Hunger Strikes and Nightmares

A few pieces of meat tumbled onto the duvet.

“Spilling food everywhere… how clumsy. Next time, I’ll bring a bib along with me.”

At those insulting words, Lee Dohun’s face flushed with heat. The look he gave was anything but ordinary. Even though it was ‘Baek Seohan’ receiving that glare, Seohan felt a sudden, ominous premonition.

“……Ah.”

Why are ominous premonitions never wrong?

Seohan suddenly regained control of his body, still clutching the fork that ‘Baek Seohan’ had been holding just a second ago.

‘You talk about a bib and then just leave me like this?’

…Baek Seohan was a total b*stard.

A deathly silence filled the room. Seohan instinctively tried to avoid eye contact, but that didn’t stop the other man’s gaze. He could feel those fierce, burning eyes on his face with agonizing clarity.

What do I do? How do I smooth this over?

Countless thoughts tangled into a mess in his head. Hadn’t he just acted in a way that would make anyone call him a split personality? Not only had his relationship with Lee Dohun worsened, but he couldn’t even think of a way to explain this situation.

Then, a sudden thought struck him.

‘…Do I really need to make an excuse?’

Seohan followed that logic to the letter. He placed the fork back on the tray. It was a silent, careful movement—so cautious that not even a tiny clink resonated in the quiet room.

“Baek Seo—”

“Well then, I hope you enjoy your meal.”

The moment Lee Dohun opened his mouth, Seohan turned around and bolted without hesitation. It wasn’t that he didn’t hear his name being called from the back of the basement, but he ignored it completely by slamming the door shut.

His hurried scramble up the stairs was closer to a flight for survival.

‘Tomorrow’s me will handle it.’

Seohan chose evasion.

[Synchronization has increased by 0.1% ( ᐛ )و!]

I don’t need it!

He couldn’t relax his body all day. He had been through too much today alone. He had been stupid enough to get caught while unlocking the handcuffs, and his strange condition had nearly been exposed.

Even though he had fled the scene and left the solution to his future self, the physical fatigue remained.

Perhaps that was why. That night, Seohan fell into a deep sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

The reason he woke up was a sensation of something heavy pressing down on his body.

‘It feels like morning is still far off, why…’

The moment he forced his eyelids open, Seohan froze.

<Baek Seohan.>

<W-why are you here…?>

It was a voice he had heard before. It resembled the voice he heard when he first saw the man locked in the basement—a voice thick with the concentrated will to kill him. Forgetting even the need to use formal speech, Seohan muttered blankly.

Lee Dohun, who should have been locked in the basement, was pinned on top of him.

The moment he realized that, he struggled with all his might. It might have been a desperate flailing of someone who didn’t want to die. However, it was not easy to escape someone with such a large difference in physical build.

Lee Dohun simply watched Seohan squirm. It was a gaze like someone looking down at a bug writhing just before death.

He stayed there and watched until Seohan was exhausted and gave up. In the room where the only light was faint moonlight, Lee Dohun’s eyes glowed eerily.

<Why…>

<Why? You’re asking why?>

A large hand drew close. Reaching through the pajamas disheveled from his struggling, the hand clamped firmly around his pale, thin neck.

<Die, Baek Seohan.>

The chanting voice was simple and clear.

Die. You must die right here. Lee Dohun repeated this as he tightened his grip on the throat.

<Kh-khhk…!>

Unlike when he had been strangled before, this time not even a sound could escape. The strength in the hand was that merciless. Reflexively, he scratched at the hand clutching his neck and twisted his body, but the firmly gripped hand showed no intention of letting go.

‘No, I can’t die like this…’

How did I come back to life? With what determination did I decide to live a new life?

Just as those thoughts began to fade from his mind.

“Hah…!”

Seohan woke up.

Unable to even sit up, he lay sprawled on the bed for a long time before slowly turning his eyes toward the window. The sun was already up, and the outside was bright.

[Synchronization has increased by 0.1% (و ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و]

The emoticon on the floating system window was the definition of cheerful. Looking back and forth between the blue sky outside and the system window, Seohan let out a slow breath.

