CH 15

A suffocating silence descended.

It felt like someone was staring intently at my temples from above the swirling spiral staircase. The blatant and somewhat eerie gaze sent shivers up my spine and began to strike my brain, but I couldn’t turn my head.

It felt like my eyes would meet the creepy golden irises.

Just the thought made my hair stand on end. Nothing had happened since I had possessed Lemony, but in dangerous moments, I always instinctively sensed it.

And this was one of those moments.

I could feel the sweat of my palms on the handrail I was holding onto. My back was prickly. There was no time to waste. If the moment we were both frozen got any longer, Ian would surely realize that I had caught on to something.

Should I just run away as if nothing is wrong? Of course, I would get caught right away.

Should I turn around and look back? But that wasn’t a good solution either. The moment I faced Ian, it would be like admitting that I was running away.

Although there was no clock, it was as silent as if the sound of the clock ticking could be heard. The legs that couldn’t overcome the awkward silence began to shuffle slowly.

Running away or facing it head-on. Neither option was advantageous to me, so I decided to change my plan.

“Ah, I was trying to go outside to get some fresh air. But I can’t keep Day waiting, I should go back now, right?”

Hoaam.

Please, let it work, let it work. I forced my trembling lips to move intermittently and let out a big yawn, and I felt the gaze toward me fade away. Ian must have heard it for sure. According to the original work, he was a thorough and calculated person, so he might pretend not to know and return if he wants to continue this situation.

It was a feeling of relief that my tight lifeline was extended a little by my own conclusion. Finally, I turned my head comfortably and started to breathe out slowly.

“You said you would wait, but you ran away right away.”

Ian was watching me from behind.

My stoic expression gave way to a foolish smile. It felt like a huge mountain blocking my way, with a man who looked like he could easily surpass 190 right in front of me.

“I’ve been nice, why did you lie?”

The handsome face with forlorn, chestnut eyebrows that seemed to express sadness was still smiling. But as I faced him, I couldn’t breathe. 

He was no longer Day.

His pupils were sharp and cold, with snake-like eyes that felt unreal and vividly pierced my neck between the sharp brows. Like the mythical existence that lured Eve, the clear pupils that felt unreal were strangling my throat.

Eventually, I confessed that I was wary of him, with a pale face, intermittent rough breaths, and uncontrollably shaking hands.

Even though I couldn’t hear his footsteps or sense his approach.

“By the way, the food is in the control room.”

He, who had still been sporting a smiling face, took out a piece of bread from his pocket. He took a bite as if showing off and then immediately spat it out onto the ground, as if it tasted bad.

“But this is not my taste.”

◆

The male lead who runs toward me like a dog when he sees me, and the masked psychopath who seems to toy with me like a dog. If you ask me which one is better, I will answer without hesitation.

I want to throw them both in the trash.

Why? Isn’t it good for the male lead to be obsessed with me?

In my reader days, when I thought that I should date a good-looking man, I realized it when I saw the man in front of me.

He’s scary.

He’s terrifying to the point of giving me goosebumps.

Unlike the leisurely upturned corners of his mouth, his golden eyes seemed to observe me fiercely, giving off a different kind of eeriness from Deon.

“You won’t ask how my taste is?”

The man bows his upper body and tilts his head, asking a kind question.

I know I have to answer this gentle question.

I must avoid provoking this man, but my mouth, filled with fear, did not move.

“Or do you already know that?”

And then it happened.

At that moment, he who had been furrowing one eyebrow in suspicion lifted his head and exclaimed, “Ah!” There was a pleasant air of amusement about him.

It seemed that Ian was treating this situation as a game. Although he had not yet revealed his true identity, his gaze intensified as he watched me cower in fear, as if finding me adorable.

“That’s why you prepared it in advance.”

I tried to take a step back in confusion, but a gentle yet firm grip grabbed my wrist. It made my shoulder jerk as if it was drying up, but Day’s gaze lingered on my wrist with persistence.

It was a scratched hand. The still-healing crimson mark, left untreated, looked like it was burning with the greed of a wild animal.

“…it’s better not to touch it.”

Straining the remaining strength, I muttered under my breath, and as I did, Ian, who had been touching my palms lightly, folded his knees, and his fluttering eyelashes rose up in delight.

He didn’t say anything. The innocent boy’s appearance was revealed as he looked up at me, seeking permission. A boy who still didn’t know right from wrong, but simply separated things into likes and dislikes with honest emotions.

For a moment, the lowly act of seeking bloodlust felt so natural that I was embarrassed.

But I can’t let it go.

“I have a whistle. You don’t want to fight a first-class prisoner, do you?”

It was a fairly strong warning, but Ian’s innocent laughter paralyzed all serious conversation.

“Ah, that son of a bitch?”

Son of a bitch? Is that word not effective as a threat among fellow first-class prisoners?

“That’s how animals behave.”

A soft touch was felt on my palm. The person who had been holding onto my wrist was now rubbing his cheek against it. Who really was the “son of a bitch”? Lost in thought, the question interrupted my reverie.

“By the way, Lemony. Do you have any thoughts about changing the assigned prisoner?”

