CRT Ch 21

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The slave figurine lay on the table with its legs spread, unmoving. Whether exhausted from relentless visitors or bored while awaiting the next, its posture was weary and inflamed. That sense of depletion seemed to infect Seok Ryu as well. When Seok Ryu stopped struggling, the grip on his arms loosened.

Cha Yilhyun grabbed Seok Ryu’s face with one hand, forcing their gazes to collide.

“What’s really going on with you and Park Yejun?”

Seok Ryu glared at Cha Yilhyun’s shoulder. If so many people had met with Cha Yilhyun, at least one should have reported to Yejun. What had Cha Yilhyun done to make them all keep silent? Seok Ryu couldn’t even guess. It felt like the Cha Yilhyun he knew was only a fraction of the real man.

“He’s my actor, and I’m his manager. What more explanation do you need?”

“Are you in debt to him or caught by some weakness?”

“Don’t make strange assumptions. Yejun gave me a job when I was unemployed. He’s my benefactor.”

“You signed with Songhyul because of me, so if anything, you’re Park Yejun’s benefactor.”

“I only did my duty as a manager. Calling me a benefactor is absurd.”

Despite Seok Ryu’s explanation, Cha Yilhyun didn’t relent.

“Then how do you explain this? Why do employees who were friendly to you suddenly hate you for no reason, and why do those who hated Park Yejun suddenly praise him?”

To someone immune to the garnet effect, the followers’ blind loyalty must seem abnormal. Most people, when faced with phenomena beyond their understanding, give up thinking or ignore it entirely. So Seok Ryu shouldn’t have to face interrogation over this.

“Once you’re prejudiced, you invent things that aren’t there and force them to fit.”

“CCTV footage, interview recordings—they’re in my desk drawer. Check them yourself.”

“…”

Cha Yilhyun stubbornly held Seok Ryu’s gaze, but Seok Ryu refused to meet his eyes.

“It’s common for a clumsy, inexperienced trainee to get scolded by superiors. What can a powerless rookie actor do in that situation? You’ve never liked Yejun from the start. This just looks like you’re finding excuses to kick him out.”

“You’re a flawless manager, more upright than anyone I’ve met.”

The unexpected praise left Seok Ryu at a loss for where to look.

“Then there’s even less reason for people to bully me, right? Even if they did, it doesn’t affect me, so it doesn’t matter…”

“Does someone unaffected hide alone with a face drained of life?”

His eyes mixed anger with deep pity. Today, Seok Ryu seemed to discover parts of himself he hadn’t even recognized. Suddenly, words Cha Yilhyun had casually tossed out echoed in his ears.

‘Drink something warm; it’ll make you feel better.’

‘Keep getting angry like that.’

But being hurt by bullying was something only humans experienced. The emotions and sensations of a guardian stone were mere facsimiles. They were mechanisms to deceive, to avoid being exposed as a fake human. This was a truth unquestioned by Master Hyun’s descendants and guardian stones alike. It was why Seok Ryu could endure any mistreatment while serving his master.

If he felt no pain, he could leap into a fire for his master without fear. A guardian stone’s pain and fear were fake by design. Wasn’t that the true blessing, the true paradise?

Yet Cha Yilhyun was saying all that pain was real. Was it painful? Should it be called being hurt? Had he turned the company upside down just because he thought employees were bullying Seok Ryu? The reason for trying to bury Yejun alive seemed so trivial it was infuriating and absurd.

But a strange heat spread from his chest throughout his body. He didn’t know. He knew he shouldn’t be swayed, but Cha Yilhyun kept shaking his convictions. He kept making Seok Ryu forget he was a human facsimile.

Seok Ryu parted his parched lips.

“I’ve… always been like this. People who liked me at first got tired of my personality and left. First impressions turning bad or vice versa happen all the time, don’t they?”

“No, I’ve never seen anything like this. People flipping like fanatics under mass hypnosis.”

Cha Yilhyun seemed unwilling to compromise until he was satisfied.

“Annoying.”

He abruptly spat out a low curse. His downcast eyes flowed quietly to Seok Ryu.

“Enough with the Park Yejun talk. From now on, I’ll believe everything you say. So tell me the truth.”

