His shoulders involuntarily hunched at the damp, gloomy atmosphere unique to basements. Ryu Seo-ha turned to look at Choi Gang-hu, who was still holding him. Beyond his ever-noble face, a familiar-looking staircase caught his eye.

A black stone staircase connecting to the upper floor. It was the exact same shape and color as the one beneath the entrance of the door found on the floor of the FromHell Guild Master’s office last time. The smell of blood, several times stronger than before, gave him an ominous feeling.

He quickly scanned the dark interior of the basement again. In a corner, he saw a corpse sprawled in a miserable state. There was no respect for the deceased in the way it was abandoned like carelessly discarded meat.

Ryu Seo-ha, who had been frowning while staring at the corpse, startled and reflexively took a step back. It was because his noticeably enhanced Perception stat informed him. The corpse before his eyes, the lump of meat that had almost lost human form, was still alive.

“That guy…”

Moreover, the grotesquely distorted face of the man looked familiar. He was a Chinatown survivor, specifically the leader of the small group Ryu Seo-ha had belonged to in the early days of the Great Cataclysm. The muscles he used to boast about were nowhere to be seen, and he was in a state of skin and bones.

He had heard that as soon as the lockdown was lifted, he committed violent crimes and served 5 years in prison, then recently appeared in the news again on charges of assault resulting in death and fled abroad just before being arrested. How had he been kidnapped without a trace when even Interpol couldn’t find him?

“Do you recognize who it is?”

The culprit who had reduced the subject, now embarrassing to even call a muscle man, to that state was clear. It was the man whispering in Ryu Seo-ha’s ear in a calm voice, who had seen with his own eyes how his lover had been treated in the sealed area.

Ryu Seo-ha, who had just turned his head to look up at Choi Gang-hu without answering, discovered a new figure crammed into the opposite corner with his limbs tightly bound. It was a face so horribly mangled that he wouldn’t have recognized it at all if not for the piercings dangling from his nostrils.

This one, also covered in blood and filth, seemed to be barely clinging to life. The floor and clothes reeked, as if he hadn’t been allowed even human-like excretion during his forced detention here. It was a grotesquely disgusting and cruel sight.

“…Why did you bring me here?”

Ryu Seo-ha, who had been staring blankly at them, quietly expressed his doubt. Choi Gang-hu was someone who used to cover his eyes to prevent him from seeing scenes of slaughter even during battle. He thought there must be a clear reason for deliberately bringing him here to witness such a horrific scene.

“I made them like that.”

Choi Gang-hu answered calmly to the quiet question. It was such an obvious statement that it sounded almost absurd. Who else would have done such a thing if not him? In a basement prepared under the Guild Master’s office, no less, such a bold act.

“Why?”

As if he wanted to be asked for the reason, when he readily asked back, the sharp lines of his eyes curved slightly.

“Because I wanted to repay them.”

There was no need to ask what for.

“The VIP waiting room employee who worked at the Seoul East Branch of the Association, the psychiatrist who forgot his duty and only interrogated, the impersonating doctor who acted as a front for the kidnapping incident – they’ve all received their karmic retribution.”

Choi Gang-hu, who had been holding Ryu Seo-ha from behind even after the [Spatial Jump], gently grasped his shoulders and turned him around. The eyes that met his were exceptionally gentle, unlike someone who had just spoken of torture indirectly.

“In a way less severe than how they hurt my lover.”

His voice whispering in a light tone, as if saying ‘The guy who cursed at you yesterday tripped on a stone and fell,’ was also incomparably affectionate.

“Do you want to break up after seeing my actions of retaliation without consulting you?”

Only after hearing the calmly continued question did Ryu Seo-ha seem to guess Choi Gang-hu’s intention in suddenly revealing his own cruelty. He could almost hear a voice whispering, ‘Even like this, you won’t leave my side in the end, right?’

“…No.”

“Surely someone with high moral standards like Ryu Seo-ha would be bothered.”

What Choi Gang-hu had done in secret was objectively wrong. It was also true that Ryu Seo-ha was the type who couldn’t tolerate personal revenge. But he wasn’t the type to quickly report his lover to the police either, so it was certain that he would experience serious internal conflict.

“Would it be alright if I kill those bastards?”

“…That’s for Choi Gang-hu to judge.”

Common sense dictated that he should dissuade or even educate him, but Ryu Seo-ha gave an uncharacteristically ambiguous answer. Someone who wouldn’t have said not to do it in the first place wouldn’t have prepared such a space separately. Lecturing with ethical norms like teaching a child would be useless.

