Codename Anastasia Novel (End) - Chapter 47

He managed to lift his heavy eyelids. The surroundings were darker than before. He had no idea what time it was, or how many days had passed. Every second felt like an eternity. Even if he were thrown into hell, it wouldn’t feel this bleak.

His back ached so much he didn’t dare move. His spine must have been seriously damaged. He concluded that, only to realize it was a misconception. His stomach, which had been full, suddenly felt loose, then quickly filled up again. Zhenya was still thrusting.

His brows furrowed involuntarily. A low curse rumbled in his throat. His consciousness had returned, but his tightly closed eyes wouldn’t open.

Eventually, a sound reached him. It was the clattering of something like metal dishes. Zhenya seemed to be preparing something, with his penis still lodged inside Kwon Taekjoo. Zhenya’s shadow constantly flickered over his back.

Before long, Zhenya’s hand touched Kwon Taekjoo’s lower back, just above his buttocks. Zhenya gently stroked the area, then suddenly put force into his fingertips. Immediately after, something sharp dug into his skin.

“Augh… Kraaagh…”

His limbs thrashed at the sensation of something sharp digging into his raw flesh. A subtle area stung unbearably. A sharp needle grazed his skin and dug in, deliberately creating a wound. Then, a thick dye was injected into the spot. It stung maddeningly. Zhenya pressed down on his struggling body, carefully engraving a pattern.

“Some say this is a symbol of desire.”

Zhenya dipped the needle tip in dye again and began to engrave the most important part. His usually relaxed eyes sharpened as never before. He even suppressed his breath quietly.

“It’s just a contract connecting master and servant.”

“What are you doing, you bastard! Aargh!”

Kwon Taekjoo, screaming in indignation, slammed his head onto the bed. It was because Zhenya had fiercely thrust his hips, which had been stopped, in response to his outburst. A heavy burning sensation pressured his spine and spread widely. His fists turned white and trembled.

“Since your body is replacing the lost blueprint, I need to make it clear who the owner is.”

Zhenya looked down at the newly engraved tattoo and smiled with satisfaction. Soon, he bit Kwon Taekjoo’s nape and slowly thrust his hips.

“Ha-eugh… Argh, augh, euh…!”

He no longer had the strength to even twitch a finger. He could only be impaled by Zhenya, helplessly shaken, groaning, and crushed. The movements behind him grew increasingly violent, but his mind kept drifting further away.

In a dream, he encountered a resonance. It seemed like the sound of wind, or perhaps the throbbing of a giant creature’s heart. The precarious, continuous melody majestically vibrated the frozen air.

Someone seemed to be playing an instrument. It was clearly a string instrument, but it didn’t have the intricate and flamboyant timbre of a violin. A heavy, constant low note pressed down on his entire body. It was suffocating, yet not entirely uncomfortable. His utterly exhausted body sank even further into oblivion. His consciousness also gradually faded.

Despite the impossible situation, despite knowing he shouldn’t, he succumbed to a heavy drowsiness. No worries or fears lingered. For that moment, it felt as if he had entered a perfect and safe space.

Even with his eyes closed, his eyeballs stung. Involuntarily, he lifted his eyelids, then squeezed them shut again. Sunlight poured all over his face. It wasn’t hot, but it was incredibly dazzling. He raised a hand to shade his eyes and looked around.

The first thing he saw was the pechka. Though almost extinguished, embers still remained. A large fur rug was spread in front of it, and a beanbag sofa was also placed there. The touch of the fur felt quite familiar, suggesting that rolling around there wasn’t an illusion. He still didn’t know where the dream began and where reality ended.

Had he just fallen asleep like that? Perhaps he had momentarily lost consciousness. He fumbled through his past memories, then scanned his surroundings again. Zhenya was nowhere to be seen.

He abruptly sat up. Immediately, a dull pain shot through him. Every part of his body, down to his finger joints, ached and throbbed. As he felt the severe muscle aches, past events flooded his mind like an avalanche. Was all of that real?

He ran a hand over his face in despair. He was crazy. How could he have been pinned down by a man, and ejaculated repeatedly under the very person he should have torn to pieces? He hadn’t been injected with aphrodisiacs like on Olkhon Island. He had, with a clear mind, endured something akin to violence, and came several times. Even if it were a dream, such a humiliating event was brutally clear reality.

