March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 97

Thud, with a heavy sound, the gas mask the person in front was wearing rolled at his feet. Sehwa squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, forcing his collapsed body to rise again. Even if it was a pathetic twitch like a crushed insect, he didn’t want to look up at that person while lying like this.

However… this wretched body simply wouldn’t move as he wished. His ankle was one problem, but his wrists, which felt fractured, were a bigger issue. He couldn’t even put his hands on the ground, so Sehwa flailed several times before finally managing to stand.

He sweated profusely, barely managing to look ahead, and saw that the blindingly bright lights, having achieved their purpose, were now beginning to fade one by one. The light rays that had fulfilled their duty were all being sucked into the man standing before him.

Sehwa vaguely wiped his blurry eyes with his forearm. The white, hazy halo surrounding Gi Taejeong vanished, and his unrealistically bright face, as if it had absorbed all the light in the world, was now just five steps away.

“……”

Gi Taejeong gazed at Sehwa impassively. As if all these shocking acts had nothing to do with him, he simply stared intently at Sehwa with an innocent expression.

His slightly longer hair tickling his nape, his face stained with ash, his cheeks and wrists thinner than before, his hands desperately clutching his stomach, and his right ankle twisted in an odd way…

Gi Taejeong, who had been intently staring at his feet, continued to scrutinize Sehwa’s body several times over. Despite having staged such a show with Ms. Song, it was as if… he truly hadn’t expected to meet him again. He simply stared at Sehwa, as if he couldn’t quite believe who was standing before him.

“…Has it been three weeks?”

Finally, the man’s voice, unlike what he had heard through the speakers, was infinitely low and subdued.

“You came back hurt without permission.”

As Gi Taejeong took a step closer, Sehwa retreated by exactly that much. After repeating this several times, Gi Taejeong frowned slightly in displeasure.

“What are you trying to do now?”

“…To Aunt.”

Sehwa pressed his thumb hard against his throat, which was bobbing with difficulty, and barely managed to continue.

“What did you do?”

He narrowed one eye as if surprised, then scoffed.

“You’ve lost your manners since I last saw you. Now you’re even cutting your words short.”

“I asked what you did… to Aunt.”

“Nothing.”

Gi Taejeong shrugged. Sehwa glared at the man, who was deliberately acting nonchalant. Of course, he seemed completely unfazed, as if such a glare had no effect on him.

“I told you, she’s safe and sound without a scratch.”

“……”

“And she said you ate the food she made quite well.”

Gi Taejeong lightly gestured behind him, saying something absurd like, “I brought her here to ask her to prepare your meals, it would be a big problem if she got hurt.”

Sehwa glanced over Gi Taejeong’s shoulder at the cargo ship docked in the harbor. Perhaps subconsciously, knowing it would be impossible, he had indulged in a dream out of defiance. He imagined boarding that iceberg-like ship and swimming in the sea like a whale. Dropping anchor in another country, and his small, fragile sprout growing tall like a mighty tree… For a moment, he clung to such a futile hope.

“…Grabbing someone who knows nothing… is that what you want to do? No matter what, shouldn’t there be a minimum standard?”

Although he was directly referring to Ms. Song, it was also a condemnation that included Sehwa himself. Gi Taejeong, who understood the underlying meaning, chuckled and tilted his head slightly. As if daring him to keep acting insolent.

“It’s only been a week since Aunt and I became acquainted.”

“I know.”

“…Dragging Aunt, who has nothing to do with me, all the way here, and telling absurd lies again just to…”

“So?”

…So? Sehwa was dumbfounded. But Gi Taejeong seemed genuinely serious. He just stared blankly at Sehwa, as if asking what the problem was.

“Is that… is that all? After you’ve completely destroyed this place? How is this different from what Lieutenant Kim did?”

“How is it different?”

Gi Taejeong took a few more steps closer. The world instantly narrowed, until only the man was visible in his sight.

“Since you brought up that bastard Lieutenant Kim again, let me explain: a suspicious ship, unauthorized, was secretly sneaking into the harbor even with the airspace closed, so I simply dealt with it according to proper procedure.”

So it’s completely different from Lieutenant Kim’s dog-like antics, Gi Taejeong said, bowing his head towards Sehwa.

“But in front of civilians…”

“Civilians shouldn’t question decisions made by military officers regarding national security, and besides, you came out when I did that, didn’t you?”

“…What?”

“Lee Sehwa, who even gave me medicine hoping I’d die, came running out on his own two feet when I held a stranger’s life in my hands. Isn’t that enough?”

Sehwa couldn’t say a word to the voice that replied so blandly, as if asking what the problem was. It felt like a stone had been placed heavily on his chest.

Alright, a soldier, with a soldier’s mindset, shot down a soldier’s ship, so he wouldn’t argue about that. But what about threatening an innocent person with a deadly weapon and firing a bazooka in front of them? Was that right? Was it enough that he, who was hiding, crawled out?

“…You crazy bastard.”

At the low curse that escaped him in disbelief, Gi Taejeong raised one eyebrow askew, as if genuinely surprised. But he didn’t get angry, asking how he dared to curse him. No, he seemed rather intrigued.

“Suddenly? You know very well I can do worse.”

