L*st and Death

“What’s your relationship with the rapist?”

At Baek Kyung’s blunt question, Anna’s mouth dropped open.

Jesus. Rapist?

Anna was not mentally prepared to be hit with a word like that, so outright.

She and Baek Kyung had found a small bohemian-style café less than ten meters from Curry King. The moment they walked in, heads turned. People kept sneaking glances, apparently intrigued by the combination of a towering East Asian man built like a steel tower and a tattooed woman built like a tree trunk.

And then, not even a minute after sitting down by the window overlooking Curry King, Baek Kyung dropped a bomb.

“You didn’t hear me? I said: what’s your relationship with the rapist.”

The impatient bastard’s sharp voice rang clearly through the space. Conversations around the café ceased. The barista abruptly shut off the grinder and pretended to busy herself cleaning dishes. Anna wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and disappear.

“He’s... someone I know.”

“Hmm? Someone you know? And just how do you know him?”

Baek Kyung mimicked her faltering reply with a venomous tone, glaring. Even after spending days looking like a homeless man, his gaze and energy were intense.

To have to lower her head and tuck her tail to a guy this insufferable—Anna wanted to kick Lewis’s goddamn dick for ruining her pride.

But unlike Lewis’s immoral dick, Anna was someone who could empathize with victims’ grief. Just like she had screamed until her voice broke at Those Who Overcame Grief, the group therapy sessions she’d attended in Baggers City for years—she would get through this too.

We can overcome this. Say it again. I can overcome this.

Mouthing the group’s mantra to herself, Anna took a deep breath and raised her head.

“He’s my little brother I want to kill.”

Baek Kyung’s thick eyebrows arched high, creasing his forehead in disbelief.

“Your brother?”

Under his unmistakably accusatory gaze, Anna lowered her eyes again. It felt like she was being condemned along with Lewis, guilty by association for what he had become as an alpha. The situation was a nightmare.

“Yeah.”

“So where’s that little brother bastard you want to kill?”

“I can’t tell you that. But you don’t need to worry—he won’t run. Once we understand the situation and find Yoon Siron, we’ll proceed with pressing charges...”

“You want to know the situation? Your little brother pulled out a dick as thick as his forearm and tried to tear open my lover’s ass.”

Sensing something strange, Anna straightened her back.

“Wait a second. You said brother.”

“Yeah. He’s my little brother and my lover.”

Just then, a café staffer arrived with a tray of coffee. As if Baek Kyung were carrying some infectious virus, the server glanced nervously at him and quickly set down the drinks with exaggerated care not to make contact.

“Hah. And how the hell is he both your brother and your lover?”

“Yoon Siron is like my twin. Like a tumor that grew off my own body.”

This man was either out of his mind, had no shame spewing total bullshit, or both. Anna wasn’t one to back down from crazy, but she had to admit—this guy was a few levels above.

She curled her fingers in the air like quotation marks and sneered.

“Ahh, a ‘tumor’ twin lover, huh?”

Baek Kyung let out a low laugh, staring at Anna with hostility. It was a stunning smile—so attractive it made her momentarily speechless. Shame the look in his eyes made her want to punch something. Not wanting to be rattled by some handsome lunatic, Anna crossed her arms.

“Alright, so your ‘lover’ slash ‘twin’ Yoon Siron was attacked by my little brother Lewis. I get it. I’m truly sorry for what he did. But... Lewis failed to rape him. Because...”

Anna nearly said because he was mentally compromised. But she bit her lip. From the victim’s perspective, there was no excuse more vile than that.

What if Yoon Siron were sitting right in front of her, right now? Would she even be able to look him in the eyes?

“You know what? That pathetic bastard tried to save the rapist. Dragged him to the hospital.”

Baek Kyung spoke with open disgust, his face contorted in rage.

“And then guess what happened? While I was talking to the doctor, they both vanished—Siron and the rapist. For all I know, maybe the bastard got what he wanted and did whatever he pleased with Siron. And you? You believe every word your brother says? Must be nice to be that naive.”

