Ch.101101. Stalker

Suhyuk and Juyeon’s gazes fixed on the door.

Knock knock knock knock

The sound of knocking came again.

Suhyuk quickly turned his head toward Juyeon.

He communicated silently, only mouthing the words.

“Call the police right now.”

Carefully approaching the entrance, Suhyuk touched the box cutter stuffed in his back pocket once more.

This couldn’t be an ordinary visitor.

No one in Juyeon’s circle would knock on her door at 9 PM without prior notice.

Suhyuk peered through the small peephole in the center of the front door.

The unidentified man reflected there was wearing a black hoodie and mask despite the sweltering summer heat.

From this view, it was hard to tell his build, but at a glance, he seemed either slightly larger or smaller than Suhyuk.

…So it’s him.

Suhyuk’s heart raced.

He had never been in a fight his entire life.

Suhyuk, who had never even set foot in a taekwondo academy, looked back once more.

He saw Juyeon clutching her phone, speaking incoherently.

Her eyes were filled with anxiety.

He couldn’t tell if that look meant “don’t go” or “catch him right now.”

Suhyuk placed his hand on the front door.

The lock was released by his hand.

-Click

As he finally opened the door, an unpleasant male voice hit his eardrums.

“Yeon-i! Now we can finally talk!”

The excited voice trailed off.

“…What? Who are you?”

A clearly changed reaction upon seeing Suhyuk.

Wariness filled the man’s eyes visible above his mask.

“Who are you?”

Suhyuk asked back.

His heart was beating wildly, but hiding the trembling wasn’t easy.

“…Where’s Yeon-i?”

He treated Suhyuk like an intruder, as if Juyeon were his lover.

“Who are you to come here like this?”

Though his voice was low, his confrontational tone conveyed that he had no intention of letting the man leave.

The most charismatic and composed angry person among Suhyuk’s acquaintances.

Suhyuk was now imitating that person.

“Who are you to be coming out of Yeon-i’s house?”

Suhyuk, who was about to say he was a friend, felt the need to take a stronger stance.

It wasn’t true, but this was a temporary measure.

“I’m her boyfriend.”

“…What?”

“I’m Park Juyeon’s boyfriend. Who are you to be knocking on her door? Tell me.”

Even while talking, Suhyuk was buying time for the police who would arrive soon.

Voice, appearance, and description.

There would likely be CCTV installed too, so there was no way for him to escape.

Though his full expression wasn’t visible, the man’s face began to contort.

As if he couldn’t control his anger…

“…Don’t bullshit me.”

“What?”

“I said don’t bullshit me!”

The man grabbed Suhyuk, who was standing in the doorway, and flung the door wide open.

Juyeon, who had been watching Suhyuk’s back while tightly gripping her phone, ended up making eye contact with the man.

“Yeon-i! Fuck! I told you I was coming to talk! Why the hell do you have a man in your house?!”

As he shouted loudly, Juyeon backed away in fear.

At that moment—

“Fuck! Hey!”

This might be the first time in his life Suhyuk had cursed with such indignation.

-Thud

Suhyuk’s fist struck down on the man’s shoulder from above.

The moment his hard training paid off.

Suhyuk’s fist was not the same as before.

“Ugh!”

The man, having been hit, trembled and glared at Suhyuk.

“You. Did you just hit me?”

“Yeah. I hit you. So what?”

“You. You. I’m going to kill you, you bastard!”

It was something Suhyuk had sensed from the moment he first saw him in person, but this person—

He wasn’t normal.

He wasn’t engaging in the common-sense communication format that ordinary people use.

His gestures, tone, and even those hollow-looking eyes—everything seemed off.

Whether this was due to an actual mental illness or just a twisted personality, one thing was clear.

He must not be allowed to get near Juyeon.

Suhyuk’s instincts were warning him.

“Juyeon!”

“Huh…?”

“Lock the door!”

Suhyuk pushed the man away with all his might, declaring separation.

When she froze, Suhyuk shouted once more.

“Lock the door now! Park Juyeon!”

Following his instructions, Juyeon rushed forward and locked the door.