“About what?”

“Who you are, how you’ve lived to act like a martyr.”

Cha Yilhyun’s fingertips grazed Seok Ryu’s hair, tickling the roots. Seok Ryu pressed his lips with the back of his hand. He couldn’t decide how much to trust or guard against him. If Cha Yilhyun had threatened him, Seok Ryu would have resisted with his life. For a fleeting moment, his resolve wavered.

“There’s nothing I can choose. I…”

Would he believe that Seok Ryu died centuries ago and was restored by the garnet’s power, bound to Yejun as master and servant? Or, like Yoon Inoh, would he blindly accept guardian stones and start digging?

The workshop’s existence was a secret shared only among verified clients. If a guardian stone revealed it, their core stone would be reclaimed and ground to dust. Cha Yilhyun’s patience was short-lived. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Seok Ryu.

“Is being Park Yejun’s ‘accessory’ what you mean?”

Seok Ryu’s voice failed, his lips trembling.

“I’m asking if you two have gone that far.”

The unexpected question deafened his ears.

“I respect and care for Yejun, but we’re not like that, so stop imagining weird things.”

“Then do you have one-sided feelings for him? Is that why you endure those bastards groping you for Park Yejun’s sake?”

Cha Yilhyun tilted his head, his gaze slanting upward.

“Then I definitely can’t let it slide.”

“What are you planning to do to Yejun…”

“The legal team’s preparing a very expensive course. The only place you’ll see Park Yejun from now on is the news.”

While scheming to ruin Seok Ryu and Yejun, his eyes gleamed like a hero vanquishing evil. Goosebumps rose on Seok Ryu’s skin. He stammered frantically.

“If you touch Yejun, I won’t stand by. If Yejun gets hurt…”

He couldn’t let go here. How could he abandon a master he’d fought so hard to meet, only to be discarded after a few months and sent back to that hellish workshop? The thought of waiting endlessly for an unknown master, mocked by inferiority-ridden guardian stones, was horrific.

As Seok Ryu tried to stand, Cha Yilhyun roughly pinned him against the door again.

“Tell me why I can’t touch Park Yejun. What’s so special about him that you’re this desperate?”

His jaw tightened.

“Tell me what you’re so scared of that you won’t give me an inch.”

Seok Ryu bit his lip until it tasted of blood.

“If something happens to Yejun… I’ll have to return to where I came from.”

He’d rather die than go back there. Cha Yilhyun’s eyes wavered.

“Back to an orphanage? Does ‘return’ mean being dragged?”

“It’s not like that. That place…”

“It’s not Park Yejun you’re scared of, but being dragged back there?”

Cha Yilhyun yanked Seok Ryu’s arm, tilting his head back.

“Speak so I can understand!”

He seemed anxious, as if Seok Ryu might vanish somewhere. He looked frantic with worry for Seok Ryu. Why? He was someone indifferent to others’ pain, even exploiting it.

His eyes, rippling with anger and impatience, were like a black well. They dulled judgment, pulling Seok Ryu into an abyss where his feet couldn’t touch. Exhausted, Seok Ryu leaned against the door, gasping.

Should he just tell the truth? He lacked the energy or will to use the garnet’s power now. He was terrified of failing again.

Seok Ryu clutched the choker’s cord, his breath stifled. The core stone hadn’t stopped trembling, as if warning him not to fall into those eyes.

It felt like the sound of his body being ground in a crusher’s blades. His hair stood on end. In this state, he might not only fail to dope but also blurt out things he shouldn’t. Seok Ryu shook off the hands gripping his shoulders.

“I’m not scared of anything. Don’t meddle in whether I act like a slave. I’ll go to another company. I’ll pay the contract penalty and move out of the officetel— Urgh!”

Cha Yilhyun roughly twisted Seok Ryu’s arm, forcing their eyes to meet. The fire in his gaze burned unabated.

“I won’t just sit back and let you two walk away cleanly.”

“How many times do I have to say we’re not like that? I like someone else, so leave Yejun alone!”

He’d blurted out nonsense. A deafening silence settled. Seok Ryu closed his gaping lips. His mind blanked, unable to find words to recover. Cha Yilhyun’s expression hardened. After a brief pause, he asked in a stiff voice.

