AAGULT Ch 54

Chapter 54

 

Though he had started by kneeling with his back turned to the man, Jaeha now found himself half-risen on his knees. What was terrifying was not that he had lifted himself, but that the man had hoisted Jaeha’s entire body upright using just the strength of his arms. Even his knees were slightly suspended in the air, flailing helplessly.

He couldn’t breathe. Would it have been better if only his neck were being squeezed? His head felt like it was about to be torn off. He thought he heard a strange cracking sound, and the fear that he might truly die seized him—despite knowing the man wouldn’t actually kill him.

“Breathe.”

“Gasp—Cough—Haah… Haah…”

The man loosened his grip. Jaeha’s knees, which had been floating slightly in the air, crashed down to the floor.

As his windpipe opened, he gasped desperately to force air into his crushed lungs. Like someone who had been waterboarded, he inhaled greedily, messily. With his mouth wide open, unswallowed saliva dribbled out. The blood vessels in his eyes had likely burst, tinting his vision slightly red. A single tear of physical reaction rolled down his cheek.

“Bo—Boss… Sir…”

A low breath followed by a puff of smoke spread around him. The acrid smell of tobacco violently stirred his brain. His voice escaped in a pleading whimper. Raspy and broken from the forceful strangulation, it came out so low it was almost inaudible.

“Bo-Boss, please… stop…”

Without giving him even a second to recover, the man wrapped his thick arm around Jaeha’s neck again from behind, as if to embrace him. Jaeha instinctively scratched at the arm. Given that this man literally held his life in his hands, groveling at his feet wouldn’t have been enough—but here he was, foolishly resisting.

“It’s okay. Relax your body.”

Crack—whether Jaeha listened or not, the man tightened his arm again in a single, monotonous motion, pressing against Jaeha’s entire body. Unable to breathe, Jaeha clawed at the man’s arm to take in even a single gulp of air, and in response, the man hoisted him up as if uprooting a radish. Jaeha’s entire body dangled from the man’s arm, which only heightened his awareness of the fear.

“Guh…!”

He was pulled up by the neck and ended up sitting on the man’s knee. Though the thigh was thick and firm, it didn’t feel uncomfortable. It was too bulky to ignore. Jaeha didn’t know why he had been placed on that particular thigh, but he didn’t have the strength to shift his body to avoid contact. Even though it wasn’t erect, it had considerable volume, and Jaeha’s body tilted slightly backward.

Eventually, Jaeha’s back collapsed fully against the man’s torso. It felt like walking into a trap, like falling into the deep burrow of a snake—overwhelmingly vast and terrifying.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The slow, heavy rhythm of the man’s heartbeat against Jaeha’s back was clearer than ever. It wasn’t fast, strong, or irregular—just slow. It meant the man wasn’t aroused or excited by what he was doing. He was simply going through the motions—dutifully, indifferently. The clarity and cruelty of the pressure he exerted contrasted with his relaxed pulse. Blood rushed to Jaeha’s face, making it feel like it would burst.

“Guh—Ugh—Khuh…”

The man exhaled softly, a low shushing sound. He stubbed out his cigarette between his fingers and tossed it to the floor. Then, to choke Jaeha’s raised neck more effectively while seated on his lap, he adjusted the position of his arm.

His thick, solid arm wrapped around Jaeha’s neck again like a snake. From behind, he locked one arm around the neck and used the other to clasp his own forearm, tightening the hold even further.

“Khuh…!”

Just a bit more pressure and Jaeha’s neck would snap. While media often exaggerates how someone can be killed by twisting the head, Jaeha, after years of surviving in the shadows, knew it wasn’t an exaggeration at all. If anything, the boss was going easy on him. That realization made Jaeha want to cry—with gratitude and terror.

Blood rushed to his head. It felt like his heart had moved from his chest to his neck and skull, pounding painfully inside his brain.

Trying again to pry the man’s arms off, Jaeha’s vision blurred as he failed. Dizziness overwhelmed him, and strength drained from his hands. Just as he reached that threshold, the man sensed it and loosened his arm again.

“Cough—Khuh—Hah—Haah…”

“There you go.”

“Boss—sir—I… I can’t take this… Hah… Haaah…”

Jaeha collapsed completely onto the man’s body. He had no space left in his thoughts to realize that he was sitting on the boss’s knee, leaning his head against his shoulder, pressing his back fully against the man’s torso.

