"Are you hurt? Are you okay?"
After hearing the voice, Hyun-woo slowly lowered the hands he had been using to cover himself. His body was still trembling and his heart was racing rapidly, but he forced himself to look at the person who had saved him.
He was tall, with broad, well-defined shoulders that made him stand out even among the chaos.
His eyes were cold, sharp and distant yet when he spoke, his voice carried a strange contradiction. It sounded irritated, almost impatient, but there was a hint of gentleness beneath it that didn't quite match his gaze.
He looked gaunt, as if he hadn't slept properly in a long time, but it only made his features sharper. His pale complexion and defined lines gave him an almost unreal beauty, dazzling even as he looked down at Hyun-woo without emotion.
Behind him, the mantis beast lay split cleanly in half which Hyun-woo managed to sneak a peek at after feeling so terrified of it.
Despite what he had just done, the man didn't look the least bit tired. There wasn't even a single trace of sweat on him, as if cutting down a monster like that had required no effort at all.
As Hyun-woo's nerves slowly began to calm and his breathing steadied, the tension finally left his body. His vision blurred at the edges...
And then everything went black.
Just as Hyun-woo was about to collapse, the man who had saved him caught him firmly by the hips. Their bodies pressed together briefly through their clothes, and in that fleeting contact, something strange happened.
The man felt a sudden, sharp sense of refreshment as if a weight had lifted from his mind for just a moment.
He flinched, his eyes widening as he looked down at the stranger who was now unconscious in his arms.
Even if it lasted only a second, the sensation lingered in his mind, leaving him feeling unusually clear and almost… cleansed.
His gaze stayed fixed on the stranger's face, trying to make sense of what had just happened then, the sound of approaching footsteps broke the moment as his comrades arrived.
"Captain Seo, everything's clear here," Park Hae-jin said, lazily lacing his fingers behind his head as he strolled toward his guild captain.
"Right. No flying beasts either," Im Rin-ah added as she arrived.
"Captain, everything's been taken care of. We can leave the rest to the cleaners now," Lee Sung-hoon said.
He frowned slightly at the last remark.
The cleaners weren't ordinary fighters. They were other Awakened whose abilities weren't suited for combat. They even had their own guild and handled situations like this after the main threat was neutralized.
Still holding the unconscious stranger, Do-hyun let his gaze linger on him for a brief moment longer before nodding to his team, signaling that it was time to move on without once loosening his hold, carrying the stranger securely in his arms.
Before they could head back to their guild headquarters, the three guild members exchanged glances, silently deciding who would ask the obvious question.
"Uh… before that, Captain, who is that?" Hae-jin asked, leaning forward slightly to get a better look at the stranger's face.
"Hmm, I don't know," Do-hyun replied.
He then looked down at the person he was carrying once more before lifting his gaze back to Hae-jin.
The moment their eyes met, Hae-jin instinctively took a step back, awkwardly averting his gaze under their captain's sharp stare.
The team grew even more confused, exchanging glances again with their brows knitted together.
"B-but… are you bringing him back to the headquarters, Captain?" Rin-ah asked, meeting Do-hyun's eyes directly.
"Yes," Do-hyun answered, tightening his grip slightly.
At that, Sung-hoon suddenly stepped forward, stretching both hands out with an eager grin.
"Oh, then let me carry him, Captain..."
"No, he's mine. Let's go."
The cold response, paired with an even colder glare, made Sung-hoon flinch. The other two froze as well, staring in stunned confusion.
"Gah… what's with the Captain?" Sung-hoon muttered, his hands still outstretched.
Rin-ah stepped forward and firmly pushed his hands down.
"You can stop that now, hyung. Let's head back to the headquarters."
On the other hand, Hyun-woo was drowning in memories that weren't even his.
He couldn't see anything because it felt as though his eyes were blindfolded, his wrists restrained and tied to something solid, maybe a bed. His legs were also left spread apart along with a dull ache settling into his lower back.
His thoughts were foggy and his body felt unpleasantly sticky. His legs were numb and heavy, as if whatever he'd been given hadn't worn off yet.
"Do you think he's going to be okay?" The sound of liquid being poured followed by the faint splash.
"I'm sure he's fine. He's good at acting weak, you know."
A chair scraped lightly against the floor followed by someone's laughed before the soft clink of glass against glass echoed nearby.
"Haha, you're such a cruel guardian. Well, not that it matters."
"Coming from you. You can't even get enough of his ass, you idiot."
Another laugh followed and louder this time accompanied by the sound of someone taking a drink.
"Haha. Well, should I say thank you for letting me have a taste? But still… did you really have to go this far? I mean, did you really have to drug him?"
"Yes." The answer came immediately. "I don't know what's happening, but my ability doesn't work on him…"
There was a brief pause and footsteps moving closer, then stopping.
"Well, it's not like he has any family left."
"And it's not like he can bear to part with me. Without me, he's nothing."
