Chapter 30.1

Chapter 30.1

The weight of his words didn’t match the depth of his misfortune. Was he hoping I’d brush it off just as lightly? But how the hell was I supposed to do that?

Heeju took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

“Why are you telling me this?”

At her question, Gukhyun leaned back lazily against the sofa. The bandaged part of his chest rose and fell slowly.

“All you care about is my d*ck.”

“…What? Where the hell did that come from…?”

“They say once you start pitying someone, it’s over.”

His words jumped from one thought to another, impossible to follow. Heeju could only open and close her mouth in confusion, and Gukhyun chuckled, amused.

“Told you. I’m just some b*stard starving for your attention.”

“…….”

For a while, Heeju just stared at the black water tank. That unsettling darkness, like a black hole ready to swallow everything, had a strangely calming effect. It felt like the mess inside her head was settling into place.

Is that why you keep looking at it too?

“Why do you want my attention?”

From the beginning, he had never been shy about his desires. He wanted her body. And she didn’t hate s3.x with him.

It should’ve been simple. A relationship where neither of them had anything to lose.

But the problem was that thinking about him only made her thoughts more tangled, made her heart more restless. She didn’t want to hear about his tragic past. Not when he spoke about it like it was nothing, while looking so unbearably lonely.

She was drawn to him, but at the same time, she couldn’t let go of her doubts.

Locking eyes with him, Heeju asked, “Are you really saying you don’t know my sister?”

“…There you go again, trying to find your d3ad sister in me.”

Gukhyun let out a weary sigh and ran a hand through his hair with an indifferent motion. His back muscles shifted under his skin, the sharp lines of his latissimus dorsi flexing momentarily. Then, resting the back of his head against the sofa, he looked at her.

“Sorry, but talking about your sister doesn’t turn me on. Kinda kills the mood, actually.”

“I found a passage leading from where she worked straight into the underground tunnels.”

The hand playing with his cigarette froze.

“And those tunnels connect directly to the study. Your study.”

“…….”

“Even after hearing that, you’re still saying you don’t know her?”

Gukhyun didn’t respond right away. The silence stretched on, and the longer it lasted, the redder Heeju’s eyes became. Her hands were starting to tremble. She barely managed to force the words out of her throat.

“What the hell are you hiding from me?”

But Gukhyun just muttered, his voice so casual it even had a hint of amusement.

“All that f3c.king and you still don’t trust me, huh?”

He didn’t look away from her. If anything, his gaze grew even more playful, his eyes narrowing slightly with a smirk.

“Come on.”

He stood from the sofa and gestured with a tilt of his head. Then, without another word, he made his way toward the bar on the other side of the bedroom. He stood there, propping his chin on one hand like he was debating what drink to pick, before speaking.

“Want a drink?”

When she shot him a glare cold enough to kill, he barely held back his laughter, his shoulders shaking.

“Can’t help it. You’re too cute when you get all riled up.”

With one hand, he grabbed the liquor shelf and pulled it forward smoothly. The heavy bottles wobbled slightly on their racks but didn’t fall. As the shelf swung open like a door, a hidden passage was revealed—one eerily similar to the one Heeju had seen in the break room.

“You know curiosity always comes with a price, right?”

Gukhyun held the door open with one hand and gestured toward the darkness inside, as if politely inviting her in.

“And I like to make sure people pay up.”

Without hesitation, Heeju stepped forward into the pitch-black tunnel, her expression unreadable. If she was the type to back down from threats, she wouldn’t have asked in the first place.

“You really don’t know fear, do you? Looking at you, anyone would think you’d be the type to tremble like a scared little rabbit.”

Gukhyun let out a quiet chuckle and followed her in.

The door behind them shut with a dull thud, cutting off the light from the bedroom completely. Darkness swallowed them whole.

“Watch your step,” he murmured from behind her. “Wouldn’t want you tumbling down.”

At Gukhyun’s warning, Heeju pulled out her phone from her pocket and turned on the flashlight. As she descended the stairs, the ground soon evened out. Once the space widened enough for the two of them to walk side by side, Gukhyun smoothly took the phone from her hands.

Instead, he intertwined their fingers one by one, locking their hands together.