Chapter 162.2

Chapter 162.2

Han Seoryeong dragged over the coiled chain in the corner and bound his wrists, one end secured to a protruding nail, the other fastened opposite.

With his arms restrained like this, escape was impossible.

She yanked the chains, testing the knots with metallic clinks. According to the landlady, these had held against enraged beasts. There was no way he could break free.

Just in case, she picked up the hunting rifle, ready to slam the stock into his skull if he stirred.

Seoryeong didn’t relax until the end. Even as his hardened length strained obscenely against his pants, his breathing evened out into sleep.

How many minutes had passed like that?

Enough. Enough… Seoryeong let out a slow breath of relief as she stared at his motionless body.

There couldn’t be anything more tragic than a bride vanishing on her wedding day. The moment had come, still clad only in her slip, she finally turned her back on him.

“…Seoryeong.”

A low voice suddenly snagged her ankle. Reflexively loading her gun, she spun around, but Wooshin still lay with his eyes closed, only his lips moving.

It was hard to tell if he was sleep-talking or not. She’d bound him perfectly, there was no reason to panic, yet her spine turned to ice.

“Where are you going?”

His pitch-black eyes were open, fixed on her. But his body remained sluggish, his eyelids drooping heavily before fluttering open again.

Wooshin tilted his head slowly, rattling the restraints around his wrists. The metallic clinking echoed unnervingly in the silence.

After testing them a few times, he gave up, shoulders going still. Then he let out a low, chilling laugh.

“So this was your plan.”

Seoryeong froze. No more masks, no more pretenses. She stripped herself bare, like wiping off bridal makeup.

“…You knew?”

“Knew what?”

He blinked lazily before smirking.

“That I’ve been watching you?”

“…!”

“Untie me, Seoryeong.”

His hoarse voice scraped against her ears. His gaze, steady and unreadable, pinned her in place.

“How would I know what goes on in that head of yours? I just guessed.”

“….”

“Still, I’m glad you agreed to marry me.”

“….”

“I was happy enough to die, Seoryeong.”

He licked his parched lips.

“Why did you change your mind?”

“….”

“You were the one who told me not to use a condom.”

“Shut your fucking mouth.”

Rage surged at his calm expression. Her voice shook without her meaning it to.

“Enough of this bullshit act, Kim Hyun.”

She saw his eyes harden.

***

“NIS black operative, codename Masukaмаска, that was you, wasn’t it?”

Suddenly, the sound of large wings filled the air. Birds of prey; vultures began gathering on the beams of the exposed ceiling.

Wooshin looked as if he had been stabbed in the gut, his face briefly defenseless. Then, slowly, he wiped away all traces of weakness.

Shockingly, this wasn’t the instructor or Kim Hyun. His expression was bleached blank, empty, and exhausted.

A face she had never seen before. And yet, this was likely the real Lee Wooshin, NIS agent: something inorganic, devoid of heat or cold.

No fury, no panic. Just eerie indifference, flickers of displeasure, and beneath his frozen skin, something like restless tension.

“How did you figure it out?”

Seoryeong felt the last taut thread of her nerves snap. A high-pitched ring filled her ears, her breath catching. No, maybe the fuse had burned out long ago.

She dragged over a rusted bucket from the corner. Then, with bare hands, she scooped out the stinky, coagulated blood of animal inside, rotted into a solid mass, and hurled it at his face, his head, over and over like stones.

“‘How did I figure it out?’ HOW?!”

She flung the stinking, putrid flesh again and again. Splat. Splat. His cheeks turned under the blunt impacts.

Each time, the birds perched on the beams flapped their wings at the scent of blood. They couldn’t wait to dig their beaks to Wooshin’s bloodied flesh.

But Wooshin, even as thick blood dripped into his mouth, kept obsessively chewing on the past.

“Ah! Was it that day? When you stole my phone and called He Channa.”

Seoyeong only looked at him silently.

“As soon as you left the interrogation room, you got into an altercation with the police. I traced your movements. When I checked the stolen phone, He Channa’s number was right there. Even then, it pissed me off. Why didn’t you call me first?”

Wooshin continued to mutter, “What did I miss… Where exactly did I fail? Fuck!”

A hollow laugh escaped him, dropping like a lump of congealed blood.

Seoryeong felt her chest grow cold.

Even as the dr*gs eroded his consciousness, Agent Lee Wooshin refused to let go of the mission. This was his true nature.

“You bastard! Is that really what you should be saying right now?!”

Her scream made the birds snap their beaks open in unison.

“You were Kim Hyun! From the very beginning, you were Kim Hyun!”

She wanted to spit in his face. To smash his heart beyond repair. To carve a wound in him that would never heal.

Seoryeong kicked the bucket violently, sending its remaining contents cascading over his torso.

“Now you get to suffer like I did. Lose your eyes so you can’t recognize what’s right in front of you!”

The agitated birds of prey darkened her vision as they swooped down in a black swarm.