Chapter 54: Shackled Return

Kwon Yiyul’s gaze shifted past me toward Song Ahyoung, who sat leaning against the hollow tree with her eyes tightly shut.

His golden eyes gleamed viciously.

Then, without hesitation, he raised a hand and slowly lifted Song Ahyoung into the air using his ability.

Her small body floated upward effortlessly.

Suspended dangerously high above the ground, she swayed as if balancing on a tightrope.

If Kwon Yiyul withdrew his power right now, her skull would shatter the moment she hit the ground.

I realized that immediately and stepped in front of him.

“…No. Please don’t. I’m begging you.”

“I heard you treasured those shelter people more than anything. Interesting way to confirm it.”

“I’ll go back. I’ll return right now. I’ll do anything you tell me to. I won’t disobey you anymore, Kwon Yiyul— no, Team Leader…”

I intertwined my fingers with his, desperately trying to pull his attention away from Song Ahyoung and back toward me.

I grabbed his jaw.

I even forced myself to kiss him.

Kwon Yiyul didn’t stop there.

Again and again, he crushed his lips against mine before slowly biting down on my lower lip.

Even when I twisted my head away just to breathe, he relentlessly followed, changing angles without yielding an inch, as though determined to show exactly how angry he was.

Smack—

“f*ck. Where exactly did you learn something like this? What, are you trying to win me over in bed now?”

“Hngh… please… please, Kwon Yiyul…”

“…You know, Yoon-ah, you only ever call my name like that when you’re cornered. Makes the listener feel like shit.”

“……”

“…Though I guess I’m pathetic too for falling for it.”

In the past, a kiss like this would have made my face burn with embarrassment.

Now it only made me feel disgusted, like insects were crawling across my skin.

“Then let’s do this. I’ll contact the Center right now and have people sent here. Medical staff included… maybe around thirty people altogether?”

“……”

“In exchange, you return to the Center with me immediately. We renew the contract, and from now on I can extend it in five-year increments whenever I want, without needing the Director’s approval. Meaning, without my permission, you can never terminate the contract or leave the Center again.”

“……”

“It sounds harsh, but honestly? It’s not a bad deal. You know as well as I do how difficult it is to pull personnel out of the Medical Center. Especially all the way out here.”

But I had to endure it.

After finally escaping the Center, the thought of being dragged back there again filled me with despair.

Part of me wanted to bite my tongue and die on the spot.

Even so, I had to endure it.

I had to survive.

“Forget everyone else. The girl behind you could stop breathing at any moment, so I’d advise making your decision quickly.”

Even if it cost me my life, I had to seize this chance somehow.

“Don’t tell me you’re hesitating because you think I’ll sweet-talk you now and abandon these people later?”

“…Hic… ngh…”

“Relax. I keep my promises. Getting helicopters and transport ships all the way out here is a pain in the ass, but just this once, I’m willing to indulge what you want.”

“……”

“I’m saying I’ll play the role of a leashed dog for you. Just once.”

Leash.

Dog.

From those two words alone, I understood exactly how Kwon Yiyul saw me.

To him, my escape from the Center was nothing more than a pet running away after growing upset with its owner.

A pitiful little dog starved for affection.

A few pats on the head, a few treats tossed its way, and it would wag its tail and return obediently.

“So? What’ll it be?”

Thud-thud-thud-thud—

“Hey, careful. The ground’s slippery from all the rain.”

The rapidly spinning helicopter blades whipped violent winds through the mountainside.

Medical personnel and nurses dressed in protective suits hurried back and forth through the pouring rain.

The transport ship and helicopters dispatched from District One’s Relief Zone barely managed to enter the Lower District by dawn.

Slide—

“Hngh… ngh…”

Lee Shinwoo’s condition was horrific.

After being dragged behind motorcycle engines by ropes, his body was nearly destroyed.

The face stomped in as punishment for warning me had become so mangled it was difficult to recognize him.

Apparently he had also injured his leg during capture.

His left leg bent at an unnatural angle.

According to the medical staff, treatment had come far too late.

Even if he recovered, he would limp for the rest of his life.

