Formless Chapter 1

Woo Heewoon crouched behind a wooden box. His thin body was completely hidden in the shadow cast by several boxes stacked on top of one another.

Thwack—

“Aaaargh—!”

He squeezed his eyes shut. How many times had it been now, that cycle of a dull thud, as if striking something, followed by a piercing scream? Four times, five? His body, curled up with his knees drawn to his chest, trembled.

“Ugh… P-please, spare me….”

“Are you in the mood to talk now?” a low voice said.

“Yes. I-I’ll tell you everything. If you’ll just… just spare my life….”

“Shh. Only what’s necessary.”

A soft voice, unsuited for the situation.

Heewoon knew the owner of that voice.

The man, who was gruesomely torturing someone, was the target of his stalking.

‘Hello, sunbae.’

‘Oh. Hello.’

A junior from the same department, Seo Gangwoo. A person who could make Heewoon’s entire day flutter with a simple greeting.

Seo Gangwoo was a man of considerable mystery. While he seemed to get along with everyone, there was a strange sense of distance about him, and even when he was smiling, he exuded a certain chilling aura.

To the perpetually indecisive and timid Heewoon, he seemed incredibly cool.

There were many rumors about Seo Gangwoo. A third-generation chaebol heir, a gangster, an aspiring celebrity. None of them had ever been confirmed, and Heewoon found even his mysteriousness attractive.

Heewoon’s feelings were somewhere between love and admiration. Just looking at Gangwoo made him happy. He wanted to see him a little more, for a little longer. He wanted to know a little more about him.

It took only a moment for those feelings to twist in the wrong direction.

He had been lamenting a brief greeting exchanged with Seo Gangwoo, whom he had run into by chance, and had found himself absentmindedly following that broad back. This feels a bit weird. The thought crossed his mind for a second, but he rationalized it by telling himself that he had been on his way to the campus store anyway.

That’s how easily the stalking began.

I was heading that way too. I’m not following him. But it’s not wrong to walk behind him, is it? Following him to his house—this is not okay. Let’s not do this again. Wow, Gangwoo lives in a really nice house. Who else knows that Gangwoo lives in a house like this? I must be the only one.

The secret he tasted around the time he started to think of it as a crime was far too sweet.

After that, he began to rationalize again. It’s not like I’m installing a hidden camera in his house, or taking pictures, or sending him weird messages. I haven’t done anything to harm Gangwoo. I’m just watching him.

He felt disgusted with himself and guilty toward the oblivious Gangwoo. But he couldn’t bring himself to stop. The moments spent watching Seo Gangwoo were just too sweet and blissful.

Usually, Heewoon would secretly trail Gangwoo during the times he wasn’t in class, and once classes were over, he would head straight for Gangwoo’s house, lamenting the fact that they didn’t have many classes together.

Upon arriving in front of the house where Gangwoo lived, he would hide behind a row of trees and wait endlessly. This was for the chance to see Seo Gangwoo walk his dog around 8 p.m., if nothing special was going on. He wasn’t always able to see him. If someone else came out at 8, it meant he wasn’t home.

Heewoon had made a promise to himself to only watch Gangwoo at school and at his house, so if he didn’t come out at 8, he would linger for a bit before heading to his part-time job. That is to say, a stalker’s active hours were from the end of his last class until 8 p.m.

For nearly a month, Heewoon’s dinner had been a single cream-filled bun every evening.

In fact, for the past three days, his breakfast had also been switched to a cream-filled bun. He had broken his rule, but in those three days, he had made the thrilling discovery that Seo Gangwoo went jogging at 6 a.m. He would know for sure if he jogged every day after watching for about a week.

In this way, Heewoon was gradually crossing the lines he had set for himself.

And today.

His two scheduled tutoring sessions had been suddenly canceled, and Heewoon had been hiding in front of Gangwoo’s house for a little longer than usual. He stared blankly at the mansion rising high above the wall, his heart fluttering with the thought that perhaps the lit window belonged to Seo Gangwoo’s room.

He really hadn’t realized it was past 11 p.m. Lingering in front of someone else’s house near midnight seemed like stalking of a more severe kind. Of course, his standards regarding the severity of stalking were always arbitrary.

In any case, Heewoon was startled and called a taxi. This was a rich neighborhood with no bus service, so he had no choice but to use a taxi. Just to the bus stop about a five-minute drive away.

Just as he was watching the taxi get closer on the app, the large gate opened. And, Gangwoo came out of the house.

At that moment, Heewoon hid himself carefully in the darkness and observed him. With his hair slicked back and wearing a form-fitting suit, Seo Gangwoo looked a little different from his campus self. He was simply… perfect.

The rumor that he was an aspiring celebrity wasn’t baseless at all. He looked less like a pop idol or a model and more like an actor from some masterpiece film. One whose indifferent gaze would be talked about for ages.

