Chapter 3

Translator and Editor: Gina and Tea

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Chapter 3

‘Did I finally go crazy?’

As soon as Baek Hawon was grabbed by the collar, Ji-woon reflexively pulled out his gun and then returned it, rubbing the dark circles under his eyes in wonder.

“I’m only going to say it once, so listen straight, Boss.”

Holding onto the Boss’s neck so tightly that veins spurted out of the back of her white hand, she even poked his chest with her finger. Like his wrinkled forehead, Ji-woon also furrowed his eyebrows.

“My heart is out of here now.”

“…”

“I’ll be independent within this week, so please prepare a farewell party.”

A powerful voice crushed the heavy silence and shattered it. Under the sun, bright brown eyes lit up and became slightly larger. It was a small change, but it was a rare change for Ji-woon, who was accustomed to the robotic members of the organization.

The existence of Cha Yeonbyeol in Baekcheon was not something that could be defined so simply. A woman brought by Baekcheon’s former boss, because she resembled his beloved dead wife, and that woman’s daughter. She did not belong to the organization, but at the same time, if anyone looked at it in a different light, she also held the second-highest position after the current Boss. The organization members called her Lady and couldn’t treat her recklessly.

Rather than being in a position created by the presence of Cha Yeonbyeol, her own words and actions had made her existence like it was now. A supercilious, immature idiot. There was an atmosphere around her that overwhelmed people enough to make native fools who didn’t know better think she was some kind of executive in the organization.

Not to mention, she spoke about love to the Boss like a madwoman. Whether animal or person, if his eyes stayed on them for a long time, she would snap at it, destroy everything, and hold onto Hawon with blood-stained hands, confessing her endless love.

The more she did so, the more Baek Hawon hated her. Nevertheless, he put Cha Yeonbyeol under Baekcheon’s care because of the risk to the organization if he took her somewhere else, and the irresistible will left by his ex-Boss and father.

“I think it would be a blessing for the Boss too, so making it as glamorous and luxurious as possible will be fine, right?”

But finally?

Did she finally go crazy?

No.

She changed.

That which was always the same as the dull hands of a clock changed. It had changed so much that it was impossible to pinpoint the cause. And Baek Hawon also felt the change. Ji-woon noticed it right away. The dark abyss of the eyes that reflected Cha Yeonbyeol shone with a different light than before.

Baek Hawon merely looked at her with numb eyes. From the rolled up corners of her dazzling mouth in her face full of wrath, until she suddenly collapsed into his arms.

* * *

“The fever was over 39 degrees. Fortunately, it’s down to 38 degrees now, but it’s still dangerous. It seems that the body aches she suffered last time have gotten worse.”

The boundaries between dream and reality were blurred. As if the heat had melted away my sense of reality, I was dizzyingly sinking into something deep.

“Are you out of your mind? You can’t do this unless you’re insane.”

What made me open my eyes at once on such a day was a clear voice that made me wonder if I had heard wrong.

‘Oh, I’m regaining consciousness.’

I blinked my heavy eyelids slowly and finally closed them again. On second thought, I wondered if I really heard it wrong. Was there anyone who could say something like that to Baek Hawon?

“How could you leave that child unattended to the point she passed out twice?”

“What’s happening? I don’t think there’s any reason for Do’s heir to come directly.”

“I came to see her, why? Do you have any complaints?”

Clank- A brutal sound followed the next second. Although I hadn’t heard it for more than a few times, I knew it was the unmistakable sound of a gun loading.

“You said I was raised kindly, but I see it’s completely arbitrary.”

“What the— Then, if I raised you so toughly, why are you acting as you please?”

Really… It was too much for anyone to pretend to sleep in such a deadly atmosphere. When I opened my eyes, I saw a few pictures on the ceiling that I had already gotten used to. It was Cha Yeonbyeol’s room.

Once I opened my eyes, I was choked by a heavy weight like a large rock that weighed on my body. I thought about closing my eyes again to the helplessness that came over me like a wave, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of the person who had been on my side so far.

Above all else, the hair was like cotton candy. Colorful cotton candy. As much as the unusual hair color, the attire also stood out. From a jean jacket embroidered with colorful flowers, red socks, yellow shoes, and teddy bear-shaped earrings hanging over the shoulders. As I slightly turned my eyes, I saw Baek Hawon. Really aiming a gun at Cotton Candy.

‘This freaking bastard is always holding out a gun and making a riot here and there.’.

“Cotton Candy.”

It was the only phrase I could barely utter. Fortunately, Cotton Candy turned towards me, probably wondering if she had heard right, and our eyes met. The boyish beauty that was evident at first glance suited Cotton Candy’s downy hair. It was a face with soft and firm features that naturally melted together even the excessive fashion in personality. ‘I bet they’d be even prettier with a smile. Usually, a kid with such an appearance is a villainous mastermind.’ Lost in my absurd thoughts like that, I was blatantly staring at the face in front of me with a distorted expression.

“Why do you look uglier?”

What? I could feel my face crumble at the words that made me lose focus. There’s no way I would have forgotten a jerk like this, whose every word is like a bomb… maybe he’s an extra?

Judging from his face, he is at the same level as the main characters, but since Cha Yeonbyeol died in the early stages, there was enough possibility that he would not appear if he was on Yeonbyeol’s side.

“Bring the doctor.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Looking at me, Baek Hawon put the gun down. As if he was displeased, Cotton Candy frowned.