Desperate to survive, Jaeha sobbed, rubbing his head against the man’s shoulder and burying tears into the base of his neck—like a dog begging affectionately.

The man didn’t flinch, like a mountain. Once he confirmed that Jaeha had enough breath to beg again, he calmly wrapped his arm around Jaeha’s neck once more. His forearm was so thick that it left no room to breathe, and Jaeha had to lift his head. The pressure drove it deep into his neck, tilting his head back, and the blood surging to his face turned it red, near bursting.

Crunch. He began to strangle Jaeha again. Since Jaeha was on his lap, his toes dangled in the air, twitching helplessly. Inside his shoes, his toes curled and uncurled repeatedly.

“Boss, please…! B-Boss… Ugh…”

“Isn’t it funny?”

“Khuh…”

As their physical distance shrank, the boss’s detached voice felt even closer. Goosebumps prickled across Jaeha’s skin like fish scales.

“That even if the one who threatens your life is the same as the one who saves it…”

“Gasp—Cough—Ugh—Haah—Hah…”

“You end up unable to forget that hand and follow it anyway.”

Explaining with unnerving calm the cruel logic of taming a dying hyena caught in its own trap until it became a domesticated dog, the man continued to strangle the one he had taken in and raised.

According to him, it was an imprinting effect. That even if the one who choked and then spared you was the same, the relief of survival overpowered everything else—and led to obedience.

That kind of thing shouldn’t work on a human. Especially not after spelling it out so blatantly—it should have bred betrayal, not salvation.

And yet, why…?

“Cough—Khuh—Haah—Hah…!”

“It really works, Jaeha.”

It really did seem to work. Why, every time the man let him breathe, did it feel like salvation?

“I’ve experienced it myself.”

The man, for the first time, rested his face against Jaeha’s head and spoke languidly. Jaeha had expected his body temperature to be cold—but it was surprisingly warm.

A faint breath brushed against Jaeha’s clammy, pale temple. Something resembling a kiss grazed his skin—barely touching, then retreating, his lips close but not quite meeting it. A faint laugh accompanied the gesture.

Why did this confession—that he’d experienced “this kind of thing” himself—make Jaeha feel pity? Who had dared do something like that to this man?

He was the one who loosened Jaeha’s airway, always the one who saved him. And yet, when Jaeha didn’t obey, he was also the one who corrected him and guided him back onto the right path.

Driven to his limits, Jaeha’s foggy mind birthed absurd thoughts. The pressure remained intense, his eyes grew dry and blurred every time he blinked. Saliva dribbled between his lips. His grip on the man’s forearm weakened.

As his panting grew shallow, the man released his arm earlier than before, allowing air to return to Jaeha’s lungs.

“Guh—Cough—Khuh…!”

And then, just as he managed to breathe, it was blocked again. And when it opened again, it was choked once more. That cycle repeated endlessly, infinitely. It dragged on with exhausting, horrifying persistence.

“Ugh—Hah…”

“Open your mouth.”

“Ah… Aaah…”

From time to time, when Jaeha was lightheaded from hyperventilation and parched from gasping, the man would personally open an ampoule and pour it into Jaeha’s mouth, gently stroking his swollen, reddened throat to help him swallow.

Whether it was the suppressant or the repeated oxygen deprivation, swallowing felt like gulping down a mass of needles. When he struggled, the man would clamp a large hand over his jaw to block any chance of spitting it out. So even when it made him gag, Jaeha had to force it down.

Eventually, a pile of slender glass ampoules accumulated on the floor.

“Ugh—Hurk…”

“Spit it all out.”

Jaeha occasionally vomited up clots of blood, and each time, the man wiped his mouth without a hint of annoyance.

“S-sorry—Ugh—Khuh…!”

Each time he vomited, Jaeha wheezed out an apology. The man responded to none of them—he just did what needed to be done.

He had no idea how much time had passed. It might have been a day, several days, or just a few hours. Whatever it was, to Jaeha, it had felt overwhelmingly long and hideously intense.

He hadn’t engaged in any strenuous activity, nor had he used his powers, but the sheer volume of suppressants consumed in such a short span had wreaked havoc on his internal flow.

Utterly spent, Jaeha leaned against the man, barely able to breathe, and the man granted him a moment of rest.

He could hear the man’s heartbeat in his ears. Suddenly, Jaeha found himself wanting to ask something. Just… suddenly.