This man kept asking unexpected questions outside of the expected category. It was difficult to change the responsible officer in a prison that was already dominated by prisoners.

“Changing the assigned prisoner isn’t something that can be done lightly, and it’s not a problem to be addressed in the current situation.”

“Why not?”

As my complexion turned pale, he changed his expression and stretched out his hand with a smirk.

“Lemony is too precious to die quickly.”

The cool fingertips that lacked vitality slowly trailed down my cheek. Lemony’s transparent skin, even the blue veins, looked beautiful, and his sharp golden eyes were now fixed on my face.

“I want to be friends with you, but it seems like it would be bothersome if that person keeps interfering. We have very different purposes, me and that son of a bitch.”

The voice was thick and rich like honey, with a hint of laughter.

It was dangerous. This man was naturally getting closer to me, unknowingly, as we conversed.

But at the same time, I thought this might be my chance. As I tightly gripped the handle of the pan with my right hand and quickly turned my face to the right, I felt a sharp gaze coming from the other side.

“Please don’t do it.”

If the conversation continued for too long, I would use this fan…

Now was the time.

Bang! If I hit him vaguely, it would just agitate for no good reason.

My lower lip was tightly clenched until it bled, as I slammed his skull with an iron frying pan. This was my first time hitting someone so hard, and I had never hit anyone before in the first place.

I could feel the vibration of the man’s sturdy skull through my fingertips.

Without even having time to shrug my shoulders due to the terrible new feeling I was experiencing, I hurriedly climbed the stairs, passing him, who was rubbing his forehead with a frown.

Ian wouldn’t die. No, it wasn’t a matter of not dying. He would probably just roll his eyes a few times as if it was a hassle and then return to his normal state.

He was a demon wearing a human disguise.

People call them demigods, but the title of divine being for a demon that sucks the blood of living creatures was a luxury. At least Deon had protected humans from demons when he wasn’t insane.

After entering the central control room and locking the door, I immediately checked the CCTV. As expected, it was a demon. The man who was casually turning his head back had an awkward smile and was quickly coming up the stairs.

Locking the door was useless.

So running away blindly would be a foolish thing to do. It meant underestimating Ian’s physical abilities.

“Then… Then…”

My heart thumped wildly like a battering ram, and I felt a massive vibration pounding through my lower abdomen as I looked around the disheveled parlor.

“Closet?”

Am I crazy to hide there? It’s too obvious. 

“How about under the table?”

It was the same. Ian, reflected on the monitor, was already walking down the 4th-floor hallway. So anxious that I stupidly muttered to myself as if having a conversation with myself.

The place where my gaze stopped was a pile of dirty garbage. It seemed like something that the officers who had been locked up for a few days had gathered. It might be safe here. Ian was a demon and a noble.

No matter how hard he searched for me, moving around here and there, with the arrogant head of a nobleman engraved in his bones, he would never think that I hid my body in a garbage bag.

I looked through the nearby drawers and fortunately found a garbage bag. I positioned myself in a corner where garbage bags were collected and entered inside the black bag. Then I tightened the lid and curled up my body as much as possible.

And,

“I don’t like being hit.”

I closed her eyes tightly at the shattering noise. Even though my vision was obscured by the darkness inside the trash bag, I could imagine Ian, who let out a bitter smile, roughly brushing his hair back with his hand.

“Well, if that’s Lemony’s taste, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

At the sound of his voice, which seemed sweet at first glance, my body flinched again.

“And if it scared you, I apologize, Lemonie. Actually, when I met you, I didn’t think much about it. I just thought you were a woman with a slightly sweet scent.”

The sound of a cabinet opening was heard.

“Sharing shackles with a first-class prisoner? Especially with such a beautiful woman like you.”

As the cabinet closed, I could feel him folding his knees and looking down.

“Ah, it was dangerous back then.”

It was so nervous that my physiological response became urgent again.

“I almost did it.”

What?

I froze like a statue, forgetting how to breathe. Come to think of it, Ian was just as crazy as Deon. If both Deon and Ian showed signs of obsession toward me, what would happen?

That’s when I heard the sound of him getting up from his seat, before the horrible thought even crossed my mind.

“….I guess she just blindly ran toward the hallway. I might have scared her for no reason.”

Did he jump to the conclusion that I wasn’t here? His low voice muttering to himself was even lower than when I was there. And for a moment, there was no sound at all.

My fingers and toes were getting colder and colder in the eerie silence, and then the sound of footsteps leaving the central control room faded away.

And silence again.

Did he leave? Did he go?

Just in case, I counted to one minute in my head, but I still couldn’t feel any sign of a person outside the bag. Then I finally slightly straightened my knees which had been hurting and let out the breath that I had been holding in.

“Wow, you really fell for it. Aren’t you too naive?”

Suddenly, with a low laugh, my body inside the bag was flipped over. The bag, unable to support the weight of my body, was about to fall to the ground, but that was all.

Something was strange. It felt like I was floating in the air.

No way…

“If you wanted to hide, you should have planned it out. When I first came here, there were only three trash bags, but suddenly there was one more.”

No way.

“If it’s because you’re still shy, I’ll take you with the bag. Shall we go to the 7th floor? I’m getting hungry too.”

I’m screwed.