Red Dot - 33

– Chapter 33

Junseong’s breath caught abruptly.

As if Hanseo’s words were a trigger, his breath suddenly wouldn’t come properly. He gasped as if he hadn’t learned how to inhale and exhaled like he had never learned.

“Killing people is simple. Just stab the softest part, and you’ll hear a delightful sound.”

“Junseong… Kang Junseong… Damn, you look so damn killable.”

“You don’t feel pain? Then it’s not fun… I want to hear you scream.”

A familiar voice relentlessly echoed in his mind. Whenever a new dream began, he always desperately avoided him, not wanting to hear even a syllable of that person’s voice.

But now, it resurfaced.

What he said, what he did, what he wanted from him, and the things he did to him.

“Oh, gasp… huk….”

The trauma he had suppressed led to hyperventilation, blocking Junseong’s airway.

Hanseo calmly swept his back as Junseong showed sudden symptoms.

“You need to breathe properly, Junseong.”

Gently coaxing, Hanseo pushed Junseong back onto the bed. Clinging to Hanseo’s arms as if to keep them from falling, Junseong convulsed.

Hanseo observed Junseong struggling with difficulty.

‘Will he die like this?’

That was the first thought that crossed his mind.

Tears, caused by the strained hyperventilation, clung to Junseong’s eye corners. His focus blurred to the point where he could barely see, and his already pale face now looked like polished marble.

“Huk…, hoo, ugh…, hup….”

Hanseo raised Junseong’s face to make him look at him. Moisture-laden, hazy eyes barely captured his face.

Hanseo’s lips twisted, mirroring the emotions he felt.

“How can you survive being this fragile?”

Junseong’s panting mouth seemed to say something as it wheezed.

‘He…lp…me….’

Hanseo couldn’t ignore the wicked mischief in Junseong’s persistent attempts to raise his head.

“Try begging for your life.”

The corners of Junseong’s eyes trembled.

“Try begging, Junseong. Then I’ll let you live.”

It felt strange.

Unpleasant, yet desired.

He didn’t want to hear it, but he did.

Begging for life, like those whining kids. He couldn’t ignore it due to the nauseating feeling rising from the depths of his being.

“Huk…, hoo….”

Junseong’s lips trembled as if trying to speak.

‘Son…of…a…bitch….’

Seeing that, Hanseo couldn’t help but burst into laughter involuntarily. It was as if some of the hidden emotions had unexpectedly surfaced.

Immediately after, Hanseo pushed Junseong down, climbing on top of him. Then, possibly to prevent Junseong from looking at his strange face, Hanseo covered his eyes and gently pinched his nose.

Then, abruptly, he swallowed Junseong’s lips.

“Hup, ugh-!”

At the sudden action, Junseong’s body twitched. With Hanseo’s hand covering his nose, Junseong couldn’t breathe properly, so naturally, he was forced to breathe through their connected mouths. In the process, he even absorbed Hanseo’s breath as he gasped. The two breathed seamlessly, their lips pressed together, exchanging the essence of each other.

Fortunately, the symptoms of hyperventilation, which seemed dangerously severe to anyone, gradually began to ease. The convulsions in the trembling hands also improved.

As breathing returned, whether due to the complete relaxation of the body’s tension or not, the half-closed eyelids, wet within Hanseo’s grasp, gently closed. The pace of the labored breathing now seemed sufficiently stabilized.

Hanseo detached his lips, which had been sharing breath, and removed his hands. With closed eyes, Junseong’s face, breathing slightly heavily, became visible.

Hanseo’s slender fingers wiped away the tears that had welled up in Junseong’s eyes. Then, he licked the collected tears with the tip of his tongue.

“Junseong.”

The called name made Junseong’s weak eyelids flutter. Within the slowly rising hazy pupils, Hanseo’s red lips sparkled.

“I’ll kill everyone and come back, so…”

A beautiful crimson light appeared on Hanseo’s face, which was as pale as it could be.

“Answer the question I asked earlier.”

Hanseo’s delicately jointed fingers caressed Junseong’s soft lips and then reluctantly withdrew.

About to turn away, Junseong’s hand suddenly grabbed Hanseo’s wrist.

“Don’t…kill me…”

Hanseo’s shoulders slumped as if he had let out a sigh. His face instantly turned chilly, and the previously lifted air crashed to the ground.

