NAPE - 43

Her hair felt like it was being ripped out. Like a bird caught by its wings, Bibi couldn’t even flutter. But that didn’t mean she nodded. Amidst the sudden crossroads of choices, something was becoming clear, like finding a pearl buried in the soil.

“I knew this would happen, so I brought this.”

With a bitter smile, Choi Haejin’s fingers entered Bibi’s open mouth. She pushed a white pill down Bibi’s throat.

“Ugh!”

Along with the foreign object, her airway felt blocked, and she struggled violently. Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe properly, as if she were being choked. She wanted to cough, but Choi Haejin’s palm firmly clamped over her mouth.

As her vision swam, Bibi felt the foreign object lodged in her throat slowly slide down her esophagus into her stomach.

“You swallowed it all?”

Choi Haejin smiled and removed her hand from Bibi’s mouth. Bibi collapsed onto the floor, coughing as if she were vomiting. Tears streamed down her face, and her jaw, which had been gripped tightly, throbbed painfully. What… what was this?

Lying on the floor, Bibi glared at Choi Haejin.

“Oh my. Are you glaring at me right now?”

“…….”

“Seeing that you’re not cursing in this situation… it seems you’re still well-trained.”

Bibi scratched the floor with her fingernails. First… first, let’s get out of here. Let’s escape Choi Haejin. I can think about what to do after that.

It was the moment she tried to push herself up onto her knees. Her vision swayed. Her focus blurred, splitting into two. What was happening? Her body suddenly felt strange. Her senses diminished, and her mind became hazy. Was it related to the pill she had just taken?

“The drug is working well. I’m glad I kept it.”

Choi Haejin crouched down in front of Bibi, observing her with a smile. Cold fingers reached out and caressed Bibi’s hair.

“That drug isn’t a big deal. Within tens of minutes, it will lower your body temperature and consume all your moisture and fat. Then you’ll become as pathetic and weak as you used to be. Like you should be.”

“...Hh,”

“Your current appearance doesn’t suit a hunting dog. You’ve become too clever and too suspicious. When you’re hungry and weak, it’s easy to tame you using blood. Just like your trainer taught me.”

So, she had come to find her with this intention from the start. Instead of anger, only questions continued to grow. Why didn’t she want to go with Choi Haejin? Why didn’t this sense of betrayal disappear and stop weighing her down?

The drug’s effects were fast. Her teeth chattered, and she felt a chill. Her mouth felt parched, and her muscles stiffened and contracted coldly.

Extreme pain enveloped her body. Bibi couldn’t think of anything. She couldn’t recall the suspicion she had towards the trainer, the displeasure towards Choi Haejin, or even Doyoon’s face. She just writhed on the floor, wanting to escape this pain. Animalistic groans escaped her clenched teeth.

“Do you want to feel better?”

“Kkeueu…. Uuu….”

“That’s right, now you’re making sounds like a hunting dog.”

Clang, clang.

In an instant, cold handcuffs were fastened around her now slender wrists. A bark collar was placed around her neck. Bibi had become a hunting dog again. She had returned to the world where she originally belonged.

Choi Haejin dragged Bibi along. Her body scraped against the dirty floor. Bibi scratched the floor with her stiff fingers.

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave you alone, if nothing else. That’s all you ever wanted, right? Just bear with it a little longer. If you follow me, I’ll give you a few sips of blood.”

Choi Haejin’s voice reached Bibi’s dazed mind through the pain and hunger.

“...Uuu,”

Bibi mumbled with her stiff tongue. She wanted to call someone. She wanted to shout loudly. To say she was here. But the restraint around her neck tightened as if to cut off her breath, making it difficult to make a sound.

She felt the warmth of hot tears on her cold cheek. Bibi was crying. She felt sorrow as she crawled on the floor like a beast. What did she want? Did she want to be free from this pain? No, that wasn’t it.

She was suffering this much because she didn’t want to go back. Hadn’t she already realized? That she might have lived her life brainwashed by the trainer. That she wasn’t born a hunting dog, but was just raised that way. That the trainer’s promise to protect her was just sweet talk.

What was it that made her try to uphold the hunting dog’s principles until the end? Perhaps it was self-absorption, or maybe fear. She was afraid of not being able to overcome the emptiness of living that way for so long, so she tried to preserve the time she had spent, even if it meant that. And there were so many things she would come to hate.

