Chapter 73.1

Chapter 73.1

At some point, she suddenly snapped back to her senses and noticed the familiar neighborhood beyond the window. A blanket was draped over her lap, and the numbers on the clock had far exceeded her expectations.

“When did I fall asleep?” Seryeong’s face turned pale at the thought of having caused trouble.

“Instructor, you should have just woken me up!”

Lee Wooshin brushed back his hair and looked at her with a slightly reproachful gaze.

“If you’re going to give me that look, you could have just woken me up earlier!”

Seoryeong hurriedly unfastened her seatbelt and opened the car door. The cold wind that slashed across her face as she stepped out made her feel completely sober.

As she grabbed the car door to say goodbye and make eye contact, Lee Wooshin suddenly shifted the gear and reversed the car. Startled, Seoryeong quickly shut the door without a word. Without hesitation, he turned the car around and sped out of the alley.

“Thank you for dropping me off.”

Her belated words of gratitude echoed emptily in the air.

Seoryeong stared at the alley where he disappeared for a moment before scratching the back of her head. Eventually, she trudged towards her house with unsteady steps.

Perhaps it was the relief of arriving in her own space. Her body suddenly felt sluggish. She forced herself to press the door lock button with all the strength she could muster at her fingertips.

It was at the moment she opened the door.

“――!”

But the moment she saw the familiar interior, she slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

What was that just now?

Her heart pounded wildly. Instinctively, she took a few steps back, shaking her dizzy head.

An unfamiliar body odor hit her as soon as she opened the door. She felt an intense sense of wrongness the moment she saw the unlit house.

As Seoryeong stiffened and checked the number on the door, the door suddenly flew open, and she hit her forehead with a thud.

“Ugh!”

The shock was dizzying as if she might lose consciousness. As she staggered, a black-gloved hand reached out from inside and grabbed her by the hair. That brutal hand dragged her into the house.

The presumed assailant tried to throw her against the door once more. A rough hand gripped the nape of his neck tightly.

But one stroke to the head was enough. Seoryeong grabbed the thug’s little finger and spun him around, a scream immediately erupting. A scream erupted immediately.

“Argh! Damn it!”

The intruder clutched his grotesquely twisted pinky.

“Your jaw’s broken.”

“What are you–”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Seoryeong’s spinning kick landed on the man’s jaw. As she struck the vulnerable spot precisely, the man collapsed, showing only the whites of his eyes. Seoryeong finished him off by stomping on his temple with her heel.

Moving so suddenly made her feel nauseous, and her throat churned. She immediately opened the front door. There was no way she could stay here any longer.

But just before she could make her escape, her eyes lingered on the still-silent house.

How many more intruders might be inside, and who are they? As she pondered these daunting questions, a smile suddenly curved at the corners of her lips.

Seoryeong slowly closed the half-open door.

“…”

It seems like these guys fell right into my trap.

If that’s the case, I should let them catch me. Seoryeong stood on her tiptoes and headed straight for the kitchen.

I should let them catch me. She suppressed her excitement as she pulled out two kitchen knives. But just as she turned around, a dark figure lunged at her.

Seoryeong mercilessly slashed at the second intruder’s forearm with the knife she was holding.

The intruder with the masked face wasn’t alone. One, two, and counting the one already down—there were three in total.

Seoryeong swung her knife like raising thorns, slashing at the assailants who kept reaching out towards her. She couldn’t afford to relax, not even for a moment.

Then, suddenly, a kick from her blind spot landed on her abdomen, and her back collided with a cabinet. The household items crashed down, making a loud noise in the middle of the night.

“Ugh!”

Her body felt heavier and slower than usual. Despite this, she gritted her teeth and rolled her body, dodging the punches and knife-edge strikes that came at her like bullets.

To offset the disadvantage of the height difference, she deliberately lowered her body to an extreme degree, aiming only at vital spots.

When her blade was blocked, she struck with the back of her knife. If she got hit in the face or kicked in the side, she retaliated in kind.

Then, in a timely move, a strong, black hand seized her slender neck.