“You have someone you like?”

Seok Ryu stared blankly at his shoulder. It must have started the day they met at the jewelry shop. Every time he saw Cha Yilhyun since, his heart tightened for no reason. The thrilling nausea he felt he dismissed as fake. The more he tried to shake thoughts of Cha Yilhyun, the deeper they rooted, terrifyingly so. Seok Ryu had never met someone who shone so brightly without relying on mysterious powers.

Seok Ryu struggled to lift his gaze from Cha Yilhyun’s jawline. He’d likely never get another chance to confess while looking into his eyes.

“Yes… There’s someone I like very much.”

Saying it aloud made its magnitude hit him. Beyond Cha Yilhyun’s shoulder, the city’s artificial lights scattered. The barren scene brimmed with life just because he was there. That must be why Seok Ryu’s heart raced and his body heated up around him.

His heart pounded, fearing his pickpocket-like confession would be caught. Cha Yilhyun’s eyes emitted a dim anger. His wandering gaze caught a thin thread, fixing on Seok Ryu.

“Is it me?”

Seok Ryu lowered his trembling eyes. His heart thrashed wildly.

“No… It’s not.”

Hiding the truth required layers of solid lies.

“It’s definitely not, so don’t misunderstand.”

A guardian stone loving anyone but their master was deemed defective, discarded, and sold to a jewelry shop. There, they’d lie on a corpse display, their consciousness executed. It was a betrayal never to be discovered.

Cha Yilhyun looked down, murmuring in a desolate voice.

“So that’s why you avoided me every time I got close.”

“Yes…”

Seok Ryu swallowed to push down the pain constricting his throat.

“I met them because of Yejun, and I wanted to show them I could be a competent manager.”

He was desperately afraid he’d never see him again. But now wasn’t the time to speak the truth—it was time to fiercely survive. Shinbi taught him that truth didn’t always yield just outcomes.

Was Yejun still waiting outside? The resentment in Yejun’s eyes earlier flashed in his mind. He’d pushed Shinbi forward, knowing her fate, and now stood here repeating the same with Noeul under the guise of revenge. Was it loyalty to writhe with a hollow shell, his heart stolen by another? Could he call it life, constantly berating himself for fear of being abandoned?

Beyond Cha Yilhyun’s shoulder, a table strewn with artificial gems came into view. At the center of that radiant altar lay an artificial sacrifice. In this place rife with fake life and emotions, the only natural presence was the god.

Seok Ryu mustered his remaining strength to force out his voice.

“What… happened to the slave?”

Cha Yilhyun’s eyes were bleaker than the silence. His lips, curling abruptly, stopped at the dark edge.

“He’s offered to the god. The slave chooses to become a sacrifice.”

Seok Ryu squeezed his eyes shut. The wicked, childlike god never offered a choice to begin with. The slave likely wanted to beg for the master’s forgiveness. Only by saving the master could he stay in paradise, and only in paradise could he glimpse the god from afar.

The core stone on the choker trembled. A grating pain rooted deep in his heart, pressing heavily.

“Did the god… accept the slave’s offering and forgive the master?”

Seok Ryu clung to a thread of hope, barely breathing, but Cha Yilhyun’s eyes were ashen. When he didn’t respond, Seok Ryu asked again.

“Did the god accept the slave’s offering…”

In that moment, Cha Yilhyun grabbed Seok Ryu’s hair, yanking his head back. He bit and sucked Seok Ryu’s lips and tongue as if devouring prey. The kiss was like a scalpel carving slowly. Seok Ryu stifled his breaths, accepting the erupting anger.

The door rattled with the violent movement. Seok Ryu’s knees buckled, and they collapsed to the floor together. Cha Yilhyun pulled up Seok Ryu’s shirt, rubbing his nipple with his tongue. Heightened breaths clung to his chest. Every spot Cha Yilhyun’s lips touched burned. The sensations Seok Ryu believed were fake felt real through him. That was always what scared him.

