CH 2

[Emergency detected. Prison officers and all staff, please calm the prisoners and keep stay in your place. An emergency has been detected. The prison officers and all staff calm the prisoners…]

The recorded woman’s calm voice rang through the hall.

As she advised me now, I must calm down the prisoner in front of me and stay in my place. But, like an animal caught in a trap, my legs did not move.

Unlike my pounding heart, my whole body seemed to cool down. I couldn’t believe it. I was possessed.

To even pretend to be an extra who was killed by the man standing in front of me.

“Lemony.”

I was so surprised that my thought circuit stopped and a large palm swung in front of my face.

“Hey, officer.”

The man with his hand on his waist looked up and down at me for a moment. He seemed to check if I was really crazy.

“Open your mouth. Before I forcefully part those lips.”

When did he bend over, he growled as he whispered in my ear with his face tilted. 

“Get off me.”

Feeling an instinctive threat, I tried to hit it with my hand, but the man grabbed my wrist as easily as it was natural.

“Yes. Now your temper is coming out, officer Lemony.”

Lemony.

He calls me Lemony.

The eyebrows that had been narrowing between the eyebrows widened slightly at the name being called once again as if to confirm.

If I were Lemony, the man standing in front of me would be.

“…..”

It’s probably Deon.

After breathing slowly, I raised my eyes slightly and stared at the man.

Eerie blood-colored eyes were looking down at me arrogantly through his slightly damp black hair. His face was hard to distinguish because of the backlight from the torches shimmering behind him, but his red eyes were clear enough to remind me of cats and predators.

It’s a black panther.

The moment I looked at him, I could be sure that the black panther I had seen earlier had turned into a human being.

Even at a cursory glance, he was 190 cm tall, and his muscles showed through the worn-out tunic.

Blue veins sprouted between his thick wrists as he gripped my wrists as if he would break them.

Deon.

A first-class prisoner designated as the male lead of the novel 『The Shackles on My Hands』 and a first-class dangerous man at Dreys Prison.

Murder? Fraud?

Of course, it was also an unforgivable sin, but the first-class prisoner mentioned in this novel was a person who committed a crime that threatened the dignity of the nation, not the individual.

Because he was a shinsu.

A mythical creature in the mythology of the empire who can bring monsters to their knees with a single cry and shake the earth with ease.

The ruler of the Southern Shadow Grassland, where humans are forbidden to enter. Deon’s appearance was welcomed infinitely by the empire, which suffered from a headache due to monsters.

It was like that five years ago.

Until Deon, who had been experiencing berserk symptoms for unknown reasons, attacked the Western Empire.

‘…did they say half of the Empire was burned?’

Deon, who suddenly lost his mind, was described in the novel as literally a ‘beast’. Becoming a black leopard, he bit off anything that in size of an adult man’s elbow with one bite, leaving blood and flames burning where he passed.

One hundred thousand casualties. The Crystal Castle, which was the pride of the Western Empire, collapsed. In one incident called “The Day of Disaster,” Deon’s position fell from a dignified divine beast to a first-class prisoner.

According to the original story, I, who possessed Lemony, will be killed by this terrible man within one minute.

“…you,”

I managed to open my lead-heavy lips.

“Lemony, didn’t you hate me?”

I had to speak up once. To delay the death, I had no choice but to continue the conversation.

“To someone you don’t like, what’s with your lips?”

“You don’t like this kind of thing.”

It was a moment when I was continuing my gibberish. A rough thumb pressed lightly on my lower lip, my shoulder flinched, surprised by the unfamiliar touch. A blind yet compulsive gaze stared at the thick lips. He looked like a cat playing with his toy.

“I don’t like this too.”

When his thumb, which was poking my lips, went downward, my waist, which was unconsciously backing away, was wrapped in his arm.

In that state, he was close to me, and he lowered his upper body. His black hair, like ebony, tickled my shoulder. I thought he couldn’t smell good after a long time in prison, but unexpectedly, he smelled of a cool breeze.

“…I didn’t like this either.”

A small growl rang out from his body.

Did you realize that I was frozen?

I could feel his back slightly stiffened when he saw the white neck with the hair standing upright. Soon Deon grabbed me by the neck. I’m out of breath. The giant grip seemed to be able to snap my neck at once with even a little force.

I felt like a deer caught by a beast. A weak animal that will fall down as soon as it touches its molars.

“It was just a little touch, but it’s just like our noble prison officer. She looks like she’d rather die.”

Misinterpreting my plastered face, he burst out laughing.

“But you know what? You’re the one who made this dirty bastard hasn’t been washed for three months, Officer Lemony.”

“….I’m not Lemony.”

