She watched his velvet lips weave into a once charming smirk that was now a crime. Daehyun slipped off a single leather glove off his other hand, a subtle hint compared to what he was about to do next. Turning around, he elegantly slipped off his lab coat and ran a free hand through his hair. Seohyun felt her knees go weak; if she had been standing, she would've already fallen to the ground.

The glove... the tattooed symbol on the back of his neck...

Her brain hurt with flashes of the evidence Eunho had presented to her the first time she visited the Law Firm. It was as if lightning had struck her head and cleaved it completely.

"It all makes sense... why you rejected Dr. Kim's request for extra security at Kitel's room. And it was you who lured her in that bar! You tried to get her kidnapped, and when it failed, you tried to kill her the night before she leaves the hospital! A sick attempt to frame me!"

Everything came full circle; the picture was finally whole. And now, Seohyun would have to pay the price. "Well done for figuring it out, I never expected less from my dear apprentice." He clapped his hands together slowly, sarcastic applause that offended her in more ways possible.

"But like I once told you, this is just the beginning of our game. But this time, you'll play by our rules." A ruthless laugh caressed the room, vibrating in the air. He turned his back to her, hands leaned on the surface of a table.

"Why?" was all she could muster, shaking her head in dismay. "I looked up to you; you were my idol..." Her regretful stare bore through his back, shrouded in the dark shadows of the hell they were in.

"Seohyun, you and I are so much alike," he began, facing her once again with a look that almost seemed sympathetic. "I understand you, your hunger for perfection. It's a drug you get high on. If you can't have it..." He leaned closer to her, breathing goosebumps into the arch of her neck. "You'll fall apart."

"I know the struggle. Do you think I've flawlessly excelled at my position without knowing the shitty anxiety of fucking up? I get it. But it's so tiring to keep this up. This is the only way I can stay sane. The only way I can release all these depressive frustrations and... practice."

Seohyun felt chills shiver down her spine. Daehyun was here to cut open bodies and dissect them like animals, for practice.

"You are sick. You can only wish that we're similar. But I'm nothing like you, Daehyun! You sick bastard!" Daehyun threw his head back, laughter emitting from his lips like a singsong of melodies. There was a pause that came after his amusement, before deciding to answer her.

"Seohyun, I've loved and longed for you for quite a while. I've always seen you as someone more than just a budding doctor. I can see so much of me in you. If only I knew it would only take this much to finally hear you say my name... I would've done it so long ago."

A deafening silence embraced the two. Seohyun had always admired Dr. Jong. She would've been lying if she said she never thought of them together. But it was a silly infatuation; he was never an object of affection in her eyes. How wrong could she have been?

"Don't take it for a compliment. You no longer have the honor to be called Dr. Jong. And I am and will never be anything like you. We both may be perfectionists, but I'm not a fad. And I will never accept your feelings, you only romanticize the fact that I'm better than you in every way possible, that I can even become you without being you."

There was a flash of almost pain that thundered across his face, and Seohyun almost felt bad for the doctor she had adored for such a long time. "This is my retribution. No matter how much I lie to myself in hopes I'll believe myself, I'm not happy. I'm caught in this lie, I can't be free from this pain... I am being punished." He ran his fingers through his hair, gripping at the loose strands as if he was losing his mind.

Seohyun stared straight through him. He wasn't the charming and clever Dr. Jong she had known, but Daehyun, the psychotic doctor who was drowning in insanity. It was like she was looking at a mirror of the two personalities switching back and forth. Like a computer glitch blurring the lines between what's real and what's not.

As much as she despised him, there was a small fraction of her that sympathized with him. Misunderstood. Everyone around him had expected nothing less of the best from him. He was the ideal model for everyone to follow. But no one cared to see through his facade and be able to detect just how tormented he had become under the guise of the perfect man.

"I'm nothing less of excellent. Flawless, yes," he uttered. His tone was smooth yet Seohyun could clearly mark behind the confidence, they were empty, desperate lies he comforted himself with.

She scoffed, "If you're so flawless, Daehyun, then why are all these mishaps and secrets spilling like red wine tainting a white canvas? It's that hard for you to keep a secret?" He froze up like a statue in the bitterness of winter. She realized she had hit the spot, and it wasn't hard at all to find out why.

Ah, we can be similar, for I am not keen as well when someone points out my mistakes.

