Chapter 9

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍GyeongJa was seating next to Namkyu when the doctor came into the room carrying a tray of pills and a clipboard. His name tag read Oh Gyutae.

He eyed GyeongJa who was so infatuated with Namkyu that she didn't even notice Gyutae walking in. She was just holding Namkyu's hands like they were a couple. The doctor concluded she must be a very close friend. The way that she is always tending to Namkyu and telling him stories about her life is too intimate. She basically spends more time here than she does in her own life . It's safe to assume that that life now revolves around Namkyu. using some unique tactic, she has successfully managed to replace ChaeWon who is currently tailing Shiyang and Minjun.

He placed the tray down and lifted the document to read it out althewhile avoiding eye contact with GyeongJa.

" We will be performing a check on him . Can you please wait outside for some minutes?",

She agreed and she touched Namkyu's head sweetly before she left. It's like she didn't want to leave his side .Even though Namkyu seemed asleep, it was like it made no difference to her . She was still hesitant.

Immediately when the doors closed , the doctor aggressively threw the note on the table.

Gyutae firmly clenched his fist making it twitch and his jaw tensed . He half blinked some pent-up anger before he exhaled heavily. Even the way the air exited his lungs felt and sounded like a war of arms .

After regaining his composure , he walked slowly towards the bed that Namkyu was sleeping in. He looked at him and he reached for a syringe kit in his pocket.

While still standing, he sterilized Namkyu's arm and then he withdrew some blood. Soon after he placed the blood sample in his pocket..

" What are you going to do with it ?",

He leaned over and moved closer to his ear

"I am going to ... Paint with it",

Namkyu turned his head to the side and his eyes landed on a pair of detonates in his company's eyes. They were so distant and clouded like they were hiding beneath a heavy cloak of self-loss or lack of identity. They blinked like they would fall thunder and they glistened like they would take a life. Even with the face concealed behind a face mask , it wasn't difficult to tell that underneath it was a brutally heartless soul.

Even with what he had said had warranted a smirk, it's clear that he was expressionless. And in other words, what Habin was saying was very much likely not a joke but a confession.

His body went paralyzed. It was insane that he couldn't feel anything for the past few days and suddenly he feel something but he was like he was in drying cement. Most of his feet-area went cold similar to his spine and scalp but inside of him, his organs were somersaulting and his spirit was boiling. He wanted to walk away ,to run, to escape ,just to be far away from this present moment but he couldn't . For some reason he was glued to the bed just as he was polarized to the incarnate in front of him. Something tells him he isn't glaring at the personification of a devil but hell itself.

" You look different when petrified",

Why is his voice so calm and non-unique but still resonant?

' ... ', he wanted to say something but his mind went blank and all he did was stare emptily at him.

Without realizing it , his tears had betrayed his uninvited characteristic of paralysis and decided to flow out of his eyes.

Habin shifted his attention to Namkyu's streams . He lifted his hand and he wiped away the tears using a cotton bud . His motions were so tender like he was afraid to bruise his skin. With every single one that fell , he would gently bid it farewell. If his hand was a kiss, it would be like that of an angel but the devil was an angel too

" Don't let me see her around you or I will peel her skin and pin it on the flag pole outside. ", He didn't even smile and again that sounded like a promise.

" Jiny.. ",

" If you're good , I will tell you.... WHERE I BURIED HIM!!! ",

He protruded his eyes and more tears fell down his eyes . He didn't mean to cry but suddenly can't stop it. He couldn't tell if Habin was serious but he is convinced for a fact that he wouldn't outright kill Jinyoung.

" Lies!", He whispered

" You don't think I did?",

He shook his head , making Habin almost chuckle.

Habin took out some pills from his pocket and he raised it to Namkyu's lips . Subconsciously Namkyu opened his mouth and Habin placed it softly on his mouth. Afterwards he wiped the area around his lips with his hand that was still in gloves. Now that he wasn't using cotton, the latex gloves felt much more colder to the skin.

" When this dissolves in your blood, you will feel the worst pain . If you can survive that, I will grant you one wish",.

He told him briefly and just as he was about to leave , Namkyu grabbed his arm and pulled him forcefully. Even Habin didn't expect that . he looked at the weak hand holding him and then back to the owner

" Don't hurt him, please!", He didn't realize how pathetic he looked and sounded begging for Jinyoung's salvation.

He cried ever so softly and yet again , Habin moved his hand to wipe away the tears . The cotton bud was already getting saturated with tears but he didn't stop wiping them. For some time it seemed like this man and GyeongJa's places have been swapped but Gyutae was doing a much more phenomenal job

Habin slowly moved his eyes to meet those of Namkyu who were already penetrating deeply into him but were unfortunately just bouncing off the surface. Habin looked at him like he wanted to say something far more heartless, more cruel and merciless but he didn't. His plan changed but his coldness didn't heat up.

" You can't kill a dead man",

he shrugged off the arm . he picked the tray and walked off. Something made it feel like they will definitely meet again soon

Though he didn't push him , Namkyu felt like he had been slapped to another dimension that was manipulating and disturbing his neural processes. There was so much pain , such raw emotions, unhidden and unfiltered. Just bare and concentrated. It was like knowing the torment of agony, the feeling of disaster, the breakdown of loss and brutality of paralysis. Not knowing whether Jinyoung is alive, not being able to believe that he isn't the protagonist in all of this and blaming himself for all the lives that have been lost, is just too much . It feels correct to have Jinyoung alive but it also feels surrealistically naive and delusional. Seeing Jinyoung and believing he is alive , would be like praying to hug a ghost.

