I Picked Up the Greatest Villain in the Story

66.

Though the tone was playful, it was chilling to hear. Jian tightly gripped Sehun’s hand.

“That’s not true… is it?”

His voice was cautious as he asked, afraid of hurting Sehun if he pressed too hard. Sehun kissed the back of Jian’s hand with an audible smack.

“I’m not stupid. I know there are lines I shouldn’t cross. It would be a lie to say I don’t have any desire to kill… but I don’t want you to truly hate me.”

It was a relief that he had at least some sense of morality. As Jian let out a small sigh of relief, Sehun shook their intertwined hands to get his attention.

“But if you like those people more than me, I’ll kill them without hesitation. Whether it’s Hyunsu, Hyunwoo hyung, or anyone else.”

His casual tone, as if choosing a dinner menu, made Jian feel resigned. After having sex, even this level of threat seemed almost cute.

“Alright… That won’t happen, so let’s lose that murderous look in your eyes.”

“Okay.”

His voice sounded so docile again that Jian raised his free hand to rub his face.

His face felt more swollen than he expected. He desperately wanted to wash up. Forcibly detaching the clingy Sehun, he entered the bathroom alone.

Seeing his body’s condition in the mirror left him speechless, but he washed his face first. While drying his dripping face with a towel, he found a larger one.

Covering himself below the waist provided some psychological comfort, at least for now.

“Hyung, let’s eat.”

When he came out after washing, brunch items that looked like they were from a cafe were laid out on the table in front of the sofa.

The savory smell of freshly baked bread and the rich aroma of coffee soothed his tired mind.

His gaze briefly caught the door leading outside. The chain was adjusted so precisely that he could enter the bathroom but couldn’t reach beyond the door.

The bed was placed against the wall farthest from the door, so with the current chain length, he could barely reach the doorknob.

Not wanting to provoke him again, he quickly turned his eyes away and sat on the sofa. Sehun stared intently at the towel covering Jian’s lower half, causing him to clear his throat awkwardly.

Wrapping himself in a blanket was more uncomfortable than expected. As he worried about what to do if Sehun took away the towel, Sehun nonchalantly picked up a small cup of syrup and drizzled it over the French toast.

“I ordered an iced Americano for you. If you want something hot, I’ll give you mine.”

“No, this is fine.”

He was feeling thirsty anyway. Jian picked up the cup with condensation on its surface and put the straw to his lips.

The bitter yet rich taste filled his mouth. It wasn’t as good as what he brewed himself, but it was quite decent.

After eating the toast that Sehun had cut for him along with the coffee, his appetite returned. The food on the plates quickly disappeared.

Looking at the empty plates with regretful eyes, Jian licked his syrup-stained lips with his tongue.

“Should I buy more if it’s not enough?”

“It’s fine.”

His stomach was sufficiently full. He sucked up the last of the nearly finished coffee through the straw with a slurping sound. The caffeine made his head feel clearer.

Sehun silently cleared the table. Jian tried to help, but he used his ability to clean up quickly, leaving him empty-handed.

As he watched Sehun’s back leaving the room with the empty dishes, Jian quietly moved towards the window when he could no longer hear him.

While leaving the room was difficult, the window was next to the bed, making it easy to approach. His trembling hand touched the thick beige blackout curtain.

Calming his pounding heart, he pulled back the curtain.

‘What is this?’

Faced with an unexpected sight, Jian swallowed hard. He had expected to see the outside view, but there was only an ivory-colored wallpaper.

Disbelieving, he pushed against the wall with his palm. It felt different from a concrete wall. On a hunch, he knocked on it with his fist, producing a slightly hollow sound.

He tried knocking on other areas and felt a clear difference.

‘Could it be blocked with something like wood?’

It was a plausible deduction. If he was worried about Jian escaping, he might have blocked the original window space with something like plywood and wallpapered over it to create this effect.

He sat on the bed and looked around for something to knock on the wall with. In his current state with suppressed strength, punching the wall had its limits.

