Chapter 225.1

Chapter 225.1

Even with her eyes open, she wandered blindly through the air. Kim Hyun, Lee Wooshin, and strangers she had never seen before.

None of it made sense.

Her clenched fist trembled uncontrollably. Just one person? Out of all of them, just one?

Something threatened to rise up her throat, and she bit down hard on her molars.

‘I loved Kim Hyun when I was blind, and after opening my eyes, I failed to recognize Lee Wooshin. And now you expect me to… what?’

Bang! Without hesitation, Seoryeong pulled the trigger toward Kia.

“Don’t make me laugh! I know how to kill you too!”

The bullet grazed Kia’s shoulder.

Clang!

The shell casing hit the ground. He staggered slightly, touched his shoulder, and looked at the fresh red blood on his palm. But Kia showed no sign of agitation, only let a long, crooked smile stretch across his lips.

Seoryeong bit her lower lip and reloaded. This time, she aimed at his chest.

Was it always meant to end this way? It had only been a few days since she’d seen her brothers alive, like a miracle.

‘Kia, why did it have to be you?’

A bitter resentment lingered on her tongue. She took one step, then another, closing the distance between them. The gun muzzle pressed against his hard muscles.

“I’ll kill you first, then check the others one by one.”

Yes, that was the only way. She didn’t want to gamble, not even a little, on Lee Wooshin’s life. If she could just get rid of Kia, then…

At that moment, Kia snatched the gun and twisted her arm backward. “Aagh!” A piercing scream tore from her throat. Below her elbow, her arm cracked and hung limply like a broken mannequin.

“Ugh!”

The blood vessels in her eyes burst, turning them red. Her neck flushed crimson as she endured the pain of her shattered bone, but she couldn’t control the tears spilling down her cheeks.

Kia threw the gun aside and pinned both her arms as if arresting her. Then he roughly grabbed her bangs and forced her to face him.

In reflexive defiance, she kicked back like a cornered horse and rammed her head into him, but the more she struggled, the tighter he gripped her dislocated elbow. It felt like shards of bone were stabbing through her skin.

“Ugh, ah!”

Only then did Seoryeong realize how much Kia; the monster she’d helped create, had been holding back until now.

Her forearms and hair were trapped in his grip as she clenched her teeth.

“Guess you’ve lost your nerve, Sonya,” he whispered, biting her ear. His voice carried a mocking laugh. “So how were you planning to get rid of me like this?”

“Let me go!”

“The more you squirm, the worse it gets for you.”

He grabbed her throat with one hand, then clamped down hard on her jaw. In that instant, the row of Lee Wooshins seated in the front burst into flames.

Seoryeong let out a scream of pure terror. The shock hit her harder than when her arm had snapped.

Flames rose from the stage floor, devouring the men’s legs and knees, then climbed up to their faces, burning them whole.

Seoryeong froze, her mouth hanging open as she stammered, “Ah… ah… ah…” The sight of faces melting in the fire like tongues of flame was seared into her eyes.

The identical gray eyes turned pitch black and vanished, and the faces, whether they were real flesh or leather, melted away without a trace. Her mind went blank at the horrific sight.

“Are you sure your husband isn’t among them?”

Her tear-swollen eyes trembled. She couldn’t say a word. She stood frozen like a statue.

The flames spread to the second row. Whether she chose or failed to choose her husband, they were all going to burn. Her voice scraped out of her throat, ragged and hoarse.

“Are you sure Lee Wooshin is in there?”

“Stop thinking and just pick one, Sonya. Is that really so hard to understand?”

“…”

“Find your husband and get out.”

Her eyes quivered as they followed the rising flames.

“Don’t you get it? This is our way of saying goodbye.”

A corner of her cheek singed under the heat. Kia’s words had always been selfish and extreme.

Seoryeong bit her tongue again and again, refusing to be dragged along by him. Her bloodshot eyes darted desperately among the rows of identical faces, searching for him. But there were too many of them, too many faces that deceived her.

Just like Kim Hyun. Just like Lee Wooshin.

The men twitched their limbs faintly, but none of them screamed. The sight was both horrifying and hopeless.

If only she could strip off their gloves, check some part of their bodies… But with her arms twisted and bound, she was as helpless as a bird with its wings cut off.

“You… did you drug all of them?”

“I sent old circus invitations to a few departments. They all came running, desperate. There were so many spies mixed in, too. Sorting out their nationalities was actually kind of fun.”

“.…”

“Rounding them up, half-killing them, it wasn’t hard. Which means there are still this many insects we don’t even know about, Sonya.”