Chapter 38: The Tug-of-War of the Soul

“Ah, ah…!”

Seonghye clutched his head with both hands, doubling over. Ragged, desperate breaths tore from his throat. Startled, Yunhwan grabbed his upper body to keep him from collapsing. As if someone were strangling him, Seonghye’s fingers clawed frantically at his own pale neck.

A voice laced with spite forced its way through his lips.

“f*ck… no.”

Gasping for air, he clung to Yunhwan for support. Seeing the severity of the situation, Yunhwan called out urgently.

“Seonghye-ya! Min Seonghye! Pull yourself together! Min Seonghye!”

“…Kwon Yunhwan.”

Seonghye’s eyes, fixed on Yunhwan, poured out a simultaneous storm of heat and ice. Facing that raw, unfiltered gaze, Yunhwan’s breath hitched. Those obsidian pupils were shaking violently; a terrifying sense of dread washed over him, the feeling that if he let go now, something irreversible would happen.

“Seonghye-ya. Focus. Min Seonghye!”

Fear and worry seeped into Yunhwan’s fingertips as he gripped Seonghye’s crumbling shoulders tighter.

I have to get him to the hospital right now.

This could be a side effect of regaining his memories. Since the amnesia had been sudden, the prognosis of his recovery was critical. Yunhwan nodded to himself. For Seonghye’s sake, he couldn’t delay any longer.

“Let’s go to the hospital. I’ll help you up. Try to stand, slowly.”

As Yunhwan tried to straighten his knees to pull him up, Seonghye, still struggling with hyperventilation, looked up. His gasping breaths were desperate, alternating between irregular inhalations and sudden silences. He looked like a man on the verge of death.

Into his eyes—a cocktail of anger, despair, obsession, and confusion—Yunhwan’s image reflected once more.

Seonghye’s tightly shut lips finally parted.

“Yunhwan… Yunhwan-ah.”

At the sound of his name breaking through the rampaging emotions, Yunhwan nodded urgently. In that instant, the pale fingers that had been clawing at his own head reached forward.

“…!”

Seonghye yanked Yunhwan into a crushing embrace. It happened in the blink of an eye.

With his cheek buried against Yunhwan’s firm shoulder, Seonghye’s bloodshot eyes rolled wildly. Words stumbled out from between his twisted lips.

“f*ck… this is so goddamn unfair. I’m the one who found you, right?”

Yunhwan reflexively swallowed hard at the bone-chilling tone. Just as the weight on his shoulder vanished, a blast of hot breath hit his face.

Seonghye laughed. As the sound echoed, the dark room seemed to warp grotesquely. Even in the pitch black, his sharp features were impossible to look away from.

“Hey. If you do anything stupid to my body, I won’t let it slide. You hear me? Just try touching the imprint.”

The low, haunting warning sent a shiver down Yunhwan’s spine.

“What are you even talking about?! I told you, we’re going to the hospital!”

Frustrated, Yunhwan yelled back and tried to twist his body out of the hold, but the arms around his waist and shoulders only tightened. It wasn’t a hug; it was an act of restraint.

“Hospital? Why the hell would I go there? To make things easy for him?”

Seonghye spat out a curse, pulling the struggling Yunhwan back into his chest.

“Kwon Yunhwan, listen. Until I come back, don’t you dare do anything with that bastard.”

“…Who is ‘that bastard’? What are you saying right now?”

“Fine, just don’t understand it. I’ll handle it myself.”

Their foreheads collided as a hot hand cupped the back of Yunhwan’s head, holding him in place. Yunhwan felt his entire body temperature spike toward the point of contact. The hand on his head slid down to his waist.

“I can’t just leave like this. It’s too f***ing unfair.”

“…What—”

“You. I mean you.”

Before the sentence finished, their lips slammed together. Yunhwan’s eyes flew wide. When he tried to pull his head back in shock, the hand on his nape forced him forward. Hot, damp friction exploded over his mouth. The kiss was savage.

THUD! Yunhwan’s back hit the creaking door, a groan of pain escaping him. Seonghye didn’t miss the chance; his tongue surged into the opening. The muscle invaded Yunhwan’s mouth, immediately capturing his tongue. As they rubbed together forcefully, Yunhwan’s arms, which were braced against the floor, buckled.

