CH 98

‘True,’ I thought and took a glimpse in Hyehyun’s direction and sucked cold air into my mouth. Someone had already taken occupancy, so maybe that was why I was keeping still.

The soft rustling of the fabric on my back as Hyehyun tapped his fingers on me filled the quiet room. Hyehyun stared holes into my face as he touched me over my clothes drenched in sweat. His stare was like needles pricking my cheek.

My clothes rustled once more. I didn’t hear the creaking sounds surrounding me anymore. I could only hear something stiff and dry touching me. Rustle, rustle. Crunch. Over the rustling, I heard a similar yet different sound. It was coming from Hyehyun. Munch crunch.

I couldn’t hear it at all when he was far from me. However, when he was sticking this close, I could hear it even if I didn’t want to. It was the sound coming from the lump of meat clinging to Hyehyun’s back. The thing that previously only had a putrid stench and twitched occasionally was now gnawing on the back of Hyehyun’s head, sinking its teeth in.

This mansion was truly strange. It was the first time that I saw the thing on Hyehyun’s back be so active. I could clearly see its two eyeballs, yellowed and rotten. Something was pooled under its eyes; they weren’t tears or blood but dollops of puss that looked like whipped cream.

“…Doesn’t your head hurt?” I asked.

Hyehyun ran his hand through his hair, touching the back of his head that was being chewed on, and grinned. “It’s been a while since you worried about me. I do have a migraine, but… Well, I’m fine.”

Right, he was fine so far. I averted my eyes. I discovered that tears still clung to my lashes, so I blinked. The last of my now-cold tears rolled down my cheek.

“Then again, Haeseo,” Hyehyun called out to me. I could still feel Hyehyun’s fingers on my back. Before I knew it, he was already next to me, kneeling on the ground. Hyehyun reeked of rotten flesh, so I ended up grimacing. Hyehyun stroked my frowning face. “I haven’t seen you so disheartened in a while. You looked just like this when I first saw you. Was that woman’s death so shocking?”

I brushed away his hands that were tracing the tear streaks on my face and tried to move away. However, Hyehyun grabbed my arm. His face looked concerned for me, but his hand that grabbed me told me a different story. The hand that was rubbing my back pulled me closer to him, and the hand that grabbed my arm gripped me tightly, demanding that I sit again.

Eventually, I sat back down. Hyehyun continued, “I thought Yeonseon was the only person in the world who could shake you up this much.”

“…”

“You didn’t even bat an eyelid, no matter what I did. You just let me do whatever I wanted, as long as it wasn’t related to Yeonseon…” The last sentence trailed off into a mumble. He raised his head and looked at me. He smiled—that face I so detested. Hyehyun never used to smile like this. One day, he started to imitate Yeonseon’s smile.

“But Haeseo, you have to think carefully. Is there anyone else in this damned place that you can lean on other than me? Why did you escape from your room? If only you had stayed locked up in there, you wouldn’t have gone through anything horrible. It would have been nice if you had waited until I found the exit.”

The way Hyehyun spoke gently to me, pretending to think of me first, was all stuff that Yeonseon did. “Haeseo, are you hurt anywhere? You didn’t eat anything. Would you like to have this at least?” Yeonseon came to find me when I was avoiding people—Hyehyun even mimicked this.

However, the brothers’ actions had a conclusive difference.

“If you had listened to me calmly, there would have been no problem,” Hyehyun said.

Hyehyun said stuff like that. I could even call that the fatal flaw.

This difference made Hyehyun so alien and horrifying.

“It’s not too late now. We missed Hawoo and Seohang, but I have the map in my hands. I also found a few keys. You don’t even have a flashlight, right? I have one. I also have a lot of batteries. I brought some emergency rations too. So come with me. Listen to me. Then we’ll be able to escape this mansion,” he started to placate me with words that were like bugs crawling on the floor. Whatever the situation, whatever he talked about, the things he said to me were always the same.

“Yeonseon is already dead and gone. So let go of Yeonseon and come to me,” Hyehyun said.

Hyehyun didn’t hate me. Rather, he liked me, and he considered Yeonseon an annoyance. How nice would it have been if I had realized this earlier? Then maybe Yeonseon Ham wouldn’t have died.