ANTITOXIN Chapter 39

Soon, tears began to stream down from Seolwon’s eyes, which were eaten away by fear and resignation.

He knew.

It was a nightmare he could not escape from by his own strength.

Only when that thing appeared, only when he reached the absolute end of the memory, could he escape from this toxin-like nightmare.

Why me.

Why, of all people, us.

An meaningless question that he had thought of hundreds, no, thousands of times circled in his mind. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand. Why that extraordinarily vicious evil deity, whom even the heavenly gods could do nothing about, took his own bloodlines as sacrifices.

The shaman’s dance moves become violent.

The calling grows louder.

The rhythm quickens.

The exorcism site reached its climax.

This time too, pulled by an absolute power, his head was lifted upward.

He sees it.

It, crawling rapidly along the branches with countless arms and legs.

That evil deity who was both an evil spirit and a divine spirit.

─Hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi!

Don’t come.

─Found you! Found you! Found you! Found you! Found you! Found you! Found you! Found you!

Please, just stop now…

─You thought you could run away? You thought you could run away? You thought you could run away? You thought you could run away?

Leave me…

─Did you think you could run away, I asked!!!!!!!!

“Let me go…”

Outside the nightmare, the real Seolwon muttered in a strained voice.

Right at that moment.

“Wow, look at this.”

There was a man approaching Seolwon.

Wearing a flashy shirt embroidered with gold patterns on a black background, he approached and came to a stop right in front of Seolwon’s nose. His gaze, which had been directed toward Seolwon, soon shifted to the syringe and medicine bottle strewn beside him.

“You had a dog-shit-like habit, huh?”

Cha Jaeyi, scowling with a smiling face, muttered icily.

Without being able to hear his words, Seolwon was merely sprawled out like waste. To anyone’s eyes, he was the very picture of a completely wasted junkie.

At Seolwon’s wretched appearance, he clicked his tongue. His gaze was incredibly dry. They were pupils that thoroughly perceived the object they stared at as a mere thing.

As if calculating how to handle this, he looked down at Seolwon silently for a while.

Unexpectedly, he bent his knees and sat down. Then, he extended his hand toward Seolwon. The place his extended hand headed for was the slender nape of his neck.

It was right before his fingertips touched the skin. Drip… The tears that had gathered around Seolwon’s eyes flowed down along his temple and fell to the floor. Seeing this, the area beneath Cha Jaeyi’s eyes twitched.

“…”

He tilted his head to the side. A peculiar gleam slowly infused into his pupils, which had been cold as if looking at a useless object.

Drip, drop…

Tears continued to pour down.

As the corners of Seolwon’s eyes became wet, a reddish color spread.

A mysterious smile also spread across Cha Jaeyi’s lips.

“As expected, it’s a bit of a waste to throw him away.”

Muttering in a low voice, he withdrew the hand that had intended to clutch his neck. Instead, he lightly flicked the tip of Seolwon’s nose with his finger.

“Can’t be helped, I guess. I have no choice but to fix him up and use him.”

It was then. Seolwon’s brow, which had been slightly distorted, began to relax. As if reacting to his touch.

Cha Jaeyi, letting out a smirk as if saying ‘Look at him,’ lifted Seolwon up effortlessly. Not even a shred of resistance could be seen from the limp Seolwon. Perhaps because of his much more relaxed face, on the contrary, he simply looked docile.

Walking toward the door, he hummed.

“This is my first time doing such an easy kidnapping in my life.”

A satisfied smile lingered on his lips.

And.

─ I knew it would be so.

Looking down at him as he came out of the building holding Seolwon, the child whispered. It belonged to the spiritual entity standing on the railing of the rooftop—one that definitely existed, yet was invisible to his eyes.