KIDNAP 3

The stalker, who entered by pushing the door open with his back, uttered a bewildered sound as soon as he turned around. He seemed flustered to see Beom Taehyuk lying on the bed with his eyes closed. The stalker opened his mouth like a gasping breath, saying, “Tae…” then exhaled with a “Buh-hap….”

Frozen for a moment, not knowing what to do, the stalker placed the steaming hangover soup on the floor, then, remembering the voice that had rebuked him for “dog food,” he startlingly snapped his head around.

Beom Taehyuk’s eyes were still closed.

The stalker sighed in relief, then squatted down and stared blankly at him. His jaw unconsciously dropped, and the corners of his lips subtly lifted. Covering his mouth lest he let out an exclamation, he watched with gleaming eyes.

Even in his sleep, Beom Taehyuk didn’t look easygoing. With a height of 193cm and a usual weight exceeding 100kg, his huge physique made the queen-size bed look like a coffin. His large hands and feet, full of calluses and scratches, were also intimidating.

This wasn’t just his own thought. He was a fighter who, at the young age of twenty-seven, had achieved the incredible feat of being ranked 3rd in the UFC Light Heavyweight division, maintaining an undefeated streak. Countless people worldwide knew of his strength. Among them, the kidnapper, who had a strong interest in Beom Taehyuk, knew very well how fast he was and how powerful his strikes were.

He was once again deeply moved by the fact that he was looking at Beom Taehyuk asleep. Was this not a secret moment that no media outlet had ever covered?

The kidnapper had unconsciously gotten up and started walking. His movements were like someone possessed by a ghost. His expression was hazy and unfocused, and he dragged his feet as he approached, looking exactly like that.

His stumbling steps stopped about a big step away from the bed. He barely managed to stop thanks to what little sanity remained. But he couldn’t tear his gaze away from him.

His brow, which occasionally formed deep wrinkles, was smooth, and his eyebrows, set over prominent bones, were dark. His fierce eyes were completely hidden by gently lowered eyelids, and the eyelashes visible beneath them were neatly arranged. His sharp nose bridge and jawline were also ideal.

His facial features were so picturesque that they made the absurd nonsense about him possibly being ranked for his looks understandable. If you didn’t know, he looked just like a movie star.

The kidnapper was completely absorbed in watching him. His persistent gaze, which had been examining the calluses on the back of his hand, traveled upwards again. It brushed past his forearms, which seemed thicker than his own calves, to his unusually hollow elbow pits, his lightly heaving, thick chest, broad shoulders, prominent Adam’s apple, faint beard stubble, lips, nose…

And, the jet-black eyes looking directly at him.

“Ah…!”

The shallow gasp couldn’t fully escape.

The massive man, who had opened his eyes in the silence, looked as if he had never been asleep. He easily sat up and instantly snatched the stalker’s arm, pulling him. The thin body almost floated in the air. Even after hitting his knees on the floor with a Thump, he couldn’t regain his balance and flailed around, but a strong grip seized him by the collar and pulled him up.

“You fucking bastard, you’re really annoying.”

Beom Taehyuk glared menacingly at the stalker, who was making gasping sounds. The guy, dangling from the collar clutched in one hand, struggled and grabbed his wrist. It was a pathetic amount of strength. He couldn’t bring himself to hit him, so he decided he would just press on his carotid artery enough to make him pass out.

But then, their eyes met through the shaggy hair. The stalker’s eyes sparkled as if he had encountered a dreamed-of moment, and his chapped, pale lips whispered, “Taehyuk.” A strong sense of disgust surged up.

Whack!

Beom Taehyuk unconsciously slapped the disgusting stalker’s cheek. The thin body quickly went limp. His head tilted limply, and his sharp chin touched his hand, which was gripping his collar. He glanced at the stalker’s head, which seemed smaller than his own hand, then let go of the collar. The stalker, who had been held in the air, collapsed sideways with a light Thump.

Beom Taehyuk roughly turned over the unconscious stalker with his foot. Blood slowly seeped from the stalker’s nose, but he paid no attention. He needed to find his phone or the shackle key in this interval. He knelt on the floor and fumbled at the stalker’s thigh. He was looking for items in his pockets, but a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

“If he were conscious, gasp, he’d like even this, wouldn’t he?”

His strangely glittering eyes came to mind. Beom Taehyuk shivered and quickly put his hand into his pants pocket. It was better to get dirty work over with quickly. He swiftly rummaged through the two loose front pockets and the two back pockets.

