Red Dot - 161

Chapter 161

Afterward, Junseong rarely stayed awake for long.

For some reason, Nam Ki-hyuk’s absences grew frequent, and even when they met, they couldn’t spend much time together. As Ki-hyuk’s time away lengthened, he pressed a knife against the ankle of the deeply sleeping Junseong.

“I just cut off something unnecessary. Your big brother will take care of everything, so Junseong doesn’t need it anymore, right?”

When Junseong woke up and felt his feet couldn’t bear strength properly, he had no thoughts about it. His life consisted entirely of lying or sitting on the mat Ki-hyuk prepared, so the added discomfort of stiffness and numbness in his ankle was all it amounted to.

By then, the “punishments” had stopped. Of course, being forced to control his breathing several times a day to satisfy Ki-hyuk’s desires could also be called punishment or torture for Junseong, but Ki-hyuk, laughably, called it pampering him.

The reason Ki-hyuk’s “punishments” stopped was partly because he got busier, but more likely because no one remained worth killing to show Junseong.

Those who became sacrifices to punish Kang Junseong were limited to those with him at the moment of his death. People he briefly met and parted with or those bitten and killed by zombies along the way were all excluded.

“You… can’t remember.”

That fact gave Junseong some relief.

Since the dreams Ki-hyuk claimed to have only contained scenes from a few minutes before or after Junseong’s death, he believed his eyes would no longer witness a bloodbath.

One day, after falling asleep multiple times without a sliver of a dream.

Ki-hyuk, returning after a long absence, forcibly woke Junseong, who slept under sedatives, and inflicted another round of torture. After hearing the desired response as usual, Ki-hyuk lay satisfied on the mat. U Seok-jin, holding a walkie-talkie, approached and reported.

“Boss, it’ll take about four hours. We paid a bribe, but crossing the blockade line is tricky.”

“Four hours, huh…”

Ki-hyuk, stroking Junseong, wrapped in a navy blanket, like handling a puppy in his arms, narrowed his eyes.

“No big deal, it’s the ‘last’ one, so I can wait that long.”

Ki-hyuk’s hand gently rubbed Junseong’s lips, which exhaled raspy breaths. As if on cue, Junseong’s lips naturally parted, and Ki-hyuk’s two fingers invaded.

“Right, Junseong?”

With Ki-hyuk’s fingers in his mouth, Junseong, with unfocused eyes, nodded.

He couldn’t understand what Ki-hyuk said, but if he didn’t respond, his throat would be choked again. Wanting to avoid that, he just nodded as Ki-hyuk wanted and licked the fingers in his mouth.

Ki-hyuk, gazing lovingly at Junseong, pulled his slick fingers from Junseong’s mouth. Licking the saliva-soaked fingers with his red tongue as Junseong did, Ki-hyuk curved his eyes.

Ki-hyuk’s saliva-coated fingers traced Junseong’s neckline. Junseong’s unfocused eyes snapped open, and his bruise-covered neck trembled as if convulsing. The raspy breathing quickly turned urgent.

“Not now. It’s okay.”

Soothingly speaking, Ki-hyuk’s fingers, tracing the neckline, spread Junseong’s white shirt wide open to his chest. The faint-colored n1pple visible between the white chest and shirt, contrasting with the navy blanket, stirred another desire in Ki-hyuk.

Licking his lips as if eyeing something delicious, Ki-hyuk grinned.

“Today will be the last punishment.”

Junseong’s hazy pupils shook violently.

“After you take all the punishment…”

Ki-hyuk’s hand lightly gripped Junseong’s neck. The thin neck’s pulse thumped within his large grip.

“I’ll make you feel so good you’ll beg for more.”

As Ki-hyuk applied slight pressure, the pressed Adam’s apple quivered, producing a rough breathing sound.

When Ki-hyuk, staring at Junseong’s terrified face, lowered his face toward Junseong’s lips.

Beep-

-Boss! The soldiers are tailing us!

At the sudden interruption, Ki-hyuk sharply furrowed his brow. Seok-jin, taking his place, grabbed the walkie-talkie.

“What happened?”

-When crossing the blockade, that b1tch caused a brief ruckus, and I think we got spotted then.