Then comes a scoff and another clink of glass.
"Wow. That's bold of you to say. Where'd you get that kind of confidence? What if he's awake, though?"
"Even if he is," the man replied calmly, "he knows what to do better."
Hyun-woo could do nothing but lie there in the darkness, listening to their casual laughter, the quiet movements around the room, and the occasional sound of glass tapping against glass with each noise making his chest tighten with helpless dread.
Hyun-woo hoped this bad dream would stop soon, but it didn't. He felt someone get on top of him again and roughly push something into his rear end.
"Hngh, ugh!" Hyun-woo groaned, trying to move his hands and body to get away, but the person kept going in and out, ignoring his sounds of pain.
"Hngh... you're so tight," the man said angrily.
"S-stop... Hngh!" he moaned, even though he tried not to.
He wanted to say no, but his body didn't listen with his hips kept moving on their own, rubbing against the person above him.
It sent feelings of pleasure through him that he didn't want. Sweat also dripped down his face.
"I said stop," he gasped, but it turned into another soft cry.
His legs shook, and his body lifted up without thinking, wanting more even if his mind was mixed up.
Seeing his desperation, the person on top of him just laughed softly. Then his hands held his waist tight, moving him slowly to make it feel even stronger making Hyun-woo's face got red from embarrassment.
He shut his eyes tight under the blindfold while trying to ignore it all but deep inside, part of him wanted it to get more intense. The rubbing turned faster and harder along, his moans was also getting louder, and he couldn't tell anymore if he really wanted to stop or keep going.
"Relax, or you'll break my dick in half, you bitch!" Then he slapped Hyun-woo's face really hard, making him feel dizzy and confused.
However, the torment didn't end there when another guy grabbed Hyun-woo's jaw roughly, forcing his mouth open wide.
Before Hyun-woo could even react or close his mouth, the man shoved his hard dick deep inside, filling his mouth completely. Hyun-woo gagged and tried to pull back, but strong hands held his head still.
"Take it all, you slut," the man growled, starting to thrust in and out fast and hard.
He even pushed deeper each time, hitting the back of Hyun-woo's throat over and over, making him choke and drool. Tears streamed down on his face as he struggled to breathe while his body was dribbling from every thrust, but the men just laughed and kept going without mercy.
While the two men kept thrusting their hips without stopping, the guy inside Hyun-woo's rear leaned down and sucked hard on Hyun-woo's nipples, making them tingle and get stiff even though Hyun-woo didn't want it.
At the same time, the man used his rough hand to stroke Hyun-woo's own dick up and down, faster and faster to match their movements. The tip of Hyun-woo's dick even started dripping with his own sticky cum all by itself, making everything wet and slippery, which humiliated Hyun-woo even more.
He shook and whimpered, feeling waves of unwanted excitement build up inside him while the men just laughed like it was all a joke.
While they were doing all sorts of those perverted things to him, Hyun-woo couldn't help but only cry with a feeling of betrayal inside his body and mind though he also didn't remember how he ended up in that kind of situation.
He kept begging and crying for them to stop but they didn't.
They just kept moaning and laughing while having their way with him again and again.
Then….
He woke up suddenly with his eyes flying open.
For a moment, everything was blurry.
His lashes were wet, his face damp, like he'd been crying without realizing it. His breathing was also uneven, too fast, and his chest felt tight, as if air refused to go all the way in.
"…Where am I?" he whispered.
He pushed himself upright on the bed with his hands clenched in the sheets as he looked around panicking along with his gaze darting from wall to wall but nothing felt familiar.
The room didn't feel safe making his heart started pounding harder. Then, he looked down at himself.
"Why… why am I here?" His voice trembled. "I was on a bed, and I was—"
He stopped, followed by the memory that hit him all at once.
Those laughs and voices that he couldn't even remember where they were coming from. The feeling of being trapped, unable to move and unable to stop it. His stomach twisted painfully as his breath caught in his throat that his hands began to shake.
"No… no…" he muttered, pulling himself back while curling inward as if that might protect him.
His chest burned, panic spreading through him faster than he could control. He felt cold and nauseous, his thoughts spiraling, refusing to slow down.
This wasn't a dream.
And that realization made his fear crash over him all over again.
'Uh… right. Did I really die and become someone in my own damn story? And what the hell was that dream? I was being molested! No, this body was being molested… Wait. Was that the life of my damn extra character? I wrote him as just some nobody, so why did he have a life like that? Shit, shit, shit… And now his trauma is in my body, making me act like him!'
His hands tangled in his hair as he tried to think, but his mind was spinning. Then the door slid open making him freeze. A good-looking man stepped in, followed by three others. Just seeing them made him shiver and tremble, like it had a mind of its own.
He wasn't scared, at least, not in his head but his body. His body was screaming and his heart was pounding so fast he thought it would burst.
"How are you feeling, Mister Shin Se-in?"