Those who claim they won’t kill others with their own hands, even when facing the danger of death, are just hypocrites pretending to be clean. Sure, it might be because they are cowards.

But telling someone not to kill the other when they are in mortal danger is just like telling them to die. It’s nothing less than a curse spat out by a hypocrite pretending to be noble.

Surely Kang Junseong wouldn’t be such a hypocrite.

‘If he is, I’d be quite disappointed.’

Whether it was Fake Park Hyeonje or those on the fifth floor, it was almost certain that they had killed people. Judging by the way they distinguish people by age and health, they might even be involved in organ harvesting.

Telling not to kill such people? When he himself could die?

Hanseo felt the intense emotions that had been building up in him so far gradually cooling down.

“But…”

As Hanseo was being held, Junseong’s voice, still mixed with labored breath, reached him.

“If someone tries to kill you…I’ll kill them for you.”

Hanseo turned to look at Junseong, surprised by the unexpected words. Junseong had risen and sat down during that time. Even then, Hanseo didn’t let go of Junseong’s wrist, fearing he might leave on his own.

While sitting, Junseong bit down on his labored breath.

“So, if I think I’m going to die…”

Junseong’s eyes, lifted up, were completely clear, with an unknown determination embedded in them.

“You’ll be the one to kill that bastard for me.”

Upon hearing those words, Hanseo’s shoulders trembled slightly. The face that he thought would only be cold and white instantly blazed, and his fingertips twitched and convulsed just as Junseong had done.

Hanseo turned Junseong away, covering his face with one hand, and looked away from him. To control this inexplicable emotion, he needed to avert his gaze.

‘I feel like I’m going crazy…’

Hanseo felt his vision blur for a moment. The anemia that occasionally visited him seemed to be making his head more dizzy at this particular moment.

‘What should I do?’

In Hanseo’s mind, Junseong’s words were echoing like a storm.

At the end of it all was Kang Junseong, who had turned the blood of living humans upside down for his own survival.

‘Kang Junseong…’

Junseong’s blood-stained appearance brought a stronger sensation than when Hanseo had imagined killing him directly.

Internally, Hanseo repeated Junseong’s name countless times.

‘Kang Junseong, Kang Junseong, Kang Junseong, Kang Junseong, Kang Junseong, Kang Junseong, Kang Junseong!’

The excitement that had risen to the tip of his head seemed to be melting his entire body. If he relaxed even a little, it felt like the blood would rush down below.

‘It feels like I might faint without even touching anything.’

Hanseo was perplexed by the warmth of his own face felt through the palm of his hand.

Whether Junseong knew about Hanseo’s current state or not, he descended from the bed, wielding the machete from behind.

“I asked earlier, in that dream… Have you ever killed a person?”

Junseong’s answer, delivered just when Hanseo was calming down, struck a decisive blow to Hanseo’s ears.

“Yeah, I’ve killed. As soon as the round started, I ran and killed, killed again, killed more, and killed again…”

Darkness descended on Junseong’s face.

“I kept killing until I could laugh.”

He knew that lying on a chilling surgical table was frightening.

The dental surgery table he lay on due to a cavity was scary, and so was the urological surgery table he lay on during the circumcision surgery. Even the orthopedic surgery table where he had to undergo surgery to insert a metal rod into his leg after a severe fracture while playing soccer was terrifying.

However, if he were to choose the scariest one in his life, it would undoubtedly be the surgical table he was lying on right now.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

Despite his attempts to make noise, only groans echoed due to the hard gag in his mouth. Even though saliva trickled down from the open mouth, it was less than the tears streaming from his eyes.

Taeju continually shouted, looking at the three men in black standing around him.

Save him.

Why are they doing this?

“Oh, let’s keep it down. Somehow, my ears hurt even though I gagged him.”

A man grimaced and tapped his ear with his palm.

“If you keep doing that, we’ll peel your head off like zombies, starting from your head.”

“We don’t have the consideration to anesthetize you while pulling you out, sir. Let’s cooperate.”

“These bastards, seriously. What’s the point of consideration when they’re all going to die anyway.”

One of the laughing men approached Taeju, who was tied to the surgical table and unable to move, with his face close. Taeju’s eyes were so swollen with tears that it was hard to see.

“Ugh!”

Taeju gasped as the man, chuckling, brought a sharp scalpel close to his tear-streaked eyes.