31: This is the end of the line.

“Ah!”

Hae-in’s moan echoed faintly in his ear. As the pain pressed down on his heart like a stone, Soo-hyun’s movements became more intense.

He glared, trying to see what was in front of him.

“Su... sunbae.”

A breathless sound was heard faintly. Soo-hyun didn’t even realize that it was the sound Hae-in was making, caught in his hands.

At the moment of climax, Soo-hyun grabbed whatever he could get his hands on and squeezed it as if he would crush it. At that moment, a voice mixed with the wind pierced his ear.

“Sunbae!”

Like a flame that flares up one last time before going out, Hae-in squeezed out her last bit of strength and screamed.

At the sharp high-pitched sound, Soo-hyun’s eyes returned to normal.

“Snap... out of it... please.”

Hae-in, her eyebrows furrowed, was panting and holding his hand. Under her disheveled long hair, her forehead was covered in sweat. Her slender white shoulder was roughly caught in Soo-hyun’s hand.

“My shoulder hurts too much...”

Hae-in’s pale face had white lips.

Her trembling body, which had been convulsing, trembled finely as soon as Soo-hyun’s hand lost strength. Hae-in’s hand, which had been holding Soo-hyun’s wrist, also slipped away.

“Ah.”

While Soo-hyun realized what he had done, Hae-in curled up her body and gasped. The small body lying under his was panting, unable to escape.

“......What have I done?”

When he released the shoulder he was holding, there were red scratches all over her white skin. Soo-hyun withdrew his hands and looked down at them slowly. He had given so much strength that his palms were red as if they were stained with blood.

His eyes momentarily rolled back completely. His heart sank when he recalled the moment when he couldn’t see anything. If he hadn’t controlled his anger...

Crazy bastard. Son of a bitch. Completely insane bastard.

Self-loathing and anger towards himself rose. He shook his head, gasping for breath. He couldn’t bear to look at Hae-in’s eyes, so he turned his head away.

As he tried to raise his body, the part of him that had entered Hae-in’s body was still throbbing and pouring out its contents.

Only then did Soo-hyun realize that he had just had his release inside her. Their bodies were still tightly attached.

It was a mistake he had made without realizing it because his eyes had completely rolled back.

“Ha.”

When Soo-hyun tried to roughly pull his body out, Hae-in, who had finally calmed her breathing, grabbed him. And she placed a hand on Soo-hyun’s cheek.

“Sunbae. Sunbae. Don’t go.”

His gaze, which had been trying to avoid her, returned.

“......Do you like this? Do you want to stay here even after being treated like this?”

A voice full of disgust. Soo-hyun, who had been shaking his head in disgust, asked Hae-in. Hae-in’s eyes, meeting his, were filled with tears.

“...It’s okay.”

Even while saying it was okay, Hae-in’s hand rested on her sore shoulder. There was a clear mark on her collarbone where Soo-hyun had bitten her. His gaze was fixed on it. Soo-hyun gritted his teeth.

Even if he couldn’t control his strength a little, Hae-in’s body was so easily injured.

“What do you mean it’s okay!”

He was angry at himself, and his voice rose. Hae-in’s eyes, looking at him, trembled subtly. She raised her hand and grabbed Soo-hyun’s cheek. In a sobbing voice, she complained.

“To be honest, I’m scared. I want to run away.”

“Then go. I told you to go a long time ago.”

“......I have nowhere to go.”

“What?”

“I have nowhere to run away to. This is my best option.”

There was nowhere to retreat, and even if she ran away, it was just another cliff.

That was Hae-in’s feeling, enduring day by day at Taesung. If the situation wasn’t going to change no matter what, she had no choice but to endure and endure to avoid falling off the cliff.

She didn’t have the courage to kill herself. She didn’t want to. But as she was driven to the edge of the cliff and endured, she saw Soo-hyun.

The man in front of her clearly treated her harshly, used harsh words, and poured out his misplaced anger on her. If he hated it so much, he could leave, but he always stayed in the same place.

In that place where he couldn’t get too far away or too close.

Hae-in thought that Soo-hyun was in the same situation as her. Unable to run away, he stayed in that place and endured day by day, no different from her.

“Sunbae, but you’re the same. This is your best option.”

“What do you know?”

“You have nowhere else to run away to.”

At Hae-in’s words, Soo-hyun lost his words like someone who had been caught off guard.

“This is the end of the line.”

His breath stopped at the whispering words. Only then did Soo-hyun look at the woman who was overlapping his body for the first time.

A quiet gaze, as if reading the abyss, followed him. It was an eye that hadn’t changed no matter what he had done.

‘So don’t push me away too much.’

Even without saying it, he could feel the emotions conveyed by her eyes. Something big stirred in Soo-hyun’s chest.

