Ilay was staring intensely, not at the man behind Taeui, but directly at Taeui himself. His icy eyes, like the smile on his lips that wasn’t really a smile, were fixed on Taeui, pinning him down. Those ink-black eyes seemed ready to sever his neck at any moment.

“STAY STILL! OR I SWEAR I’LL KILL HIM, YOU BASTARD!”

The man’s voice, as shaky as his hands, screamed out. However, it seemed that his words never reached Ilay’s ears. Ilay’s steps did not falter, and his doll-like gaze remained locked onto Taeui’s face, never wavering for even a second.

It’s you. You’re the one who will make these pristine white hands drip with blood.

A warning echoed in Taeui’s mind. Those crazed eyes seemed to be foretelling it, the voice emphasizing the inevitability of it all.

Perhaps that warning was not only for Taeui but also for the man standing behind him. The arm holding Taeui trembled, as if realizing it had snatched prey from another predator. Let him go, and you might survive. Because that’s my prey. That voice seemed to urge him so.

“The human neck is tougher than you think. Just slicing it won’t be so easy.”

The voice rang out with a casual indifference as he took a few more steps forward. Those dark eyes appeared right before him.

“STOP!!”

The man’s scream was filled with utter desperation. The sharp blade brushed against Taeui’s skin, almost seeming like it would dig in deeper.

But suddenly, the blade halted mid-motion. Before the thick dark blood could begin to flow, Ilay had already seized the knife’s sharp edge with his bare hand.

The blade sliced cleanly through his glove, yet it was held fast in his grip. “Hugh” – A gasp escaped the man behind him – a sound of heavy, panicked breaths. He was likely thrashing wildly, swinging the knife in a frenzy. But despite its frantic movement within Ilay’s grasp, the blade could not break free. Blood trickled down its edge, staining the man’s hand red.

His glove was soaked. His gloves had been stained countless times before, but never once with his own blood—until this moment.

“So, if you want to slit someone’s throat…….”

Yet, as if he didn’t feel the blade cutting into his palm, his voice remained calm, and his eyes never left Taeui’s now rigid face.

If you want to slit someone’s throat……. Whose throat would that be? ――Hims.

He slowly raised his other hand. That hand circled around and gripped tightly just beneath Taeui’s neck, as if seizing the nape of prey, strong enough that there was no escaping the iron clasp.

With ease, he yanked the knife from the man’s grasp. Then, he calmly wiped the blood – his own – off the blade before gripping the handle firmly. Now, the blade no longer pointed at his hand.

“To drive a knife deep, you must pierce a spot deep enough, then slice across immediately. ――Like this.”

Like this.

With those words, he brought the knife down without hesitation, right in front of Taeui’s eyes. His gaze never left Taeui, not even for a second.

And then—

Taeui felt the hot blood spray down the back of his neck. At first, just a small stream splattered, but soon the hot, surging wave gushed forth, pouring out with violent intensity.

“――!!”

Before he could even cry out, the sound of violent convulsions erupted behind him. Ilay’s arm moved in front of his eyes, smooth but unyielding. The warm blood continued to rain down his neck in increasing torrents. And behind him, the man let out a bone-chilling groan.

And throughout every moment of it, he never took his eyes off him. His gaze remained steady, as if Taeui were the one with the knife aimed at his own throat, poised to twist it.

Taeui stood there, his face frozen, eyes pale and speechless, staring back at him. Ilay looked down at him, and only when he sensed the man behind him had stopped convulsing and collapsed onto the ground did he part his lips to speak in a faint voice.

“Did you really think I would harm you? That could never happen.”

“…….it could never happen.” – As he said those words, he slowly raised his hand to wipe away the blood from the man that had smeared across Taeui’s neck. The entirety of Taeui’s upper body was already drenched in red, impossible to clean, making the gesture seem as if he were rubbing more blood onto him.

“――So don’t look at me like that.”

Finally, Taeui whispered through clenched teeth. He brushed Ilay’s hand away with the back of his own as Ilay gently caressed his neck. Ilay’s lips curled, forming a crooked smile.

