Kill Your X Chapter 48

A burning fever consumed my body. I moaned in my sleep, and a hand touched my unresponsive body. It was a very gentle and careful touch.

He could have easily ignored a patient’s complaints, but he chose to sit on the bed instead. The weight transmitted through the mattress was comforting. I drifted back to sleep, feeling the repeated caress on my cheek.

When I finally came to, it was late evening. It was a place I’d been to before, the officetel Seo Seunghan had introduced as one of his bases.

“You’re awake?”

He, who was sitting in the chair next to the bed, opened his eyes. There was no trace of drowsiness on his face, so I wasn’t sure if he had dozed off in an uncomfortable position or if he had just been resting with his eyes closed. As I silently looked down at the back of my hand, Seo Seunghan got up and adjusted the IV drip. Misinterpreting my gaze, he added,

“It’s just a regular glucose drip. It’s to quickly dilute the drugs in your system, so you don’t have to be wary.”

The clarity in my head wasn’t just from a good night’s sleep, it seemed. Now that I looked, my body was also clean, without any sticky feeling. He must have washed me while I was asleep. If it weren’t for the distinct soreness in my lower body, I might have dismissed what happened in the car the previous day as a dream. Drugged and hazy, I barely remembered anything from the middle of the rough sex onward.

The sex was one thing, but what happened to me before that? The more I thought about it, the less real it felt. It was like I had been sucked into a terrible B-movie, or maybe even a C-movie, and then spat back out.

My stomach churned as I recalled the people trapped in cages instead of prizes, the bizarre secret party. Seo Seunghan scrutinized my face and then went to the kitchen to get some water.

I froze as I received the cup and was about to take a drink.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well…”

Seeing my hesitant eyes, he seemed to have guessed what had happened. Seo Seunghan took a couple of sips of the water first and then handed the cup back to me. Only then did I drink the water with relief.

My throat was so sore that it took me quite a while to drink just half a cup of water. I placed the empty cup on the nightstand and finally looked at him.

“I called the library and told them you couldn’t come in because you’re sick.”

He said this, looking much worse than I did. Seo Seunghan was wearing comfortable sweatpants, shirtless, with white bandages wrapped around most of his abdomen. Dark red blood seeped through slightly, hinting at the location of the wounds. His chest and arms were also covered in various cuts and bruises that looked like they needed attention.

“Did you get hurt because of me?”

When we were dating, the body I remembered wasn’t like this. He had many small scars, but they were all old.

“This happened before I went to get you.”

Seo Seunghan replied, pointing to his abdomen. The fact that the most serious injury wasn’t because of me didn’t make me feel relieved; instead, it made me feel even worse. It meant he was already battered before he came to me. My words came out sharp with frustration.

“Like the gangster you are, did you get into a brawl after we broke up?”

He responded to my sarcasm with silence. My throat stung after just a few words, so I poured myself another half cup of water.

“You must have worked so hard to hide your violent nature. I didn’t know, but I guess you were restraining yourself when you were with me. Not knowing how precious your body is, you’re already a mess just a few days after we broke up.”

“Why did you go to the villa in the first place?”

His gaze, which had been resting on the blanket, shifted to me. With an annoyed expression, Seo Seunghan blamed me.

Why did I go to that crazy bastard’s den?

“……”

I hesitated to answer. To be honest, I knew now. The problem wasn’t just with Seo Seunghan.

I didn’t understand myself either. Going to see Ma Yubin, whom I barely knew, just because my memories of the past were incomplete. I was usually so cautious, even over trivial matters, so why did I cling to him so pathetically, bringing up the past when we had already broken up?

“If it’s hard to answer, I’ll change the question. Is it true that you contacted Ma Yubin first?”

“Yes. He said he’d give me information about you. I’ve always been curious about the past. Our past, the one you know and I don’t.”

“He said he knew about it?”

He sounded genuinely bewildered. As if this wouldn’t have happened if he had just told me first. I instinctively blamed Seo Seunghan, even though he had saved my life.

“Yes. You might already know, but I also met Kim Minseok separately. But he was really no help at all. Then, Ma Yubin said he could give me definite information, so I was tempted. I’ve been having strange dreams lately, and it’s been bothering me.”

“How much did you remember?”

