ANTITOXIN Chapter 22

Along with the scream of the designated driver, a screeching noise erupted. At the same time, the car body spun sideways, and his body shook violently.

As Seolwon turned his head back to the front, what flashed into his vision was light. A light so bright it felt blinding. There was no time to grasp what the light actually was.

Crash!

For his vision went pitch black along with a powerful bursting sound.

“Ugh…!”

He felt a blunt impact on his head.

An acrid smell wafted into the tip of his nose.

A familiar voice hovered around his ears.

‘Ah, and watch out for car accidents.’

It was the man’s greeting, though it was impossible to tell whether it was a courtesy or a warning.

How much time had passed? Gradually, his senses became distinct.

The first sense to return was hearing. Tap, tap, a humming sound was heard along with regular footsteps. The sound drew closer bit by bit.

The next to return was the sensation of pain. His head throbbed as if it would break. Just like being struck with a huge hammer.

Vision was the very last. Seolwon opened his eyes with difficulty. Within a vision soaked in blood, a certain figure steps in. In the midst of everything being blurry, there was only one thing he could recognize.

Flowers… It was a glamorous floral pattern embroidered on the clothes.

Breathing heavily as if he were about to pass out any moment, Seolwon forced out his voice with difficulty.

“Heuk, ugh… Why, why…”

Why is that man…

As if he had actually heard Seolwon’s voice, the man flung the car door open and said in a humming tone.

“As a rule, when humans face a life-threatening crisis…”

Then suddenly, he thrust his face right in front of Seolwon’s eyes.

“They become very honest.”

With a broad smirk.

Seolwon blinked his eyes slowly. Feeling that the senses he thought had returned were drifting away again.

Toward Seolwon, who was unable to move and only continuing his precarious, fitful breathing, the man reached out his hand. Over the blood-soaked cheek, a hand carrying a chilly air makes contact.

Caressing Seolwon’s cheek, the man blabbered playfully.

“Now, let’s have a proper blind date.”

“Ugh…, hng…”

“It’ll be fun, honey. You can look forward to it.”

The man’s hand that was caressing his cheek moved up and covered his eyes.

“Before that, rest up a bit.”

Of its own accord, the front of his eyes went pitch black again.

Snicker, snicker, a playful laughter flowed into his ears. It was a sound that seemed like it could have been made by that man, or it could have been made by a ghost whose form was still unrecognizable. However, this much was certain.

He was enjoying himself.

Very much so.

🌀

‘Is he a mute?’

‘That Happy guy was no joke.’

― Wake up.

‘See you again.’

‘If you miss it, you’re fucked.’

― Open your eyes.

‘Mr. Han Seolwon.’

― I told you to open your eyes!

“…!”

A shout loud enough to tear his eardrums strikes into his ears. Seolwon opened his eyes. His foggy mind became clear in an instant.

“Heuk!”

As if it had been waiting, pain begins to rush in. Head, shoulders, arms, chest, stomach, thighs, feet. It was honestly faster to find a place that didn’t hurt, so much so that his whole body ached. It felt exactly as if his entire body had been beaten with a club.

By the time his mind had returned to its place to some extent, he looked around the surroundings. However, there was nothing clearly visible. Everything was just completely blurry.

Seolwon blinked his two eyes several times and racked his brain. He tried hard to figure out what had happened just before and what kind of situation it was now.

“Ugh…”

The result of his effort was only intense dizziness. At last, it was when he was gagging, letting out a whew.

“Hyung-nim, it looks like he’s regained consciousness.”

An unfamiliar voice broke into his ears, and,

“Hmm?”

A voice familiar to his ears followed.

Seolwon, who painfully raised his head which had dropped down due to the gagging, looked straight ahead again. As he narrowed his eyes and focused on his vision, the figures became slightly clearer than before.

What caught his roughly recovered vision first was the back of a man sitting a long distance away. A man wearing a floral shirt that was not just striking but burdensome to look at again was sitting on a steel chair, merely turning his head to look at him.

“It’s true.”

