episode_0056

“Kku-eug…”

Fortunately, the old man seemed not to be dead. Groaning sounds were heard. The old man tried to get up from the sofa.

Udeuk.

“Huh, hweo-eok…!”

Just by hearing the voice, one could tell how badly his back was injured.

“Hmm… I told him to sit still, so he should just stay put, right?”

It was better to stay quiet in moments like this. Unlike me, there seemed to be someone else with a different mindset.

Ssruk.

A person emerged from the old man’s shadow. The expressionless man approached the groaning old man on the bed and reached out his hand, seemingly trying to help.

“Ahh, ahh… Don’t touch me! Leave me alone!”

He refused even someone touching him due to the pain. The old man pushed away the approaching man in resentment. It was indeed best to stay still. If he had tried to help for nothing, he would have been the one receiving insults.

The person who approached the old man just trembled and gazed at him.

“Hah, hah-eug!”

I quietly raised my hand to cover my ears. I didn’t want to hear the old man’s groans.

“Well, I made a mistake, so I should apologize, right?”

A conscientious thought surged and then quickly subsided.

“If criticized, apologize. It’s not my fault until it’s caught.”

In the comedy world, that was the extent of conscience. Only handsome men and beautiful women had the privilege of laying out their sins and receiving forgiveness.

Perhaps because I was covering my ears, I couldn’t hear the old man’s groans. With nothing else to do, I gazed at the pattern on the floor. At first, I only found five ordinary patterns resembling people.

But at some point, the five patterns began to engage in a fierce fight. I stared blankly at the pattern that said, “Actually, I’m pregnant,” and the one that said, “..I have something to confess. I’m infertile. I’ve had sperm problems since I was young.”

“This is a disaster.”

While thinking such thoughts, the old man finally straightened up. I lowered my hand, pretending not to notice.

“Ugh…”

The old man groaned, clutching his waist.

“Darn it.”

He cursed, then met my eyes. His rough, wrinkled face quickly flushed red. He seemed embarrassed.

‘Quite shy.’

Thinking this, the old man gestured to a man standing by the sofa. The man produced a small potion bottle from his pocket. It was a healing potion.

The old man immediately uncapped the potion and drank it all.

“Gah….”

Tossing the empty bottle to the man, he swiftly turned to glare at me. Feeling uncomfortable, I subtly avoided his gaze.

***

Thud.

Bansuk looked down at Lian, who was sitting on the floor.

“Of all times for the chair to tip over..!”

He lived and died by his pride. This was why he carried an ornate cane and hid a servant in the shadows.

His ‘pride’, shattered in front of Lian. Bansuk imagined Lian mocking him inwardly, his eyes bloodshot with anger.

“I only meant to greet him and send him away lightly – but that won’t work.”

I need to properly educate him about who I am.

Bansuk smirked and gestured to the man beside him, giving an order. The man promptly lifted Lian from the floor onto his shoulders.

“Ugh…”

Bansuk, who had been about to rise from the sofa, hesitated due to a sharp pain in his waist, then slowly stood up. Perhaps because of the potion, the pain was less than before.

“Darn it, darn it!”

The belated correction of posture did not make the suppressed groan disappear. At that moment, a man approached and handed over the cane that had fallen to the ground.

The splendid cane was an accessory that represented his wealth and confidence, but today it served its original purpose.

Tap, tap.

He shifted his weight onto the cane as he took a step. Ban Suk walked towards the corridor connected to the living room. At the end of the corridor, there was a picture of an apple basket. He tapped the picture with his cane.

Click.

As if the apple picture were a door, it opened inwards. Inside, a pure white corridor continued.

Walking along the white corridor, several doors were visible. Ban Suk headed towards the innermost door. The man silently moved forward and opened the door first.

Inside the room, everything was pure white, and in the middle, there was an iron chair. Leather belts were tied around the armrests and legs of the chair, and dried bloodstains were visible.

In front of the chair, there was a black trolley containing grim torture tools.

The man carrying Lian immediately dropped her onto the iron chair as if throwing her, then proceeded to tie her wrists and ankles with the leather belts connected to the chair.

Ban Suk smirked strangely at Lian.

