“Gasp!”

Yuri inhaled sharply in disbelief.

What are you doing here?

Jeho, tied to a chair, had his head bowed with his eyes closed.

“Wait a moment. I’ll wake him up soon.”

Minwoo hummed a tune excitedly as he opened the lid of the drug bottle in his hand.

“Cough, cough.”

As he brought the bottle close to Jeho’s face, Jeho woke up coughing. He raised his head, coughing with a pained expression. Blood was flowing from one side of Jeho’s head, suggesting violence during the abduction.

Yuri gripped the edge of the bed tightly to resist running to Jeho. She couldn’t show Minwoo that she was worried about Jeho.

“Are you awake? I told them to bring you politely, but I’m not sure if those blockheads followed instructions. Sorry if they were rough. They’re a bit stupid, you know.”

“…Minwoo, you…”

Jeho glared at Minwoo in disbelief, then noticed Yuri standing behind his cousin. Out of place, she was wearing a wedding dress. Minwoo was also wearing a groom’s suit.

Jeho silently looked at the two of them, then frowned as if he had guessed what was happening.

“Sorry, cheer up. I invited you to our wedding as family, after all.”

“Huh, a wedding invitation.”

Jeho twisted his lips as if sneering. He had worried she might have been kidnapped by Minwoo, but he never imagined such a ridiculous situation would unfold.

“Yes. Yuri and I are going to have a soul wedding here.”

Minwoo, caught up in his excitement, didn’t notice the sarcasm. He pulled Yuri forward so Jeho could see her clearly, then hugged her from behind.

“You’re our only wedding guest. How about that? Isn’t it very touching?”

“Ha.”

Jeho snorted instead of answering. But Minwoo seemed unconcerned, shrugging his shoulders. Perhaps because Jeho’s hands and feet were tied, Minwoo was in a state of full confidence.

“Fine. Keep laughing. But soon you’ll be begging me.”

“Why? Are you going to kill me?”

“Yes. I’m going to kill you.”

Minwoo nodded as if it were obvious. Yuri shuddered at the answer that he would kill Jeho. Minwoo brought his lips to Yuri’s ear and whispered gently.

“Don’t worry, Yuri. I won’t kill him now. He has a debt to pay me before he dies.”

“A debt I have to pay you. That’s news to me.”

“News to you? How shameless. You touched my woman. I couldn’t even touch her because I cherished her so much. Damn, is this what they call giving a dog what you worked for?”

Minwoo glared at Jeho with murderous eyes. But Jeho didn’t even blink.

“Alright, now watch closely.”

Minwoo grinned at Jeho, then bit Yuri’s earlobe. Then he slowly slid the hand on her waist upwards.

It was a sticky and nauseating gesture, but Yuri bit her lip instead of pushing him away.

Minwoo’s actions now were meant to provoke Jeho. She couldn’t recklessly get caught up in the battle of wills between the two men. She had to endure it for now, no matter how disgusting it was.

She thought Jeho would shout at him to stop immediately, but Jeho just stared expressionlessly at Minwoo, who was trying to provoke him. When the expected reaction didn’t come, Minwoo’s face contorted instead.

Agitated, Minwoo turned Yuri around to face him, panting. He cupped Yuri’s face with both hands and tried to kiss her, but Yuri quickly turned her head to the side. She could endure his touch, but she couldn’t bring herself to kiss him.

Minwoo twisted his head to try to kiss her again, but this time too, Yuri turned her head to avoid it.

“Why are you acting like this when things were going well? Are you playing hard to get now?”

Minwoo, upset, roughly grabbed the back of Yuri’s head. Yuri bit her tongue to forcibly suppress the scream that was about to escape.

“Stop throwing a tantrum. You’re going to die soon anyway. Your body will rot and crumble when you die, so let’s do it once before you die. You did it with Jeho but not with me. That’s not fair, is it?”

