Only after eating the soup Rita had prepared did Jeong Taeui’s mind, which had been in a haze, begin to clear a bit. As soon as he became more alert, the first thing that came to his mind was the whereabouts of Maurer.

Although Jeong Taeui didn’t think that sly guy would just sit around waiting to die, upon hearing from Kyle that Maurer had returned to Hong Kong, a rage ignited within him. Betting nine out of ten times that even if he called the European branch now to report Maurer’s possession of illegal weapons, it would be too late.

Surely, Maurer had already gone back to his room, packed all his precious beauties, and hid them somewhere else.

“Damn it. I guess I’ll have to go back there myself…”

He would storm into Maurer’s room, throw out all his beloved treasures, and head to Hong Kong. Those things should be buried deep under the sea. Jeong Taeui gritted his teeth and muttered. That son of a bitch. If I ever see you again, I won’t mind making this relationship even worse.

As soon as he stepped out of Kyle’s office, Jeong Taeui with a pale-face, quickly strode to his own room. When he reached his door, he glanced at the room right next to his, where Maurer had stayed until just the previous day. With that thought, Jeong Taeui kicked the door with all his might.

“… ―! … ―!! … ―!!!”

After venting his anger on the door, he realized his leg wasn’t normal at the moment. The tattered bandage from running through the forest had been carefully and neatly rewrapped while he slept. A doctor had been called to the house, and all his wounds had been treated and wrapped neatly with gauze. But no matter how well they were bandaged, the wounds beneath wouldn’t heal instantly. Especially his ankle, which had been overworked last night and this morning, made him think he might never use it again. His legs were limping as if he could barely walk, but there was no other choice. Even indoors, he had to use a cane.

And in his rage, Jeong Taeui had forgotten that and kicked the door hard, so now his already injured ankle was about to be crippled.

Ilay quietly watched Jeong Taeui, who was trembling and clutching his ankle while lying face down in the hallway with a pale face. He frowned slightly and muttered to himself.

“Sometimes, I really don’t understand you at times like this….”

Taeui didn’t have the energy to respond to Ilay’s serious remark. He groaned while clutching his ankle for a long time before he calmed down.

He bent over and entered his room, then suddenly saw Ilay following him. Taeui frowned.

“What do you want?”

Even though he asked with a cold face, Taeui wondered when that moment would come. From the dawn when he met him in the forest until he returned home and woke up for a while, this man didn’t show any reaction that worried him. He had thought at least one of his arms would be chopped off when he met him. Maybe he intended to drain his blood and spirit with this advanced method, didn’t he?…..

Jeong Taeui looked up at Ilay suspiciously.

Now he was no longer Kim. Anyway, the escape was over. He couldn’t beat him with force, so there was no other choice but to die quietly if he did so.

However, whether Ilay knew what he was thinking or not, Ilay still quietly looked down at him. Then he turned and went to the chair by the window, sat down, and sighed deeply, hmmm.

“When did you start listening?”

“What?”

“Earlier. In the office. You must have heard things there.”

Ilay’s voice was slightly hesitant. He even seemed a bit worried.

Jeong Taeui remained silent. He hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to say when he had started listening to the conversation.

When Jeong Taeui had finished his meal and arrived at Kyle’s office, he was about to go up the stairs when he heard Ilay’s voice inside the room. Instinctively, his steps halted.

It wasn’t because of the content of the conversation, but because he didn’t want to face Ilay at the moment. Given the current situation, he wanted to avoid him as much as possible.

Jeong Taeui frowned and intended to turn back, but then he changed his mind immediately. He had to greet Kyle. He hadn’t seen Kyle since the kidnapping incident…. Well, in reality, it had only been a day and a half since the kidnapping happened yesterday morning….

After thinking for a while, Jeong Taeui decided to sit on the wooden stairs. Ilay wasn’t the type to linger in someone’s room unless he had a specific purpose. If it were a small matter to discuss, he would leave as soon as the conversation was over. It might be a bit different if the person talking to Ilay was his brother, but Taeui didn’t think the conversation would last long.

While sitting on the wooden steps with a determined spirit, a thought flashed through Jeong Taeui’s mind, “Come to think of it, what’s wrong with him?”, and then Taeui heard a voice coming from inside the room, though he didn’t want to hear it at all.

“When did you start listening?”

Ilay asked again, this time his voice lowered a bit.

Jeong Taeui hesitated, biting his lip for a moment, but then obediently answered.

“From the part where you said: ‘I’ll tear apart anything I find.’ “

Then, it was Ilay’s turn to remain silent. Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and scratched his head.

