[⚠️ Content Warning: This chapter contains explicit depictions of genital mutilation, torture, and sexual violence.]

“Detective Yoon, Yoon Jiwon!”

Startled by the almost reprimanding voice, Jiwon turned around with a frown.

Haah, that bastard for real.

Jiwon, who had thought it was the old-fashioned and stuffy Chief of the Intelligence Division, breathed a sigh of relief.

It was Park Donghyun, a colleague the same age and Jiwon’s closest friend at the station, imitating the chief’s voice perfectly.

“What were you doing to be so surprised? Watching porn or something?”

“That bastard always has to talk back.”

Raising his middle finger, Park Donghyun reacted childishly, mirroring the gesture.

“They said there was a company dinner, so why are you here?”

Donghyun sat on Jiwon’s desk casually, asking with a bored tone.

“I had a report to submit Monday morning.”

“Ah, that kind of thing should be done on the weekend after coming out.”

“Am I you?”

It had been a while since Jiwon attended a company dinner.

He didn’t want to delay finishing important work because he knew he’d get drunk for sure, so he wanted to wrap it up before that.

For the last three months, ever since Jisoo appeared homeless, Jiwon had been restless and avoided all company dinners, using family matters as an excuse.

But today, he was determined to drink until his nose crooked.

Not only was it the first company dinner after his younger brother recovered, but also something far more important had happened.

Last weekend, Jiwon had finally formally proposed to his girlfriend. He had prepared nervously, but she was genuinely happy and accepted without hesitation. They promised to get married this year.

Maybe because he had just decided the most important thing in his life, Jiwon had been floating all week. He struggled to focus on work but somehow managed to hold on until the weekend and finished the important report.

Today, he felt like he could drink happily.

“But isn’t your team having a company dinner too? Why aren’t you going and just here?”

Jiwon asked while checking the last sentence of the report and saving the file.

“It is. That’s why I’m here.”

“What the hell?”

“Same place, man.”

“Damn it!”

Jiwon sighed with regret.

His team leader and Park Donghyun’s team leader in the Violent Crimes Division 1 team were famously hostile toward each other.

And by sheer coincidence, the dinner venue was the same.

That meant a nerve-wracking confrontation was inevitable. Maybe even a real fight.

They were that much like sworn enemies. Like oil and water.

“Who did that horrible thing?”

Jiwon turned off the monitor and stood up.

“I did.”

Donghyun sighed deeply, tearing at his short hair in frustration.

“The team leader’s going to kill me, right?”

“Why do you ask something obvious? Let’s go.”

Jiwon patted his friend’s back.

“Ah, fuck. Why did I do that? I clearly heard it was your team’s dinner, why didn’t I check?”

Donghyun whined.

“You bastard. Just get one joint smoked and pray. What else can you do?”

“Don’t talk like it’s not your problem. Don’t you know how vindictive our team leader is?”

“I know. Very well.”

“Should I quit?”

“Are you crazy? Go eat all the meat you want. They say those who die eating well have a pretty color.”

Jiwon laughed, offering words of comfort that made no sense.

The two entered the meat restaurant side by side, a ten-minute walk away.

“Come back alive.”

Jiwon clenched his fist with a determined look.

“You know my password, right? Destroy my phone and make sure to format the computer in my room.”

Donghyun slouched and walked toward his team’s table.

Across a table sat Jiwon’s team leader and team members.

The sizzling smell of grilling meat stimulated appetite.

Jiwon smiled brightly at the team members welcoming him and joined the dinner.

Literally drinking and pouring; he didn’t refuse any offered alcohol.

Today, the alcohol went down like water. It was that easy to drink.

“Ah, hyung, how can you drink until you’re totally wasted? How much did you drink? I’m losing it.”

Jisoo grumbled, practically stuffing Jiwon into the passenger seat.

“I’m the crazy one for coming to pick you up. If you do this again, I’m castrating you. Kim Jisoo style.”

“Oh, you say whatever you want to hyung.”

Jiwon chuckled and hugged his younger brother tightly.

Jisoo was startled and pushed Jiwon away.

But Jiwon hugged him again, then pulled him close firmly.

Today, his brother’s presence felt especially strong.

“Thank you for being born as my younger brother.”

It was sincere.

Jisoo, who had been pushing him away, suddenly quieted.

“Sir, you’re very drunk.”

Jisoo’s joking voice trembled slightly.

“You really take after Dad when it comes to drinking.”

He grumbled and fastened Jiwon’s seatbelt.

“Thank you for being born as my older brother, hyung.”

Jisoo whispered shyly.

Jiwon smiled wryly and immediately passed out.

He didn’t know if they were heading to Chungcheong-do where their parents were or to Gyeonggi-do. Wherever family was, wherever his younger brother was—that was home.

He closed his eyes peacefully.

How long had he slept?