It hurt when he didn't have an understanding with his parents, when his father invalidated him, when his mother belittled S , when Jinyoung acted like he doesn't matter but this emotion right now , this encounter with the embodiment of Lucifer and Diablo, just nullifies any sort of emotion that he had ever felt . The love , hate , anger , self-doubt, all of it feels like the smoke of a boiling pot and thanks to this man, he just reached inside the fire

He sobbed and sobbed while on the bed .

He cried for two minutes straight and then he suddenly had the thought to chase him but something tells him , that if he did, he might never see Jinyoung again. He can't call Garam .

" Code red!!!", The hospital alarms went off..

Suddenly everyone went rouge

The patients started screaming in the hallways and everything. The door to Namkyu's room went on an automatic lock , that can only be opened by a key code.

" Could they have seen him?", he started to panic. He saw the broken clipboard which had earlier on caused him to wake up and he picked it up

" If they find him , he might...", he got off the bed

Just then the doors were being unlocked . His hands shook so he hid the board under the covers before he stood to met the visitor. Thinking it was Gyutae , his heart raced but was soon brought to rest by inertia when GyeongJa bombarded into the room and raced to him

" Hey , be careful. A male doctor has just been found staked all over with needles, his body is foamed ", she trembled.

' Does that mean...he touched me wearing a dead man's clothes. Then those needles and that pill', he thought to himself but just then GyeongJa touched his reddened face .

Before he could react to it , the first image that cascaded his mind was Gyutae's cold eyes in which he was staring at a few minutes ago.

He defaulty withdrew backwards , went back to bed and covered himself.

****

" Garam, there has been a distress call where Namkyu is . A new male doctor was brutally murdered. GyeongJa reported that he was foamed. ", ChaeWon called Garam who was still investigating another homicide

(Seven hours later)

Inside the cold dark custodian mansion, Yesang moved from the kitchen sink and placed the plate of fish on the island.He sat down and he sipped the wine . He looked a little bit more withdrawn from reality than when he was pretending to be Gyutae. Maybe it was because he never had such a faded conversation with someone he wanted to kill .

" Here , have a bite", Jinyoung raised his arm to Yesang, with the fork.

Geun Namkyu's little brother Geun Jinyoung was sitting adjuscent to Park Yesang and feeding him fish in a large mansion!! Either he was in denial or was just a very good actor, but this athlete doesn't seem bothered that Namkyu is eroding over his longing for him. Insisted is taking care of the the being that is the cause of distress for someone who encountered the furious tabulations for him.

Yesang shook his head so Jinyoung ignored him and carried on eating.

Yesang was still thinking about how dangerously bold it was for Namkyu to pull him. Some people have done the same thing and just like them , they managed to grab his attention. But unfortunately, all of them are currently dead.

He didn't kidnap Jinyoung, nor did he trick him to this life. he willingly followed him. And since he knows a lot of important details, he can't let him leave, atleast not alive .

He never intended to kill him but he also didn't mean to keep him alive. He is just indifferent to him but Jinyoung is useful. He helped him get into the hospital and he helped to lure Gyutae to the medicine cabinet and he is the one who sedated him but the killing was definitely done by Yesang. Of course he didn't need help, but this proved how effective Jinyoung is . Moreover, he is curious of whether Jinyoung helped because he suspected that Yesang wanted to see Namkyu but still it's not clear why he offered to let him go into the hospital.

Did he do it because there was a trap, because he wanted to have Namkyu know he is alive or he did it for Yesang. Whatever the case, only the latter seems to be supported. Never the less , he won't ask him to tell the truth.

He hasn't said anything to him in the past few days and the first thing Jinyoung said in the morning was " do you mind needles ?",

Yesang shook his head when Jinyoung offered again. Jinyoung said that Yesang had been ignoring him and he hated it. Being in the dark mansion with three old women, is boring.

Those three women took care of Jinyoung from a young age . the worst part is that each of them told Jinyoung that Yesang practiced killing with their families. He killed two husbands , three children and all grandchildren. To be honest it brought chills to Jinyoung , so he is wondering, is the same thing going to happen his family, is Yesang going to hurt Namkyu?

Yesang pulled a sample of blood from his pocket and rolled it to Jinyoung.

Jinyoung trembled, his voice broke . Yesang is unpredictable and would do anything. And maybe as a coronation, he might have really hurt Namkyu.

" Did he cry?",

Yesang shook his head, an obvious lie . He isn't entitled to say anything to Jinyoung so that doesn't mean he can't lie.

'does that mean he is still alive? ',

" Do you have anything to ask?", Yesang finally raised his eyes to meet those of Jinyoung's which were beyond reddened. He didn't need a magnifying glass to see that the child was scared to be here and this close to him . He was acting like he is fine but it's a facade and also a bore for Yesang. Suddenly he remembered that the last girl whose ribcage he drilled had the same look, so he is kinda thinking Jinyoung might have the same expression when he pours molten mercury into his throat.

Jinyoung didn't say anything.

"Don't throw the net, if you don't want to catch the fish", he stood up to go away

He meant if Jinyoung doesn't want Namkyu to be targeted, then he needs to make sure that Yesang is far away from Namkyu by not pulling similar stunts around Namkyu.. However after today's encounter, avoiding Namkyu is going to be a lot more difficult and impossible.

(In the basement)

" Young sir said to give you these", the old lady pushed a plate of food through the open hatch

Yesang has been keeping his uncle in the basement for ten years. There is no solid reason for that , he just did it.

After Yesang burned his family and home, his uncle was the only one left . because he called him Satan, he locked him in hell and punished him like a cruel sinner

For five days now, he had been receiving food from someone they address as 'Young sir' but he doesn't know who that is . At first he was afraid to eat the food because it may be poisoned but he knows Yesang doesn't murder, he just makes death a better alternative.

He took the plate of food . He ate slowly and it was delicious.