat from her forehead, stroked the flowering tree with bare hands as if praising it. She picked up fallen flowers, caught the sunset on her dainty nose.
Then suddenly she turned this way and smiled.
"...!"
It was the first clear smile he'd ever seen. His fist clenched involuntarily. Her lovely parting lips held all the spring and summer he'd never experienced.
'You... are you really So Yi-yeon's husband? ...Bring proof. Get documents or something and show me!'
Kwon Chae-u looked at her meaningfully. That hard shell rarely revealed its inside, but his eyes couldn't hide their heat.
"Yi-yeon, have you ever sucked on a flower?"
"Ah... I ate some a few times when I was young."
"Then teach me."
"Teach what...?"
Yi-yeon, holding flower petals in both hands, asked back. Her face was clearly flustered.
Kwon Chae-u walked leisurely to the wall and plucked a white acacia. Yi-yeon twitched, trying to stop him, but the flower was torn off in the blink of an eye. His rough grip was so threatening she held her breath.
"I'd like you to teach me how to suck it so I can lick every bit from bottom to top."
"..."
"Because I don't want to leave even a little behind."