Clap - 39

Ihyun gently stroked Jaemin’s hair. Jaemin’s pupils, hidden in darkness, twitched violently. His words meant that something else would happen starting tomorrow. It would undoubtedly be a pain that felt like his bones were melting. Not a single day had gone by without pain since he was brought to this house.

Jaemin clenched his creaking joints into a tight fist. Red blood started to back up into the IV line. Watching this, Ihyun calmly replaced the IV. He inserted the needle a bit deeper and secured it tightly with tape.

There were no drugs in the IV necessary for Jaemin’s awakening or manifestation. Generously, it was solely for Jaemin’s recovery and stability. This meant that resisting like this would only harm Jaemin.

“Even if you resist, your manifestation will come soon.”

“……”

“I’m really curious about your first heat cycle, Jaemin.”

Ihyun whispered into Jaemin’s ear and chuckled as he left the bedroom. The door clicked shut. For the first time in ages, Jaemin was alone. He had spent more time alone in his life than with others. He had always craved the warmth of others.

Now, he was utterly disgusted by both Ihyun’s cold hands and Ichan’s hot ones. Jaemin closed his eyes in despair.

The only place he could escape to was in his dreams.

***

The once full IV bag was now flat and empty. All the drugs had been absorbed into Jaemin’s body. At the same time, the pain that had momentarily disappeared came rushing back, pounding against his body.

The hole used by Ihyun and Ichan felt like it was on fire, and he knew without looking that his thighs, the area below his knees, and his hips were bruised from their large hands. His throat, which had simultaneously let out groans and screams, was sore, and his back, which had been pressed down, and his ribs, which had been gasping for breath, ached.

The pain from his lips, torn from fellatio, was incomparable. It had hurt so much that he had cried secretly at night back then. Now, he didn’t even feel the need to cry.

Jaemin, who had no parents from birth, had been left with intact limbs. So, he had never experienced severe pain. In other words, he was fragile when it came to pain.

Curled up like a ball, Jaemin let out shallow breaths. Although he had lain still all day, he was short of breath. Cold sweat soaked his entire body.

Jaemin stared at the door intently. From his experience so far, Ihyun and Ichan were extremely meticulous. They would appear right before the IV ran out to replace it. They fed him on time, took him to the bathroom, and made sure he slept at a set time using sleeping pills if necessary.

But why? Why is no one coming?

Fear set in. Had he been abandoned like this? If they didn’t come, Jaemin would last at most two weeks before dying. He imagined himself found as a skeleton with shackles around his ankles.

As the thought lingered, he couldn’t stay still. Jaemin supported himself with trembling arms and lifted his upper body. When he pulled the blanket aside, the shackle around his thin ankle was revealed. Despite the soft leather padding, the skin around it was red and chafed.

“Huu…”

Jaemin took a deep breath and bent his legs. Then, with all his weak strength, he pulled the shackle. But as expected, it made a lot of noise but didn’t budge. There was no way a chain thicker than his thumb would break with such pitiful strength.

Jaemin pulled and struck the shackle until his fingertips turned red, then collapsed onto the bed with a dying groan. How much had he moved to become so exhausted?

Gasping for breath, Jaemin stood up again. This time, he aimed for the iron stake the shackle was fixed to, not the shackle itself. However, the moment he set foot under the bed, he fell flat.

“Huh…”

His knees trembled. How could his entire body ache as if he had been beaten just from having sex? Jaemin groaned, pressing his forehead to the floor.

But he persevered. He couldn’t waste time like this because… his bladder had been tingling, needing the bathroom. Having been on IV fluids for days, he needed to urinate frequently.

Jaemin crawled toward the stake. The thick iron piece was deeply embedded in the floor. He sighed. How did Ichan and Ihyun get such thick iron, and how did they embed it so deeply?

Jaemin reluctantly acknowledged defeat as he fumbled with the iron. One of the hard-learned lessons since entering this house:

Don’t waste strength on impossible things.

Impossible things are impossible no matter what.