* * *
A cold, hard sensation pressed against his cheek.
Stirred by the chill, Yeongdeok rubbed his face against it and slowly raised his head.
That man… just how hard had he hit him?
The back of his head still throbbed.
“Where…?”
Yeongdeok scanned his dim surroundings, where darkness obscured everything.
His first instinct was to look for his phone, but the blow that had knocked it from his hand meant it was no longer with him.
Clicking his tongue, Yeongdeok staggered to his feet.
Feeling along the coarse walls with his hands, he slowly moved forward until he touched something unnervingly smooth and distinctly different—a door?
Lowering his hand gradually, he found a long, hard object at what seemed to be the door handle’s position.
Convinced it was the handle, Yeongdeok turned it.
Creak.
With a groaning sound, light seeped through the crack.
He hadn’t expected the door to open.
Yet it yielded easily, allowing him to escape.
Glancing around the room he had just been in, Yeongdeok quickly realized there was nothing he could use to defend himself or escape, like a window.
So he stepped out.
Before him stretched a long corridor.
Below the railing lay a massive space resembling a warehouse, where burly men loomed, while PetitRolang issued commands in the center.
And there, in the middle of it all, was Jihoon.
“Seo Jihoon?”
Jihoon was unconscious, tied to a chair.
What the hell was he doing here?
That’s when a loud horn echoed through the warehouse.
Moments later, a massive truck, identical to the one that had hit Yeongdeok, rumbled in.
The sight of the truck made Yeongdeok feel as though his breath had been stolen.
His stomach churned, and his fingers trembled.
What were they planning to do with that truck?
Were they going to kill him, just like in the original story?
But why was Jihoon there?
His heart pounded relentlessly, cold sweat pouring down his back, sending shivers through him.
Despite his fear, Yeongdeok decided to head down.
There was no way out of this place anyway. Most importantly… Jihoon was there.
As he descended the stairs, Yeongdeok worried about Wonjin.
Had he escaped?
Had he called the police?
No, even if he had, with PetitRolang orchestrating this, the police wouldn’t show up.
When he reached the bottom, the truck loomed even larger.
Swallowing hard, Yeongdeok straightened his posture.
Even if he were to die here, he refused to let PetitRolang see him cower.
With his hands in his pockets, Yeongdeok strolled casually toward the detestable PetitRolang.
As he approached, the men surrounding Roran began to notice him one by one, prompting Roran to turn and follow their gazes.
Seeing Yeongdeok, Roran’s eyes widened momentarily in surprise before he quickly masked it with a smirk.
“Well, well. Why are you walking around here, Cha Dowon?”
“Am I not allowed to?”
“…I’m certain I locked you upstairs.”
“The lock wasn’t even locked. Wasn’t that an invitation for me to come out? How careless.”
Yeongdeok’s mocking tone dripped with disdain, and Roran let out a hollow laugh, clearly annoyed but unwilling to show it.
“Well, I was planning to come get you soon anyway.”
Roran pulled Yeongdeok’s shoulder toward him, gesturing dramatically with his long outstretched arm toward a parked truck.
“How does it feel? That truck is exactly like the one that killed you.”
“…Well, isn’t that just splendid.”
Yeongdeok let out a crooked smile, his eyebrows drooping in mock amutopnt.
But the smile faded quickly from his face.
“Are you trying to kill me again, like in the original story?”
“Who knows? What do you think I want?”
Roran answered Yeongdeok’s question with another question, a sly glint in his eye.
Yeongdeok steadied his tumultuous thoughts, attempting to make sense of the situation before him.
First off, Roran didn’t need to go through this kind of elaborate setup to kill him.
If he wanted, he could just squash him like a bug with the power of the author.
This was, quite clearly, a spectacle. A show meant to convey a message.
Judging by the fact that Jihoon was also here, it seemed Roran wanted to stage a public cleansing for those who defied the author. “Know your sins and regret them before you die,” or something to that effect.
“You really think I’m some heartless villain, don’t you? Even with that sharp brain of yours, you’re stumbling now.”
Yeongdeok had only thought the words, yet Roran spoke as if he’d read his mind.
“Stumbling?”
“I’m not planning to kill you, Cha Dowon, or Seo Jihoon. Not right now.”
Roran’s hand moved lightly over Yeongdeok’s shoulder, the touch uncomfortably slow and deliberate.
“Not right now”—so, eventually? Yeongdeok decided to keep listening.
“Of course, that depends on the choices you make.”
Suddenly, Roran’s grip on Yeongdeok’s shoulder tightened with such force that he winced, furrowing his brow.
“Choices?”
“That’s right.”
Before Yeongdeok could ask what choice he meant, Roran continued, his words pouring out like venom.
“There’s only one thing I want.”
Roran’s hand slid away from Yeongdeok’s shoulder, only to grab him by the collar.
His expression twisted into something vicious, his voice dropping dangerously low.
“Go back to being Cha Dowon and stick to the original plot.”
“…And if I don’t?”
“I’ll kill Seo Jihoon.”
The truck, which had been silently parked, suddenly flashed its headlights as if to underline the threat.
But Yeongdeok held his composure, his gaze unwavering.
“I don’t understand why you’re demanding this now. You’ve never cared about the original story before.”
“The reason doesn’t matter. All you need to do is choose.”
Yeongdeok shoved Roran’s chest with both hands, forcing him to step back.
Roran didn’t resist and instead smirked, his serpent-like voice curling around Yeongdeok’s resolve.
“So, what’s it going to be?”
What Yeongdeok had initially thought was a cleansing spectacle was clearly something else—a training exercise meant to break him.
The bait Roran had chosen, Seo Jihoon, was no coincidence.
As the author, Roran—or “PetitRolang”—knew every corner of Yeongdeok’s mind. A lie or bluff wouldn’t work here.
Rationally, Yeongdeok knew Roran couldn’t kill Seo Jihoon.
Demanding Yeongdeok return to the original plot while killing Jihoon contradicted the very foundation of the story.
This was pure intimidation, a scare tactic.
“If you can kill him…”
Yeongdeok tried to retort with confidence, daring him to follow through, but the words caught in his throat.
“Choose your words carefully,” Roran warned, his tone ice-cold.
“You might unleash something irreversible.”
At that, Yeongdeok’s lips pressed tightly together.
What if he was wrong?
What if Roran really did kill Jihoon?
His eyes darted briefly to Jihoon, still unconscious.
Once, Yeongdeok wouldn’t have cared.
He would’ve told Roran to do as he pleased, brushing Jihoon off as nothing more than a tool for his own revenge.
But now?
Things were different.
To accept Roran’s demands would mean abandoning the revenge he’d nurtured all this time.
His life, built entirely around vengeance, would come crashing down, resetting everything.
From Cha Yeongdeok to Cha Dowon, from a human to an “ObessessiveTop.”
It would be like…being thrown away by Cha Heeseok, the father he’d spent his entire life trying to please, only to be discarded like a worthless object.
At that moment, something inside Yeongdeok snapped.
The final thread of restraint he’d held onto gave way, and long-buried emotions began to surface.
Waves of feelings he hadn’t dared to confront surged through him.
“PetitRolang…”
He muttered the pen name under his breath.
But the soft, calm tone quickly gave way to an eruption of anger.
“PetitRolang… PetitRolang! You bastard… YOU BASTARD!”
For the first time in his life, Yeongdeok lost control, screaming the author’s name with every ounce of rage in his being.
His eyes shimmered, filling with unshed tears.
“How far are you planning to push me…?”
* * *
Ahhhh, I think the chapters are shorter
Thanks