Chapter 68
In a burst of anger, I pressed down hard on the hand of the man who had collapsed.
A cracking sound followed — I could clearly feel the bones breaking.
It was partly to make sure he didn’t wake up midway and cause trouble, and partly as a warning to the other masked man still standing before me.
Where do you think you are, saying crap like that? — that was the message.
“Please come quietly. We do not wish to harm you.”
Even after watching his colleague’s hand get crushed, the masked man showed no visible reaction and simply repeated himself.
I stared at him with a what the hell is wrong with this guy? expression before curling one corner of my lips into a smirk.
“I don’t want to.”
“Then we’ll take you by force.”
With that, the man charged toward me, dagger pointed forward.
Saying he didn’t want to hurt me, yet rushing at me with a blade… utterly ridiculous. Still, I kept my focus on his movements without even smiling.
Judging by the way he moved, thankfully he wasn’t anything exceptional. He lacked that sleazy ruthlessness unique to those who truly dwell in the dark.
His movements were neat, but almost too textbook — predictable.
I watched him rush in, then reached out and grabbed the dagger-wielding arm with both hands.
Pivoting my body, I used myself as a fulcrum and slammed him hard into the ground.
The man let out a choked Keuk! and spat out blood.
Since I threw him with all the strength I had, he might’ve broken several bones.
I slowly walked toward the writhing man. Then I lifted my foot and firmly pressed down on his still-intact right wrist.
“Who the hell are you people? Why are you trying to take me? Do you even know who I am? Did you target me because my family is wealthy and you want ransom money?”
Crack. Crack-crack. Bones shattered loudly beneath my foot as I calmly asked.
The man, like his colleague, couldn’t even scream — his face twisted in agony. He clearly had no intention of answering.
Now what do I do?
I stared down at the nearly unconscious masked men, lost in thought.
Honestly, I wanted to drag both of them to my house, tie them up, and torture answers out of them.
But if I did that, Michael-oppa would find out I’d sneaked out today, and things would get messy.
“Ah! Setra!”
A brilliant idea flashed into my mind. The Setra Information Guild’s building was somewhere near here.
If I dropped these guys off there for a bit, they’d take care of them for the right amount of money.
Having made up my mind, I dragged the corpse-like men into the deeper part of the alley so no passerby would notice them.
“The more I think about it, the more ridiculous this is. I’ll have you know I was a security major. Hapkido 3rd dan, judo 2nd dan, kendo 2nd dan. And my dad was special forces, so I grew up getting trained like hell.”
Dusting off my hands, I snorted at the half-conscious men.
Then I stepped out of the alley and walked toward the plaza again.
Blending back into the crowd, I scanned around for the Setra Guild.
Feeling rushed, I quickened my steps — and collided hard with someone walking from the opposite direction.
“Ah!”
“Ugh!”
I was just startled from bumping into someone, but the other person fell as if she’d been hit by a truck.
Shorter and smaller than me — a petite woman. Realizing I had bumped into someone so fragile, I panicked and hurriedly reached out a hand.
“Are you okay? I’m sorry — I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
I apologized first and offered my hand, but the woman groaned, clutching her tailbone, unable even to look up.
I knelt down on one knee in front of her.
“Are you—”
“No, no, I’m fine. I wasn’t looking either. I’m the one who should apologize.”
She slowly lifted her head and gave me a small smile.
Her brows were slightly furrowed from the pain, but her tiny face, awkwardly smiling, filled my vision.
Long, glossy black hair. Eyes as dark as obsidian.
The rare coloring alone startled me — but even more shocking was her beauty, enough to rival the center of a K‑pop girl group.
She was someone I had never seen in person before.
In the novel, her beauty and appearance were described endlessly, but seeing her face with my own eyes was the first time.
Yet I recognized her instantly.
“…Ji Eunha.”
Her eyes widened at the name I accidentally whispered.
“Huh? You… know me?”
In that moment, she confirmed it — confirmed who she was.
My heart pounded wildly.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
It was so loud my whole body trembled.
I felt like I would cry. Emotions surged in my chest so strongly I could barely breathe.
Staring blankly at her face, I couldn’t stop the smile tugging at my lips.
“That’s why I told you, didn’t I? To be careful since there are a lot of people.”
An annoyed voice dripped with exasperation came from above my head.
The footsteps behind Ji Eunha were familiar — unmistakable.
I lifted my gaze past her shoulder to see the person approaching.
Rixion Luhanes.
Even under the mottled lights of the plaza, his face was stunning to the point of sending chills down my spine.
His blue eyes were expressionless, darkened — yet somehow even more striking than I remembered.
Strangely, it felt like I hadn’t seen him in ages, even though it had only been barely over a week.
He cast a brief glance at me, hidden under my hood, but quickly looked away, uninterested. Instead, he reached out to Ji Eunha, who was still on the ground.
“Take my hand and stand.”
His expression was neutral, but the gesture was courteous. Ji Eunha took his hand as if used to it and stood up, smiling brightly.
The beautiful girl smiling, and Rixion Luhanes looking down at her — they looked like a painting.
No… like a beautiful couple from a painting.
And as I sat there, watching them as if I were one of the countless extras in the plaza, a strange feeling washed over me.
I’d always believed — and still did — that I was just a side character who didn’t even exist in the original story.
Yet for some reason… the feeling sank endlessly, endlessly low.
I needed to leave. Now.
Seeing Ji Eunha made me unimaginably happy — truly.
But the moment I was reminded that I was just an extra who didn’t even exist in the original, I felt painfully small and miserable.
My only purpose here was to act as a stepping stone for these two — their plot device. And it was painfully obvious.
Realizing that now made me feel pathetic.
I didn’t choose to be born in this world.
I didn’t choose to be wedged between these two and feel this humiliating misery.
I didn’t care if they had a thousand-year romance or whatever.
But to think I was born just to serve as their stepping stone — it made fury well up uncontrollably.
I lost everyone I loved, everything I cared about, and was dropped into this unwanted world.
Why should I play that role? Why me? Why…?
But is that really the only reason you’re angry?
A mocking laugh echoed. A voice that wasn’t from my ears but inside my head, ridiculing me.
Thump-thump-thump-thump. My heart raced. My breath grew tight.
A feeling I didn’t want to acknowledge writhed inside me, revealing itself.
No. I need to go. Now.
I couldn’t stay like this.
I tore my gaze away from the two and stood up quickly. I had to leave — somewhere they weren’t.
“Ah, wait! Just a second!”
As I turned to go, Ji Eunha suddenly grabbed my hood from behind.
In that instant — fwip — my hood was pulled off, exposing the hair I had carefully hidden.
I gasped.
They wouldn’t recognize me, right? It was dark, and they only saw my back. They wouldn’t know.
I shook off Ji Eunha’s hand and started to step away—
But a large hand seized my wrist and forcibly spun me around.
“How….”
Rixion Luhanes came into my view again, staring at me in disbelief.