“I didn’t hear clearly what you said. You didn’t even speak loudly, so sometimes I could only hear a few words, not everything. Among the things I heard, I don’t think there was anything important, so if you said something important, you don’t have to worry about it.”

Eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation wasn’t a good thing unless under special circumstances or intentions. Jeong Taeui regretted saying: “I should have gone to the living room to wait until you came out.”

“…and?”

Ilay, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. Jeong Taeui looked at him curiously.

Ilay spoke again, this time sounding displeased.

“And, aside from that, you must have heard something else.”

His voice lowered, and there was no hint of humor. As if Jeong Taeui had heard something he shouldn’t have, Ilay looked at him coldly.

Jeong Taeui was stunned for a moment.

Even if his answer wasn’t entirely truthful, it wasn’t like he had intentionally eavesdropped on their conversation. Even if he had accidentally heard parts of a conversation involving him, it wasn’t his fault.

“You mentioned things related to me, and now you feel uncomfortable because I heard those things?”

Jeong Taeui’s voice also lowered as he smirked and glared at Ilay.

Just because he had sat in the wrong spot and overheard someone else’s conversation didn’t mean he needed to make excuses. But in reality, he also felt very uncomfortable hearing those things.

“If you’re so curious about what I heard, fine, let me tell you… —You said you’d cut my throat as soon as you found me? Then why are you holding back? Isn’t tearing me apart with your own hands just great, huh?”

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and threw the knife at him. Ilay’s gaze darkened.

In life, there are situations where pretending not to know or hear is much better. And that would be very appropriate in this situation; he would rather insist he hadn’t heard anything at all.

But he just wanted to say something. Jeong Taeui worriedly scratched his head. Ilay’s cold gaze pierced through his face without saying a word before he turned away.

“…—…?”

Taeui had thought he would say something, but was surprised when Ilay just turned away without speaking.

Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay suspiciously, but he couldn’t ask, “Why aren’t you picking a fight with me?” so he remained silent.

He wasn’t too surprised when he met Ilay in the forest.

From the moment they met again, he had accepted that anything could happen to him. So no matter what it was, it wouldn’t be strange. It’s just that his determination seemed to be fading with the growing unease in his heart, as the harsh end he expected didn’t come as soon as he thought.

If he intended to torture him to death, it would be better to kill him immediately.

Jeong Taeui glared at him for a moment before deciding to ask directly.

“Ilay.”

When Taeui called, he only glanced without responding.

“There’s something I’m really curious about. What exactly do you plan to do with me?”

“Do you think it’s better to tear me apart to death like you said?”

When Jeong Taeui added, Ilay frowned slightly and squinted as if thinking, looking at Jeong Taeui.

And then… slowly…, he whispered.

“Let’s see… I’m thinking about that too. What should we do?”

Jeong Taeui made a face like he had been bitten by an insect. If you want to kill me, just kill me already.

As Jeong Taeui grumbled and licked his lips in disapproval, Ilay suddenly laughed strangely.

“But I think I already said it before, right? I said I wouldn’t kill you easily, but would make you live in resentment until you die.”

Jeong Taeui’s expression disappeared. He coldly glared at Ilay.

Suddenly, Ilay looked annoyed. He got up from his chair andIlay suddenly looked annoyed. He stood up from his chair and walked slowly towards Jeong Taeui, whispering each step of the way.

“Honestly, even though I said that before, I thought I would kill you the moment I saw you. I wondered if I should cut off your limbs while you’re still alive or gouge out your eyes and tongue first. I was extremely, incredibly angry.”

“…..-“

“Then, I finally found you on that mountain. No matter how far you ran, I could find you in an instant.”

Ilay suddenly laughed. That laughter had something truly terrifying about it.

“At that moment, I decided to stop the killing. Killing you? I can do that anytime. But if I have to think of another way to deal with you, what should I do….”

Jeong Taeui glared at Ilay. He was already right in front of him before he realized it. Ilay suddenly fell silent. The expression on his face vanished as if it had been completely washed away.

His face was as expressionless as a lifeless doll, and he gently lowered his creepy gaze. Facing that look, Jeong Taeui felt a chill in his heart.

Suddenly, Ilay raised his hand. Then, he cupped Taeui’s cheeks in his hands. The distance between them was so close that their faces almost touched.

Jeong Taeui suddenly felt… Ilay’s eyes were as clear as glass.

They were like a pitch-black mirror, not reflecting anything and revealing nothing inside.

And it seemed that the mirror flashed for a moment.

“I think I’m crazy.”

A small whisper escaped Ilay’s lips. Jeong Taeui swallowed hard, feeling his warm breath brush against his lips.