But once he disappeared from her sight, Juyeon’s anxiety could only grow.

Information was cut off.

She didn’t know what Suhyuk was doing outside.

Suhyuk might get hurt.

But opening the door and rushing out would be a clearly bad move.

Juyeon dialed her phone again.

[Um, I’m the one who called earlier. How long until—!]

[We’re almost there. Less than two minutes.]

[Hurry! Please hurry! They’re fighting right now.]

From outside came the sound of something crashing.

Suhyuk and the stalker were tumbling up and down the stairs in an ugly struggle.

“So it was you. You dog.”

The stalker, with a face like a demon, seemed unable to contain his rage as he kept trying to choke Suhyuk.

But his physical ability didn’t match his aggressive language.

His body didn’t look particularly well-trained.

Suhyuk was managing to defend himself quite stubbornly.

“What did I do?”

“You made Yeon-i quit streaming! Fuck! You told her to, didn’t you?”

Once again realizing the man was mentally unstable, Suhyuk hoped the police would arrive quickly.

Had he ever seen such a psycho?

“Eeeeek!”

Whether one is athletic or not, when a person resists with all their might, subduing them isn’t easy.

Pushed back hard, Suhyuk lost his balance and slipped backward.

At the same time, the box cutter Suhyuk had brought for self-defense fell to the floor.

The stalker’s eyes flashed with a cold gleam.

Suhyuk realized his mistake, but the other man reached for it first.

The balance of power that had been equal now crumbled.

“You son of a bitch!”

Since the man wasn’t that strong, maybe if he tried carefully—

-Slash

A sharp pain was felt across the arm he had extended to try to take the weapon.

A deep laceration, rarely seen in everyday life, was carved into Suhyuk’s forearm.

Suhyuk couldn’t hide his distress at the surprising and excruciating sensation.

Blood flowed from the wound.

Quite a lot of it.

“Haa… haa… F-fuck! You still won’t back off!”

At least it was his forearm—if he had been stabbed somewhere else…

Just as Suhyuk’s face turned pale,

The sound of multiple people coming up the stairs could be heard from below.

“Police!”

The police, responding to Juyeon’s report, could assess the situation immediately.

They saw a young man dressed conspicuously like a stalker and another man with blood streaming from his arm.

“Put the knife down now.”

The police warned in a stern voice.

“W-who are you people! I just came to talk to Yeon-i! What did I do wrong? Aagh!”

The police aren’t very accommodating to armed criminals.

Naturally, they didn’t leisurely give him time.

As soon as he disobeyed the instruction, a baton mercilessly struck the stalker’s shin.

The police confiscated the weapon that fell as he succumbed to the pain, and quickly subdued him.

“F-fuck! I didn’t do anything wrong! Ah! Let go!”

Another officer who had arrived examined Suhyuk’s forearm.

“You should go to the hospital for treatment right away.”

“Ah… yes…”

“No! I just came to talk! Just listen to me!”

The more Suhyuk watched him struggle, the more lightheaded he felt.

Among internet broadcast viewers…

There really are people like this.

He knew that famous celebrities and streamers—semi-public figures—suffered from stalking.

But when it happens to someone close to you,

right beside you like this, he couldn’t hide his shock.

How terrified must she have been?

Juyeon.

-Beep beep

The sound of the lock being released.

Juyeon’s front door slowly opened.

Hearing the commotion die down and thinking it was over, Juyeon came out and finally felt relieved at the sight of a police officer in a vest.

They weren’t too late.

Fortunately, it seemed they had successfully subdued him…

Indeed, the police appeared to have succeeded in handcuffing the man.

As she was about to put on her shoes and come out again, Juyeon discovered it.

Drops of blood on the dark gray stairs.

Her pupils dilated.

Blood.

It’s blood.

But whose blood…

Finding the owner of the wound wasn’t difficult.

The bright red liquid from Suhyuk’s wound still showed no signs of drying.

“Su-Suhyuk!”

Juyeon ran barefoot toward Suhyuk.

“…I told you not to come out.”

Suhyuk had sincerely hoped Juyeon wouldn’t come out.