CHAPTER 17 – DEVILS ARE ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL.

2026. PRESENT. SEOUL.

HELL MORGATHOR PRISON.

☠️ SORA ☠️

I rush past A-Jun towards the locked iron bars, screaming and banging, “Let me out! Is anyone out there? I think I’m in the wrong cell. Please let me out! Change my cell!”

I scream until I feel my throat peeling, like there is now a wound inside and if I scream more... it might bleed. Like if I went on, I would be diagnosed with torn lungs, but no one came for me… no one.

Then my mother’s warning rings in my head.

“In a prison with zero human rights, like the Hell Morgathor Prison, people screaming in their cell rooms happens more frequently than you think. When cellmates kill each other, rape each other, and harm each other in the most unimaginable way possible. No matter how loud you beg and scream, no one will come to save you. So remember one thing. Do not ever fall into a trap of being locked in a cell with someone who has a high risk of hurting you. most especially A-Jun. Never let him outsmart you.”

Right then, I realize… I had fallen straight into A-Jun’s trap. Just like I always did. He outsmarted me once again.

I’m sweating now, like I had just taken a shower and forgot to bring a towel. Slowly, I turn around to face A-Jun, who is lying on the lower bed; he didn’t even glance at me once when I was screaming.

“I’m not the same kid you used to bully A-Jun,” I blurt out, but get no response.

Suddenly, my knees ache from standing too long, and I let out a soft cry. If A-Jun didn’t try to kill me at the hospital, I’d still be there… receiving treatments. Maybe I would be healed by now.

Standing in line too long for food, walking around this darn prison, at the same time, trying not to get noticed, is prolonging my healing, and I really don’t want to become crippled because I ignored the doctor’s warning. I left the hospital to be safe, and I fell straight into his trap.

After a few minutes of no words between the two of us, I was slowly beginning to accept my fate. “The worst he can do is kill me,” I say to myself, taking steps closer to see if he’s asleep.

Reaching the bunk bed, I sit on the cold floor, avoiding any sound that could announce my presence. He lies on the bed like he is shooting a sleeping scene, and he has to make it perfect. His facing up, his legs crossed at the end of the bunk, and his arms are behind his head as a pillow. Dude didn’t even give a fuck I was screaming my lungs out.

I puff out a soft sigh of relief when I realize he fell asleep. Maybe I should watch him overnight, just so I keep tabs on when he’d tear my world apart. But I forget myself entirely.

It is the first time I am this close to him without getting worried about being killed.

I watch A-jun entirely at the mercy of sleep, the sharp defensive edge he always wears like armor during the day completely gone. Up close, it is infuriating how perfect his face is.

My eyes trace the clean, striking line of his jaw, now relaxed against his arms, and the thick lashes that shadows his high cheekbones.

He looks almost innocent, a cruel irony for someone who knows exactly how to break me.

Slowly, as if pulled by an invincible thread, I lift my hand. My index finger hovering just an inch above his face, never making contact, terrified that the slightest touch would shatter the fragile peace of the cell room and wake the threat sleeping in front of me.

I trace the high, straight bridge of his nose in the air, my finger mimicking its flawless slope. Moving lower, my hand drifts down to hover over his lips. They are perfectly formed, parted just a fraction as his steady, warm breath brushes against the sensitive skin of my fingertips.

The warmth sends a sharp shiver down my spine.

For a terrifying, breathless moment, the hatred that usually fuels my engine stalls, replaced by a magnetic, aching pull that makes me want to lean in just an inch closer.

☠️

When I open my eyes, the sun is already peeping through the small window. I look down to realize I had fallen asleep… On A-jun’s chest.

I flew up, gasping so hard and immediately covering my mouth with my hands.

Quietly, I pull myself up and thank goodness the door beeps and unlocks. I quickly tiptoe out before A-Jun wakes up. But I'm stopped my groups of prisoners that apparently came for me.

I try to walk past them, but one female prisoner grabs me by the hair and pulls me back. I slam my back on the wall, and my knees buckle.

I gawk angrily at the female prisoner, “Is that the best you’ve got? My stylist pulls harder than that when giving me a ponytail, you pathetic amateur.”

She rushes towards me, and I immediately dig out a pepper spray from my pocket, spraying it into her eyes. She pauses, screaming loud as she covers her eyes with both hands.

The men behind her rush towards me. I spray into the eyes of the one in front, but two in back grab my hands, the last guy walks towards me, getting ready to throw a punch, and I face him. “Go ahead, swing!” I spit on his face, and he wipes it off in disgust. I seem to have doubled his anger. “Let’s be honest,” I continue speaking. “Even with two guys holding me perfectly still, you’ll probably still miss.”

His punch lands clean on my lower abdomen. I scream out in pain, and my knees buckle. The two men hold me up, not letting me fall, causing the prisoner to chuckle in satisfaction.

A smile curls up on my lips, “That’s it? Come on, put some weight into it! My grandmother hits harder than you, you weak little joke.”

Just then. A-Jun walks out of the cell. Everyone freeze. The prisoners holding me down, the ones still trying to get pepper out of their eyes, the one throwing the punch, and I. None of us dare to breathe.

A-jun glances at me, quietly walking past us. I watch his back until I can no longer see him, and just then, another punch lands on my gut, stronger this time. I cough up blood; the only thing keeping me up is the arms of those holding me.

Just then, Jane arrives, landing a clean kick on the puncher’s cheekbone. He staggers and falls to the ground. The men holding me up release me, and I collapse to the ground.

“Run! Find somewhere to hide! And don’t come out until I find you myself,” Jane screams, jolting me awake.

I can see the whole room spinning like it’s tispy. With my knees still in pain, my stomach feeling like my intestines were dug out, I struggle to stand. limping away while Jane tries to stop them from coming after me.