It was a word that came out without realizing it.

When I realized that I had made a mistake, I quickly bit my lower lip, but it was useless to pick up what I had already said. There was a moment of silence. When I came to my senses, the cold breath that seemed to bite my neck at any moment had disappeared.

“Go ahead.”

It was then.

A low, relaxed voice drifted over the top of my head.

“I think you’re acting cute to live.”

Two strong arms trapped and pressed me against the wall. His body bent down to make eye contact with me, languidly like a bear.

“Do more.”

It was a glaring look with obvious mockery.

I’m screwed. I’m really screwed up.

I felt like I was running out of oxygen because of the man and his face getting closer. Don’t novels give you time to change the original if the main character is possessed? It was unfair to fall into the novel out of nowhere, but the sudden situation made it even more irrational.

“I-I’m Lemony…”

It was scary.

I was not scared because he was the main character, but I was scared of this situation where a strong man threatened me.

“No, that’s…”

I was going to continue talking, but he tilted his head the other way, and his jaw hardened as if he was chewing something. I had the feeling that he would do it until I said it all.

“It seems like my soul has entered Lemony’s body. My original name is Kim Eun-ji. It’s only been three months since I turned 20, and I’m a student at Daeji University’s Department of Animal Welfare. The place where I originally lived was Gangbuk, Seoul, a liberal democratic country.”

“Lemony.”

I was explaining in as much detail as I could to appeal that I was not from this world, but I was suddenly cut off.

“Yes?”

“…Look, you’re Lemony.”

Stupid me! I really don’t notice myself! I’ve never blamed myself so much for being so tactless.

Deon raised his upper body with a tsk sound, as if he knew roughly how I was going through our last conversation. When the blood-colored eyes disappeared from my sight, goosebumps came up from my spine and rang through my brain.

Without a chance to do anything, I screamed internally, but suddenly my vision soared like a mountain.

I was out of my mind. It was because Deon lifted me onto his shoulder as if he were carrying a burden and moved on. Folded like a folder phone, my field of vision turned to the man’s back.

This is a kidnapping.

“….Wait, wait, wait. I think there’s a misunderstanding, wait a minute. I’m not the real Lemony!”

I was kidnapped.

I clenched my fist and hit him hard on the back, but his mountain-hard body did not budge.

“If you’re going to kill me, kill the real Lemony!”

My voice was watery. If [ The Shackles on My Hands ] are really going the way it was, Deon will kill me. Suddenly, a sense of ridiculous fear dominated my entire body. Physiological tears fell as my heart thumped like crazy.

Then, as if to warn her, his shoulders were raised roughly. As a result, her lower abdomen was crushed by the hard shoulder, and she suffocated.

“Hey, officer.”

Suddenly, I felt a solid touch under my thigh and back. Maybe he was a little annoyed, but he muttered brutally as he tried to force me to look at his face.

“Your expression looks like you’re about to be eaten by a prisoner.”

I tried to stare at him with bloodshot eyes, but as soon as I met the eerie blood-colored eyes, I hurriedly lowered my head without realizing it.

“That’s right.”

It was a chillingly low tone. He looked down at me silently for a while. I avoided his gaze to avoid provoking the man as much as possible, but it seemed to pique his interest even more.

“I changed my mind. I’m going to kill you first if I escape from here.”

What the hell?

“The way you are right now. It’s such a waste of time to just kill you.”

To the 7th floor.

I got goosebumps for a moment. Seeing my crying face, saying that it was a waste of time to kill me. Deon, described in 『The Shackles on My Hands』 was the male lead who wanted to kill Lemony even more after killing her at the beginning of the novel.

“Ah.”

Again, like a burden, my stomach was pressed against his shoulders. As Deon went upstairs, my head was tilted further toward the floor, making my head dizzy. But it wasn’t for that reason that I uttered a single exclamation.

Something was strange. The beginning of 『The Shackles on My Hands』 started with Lemony going up to the 7th floor where Deon is, and she was killed by him.

But now the male lead went up to kill me?

No way.

‘…If the original is different…’

As I hurriedly fiddled with the inside of the collar, as expected, something of a cold metal material began to touch my hand at the collarbone area.

Jingle-

It was a whistle.

If the original was right to change, I could survive. But what if the only thing that’s changed is where he’s going to kill me?

An angry Deon might kill me more brutally if I blow this whistle.

Many thoughts crossed my mind, but it was the same whether I died or not. There was only one choice.

Ppiiii-

“Deon. Stop.”

In desperation, I blew as hard as I could on the whistle that was hanging around my neck and ordered, his wide back, which was walking leisurely, stiffened like a wooden stone on the spot.

Like a real prisoner who obeys my orders.