Chapter : 1. Prologue
The darkness spread beneath the moonlight was deep and distant, like an immeasurable abyss.
It looked as though the shadow of merciless despair had quietly swallowed the world.
Rain began to pour without warning, striking the windows violently.
The cold sound of rainfall echoed through the vast space. Each time lightning tore through the darkness, the silhouette of a soaked woman flashed blue for a brief moment.
Sitting atop the man beneath her, the woman brought her damp lips close to his ear.
“Is this why you brought me into this house? To covet me through such filthy acts?”
Perhaps it was because she had been drenched in the rain, or perhaps because she could no longer contain the emotions boiling inside her—but the woman’s chin trembled.
The rising sound of rain and the thunder that endlessly split the sky seemed to reflect the chaotic fate of the two people.
“Haeyoung.”
Taejun’s voice was low and calm, but a chilling warning lay beneath it.
“Choose your words carefully.”
“You hypocrite…”
A tear that formed at the tip of Haeyoung’s chin slipped down and landed on the man’s bare chest beneath her.
“You deceived me by saying you would save me, when all you wanted was my body. You filthy pervert.”
The corner of Taejun’s lips curved into a cold smile.
He leisurely gathered her wet hair in one hand and whispered quietly.
“So you were deceived?”
“Ki Taejun. You want money too, don’t you? You approached me pretending to like me, just to take everything from me.”
Taejun gently stroked her hair. Strangely, there was a languid intimacy in the gesture.
“What would I do with that petty money? Even without it, there are plenty of ways for me to make more.”
The lips brushing against her cheek were hot.
She wanted to press closer to him. She wanted to throw herself into his arms like a madwoman.
Haeyoung hated Taejun for making her feel this way.
“You’ll end up clinging to me anyway.”
Taejun, lying beneath her, suddenly sat up and grabbed her hair, tilting her head back. In the eyes looking down at her remained only cold possessiveness.
“So behave yourself. Don’t act out.”
The domineering sentence, spoken in such a gentle voice, froze Haeyoung’s heart.
“If I let go of you, you’ll die.”
Flash.
Lightning tore through the darkness again.
Ki Taejun was someone who knew that threats were the most powerful weapon to restrain a person.
In the eerie silence, the smile on Taejun’s face slowly disappeared. Seeing that chilling change, Haeyoung felt goosebumps rise all over her body.
“You should stake your most precious thing too. Your body… or your future.”
Taejun’s final words sliced through the air like a sharpened blade.
There was only one reason why he did not treat her with nothing but kindness, even though he had raised her like a delicate flower in a greenhouse.
He knew all too well that cruel threats and brutal warnings were the only way to keep her tied to his side.
Surrounded by people who wanted her dead, the truth tightened around her throat: the only way to survive was to cling to Ki Taejun.
But the feelings she had for him were not born solely from the desperate instinct to survive.
Her emotions for him were deeper, darker, and far more complicated.
There was nothing she could achieve the way she wanted.
So perhaps the only thing left was to step willingly into hell—into the hell named Ki Taejun, who had once been her first love and her dream.
Her heart, once filled with anger and vengeance, still pounded painfully whenever she faced him.
Caught in the tangled mess of emotions, she decided she would no longer lie to herself.
“I’ll be the one who takes you.”
Haeyoung’s voice carried resentment, desire, and the last fragment of belief she had left.
She wasn’t certain this was the right choice.
But she knew that if she retreated, she herself would be the one who shattered.
So if she wanted to survive—if she wanted to protect even the fragile thread of her life—she had no choice but to take Ki Taejun’s hand.
“Me having Ki Taejun is my choice. So what you said about staking something precious doesn’t apply at all.”
A slow smile spread across Taejun’s lips.
It was unmistakably mocking.
“You think you can have me?”
“I won’t give you anything…”
I’m offering you to myself. I’m not offering myself to you.
Even though she knew it was a futile struggle, Haeyoung spoke her feelings clearly.
Taejun tilted his head slightly and then let out a low laugh.
He grasped Haeyoung’s chin firmly and stared straight into her eyes.
“Then go ahead. Try it.”
His cold voice sank sharply into her ears.
In the flashing light of lightning, something glinted in Taejun’s eyes—but Haeyoung did not waver.
No—she could not.
She unconsciously drew in a breath, but forced herself to calm her trembling heart and pushed away the hand holding her face.
“Then you’ll just have to endure me.”
Her voice was low, but the determination in it was sharp as a blade.
Slowly, she leaned toward Taejun. The distance between them shrank until his breath nearly touched her.
Words could not prove anything.
Meeting his gaze directly, Haeyoung gently pressed her wet lips against his. Her eyes were resolute, yet dangerously fragile.
The moment their soft lips touched, Taejun grabbed the back of her head tightly and pressed her down. His hand held her firmly, refusing to let go.
As their lips parted and their breaths tangled, Haeyoung realized she had crossed a line she could never return from.
Their rough breathing shook her heart violently, while his cold hands threatened to completely dominate her senses.
Whether it was twisted love or burning desire, Haeyoung could not tell. She only clung tighter around his neck.
Taejun devoured her mercilessly.
His kiss was not a simple touch—it was an expression of a fierce desire that seemed ready to swallow her whole.
Haeyoung never defined Taejun’s obsession with their relationship as love.
Ki Taejun surely wanted something from her.
Even though the fear that he might take everything from her at any moment tightened around her throat, she could not let go.
Because she wanted to live.
If she let go of this hand, she would truly be left alone in the world.
Haeyoung grabbed Taejun’s shirt.
Like someone clutching a lifeline just before drowning—desperately, desperately.
Their rough breaths filled the darkness and tangled together, while Taejun dragged her deeper into confusion and craving.
Haeyoung’s lower lip was sucked into Taejun’s mouth with a wet sound before slowly returning to its place.
She clumsily pushed her tongue forward first, and even that alone made her face flush with excitement in a way that was almost obscene.
Taejun found it displeasing that Haeyoung, who knew nothing, was throwing herself at him with her body. So he pressed her harder.
“You’ve never even done it properly before. What makes you think you know anything?”
There was clear mockery in his calm voice.
“……”
“Don’t struggle so pathetically. Acting vulgar doesn’t suit you.”
Taejun lightly held her chin and lifted her head.
Their eyes met directly, and Haeyoung’s blue eyes trembled faintly.
His expression did not waver in the slightest. If anything, he seemed almost entertained, pressing her even harder.
Biting her lips, Haeyoung resisted with a thin, stubborn defiance.
Her clumsy rebellion only made Taejun’s lips twist upward.
“So now you’re going to try acting vulgar?”
Unlike him, Haeyoung couldn’t stand the ease that still remained on his face.
She had already lost too much to run away now.
If stepping even one step beyond the line would mean being slaughtered like a dog, then it was better to fight back.
“I’ve been going easy on you, and now you think you can do whatever you want.”
Even though he had always been somewhat rough yet gentle, tonight his touch was particularly relentless. When his fingers traced up along her neck, her resolve cracked like thin glass.
“Do you really not understand your place?”