For the first time, he felt like someone had looked into his deep inside.

“Don’t pretend to know when you don’t know anything.”

As if nothing had happened, Soo-hyun removed his body from Hae-in’s lower abdomen.

As the pillar that had been filling her inside was pulled out, the vagina that had been holding the semen gushed out white liquid. Her secret place kept spitting out body fluids. It was all his traces.

“...Damn it.”

Soo-hyun cursed and raised his body.

“What happened today was...”

It was time to say sorry. He had to open his heavily closed mouth and apologize to Hae-in, but the words didn’t come out easily.

He had done something too terrible to apologize for, and he didn’t even have the face to ask for forgiveness. When he raised his eyes, Hae-in, who was holding the bed sheet and hiding her naked body, was waiting for his words.

“......It was a mistake.”

Various emotions were mixed in the short sentence.

“You can hit me until you feel better.”

“......”

He felt like he would feel better if he got angry and shouted. Hae-in just stared at him without saying a word.

“Say anything you want. I’ll... as an apology...”

“It’s okay.”

He was trying to express his apology indirectly, but Hae-in suddenly hugged him tightly. He could feel the warmth of Hae-in’s soft skin pressed tightly against his chest.

“If you’re sorry, have a meal with me sometimes.”

“......”

“I’ll prepare it clumsily, but I’ll try my best. I’ll do better next time without making mistakes.”

“That’s all?”

Pathetic woman.

Soo-hyun was angry that Hae-in, even after being treated like that, only wanted to have a meal with him.

‘You’re someone who should have been treated better than that.’

The words that didn’t come out lingered in his mouth. He wanted to push her away, telling her not to be satisfied with this treatment and to escape from here right now. Because this place is hell.

“Say something definite other than that. Clothes, bags...”

“I don’t need anything else.”

“Jewelry? Do you want something more valuable?”

“......Let me get to know sunbae more.”

The small head in his arms tickled his chest, which was pressed together. Her hair was so thin that her skin tickled every time she moved.

Like a fragile animal courting, Hae-in whispered in a small voice in Soo-hyun’s arms, her head down.

“Don’t try to know me. There’s nothing good about it.”

Somehow, his fighting spirit disappeared.

Soo-hyun couldn’t push away the woman who was clinging to him. Rather, he barely managed to stop his hand from going up to her head. He barely managed to resist the urge to stroke her soft hair.

“Tell me if you want something definite. Chief Choi will prepare it.”

He felt strange the more he stayed close to her. Soo-hyun roughly shook off Hae-in and moved away.

Hae-in, who had fallen weakly, collapsed on the bed. He didn’t want to see that, so Soo-hyun turned his back without even looking at her.

“I don’t need those things. Come to me, sunbae.”

“Don’t have such vain expectations.”

“I’ll wait.”

Her clear voice caught his feet. Forcing himself to take steps he didn’t want to take, Soo-hyun left the room.

Without showing any sign that he had heard her words.

A night that seemed like it would never end passed.

After leaving the room last night, Soo-hyun didn’t return. Hae-in tossed and turned all night, waiting for him to return. It was a restless night.

When she came out of the room, the kitchen was still messy from last night, as the employees hadn’t come to work yet. The broken dishes and the spoons and chopsticks scattered on the floor reminded her of last night’s events.

‘The person who tormented my mother by forcing her to make this kind of food, and who forced my brother to eat it every day after my mother died... is Chairman Park.’

She recalled Soo-hyun, who had thrown his head back and sighed, his shoulders shaking. Recalling her husband’s appearance, Hae-in’s heart sank with a sigh.

Putting everything else aside, her biggest mistake was not noticing. She already knew Chairman Park wasn’t a normal person, so why had she believed him so naively?

‘But what exactly happened?’

Afraid of being seen, Hae-in diligently began to move. No matter how tight-lipped they were, it wasn’t good to be seen by others.

While cleaning the sink and tidying up the messy kitchen, Hae-in was deep in thought. There was only one person around her who could give her an answer to this matter.

As soon as she finished cleaning the kitchen, Hae-in went to the living room and called Director Seok.

“Chief, I have something to ask you.”

-Please tell me.

“Could you tell me about Soo-hyun sunbae’s mother?”

-......Ah.

A small sigh was heard. In case he hesitated, thinking it wasn’t a good story to tell, Hae-in quickly added.

“I made a mistake yesterday. There was a dish that the chairman asked me to make.”

-Ha...... Is that so.

The sigh coming from the other side of the receiver was heavy. It seemed like he already knew the situation without detailed explanation.

-I’ll be over soon. I’ll tell you when we meet.

“Thank you.”

After finishing the call, Hae-in looked at the neatly organized kitchen for a moment and then went to the living room.