The moment their eyes met, he smirked broadly. It was not a sneer, a chuckle, or a smirk. He was smiling because he was happy. He was smiling because it was fun. Without even a shred of malice. Because of that, Seolwon was even more terrified. To the point of getting goosebumps. It was because he remembered the deed that man had committed.

The one who entered his vision was not just that man alone. Two more men were visible. As if they had matched on purpose, they were perfectly outfitted in identical black suits. Not to mention their extraordinary physique, judging by the heavy body odor emanating from their strong positive energy and muscles, along with an aura reminiscent of a wall, they seemed to be the type who used their bodies… like soldiers or bodyguards.

“Heave-ho!”

The man who was sitting stood up from the chair while letting out a playful grunt. And he begins to approach. Having approached at a leisurely rather than slow pace, the man stopped, leaving a gap of about two steps from Seolwon.

“Did you sleep well?”

He dropped a refreshing greeting.

The expression that he slept was not correct. The expression that he had fainted was correct. Even so, he didn’t feel like correcting him on purpose. Seolwon was simply terrified. Terrified of the man in front of him whose thoughts he couldn’t read at all even though he was this close.

Sweeping back his light-colored hair, of which it was unknown whether it was dyed or its original color, he furrowed his brows.

“It must hurt. Sorry, was the invitation a bit too violent?”

“…”

“But what can I do. I didn’t get your contact information. There was no choice but to go and bring you.”

If he had known, would he have called?

No.

Seolwon was certain.

Even if he had known his contact information, the man would have done something like this.

“There was no malice. I just wanted to talk comfortably. Of course, I did.”

To put it another way, it meant he didn’t care at all about the pain or discomfort you were feeling. It was an intensely selfish way of thinking. Thanks to this, he could know this one thing clearly. That the true nature of that man playing friendly was actually incredibly merciless.

Was it because he was too tense? Cold sweat formed in beads over his forehead. To wipe it off, Seolwon moved his hands subconsciously. However, only a sense of pressure was felt, and they wouldn’t move. Only then did Seolwon realize that his two hands were tied behind the backrest, and he became greatly agitated.

“Why is this…!”

Looking properly, it wasn’t just his two hands. His two feet were also tied.

Seolwon, falling into a panic, twisted his upper body this way and that to untie his limbs. Then, the chair made a screeching, grating metallic sound as it scraped the floor. At Seolwon’s meaningless struggle, the man just watched as if it were entertaining.

As was perhaps natural, no matter how hard he tried, the untying of his hands and feet did not happen. Heuk, heuk… Before long, Seolwon, who had completely exhausted what little strength he had to begin with, let his head and shoulders droop limply while breathing heavily.

“Is that it? Are you the type to give up easily?”

The man asked. Although it was a tone as if it were a pity, it was nothing more than sarcasm. Seolwon glared at the man before he knew it.

At Seolwon’s sharply raised corners of the eyes, the man twisted his lips, finding it ridiculous.

“Wow, you look incredibly impudent right now. Cute, yeah.”

It wasn’t sarcasm. It truly was an expression as if he were enjoying the cute antics of a little kid.

Only now did Seolwon argue against the man.

“Why… just why are you doing this?”

The answer came back right away.

“Why am I doing this? Didn’t I say it earlier? Let’s have a blind date.”

A blind date, it was by no means a word that suited this situation.

“Why should I go on something like a blind date with you…”

“Because I’ve become interested.”

The man, who cut off Seolwon’s words as he argued back again at his own whim, blabbered something where it was ambiguous to distinguish whether it was a joke or serious. Seolwon ended up dumbfounded. It was because the word ‘interest’ sounded just as absurd as ‘blind date.’ He could not grasp a clue at all as to how he should react, or how he should interpret it.

The man added a follow-up word.

“Then now we have to decide the direction of how to develop this interest. To do that, what should we do?”

“…”

“A conversation. A very honest conversation. That’s why I prepared this place. Because I wanted to have an intimate chat. Do you happen to hate it?”

Of course he hated it. An intimate conversation while tying up limbs like this? Was he a madman? Looking at that shirt and the way he talked, no matter how one looked at it, he was not in his right mind.