It was the first time Anna had heard any of this. The truth hidden behind Lewis’s tightly shut lips made her want to get up and flee.

But Baek Kyung’s steely voice and anger-soaked face froze her in place.

From the beginning, she hadn’t been able to fully believe Lewis when he said he hadn’t raped Yoon Siron. A brother who once tried to climb on top of his own sister during rut—could he really suppress those instincts with rationality? More likely, he was just lying, trying to deny the monster he’d become.

As panic crept in, Anna barely managed to recall what Ikbal had told her.

“But the store owner said he got a call from Yoon Siron that morning.”

“A call? What kind of call?”

“He said the store was robbed, so Siron ran. And... that he probably wouldn’t be coming back. That he was thankful. Like a farewell.”

To Anna, it made no sense. Did he quit his job and sever all ties because he was afraid of Lewis—or running from someone else entirely?

“A farewell?” Baek Kyung asked, his eyes swimming with dread and confusion like a man whose world had just collapsed. “He’s completely disappeared?”

“We have to find Yoon Siron. We will find him. And once we do...”

Anna’s voice was low, her mood as heavy as stone.

“...if he wants to press charges, then let him. I won’t stop him.”

Since that horrifying night, Anna had spent every moment watching Lewis with a knot of doubt in her chest. She couldn’t go on living her life in constant tension, policing her brother’s rut cycles. Locking him in the panic room or knocking him out with tranquilizers—there were limits to those, too.

Maybe what Lewis really needed was a literal prison, a place with no escape. Ever since witnessing his superhuman endurance and self-healing, Anna had known—he [N O V E L I G H T] wouldn’t die easily, no matter what. His reputation—what little remained—would be destroyed, but if he were behind bars, at least she would be free of the burden.

Somehow, just thinking that lifted a weight from her shoulders.

He was destined to die anyway. At least this way, he’s alive—even if it’s inside a cell.

Clinging to that pitiful sense of relief, Anna added:

“If evidence is needed to press charges... I’ll help. However I can.”

“You? And how exactly?”

“I...”

Anna was about to say I’m a cop, when Baek Kyung shook his head, face tight with exhaustion.

“Wait. No need for charges or cops. I don’t want the police involved. I’ll just get dragged into it.”

“You’re not going to press charges once we find Yoon Siron?”

“Shh.”

Clutching his head like it was splitting in half, Baek Kyung waved his hand irritably, signaling her to be quiet while he thought.

Anna bristled with fury at being treated like a buzzing fly. She knew she had to tread lightly, but her temper flared, and she snapped, sarcastically:

“What’re you gonna do now? Oops—I’m a cop.”

The man, already scowling, slowly looked up at her, his expression darkening further.

“You’re a cop?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why didn’t you say so earlier? You knew I was looking for Yoon Siron.”

Under his accusatory glare, Anna felt wronged.

“You think you’re the only one looking? I’m trying to find him too. Because of my brother, I—his sister—am trying to find the victim myself.”

Baek Kyung’s eyes narrowed like he couldn’t understand.

“You’re a cop and you still haven’t found him? You could’ve tracked his phone, looked up his info... at the very least, found his home address.”

“What do you think cops are, gods? And in Hell-Sota state, no matter what kind, you need a warrant to access someone’s phone location data.”

“Court order, then. Don’t they usually hand those out after a verbal statement to the judge?”

“If you want Yoon Siron treated as a rape victim and want an official investigation... the case has to be handed off to another officer.”

“Why?”

“...Because I’m traffic police.”

“Fuck. So you’re a cop with no pull.”

There was more she could’ve said—how she was isolated within the force, monitored constantly, even thinking of hiring a private investigator—but she played dumb and kept her mouth shut.

Baek Kyung was deep in thought, his knees jittering so hard they shook the wooden floor. Then he suddenly stopped, downed his hot coffee in one go, and spoke with firm resolve.

“You said your brother’s name was Lewis?”

“Yeah.”

“Lend him to me. Just for a few days. Tell him to help me find Yoon Siron.”

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