Only after assessing the situation several more times could he reach a conclusion.

“…What kind of nightmare is that?”

He had a nightmare that couldn’t have been more terrible.

Seohan pressed his throbbing head and sat up. With his other hand, he fumbled over his neck.

‘That was a dream.’

It felt so real. The feeling of being unable to breathe was vivid.

It might have been because of what happened yesterday. He had experienced something similar, after all. But it was different from then. Even though it was a dream, he felt a genuine threat to his life at the very last moment.

If you slip up even a little, you could end up like this too.

The Lee Dohun in his dream seemed to be saying that. Goosebumps broke out all over his body. It was too similar to the future of ‘Baek Seohan’ that Seohan feared.

The sun had been up for a long time, but perhaps because of the terrible dream, he didn’t feel like he had slept properly. His body felt heavy, and he felt a faint headache. Looking at his condition, going back to sleep was out of the question.

In the end, he had no choice but to get up with a heavy sigh.

‘Let’s not see him today.’

He decided to postpone going to see Lee Dohun. Leaving aside the awkwardness of seeing his face after the dream, he wasn’t prepared with an excuse for what happened yesterday. Not that he could come up with a convincing excuse even if given time.

However, Seohan’s plan fell through in less than a few hours.

“He is continuing to refuse his meals…”

It was because of the words spoken by the servant assigned to handle Lee Dohun’s meals, who couldn’t hide their anxiety. For a moment, Seohan couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

No, why is he suddenly not eating?

‘Did I shove it in too hard…?’

The way ‘Baek Seohan’ had shoved the steak in did look unusual. He thought there might be a slight burn inside the throat, but to not eat because of that? Seohan’s expression turned strange.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Whatever they interpreted that as, the servant’s face turned haggard in an instant. Seohan realized that a person could age in a split second. They had only been face-to-face for about three minutes, but the face in front of him looked three years older.

“What did he say was the reason for not eating?”

“T-that’s…”

Hesitating. The woman’s expression turned odd as she kept her mouth shut. Her lips parted as if she had something to say, but she didn’t speak. It was when Seohan’s brow furrowed at her constant hesitation.

Noticing his expression, the servant’s face turned pale. She seemed terrified because of what she had suffered under the original ‘Baek Seohan,’ but since he wanted an answer quickly, Seohan didn’t bother correcting her misunderstanding.

“He said… if the Young Master doesn’t come and feed him personally, he won’t eat.”

“…What?”

“Hieek! I’m sorry!”

Did I just understand that correctly?

Seohan stared at the woman with suspicious eyes. It was a gaze questioning if he had truly heard right. Though terrified, her face looked quite wronged as she nodded her head up and down repeatedly.

“If he keeps doing that, let me know.”

“Yes!”

In the end, all he could do was give a simple instruction and send her out. Her face as she turned away couldn’t have been brighter, as if she were escaping a slaughterhouse.

‘This is a bit unfair.’

I didn’t even do anything. Staring at the spot where she had left with a perplexed face, Seohan eventually shook off the thought.

Lee Dohun’s sudden hunger strike was unexpected.

[Info | ‘Baek Seohan’ liked to toy with Lee Dohun’s meals 〣( ºΔº )〣]

A piece of information the system had once told him came to mind.

The reason he had tried to make sure the man was fed was for the same reason. Don’t they say Koreans live on the strength of their meals? Seohan’s philosophy was that to lay the foundation for improving a relationship, one had to pay the most attention to food, clothing, and shelter—especially food.

‘You shouldn’t play around with food.’

Although he couldn’t release him, he had tried to take care of the meals as best as possible after learning this information. He insisted on a balanced diet for the food served to Lee Dohun every day, ensuring no lack of nutrients.

In fact, according to reports, Lee Dohun had been eating well, even if he wasn’t licking the plate clean. It was a stroke of luck that he had possessed the body before ‘Baek Seohan’ could seriously start messing with Lee Dohun’s food.

But now he’s not eating. Now of all times?