“Stupid bastards!”

Seok-jin shouted irritably.

For a moment, a brief light flickered in Junseong’s eyes.

“That b1tch…? A woman?”

His shattered mind, capable only of simple thoughts, suddenly started racing. The more he thought, the paler his face grew, and his body trembled like an aspen.

Ki-hyuk, thinking Junseong was scared by Seok-jin’s outburst, glared at him. Ki-hyuk didn’t mind scaring Junseong himself but hated anyone else affecting him. His eyes seemed ready to tear Seok-jin apart.

Seok-jin quickly bowed in apology and asked with a troubled face.

“What should we do, boss?”

“If the soldiers are determined to chase, we can’t shake them easily. No choice.”

Sighing and standing, Ki-hyuk carefully covered the trembling, curled-up Junseong’s shoulders with the blanket.

“Gather everyone who can move now. Soldiers won’t be easy opponents.”

Ki-hyuk’s face, rising from the mat, turned cold and murderous, unlike moments before.

“Launch recon drones and gauge the communication range between the military base and the soldiers. As soon as we enter a no-comms zone, we’ll strike back.”

“Understood.”

Ki-hyuk, adjusting his disheveled clothes, took a coat from Seok-jin and put it on. In a pristine trench coat unstained by bl00d, he looked too kind and ordinary to be a brutal murderer.

Ki-hyuk, fastening his coat, glanced at Junseong. Junseong, still curled up, looked up at Ki-hyuk with unfocused eyes.

“Stay quiet and sleep until your master returns.”

Ki-hyuk, boldly calling himself “master,” turned and headed out of the factory. Seok-jin followed.

“Put him to sleep for about four hours with something mild. Too much, and he won’t wake on time.”

“Yes, boss.”

Ki-hyuk’s instructions and Seok-jin’s reply faded.

After a brief silence.

Two large men entered, as if replacing the two. As they approached, Junseong, still curled on the mat, breathed heavily.

“Nam… Ki-hyuk…”

A metallic taste rolled in his mouth. His damaged vocal cords and rough breathing apparatus chewed over the name of the feared man.

His powerless hands clenched tightly into fists. His cloudy eyes gradually regained focus.

“No… way…”

The earlier conversation kept circling in his head.

Junseong realized who the target of Ki-hyuk’s “last punishment” was.

The “comrades of Kang Junseong” Ki-hyuk remembered were already all dead. No matter how broken his mind was, he couldn’t fail to remember them. The dream’s memories were strangely vivid.

If not them, who could be the target?

“Chaeyi…”

His little sister, whom he hadn’t even thought to save in this cycle.

She was never there at the moment of his death, but that didn’t matter.

In some forgotten cycle, on a day he died with Ki-hyuk.

In that cycle, he talked a lot about Kang Chaeyi. He opened his heart to Ki-hyuk, sharing personal stories.

“Your little sister… I wanted to meet her…”

Just before death, Ki-hyuk mumbled regretfully.

Ki-hyuk likely recalled that memory, realized Junseong had a “little sister,” and chose her as the final target.

“No way…”

He knew it was a dream. Even if his sister was dragged in and brutally killed, it would just be a dream.

But.

“I’ll make it no longer a dream but ‘reality.’”

Was it because of Ki-hyuk’s spell-like words?

Junseong didn’t think the people dying before his eyes were mere fragments of a nightmare. Even if he wanted to, his instincts rejected it, awakening him to profound fear.

As if warning everything could become reality.

Or as if saying this moment was reality.

“Ugh…”

Swallowing a short groan, Junseong sat up. The blanket slid off, and cold air enveloped the thinly shirted Junseong.

“I have to escape… from this dream somehow…”

He absolutely didn’t want to see Kang Chaeyi die before his eyes.

His sluggish mind gradually awakened. His damned body, which could only tremble, started tensing up. His muscles creaked with inaudible friction. He was unable to walk properly after days of lying bound.

Kang Junseong hadn’t given up everything yet.

Amid betrayal-filled despair, ravaged pathetically, he created a tiny thread of possibility.

To shatter the abnormal “reality” Ki-hyuk dreamed of, a way for him to die.