Snake Venom Ch 104

Chapter 104  

11.

 

The office was reduced to ashes by the explosion. Recovering the damaged data alone took a full week.

 

The team suffered disproportionately because the enemy had been within. The traitor—a hybrid who had passed Cheon Wooshin’s exacting recruitment standards—had performed his duties with steady competence and loyalty for years. Mere hours before the blast, he had flawlessly executed an operation entrusted by Cheon Wooshin.

 

*We should review this material together. I’d like your opinions.*

 

He messaged every team member. Collective insight was routine when needed, so no one suspected the abrupt summons.

 

Cheon Wooshin detected the bomb hidden somewhere in the office. Without his swift judgment and evacuation order, the entire team would have been incinerated. Escaping the blast zone with seasoned composure, he pinpointed the hybrid as prime suspect in minutes.

 

The ensuing interrogation was merciless and brutal. Facing the man’s cries of innocence, Cheon Wooshin coldly discerned truth. The instant he confirmed involvement, a smoke grenade rolled across the floor, gray haze billowing. Armed intruders surged from the corridor’s end.

 

Gunfire erupted amid the smoke. Cheon Wooshin and the team responded adeptly, but Joo Doyoung—the weakest link—was wounded, prolonging the skirmish. Ammunition depleted; odds tilted against them.

 

Cheon Wooshin had to protect his team. Covering them, he failed to dodge a knife flashing sideways. A grazing bullet, a syringe needle too. He stared impassively at the former teammate plunging the needle into his neck. Eyes proclaiming shared time and professed innocence all lies gleamed coldly.

 

No regret for the betrayer. Disposal delayed only to extract the mastermind; the exposed hybrid’s role ended here regardless. Without hesitation, Cheon Wooshin blew his head off.

 

Aware of Snake Venom poisoning yet enduring through willpower, he lost consciousness only upon seeing Seolkyung. With the plea: tell no one.

 

Three days later, Seolkyung kept vigil as Cheon Wooshin regained awareness.

 

*You nearly died.*

 

*But I live.*

 

As a monster unknown to all. Cheon Wooshin gazed blankly at the catheter and transparent tubing linked to his arm.

 

Thereafter, he relied on Seolkyung. Under the pretext of post-trauma treatment, he sequestered in her space, enduring the venom’s adaptation period. To find effective suppressant dosage. To shorten it, he skipped perilous procedures; what burdened ordinary humans for a month, he completed in one week. In exchange, he teetered on life’s edge repeatedly.

 

But the true beginning lay ahead. As lead investigator of the Snake Venom case, Cheon Wooshin knew the victims and their wretched ends. Sanity’s span: one year. Inevitable monstrosity thereafter.

 

Plotting his downfall, enemies grew bolder upon his frontline withdrawal. A self-destructing team posed no threat. Yet that was the perfect moment to seize them.

 

*What are you planning?*

 

The day mismatched new suppressant caused cardiac arrest. Cheon Wooshin watched Seolkyung weep while meticulously monitoring him. Bound by shared scars, she was a prepared ally.

 

*I am poisoned, yet unpoisoned.*

 

Reason for killing the injector on-site and erasing evidence. Cheon Wooshin ignored the irreparable. Focused on the feasible. Perhaps the sole path to survival.

 

He declared the original team’s dissolution. Secretly reconstituted the core; publicly formed another—a decoy.

 

No second betrayal. Drastically downsized, selected only the trustworthy. Even them he mistrusted fully, announcing surveillance and leverage implants. Unhesitating assent: Jung Suho, Im Sehan, Joo Doyoung—three.

 

Half-year pursuit yielded no capture; the case entangled in power’s complexities, conventional methods stalled. Sand in Cheon Wooshin’s hourglass fell relentlessly.

 

Recruiting Lee Yeonwoo shifted investigation to new rails.

 

Plucked from mud, Lee Yeonwoo exceeded his role. Exceptional olfaction, instinctive savvy, keen senses—innate, unteachable. His ability enabled enduring Snake Venom side effects erupting in mere three months.

 

Lee Yeonwoo’s ensuing turmoil mattered little to Cheon Wooshin. Irritating, distracting, sometimes repulsive—yet unnamed, unmeaning. Transient, unnecessary emotion. Bearing countless lives, he could not waver for a useful tool.

 

Finally, the culprit’s outline emerged. A proper path appeared.

 

Post-side-effect, Cheon Wooshin occasionally trapped in subconscious black chamber. Thick helplessness filled it; only slow breathing possible.

 

Limbs bound, eyes open to darkness. No pain—dull ennui, comfortable yet alien as if forgetting something vital, undulated gently.

 

Awaiting time’s passage brought morning. Awakening left memory severed like excised flesh. Incomprehensible afterimages, unidentified dreams trailed, but nothing occurring post-wake was paramount. He sidelined remnants, focused on investigation.

 

That day mirrored. Limbs softly bound, staring at black ceiling. Cheon Wooshin blinked suddenly. A tiny, faint light flickered in the corner—absent before. From that speck seeped bright light and fresh wood scent.

 

Helplessness persisted, yet buried fingers twitched. The piercing fragrance first sparked *do something*. Long-dormant will quietly stretched.

 

Cheon Wooshin dragged heavy limbs toward the light’s gap. Viscous darkness clutched legs. Yet trivial compared to the guiding scent. Merely wished to reach it. Pushed obstructing wall. As light poured through the crack, vision flashed white.

 

And Cheon Wooshin saw Lee Yeonwoo. Himself—not himself—ravaging, piercing below.

 

Flushed cheeks glistened with sweat amid pain-twisted expression. Rigid body screamed *no* yet endured insertion’s agony. Ingesting the cruel, lascivious scene whole, Cheon Wooshin traced the moment before memory severance.

 

Desire overt enough to shatter self had materialized Lee Yeonwoo in dream? No. Reality. Realization struck simultaneously.

 

This was the entity of the persistent, fucking resistance and vague displeasure tormenting him. Influence felt from him was no illusion. It truly shook him. In times he remembered not. Through someone wearing his shell.

 

Then incomparable, grotesque emotion surged. Unseen, inexpressible, indivisible black, viscous mass. Pressure distinct from venom’s side effects crushed Cheon Wooshin. Guilt toward him fleeting. Vivid, sharp impulses rained.

 

Intense murder lust and rejection.

 

Snap the sweat-glistening white neck. Thrust mercilessly deep into the barely open hole. Gag mouth and below simultaneously, make him thrash like speared beast. *Why, how. Why are you and I connected thus?* Unpermitted, unconsented. Unclear questions and rage choked his throat; Cheon Wooshin could not face Lee Yeonwoo. Must not touch him.