“Hmm? I’m crazy, aren’t I? I’ve done things that even I don’t know why. Why is that? Hmm?”

Jeong Taeui didn’t know how to answer Ilay’s continuous questions. He couldn’t understand the heart of this man.

He was already a madman from the start. Jeong Taeui whispered softly, but it seemed his words could only be swallowed back down.

He silently looked at Ilay, who was gazing at him with sparkling eyes as if he were a strange creature.

He truly is a madman. Those red, glass-like eyes reminded Jeong Taeui of something.

“That… How would I know?”

Jeong Taeui quietly replied, not avoiding his gaze. He shook his head. He couldn’t understand what had happened to this man because he hadn’t seen him for a long time.

But one thing was very clear: Ilay had become extremely unstable and brutal. He didn’t need to hear Maurer recount it; he realized it as soon as he saw him.

His eyes and expressions were trembling and unstable.

“…….”

However, after thinking for a moment, Jeong Taeui shook his head. No, it didn’t have to be like that. There was nothing special about how Ilay treated others. Ilay was still the same as before – fierce – brutal and cruel.

Hearing Jeong Taeui’s answer, Ilay was speechless, as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water. His eyes continuously stare at Jeong Taeui.

Then he laughed. The corners of his mouth slowly lifted.

“Alright…. That’s right. You don’t know.”

The hands cupping Jeong Taeui’s cheeks dropped, and those still beautifully white hands slowly moved away from his cheeks.

For a moment, Jeong Taeui suddenly felt regret.

It was like a feeling he had experienced before. He used to think that this gentle physical contact made his heart tremble a little. But that was a long time ago.

Well. So, what should he do now? Should he leave now? And what would this man do?

Damn it. Jeong Taeui muttered. All his initial plans had terrible outcomes. After this ankle healed, he planned to leave and go somewhere to find his brother. But now he was unfortunately caught, and he would have to live a life constantly worried for his life, every day.

…. At some point, he would have to escape again.

Jeong Taeui immersed himself in thoughts about the future.

However, on further thought, Ilay had no choice but to return to Hong Kong. Even if he left UNHRDO, he still had the family business in Hong Kong.

What was he planning? Was he even going to drag him there and torture him?

In reality, it was very difficult to keep dragging someone along like that. It was almost impossible without that person’s consent because as long as limbs weren’t cut off, there would always be a chance to escape or flee.

“…….”

Not necessarily. Jeong Taeui thought. Remembering the phrase “cut off limbs,” he unconsciously massaged his forearms with a fearful expression. If it were Ilay, he thought, he could definitely do that.

Ilay remained silent for a while, standing there quietly watching Jeong Taeui a few steps away. He just stood there, making him worry.

“Your body now seems like it’s actually living.”

While Taeui was lost in thought, Ilay suddenly spoke up and shrugged. Taeui looked at him in surprise. Those casual words seemed to show concern for him.

Jeong Taeui looked at him and thought for a while. It seemed difficult to be sure he was worried about his body. If he was genuinely worried about his body, he would have clearly seen him limping earlier.

Jeong Taeui frowned and lifted his bandaged leg, shaking it in front of him.

“Oh yes, it’s very good. I think I could use it to run out of a burning forest right now.”

“Good…. That’s good.”

The fragmented words were spoken once again. Jeong Taeui lowered his quite heavily bandaged leg and looked at him curiously. However, his view was quickly blocked before he realized anything. In an instant, Ilay was right in front of Taeui.

“…-!”

Before his brain could process the situation, Ilay’s lips were on his neck, gnawing as if he wanted to bite his neck off. Exactly. He was like a wild beast biting its prey, or perhaps a mighty beast subduing a weaker creature.

His rigid teeth bit into his neck. Taeui could feel those sharp fangs digging into his flesh.

“ILAY!”

Jeong Taeui frowned and shouted.

Ilay now seemed like a vampire. The feeling was even more vivid because there was a large full-body mirror directly in Taeui’s line of sight.

The image of the two was reflected in the long mirror in front of Taeui. The image of him sitting on a chair, almost trapped under a large man biting his neck.

At a glance, a bright white tooth was sinking into his neck, reflected in the mirror.

That sight made Jeong Taeui shudder.

“Hey! Why are you biting my neck! Are you a vampire or something!”

“Where else is better if not the neck?”

The answer to his cry was also unexpected. Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay in the mirror for a moment with a puzzled expression, then clicked his tongue.

“I never said the neck was good.”

“No, but I like it.”

Ilay smiled and placed his lips back on Taeui’s neck. As soon as he finished speaking, he bit down hard on his neck. To the point of drawing blood.

“….—!!”

A short groan escaped Jeong Taeui’s mouth.

