Irresponsibility Chapter 1.8

Since that day, Joo Yeoun became withdrawn again. He did not come out of his room, and he would freeze up even more if I said anything.

As it was now, rather than raising his guard about escaping, I had to put more effort into taking care of the broken Joo Yeoun. The meals he seemed to be eating a few spoonfuls of, he only ate a single spoonful yesterday. At this rate, he would end up not even being able to eat rice gruel.

I had prepared CCTVs to install inside the house, but that too was a meaningless act. Surveillance? What surveillance. He was a kid too terrified to even eat properly.

Baek Geonhyuk clicked his tongue and entered the villa’s main entrance.

As he went up the stairs lined with empty homes, he heard a noise. A thumping sound, as if something was bumping against something else.

“Team Leader.”

Lee Hyungyu was out on the stairs. He lowered his voice and explained. It seemed that Joo Yeoun was trying to open the front door.

Baek Geonhyuk glanced to the side. He saw the front door that had been completely sealed by welding. Thump, thump. Listening to the bumping sound, he nodded his head.

“Yeah. You can go.”

“Yes. Take care.”

Lee Hyungyu, glancing at his wristwatch, went down the stairs. He said that since he was away from the hospital for several hours a day, his afternoon appointments were always backed up.

Baek Geonhyuk passed the welded front door and opened the door of the apartment next to it. He crossed the living room that showed signs of life and deliberately made footsteps as he approached the passageway.

With every step, a worry crossed his mind. He would be scared out of his wits again if he saw me.

These days, for the first time in his life, he had started to wonder if his face was on the intimidating side. He understood why Joo Yeoun was afraid of him, but he wondered if perhaps his appearance had an influence.

Baek Geonhyuk, who had been fiddling with his cheek, let out a quiet sigh. And then he opened the sliding partition.

“Hello.”

Joo Yeoun, with his eyes wide open, stared at him. Wondering if smiling would make him less scary, he tried to smile slightly.

*

Joo Yeoun let out a scream that felt like it would tear his throat. The man’s smiling face gave him goosebumps and made the hair on his head stand on end.

However, the scream was cut short after a moment. Halt. It was because the man frowned.

A cold silence flowed.

I have to run away. A warning bell rang inside Yeoun’s head.

But his body did not follow. His legs were heavily stuck to the floor, and he struggled to even take half a step backward. His back was soaked with a cold sweat.

The man, who had returned to his usual indifferent expression, glanced at Yeoun’s feet and then opened his mouth.

“If you want to go outside, you have to go through the apartment next door. Lee Hyungyu lives there.”

He looked nonchalant as he pointed to the passageway behind him. It was as if he saw right through the fact that he had been trying to escape.

“Huuuh….”

Terrified, his teeth chattered.

Joo Yeoun took a step back without knowing which direction he was going. Thud. He finally came to a stop only after the dining table touched the area near his buttocks.

With his escape route blocked, Yeoun did not know what to do. The man was just staring at him blankly.

His mind went white. What do I do now? Since I got caught trying to run away, he will start doing terrible things now. He will move up the torture, regardless of my recovery.

Even though he could not step back any further, Yeoun kept trying to flee backward, causing his upper body to lean over the dining table. His slender hands pathetically fumbled over the tabletop.

“I am not scolding you.”

Baek Geonhyuk took a small step toward Joo Yeoun. He spread both his hands in the air as if to reassure him, and spoke in a quiet voice.

“It is okay. I told you that you could walk around.”

“…Huuuh, ugh.”

As the distance closed, Joo Yeoun made a sound as if his throat was being constricted. In his wide-open eyes, the whites were red, and his chin trembled.

“Should I go back out?”

The words he uttered to reassure him, Joo Yeoun heard as a threat. As in, go ahead and try something. So, with a terrified face, he shook his head wildly.

“N-no, no. Pl-please, do-don’t hit me.”

After blurting out words indiscriminately, he eventually repeated things like, ‘I really don’t know anything.’ Baek Geonhyuk looked at such Joo Yeoun with沉-down eyes.

His escape route was blocked, but because he kept trying to run backward, his upper body was bent at an unusually severe angle. A posture like that was not good for the ribs.

“You need to sit down somewhere.”

Baek Geonhyuk, frowning faintly, took a step closer. Just then, a single tear dropped from his bloodshot eyes. Drip.

“D-do-don’t, come….”

Yeoun struggled desperately.

At that moment, something hard was caught in his profusely sweating hand. He did not know what it was. Joo Yeoun picked up the object that fit in one hand and threw it just like that.

Crack-! Crash!

A loud noise erupted.

Yeoun gasped, heok, and checked what he had done. His gaze alternated between the sturdy shoulder with a small piece of ceramic on it and the floor scattered with the shattered cup. The color drained from Yeoun’s face.

He had not thrown it to hit the man. He had wanted to run away; he had not had the slightest thought of fighting back. Yeoun, his expression contorted, did not know what to do.

On the other hand, the man had an indifferent face. It was the same when the cup flew at him. Without a single change in expression, all he did was close and open his eyes slightly when the cup hit.

Yeoun thought that sight was horrifying. He was just like a monster.

