CHAPTER 35……………………………..
I hated reacting to Choi Hyunha. I hated that my body was giving him the response he wanted. In the short time since, Hyunha had been relentlessly touching, sucking, biting, prying, and training Yeongin.
“Are you saying that now?”
Yeongin asked, trembling. If she could, she wanted to shove him away and scratch him. She wanted to hurt Choi Hyunha somehow.
But all Yeongin could do was cling to him and chew over her anger.
Hyunha pressed his cheek to hers.
“It’s unfortunate, Baek Yeongin. But this is a place you walked into on your own two feet.”
The cheek pressed to hers was freezing cold. Feeling the heat burning under her skin, Yeongin shivered.
Yeongin rested her head on the high wooden stair railing. The villa’s lobby down below looked the same and yet different.
Despite its vastness, the house, which had seemed empty, suddenly had servants moving about. Most of them were faces Yeongin didn’t recognize.
More people than she’d expected came and went through the house. It was astonishing she hadn’t noticed them before.
Watching the moving servants, Yeongin descended the stairs. Those who had been moving according to their tasks adjusted their routes slightly.
She felt it. She was being watched.
Whenever Yeongin left a room or was not with Hyunha, there was always someone nearby. The servants now showed themselves openly, the opposite of before. They didn’t bother to hide that they were watching her.
When she reached the first floor, people began trailing behind her at a distance.
“Please leave me alone.”
Yeongin said to one of the servants. The servant didn’t answer. Like all the others.
“Did Hyunha tell you to follow me?”
“……”
No matter what she said, they stayed silent. While Yeongin spoke they looked down and kept their mouths shut, then when she moved they fell into step behind her again.
It felt suffocating, like a noose tightened around her heart. It had been like this since the day she heard her university acceptance had been revoked.
Yeongin strode across the lobby and out. Choi Hyunha, who was at home, still hadn’t shown up. She had the sense he was watching her from somewhere.
It felt like she was playing a game that was unfair from the start. Trapped with no escape, running around only to end up back where she began — a trapped mouse.
When she left the villa entirely, a servant followed more closely. As if the person might step in at any moment, Yeongin gritted her teeth and quickened her pace.
Once she stepped into the garden she started running. She pushed off the ground and ran until she was out of breath. By the time her lungs burned, she reached the villa’s front gate. Yeongin looked up at the towering gate.
The gate was blocked by a heavy iron grate. A metal gate far taller than Yeongin separated the outside from the villa.
She slid her arm through the bars and groped around outside, but there was no way to open it. Her elbow, twisted awkwardly, only hurt.
“How are you going to get past that?”
Yeongin whipped around at the question.
Of course Choi Hyunha was standing guard. A few servants were visible some distance behind him. They must have seen her loitering at the gate and called Hyunha. It was obvious.
The villa was Hyunha’s domain, and Yeongin’s every move was in his hand.
Could she really get away from here? She gripped the iron bars. The rods were cold and solid.
“Open it.”
She demanded, looking him straight in the eye. Hyunha met her gaze with leisure.
“No.”
It was an almost childishly simple answer. The same as when she had asked for her phone back. Hyunha even seemed to be enjoying this moment.
It stung like being slapped. Her chest burned with humiliation.
“This is imprisonment.”
She said it with force, but even to her own ears it sounded hollow. Maybe it was Hyunha’s attitude, as if he were dealing with a child’s prank. Not even a serious crime — it felt like Yeongin was the only one overreacting.
If, for example, the police were here right now, they’d obviously believe Hyunha. The one making a fuss would look suspicious.
“What’s the benefit to me of locking you up? I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
“Is it important that you understand?”
“Ha……”
Yeongin grabbed at her hair in frustration. Talking only made her chest tighten further.
“What on earth are you thinking?”
She had never been able to fully know what kind of person Choi Hyunha was, but it was horrifying to realize she couldn’t even guess what was in his head.
“I don’t want to be with you for even a moment right now.”
“Why?”
When Yeongin’s expression twisted, Hyunha explained again.
“I’m really asking because I’m curious. I didn’t starve you or beat you or lock you in a basement. I’ve been helping you until now. What’s wrong with just a university?”
It would have hurt less to be slapped. Yeongin’s whole body trembled.
“A university? It was everything to me. What I had left in my hands was that pathetic university. You stood by watching. You knew how desperate I was!”