"You would've tried harder to keep this all under wraps. You failed to hide the bullet, you failed to put me behind bars, you failed the whole way through to kidnap Kitel and have her as your next experiment. I'm better than you in every way possible, can you even fathom how godly I must be to beat the oh so great Dr. Jong?" she mocked, hoping her antics to vex him would trickle into him like salt seeping into the openings of a sore wound.

"As you once said, a competent doctor like me... would be so dangerous for someone like you." Her voice was triumphant despite being tied helplessly to the chair. She liked to believe the string of words that she spoke, and perhaps this was her heroine that got her through the night.

Daehyun slammed his fists on either side of her chair. His gaze fell like an act of violence, a glare to stop her heart. For at that moment she knew, that the doctor she admired was nothing more than a character, an act. This was the real Dr. Jong, and for some reason, he was no longer afraid to show it.

"I would've given you a second chance to join me. How stupid was I to think I could win over you and bring you to my side? Well, you're in luck; Those goons have been waiting for another victim to play with. And I would like to see as well what's inside of you that makes you so special." He laughed heartlessly, looking down at her as if she was just another child begging him on her knees. But she wasn't. Instead of lowering her head, she lifted it, a stony glare carved into her dark eyes. Wrath blurred her sight, but she sneered, glaring at him.

"Get ready, because you're in for a joyride tonight." A devilish grin etched his lips before he whirled around and slammed the door after him.

Seohyun breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing her muscles from the intense altercation. Great, he's gone, now how do I get out of here?

"Seohyun?" A curious yet feeble voice called out in the darkness. She raised her eyebrows, ears perking up at the familiar tone.

"Jisu?" she answered, moving her head around to search for her colleague. The weakness airing her light tone alarmed her senses, it was the sound she recognized from patients, hinting they were already in the arms of a grim reaper. "Where are you?"

"I don't know..." she drawled, voice barely there. "This is what I was trying to... tell you," she continued, her tired breaths echoing in the room.

Seohyun parted her lips, but only the chattering of her teeth came through. Her bare legs were quivering uncontrollably, the dew of the icy water Aera had thrown at her earlier peppered her skin.

"I'm sorry. I made a mistake," Seohyun replied, the remorse lingering in her words and stripping away every ounce of confidence she had. She had doubted her friend more than once, even turned hostile against her, when all this time, Jisu had been there.

"No, I'm sorry. I should've told you ages ago what was going on in the hospital. I... I was a fool... a coward. I'm so sorry Seohyun," a parade of throaty coughs rumbled like a motorcycle throttle stuttering to life.

"God, Jisu, what did they do to you?"

"It doesn't matter, I'm afraid I'm on my last ounce of life left. You need to get out of here... before they go after you." Her ghostly voice felt like a spirit communicating with Seohyun, hanging around in the air.

"Jisu you..." It clocked in her mind. The night Jisu had approached her, telling her to meet at the storage room. Perhaps it was a helpless shot at trying to spill the truth and clear the misunderstanding Seohyun had wagered between them.

"I heard them talking about it... and they blackmailed me. I-I was just so scared to lose my life... But their deliberate attempt to turn you against me, I was a fool to have not thought of a better plan-" A revolting gag shrieked in the entire room, the sharp cries making Seohyun's ears cringe.

"Jisu, what happened to you?" Seohyun asked, her voice coming off more squeaky than she intended. She was on the verge of tears, a piece of her shattering like a thousand fragments of glass splintering to tiny dust.

"Don't... I don't want you to see me like this..." she whispered as if she was close to falling into eternal sleep. "When you get out of here, promise me... you won't look for me."

"Jisu I-"

"I won't forgive you if you do."

There was a dragging silence that heaved in the air, and Seohyun could only strain her eyes in the darkness to try and make out a faint image of Jisu. Nothing. She had perfectly played the part of a ghost. Seohyun could feel the scorching tears mingling with the icy dew of water patted on her face.

"I won't even dare to look at you."

Satisfied with her answer, a tainted knife slid across the floor, scraping the concrete until it stopped right in front of Seohyun, just a couple feet away from her.

"Go," her raspy voice scratched at the air, "Don't disappoint me once again."

Seohyun slowly nodded, wondering if Jisu could see her wherever she was. She darted her eyes back down at the floor where the knife lay, wet with a thick layer of scarlet. It left a faint trail of blood from where it came from, and Seohyun knew if she followed it, it would lead her to none other than Dr. An.

Seohyun tried surging her body forward, the thick spirals of rope choking her. With every push she put on more force her weak body could muster, the adrenaline in her system was already running dry.

