Snake Venom Ch 40

Chapter 40

Cheon Wooshin’s brow twitched before a deep furrow formed. As if barely managing to let it out, a stifled groan of pain grated on Lee Yeonwoo’s nerves.

Where exactly is he hurting? Lee Yeonwoo took a step forward without realizing it. It was an unconscious pull. He reached out and carefully placed the back of his hand against Cheon Wooshin’s cheek. His body was cold as ice, and yet he was drenched in cold sweat.

“……”

Cheon Wooshin stirred slightly. Even that small movement made Yeonwoo’s heart sink. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, Cheon Wooshin slowly nuzzled his cheek against it. Perhaps because it was an unconscious gesture, Yeonwoo felt it looked incredibly desperate and couldn’t bring himself to move.

Yeonwoo frowned slightly. Each time Cheon Wooshin inhaled and exhaled, a scent drifted to him. Compared to when he had been wrestling with someone who only appeared to be Cheon Wooshin on the outside, the scent was almost nonexistent—but whether it was due to the aftereffects of whatever he’d endured, even that faint trace made Yeonwoo inexplicably anxious.

Things outside grew increasingly noisy. Yeonwoo carefully pulled his hand away from Cheon Wooshin, who had been leaning against it. Just as he stepped out of the room, the sound of a lock being undone was followed by the door being flung open. At that exact moment, two armed men rushed inside.

Behind them came a woman with a calm and composed appearance, wearing neat silver-rimmed glasses. Though her chest rose and fell rapidly and her eyes flitted around in a daze, her unique decisiveness—one that wouldn’t falter in the face of such chaos—was clearly visible. As soon as she saw Yeonwoo, she strode forward with long strides. Before he could even react, she grabbed both his cheeks.

“Are you alright?”

Her voice was so sharp and clear that it rang in his ears. Before he could even blink, her hands were moving busily over his face, crown, nape, and the backs of his hands.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Uh, ah… no, no.”

Yeonwoo, being thoroughly examined by her, responded with a dazed expression. She was in the middle of tugging up his t-shirt to check his skin when she caught sight of the bruising on his neck and widened her eyes. Yeonwoo avoided her gaze, looking off into the distance.

“We’ll talk about that later.”

At his words, she ran a hand over her face.

“Right. First, we need to check on Wooshin. Where is he?”

Yeonwoo pointed to his room. As if they had been waiting, the men entered first, followed by the woman. Yeonwoo peered in from the doorway, watching their movements.

The armed men were aiming their weapons at Cheon Wooshin, ready to fire at any moment. His wrists, which Yeonwoo had bound, were now secured with heavy-duty handcuffs.

Compared to the severity of the scene, the danger level designation of 1 seemed laughable. It was shocking to realize just how serious Cheon Wooshin’s condition had been—but even more, it made Yeonwoo finally grasp the kind of treatment addicts suffering side effects had received. Others likely faced even worse.

As soon as the all-clear for safety was given, the woman hurried to Cheon Wooshin’s side. She expertly lifted his eyelids to check his pupils and opened his mouth to examine his teeth. Upon finding the elongated fangs, more beast-like than human, she furrowed her brows.

“Shit.”

She let out a low curse and sharply turned around. Though Yeonwoo knew she wasn’t blaming him or that he’d done anything wrong, he still flinched at her fierce gaze. Swallowing hard, he instinctively straightened his back.

“You said he lost consciousness and then woke up again?”

“Yes.”

“Did you administer any additional sedatives afterward?”

Yeonwoo shook his head. He had intended to, but the gun had been disassembled.

Just remembering how Cheon Wooshin had dismantled the weapon without even glancing at it made a chill run down his spine. Cheon Wooshin had laughed at Yeonwoo’s helplessness, not with a monstrous or ghostly appearance, but in that moment, he had seemed like the most terrifying thing in the world.

“That’s a relief. He’s so unstable that even a small mistake with medication could easily kill him.”

It was a horrifying truth. Yeonwoo had nearly killed him out of ignorance.

“More importantly, are you really okay? Any other bleeding? Psychological trauma?”

Her eyes, filled with concern, were dilated. She rambled on, then approached Yeonwoo and reached out her hand.

“Are you really alright?”

It had been Lee Yeonwoo who faced a mentally unstable Cheon Wooshin, yet it was this woman who seemed even more shaken.