She couldn’t hold back and yelled until her throat ached. Did Hyunha even know? She wasn’t sure anymore. Did he have the slightest understanding of her feelings?
“What about the exam, and what was that drug? Did you give me something to take?”
“It’s a legal medicine that won’t cause health problems. It’s actually a painkiller.”
“You call that an explanation……”
The word “legal” grated. Hyunha didn’t seem unaware his actions were wrong. He simply didn’t care if he had hurt her or ruined her life.
Even now, Hyunha was unbothered.
He looked more perfect than other people — almost like something other than human. In retrospect, it was the same sense of strangeness she’d felt from their first meeting.
“If you stay here you can live comfortably as before. But do you want to go out?”
This made no sense. Yeongin clamped her mouth shut this time. Hyunha, who had been watching her fumble along the bars, walked over to the gate.
“Fine. If you want to leave, I’ll let you.”
It was an unbelievable change in attitude. He pressed the button next to the gate and said something.
The iron gate clanked and opened the moment he spoke.
A gate that had refused to budge now swung open toward the outside — as if mocking Yeongin’s earlier frustration at not being able to open it.
When the bars that had split the outside world apart swung wide, anxiety rose up. Her pulse pounded.
“Here. I’ll give you your phone back too.”
Hyunha didn’t stop there — he handed Yeongin her phone.
Was he really going to let her leave? Why? Even as she looked back at him, he stood with his hands in his pockets, an onlooker.
Yeongin swallowed dryly and stepped beyond the gate. No one stopped her.
A trap? Suspicion crept in, but she couldn’t just stay frozen.
Hyunha was capricious; she couldn’t predict him. Maybe this was one of his sudden whims.
Trying to rationalize it, Yeongin bolted through the gate.
She had to get far away before he changed his mind. Far from Choi Hyunha, by any margin.
Running hard, her leg twisted and she staggered. She forced strength into her ankle to avoid falling and ran as fast as she could.
She kept thinking footsteps followed from behind — a hair’s breadth from being grabbed — and looked back.
No one was chasing her.
There was not a single human shadow besides her. Only bushes, trees, and a desolate landscape.
“Hah, huff……cough.”
Her chest ached and she was breathless from running so hard that sweat beaded at her throat and her legs shook. She finally stopped, bracing her hands on her knees, gasping.
Still, she checked around; there were no signs of anyone. It felt safe enough to rest a moment.
She suddenly remembered her phone. She took out the device she’d shoved into her pocket.
The screen wouldn’t turn on. She pressed the power button repeatedly but no light came on.
Even with a dead battery, it should have lit up for a moment. Anxious, Yeongin pressed the glass to her forehead.
It was Hyunha’s doing.
He’d deliberately damaged it so she couldn’t use it. She should have noticed when he handed it back. He had no reason to give it up willingly.
Swallowing the rising emotion, Yeongin moved on. There was no time to cling to a dead phone.
The area around the villa was intentionally secluded, as if planned. Only one road led out. Not wanting to be seen by a car Hyunha might send, she walked away from the driveway. She could follow this road and keep going.
She tried to remember how long it had been since she last saw another building after driving out. The recollection made a crease appear across her nose.
Still, the thought that following the road would eventually lead her out was some comfort. As long as the road existed, she wouldn’t lose her way.
She just had to avoid getting caught.
It was a relief to have managed to leave the villa at all, and she kept repeating that to herself as she ignored the pain welling up in her. Her ankle throbbed from when she’d twisted it running out.
Hyunha’s sudden willingness to let her go kept nagging at her. He could hardly have spontaneously decided to let her leave; it felt suspicious.
For now, focus on getting away from here. Yeongin shook her head.
She heard an engine nearby. Hiding behind a tree, she peered at the road.
A little truck was stopped a short distance ahead. The driver, having adjusted his underwear as if he’d just relieved himself nearby, climbed into the cab.
It was a small truck she’d never seen at the villa, and the driver was unfamiliar. The company name on the back suggested it was unlikely he had any ties to Choi Hyunha.
It was an opportunity.
If she could just get on, she could get away much faster than on foot. She could put distance between herself and Hyunha.
She would grab him and beg for a ride. Under ordinary circumstances she would never have stooped to begging a stranger for a lift. But now, escaping Hyunha was all that mattered.
