Bleak Revenge (28.2)

"I really don't have much to say to you," Hyunwoo said calmly as the man stumbled back, "Unlike the others, I know you don't regret what you did, so there's no point in talking to you. You're less than human, so obviously you wouldn't know what guilt means."

Malcolm went to answer but he wasn't given the chance as he was forced onto his back by a strong kick to his abdomen, right where the stab wound was. Groaning, he pressed his hands to the wound.

"Poor Malcolm Yard," Hyunwoo said with a mockingly sympathetic voice, "Forced to submit to someone he believed could never be above him. Let me tell you a secret," He kicked Malcolm's right hand away from the wound and stabbed the sword through his palm, pinning his hand to the ground, "I have always been better than scum like you."

He grabbed another bloody sword that had been left on the ground and stabbed it through Malcolm's left shoulder, watching as the man screamed in pain. There was no emotion in his eyes, he simply looked unamused.

"You're not as fun as the others," Hyunwoo sighed, "But I still wonder…" An idea seemed to go through his mind as he slowly pushed another sword through Malcolm's thigh, pinning him in place, "I want to hear you say it. Say that you yield to me."

Malcolm struggled to speak, "N—Never…" He spat out.

"Oh, well," Hyunwoo shrugged as he grabbed another sword from the ground, "Well, the alternative is that I'll cut off your dick, so, it's your call," He held the sword above the man's pelvis.

"W—Wait! H—Hold on!" Malcolm said, panic apparently in his voice, "I'll—I'll say it! I'll say it so just don't—" Hyunwoo tilted his head as if waiting, "I…" Malcolm took in a wheezing breath, and it wasn't clear whether the difficulty was due to his injuries or what he was preparing himself to say, "I yield."

Hyunwoo thought about it for a moment, "Not enough," He replied simply, "I want to hear you say it. Say that you, Malcolm Yard, yield to me, Hyunwoo Kang."

"As if!" Malcolm coughed out but his eyes widened as Hyunwoo raised his sword right above the panicking man, "W—Wait, okay, fine!" He coughed out, choking blood, "I…I…I, Malcolm Yard…" He was heaving now, struggling to breathe, "...I yield to you, Hyunwoo Kang."

"Hm…" Hyunwoo hummed, before tightening his grip on the sword and plunging it down. There was an ear-piercing scream, "I lied," He said simply.

From behind him, he heard two people call for the man at the same time, "Sir Malcolm!" Hyunwoo turned to see a man in his early thirties and a man about the same age as himself, the former holding a thin blade while the latter held a spear.

Hyunwoo abandoned the broad sword, dusting himself off more for show than anything else before smiling at the two, "Ah, so it's you two next, is it?"

Similar to Michael, both men seemed to freeze as they recognized Hyunwoo, "You…You're…."

"Now, now, I don't look all that different from back then, do I?" Hyunwoo asked, shifting his weight to one side, "And I'm sure you know me well enough that you can't forget me. Hello, Keane Giles," His eyes moved from the older man to the younger, "Robyn Tanner."

Robyn seemed to have frozen entirely at the sight of Hyunwoo but Keane seemed to snap out of his shock, "Miss Veronica, you didn't say that it was him…" He said, his voice tense.

Veronica was pale now, seeming to realize that she had underestimated Hyunwoo. But by now, she wasn't willing to back down, "I don't care, just kill him!"

Keane hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment. He raised his sword, the tip pointed toward Hyunwoo, "...You should surrender. Don't make this any worse than it needs to be, we will show you mercy and give you a quick death."

Hyunwoo laughed, but it sounded off, tinged with a sort of madness, "Show me mercy?" He asked, his voice frosty, "Like you showed me mercy three years ago?"

"That's…"

"You can try and pretend it never happened, but you still think about it every night when you go to bed, don't you?" Hyunwoo said, "Your therapist, she doesn't know exactly what you did, does she?"

Keane was thrown off by that statement but quickly collected himself before moving forward, "How do you…How could you possibly know about that?" He demanded, jabbing his sword forward.

"She's a well-known practitioner, Dr. Prachit," Hyunwoo said casually, easily deflecting the blow, "She was the one that taught me to pick myself up after everything y'all did to me. I actually trained under her for a while, too. She knows exactly what I went through and she can't find it in herself to see how any of your actions were acceptable. But you already knew she'd think that, didn't you?" He stepped forward, "You know what you did was wrong, that's why you haven't told her exactly what it was that you did."

"I…I didn't have a choice!" The man stammered, "I couldn't—I had to do what they said, I couldn't—"

Hyunwoo's expression showed pure rage for a second as he shot forward faster than anyone could keep track of, disarming the man instantly before returning to the neutral state he was in before, "Don't you dare try and lie to me," He snarled, his voice not matching his expression.

Keane looked panicked and he looked over his shoulder, "Boy!" This entire time, Robyn had been completely still, but hearing the older man yell out to him, he shook himself out of the trance, "Don't just stand there, help me!"

"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!" Robyn responded, readying his spear.

Hyunwoo turned to look at him, "I see you haven't changed at all throughout the years, Robyn," The man looked slightly stricken to hear Hyunwoo speak to him directly, "Still don't have a backbone, huh?"

Robyn hesitated, but then held up this spear, "I…I don't want to have to hurt you more than I need to. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

The other man barked out a laugh, "Hurt me more than you need to? Robyn, you have no right to say that. I wish you had killed me back then—Hell, I begged you to kill me multiple times," There was the clang of metal on metal as Hyunwoo forced Robyn back with the sword. In a move that was completely shocking, Hyunwoo reached forward and wrenched the spear out of Robyn's hand. The man seemed to not have expected Hyunwoo to be as strong as he was. Stumbling on his own feet, Robyn yelped as he fell back. As Hyunwoo stood over him, he looked up at him in fear, "Be a good boy and stay here. I'll deal with you after," He said, before stabbing the spear through Robyn's abdomen and pinning him to the ground.