‘Is that what they call rape? You liked it too, didn’t you? After cumming so many times.’

Zhenya’s mocking laugh, which he had once encountered in a dream, came to mind. His teeth involuntarily ground. And yet, he had slept soundly without a care in the world. Then, to think it would have been better if he had been high on drugs or alcohol, how pathetic. He ruffled his hair, overwhelmed by self-loathing.

He abruptly stood up. As soon as he took a step, something slimy trickled down the inside of his buttocks. He bit his dry lower lip tightly at the horrible sensation. His brow also furrowed bitterly. When he came to his senses, his thighs were glistening with an unknown bodily fluid. His stomach felt completely filled and squelchy with semen.

“…Damn it.”

His clenched fists turned white. He irritably punched the innocent wall. But his anger didn’t dissipate even a little. Rather, if he had died at Zhenya’s hands then, he wouldn’t be this humiliated now. Zhenya might have kept him alive for the same reason.

He bashed his head against the wall as if in self-mutilation. Nothing changed. His foolish breath stubbornly clung to him, and only the unpleasantness grew clearer.

He exhaled a long breath until his shoulders drooped and lifted his head. It was still an unfamiliar space. The air itself was quite different from the Korean embassy. The goosebumps on his skin weren’t just because he was naked.

He strode towards the window. Each time his legs crossed, a subtle stinging sensation rose from the inside of his buttocks. It seemed they were raw. He walked awkwardly, trying to prevent his skin from rubbing together, then suddenly ran to the window and pressed his forehead against it. His habitually furrowed brow smoothed out. The scene before him was so unbelievable, even seeing it with his own eyes.

Everything around him was white. Wherever he looked, there was only snowfield, snowfield, snowfield. Not a single tree was visible. There was nothing but pure white snow, making it difficult to gauge distance. It was no different from an open sea.

He didn’t know how he had gotten here. He had no memory of moving on his own. From the moment he encountered Zhenya at the embassy, his consciousness had been unclear. He had felt changes in the air and temperature intermittently. Even so, such an unfamiliar landscape was bewildering. Where on earth was this, and how many days had passed?

As he dazedly processed reality, he suddenly felt a tightening at the back of his head. At the same time, a fresh scent wafted strongly. He reflexively turned his head and met a pair of blue eyes.

Zhenya must have just showered, as his wet hair was darker than usual. Since he wasn’t particularly covering his body, the monstrous thing between his legs was fully exposed. At the sight of the thick shaft, his stomach suddenly felt bloated. Was that really what went inside him? His buttocks inexplicably seemed to ache even more.

Zhenya had returned to his usual self. His eyes, fixed on Kwon Taekjoo, were calm enough to appear cold. Looking at his utterly composed face, past events felt unreal. The marks on his body proved that everything was real, but Zhenya’s clean appearance seemed to mock him, asking if he had just had a terrible dream.

He instinctively recoiled, his brow furrowed fiercely. Instantly, the cold windowsill touched his lower back. There was no more room to retreat. He clenched his fists, ready to lash out at any moment.

Zhenya casually offered to Kwon Taekjoo, who was glaring as if to tear him apart.

“Why don’t you wash up? You’re dirty.”

He gestured towards the bathroom’s location. Indeed, his entire body felt clammy and sticky. A shower was desperately needed.

However, Kwon Taekjoo did not relax his guard at all. Would a cornered mouse look like that when it met a cat? He seemed ready to bare his teeth and lunge at the slightest touch. Yet, Zhenya unhesitatingly reached out. His hand was sharply pushed away before it could even touch Kwon Taekjoo. His slapped hand stung quite a bit.

“Don’t touch me.”

Kwon Taekjoo snarled, his nose even twisting. Zhenya silently looked at his reddened hand, then shrugged. He didn’t change his expression completely as before. Instead, he just smiled a cryptic smile. He even compliantly turned his body, opening the way. This series of actions was like a conqueror who had completely broken his opponent and was now taking his ease.