Jiwon came to, feeling intense pain in his right arm. He shivered from the cold.

Only then did he realize he was not inside the car but outside, and not near a street or a house, but in a forest.

No light anywhere except from the car’s headlights. It was deep in the mountains.

Something was wrong.

Feeling a bad premonition, he instinctively searched for his brother.

But Jiwon could not get up.

His arm was completely broken, and two black shadows were stomping on him.

“Fuck, what are you? What the hell are you doing?”

Though he clearly asked this, his words came out slurred and muffled, incomprehensible.

The shadows chuckled.

“What the hell is this bastard saying?”

“Idiot. Fuck off.”

The shadows spat and pressed harder with their feet stomping on Jiwon.

Ugh! Jiwon writhed in pain.

If only he wasn’t drunk, he could have handled these bastards easily, but today he was completely wasted. His body and mind weren’t connected. In this state, even managing his own body was difficult.

Moreover, his arm was broken. Seeing that no strength went into it, it seemed shattered to pieces.

Jiwon couldn’t understand this situation at all.

Was this a nightmare?

Had he watched too many gangster movies?

Or maybe Jisoo had crashed into a car with some bad men while driving.

That was plausible.

If they knew he was a cop, maybe they’d be scared a little.

He thought that carelessly.

He didn’t imagine for a second that those involved had anything to do with Jisoo. There was no way his younger brother had ever met such vicious men.

Jiwon barely found his brother.

Jisoo was kneeling under the headlights.

“Please save me. Just please save me.”

Jisoo begged.

A man wearing a red-tinged suit stood with his back to the headlights, looking down at Jisoo. With an arrogant posture, he raised his boot and lightly kicked Jisoo’s face.

“That’s why you shouldn’t meet a damn cop, you dumbass.”

“I didn’t want to meet him... I mean, he threatened me, saying he knew about the drugs I took... I had no choice, hyung... I really went out against my will. If I didn’t, they said they’d report me. What could I do? Huh? Hyung. Hyung Yeonseo, you know me well. You know better than anyone I’d never betray you. Right?”

Hyung Yeonseo?

Surprisingly, these were people Jisoo knew.

“Look at this °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° bastard. Who the hell does he think he is, calling himself hyung? This idiot still hasn’t come to his senses.”

The man who’d been called ‘hyung’ by Jisoo got mad, as if it was some huge insult.

“What the fuck, how dare this bastard call himself hyung to anyone?”

He screamed sharply, going crazy.

A boot kicked Jisoo in the head.

Jisoo collapsed sideways with a thud.

Seeing that, rage boiled inside Jiwon.

“Hey, you son of a bitch! Don’t you dare touch my brother!”

This time, his voice was clear and sharp.

“If you touch him even once more, I swear I’ll kill you!”

He wasn’t joking—he meant it.

At Jiwon’s shout, the man called Yeonseo turned his head toward them.

Jiwon wanted to see his face up close, maybe even punch him, but the man was hiding cowardly in the headlights, visible only as a dark silhouette.

“Hyung, please stay still. Don’t say a word!”

Jisoo begged, kneeling down like Jiwon, pleading.

Then, he begged desperately to the man named Yeonseo.

“I’m sorry, Vice Chairman. I swear I’ll live quietly from now on. I’m leaving for America this month. I won’t come near the Chairman anymore, and I won’t set foot in Korea again. Please, just let me go. I really didn’t say anything to that detective. Not a single word. Vice Chairman, Hyung. Yeonseo hyung, I’m begging you. Please let me go. Please save me.”

Jiwon didn’t understand a word of what Jisoo was saying.

“You know too. That our father and you are cops. But he doesn’t know a thing. He doesn’t know who I met or what I did. You know everything, don’t you? You must have figured it out. The Chairman must have figured it out too; there’s no way you wouldn’t know. Right? Then why would I tell that detective? If I was going to, I’d have told Dad and you everything. Right? Huh? Vice Chairman. Yeonseo hyung!”

What don’t they know? What should he tell?

Jiwon was confused. He couldn’t understand why his brother was begging that man or why that man treated Jisoo so cruelly.

Jiwon still knew nothing about his brother. Nothing had changed in three months.

He should have learned more. Even if Jisoo hated it, he should have asked somehow, but he hadn’t. Not because he couldn’t, but because he didn’t.

He was too caught up worrying about himself and dreaming about his future, missing the chance to understand his brother. He lost the golden moment.

Regret lasted only a moment before he tried to think of a way out. Then suddenly, flames flared in Yeonseo’s hand.

One of the shadows surrounding Jisoo handed Yeonseo a torch, and he lit it without hesitation.

Jisoo was terrified. Jiwon was too.

Fearing they might set his brother on fire, Jiwon pushed the shadow pressing on him away and tried to stand.

No, he tried.