Lips, mouth, tongue—everything was being devoured hungrily. Yunhwan shook his head against the deluge of hot breath. As his feet slipped on the floor, trying to find purchase to flee, Seonghye spat out another fierce curse.

He pulled back just a fraction, staring at Yunhwan with lips still glistening with desire.

“…Did you think I’d never find out if you stayed buried in this godforsaken countryside, Kwon Yunhwan?”

“…Ha… haa…”

A long, pale finger tapped Yunhwan’s cheek. Yunhwan’s shaking pupils followed Seonghye’s eyes a beat too late.

“Why do you think Manager Park put you back by my side, Yunhwan-ah?”

Yunhwan panted, staring at him. The black eyes were still ferocious, but there was a new, twisted satisfaction rising within them. Lust, having driven reason to the edge of a cliff, spread across Seonghye’s face, creating a strangely erotic atmosphere.

“Don’t run away this time. Okay? I’m f***ing tired of playing hide-and-seek.”

Stroking a soft cheek with his fingertip, Seonghye smiled with a terrifying mimicry of tenderness. His wet lips whispered close.

“Yunhwan-ah… see you soon.”

Min Seonghye tilted his head and laughed. Yunhwan reflexively flinched.

He’s crazy. This is definitely madness.

As the laughter died down like a broken toy, the frozen Yunhwan finally regained his senses. His body, wedged between Seonghye and the door, began to tilt to the side. He started to crawl back, his palms scraping the floor, while a now expressionless Seonghye slowly turned his head to follow him.

“M-Min Seonghye.”

The sudden void of emotion on Seonghye’s face made Yunhwan’s pupils tremble. Seonghye took a shallow breath, staring at him. As Yunhwan watched him, paralyzed, their gazes locked.

“Seonghye-ya.”

Yunhwan had seen the flames burning in Seonghye’s eyes just moments ago, but now he realized something else was rushing in behind that fire. Every time those thin eyelids blinked, the identity of the intruder became clearer. Seonghye was losing consciousness again.

The heat that had consumed his eyes began to fade.

Before Yunhwan could even process it, Seonghye’s eyelids fluttered shut. His sharp chin dropped to his chest. His unconscious body swayed back and forth for a moment before coming to a complete stop.

“…Haa—”

Yunhwan exhaled a massive breath.

Seonghye had regained his memory. The rough speech, the predatory eyes, the unpredictable behavior—that was the Min Seonghye he remembered.

Yunhwan looked up at him from the floor. Seonghye sat there, eyes closed, breathing steadily in a deep sleep. Without even time to wipe the cold sweat from his brow, the events of the last few minutes crashed over him like a tide. He couldn’t even think about standing up; he just replayed Seonghye’s words in his head, but the pieces of the puzzle wouldn’t fit.

Specifically, the identity of “that bastard” Seonghye had shown such hostility toward was baffling.

…Who is he? He couldn’t be talking about himself.

And that wasn’t the only strange thing. Instead of being disgusted by the imprint formed during his amnesia, he had threatened Yunhwan not to touch it.

An inexplicable sense of dread settled over him. He muttered to himself:

“The imprint… at the very least, I have to undo the imprint…”

The whole reason he was enduring this was to break that bond. If the “real” Seonghye was going to be aggressive about keeping it, Yunhwan only had one choice.

Finally regaining his footing, Yunhwan stood up. He had to call Junseong.

He dashed to his bedroom and fumbled for his phone. His hands were betraying him, fingers shaking so hard he could barely tap the screen. His own pale, ghost-like face reflected in the black glass. When he finally hit the call button, the ringing tone felt eternity-long. Standing with his back to the door, he whispered, “Pick up, pick up,” until the voice finally answered.

[Yes, Yunhwan-ssi.]

The moment he heard the familiar voice, Yunhwan’s composure shattered. Before he could even organize his thoughts, words started tumbling out of his mouth.

“Junseong-ssi, you’re at the hospital, right? Can you come here right now? Seonghye… Seonghye found his me-memories, and—”

His hands, stroking his dry lips and jaw, wouldn’t stop shaking. The reason he called Junseong here instead of going to the hospital was simple: he felt an instinctive, primal fear that if he touched Seonghye in that state again, something irreversible would happen.