24 - Chapter 22: Police Officer
With a crooked smirk, Ilina led me somewhere.
Climbing the stairs, she said,
"Just so you know, you can resist all you want once you're inside. She's got a nasty temper, so she'll actually like it more if you fight back."
"...What?"
"You'll see when you get in there."
I had no idea what kind of bullshit she was spewing. Was she just fucking with me?
Letting her words go in one ear and out the other, I was shoved into a room.
The room was luxuriously decorated, which didn't suit the rest of this dump at all. Rather than reflecting anyone's actual taste, it looked like it was set up purely to show off—a reception room, perhaps?
Either way, a woman I'd never seen before was sitting inside.
"Say hello. This is Detective Park Ye-bin."
At Ilina's command, I bowed my head in a daze.
The detective, Park Ye-bin, turned her head toward me, slowly stood up, and gestured for Ilina to leave.
The moment Ilina closed the door behind her, Park Ye-bin strode toward where I stood awkwardly.
Without warning, she grabbed me by the throat and lifted me straight off the ground.
"Ugh...!"
My feet dangled as her grip tightened around my windpipe, cutting off my air. Is this what it felt like to be hanged?
Fortunately, it didn't last long. She slammed me down onto the reception table, the impact rattling my spine to the bone.
She pinned me to the table, her hand still clamped around my neck. Her grip was slightly looser than when she had me suspended in the air, making it a little easier to breathe.
The rape that followed made me realize exactly why Ilina had said what she did.
"Hegh... ugh... kgggh..."
Park Ye-bin was a true sadist. As she forced herself on me, she repeatedly slapped my face and squeezed her hand around my throat.
"Who the fuck do you think you are, acting all high and mighty, you fucking bastard...?"
"Hegh...! Cough...!"
Every time I failed to react, she hit me harder and choked me even tighter.
"Ah... ugh..."
The open-handed slaps eventually turned into fists, and blood began to drip from my nose. The sight of blood only seemed to excite her more, and her hips began to pump like a sewing machine.
"Ah, it's fucking hot."
Whether she was hot and thirsty from the sheer exertion of the assault, Park Ye-bin grabbed a bottle of liquor and chugged straight from it.
After draining nearly half the bottle without taking a single breath, she suddenly poured the rest all over me.
"Puhaha! Whew! Hey, consider this a disinfectant. Disinfection!"
Chugging that much alcohol so quickly made Park Ye-bin's face flush bright red. Her speech slurred, and whatever shred of restraint she had left completely vanished.
"Heheh...! What's this? Your whole body's bright red! Are you drunk too?"
Finding it hilarious, she cackled with laughter. Then, she climbed off me and brutally grabbed me by the hair.
"A Hunter trainee shouldn't be drinking before school's even out, right? You never know when you might get called out to the field."
Indeed, if I hadn't been kidnapped and dragged to this dump, I'd be sitting in class right now.
But since I hadn't even made it to school today, her logic was completely full of shit.
Of course, she probably didn't care about logic anyway.
She was just riding the high, making up whatever convenient excuse popped into her head.
Yanking my hair, she dragged me down to the floor and shoved me hard against the wall.
"Ugh...!"
"Hehehe... As an officer of the law, it's my duty to set you straight."
With that, she slid the leather belt from her waist, wrapping it around her hand like a whip.
"Kyahahaha! You cheeky little shit! Drinking during school hours, huh?!"
Under the relentless barrage, I curled into a ball to protect myself. My defensiveness only seemed to fuel her sadism, and her laughter grew even louder.
Only after I was beaten to a bloody pulp did she finally lose interest and leave me alone.
"Wow, you really went wild on him today."
Once the brutal assault was over, even Ilina and her lackeys clicked their tongues in disgust when they came in to clean up.
"You can't buy this kind of fun, even with money. Gotta enjoy it while I can."
"True. These days, even if you beat up a male whore and pay off the damages, the pimp will still blacklist you and kick you out."
"That's why I keep covering for Boss Jang."
"Haha, we appreciate your continued support."
Was Ilina's last name Jang? That was news to me.