Every word from Minwoo’s mouth made her skin crawl. It was like disgusting bugs crawling into her ears. Unable to look at Minwoo directly anymore, Yuri closed her eyes and pleaded in a desperate voice.

“Don’t do this, Minwoo. Please.”

At the word ‘please’, Minwoo’s voice grew louder.

“Don’t do what? I’m saying if I can’t have your heart, I’ll at least have your body. Is that such a bad thing?”

Minwoo tried to kiss her again, and Yuri twisted her body, resisting fiercely.

“Stay still. If you don’t, I’ll tie you up like I did to him. Ah, no. I’ll hit him every time you resist.”

After finishing his words, Minwoo strode over and punched Jeho in the chest.

“Stop it!”

She could endure everything else, but she couldn’t stand Minwoo hitting Jeho. Yuri grabbed Minwoo’s arm and pulled him hard towards her, away from Jeho.

“Minwoo, don’t do this. Let Jeho go. I’m not involved with that man.”

“Oh, really?”

Minwoo made a disinterested face, as if it were an obvious lie. But Yuri didn’t stop trying to persuade him.

“Jeho approached me intentionally from the beginning. How could I love such a man, right?”

“Then what’s the problem? A man you don’t love, a man who doesn’t like you. Whether I hit or kill such a man. Hm?”

“Minwoo, please.”

Her persuasion was of no use. Minwoo shook off Yuri clinging to him and went back to Jeho, this time slapping his cheek.

Slap!

With a loud friction sound, Jeho’s lip split and blood flowed out.

“Yuri and I, we could have been good together. I was confident I could treat Yuri really well if we just got married. But you ruined everything.”

“Why don’t you stop? It’s starting to get boring.”

Jeho said, tilting his head to the side.

“What?”

“I’m sick and tired of listening to you always blaming others.”

Jeho’s cold gaze touched Minwoo’s face. Though he was just glaring, Minwoo flinched and tensed up. Then, realizing the other was firmly tied up, he raised his hand again.

“Minwoo. I was wrong.”

Yuri jumped into Minwoo’s arms as if embracing him to stop him.

“I was wrong, so please stop.”

At that, a triumphant smile finally appeared on Minwoo’s lips. Minwoo lowered his raised hand and gently cupped Yuri’s cheek. Then he roughly pressed his lips against hers, as if biting.

“Mmph”

The moment their lips touched, Yuri felt like vomiting, but she didn’t push Minwoo away. She had to accept it for Jeho’s sake. Only after toying with Yuri for a long time did Minwoo finally remove his lips, smiling contentedly.

“If you were going to do this, why did you act so hard to get until now? Hm?”

“…I’m sorry, Minwoo. I’m sorry.”

Tears that had fallen without her realizing soaked Yuri’s cheeks.

She was disgusted by the fact that she had kissed Minwoo, and she felt like going crazy at the fact that Jeho had been watching the scene intently. Still, thanks to the kiss, Minwoo’s highly agitated emotions seemed to have calmed down a little.

“Don’t cry, Yuri. You’re ruining your pretty face.”

Minwoo smiled gently and rubbed Yuri’s tear-stained cheek with the back of his hand. Then he kissed her forehead soothingly.

“We haven’t even properly started yet, you shouldn’t cry already.”

As Yuri tensed up nervously, Minwoo turned to Jeho with a vicious smile.

“Watch carefully, brother. I’m going to take Yuri leisurely right in front of you.”

At those words, a small spasm appeared in the corner of Jeho’s eye. But it disappeared before Minwoo could notice the change.

“But you know, brother.”

Minwoo said as he forcibly dragged Yuri to the bed.

“I can’t stand seeing others have what’s mine. I’d rather kill it than let that happen. Brother, do you know why Cookie suddenly died?”

Cookie was originally a dog that Minwoo had raised. When Minwoo’s abuse continued, Jeho, unable to watch anymore, got permission from Chairman Kwon and took Cookie away. But Cookie died after less than a year, withering away.