Although I clearly said “dreams,” Seo Seunghan naturally corrected it to “past.” That confused me.

“You saved me. But I don’t know the details before or after that.”

Seo Seunghan let out an incomprehensible sigh and crossed his legs the other way. Even injured, the aura of intimidation he exuded was considerable. A wounded beast is still a beast.

A flicker of something flashed in his usually dark eyes. Perhaps what I saw at the villa, him taking down so many people alone, wasn’t a drug-induced hallucination after all.

“Did Ma Yubin lie? From what he said, it sounded like you two had a long-standing relationship. He even said you’ve known each other since before you debuted.”

“I didn’t know it was this bad, but Sunbae, you’re seriously naive.”

“So it’s not true? Were you and that celebrity perhaps… close in the past?”

He scoffed openly before I could even finish my sentence. He briefly lowered his gaze and then met mine directly. His persistent stare reminded me of the day we reunited at Jerome.

“I have plenty of memories of rejecting his advances.”

“What?”

My face crumpled involuntarily.

“It’s true that I’ve known Ma Yubin since before he debuted. He worked in rooms since he was a minor, and that place was under our control.”

The information went in a completely unexpected direction. It took me a while to understand what Seo Seunghan meant.

“So, to summarize, Ma Yubin comes from a room salon? And that ‘room’ isn’t a club like Jerome, but…”

“He sold his body to customers who came to drink. He cleaned up his image well and became a top star.”

“What does that have to do with Ma Yubin lying about knowing you well?”

He hesitated, even though he had been answering my questions just fine. It seemed like he was trying to choose his words carefully but soon gave up and started explaining in his own way.

“As Sunbae now knows, KNT Entertainment’s predecessor is the Kumto gang. With corporatization, the way we manage funds has become relatively clean now, but the road to getting here wasn’t smooth.”

Hearing the truth directly from Seo Seunghan felt strange. It was as good as admitting he was a gangster.

“When the corporatization talk first came up, the majority within the organization was in favor. The world was changing rapidly, and laundering money accordingly was quite a hassle. I’m sure everyone secretly wanted to hold executive positions in a respectable company. No matter how big the organization gets, a gangster is still a gangster.”

He continued, carefully observing my expression.

“The opposing opinion was rather trivial in comparison. They simply didn’t want change. They were already living well, enjoying everything they could, and if they stepped into the light, they wouldn’t be able to do what they used to so freely. Things like managing establishments for money.”

“So that’s how you met Ma Yubin.”

“That’s right. Ma Yubin was sponsored by a Kumto executive who opposed corporatization. In the end, the boss decided to try the entertainment business, and it unexpectedly took off, leading Ma Yubin into the entertainment industry as well.”

I couldn’t quite understand. Even if he initially opposed it, Seo Seunghan and the pro-corporatization faction must have played a significant role in him becoming a top star. Then why did Ma Yubin hate Seo Seunghan?

“The problem arose after KNT Entertainment went public, when some executives couldn’t break their old habits. The boss was ill at the time, and his only son, the heir to the organization, had run away from home, so it was a good opportunity for them.”

A leopard can’t change its spots. While reaping the benefits of KNT Entertainment’s rapid growth, some executives started operating as they had always done. They expanded their reach into gambling, human trafficking, drugs, and more, using even more vicious methods than before. They sought to strengthen their power by resuming trade with overseas mafias.

“Ma Yubin is loyal to the bone to that executive. He can’t help but hate me because I keep interfering with what that person tells him to do. But I never thought he’d be foolish enough to touch Sunbae.”

Seo Seunghan added that Ma Yubin might have held a grudge against him for repeatedly rejecting his advances, even after he tried to seduce him. He said Ma Yubin was much more proud than he appeared.

“So that party… that’s what was behind it. The act of playing it normal at Jerome must have been part of the plan.”

“What Sunbae saw was just the tip of the iceberg.”

Seo Seunghan said firmly. He said far more vile crimes were branching out throughout society, and Ma Yubin was the one who spread such insane entertainment, especially in the entertainment industry.

The truth of the matter was much bigger than I thought, to the point where the story I truly wanted to know seemed relatively trivial.

Whether Ma Yubin sold his body or the Kumto gang was in internal turmoil didn’t matter to me. There was only one thing I wanted to hear from him.