“J-just wait! Don’t do this…”
I struggled, trying to break free, but Cha Rui clutched my neck and slowly applied force.
A muffled gasp escaped my lips from the tightening grip.
The moment I parted my lips in pain, Cha Rui violently kissed me.
No, this was practically being devoured by a beast.
“Wooph…”
The raw, unrestrained kiss continued.
Our lips were perfectly interlocked without the slightest gap, blocking even the small amount of air I was trying to breathe out.
I was already suffocating, and his tongue rudely pushed past my slightly parted lips.
As if my resistance meant nothing to him, he was intent only on pouring out his greed and ransacking my mouth.
He forcefully invaded the inside of my mouth and persistently touched the most vulnerable parts.
He had been aggressive before, but never this forceful.
This was less a kiss and more an act of hunting prey.
I pounded his shoulder hard from lack of breath, but Cha Rui only pressed his body closer.
He crushed my wrists and continued to churn inside my mouth as if it were still not enough.
Saliva that I couldn’t swallow dripped down my cheek from his rough, brutish actions.
Feeling like I was truly going to suffocate, I frantically tried to turn my face away.
But Cha Rui didn’t allow even this, tilting his head to follow mine.
Finally, when my breath gave out and my movements slowed noticeably, he stopped.
His reason was gone, but he somehow noticed that I was in danger.
“H-haak!”
As his hand finally released my neck and his lips parted, I gasped for breath, coughing hysterically.
Tears from the physiological distress poured down, and a burning pain surged in my throat.
I painfully twisted my body, trying to get away from him.
But Cha Rui showed no sign of stopping there.
He pulled up my shirt and began sucking on the area near my flank.
As a sudden hot sensation touched a sensitive spot, I instinctively curled up.
“D-don’t do this.”
Startled by the abrupt situation, Chirpy, who had slipped out of my embrace, was only circling around the ceiling, unsure of what to do.
Meanwhile, Cha Rui’s hand, which was constantly kneading my body, pushed into the back of my pants.
The atmosphere was rapidly moving in an unwanted direction.
Cha Rui left clear marks on my body as he moved upward, then pressed down on a sensitive area with the tip of his tongue.
He persistently stimulated the raised part before suddenly sucking hard.
“Nngh.”
Immediately after, he wedged his leg between my thighs and began to move suggestively.
The heavy pressure of his member indicated it was already swollen to its limit.
My own lower body naturally couldn’t help but react to the friction of the stimulation.
But in this place, in this manner, I absolutely could not accept him.
‘No.’
I twisted my hips, gasping for air, but the hand that was inside my pants followed the curve of my body and burrowed in relentlessly.
The fingers groping for intimate places held a clear intention.
Even amidst the mental fog, I desperately tried to recall the memory.
I had to somehow ignore the rising sensation and push him away.
‘Ah.’
Thanks to my intense effort, I finally remembered a scene from the movie, but I hit a wall again.
In the movie, Cha Rui, who was trapped by his instinct, managed to break free from the hallucination by realizing it himself.
His reason returned with a burst of emotional turmoil.
However, not only could I not remember what that emotional turmoil was, but Cha Rui was also completely consumed by the hallucination right now.
He seemed to have no time to reflect on himself as he was preoccupied with exploring my body.
In the end, I had to intervene, but the problem was that I didn’t know how to trigger his emotions.
As I racked my brain, a small moan escaped through my tightly bitten lips.
No matter how much I tried not to feel anything, it was not something I could stop with my own will.
Cha Rui kept moving his hips, pressing his lower body close, and his hand pushed deeper.
There was no time to just stand here thinking.
Left with no choice, I just abruptly grabbed Cha Rui’s face with both hands.
“Cha Rui!”
At my desperate cry, the fingers that were just about to penetrate an intimate spot paused.
Cha Rui, who had just been sucking on my chest, looked up at me with his mouth slightly open.
Relieved that I had elicited a reaction, I frantically pulled him into a hug and spoke.
“I’m sorry, I was wrong back then.”
Cha Rui had held onto the incident on the rooftop for ten years.
Though I didn’t know the specifics, the fact that Cha Rui was hurt suggested that ‘Seo Inho’ had done something significant.
Perhaps there was nothing more crucial than this to shake Cha Rui’s emotions.
More than anything, those words were my true feelings.
The guilt of unintentionally stealing ‘Seo Inho’s’ place and the fact that I could never reveal it weighed heavily on a corner of my heart.
“I’m sorry.”
I hugged Cha Rui’s neck repeatedly and continued to whisper into his ear.