I just need to-

She widened her eyes as the dirty concrete neared her, she burrowed her face down her shoulder, awaiting the collision. The chair fell forward and tipped to where the concrete pounded right on her skull. The throbbing pain and weight of her head connected to the floor distracted her from the clamorous rattling of the chair.

Regaining focus, she tilted her head down to her body and found the knife a couple of inches away from her fingers. She forced her hand through the tight ropes, burning the thin surface of her wrist with stinging pain. Her fingers crawled across the floor until it reached the slim handle of a pocket knife.

It wasn't just any pocket knife either.

Seohyun slid the knife nearer with a middle finger until she was able to reign it under her grasp. Viscous blood moistened her hand, and the blade was still dripping with the fluid like an ice cream melting under the hot weather.

It wouldn't need a genius to figure... whose blood this is...

Amidst the thick pain racking up her head, she pulled through her frail state and pushed to cut the ropes fastened around her body like a seatbelt.

It's working

Not long after, Seohyun had managed to free herself once again. She picked herself up from off the floor, wobbling a little as the dizziness took over her for a second. She mentally forced herself to snap out of the blur and keep awake. The last thing she needed to do now was to faint.

Seohyun glanced down at the knife wrapped under her fingers. The blood had gotten all over her hands as if she had just finished a killing spree. She turned to look back at the dull trail of blood the knife had left from its journey.

There was a dilemma battling over inside her mind. She had to debate over whether to turn back on her word and see her friend or keep her promise.

Jisu... I will honor your word... for now...

I'll come back for you

Seohyun pressed her lips together, drinking in a silver streak of hope to help her last through the night. She was stuck in this hell, with no idea how many of her enemies were out there, no idea of how big this inferno was.

Seohyun made her way to her left, hands stretched forward to guide her as if she was blind. She had judged that this was where the exit was, from where the sound of the door had thumped earlier.

Her hands had finally pressed against a wall. She moved across the surface until she felt the texture of rough wood brushing against her fingertips. She tightened her grip on the knife in her hand. She wiped the blade clean of any red on the end of her sweater, before slipping it to the back of her shorts. The cold blade touched her back, sending a surge of chills to spring up her backbone.

"Jisu, stay here. I'll come back with help," Seohyun asserted, facing the door before opening it.

To her surprise, it wasn't locked. She quietly escaped the room, met with the same dank hallway that greeted her earlier. She knew she made the mistake of being awfully sluggish, and now she learned her lesson to act sharp and fast.

Winding through the narrow passages and turns, it felt like a neverending maze. Perhaps it was, but there was no exit to be found. Every corner she turned to, it all looked like the same Niflheim. It was a hell she was damned to be in. All the demons were lurking around, watching over her instead of a guardian angel.

It was an air of suspense that wafted everywhere she went, not knowing who she would see next or who would come up and devour her from behind. She dashed along the corridors with light strides, her worn-out sneakers barely making any noise with each step.

Finally coming to a wide spacious room, it looked like a lobby of a hotel, except it was filtered with the colors of a red night. The bare concrete was marked with dirt, and the walls were tainted with graffiti and those symbols.

It was like the hideout to an underworld cult, and she and a parade of other women were the lambs to be sacrificed.

Seohyun tensed her shoulders, just in the distance were a set of double doors, unlike any other entrance she had spotted.

This is my chance, my chance to escape and get help.

She sprinted across the room, boldly taking the risk to expose herself out in the open without another thought. The doors were all she could see; just on the other side was her path to freedom.

She stretched out a hand to push the doors open, only to be pulled back again. Seohyun whimpered as a forceful grip on her hair forced her away from the gates to liberation. She clawed at whoever was in front of her but was quickly subdued as the man grabbed her hands in a tight squeeze.

"Come now, it's not polite to leave without saying goodbye," Daehyun snarled, baring his teeth like a vampire showing his fangs right before sinking them into a victim. Seohyun looked up at him like a child who was caught scheming by their parents.

Defeated, helpless, she had failed once again. Now she knew she wasn't just simply asking for death, but the tormented suffering that came as an added bonus.

Jiwoo, would it be so wrong to wonder where you are?

Here's part two of chapter 23 everyone! I'm really sorry if this isn't up to par, so I would really really love to know what you guys think if it's alright or how it is. The added motivation and support could really cheer me up. I didn't look through this one or proofread it so I am quite anxious as to how it is. So as always, please let me know what you think in the comments below, I'd love to know your thoughts and interact with you guys, and please support and show some love to this book by pressing the little star so it can brighten up my day, cheers everyone~