His mood abruptly plummeted. He pushed past Zhenya with his shoulder. This time too, Zhenya compliantly stepped aside. He felt Zhenya’s gaze follow him from behind. He deliberately slammed the bathroom door shut.

As soon as he leaned his back against the closed door, he let out a sigh. He frantically ruffled his hair. Zhenya’s smile, his gaze, every exceptional action was too blatant, making him feel disgusted. Zhenya also shared the humiliating moments that Kwon Taekjoo wanted to bury as much as possible. Zhenya was clearly the perpetrator, and at the same time, a witness to Kwon Taekjoo’s self, which had tragically collapsed before primal instincts. Had the aftermath of sex ever been this dirty and humiliating? No amount of violence or torture could compare to this awful feeling. He had never felt so powerless. He was confused, unsure of what to do with this unfamiliar sense of submission.

He wanted to completely wash away all traces on his body. He turned on the shower, and hot water poured out. He stood still for a long time, letting the water hit him. During that time, both his body and mind gradually calmed down.

He had to go back. If he could somehow escape Zhenya’s grasp and go to Korea, only then would all the pieces of the puzzle that had gone awry since he mistook Zhenya for a colleague fall into place. His identity, which had been destroyed and disheveled by Zhenya, would be completely re-established.

He re-examined the bathroom interior. Perhaps the key to escape lay somewhere within. The first thing he noticed was a window on one wall. But it was too narrow for a person to pass through and was even blocked by thick bars. Sunlight was coming in, so it clearly seemed to lead outside. If the wall wasn’t too solid or thick, he might be able to find a weak spot and break it.

He got out of the water and thoroughly wiped the water from his body and the soles of his feet. He also put on a thick shower gown and tightly tied the waist string.

He had no idea where he was, but in an area large enough for a mansion of this size, there must be other dwellings. He could easily find a place to hide for a while, and a means of transportation like a car. So, he just needed to get out of the mansion.

He hardened his resolve and stood under the window. He tried to brush it, just in case, but the tiles covering the entire bathroom were slippery. It was impossible to climb with bare hands.

After searching for a solution for a while, he suddenly rummaged through the storage cabinet. Inside, he found a few towels, toiletries, and cleaning tools. Kwon Taekjoo scratched his head, then suddenly dumped all the towels onto the floor. Then he tore them into long strips with a razor blade. He tied the ends of the appropriately cut towel pieces into knots that wouldn’t come undone.

He attached a cleaning grabber to the makeshift rope. The once flimsy end of the rope became quite heavy. He looked up at the window, estimating the distance and height. Then, like throwing a dart, he threw the grabber with all his might. The grabber hit the bars with a loud clang and fell uselessly. He tried again before Zhenya could notice, but the result was the same.

He didn’t give up. He couldn’t. If he failed to escape, his life would be at risk, unsure when or how he might die. A satiated beast might be lazy, but when hungry, it quickly changes its demeanor and becomes merciless. He couldn’t quietly wait for that moment to come.

He redoubled his efforts and gripped the towel below the grabber tightly. He then swung the grabber in the air, gaining centrifugal force. Once he had enough momentum, he threw it towards the high window. The grabber flew swiftly and passed right through the window bars. He took a deep breath and yanked the attached rope, and the grabber turned sideways, firmly catching on the bars. It was done.

He scrubbed the tiles on the wall he was about to climb even harder with the rope. He also meticulously removed the water from the soles of his feet again. Having completed his preparations, he gripped the rope with both hands. He slowly pressed the soles of his feet against the wall, shifted his weight to the rope, and leaped with all his might. He missed his footing a few times at first, but by continuing to hold on, he got the hang of it. He quickly alternated his feet and climbed directly under the window bars. He unhesitatingly reached out to grasp the bars just as he was about to.

His left foot slipped with a slurp. He instinctively extended his right arm. He barely managed to grasp the bars, and his chest violently collided with the wall. Suppressing the pain, he bore his entire weight on one arm, then lifted his other arm to grasp the bars. And then he was certain. No ordinary tool could cut those bars. He tried to shake them with all his might, using the recoil of his entire body. It was useless. The bars didn’t budge. He pulled until he was exhausted, then lost his grip.

“Kraaagh…!”