His gaze fell on a potted plant sitting alone on one side of the wall. He examined it closely, just in case.

Although he planned to wait until Sehun released him, he couldn’t stay unprepared.

He felt sorry for Hyunwoo, knowing how hard he had worked to connect him with the American pharmaceutical company.

Sehun’s words about having taken care of things also kept bothering him. As he was clutching his head in frustration, Sehun returned.

“Does your head hurt?”

Sehun sat down next to him. At the gentle voice, Jian let out a small sigh and shook his head.

“I just feel stuffy being in the room all the time.”

Knowing it would be pointless to ask to be released right now, he changed the subject.

“I think I’d feel better if I could get some fresh air…”

This situation could drive a normal person crazy. Being imprisoned by the child you raised, and even having sex with that child.

If Jian hadn’t known the original story’s content, it would have been difficult to maintain his composure like this.

Knowing Sehun’s character as described in the novel made it possible to recover from the shock quickly.

Realizing how much effort Sehun had put into hiding his twisted nature all this time also made him feel sorry. Although it pained him to hear Sehun casually talk about killing others, he felt this was all his own karmic retribution.

“Alright.”

Even as he said it, Jian didn’t expect Sehun to agree. Surprised by the unexpectedly easy permission, Jian looked at Sehun.

Sehun tidied Jian’s messy hair and fiddled with his earlobe.

“I told you, didn’t I? I don’t want you to truly hate me.”

A bitter smile flashed across Sehun’s lips.

Clink, clink.

The chain connected to the handcuffs was released. The long chain quickly shortened to about the length of a finger joint and was fixed to the bed’s headboard.

Jian rotated his wrist. The handcuffs were still on his wrist, but it felt similar to wearing a thick bracelet.

“Come here, hyung. It’s cold outside.”

He allowed Jian to leave the bed but didn’t seem to intend to give him clothes. Sehun spread the blanket wide and called for Jian. Jian had no choice but to entrust his body to Sehun.

Moments later, Jian was completely wrapped in the blanket with only his face exposed. Holding him like a caterpillar, Sehun approached the door.

“Hmm.”

The short sound conveyed a lot of hesitation. As Jian looked up, as if to protest that Sehun wouldn’t back out now, Sehun wiggled his fingers.

The drawer of the bedside table opened by itself, and a black eye mask flew out.

“I’ll cover your eyes, just in case.”

Such a meticulous guy. Why bother blindfolding him for some fresh air? He couldn’t use his strength due to the binding artifact, and he was naked anyway.

Even if he tried to run away, he wouldn’t get far before Sehun caught him, and he had no intention of making such a futile attempt.

Jian closed his eyes with a feeling of resignation. The touch on his face felt unfamiliar.

With his vision blocked, his other senses became more acute. Jian focused on the sounds he could hear.

‘Stairs?’

Due to the profound silence, he could only hear Sehun’s footsteps. His body swayed slightly. He had thought they weren’t in a basement, but it felt like they were going up stairs.

‘It smells like paint. Just like a new house.’

Once in high school, he had visited a friend’s house. He remembered how envious he was of his friend who boasted about finally having his own room in their newly assigned apartment.

Places like that always had this paint smell. Come to think of it, the room where Jian was staying looked like it could be on the cover of an interior design magazine, with no signs of being lived in. All the furniture looked brand new and clean.

‘How did he find a place like this?’

The more he learned, the more confused he became. Obtaining an artifact capable of subduing an S-rank hunter must have been incredibly difficult.

What had Sehun been up to without his knowledge? Worried that the scale might be larger than expected, his heart grew heavy.

‘Surely he hasn’t already formed a villain group, has he?’

He remembered Sehun frequently going out after the college entrance exams. Even though he had tried tailing him, he hadn’t noticed anything suspicious and had trusted him, only to be blindsided now.

As his mind became complicated, thinking that Sehun probably wouldn’t answer properly even if asked, a sudden cold breeze hit his cheek.