“Do not move. On the floor…”

So when he opened his mouth, Yeoun moved like a flash. He went around the table and stood pressed tightly against the sink. He was now even farther from the exit, but this was the only direction left to escape.

“You will step on the pieces.”

Baek Geonhyuk finished his interrupted sentence and was lost in thought for a moment. The closer he got, the more scared he became, but there were sharp cup fragments all over the floor. He could get hurt walking around barefoot. Baek Geonhyuk brushed off the ceramic piece stuck to his shoulder, letting it fall behind him, and glanced at Joo Yeoun.

At that, Joo Yeoun, who was standing with his buttocks pressed against the sink, fumbled behind him again. Then, he finally pulled a paring knife from the knife block.

“That is dangerous.”

For a moment, a sharp light glinted even in Baek Geonhyuk’s calm eyes. He confirmed that Yeoun was gripping the knife handle unsteadily with his left hand and clicked his tongue lowly. Then he strode forward.

“Uwaah…! D-d-d-don’t come.”

Clatter. A noise was made. It was Joo Yeoun’s body hitting the sink as he stepped back in surprise.

“You will get hurt. Give it here.”

The man, who had closed the distance in an instant, reached out his hand. To Yeoun, whatever the man was saying was inaudible. Only that hand, it loomed over Yeoun. Like a black and cold wave.

“Aaaack!”

Screaming, he swung the knife in his hand. The short but sharp blade swished through the air. In between, he thought he saw a gaze that was colder than the blade.

And in the very next moment.

Yeoun realized he was swinging an empty hand.

“Huuuh…?”

When he dazedly shifted his gaze, he saw the man’s hand holding the knife. It felt as if the man’s hand had touched his wrist, but it happened in an instant, so his eyes did not even have a chance to follow it.

“Are you amazed? I will teach you next time.”

At the voice that dug into his ear, Yeoun snapped to his senses.

The man was truly, close. Standing in front of him, blocking his way like a giant wall, he was staring at him motionlessly.

There would be nothing he could do in front of this man. A sense of powerlessness enveloped his entire body.

“Heuk…. P-please, s-save me….”

A plea was mixed in with his bursting sobs.

“Wasn’t that what I was supposed to say?”

Baek Geonhyuk said playfully, lightly shaking the paring knife in his hand. However, Joo Yeoun just covered his mouth and shed tears nonstop.

Clicking his tongue lowly, he threw the paring knife into the sink. And at that sound, Joo Yeoun, who had flinched in surprise, was lifted up by his waist in a flash.

“Heuuuh…! I was, wro-wrong, I was wrong!”

Joo Yeoun, slung over his shoulder, struggled. Baek Geonhyuk held his thin thighs firmly with his arm and walked with long strides.

“Save me…! I do not know anything. I-I-I really do not. Huuuuhhhk….”

The sound of his sobbing was sorrowful. Baek Geonhyuk quickened his pace, as if he was hearing an auditory hallucination of teardrops falling to the floor. Pitter-patter.

With his strides, it did not take long to reach the master bedroom. Baek Geonhyuk carefully placed Joo Yeoun on the bed and sat on the floor.

“Huu, heuk, I-I-I won’t run… Aaaack!”

Joo Yeoun suddenly let out a scream. A black, large hand was grabbing his ankle.

‘It will hurt more if you move.’

A cold voice spoke from within his memory.

Joo Yeoun just trembled, unable to even shake off the hand that gripped his ankle. He no longer screamed, nor did he cry out loud. He just let tears stream down from his wide-open eyes.

Baek Geonhyuk glanced up at Joo Yeoun’s face.

“I was checking if a piece of glass got stuck in your foot.”

“Huuuh, yes, yes….”

He answered, but it was impossible to know if he understood.

Teardrops falling from under his chin left marks on the pants Joo Yeoun was wearing. Baek Geonhyuk, who had been staring at the round stains for a moment, soon examined the foot he was holding.

He supported the heel with his palm and tilted his head to look closely at the sole. Wondering if there was a piece embedded that was not visible to the naked eye, he also felt around with his fingertips. At that, the pale white foot that fit in one hand flinched slightly.

“Does it tickle?”

Baek Geonhyuk looked up and asked. Joo Yeoun was looking at him, sobbing quietly.

“I was worried your foot got hurt.”

At the slowly uttered words, his large eyes blinked. A new trail of tears formed on his wet cheeks.

“I will look at the other one.”

“……”

Baek Geonhyuk examined the other foot in the same way.

Perhaps because he had calmed down a little and his attention was turning to other sensations, Joo Yeoun squirmed slightly every time he touched the sole of his foot. Seeing him twitch his thigh and wrinkle his nose brought on a random impulse. The urge to tickle him on purpose.

“What did you think I was going to do?”

Baek Geonhyuk asked, purposely indifferent, as he lightly brushed off the sole of his foot. He had not expected an answer, but a wet voice came back.

“Break, it….”

When he looked up, Joo Yeoun snapped his mouth shut. Hap. At that delicate and quiet sound, Baek Geonhyuk’s eyebrows moved slightly before returning to their place.

“I would not do that.”