He landed hard on his backside. His buttocks, which would normally have cushioned the impact, instead delivered a throbbing, intense pain. He groaned for a long time, then finally managed to get up. He frantically looked around for other escape tools, and his eyes landed on the sink’s drainpipe. He recklessly pulled it out and slammed it against the wall with the window.

“Damn it, damn it, daaamn it…!”

Each time he swung the drainpipe, curses burst out involuntarily. Zhenya must have noticed the sudden commotion in the bathroom. He couldn’t back down. He focused all his strength and pounded the wall. The sturdy tiles began to crack. In his desperation, he tore off the cracked tiles with his bare hands.

But he soon paused. A wall appeared where the tiles had fallen. It wasn’t a simple concrete wall. It looked like smooth, carved rock. It seemed unlikely to be easily pierced even with a decent excavator. He had completely wasted his efforts. He was so utterly exhausted that he couldn’t even attempt anything else.

Completely worn out, he emerged. He hesitated because Zhenya was standing firmly at the door. Zhenya looked alternately at Kwon Taekjoo’s haggard face and the inside of the bathroom, then scoffed.

“Had fun playing?”

“…”

Kwon Taekjoo glared at him silently. He had no energy to respond. Zhenya, who had been enjoying himself with a sneer, suddenly reached out his hand. Kwon Taekjoo flinched without realizing it. Zhenya’s hand, which had paused in mid-air for a moment, suddenly darted forward and grabbed his shower gown. Then, without a word, he dragged Kwon Taekjoo somewhere. He instinctively resisted, but having exhausted all his strength in the bathroom, he could only be dragged along.

He worried about what Zhenya would do next, but the place Zhenya took Kwon Taekjoo was unexpectedly the dining room. There was only one chair at the wide dining table, which could easily seat ten people. As he looked at the strange arrangement, he was abruptly seated in the chair. It was practically being pushed down. An unavoidable stinging pain rose from his backside. As he clenched his fists and endured, a retort pouch meal, barely rid of its chill, was placed before him. It was blini, Russian pancakes. Just looking at the picture on the package made his stomach churn.

He pushed it aside for a moment and asked.

“Where on earth is this?”

“I could tell you, but you wouldn’t know.”

“Where is it?”

“Azhinokiy Island.”

“…”

What was that? His face instinctively wrinkled. Zhenya let out a low snort.

“See? I told you you wouldn’t know. It’s an uninhabited island, 60 km from Murmansk.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. Murmansk was the northernmost region of Russia, 200 km from the Arctic Circle. And this was an island 60 km even further from there? An uninhabited island at that?

“Surely it’s not really uninhabited. Someone must live there.”

He mumbled, denying reality. It was closer to a self-serving monologue than a question. No lunatic would build a mansion on an isolated island where no one lived and no one came or went.

However, Zhenya’s immediate assertion crushed his last shred of hope.

“There’s nothing there. Except this house.”

You’re that lunatic.

He stared blankly at Zhenya. He found it hard to believe that no one or no means existed to help him escape. Zhenya pulled the blini back in front of Kwon Taekjoo.

“You’d better eat when it’s offered. Unless you want to starve to death.”

Coming from Zhenya, it didn’t sound like a joke. His empty stomach still churned, pumping gastric acid. If he didn’t force something down, his stomach would ache unbearably. But he couldn’t bring himself to touch the Russian food. His deeply wounded pride also resisted the food Zhenya offered as if doing him a favor.

He glared at the cooling blini. Before long, his stomach churned again. It was not a situation to stand on pride. With a wry expression, he tore off a piece of blini and put it in his mouth. His stomach was eagerly preparing to receive food for the first time in a while, but his jaw moved infinitely slowly. Zhenya’s fixed gaze was plastered to his face, not moving, as if it were a fascinating sight. He averted Zhenya’s eyes, fidgeting with the innocent blini.

“…I’ll choke. Are you that free? Just standing there?”

“Not particularly busy.”

“Why aren’t you busy? Aren’t you cleaning up?”

