Chapter 238.1

Chapter 238.1

“I… I think I lost my mind for a moment. I brought you to my house. Th-this is a pension my parents left me, so I… um… the reason I brought you here is because…”

The young woman, barely past adolescence, stammered as she spoke.

“This place is the only thing my parents left behind, but it’s about to be auctioned off. I’ve been paying off the debt with every bit of my salary, but if I get disciplined and my pay gets cut, they’ll take everything…”

“…”

“I know it’s cowardly and awful, but I’m… I’m scared. The sight of you standing there naked scared me, and the supervisor who’s just waiting for me to mess up scares me too. So, I… I just…”

What a pathetic excuse. No matter what reason she came up with, hitting someone and then keeping them captive instead of reporting it was still a crime. A serious one. I let out a short, bitter laugh.

“So what.”

Even from a minor car accident, a few drops of blood had splattered onto her cheek. The dark stain looked out of place on such a young, pale face, but it kept drawing my eyes.

Without emotion, I ran my tongue against the inside of my cheek.

“You want me to keep my mouth shut?”

Her eyes widened, like I’d struck a nerve.

She was just a kid. How old was she, even? More importantly—how old was I? Now that I thought about it, Lee Wooshin had never told me my age.

“I’ll… I’ll take care of you until you’re fully recovered. I promise I’ll do my best.”

“…”

“Please… just think of it as saving one person’s life. Please, help me…”

I looked between my ankles, tied to the bed, and the innocent-looking girl kneeling before me. Something about this situation felt completely backwards.

Frowning, I turned my gaze toward the window fogged with grime. A sticker clung to the glass, and I slowly read the faded letters.

“Winter Castle… This place is called Winter Castle?”

A chill scraped down my spine, and my vision dimmed. That wasn’t a good sign. The creeping sense that someone was watching me made my chest tighten again.

That kind of anxiety always came without warning, swallowing me whole. I had only wanted to escape from that deep, black pit. As I covered my nose and mouth with trembling hands, I could feel the girl’s panic rising beside me.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Can you breathe?”

“What is Winter Castle?”

“Uh? Oh, that’s… that’s the name of our pension. It’s closed for now, but…”

“Hit-and-run, shut up about it.”

“I-I wasn’t running away, I’m sorry…”

The girl stayed frozen in place, still kneeling on the floor. Winter Castle, huh.

My chest rose and fell heavily as I grabbed the back of her small head. I was so tired. So, so tired. I just wanted to pull one leg free and rest for a while.

I hesitated. Her wide, startled eyes lifted to meet mine, and a strange heat stirred from deep in my gut.

“…Fine. I won’t report you, for now.”

Getting a kid like her to bend was easier than breathing. Definitely easier than dying.

Sure enough, relief spread across her face, fragile and trembling, almost like despair.

“But you can’t report me either. I ran away from a mental hospital.”

“…!”

I saw her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard.

That’s what I thought. Handcuffs? What a joke. Handcuffs don’t suit me.

A faint, crooked smile slipped out.

“You might’ve brought me here on your own, but from now on, whether I leave or stay, that’s up to me.”

“…What?”

Going back to that hospital was out of the question. I hated the man who called himself my guardian, hated the nurses, and hated that caregiver who only existed on paper and never showed his face.

Resting my head on one arm, I slowly turned my body.

“When I decide to leave, I’ll just file a fake report and slip out clean.”

The moment I said it, just to mess with her, the girl’s face crumpled completely as she grabbed my arm.

“Ow.” The word slipped out before I could stop it. Her hand, unexpectedly strong and desperate, clung to me so tightly that it made my chest ache and my throat tighten. Her nostrils trembled as she whispered,

“I’m… I’m a police officer.”

“What?”

Pain pulsed at the back of my head.

“Please, I’m begging you… Don’t report me. I’m a police officer…!”