He didn't pay attention to Robyn's scream of pain as he turned back to Keane, "You…" Keane's eyes were wide as he tripped over his own feet in his scramble to get back, "You're a monster!"

Hyunwoo smiled, "You created this monster," He said, his tone menacing as he dropped to the ground and knocked Kean's legs out from under him with a swift kick. As the man tried to get back up, Hyunwoo grabbed a nearby sword and bent down, pressing his knee down on Kean's chest, "As I said, you shouldn't lie to me, Keane. There was nothing held over your head except for your job. No one forced you to do what you did to me. But you were so greedy for one fucking promotion that you took on the job of guarding me, and when you were asked whether you'd take it a step further, you easily agreed. Tell me…Little Lily, she's only about five now, isn't she?" He leaned in, "If I'm a monster, I'd hate to think what she would think of you if she were to find out what you did."

"How do you—" Keane gasped for air, "Stay away from Lily!"

"You shouldn't let your daughter go into the woods alone, Keane," Hyunwoo said in an almost scolding tone, "You're lucky that I found her. Did she ever mention meeting a fairy in the woods to you?"

Realization dawned on Keane's face, "The pretty fairy from the forest…" He muttered, "It wasn't just an imaginary friend…It was you?"

Hyunwoo smiled, "Ding, ding, ding! You know, it's no wonder you and Michael were friends. You both seem to have gotten lucky that your children met me. If Lily had met someone like you, do you think she would have gotten out of the forest safely?"

"D—Don't…" Keane stammered, "I wouldn't…"

"But you did," Hyunwoo cut him off, "You did it to me. All for a goddamn promotion. You know, I'm glad I haunt you at night. It's the least you deserve for what you did," He held up the sword, "Suffer, Keane Giles."

He plunged the sword into Keane's abdomen, forcing the sword through his body all the way to the hilt and pinning him to the ground. Keane screamed in pain, but Hyunwoo didn't stop. He moved the hilt of the sword up and down before twisting the sword. He was aware that Veronica and Robyn were staring at him in horror but he could not care less.

Standing up as Keane's eyes stared towards the sky lifelessly, Hyunwoo turned to see Robyn looking at him in fear. He stood up, no weapons visible in his hands as he stepped towards the other man but even so, Robyn looked terrified, "Are you scared, Robyn?" Hyunwoo asked softly, "Are you scared of what I might do to you?"

Robyn nodded, almost on instinct.

"Now you know how it feels," Hyunwoo stopped in front of him, "To see a familiar face and think that you know them, only to find out that you should be the most scared of them."

"...You recognized me?" Robyn croaked out.

Hyunwoo shook his head, "Why do you think I begged you for help when I first saw you? Why do you think I asked you out of everyone to kill me? I recognized you from the moment you walked into that jail cell," He said, stepping closer, "Robyn Tanner. You used to work around Sector 3 before I was captured. You never talked to me but you weren't subtle about watching me."

"I…"

"But I never paid any attention to you. Maybe a smile or a hello once in a while, but it was never enough for you, was it?" Hyunwoo brushed his hand against Robyn's face before gripping the man's throat, "And then when you had the chance, you took what you wanted from me."

Robyn choked out, "I—I…"

"Was it worth it?" Hyunwoo hissed, "To have me like that? Was it worth all the damage you caused me? I begged you to help me, to save me from them. At the time, I had hoped you had been forced to do those things. That's why I begged you to kill me instead. But no, you weren't forced at all, were you? You volunteered for it. So, let me ask you, did you get what you wanted? Was it fucking worth it?"

"No," Robyn gasped, "It wasn't worth it. I just…I just wanted you to look at me but I regretted it, I've always regretted it. I shouldn't have done it, I'm sorry, Hyunwoo. I'm really sorry."

Hyunwoo looked at him for a moment, his eyes searching his face. Then, his hand moved out at lightning speed, the dagger sinking into Robyn's chest, "I don't forgive you, Robyn," He said quietly, knocking him to the ground.

"...I'm sorry…" Robyn croaked out, the last sign of life leaving his eyes, "I…Love you."

"...Unfortunately, you lost the privilege to love me years ago. Goodbye, Robyn," There was no emotion in his voice as he spoke. He pulled the spear out of Robyn's abdomen, watching the man's body flop to the ground, "Now," He turned to see Veronica who had finally gotten onto her feet, "Where are the last two?"

Veronica leaned on the broadsword, holding herself up, "As if I'd let you kill all of them off. Those two are off looking for that child so they can get what you've stolen. But, you know, you're not all that different from me. Robyn even said he loved you and you still killed him with no hesitation."

Hyunwoo went to answer, but he was cut off by a familiar woman's voice, "No, Hyunwoo is nothing like you. Whether that man loved him or not, he doesn't get to say he loved him after everything he did. Just like you don't get to say you loved me after everything you did to me, Annika."

Hearing her voice, Veronica's eyes widened, "Jiali…" She said, looking over Hyunwoo's shoulder. The man turned to see Lumina standing behind him, whip in her hand, "...You know I do love you."

"No, you don't," Lumina responded, moving forward to stand next to Hyunwoo, "You just loved having a little toy to play with. Anyway, it's not like that matters to me anymore. You don't matter to me anymore," She turned to look at Hyunwoo, "You need to get out of here. They know Nia has the Wings, you need to go get her out of here. Let me deal with her."

Hyunwoo hesitated before sighing, "If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have listened. Give her hell for Val and me."

"I will," Lumina replied, her gold eyes sharpening as they locked on Veronica, "I think you've overstayed your welcome in this life, Veronica."