While they made small talk and Ilina escorted Park Ye-bin out, I was dragged across the floor like a sack of garbage and locked back in the semi-basement. Every scrape against my raw wounds made me want to scream in agony.
The lackeys tossed me into the cellar and asked Ilina when she returned.
"Aren't you going to finish what you started earlier?"
Ilina shrugged.
"Nah, forget it. Having my meal snatched away right as I was about to dig in was bad enough, but eating the leftovers now just ruins the mood."
"Fair enough."
The moment Ilina turned her back and left, the look in her lackeys' eyes shifted.
"Ah."
Without even a moment to catch my breath or nurse my wounds, I was gang-raped by Ilina's lackeys all over again.
"Hey, poke this bruise right here. He makes the most fucking hilarious sound."
"Hngh...!"
To them, I wasn't even human. I was just a toy.
After serving as a human toilet to satisfy the lust of nearly every gang member in the building, my dinner consisted of a few stale biscuits and a single sip of water.
'This is absolute dog shit, seriously.'
How the hell am I supposed to escape this time?
Several days had passed since Jin Seo-yun gave her statement to the police.
Yet, there was absolutely no progress in the investigation. Whenever she inquired, she only received generic, automated responses, and anxiety began to gnaw at her.
'Could the cop who took my statement be in on it too?'
Once that seed of doubt was planted, her thoughts began to spiral.
'N-Now that I think about it, gangs always collude with the authorities to control their turf. A criminal organization of that scale couldn't possibly exist without local cops turning a blind eye.'
If that was the case...
'Were the people who attacked us gang members? What on earth did Su-hyeon do to piss off a gang enough to get kidnapped?'
As she pieced together that the thug who swung the iron pipe at her head was a gangster, and that Han Su-hyeon had been dragged away in some kind of retaliation, Jin Seo-yun's anxiety reached a fever pitch.
'If I can't trust the police, what's going to happen to Su-hyeon? Are they going to make him disappear, and no one will ever know?'
She couldn't let that happen.
They had only just reunited. She refused to lose him again.
Finally, she made up her mind.
'To hell with the police. Gang or no gang, I'll find Su-hyeon myself.'
With her decision made, she abruptly stood up, right in the middle of class.
"Seo-yun? Is something wrong?"
The instructor stopped lecturing and asked. Seo-yun answered nonchalantly.
"Something's come up. I need to leave early."
She had already wasted days. She couldn't afford to lose another second.
The instructor readily gave her permission, and Seo-yun quickly packed her things and left. Once outside, she began scanning the streets.
'First, I need to find that motorcycle. It's the only lead I have.'
Find the bike, beat the owner to a pulp, and force them to tell her who they worked for.
It was a simple, straightforward plan, but it was the most logical one she had.
"Hyaaaaawn..."
Buried deep in her soft, luxurious bed, Natalia let out a lazy yawn.
After running herself ragged for days to close a sudden S-rank Dimensional Gate, she had finally been able to enjoy a long, uninterrupted sleep.
Waking up well past noon, Natalia sat up slowly and muttered to herself,
"Ah, I'm hungry."
Now that one of her basic primal needs was satisfied, her appetite immediately reared its head.
Sauntering into the kitchen, she casually opened the refrigerator and snacked on leftover caviar and truffles.
"Whew..."
With her stomach full, the last of her primal urges woke up—the one that, while not strictly necessary for survival, was by far the hardest to ignore and the quickest to drive a person crazy.
Lust.
'Should I call that brat over and have a wild round?'
So, Natalia went for the easiest option next to masturbating.
Her hand slid between her thighs, gently rubbing her clitoris through her panties as she dialed Han Su-hyeon's number.
But...
"What the hell? Why isn't this bastard picking up?"
All she got was a recorded message telling her the phone was switched off.
'Did something happen?'
She felt it intuitively.
If he were just dodging her, it would at least ring. But for it to be completely turned off?
"Hmm."
Natalia's relaxed, lazy expression instantly vanished.
"Who the fuck dared to lay a hand on my property?"
She was going to have to teach them a painful lesson about keeping their hands to themselves.