“Cleaning up? Ah, you mean the blueprint? You seemed excited about dealing a blow, but unfortunately, it didn’t really affect me. If it were that flimsy, I wouldn’t have survived until now.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“What do you think you and your colleague can do with the blueprint you stole? Are you planning to develop a new weapon comparable to ‘Anastasia’ with it? No, you can’t. I’m the only one in this world who can interpret that blueprint.”

Looking at Zhenya’s smirking face, it didn’t sound like nonsense. If no one had been able to touch him purely because of that blueprint, then Zhenya would have devised a way to not completely lose it, even if he did lose it. It was impossible that he, holding an item everyone coveted, would have been careless for even a moment.

In fact, there was no way to prove the blueprint was lost. Only Zhenya and his blood relatives knew that the exploded room was the blueprint itself. Would any of them truly sacrifice their privilege and life to reveal that fact? Salman, under surveillance by the Russian government, would certainly not want to draw attention to himself.

He had been played. He thought he had dealt a fatal blow to Zhenya, but instead, it had been a bad move that pushed his own head into Zhenya’s jaws.

Zhenya watched Kwon Taekjoo’s face harden, then chuckled wryly. His gaze was like a cat observing a mouse caught in a trap.

“I told you. From now on, you’ll have to figure out how to survive.”

Zhenya pulled his shapka down onto the table. Even with that slight movement, his fur coat billowed in individual strands. It was as if a living beast had climbed onto his shoulder.

Kwon Taekjoo sat askew on the sofa, watching Zhenya prepare. He didn’t ask where he was going. Zhenya also said nothing. He merely ascended the stairs to the upper floor. Kwon Taekjoo surmised that he must be going to pick up something else.

Around then, the sudden noise of a propeller reached him. He wondered if he was mistaken, but the window seemed to tremble slightly. Dazed, he frantically rushed to the window. Then he saw a helicopter lifting off directly above his head and flying away into the distance. Zhenya seemed to be inside it.

‘You’d better eat when it’s offered. Unless you want to starve to death.’

Was that what he meant? The helicopter quickly became a speck and disappeared. Zhenya wouldn’t be going out to buy groceries. Was it really okay like this? To just abandon a captive like this. A question, forgetting his own situation, arose.

He looked down at his hands. His wrists were not bound by handcuffs, or even string. His limbs were completely free. Not only that. The window and door he opened, just in case, were not locked at all. Was Zhenya telling him to disappear while he was away?

Kwon Taekjoo, with a look of disbelief, but quickly turned around. He went to the living room and first checked the condition of the pechka. Only thick ash remained. Most of the warmth was gone. The fact that no new fire had been lit indicated a prolonged absence.

Had Zhenya been careless for a moment? No, that wasn’t like him. Unless he underestimated Kwon Taekjoo, believing he wouldn’t be able to escape even if Zhenya left.

A faint smile spread across Kwon Taekjoo’s lips. Whatever the reason, it was a golden opportunity. He was still furious about what Zhenya had done to him, but for now, preserving his life was paramount.

He was about to rush outside, but then he suddenly remembered what he was wearing. He couldn’t die of exposure, so he headed to Zhenya’s dressing room. In the narrow, deep room, hundreds of clothes hung neatly. He couldn’t even think about which one to wear. He grabbed a suitable coat and put it on. The length and fit were absurdly large.

He folded the sleeves and waist tie appropriately and went outside. The heavy door slowly opened, pushing aside the accumulated snow on the ground. For the first time, he inhaled the outdoor air. A clear, chilling sensation pierced his lungs. It was so cold that his neck instinctively recoiled.

He gathered his collar and strode forward. The snowfield stretched endlessly. Nowhere was there any sign of life. Would this be how it felt to be dropped in the middle of a desert? He felt helpless, unsure which way to go.

The snow-capped mountains in the distance, like a folding screen, were difficult to distinguish between snow piled on mountains or pure snow deposits themselves. The pure white snowfield reflected the sunlight, making it hard to keep his eyes open properly. The entire land felt inherently resistant to human settlement.

With the snow-capped mountains at his back, he moved towards the direction from which a bitter wind blew. His lips tasted salty, suggesting a coastline nearby. His feet sank deeply with each step. His knees were quickly soaked. His skin rapidly ached. With the biting wind also striking, it was hellish. He irritably pushed through the swirling snow and painstakingly moved forward.