“Isn’t the Boss too old-fashioned?”

My wariness of Cotton Candy raised along with my favoritism. ‘It’s hard to see such a mindset on this floor, how could I not like you?’ As I groaned trying to get up, Cotton Candy grabbed me and helped me lean against the head of the bed.

I had never seen him in the book, so I couldn’t even guess three letters of his name. Judging by the fact that he was said to be the heir of the Do family, I guessed his last name was Do. The Baekcheon was led by the Baek family, and five families followed the head, dividing and managing Baekcheon domains accordingly. It looked like one of those families was Cotton Candy’s family.

“Hey, Cotton Candy.”

“Cotton Candy?”

“What is your name?”

Perhaps because of the fever, the words I was thinking passed through the filter without any resistance and came out in my hazy mind through my lips. Cotton Candy’s eyebrows narrowed seriously.

“What? Are you still out of your mind?”

“Do Siyoo, stop this and leave.”

The answer was issued from the mouth that I didn’t want to hear.

Do.Si.Yoo. I rolled those three syllables in my mouth, but nothing came to mind. It was my first time hearing that name.

Cotton Candy, no, Do Siyoo showed his displeasure explicitly in his frowning face, but he stood up from the bed as if he could not go against the Boss’s order. I thought he would leave the room like that, but he turned around suddenly, grabbed my shoulders, and drew his face close enough to feel his breath. Unknowingly, I stopped breathing at his unexpected action.

“Anytime just tell me.”

“…”

“Whenever you want to leave here, just tell me.”

I didn’t respond to his incomprehensible words and looked at him with a blank expression, but Do Siyoo left the room as if he didn’t see my gaze.

‘Whenever you want to leave here?’ There was no way Cha Yeonbyeol would want to leave Baekcheon.

The novel seemed full of things I didn’t know from reading. Or is it because I possessed the villainess who died in the first chapter of a BL novel?

It felt like my head was going to break again. Still, seeing that he was close with Baek Hawon, there seemed to be no possibility of disguising or creating a fake identity, so it was clear that Do Siyoo was not the villain who killed Yu-gyeom.

I wasn’t sure what kind of relationship he had with Cha Yeonbyeol, but it was a bit of a relief to know that there was at least one person who liked her.

As the tension eased and the drowsiness came again, and I was about to fall asleep, my eyes met with Baek Hawon, who I thought had left with Do Siyoo.

“Boss.”

His eyebrows twitched and twisted at my words. My body shuddered at the incomprehensible gaze aimed at me. Baek Hawon’s face was like a night-sea or a swamp. It looked calm on the outside, but you couldn’t know the bottom until you touched it. Nevertheless, the moment you touch it, it raises a sense of fear as if it will devour you.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

Baek Hawon had been leaning against the door all the time and now took a step forward. Even if I walked while measuring each step with a ruler, I wouldn’t be able to create such perfection like him.

“Party.”

Slowly, an unfamiliar sense of weight permeated with each step he took, created from the things he was born to possess. The atmosphere surrounding him was the arrogance of a predator at the top of the food chain.

“Let’s throw a party.”

Baek Hawon’s white hand touched the rose on the table in an unsuitable way. The movement of fiddling with the blood-red petals made me nervous, but I struggled to turn a blind eye to my rising alarm.

I declared I would become independent, leaving Baekcheon. Grabbing Baek Hawon’s collar on top of that. I was clearly insane at that moment, but looking back it wasn’t that crazy.

If I leave this island, I wouldn’t meet Yu-gyeom, who will sneak into this island and kidnap me. Nor will I die at the hands of Yu-gyeom on the day Baek Hawon goes to find me and meet him.

“I don’t think I’m going to be part of this organization when I’m not even good at shooting, so I think it’s time to leave and live.”

After independence, it wouldn’t be bad to ask Do Siyoo, whom I just saw, for help. Although I wasn’t sure what kind of relationship we had, it looked like ‘friendship.’

I looked at Baek Hawon and smiled softly. As if I could see the road leading to my survival, the corners of my mouth curled up naturally.

“The Boss also wants me to disappear, isn’t that right?”

At that moment, Baek Hawon gripped a flower with one hand. Strong enough for blood to flow out, yet he remained expressionless. The fragile flower broke too easily in his hand, and dark red petals fell to the floor with blood droplets from the bite of the thorns.

It gave me goosebumps, but I faced the gaze focused on me while squeezing the blanket tightly so as not to show my fear. I opened my mouth because the silence that burdened me while we stared at each other was too heavy.

“Boss.”

Baek Hawon let out a cold sneer.

“Cha Yeonbyeol.”

Saying my name in a low tone, he drew closer to me. Red petals scattered like fresh blood as he walked. The more I suppressed the desire to run away, the bigger it got. Baek Hawon, standing right in front of me, held out his hand, and I instinctively closed my eyes. The cool feeling of his fingers touching my cheek was too vivid.

“…You keep doing things you haven’t done before.”

I opened my eyes again to the sound of his voice. I was held by those black eyes that seemed to freeze whoever glanced at them. It was the same as the description I had read in the novel. Black eyes whose depth was unknown. I didn’t even dare to fathom its depth.

“When I think I know you,”

“The first time, the first time I first saw you,”

“I knew that I would love you.”

As his pupils deepened, the image of him in the novel in my mind overlapped with his current appearance.

“It seems that I don’t.”

The incomprehensible development and lines made me want to cry.

I think I just attached a new death flag to myself.

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