But his knee buckled. He collapsed under their fists and kicks.

While Jiwon writhed on the ground, luckily nothing happened to Jisoo.

Instead, something was about to happen here.

Jisoo stood up and walked toward Jiwon.

In a voice choked with tears, he said, “Sorry, hyung.”

Sorry for what?

Jiwon only thought how lucky it was his brother hadn’t been burned.

He didn’t care that Jisoo was holding a knife.

How had his brother gotten tangled with such dangerous men?

Jisoo hadn’t become homeless for nothing.

Jiwon felt ashamed he was a cop and hadn’t helped.

If they wanted to hurt him, so be it.

He nodded at Jisoo.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t thinking of his girlfriend, but he still thought there was a way.

Even with a broken arm, his legs were fine. He was a former taekwondo athlete.

If he just stood up, he could get Jisoo out of here, and if Jisoo reported it in time, maybe he wouldn’t lose his life.

Trying to stay calm, Jiwon ran through every possibility.

He hoped fate would be on his side as always.

Until his pants were pulled down.

Until even his underwear was stripped off and his genitals were exposed to men he’d never seen before.

Yeonseo was walking toward them, moving away from the headlights.

Jiwon thought they were stripping him to humiliate him and laughed.

If something like that embarrassed you, you weren’t Yoon Jiwon.

“Are you hyung?”

The man asked Jisoo.

His voice was strangely unsettling.

“...Yes.”

“Hmm... looks a bit like him, but also not quite.”

Yeonseo tilted his head.

“You look pretty manly.”

He chuckled.

“You said no, right?”

“Yes? Ah... yes. No, that’s not my hyung.”

Jisoo shook his head violently.

What exactly was not?

Jiwon frowned.

Kneeling and held down by two shadows, Jiwon didn’t waste strength resisting, instead focusing to wait for Yeonseo to come closer.

He endured with the sole will to see that bastard’s face.

Until they did something unforgivable, Jiwon didn’t lose hope.

Finally, the man’s face appeared.

Hard to tell if he was in his thirties or forties.

His face was repulsive somehow, vaguely resembling Jisoo.

“Are you sure it’s not him?”

The man asked Jisoo again.

Jisoo nodded fearfully.

“Alright. Let’s cut.”

He gestured toward Jisoo.

Cut? Cut what?

Jisoo hesitated, and Yeonseo raised the torch again.

Flames flared.

Unable to resist the threat, Jisoo took the knife.

Jisoo was the one who cut off Jiwon’s genitals.

Sobbing and apologizing, Jisoo was out of his mind. His eyes showed nothing but terror.

Jiwon couldn’t make a sound, never imagining his own brother would do that.

Blood gushed from his severed, dangling genitals.

Even looking at it, Jiwon couldn’t believe it was real.

It was a brutal nightmare. A truly brutal nightmare.

Maybe because it was a dream?

He felt no pain from the broken arm or severed genitals.

Jiwon was horrified his brother did this to him, and burning with curiosity about the man Yeonseo who threatened Jisoo to do it. That was all.

Sleepiness kept pulling him down. His eyes slowly closed.

Yeah. When he woke, it would all be gone. He’d laugh off the bizarre nightmare.

What would he say if Jisoo asked what kind of dream it was?

He relaxed, pondering.

Slowly, he lost consciousness.

“Ahhh!!”

Pain ripped through his lower body and Jiwon screamed.

The pain was so intense he twisted his limbs.

Bound now not only at the arm but also at both legs, Jiwon couldn’t escape or run.

Wide-eyed, he saw with his own eyes what had just happened.

Yeonseo was right in front of him.

The man’s leather-gloved hand slipped out from between Jiwon’s spread legs.

He smiled, raising one corner of his mouth.

“That’s right. Virgin.”

He chuckled amusedly.

Jiwon’s exposed lower body trembled wildly, soaked in his own blood.

The man clenched a fist, showing it off proudly. Blood dripped from the glove.

Then slowly, his hand lowered and slipped back between Jiwon’s legs.

Only then did Jiwon regain some senses and struggled, but it was too late.

Bound in all limbs, he could do nothing.

“Ahhh!!!”

Overwhelmed by unbearable pain, Jiwon didn’t know what to do.

“Stop it, you fucking bastard!”

He howled, thrashing to break free.

But he was helpless, defenseless, enduring everything.

The more he struggled, the more the man laughed and sped up.

The man was nothing less than a demon. No, the demon itself.

Jiwon gave up resisting.

Instead, his face twisted in pain as he searched for his brother.

Jisoo crouched, face almost pressed to the ground, thankfully covering his ears.

Was my brother really that small?

If he could, Jiwon wanted to hold him tight, stroke his little back, tell him he loved him, and apologize for not being a proper hyung, even if late.

Sensing death approaching, Jiwon hoped at least his brother would be safe, then fainted.