Fearing the sound would leak outside, Seok Ryu bit his shirt like a gag. The fabric quickly dampened. Rough hands stripped off Seok Ryu’s pants and underwear. Had those hands ever offered a handshake to someone weaker even once?

Cha Yilhyun lifted Seok Ryu and strode somewhere. As he walked, his lips sucked Seok Ryu’s neck.

They arrived at a bedroom attached to the CEO’s office. The intimate space was filled with Cha Yilhyun’s scent. A black bed contrasted with the red-toned wallpaper and floor.

Cha Yilhyun placed his offering on the black altar. The sheet against bare skin was startlingly soft. He turned off his phone and tossed it onto the bed.

Kneeling one leg on the mattress, Cha Yilhyun leaned forward. With his other hand, he unbuckled his belt and freed his erection. The veined organ stood ready to pierce anything.

He held Seok Ryu’s head, pressing the angry member to his lips. Seok Ryu closed his eyes, then opened them. Every moment tested how far he’d degrade himself to protect his master and this position. Only with his master’s permission could he use his body, but Yejun would likely understand.

Seok Ryu enveloped the swollen tip with his lips, coating the shaft with saliva. Cha Yilhyun’s abs tensed. He moved his hips, thrusting into Seok Ryu’s throat, crushing his tongue. The intensity grew, the organ plunging deep, pushing Seok Ryu to the brink of suffocation.

As his vision whitened, sticky fluid filled his mouth. Cha Yilhyun pulled out, spilling the rest around Seok Ryu’s navel.

His eyes, inches away, gleamed like minerals plucked from lava. He stirred Seok Ryu’s semen-coated tongue with his fingers. Spreading Seok Ryu’s legs wide, he rubbed the rear entrance.

“Should I thrust in here and finish? It’s my first time with a man.”

Seok Ryu stared at the ceiling, clutching the sheets. Nodding, a dull voice fell on his hipbone.

“Then open your hole. Wide enough to see the flesh inside.”

His mind accepted it, but his body didn’t know where to start. Guiding him, Cha Yilhyun pulled Seok Ryu’s hands to spread himself. Seok Ryu opened his legs, widening the entrance. The exposed mucosa twitched.

Then, a slick mass began licking the entrance’s folds. The tongue, piercing to the root, made wet sounds as it moved. Shocked by the intense stimulation and shame, Seok Ryu moaned, gripping the sheets. His own erection had hardened unnoticed. Cha Yilhyun pried Seok Ryu’s hands away, urging him to keep the entrance spread.

“Hng… Haah…”

Tormenting the wet entrance, Cha Yilhyun bit Seok Ryu’s erection. He licked gently, then sucked fiercely. His exposed arousal was laid bare to Cha Yilhyun’s gaze. Seok Ryu’s knees buckled, and his fingers slipped from holding the entrance.

Cha Yilhyun settled between the open legs, tearing Seok Ryu’s shirt to bare his shoulders. He slid his thighs under Seok Ryu’s hips. Seok Ryu felt Cha Yilhyun’s saliva pooling inside, trickling out.

Master craftsmen tirelessly evolved guardian stones’ bodies. Nearly hairless reproductive organs, lightly pink, balanced utility and aesthetics—a result of relentless study to offer clients diverse pleasures.

Cha Yilhyun’s penis slowly entered the passage, its excretory function atrophied. The wet inner flesh adhered to the thick organ. Delicate muscles and dense protrusions constricted it, drawing a groan from deep within Cha Yilhyun. The heavy, sharp sensation made Seok Ryu’s breath spike and his hips twist.

“Haah…”

Cha Yilhyun exhaled a hoarse groan, pushing Seok Ryu’s knees to his face. Sucking the tip of Seok Ryu’s tongue, he fully thrust in. The entrance stretched painfully. The pressure filling his lower abdomen fragmented Seok Ryu’s breaths. Cha Yilhyun scraped the inner walls as he withdrew, then plunged through the tightened flesh. As near-painful pleasure surfaced, Seok Ryu let out a sharp cry.

“Haah…! Urgh… Ahh…!”

The coupled flesh swelled from repeated friction. Veins bulged on Cha Yilhyun’s neck. Gripping Seok Ryu’s waist, he thrust urgently. He clung to Seok Ryu’s eyes with all his strength, desperate as if it were his last chance. His dark, solid eyes lost focus. His clenched jaw opened, panting like a beast.