“I gave a few bucks to an employee and had them mix pesticide into Cookie’s food, in very small amounts every meal, every day, so it wouldn’t be noticeable. Heh, heh.”

Color returned to Minwoo’s face as if recalling the past.

“You looked so pretty crying while holding the dead Cookie.”

Minwoo, chuckling to himself, looked at Yuri and smiled wickedly.

“Hmm, I need to change the order. I was planning to die with Yuri, but that won’t do. It would be too unfair to go without seeing what kind of expression you make watching Yuri die.”

At the words that he would kill Yuri first, Jeho’s patience, which he had been enduring, finally exploded.

“You crazy bastard.”

Jeho glared at Minwoo with contemptuous eyes.

“You’re not in your right mind.”

“Of course. You took what’s mine, you took the most precious thing from me, how could I be in my right mind?”

Just thinking about it seemed to make Minwoo angry again, and he approached Jeho and swung his fist.

“Do you know how long I worked on Yuri, and you take her away? Huh?”

Though Minwoo was the one hitting and Jeho was the one being hit, judging by their expressions, it seemed like Minwoo was the one being attacked. After just a few hits, Minwoo was panting as if exhausted, while Jeho remained unchanged, without even his breathing disturbed.

“Please stop!”

Unable to watch anymore, Yuri clung to Minwoo again, pulling him away from Jeho.

“What are you doing? I’m not an object. I’m not Jeho’s and I’m not yours either.”

“Oh? Our Yuri, you look even prettier when you’re angry. Will you be this pretty and angry when you’re with me too?”

“Just try and touch me.”

As Yuri snapped back, unable to endure anymore, Minwoo took out a hiking knife from his jacket pocket. When she startled and stepped back, Minwoo unfolded the blade and waved it in front of Yuri’s eyes.

“Go ahead and resist if you want. Every time you do, I’ll stab that bastard with this knife.”

Yuri’s face turned deathly pale at the cruel warning. She couldn’t even watch him being hit, let alone stabbed with a knife…

“It doesn’t matter, right? You said you don’t love Jeho.”

Minwoo muttered as if teasing her, and cut the shoulder strap of the wedding dress with the knife. With a thud, one side of the dress slipped down, precariously revealing Yuri’s cleavage.

“Yeah. That’s your level.”

Jeho twisted his lips as if Minwoo, who had done this to torment him, was ridiculous.

“What?”

“Of course, your parents bear primary responsibility for knowing their son has mental issues and not treating them.”

“You bastard! Just because you’re older than me, that’s all?”

Suddenly enraged, Minwoo rushed at Jeho, brandishing the knife.

“No!”

Yuri screamed and clung to Minwoo. But before long, she was thrown to the floor by Minwoo’s rough hands. Minwoo ran back to Jeho and raised his hand holding the knife high.

Bang-. Bang-. Bang-.

At that moment, the door suddenly opened with a loud noise.

“Police!”

One of the men who had tied up Jeho earlier rushed in, shouting.

“What? How did the police know to come here?”

Minwoo frowned in surprise, then turned his gaze to Jeho.

“Do you have a tracking device on you? Didn’t they check when they brought you? Hey, search this bastard.”

“What’s the point of searching him now? The police are already swarming outside.”

The man ignored Minwoo’s instructions and turned around to run outside, as if looking out for himself first.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Minwoo shouted loudly after the fleeing man with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“There’s no need to search my body.”

It was then. Jeho’s voice was heard right behind him.

“Because there’s no tracking device on me.”

Surprised, Minwoo whirled around to see Jeho, who had been tied to the chair until just moments ago, standing leisurely after undoing his restraints.

Minwoo stepped back in shock at the completely unexpected situation.

“H-how…?”

“This isn’t child’s play. You call this tying someone up?”

Jeho smiled coldly as he waved the cable ties that had bound him in front of Minwoo’s nose.