The ruthless judge slightly raised his beautiful eyebrows, as if he had expected words of opposition. He couldn’t continue what he was about to say – why do you try to accommodate everything, saying you don’t want to create things for me to worry about when I’ve done such things, don’t mind me and act as you want.

“Of course, I think murder is a serious crime and can’t be easily justified.”

“As expected…”

“But even if I witness such a situation before my eyes, I won’t come to dislike or avoid Choi Gang-hu.”

It wasn’t a relationship started without knowing, and he didn’t think he could change the other person with just a few words of advice. Moreover, surprisingly, he even admired that side of Choi Gang-hu. Despite it conflicting with his values and triggering trauma.

“I’ll probably live with a sense of guilt similar to what I felt in my past life, but…”

Regardless of their humanity or past actions, if he knowingly turns a blind eye to their deaths, that would be inevitable. Choi Gang-hu’s expression hardened at the gentle, honest words that followed. He seemed to belatedly realize that he had unintentionally reopened Ryu Seo-ha’s wounds.

“…I hadn’t thought that far.”

Choi Gang-hu, who had been standing with distorted eyebrows as if at a loss for words, muttered as if sighing.

“With such wounds, how could you accept me? Wasn’t it disgusting?”

A sense of self-reproach unlike him was glimpsed in his quietly questioning voice. Ryu Seo-ha gently shook his head.

“Choi Gang-hu is different from my father in my past life.”

While he certainly has aspects that don’t hesitate to kill for his purposes and can be cruel in his methods, Choi Gang-hu doesn’t bully only the weak. He doesn’t beautify or make excuses for his crimes by blaming society.

Above all, his cruelty was concentrated and expressed towards cult members and vicious criminals, not innocent people. If that hadn’t been the case, the Ryu Seo-ha of his past life wouldn’t have enjoyed reading the original novel.

“I’ve also overcome much of my fear of such sights…”

Of course, if he hadn’t had the experience of surviving in the sealed area, he would have fainted as soon as he entered the basement. If he hadn’t had memories of being loved, he wouldn’t have been able to open his heart so easily to the living, breathing Choi Gang-hu.

Choi Gang-hu, who had been looking at him smiling faintly with a distorted expression, stretched out his long arms and overlapped his body. Ryu Seo-ha, who had obediently nestled into that embrace, could feel the air around him change once again.

Having returned to the bedroom in an instant, he smiled as he familiarly rested his cheek on the broad shoulder of his lover, who was sighing softly. And thinking how he could dislike such a kind person, he continued speaking.

“Honestly, there are many times when I feel refreshed thanks to Choi Gang-hu.”

He wasn’t a saint, so why wouldn’t he feel hatred and anger? It was just that he couldn’t carry out revenge directly due to mental and social constraints. It seems that’s why he read web novels in his past life too. Because he liked the feeling of having an itch scratched for him.

“You don’t have to pretend to be okay.”

Choi Gang-hu, who had gently seated him on the bed, murmured with a still hardened expression. He looked as if he deeply regretted his action of taking him to the basement.

“Ryu Seo-ha doesn’t have an obligation to unconditionally comply with my wishes.”

The touch arranging his hair was very careful.

“You got really angry when I ran away, though.”

When he deliberately smiled lightly and gave a counterexample, Choi Gang-hu slightly furrowed his brow. It seemed he still felt his blood run cold just imagining that time.

“I can take responsibility for my own emotions.”

His fingertips stroking Ryu Seo-ha’s round forehead were cold as he whispered that Ryu Seo-ha should also be true only to his own feelings.

“What if I get kidnapped again for meddling unnecessarily?”

“Dealing with that is also my responsibility.”

“I don’t want to make you worry needlessly.”

“Now that I’ve actually confined you, this worries me more.”

His voice was darkly subdued as he added that while he did want to bind Ryu Seo-ha within his space by any means necessary, he didn’t want him to suffer alone and swallow his pain.

“…Is it really okay for me to leave here?”

When he hesitantly asked again, Choi Gang-hu finally smiled and nodded greatly.

“Like before, you can do whatever you want.”

“While staying right by Choi Gang-hu’s side?”

“Of course.”

The sensation of lips pressing against his forehead with a “chu” quickly soothed his heart that had been sinking into depression.

“From now on, I won’t take my eyes off you for even a moment. It’s no use complaining about lack of consideration.”

Meeting his lover’s serious gaze as he whispered warningly, Ryu Seo-ha found himself smiling and nodding without realizing it.