When he tilted his head to suck and bite the choker’s core stone, it felt like his heart was being chewed. Seok Ryu’s body tensed, feeling choked. The organ pounding his hips unleashed chaotic pleasure, erupting in a condensed climax.

“Ha, haah, huff…”

“Haah… Haa! Ahh…!”

Cha Yilhyun’s hips convulsed, crushing the mucosa’s protrusions. He grabbed Seok Ryu’s hair, chewing his lips messily. His scattered breaths met Seok Ryu’s with a fiery gaze, mixed with shock at the overwhelming sensation.

Mucus dripped from Seok Ryu’s erection. His eyes stung from the orgasm coursing through him. He rubbed his eyelids with trembling hands, pulling down his shirt to wipe his organ.

As their breaths calmed, Cha Yilhyun lifted Seok Ryu onto a semicircular console. He made Seok Ryu hold his knees apart, teetering on the edge. Semen leaked from the exposed entrance, trickling along the console’s curves.

Cha Yilhyun pulled up Seok Ryu’s shirt, making him bite it. His re-erected penis pierced the wet hole at a right angle. The soiled organ repeated shallow thrusts, visible. Amid faint pain, the exhausted sensation bloomed again.

“Haah… Nng…”

Seok Ryu sobbed, biting the shirt, unable to tear his eyes from the organ moving in and out. Following the breaths scattering on his forehead, he looked up. Cha Yilhyun had been staring at him for some time.

Complex emotions flickered in his lust-ravaged eyes. Amid anger, a gentle touch; a heavy, pressing gaze… He pulled Seok Ryu’s hips to the console’s edge. His wild thrusts paused suddenly.

After descending from climax, Cha Yilhyun braced the console with both arms. He rested his wet forehead on Seok Ryu’s bare shoulder, savoring the afterglow by licking a nipple. Still connected below, Seok Ryu spilled mucus mindlessly from the intense pleasure. Cha Yilhyun watched with burning eyes.

“For someone sacrificing for their master, you’re too eager.”

Who knew a twisted smile would suit his playful demeanor so well? Today, he seemed determined to be cruel.

“I’m going again. That okay? Who knows when I’ll get another chance.”

It wasn’t a question but a declaration. Cha Yilhyun steadied his breath, brushing back wet hair. His hand wiped sweat from his jaw. Seok Ryu blinked slowly, recording every movement of those sleek fingers and the shattering sweat droplets.

“Yes…”

If he’d forgive his master, Seok Ryu would endure ten, a hundred times. A master forgiven by the god grants the slave a final chance to stay in paradise. The slave serves until the contract expires, returning safely to the workshop. Dreaming of a destined master, they wait to be chosen again. Couldn’t a slave imagine such a modest happy ending?

Suddenly, Cha Yilhyun’s eyes darkened. He rubbed Seok Ryu’s swollen lips and jaw with his tongue, then bit with angry eyes. As Seok Ryu silently endured, he soon stopped the obsessive act.

Cha Yilhyun gently lowered Seok Ryu from the table. He made Seok Ryu lick his semen splattered on the console. The semen he’d spilled flowed down Seok Ryu’s thighs to his calves. Cha Yilhyun smeared the rest on Seok Ryu’s hips, neck, and thighs—coincidentally, where others had groped him. As Seok Ryu buried his face in the altar, working his tongue, Cha Yilhyun hooked one of Seok Ryu’s legs over his arm.

He pierced with his penis, thrusting vulgarly. The recoil crushed Seok Ryu’s lips and cries against the altar. The mucosal walls sucked and constricted Cha Yilhyun’s organ. He groaned unrefinedly, biting the back of Seok Ryu’s neck. The choker necklace, caught in the fray, choked Seok Ryu. His cries hung by a thread.

Impaled, Seok Ryu had to lick the defiled temple. The semen filling him below seemed to surge up his throat. It clung to his insides, swirling. Swayed by unquenched lust, trembling under the pleasure Cha Yilhyun bestowed, he forgot his original purpose.