Damn! Damn! Chapter 30

Hearing a sinister voice unlike anything he had ever heard before, Achim wished that Martina had somehow slipped out of the room without the man knowing.

Of course, since he held a personal grudge against Martina, he had no intention of stepping up to defend her. It was just that Michael’s reaction seemed dangerously unusual. Furthermore, whatever the guy was about to do, it didn’t seem like it would be a pleasant scene to watch, so Achim wanted to leave the room if at all possible.

Naturally, no answer came. She was probably shaking like a leaf behind the curtain. It was right at the moment Achim made that assumption.

Without any further warning, Michael ripped the curtain aside.

“I asked what you put in it.”

“Answer me.” His voice, lower than ever before, was so cold it felt like frost.

Just as expected, Martina, who was tightly clutching her hands and trembling all over, couldn’t even meet Michael’s eyes and stammered.

“T-that… that’s…”

“You.”

A voice that had sunk even deeper echoed.

Michael, standing with his back to Achim, tilted his head slightly to the side and said.

“You’re an Omega.”

Achim stared at the back of Michael’s head with a startled face.

Martina is an Omega?

As Achim blinked in surprise, Michael’s shoulders suddenly shook.

After letting out a brief laugh, Michael ran a hand through his long golden hair and raised his head.

Right around the time a bewildered and terrified Martina blinked her eyes, Michael instantly grabbed her by the collar in a tight grip.

“Ugh!”

“Ha…”

Though Martina let out a painful groan as her heels lifted off the ground, Michael merely let out a low sigh.

“Pull back your disgusting pheromones.”

“…”

“Keep this in mind. If even a single drop leaks out from this moment on, I will tear your tongue out on the spot.”

There was no rise or fall in his sinister voice. Of course, it didn’t contain a trace of his usual amusement either.

— Don’t associate me with Omegas.

Recalling the words he had spoken before, Achim had no choice but to watch the scene before him with bated breath.

In the brief moment of silence that followed, Michael suddenly turned around.

As their gazes locked, Achim knit his brows slightly. Does he seriously think I’m an accomplice? Just as the thought crossed his mind, Michael turned his head back to Martina.

“Now, I’ve asked twice. This is the third time. Tell me what you mixed into the water.”

“Think wisely, because I’ll rip your tongue out even if you don’t speak.” Michael added quite kindly.

“Ah, if it’s something that threatens his life, it won’t end with just pulling out your tongue.”

“…”

“If something goes wrong with that guy… you can look forward to having your fingers chopped off joint by joint.”

Achim flinched at the words that seemed to refer to him.

…Then again, he was a guy who was dying to find that ‘someone’ as soon as possible, so it made sense that he would find it problematic if a lookalike like himself died.

While Achim was guessing, Martina’s eyes slowly shifted toward him. Achim stared back into her eyes before averting his gaze.

It was right when his eyes landed on the messy floor. Suddenly, his chest gave a massive, thumping heave.

“…!”

Achim’s eyes went wide at the unfamiliar, alien sensation.

What is this?

Before he could think any further, his heart suddenly began to beat uncontrollably fast, causing Achim to clutch his flat chest as if squeezing it.

It happened in an instant. His perfectly fine body twisted as all sorts of senses went wild, causing Achim to slump down onto the spot.

“Gasp…”

There wasn’t even time to be surprised. It quickly became difficult to breathe, as if his airway had swollen up. Feeling as though someone was tightly gripping and twisting the blood vessels inside his body, Achim couldn’t even squeeze out a groan and panted for breath.

Sweat poured down like rain from a pain he had never experienced in his life. Only then did he recall the water he had drank a moment ago.

Dammit, was it poison?

However, his thoughts stopped there. As an indescribable pain washed over him, Achim ultimately had no choice but to lose consciousness.

As his mind slipped away, the strength naturally drained from his body. His shoulders slumped, and his vision, which had grown blurry as if covered in fog, shook wildly before his upper body suddenly pitched forward.

Thud—!