I couldn’t bear to look at the leg tightly fixed in place with plaster and braces.

“Ahyoung-ah… what do I do with our Ahyoung… ahh…”

Beside Shinwoo, Song Ahyoung was carried away on another stretcher.

Her face was expressionless.

Even the lively lips that had always smiled brightly at me now remained tightly shut.

Thankfully, the bullet had only grazed her neck.

But the wound was deeper than expected, and she had lost a dangerous amount of blood.

Now she lay connected to swollen blood bags while receiving painkillers and antibiotics before being loaded onto the transport ship.

“If you listen to the doctors and keep getting treatment, they said you’ll recover quickly. So from now on, you have to stay strong even without oppa beside you, okay?”

There was no way the unconscious child could hear me.

Even so, I repeated the same words endlessly like a broken recording.

Holding onto the faintly pulsing wrist in my hands, I pressed kiss after kiss against it, waiting desperately for her to open her eyes again.

According to Kwon Yiyul, Song Ahyoung would now live in a protection facility in the Upper District.

He promised she would receive a normal education like other children, play freely, and be fully supported until she became a functioning adult.

And not just her.

He claimed the surviving shelter members would also be given jobs and places to live so they would never struggle to survive again.

“We’ll be moving them shortly now, so please stand behind the yellow line and follow the Team Leader’s instructions.”

After the stretchers carrying Shinwoo and Ahyoung disappeared into the transport ship, I exchanged farewells with the surviving shelter members as well.

They said they survived because of me.

They called Kwon Yiyul their savior for rescuing them even in such chaos.

Some cried from relief.

Others from grief.

But many still couldn’t endure the deaths around them.

“Aaaaah! Let me go! Let go!”

Kim Jiyeon, rescued only recently, clutched both ears tightly like a soldier suffering severe war trauma and kept trying to hide herself in corners.

Blood dripped steadily from her ears, as though her eardrums had ruptured.

Watching a child no older than five silently try to stop her own bleeding with hollow, empty eyes made my chest feel even heavier.

“We should get moving too.”

“……”

The moment the green blanket around my shoulders slipped down, Kwon Yiyul approached and wrapped an arm around me.

Powerless, I allowed him to lead me slowly toward the helicopter parked in the clearing.

The heavy door closed.

Inside, we sat diagonally across from each other with a seat between us.

Unable to let go, I stared out the small window as the transport ship carrying the shelter members received its signal and began preparing for takeoff.

The medical staff who had worked nonstop since dawn finally removed their protective suits and wiped sweat from their foreheads.

‘…Come to think of it. What happened to him?’

Watching the medical workers prioritize patients even under these conditions, Kim Kyungwoon suddenly came to mind.

No—

How could I have forgotten him?

If Kwon Yiyul investigated everyone connected to me while searching for my whereabouts, then Kim Kyungwoon would obviously have been the first target.

I’d been so shocked hearing that Kwon Yiyul injured Kim Seokhwan badly enough to destroy one of his eyes that I completely failed to think about Kim Kyungwoon’s situation.

The person who would’ve been cornered most helplessly.

Vrrrr—

“…Um, Kwon Yiyul.”

“Why, Yoon-ah?”

Considering I had rejected the Team Leader’s proposal and run away on my own, this wasn’t really something I had the right to ask.

But I needed to know.

Was Kim Kyungwoon safe?

“Did… Kim Kyungwoon say anything to you?”

“Hm? Who?”

As the helicopter lifted off behind the transport ship, the forest stained with bloody memories gradually disappeared from view.

The lightning storm had carved enormous craters into the landscape.

Entire mountain ridges had been flattened into plains.

The river flowing beside the hill had vanished beneath collapsed earth.

It truly resembled a natural disaster.

“…Doctor Kim Kyungwoon. I’m pretty sure you met him once before.”

Inside the helicopter, filled with the cold blue hue of dawn, I carefully studied Kwon Yiyul’s pale, spotless face as I tested his reaction.

Cold sweat gathered in my palms where my nails had dug in earlier.

“That rat-like doctor? Of course I’m taking very good care of him.”

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