“What is it? You’ve always assumed I would――that I could harm you.”

His voice, low and slow, carried a softness as if accompanied by a smile.

He stared directly into those narrowed black eyes in front of him.

This wasn’t the first time he couldn’t grasp what Ilay was thinking, but he had thought he could at least guess a part of this madman’s intentions. It turned out to be an illusion. There was no way he could fathom what the hell was going on in Ilay’s mind. The only thing he knew for sure was what was going on on his own. He knew exactly what he wanted to do at that moment.

“…………..!!”

He gritted his teeth. And just as he was about to act on his impulse—

Behind Ilay, a shadow suddenly shifted, almost slicing through his line of sight. As soon as he noticed it, he pushed Ilay aside, as if trying to clear him out of the way.

At most, he managed to move him a hand’s breadth or two. It felt like trying to move a tree with its roots deep in the ground – Ilay only budged slightly to the side. In that instant, the man whom Ilay had nearly strangled earlier lunged forward.

His eyes were bloodshot, veins crisscrossing in rage. The crazed gaze, now devoid of reason, screamed as it drew closer. Taeui saw the knife clutched in the man’s hand.

――Both this one and that one.

Ilay must have already known the man would charge, as he only glanced over his shoulder with a detached expression. But before he could fully turn around, Taeui had already slammed his shoulder into him, shoving him aside. Without even looking back at Ilay, he pushed him another hand’s breadth or two further and charged straight toward the man rushing in, now only a few steps away.

“GET A GRIP, MAN…….!”

It seemed the man could no longer see clearly. Taeui dodged the wild slashes and moved in close, but eventually, the frenzied blade still managed to cut his arm.

A sharp, burning pain slashed a long gash down his arm, but instead of fear, the first thing that surged within him was pure rage.

“I SAID, SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU IDIOT!”

He landed a punch squarely on the man’s temple. *Thud* The blow was so strong it made Taeui’s hand go numb. The man’s neck twisted to the side, and he staggered backward. Taeui didn’t waste the opportunity – he delivered an uppercut to the man’s chin. This time, the man’s head snapped back, and he stumbled, tripping over the tree roots beneath his feet, and crashed to the ground. His head struck the tree trunk with a dull thud, and he let out a choked cry of pain.

He glanced down at the man sprawled on the ground, his head wobbling as if he couldn’t maintain his balance. Taeui indifferently wiped away the long streak of blood that continued to ooze from his arm, then turned his head to look behind him. Ilay was still standing there, his eyes fixated on the wound on Taeui’s arm, as if they were nailed to it. Whether it mattered or not was irrelevant.

Taeui marched quickly toward him. Ilay remained motionless, stiff in place, and when he saw Taeui approaching, he only raised an eyebrow slightly. But Taeui didn’t care—he swung his fist the moment he was within striking distance, without hesitation.

Perhaps even Ilay hadn’t expected the attack, because when the punch landed squarely between his chin and cheek, he was still staring at Taeui. The blow snapped his head to the side with a heavy crack. He stumbled back a step, and those seemingly rooted feet were forced to give way.

Yes. This was it. This was what he had wanted to do for so long. He could no longer hold back the rage that had been boiling inside him, the burning desire to punch this bastard right in the face!

“Hurt me, huh? You love hurting people, don’t you? And this—this still doesn’t count as harm? Then what if I throw another punch? What will you do then? Follow through with what you want? Will you really go all in and kill me? Do whatever you want, you bastard!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he threw another punch. It hit the exact same spot, the same fist, but with twice the force. Ilay took another step back, but still didn’t react. His eyes widened in surprise, staring intently at Taeui.

Rage flared up within him, burning fiercely. It didn’t matter with others, but he wouldn’t tolerate being treated like this by Ilay. Why did he have to be here, enduring this much?

“IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I’M LIVING LIKE THIS! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I’M HERE, GETTING STABBED BY A STRANGER! HERE, RIGHT NEXT TO YOU! DO YOU THINK THAT’S A GOOD PLACE TO BE?! BUT I’M STILL HERE BECAUSE IT’S NEXT TO YOU! THAT’S WHY I’M HERE!”

