Death Is the Only Escape

As soon as I stepped onto the stool, these bizarre floating comments suddenly appeared in front of me.

Upon reading them, I could only find them absurd.

I'd spent over 20 years pouring my heart and soul into winning over the three female leads of this world. I did everything I could, and yet, because the adopted son of the family threatened to take his own life, they tortured me mercilessly.

Not only that, they forced me to stay in a dingy, windowless basement apartment and saddled me with massive debt, leaving me to be beaten by loan sharks on a daily basis.

Now, the comments were telling me that the person the three women loved most was me. All I could do was find that funny.

Ignoring the comments, I stuck my head through the noose and kicked the stool away, allowing an overwhelming sense of suffocation to wash over me.

Before my eyes appeared Mom and Dad's loving smiles. How nice. I was finally going home.

"Don't worry, everyone! Elena is on her way! She might have a sharp tongue, but she'll save Daniel in the end."

"Exactly! She might say she hates Daniel, but she'll definitely freak out when she sees him trying to take his own life!"

"Ryan once saved all three female leads, so it's only right that they repay him. Cut them some slack, Daniel. Once Ryan and your fiancee marry, the debt will be fully repaid!"

The very next second, the rickety basement door was violently kicked open.

My older sister, Elena Coleman, rushed in and got me down in one swift motion, panic flashing briefly in her eyes.

As I hit the ground hard, all I could think was how unfortunate it was that I wasn't able to see Mom and Dad.

"Daniel Coleman, what kind of act are you pulling this time? Pretending to take your own life? Ryan developed depression because of you.

"He's only having a wedding ceremony with Hazel. It's not like they're actually getting married. Who are you trying to put on a show for?

"Do you think anyone will feel sorry for you if you kill yourself? All I feel is disgust."

Just looking at that familiar face, so full of loathing toward me, made my heart ache in a numb way.

Elena was an illegitimate child of our family. When she first came to our home, everyone disliked her. She was bullied constantly at school, too.

I was the first to take her hand and tell her she was just fine the way she was.

I shared everything I had with her. Knowing she loved the piano, I argued my case with our elders and, after a lot of back-and-forth, won her the opportunity to study under a master pianist.

As for the rare, out-of-print score she liked, it was already reduced to scraps when I found it. I pulled multiple all-nighters to piece it together for her, and I even ruined my eyesight in the process.

She used to give me piggyback rides with a grin on her face, promising she'd always look out for me.

"Danny, you're my little brother. Even if it meant sacrificing myself, I would never let you be hurt in the slightest."

The person who once made such a firm promise completely changed after our family's adopted son, Ryan Coleman, came along.

Ryan would constantly frame me for things I didn't do while pretending to be all innocent. And right when I was about to marry my fiancee, Hazel Flores, he showed up on the rooftop in a white suit, threatening to jump.

In order to appease him, my fiancée and my sister drove me out of the Coleman residence, tricked me into taking on enormous loan shark debts, and got the whole city to turn against me.

For the past three years, I'd been living on the run, beaten whenever I was caught.

I used to have legs that were great at swimming, but now, thanks to the fractures, one of them was permanently crippled.