Just then, the soft sound of a car approached. Heewoon, whose expression had clouded over with the thought that the taxi might have already arrived, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a black foreign car pull up in front of the gate.

The jet-black car, with Seo Gangwoo in the back seat, drove off.

Where is he going at this time of night, dressed so coolly? After a moment’s thought, one place came to Heewoon’s mind, and he furrowed his brow. A club. No matter how much he thought about it, that seemed to be the only possibility.

I never heard anything about him going to clubs. If Seo Gangwoo goes to a club, won’t everyone stare at him? He’s tall and has broad shoulders, so he’ll stand out even from a distance. I wonder how he dances? I want to see.

A sudden impulse surged through him. And before he could quell it, the taxi, of all things, arrived. After getting into the taxi, Heewoon said:

“Please follow that car.”

The taxi driver gave Heewoon a quizzical look, but his eyes lit up when Heewoon told him he thought his girlfriend was cheating on him, and he diligently followed the car.

Seo Gangwoo, who he had expected to head downtown, was instead driving further toward the outskirts. As rice paddies came into view and the area grew more deserted, the taxi driver glanced nervously at Heewoon. However, after taking a proper look at the skinny Heewoon, he seemed to relax. His gentle-looking face must have played a part in that.

When the car ahead, which had been keeping its distance, stopped, Heewoon also got out of the taxi. The fare came out to over 50,000 won. He regretted it, but since things had come this far, he decided to enjoy it. His heart fluttered with anticipation, with the feeling that he was about to learn something about Seo Gangwoo that no one else knew.

He didn’t seem to have been caught. Judging by the way Gangwoo and the two other men walked on without a single glance back.

The car had stopped in front of a small factory, and they entered it one by one. Heewoon, who had been hiding behind a truck covered in a thick layer of dirt, cautiously peeked his head out to check the situation and followed after them. The door had been left open, so it was easy.

He sensed the ominous atmosphere right after he stepped inside the factory. Of course, it would have been much better if he had sensed it the moment the car headed into the deserted area, or when he faintly overheard their conversation.

He could see Gangwoo standing with an indifferent expression among several men whose backs were turned. And in front of him, a man was kneeling.

“P-please, spare me.”

Begging for his life.

Woo Heewoon’s head had been a bit of a mess lately. Perhaps the problem had started the moment he began stalking. His mind worked in especially strange ways when it came to Seo Gangwoo. When he sensed danger, he should have left the factory, not hidden behind a wooden box. Even after hiding behind the box, he should have called the police first.

Not eavesdropped on the conversation.

“Yes. I-I’ll tell you everything. Just… spare me….”

“Say one more useless word and your other hand goes too. Think you’ll be able to eat properly then?”

The dull thuds he had been hearing until a moment ago must have been the sound of a hand being destroyed.

Heewoon clamped a hand over his mouth, his breath hissing out of his nose. He got goosebumps. Seo Gangwoo. Was this Seo Gangwoo’s secret? His mind went blank.

What do I do? What should I do? I should sneak out now. No, I have to report this first. What was the number for the police station? I should search for it online….

His white hand, clutching his phone, trembled.

Truly, no one would know that Seo Gangwoo was this kind of person.

At that time, he didn’t notice the faint thrill that had sprouted in the gap between the horror and fear.

Floundering in a state of panic, Heewoon couldn’t focus on the conversation. It was only when he peeked through a crack between the boxes to check the situation, right before sending a text to the police station number he had finally managed to recall, that he heard the voices.

“Finish him off in one go.”

“W-wait a minute! Young master!”

The man who had been kneeling on the floor grabbed onto Gangwoo’s leg as he was about to turn away. Gangwoo’s gaze fell on the hand clutching his pants.

“P-please….”

The hand, which could only be described as crushed, slid weakly down the clean fabric of the pants. A dark bloodstain was left on Gangwoo’s pants.

“……”

Seo Gangwoo slowly lowered his head and looked down at his pants. His perfectly shaped eyebrows gradually furrowed, and a faint crease formed between them. Heewoon’s eyes, pressed tightly against the small crack, didn’t know how to blink. The sight of dust motes floating in the dim light and his shadowed face. Time seemed to slow down.

“Fuck, that’s disgusting.”

At the quietly uttered words, Heewoon blinked. Reality returned. I have to… I have to report this. Contrary to the thought his numb mind had produced, Heewoon’s eyes only followed Gangwoo’s movements as he reached into his pocket.

Something Seo Gangwoo took out glinted under the flickering light.

It truly happened in the blink of an eye.

The moment he adjusted his grip on the jackknife and stabbed the kneeling man in the neck. It was a practiced movement, without a hint of hesitation.

Blood spurted from the man’s neck like a fountain. Even as he watched the liquid trace a parabola through the floating dust motes before pattering back down to the floor, Heewoon didn’t understand what had just happened.

“…s-sav….”

The man, clutching his own throat, let out a strangled groan before collapsing forward.