Every residual image before his eyes was distant, as if a thick smoke had wrapped around his retina. He couldn’t even distinguish whether everything was a dream or reality.

Within his sideways view, a person’s silhouette entered. Throwing something down as if discarding it, he rapidly approached this way.

Looking at those straight, long legs, a certain person came to mind.

Michael Bernhard.

Thinking of him, even while his sanity was evaporating, the mission he had taken on crossed his mind.

If I’m going to get caught, I’d rather just die here…

His vision shook once more. It felt like someone was shaking his body. But it was only for a moment. The instant he lost the very edge of the consciousness he had been barely holding onto, all his senses scattered to a Addingly distant place.

The world went black, and before completely losing consciousness, Achim squeezed out a final word that resembled a last will.

“…Don’t… touch… me…”

🖤🥀

Between his opening eyelids, his dark pupils rolled.

His mind was dazed. His body felt languid as if he had spent all his energy, and his vision was blurry.

Achim opened his eyelids a bit wider. As he slowly brought things into focus, a ceiling engraved with a specific pattern entered his blurry vision.

…This is Michael’s…

“Are you awake?”

Achim snapped his eyes open at the familiar voice.

Only then did the memories he had briefly forgotten flood back. The vivid scene of drinking the mysterious water and the terrible moment his body suddenly underwent a transformation replayed rapidly, almost tangibly.

Right, I fainted…

“…Gasp!”

At a memory that suddenly flashed through his mind, Achim fumbled over his own body with both hands, then sharply lowered his head to check himself.

After confirming his attire, Achim immediately let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, his clothes were exactly the same as right before he fainted, and there seemed to be no trace of him being changed.

Just the mere imagination of it made cold sweat run down during that brief interval, so Achim wiped his forehead with the back of his forearm.

Soon, the steady click of dress shoes echoed. The moment the sound stopped, a shadow fell over his head, prompting Achim to raise his eyes.

“…”

“…”

Michael stood beside the bed with both hands thrust into his suit pockets, his head tilted to the side.

His silhouette, backlit by a small orange light, looked almost like a massive shadow. Staring back into the eyes that were the only things shining within the dark shadow, Achim glanced outside the window.

It still seemed to be nighttime, so why on earth was he still in a suit? Had he not clocked out earlier?

Michael usually washed up right after clocking out and memorized books while wearing a robe that left him half-naked. It was one of the guy’s habits that he had come to learn after watching him for a few days—a habit he hadn’t particularly cared to know.

It couldn’t be because I collapsed, so the reason is…

Right around the time Achim tilted his head at the uncharacteristic behavior, Michael suddenly reached out an arm. At that, Achim reflexively pushed his upper body up and pressed his back tightly against the headboard.

“…”

“…”

Maintaining enough distance to react, Achim stared up at Michael with sharp eyes. At that, the hand that had briefly paused in mid-air moved once more.

Just as Achim was about to take a defensive stance like before—

“Stay still.”

“…”

Michael commanded in a low voice.

Though it was forceful, strangely, it was a tone that made him guess the man wouldn’t harm him. As Achim paused briefly at this, Michael extended his hand the rest of the way toward him.

The large hand completely blocked Achim’s view. Before he could even feel anxiety, his forehead was firmly pressed.

The palm that had landed on Achim’s forehead as if measuring his fever was pulled away before long.

“If there’s any part that hurts, speak up. I’ll call a doctor.”

“…”

Since the most recent memory that came to mind happened to be fainting, his guard seemed to have heightened significantly. Furthermore, because he hadn’t expected Michael to show that kind of attitude, Achim couldn’t shake off a strange feeling. Why is he suddenly acting like this?

An inevitable suspicion arose, but Achim gave a nod anyway, pretending to drop his guard slightly.

“I’m fine, sir.”

Michael thrust his hands back into his pockets and looked down at Achim. Since that intense gaze felt stifling enough to choke him, Achim immediately blurted out something that had just crossed his mind.

“What was it, sir?”

“…”

“That medicine.”

He asked because he was reasonably certain after snatching the water away to drink it.