Cha Rui stopped, his body rigidly frozen at my sudden action.
After a suffocating silence, I suddenly felt a hand grasping my forearm.
I flinched and turned my head to see his hand, which was carefully touching mine, trembling slightly.
As I pulled away, Cha Rui’s rigidly frozen face came into view.
Unlike before, his pupils were shaking with confusion.
Within them, a mixture of affection for me and an inexpressible fear flickered.
A torrent of emotions poured out through his gaze, like surging waves.
Fortunately, the method had worked.
My relief was brief, however, as his gaze, which had been slowly scanning my body, stopped at my neck.
Then, with a pat-deuk sound, Cha Rui’s jaw muscles convulsed.
Just his reaction was enough to tell me that the state of my neck was not good.
“Cha Rui.”
He seemed greatly shocked, his expression contorted, unable to tear his eyes away.
Then, at his action of raising his hand, my shoulder involuntarily flinched.
He was only going to check on my condition, but perhaps because of what just happened, my body reacted first.
None of this was his will, so I had no reason to be afraid.
What just happened was merely an instinctive action, not a threat.
“…”
But Cha Rui seemed to have interpreted my reaction differently.
The hand that had reached my neck slowly clenched into a fist and pulled back.
“Cha Rui.”
I was flustered and called his name again, but Cha Rui stood up and began to walk away.
The place he arrived at was none other than the mural of Sobek.
Kwaaang—!
Cha Rui stabbed his hand into the mural without any hesitation, and the wall instantly collapsed.
Soon after, what was caught in his grasp was a massive, black python.
To call it a python was an understatement; it was so overwhelmingly large it could be called an imugi (Korean mythical dragon).
When Cha Rui yanked his arm hard, the wall crumbled extensively, and the body of the creature poured out.
When its full form was revealed, deep scars remained on the wall we had passed through.
Astonishingly, that python was the S-rank Mid-Boss that had trapped Cha Rui in the hallucination.
Therefore, it was understandable why he was so furious.
Unbearable rage must have surged at the fact that he had been manipulated by such a creature.
Although, it didn’t seem like that was the only reason now.
Kieeeek—! Kiiiek!
“How dare you…”
Cha Rui exuded immense intimidation and firmly gripped the Mid-Boss’s head.
Because the python’s body was so massive, from a distance, it looked merely like he was touching it.
The monster thrashed violently in pain and let out chilling screams.
The rough movements shook the already narrow passage as if it would collapse at any moment.
Pazik!
Eventually, the Mid-Boss’s head burst, and the screams stopped with it.
Even after losing its head, the body continued to thrash violently for a while, then lost all power and went limp.
However, even after seeing that sight, Cha Rui showed no sign of calming his anger.
He merely lowered his head, still unable to let go of the monster’s carcass.
The feeling was that the energy he hadn’t managed to settle down was enveloping him, now that the target for his emotions was gone.
I had an ominous feeling that if I left him like this, his anger would turn against himself.
I quickly pushed myself up and rushed toward him.
The intimidation pricked my skin, but I grabbed Cha Rui’s forearm and forcefully turned him around.
“Cha Rui, it’s not your fault.”
“…”
“I said it’s not your fault.”
I couldn’t tell if he heard me, but he slowly put down the monster’s carcass and remained silent.
Seeing him unable to lift his head, like a guilty person, I felt a surge of emotion.
So, I somewhat firmly lifted his chin.
“Lift your head and look at me.”
The complexion I was forced to face was more serious than I had expected.
His face was deathly pale, as if all the blood had drained away.
The eyes he finally lifted after a long hesitation were completely shrouded in guilt.
The rage that had burned like fire was gone, and only brittle ashes dangerously scattered.
How could I possibly stand by, facing that expression?
I tugged on Cha Rui’s arm and gently pulled him into an embrace.
I rested my cheek on his shoulder and softly patted his back with my hand.
I felt his body, which had been stiff as a log, slowly relaxing.
He buried his face in my shoulder, yielding his weight to me, and quietly regulated his breathing.
I immediately felt his immense weight, but strangely, it didn’t feel heavy at all.
“I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay.”
This was the first time Cha Rui had shown such a breakdown.
The hand gripping my clothes was still trembling like an aspen leaf.
“Did… your memory return?”
He seemed to have thought that because I said I was wrong.
Perhaps the return of ‘Seo Inho’s’ memory was the moment Cha Rui feared the most.
“No, I only saw a brief moment in a dream.”
Only after hearing that answer did his expression noticeably relax.
Although he didn’t show it outwardly, his anxiety couldn’t be hidden.