The more he spoke, the more the fury in his heart blazed. He threw another punch. He could feel himself losing control, his anger rising to its peak, but it seemed Ilay was just as unsteady. He let Taeui hit him, not fighting back. (For a fleeting moment, the thought crossed his mind that the consequences of this would be hard to predict, but that reasoning was shoved aside by the fire of his rage.)

“So don’t you dare treat me like this too! Why are you taking your anger out on me and causing all this chaos?!”

He wiped the back of his hand over the spot he’d just punched on Ilay’s face, then shouted at him. Ilay stared at him with an expression – an incredibly strange expression – one that Taeui couldn’t decipher.

For a long while, there was no response. Taeui had to focus on calming his breath, taking deep breaths to steady the ragged rise and fall of his chest. He wiped the blood that trailed down his arm again, spitting out a curse under his breath. His whole body was covered in blood – some his own, some from others.

“So then.”

It was then that Ilay finally spoke.

“What should I do?”

His voice was slow, almost as if he were talking to himself. At the same time, he reached out, grabbing Taeui’s wrist. He twisted it gently, lifting it, but not with enough force to cause pain.

“I told you, Taeil. I’m not angry at you. The one I’m angry at is――.”

His cold eyes drifted down to Taeui’s arm, where the bleeding had started to subside, then shifted to the man lying on the ground, clutching his head. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ilay raised his foot.

*CRACK*

A sickening sound echoed from beneath Ilay’s boot. It was also the sound that came from the man’s chest. Though it was partially drowned out by the man’s agonizing scream, there was no mistaking it—it was the sound of multiple ribs shattering all at once.

“YA, YA!”

Taeui had thought that once they got through the danger with Horgan, things would settle down, but instead, he found himself witnessing yet another brutal scene. Instinctively, he tried to shove Ilay away, but this time, Ilay didn’t budge, standing as firmly as a tree rooted deep in the ground. No, he did move—he raised his foot again and stomped down hard on the other side of the man’s chest.

The horrifying sound of bones breaking and the man’s agonizing scream echoed simultaneously.

“Even if I were the one holding the knife, it would make me nauseous, you know.”

Ilay’s voice, slow and detached, pierced through the air, indifferent to the screams of pain, sending a shiver down Taeui’s spine.

“I SAID STOP IT, YOU BASTARD!”

“Weaknesses, huh. Wrong. It’s not my weakness; it’s theirs. There’s no point in touching it.”

It seemed his shouts didn’t reach Ilay’s ears. It was as if he were speaking to himself in an empty void.

This lunatic.

Taeui clenched his fist. To snap some sense into those ears that refused to listen, he punched him straight in the side of the head. *Thud*—the impact was so strong it sent a sharp pain through Taeui’s hand, but finally, Ilay’s emotionless eyes turned back to him.

“Because you mess around like this, I have to live every moment ready and prepared! When you lose control, you don’t see anyone as human!”

“――.”

But right after yelling that, as he loosened his fist and shook his hand a few times to shake off the sting of pain, regret began to creep in. Ilay’s dark eyes bore down on him, and a terrifying chill started to flicker in them.

“You’re right. You’re absolutely right, Taeil. Sometimes, I don’t see anyone as human in my eyes. And so, even I don’t know what I’ll do next. ――That’s the problem.”

“Yes, that’s exactly the problem” – He growled through clenched teeth, and at that moment, the once pale hand – now drenched in bright red blood – clamped tightly around Taeui’s neck. That large hand gripped him firmly, keeping him in its control, leaving no room for escape.

It felt like his neck was about to be twisted, or perhaps he’d be strangled until he couldn’t breathe.

An instinctive fear shot through him, making his spine stiffen. And perhaps, Ilay noticed that brief flicker of fear in his eyes.

Ilay’s lip twitched. And it seemed like the hand gripping his neck tightened even more.

‘Hey, no matter what, you can’t just kill someone over this……. No, you’re the kind of person who could kill someone over something like this. But still, right…….?’

