“Ah, heuh… … .”
Yi-an slowly opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. What was this? It’s white. There was nothing there. Just like inside his mind…
After staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment, he suddenly sat up in shock. It was because he realized too late that it wasn’t the ceiling of his own house, which gets stained with bird droppings here and there whenever it rains.
What was this? Where was he?
Since there was no bed in his house to begin with, he didn’t feel any sense of unease when he first opened his eyes, but the floor was excessively hard, even compared to his own living room. It was a space where the cement floor was completely exposed, hardly resembling a typical home. On top of that, his clothes… He was still wearing the stretched-out T-shirt and loose jogger pants he had worn when going on the errand yesterday, and his shoes with the worn-out heels, having not taken them off.
“Are you awake?”
Someone approached, watching as Yi-an fidget, unable to grasp the situation. A man chuckled softly, lit another cigarette, and crouched down to meet Yi-an’s gaze. Only then did he recognize him. It was the man he had met at dawn.
The sunlight breaking brilliantly by the window created a backlight along the man’s handsome facial contours. The red flames spreading around his jawline, sharp as if sharpening a blade; the sunlight like a halo coloring his exposed forehead; the depth of his slightly curved eyes… all remained vividly etched in his mind, even amidst the urgency of the situation. The only difference from last night was the color of the light cast upon him.
“Um, why…here…….”
“Why are you here?”
“Yes…”
The man let out another whistling sound as if finding it amusing. With a strange smile, he dropped the long cigarette held between his index and middle fingers onto the floor, crushing it with a soft “thud, thud,” and then whispered in a low voice.
“You were asking for help.”
“Ahh…….”
How did he get here yesterday? The last thing he remembered was the face of the man who said he would help me; he couldn’t recall anything. Only a faint afterimage remained, as if someone had artificially erased his memory.
“Do you work often?”
“Yes?”
He couldn’t think clearly. Yi-an jumped up in surprise at the barrage of questions.
“I’m talking about work. You didn’t go on a picnic and get lost, did you…? You went to work and met me, didn’t you? Hmm?”
“…….”
“Well…… sometimes. Not often, though…….”
It was true that he occasionally ran errands as a part-time job. Yi-an didn’t know what the situation was, but since they brought him in when he looked quite desperate, he was able to give this much of an answer.
“Is that so?”
“……Yes.”
“I see. So it wasn’t the first time. No wonder.”
He opened the side door and came down. The man, who had been looking down at Yi-an, curved his lips gently. It was a smile that made you want to smile along. Following his lead, Yi-an fluttered slightly and awkwardly pushed the corners of his mouth upward. Just then, he had decided to express his gratitude and return home.
“…I heard that is the case?”
Yi-an’s eyes widened at the sentence, to whom on earth was directed it directed to. To whom… … It was the moment he parted his lips in thought. With a flick of the man’s hand in the air, a piercing scream, sharp enough to tear eardrums, began to echo through the space.
“Aaaargh! Ow! Aaaargh! Ugh!”
Yi-an instinctively flinched. Shivering slightly, he examined the face of the man crouching in front of him. Without even blinking an eye at the painful groans, the man was skillfully crushing the cigarette that was barely touching the ground, pressing it down forcefully. His movements seemed to be in rhythm with the screams.
“Hwaa, aaaak! P-save me……!”
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