His heart began to pound. The moment he bit into his neck, an almost primal fear washed over him. It was the fear of having his lifeline held by someone else.

“Hey! Hey! Why are you suddenly acting like this!”

Jeong Taeui hurriedly shouted.

What surprised him wasn’t Ilay pouncing on him. If he was used to those things, it wouldn’t surprise him anymore.

The only thing that shocked him was that he was actually biting into his neck.

“….! ILAY! ILAY! STOP IT.”

Jeong Taeui’s face hardened. The physical contact made his skin crawl. He was sucking the blood oozing from the bites on his neck.

“THIS BASTARD IS CRAZY….! HEY!”

The feeling of having his blood sucked from his neck sent a chill down his spine. Jeong Taeui reflexively hit Ilay’s head without thinking.

“Ouch…..!”

He pulled away from his neck. But his teeth had been biting into his neck, so it tore his skin a bit more. In the reflected mirror before him, he saw blood oozing from the wound on his neck.

Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay in the mirror with a stunned expression.

He wasn’t crazy. No, he had been crazy from the start. But this was abnormal.

“Ilay… calm down.”

Jeong Taeui said seriously.

But surprisingly, Ilay appeared quite normal. The face looking down at him with a smile was still the same. Seeing him calmly wipe the blood from his lips with that face was even more bizarre.

Although he didn’t completely trust science, he didn’t think that a vampire could exist in the modern world. This was just a man Jeong Taeui knew.

Jeong Taeui unconsciously grabbed the wrist of that man as if intending to drag him somewhere, looking straight at Ilay. Running away wasn’t the issue now. The issue was that he seriously needed a mental hospital. Jeong Taeui was so scared that he began to worry a bit.

“You… come on, let’s go to the hospital for a while.”

Jeong Taeui said seriously, he wasn’t joking, he spoke with all sincerity in his heart.

Though the thought of running away from this man always lingered in his mind, Jeong Taeui couldn’t pretend not to know when witnessing someone in such a severely abnormal state.

Suddenly, Ilay’s expression became strange as he looked at Jeong Taeui. Then, in a moment, he burst into laughter. It wasn’t a loud laugh; it started as a faint whisper but lasted quite a while.

“A hospital, huh…. If you’re planning to stop the bleeding from your neck, I’ll go with you.”

Ilay said with a slight smile. Jeong Taeui looked at him doubtfully. His voice was still low and usual.

“Taei.”

Ilay suddenly lowered his voice. The smile on his lips grew more pronounced.

“Have you heard of the story about claiming ownership of property by branding it?”

Jeong Taeui silently looked at Ilay, who was smiling calmly. He knew many similar stories. In fact, the story of vampires was one of them. And there were also some animals that bit each other’s necks to establish dominance or during mating.

Thinking about the latter case, Jeong Taeui quietly shook his head. This wasn’t happening to someone else but to him, so he didn’t want to think much about it.

“That’s not something that can be applied to humans, and besides, I’m not a piece of property.”

Jeong Taeui sighed and muttered, seemingly understanding what Ilay meant.

Ilay looked at him with a subtle smile and murmured softly.

“But right now, I just think it would be great to leave a mark to show that you belong to me.”

Jeong Taeui was speechless. It seemed Ilay wasn’t joking at all. But what he said didn’t seem to make any sense. He couldn’t even understand what Ilay was talking about; it was so absurd. Besides, worry and discomfort were simultaneously rising within him.

“Ilay. Stop this joke. A person can’t belong to another person. Branding, seriously?… It sounds ridiculous. If someone had a hundred brands, where would you claim ownership? Can you go to court and sue?”

“Wrong, Taei.”

Ilay grabbed Jeong Taeui’s collar. Reflexively, he raised his hand, the other hand easily holding his wrist, and brought his mouth close to Taeui’s neck, facing the large mirror.

*Bite*!

Jeong Taeui hesitated, closing his eyes tightly, but didn’t feel the pain he had prepared himself to endure. Instead, Ilay’s lips moved very gently, like tenderly stroking the back of his neck.

“Humans can belong to other humans. Even if ownership isn’t recognized by law and courts, if someone wants to own another person, just one kind of mark is enough…. Didn’t you know?”

Ilay’s voice whispered at the back of his neck. Taeui felt a strange itching sensation, and his body involuntarily shivered.

“What nonsense are you talking about!… Damn it. If you want sex, just say so! Stop talking nonsense!”

Jeong Taeui shouted softly. Suddenly, the lips caressing his neck paused for a moment. In the sudden silence, Jeong Taeui also instinctively stopped moving.

“Jeong Taeui. You said you didn’t know, right?”