Sehwa pursed his lips, as if to say no more. Sparks flew as their gazes met. Gi Taejeong’s eyes flickered downwards, staring intently at Sehwa’s lips, which were white, cracked, and dry.

His upper teeth biting his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, the soft flesh inside briefly revealed… The man’s eyes, staring blankly at these things, soon lost their reason and crumbled.

It was instantaneous. A large hand reached out abruptly and seized Sehwa’s chin. As if the composure he had maintained earlier was gone, a crimson flame flickered within the man.

“Let go…!”

Gi Taejeong’s face, as he roughly gripped Sehwa’s face and peered at it, seemed… somehow anxious, and a much sharper edge lingered than before. Dark shadows were cast beneath his hollowed eyes, and his entire whites were bloodshot, as if he hadn’t slept properly.

“Let go, n-no… ah…!”

Gi Taejeong, as if he could no longer endure it, brought his lips to Sehwa’s without permission. His burning flesh immediately burrowed into Sehwa’s mouth. He probed everywhere with his tongue, then bit down on Sehwa’s entire lips, and, like someone consumed by thirst, swept away all the saliva pooled inside.

Even though he seemed to be contemplating killing him right then and there, the moment their bodies met, Gi Taejeong’s frozen face melted as if he could finally breathe… Sehwa hated him. He hated him, he detested him, he couldn’t bear it.

“…Ugh.”

So Sehwa, without hesitation, bit Gi Taejeong’s tongue and lips. He put considerable force into his canines, biting hard as if to tear off the flesh.

“Hah, I… told you… to let go.”

Having achieved his goal, Sehwa gasped for breath and staggered half a step back. Despite being caught off guard by the unexpected blow, Gi Taejeong showed no particular reaction. He merely wiped his mouth indifferently with his palm. He looked at the drops of his own blood on his hand as if unfamiliar with them for a moment, then chuckled in disbelief. His eyes, half-crazed, shone brightly.

He would have understood if Gi Taejeong had just thrown him down and violated him right there, but it was horrifying that he was trying to passionately kiss him first, as if reuniting with a long-lost lover.

“Really, did you only learn bad things while you were out?”

“Stop the deception.”

“Deception?”

“Yes, deception.”

You must think I’m nothing. Since you can easily figure out where I am and what I’m doing with whom, my desperate struggles must have seemed like mere amusement to you. Now that you’ve caught me by staging such a show, you must think I’ll never dream of escaping again, and that you can continue to manipulate me as you please, just like before… You must be so arrogant.

“What you’ve caught now is merely my body, I… will never…”

Sehwa trembled, clutching his lower abdomen. I will never be swayed by you again. And I won’t let it end like this. I won’t give up. I will continue to do my best, with all my strength, to escape from your side. You must have been on tenterhooks, worried I’d ruin the trial, so keep feeling that way. I…

“Never, what.”

“I told you to let go…!”

“Damn it, so what are you going to do, in your place?”

A body as hard as armor gripped Sehwa tightly. Even though he struggled and hit him with his damaged hands, Gi Taejeong didn’t budge. Instead, he demonstratively buried his nose in Sehwa’s neck, inhaling his scent deeply, then pecked at his collarbone and below his earlobe.

“I told you to stop!”

“It’s daunting to think of teaching you everything from scratch again…”

Sighing, Gi Taejeong pulled something out from within his clothes. Sehwa instinctively flinched. A gun, a baton… he immediately assumed it would be something terrifying. Since he said he would “teach him from scratch,” he naturally thought he would be beaten or kicked, but…

“You… yes. Well, that title isn’t bad.”

Suddenly, something cold touched the back of his neck. Sehwa, who had been bent over to protect his sprout, blinked in puzzlement. It was too soft for a gun barrel, too hard and blunt for a knife. Something round, and…

“I was planning to do ‘you’ and ‘honey’ and ‘darling’ with you from now on anyway.”

“You, you crazy…!”

The hard metal instantly encircled Sehwa’s neck, and a lock clicked into place. It was… an ankle shackle, enlarged to the size that could bind a neck.

“This kind of thing, ugh…!”

Gi Taejeong inserted his index finger into the loop behind the collar. Then, he pulled it up sharply, and Sehwa’s head involuntarily lifted.

Sehwa, his face pale, fumbled at his neck. Is it… iron? It seems to have small decorations attached all over it… He didn’t know what it was. But it was certainly made of a material that couldn’t be cut with ordinary blades.

“It suits you well.”

Gi Taejeong stroked Sehwa’s neck as if admiring it.

“I ordered the chain to be platinum, and only the highest quality diamonds to be set as decorations. I thought that would suit you better than colored gemstones.”

“……”

“You’re beautiful, as expected,” Gi Taejeong said, kissing his forehead.

“I missed you, darling.”

Lee Sehwa.

Can I kiss you?

The man who used to call his name calmly yet carefully, and asked for permission before kissing him, was no longer there.

Darling. At the completely regressed endearment, Sehwa unconsciously let out a breathy laugh. The implication held within that address was too clear. It was a declaration that from now on, he would receive no human respect, that he would be collared like an animal and used as a sex object. Just like before.

“I have a lot prepared at home, I hope you like it, darling.”

Gi Taejeong smiled brightly, gently wiping away the dirt on Sehwa’s cheek and the tears welling up in his eyes with his thumb.