“……”

Yeonwoo blinked silently and lowered the hand she had grabbed. He looked at her anxious face for a moment, then walked to the kitchen. He filled a mug with lukewarm water from the purifier and handed it to her.

“Drink this first, then let’s talk.”

“……”

Seolkyung looked between the calm mug and Yeonwoo’s composed eyes. She finally let out a deep sigh and brushed her stiffened face. Only then did she seem to recognize how worked up she’d been. Much calmer now, she extended her hand.

“Sorry for the late introduction. I’m Seolkyung, Wooshin’s primary physician.”

“I’m Lee Yeonwoo.”

It was a belated exchange of names. Members of the Mosaic species were required to state their traits when introducing themselves. Just as Yeonwoo was about to continue after giving his name—

“Ah, so you’re Lee Yeonwoo.”

She already knew who he was. Surprised, Yeonwoo widened his eyes, and she gave a brief smile.

“Wooshin told me that if anything terrible happened to him, he wanted to be sent safely home to you. I used to think he was being overly dramatic.”

“……”

“Well, here we are.”

Even as she soothed Cheon Wooshin, flustered and lying there, her words caused a flicker of surprise to pass through Yeonwoo’s otherwise calm expression. He looked down at the polished floor.

Those experiencing side effects were executed, jumped to their deaths, or if not that, locked up and used as test subjects. What Cheon Wooshin had made Yeonwoo memorize about the fates of addicts was, for Cheon Wooshin himself, nothing short of cruel. And yet, he had taken steps to prepare contingency plans in order to keep his promise to Yeonwoo.

“I can’t guarantee your safety, but I won’t leave you in danger.”

He had no idea. He hadn’t realized Cheon Wooshin had thought that far ahead.

“I’ll take you for walks and feed you on time.”

He had thought those were jokes—but now they all connected. He finally understood the weight behind Wooshin’s words that he would take responsibility for him. Something warm and heavy welled up in Yeonwoo’s eyes.

‘Team Leader…!’

It was pure gratitude.

‘I’ve already forgiven you for acting like a pervert.’

Since what had happened to him wasn’t by Cheon Wooshin’s will, it was only right to forgive him. If Cheon Wooshin had bitten his neck, Yeonwoo had slapped his face. If things had gone further, he would have resisted even harder. Yeonwoo glanced at Cheon Wooshin’s face—more precisely, at the bruise he had inflicted. He had hit him so hard that the bruise would last a long time.

“You said he lost consciousness again after waking up, without a sedative?”

“He didn’t so much lose consciousness as fall asleep.”

Despite all the chaos he had caused, Cheon Wooshin now lay asleep like a serene portrait. Seolkyung mulled over Yeonwoo’s words, then shook her head with a complicated expression.

“The sedative Wooshin administered himself is something I’ve been developing. As I mentioned, his body is a hybrid—part human, part beast—so even sedatives have to be used with extreme care.”

She let out a sigh as she finished her explanation.

“But today, Wooshin didn’t even respond to that. His body temperature dropped rapidly. After the heartbeat slows and the body chills, blackout occurs. Then, when the person wakes, the rampage begins. Those are the conditions for side effect onset. Today, Wooshin perfectly matched those criteria.”

Yeonwoo looked down at his palm. The reason Cheon Wooshin’s body had felt colder than a normal human’s was due to the poisoning.

“The reason I asked if you were alright was because when the side effects appear, uncontrollable urges like murder, destruction, and cannibalism explode. Anything alive is either killed or eaten. Sexual urges are also paired with homicidal tendencies, so the corpses are never found intact. At that point, even sedatives are ineffective. Communication breaks down—they just become mad monsters. In those cases, we either have to capture them immediately or shoot them on sight.”

Yeonwoo had been quietly listening but now looked puzzled.

“He wasn’t like that at all.”

Cheon Wooshin’s behavior had been shocking, yes—but it hadn’t escalated to the extremes Seolkyung was describing.

“Well… after the blackout or whatever, he could still talk.”

This time, Seolkyung looked startled.

“You mean he was coherent after blacking out?”

From that point on, Yeonwoo could no longer meet her eyes. The memories that surfaced were terrifying, overwhelming—and far too hot. Just remembering fragments made his ears burn.

“Well… not entirely. I guess you could say it was different in nature…”

Yeonwoo scratched beneath his chin and stumbled over his words.