She was afraid of harboring unbearable hatred towards the trainer who had raised her as a hunting dog and all those who had abused her under the guise of being her master. Hating those she had once blindly followed was a form of corruption. That was what tormented her.

However, the flames of realization… once they catch fire, they cannot be stopped. In the midst of the pain, Bibi’s mind was clearing.

But it was too late now. Far too late. There was no one here who could help her. Because of her foolishness, she had fallen into Choi Haejin’s hands. Now, the two were in the elevator right in front of the library entrance. The elevator was headed straight for the underground parking lot.

She had a strong feeling that if she got off here, she would never see him again. She really didn’t want that… but there was nothing she could do right now. Perhaps all she could manage was to move her stiff tongue. Would any sound come out?

Ding.

Cruelly, the elevator reached the underground level. The doors opened, and Choi Haejin tried to drag Bibi out.

“...Jin….”

“Huh?”

“Choi….”

Choi Haejin abruptly stopped walking. She widened her eyes and looked down at Bibi. It was probably the first time she had heard the hunting dog’s voice. Bibi endured the immense pain and spoke again.

“Choi… Hae….”

“Are you… are you calling my name right now?”

Choi Haejin crouched down in front of her with a surprised expression. Bibi opened her mouth again. Only a metallic rasping sound came from her throat, so Choi Haejin frowned and leaned closer. The neck, containing red blood, became clear in Bibi’s blurry vision.

Her neck was the opposite of someone else’s, which had been white and clean. It had a repulsive odor that didn’t trigger any appetite. But at this moment, even that was a godsend. A spark ignited in Bibi’s eyes.

The hunting dog opened its mouth. Even though her body was weakened, the sharpness of her fangs hadn’t changed. Rather, they were even sharper, like iron spikes, due to her receding gums.

“Kyaaaaah!”

Along with a piercing scream, hot blood gushed into Bibi’s mouth. Bibi swallowed the blood, which tasted of bitter metal, without leaving a drop in her shrunken esophagus. This disgusting blood would become the priming water to sever the hunting dog’s leash.

“Get off, why won’t you get off!?”

Choi Haejin, who had been disoriented by the pain of her neck being pierced, jumped up and struggled. She tried to shake off Bibi, who was clinging to her neck.

A vampire’s bite force surpassed that of a shark. Even if they were on the verge of death, they rarely let go of prey they had bitten. Moreover, Bibi was a skilled hunter. The blood entering her body pumped the remaining strength through her. A clear fact surfaced in her mind.

She had always been in the position of the predator. She had always been the one hunting.

“Ugh, it hurts! It hurts!”

As more force went into Bibi’s jaw, Choi Haejin thrashed wildly, trying to shake Bibi off. But even as Bibi was swung through the air and slammed into various surfaces, she didn’t let go of her embedded teeth. Like roots taking hold, she clung even more desperately to Choi Haejin’s neck.

“You bitch, let go! Let go! Let go! Let go! You fucking bitch, let go!”

Pale from being drained of blood, Choi Haejin screamed at the top of her lungs and slammed her fist repeatedly into Bibi’s head. When that didn’t work, she even smashed Bibi’s body against the elevator wall. The sound of bones breaking rang vividly in Bibi’s ears.

Nevertheless, Bibi didn’t stop sucking blood. Within her body, two forces were swirling fiercely.

The drug was trying to shrivel Bibi’s body like a bat, while the freshly ingested blood was trying to revive her dying body. But the drug’s power was still stronger. She needed more blood to recover. More… more!

“So, this is how you want to play it, huh? Ha! You know better than anyone that a hunting dog that rebels against its master is useless.”

A joyful look flickered across her enraged face.

“You see, the sensor in this elevator is broken? Once something gets stuck, it won’t open again, and it’ll just go up like that.”

With Bibi hanging from her neck, Choi Haejin stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. Then, she positioned herself so that half of Bibi’s body was in the middle of the doors. As Choi Haejin pressed the close button, the doors closed on both sides, trapping Bibi. Half of Bibi’s body was outside the elevator, and the rest was inside. Bibi’s eyes widened. She wanted to move quickly and escape, but she didn’t have that much strength in her body yet.