Taeui stared directly at him, unblinking. Through his wide eyes, Ilay’s face was clearly reflected. On that face, there was a mix of bitterness, anger, and perhaps even more complex emotions intertwining. But Taeui couldn’t discern what they were.

“Yes, that’s exactly the problem…….” – Ilay murmured again, his voice low and soft. At the very least, Taeui could recognize the emotion in it. He was angry.

And then, all of a sudden—

A sharp, gasping breath, as if about to devour everything, escaped from Ilay’s tightly clenched lips.

“…….―.”

To call it a kiss wouldn’t be accurate. It was more like an act of domination, of devouring, rather than a kiss. There was the taste of blood. Even as their tongues tangled, they mingled with the metallic flavor of blood. And above all, Taeui felt suffocated.

Ilay’s hand gripped the nape of his neck tightly, giving him no chance to escape or turn away.

“Il, …….―.”

He tried to call Ilay’s name the moment their lips briefly parted, but Ilay didn’t hear it. His lips returned, hungry and overwhelming, as if trying to swallow him whole, biting and devouring his lips and tongue. The intensity was overwhelming, filled with tension and urgency, as though he wanted to possess him entirely.

This wasn’t physical desire. It was a craving for his very existence, an uncontrollable hunger that flooded over him.

Don’t worry. Don’t be angry. Calm down. Don’t be so impatient.

Taeui gently bit down on the tongue that was ravaging his mouth. For a moment, it seemed to hesitate, but instead of stopping, Ilay’s tongue pushed in even deeper, making it harder for him to breathe.

Ilay. ――Ilay.

But the name he called out within his mouth never reached Ilay’s ears. His mind grew foggy, and his ears started ringing with a dull hum. The damned metallic taste of blood clung stubbornly to his tongue and nose.

*Crack*

There was a sound, something breaking.

In his blurred vision, he caught a faint glimpse of a figure. The person was panting heavily, rushing toward them, with a face he had no desire to see. It looked just like Lieutenant Kim. …….No, it was definitely him. Damn it.

As he tried to focus, he heard more footsteps rushing toward them. It was probably his uncle, or the instructors alerted by Tou, approaching the scene.

The wide-eyed, shocked expression on Kim Jeongpil’s face, as if he couldn’t believe what he was witnessing, burned into Taeui. It wouldn’t be long before that single gaze multiplied into two, three, and then even more.

Damn it. Even though some already knew, there had never been such clear evidence right in front of their eyes like this. Starting tomorrow, the entire branch would undoubtedly label him as a homosexual – and worse, one with an unbelievably strange taste in partners.

But right now, none of that seemed to matter anymore.

The hand gripping his neck, the thickening scent of blood clinging to his body, and Ilay’s tongue filling his mouth, cutting off his breath—these sensations were so familiar, flooding all his senses until they drowned out every other thought.

Ilay. This bastard.

Taeui bit down on Ilay’s tongue again. This time, it was stronger, more decisive.

Ilay paused for a moment, but instead of retreating, he bit into Taeui’s lip, claiming his mouth with an intensity that overwhelmed him. It was so hot. Their lips and tongues locked together without a gap, and the heat made Taeui feel dizzy.

But just as his mind began to blur and drift, a cold voice cut through the haze like ice water.

“Alright. That’s enough. Now, I want an explanation for this situation.”

The voice was emotionless, devoid of any hint of amusement, anger, or confusion—it was the voice of his uncle. Not the voice oof’Jeong Taeui’s uncle’ but the voice of the ‘instructor in charge here’.

Before Taeui even realized it, his eyes locked with his uncle’s. He had been standing there for who knows how long, his gaze detached and calmly assessing the scene before turning to look at them. His eyes remained composed, revealing nothing of what he felt inside.

Next to him, the team members had arrived, equipped with first aid supplies and a stretcher, as if they had anticipated this outcome from the moment Ilay Riegrow’s name had been mentioned. They were lifting the nearly lifeless man onto the stretcher. A white sheet covered the body, hiding the gruesome sight of the man’s neck, which had been nearly severed in half.