“Now you understand the situation, right? So, my dear, are you going to show us some despair and scream?”

After firmly securing the belts, the man stepped aside. Ban Suk looked at Lian’s terrified face, swallowing dry saliva.

“Hmm.”

“…?”

Lian casually scanned the room. Her eyes were filled with nothing but curiosity. Ban Suk, who had never experienced such a situation, looked at Lian in silence.

“This place will be difficult to manage.”

Lian had not failed to grasp the situation. Just by looking at the dried bloodstains and torture tools, she could anticipate what might happen. However, she was simply not afraid.

When they were young, even children who threw tantrums about not wanting to go to the hospital, do they just go without any second thought when they become adults? Lian felt exactly like that.

Anyway, there was no reason to be scared since it wasn’t really painful and you wouldn’t die.

Suddenly.

To Banseok, that attitude felt like a challenge.

“It seems like your head is too stupid to understand the situation.”

Usually, when he brought toys to play with here, he would tie them up and leave them alone for a few hours. Watching a slave writhing in fear with their whole body tied up in a completely white room was quite enjoyable.

However, it didn’t seem like that method would work at all with Lian. He walked forward confidently. Then the man next to him discreetly pulled the trolley over to Banseok’s side.

“You still haven’t figured out the situation, have you?”

Banseok deliberately smiled gently, like a kind old man. Lian’s gaze turned to Banseok.

Swish, Banseok handed the cane he had been holding to the man. Fortunately, the potion effect had worked well, and he no longer felt any pain in his back.

Click.

He raised a wrench, one of the torture tools in the trolley. It was caked with dried blood. He lightly opened and closed the wrench, then grabbed Lian’s bound hand.

Even if someone is as stupid as can be, at this point, it’s right to realize that something is wrong and be afraid, clenching one’s fist tightly in response. But Lian was casually offering his hand as if he had no expectation of what would happen next.

“How long will this attitude continue?”

With a sneering smile, Banseok grabbed Lian’s fingernail with the wrench. His lips began to twist grotesquely.

Thinking about how a scream loud enough to make your eardrums ring would be heard made his spine tingle and shiver. He gritted his teeth and exerted force on his hand.

“Khehe…”

As the uncontrollable thrill flowed through his lips -…

Snap!

With an adorable sound, the fingernail was pulled out.

“…??”

A question mark rose in Bansuk’s eyes, which were making a despicable smile.

“……????”

When faced with an incomprehensible situation, humans first deny it.

“Oh, I… I must have picked the wrong one.”

Although his thumbnail was caught at the end of the pen, it wasn’t important to Bansuk, who was turning away from reality.

Snap.

Bansuk dropped his thumbnail on the floor and grabbed it with the pen.

“This time for sure…!”

Pluck!

A cute sound that could come out of baby shoes was heard again, and the nail was pulled out. However, not a single drop of blood spurted, and the nail remained intact where it had been pulled out.

“…?!?!”

Bansuk contorted strangely as if facing something impossible in the world.

Snap, pluck! Pluck! Snap snap pluck pluck!

“Gasp, cough… cough!”

As if unable to accept this reality, Bansuk pulled out Lian’s nails as if he were crazy, but what echoed was not Lian’s scream but Bansuk’s panting.

Gasping for breath due to lack of strength, Bansuk looked up and met Lian’s eyes. Lian was looking at Bansuk with a sympathetic gaze, as if watching an elderly person working hard to pick up a newspaper in the early morning.

Crash!

Bansuk, whose switch was pressed by that look, threw the pen on the ground, then rummaged through the trolley like a madman.

“Don’t… don’t pity me! How dare, how dare a slave like you!”

He raised a knife-like blade and thrust it into Lian’s thigh.

Squelch!

“Ah!”

This time, it passed through the flesh properly without any strange sound effects. The smell of pungent blood seemed to comfort the sweat-drenched Bansuk.

“Now you know what situation you’re in -….”

Squirt!

As if piercing through a blocked vein, a fountain of blood gushed out from the thigh.

“Cough…!”

Startled, Bansuk stepped back and stumbled over his own foot, hitting his buttocks.

Thud!

“Ouch?!”

The waist that had been hurt earlier twisted again, and he fell to the ground in the same half-bent position.