Amidst the gruesome scene, all the pale ashen faces of those present turned toward Ilay.

“…….―.”

Ilay slowly stepped back, putting distance between himself and Taeui. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as if nothing had happened, then turned to face Jeong Changin with a cold indifferent expression. He showed no regard for anyone else around him.

“There’s nothing to explain. Just like before. They attacked me with guns and knives while I was unarmed. I defended myself to protect my life.”

The eyes of everyone around him grew colder than ever at his casual remark: “Just as usual.” Especially when, right in front of them, lay a corpse.

Blood was everywhere – on the ground, on the trees, on the grass, and on the people. It seemed to demonstrate just how much blood could spill from a human body. Perhaps because it was nighttime, the scene appeared less horrifying, but if it were daylight, it would undoubtedly be a terrifying sight.

Jeong Changin continued to gaze at the man standing motionless in the midst of all the blood, his expression unreadable. Then, he nodded slightly and spoke: “Alright.”

“We’ll investigate further once we return. ――Hey, move carefully. The scene needs to be preserved.”

Jeong Changin gave a brief order to the team members as they carried the body on the stretcher. Knowing there would be no more questions directed at him here, Ilay turned without hesitation.

He walked away without looking back, ignoring everyone—including Taeui. The people around him, intimidated by the sight of the man drenched in blood, instinctively stepped back a pace or two, clearing a path for him. He disappeared in a direction that led neither to the camp nor to the branch’s building.

Taeui stared after his retreating figure—a figure that seemed resolute, as if determined never to look back, filled with a palpable sense of anger. It wasn’t until he heard his uncle’s voice call out “Taeui” that he finally turned his head.

“Check your arm quickly. I think that’s your blood.”

“Huh? Oh, it’s fine……. it’s nothing serious.”

It would have been difficult to identify the wound amidst all the blood covering his body, but his uncle’s keen eyes noticed it immediately. Taeui lightly touched his arm, where the blood had already begun to dry.

His mood was heavy. His chest felt burdened, as if something he had tried to swallow was lodged in his stomach, refusing to go down.

Damn it. What the hell was that bastard getting so angry about all of a sudden?

Frustrated, Taeui kicked a fist-sized stone at his feet. Immediately, his uncle shouted: “KEEP THE SCENE INTACT!” startling him. Taeui quickly retracted his foot and awkwardly rubbed the spot where the stone had been with his shoe.

But then he thought it wasn’t really surprising. Despite the insistence on preserving the crime scene, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. It was a fact known not just by Taeui, but by everyone—including his uncle, who had just reminded him to keep the scene intact.

Ilay Riegrow’s actions would be justified as self-defense, and those who attacked him and ended up killed would simply be written off as meaningless casualties.

Taeui clicked his tongue, feeling a sense of discomfort.

“Go back to camp, clean yourself up. The smell of blood is overwhelming. And put some medicine on that wound.”

Following his uncle’s instructions, Taeui nodded and turned to leave. He glanced briefly in the direction Ilay had disappeared, but the spot was now empty.

He sighed and turned away, only to suddenly feel a sharp gaze piercing the side of his face. When he looked back, he saw it was Kim Jeongpil – the man he had forgotten about since glimpsing him earlier.

Kim Jeongpil stood there, who knows for how long, staring at Taeui with a pale expression. The moment their eyes met, he immediately looked away and left, as if trying to escape from something. Watching his retreating figure, Taeui smirked, wondering why someone who usually berated him the moment they crossed paths was acting this way. But he didn’t dwell on it.

It wasn’t his business. Whether Jeongpil was waking up from his illusion of the ‘gentle Rick working in an office’ and was in shock, or if seeing firsthand the actions of those ‘homosexuals’ he’d only ever sneered at made him feel nauseous, or if he simply couldn’t stand the overwhelming stench of blood and had to leave—none of it mattered to Taeui.

He didn’t care about any of that. What occupied his mind now was the dangerous man who, once again, had become the enemy of everyone and had vanished into some damned part of the dark forest.