But neither his phone nor a key was found. Even after thoroughly searching the pockets, so deep that his small butt could entirely fit in his palm, nothing caught his fingertips.

“Didn’t he bring it in?”

The back pocket, where his thick hand was rummaging, seemed about to burst. Only after a Rip, rip sound of threads tearing did the tenacious search stop.

Beom Taehyuk sighed as he pulled his hand out of the narrow pocket. He had just needlessly groped the stalker’s butt for a long time. Disgustingly soft. He frowned at his hand, which still felt the sensation, then rubbed it against his pants to wipe it off.

No matter how he looked, the stalker didn’t seem to have a phone on him. The key, being small, could be hidden somewhere, though.

A few places where a key might be hidden came to mind. Beom Taehyuk decided to check the best places first.

First, the slippers. He took off both of them and shook them thoroughly. There was no way anything would come out.

Second, the socks. He wasn’t a germaphobe, but the socks of the guy who had obsessively stalked him for months somehow felt dirty. And wasn’t this the guy who stole his socks? Beom Taehyuk, with a disgusted look on his face, kneaded and felt the stalker’s socks. Just in case, he even turned them inside out and looked at the bare feet that had fallen limply to the floor when he slightly pinched and pulled the sock toe.

Pristine white insteps and pinkish soles. Only the heels, which had hit the floor, were unusually red, but there was nothing suspicious to be seen.

Clicking his tongue in displeasure, he simply stripped off all the stalker’s clothes. A wave of nausea rose as he unbuckled the pants, but he pulled them down to the ankles in one swift motion and tossed them aside. He also grabbed the hem of the thick long-sleeved T-shirt and pulled it up in one go to take it off. Thunk. He didn’t care about the sound the head made as it briefly floated in the air and then hit the floor during the process.

Beom Taehyuk turned the clothes inside out and examined them for a long time. But still, nothing came out. His troubled gaze eventually landed somewhere.

A linty cotton brief. It was the only thing the naked stalker was wearing.

“Fuck.”

The crotch area was stretched out, which made it even more unsettling. Beom Taehyuk slapped his eyes so hard with his palm that it made a Whack sound, then roughly wiped his face and threw the clothes to the floor. Even then, he didn’t want to look at the front, so he hooked his instep into the waistband and pushed it forward. The thin, scrawny body easily flipped over without any weight.

Reminding himself of his resolve to get unpleasant tasks done quickly, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of the worn cotton briefs and quickly pulled them down. He tried his best to stretch the band to avoid touching the bare skin, but he could feel the soft texture through the back of his fingers, which made him feel extremely disgusted.

And there was nothing inside the briefs. Beom Taehyuk, who had let the warm fabric fall to the floor with a Thud, bowed his head deeply and sighed. It seemed certain that the key was not on his body. Was there any place he hadn’t searched yet?

In movies, important items were often hidden inside the body… Beom Taehyuk turned his head, and his gaze fell on the stalker’s buttocks.

“……”

Two fleshy, bulging lumps on a flat body that was pressed tightly to the floor. Perhaps because they were so pale, he surprisingly didn’t find them dirty. But he had no desire whatsoever to spread them apart.

He’s not smuggling anything, so he wouldn’t have put it there, would he. Beom Taehyuk cleanly gave up and averted his gaze.

He roughly pushed aside the stalker’s worn clothes that were at his feet and examined the shackle a little more closely. Its thick size seemed to require bolt cutters to break, but there was no knife or pliers available. The method of poking the keyhole with something sharp was at least a possibility.

Since there was nothing sharp in the room when the kidnapper was away, his gaze naturally went to the kidnapper’s belongings. Glasses lying on the floor, having fallen at some point. The slender arm of the glasses seemed like it might fit the shackle’s keyhole.

Beom Taehyuk picked up the glasses and broke them without hesitation. Snap. Holding only the broken temple in his hand, he carelessly dropped the rest of the glasses and attempted to pick a lock for the first time in his life.

“…Ah, damn it.”

There was no way it would succeed. He fiddled with it for so long that his neck became stiff, but there was no sign of it opening. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure what a “sign of opening” was. He was just indiscriminately poking the hole.

Poke, poke, poke, poke! Beom Taehyuk, who had been poking as if to pierce scrap metal, eventually threw the makeshift pick to the floor. The part of the glasses Thump, bounced under the bed. His irritated gaze, which had brushed under the bed, soon landed on the clock. It was around 5 PM when his eyes felt blurry, and he found and flipped the light switch, discovering the crude lamp coiled around the ceiling structure.

But it was already close to midnight. He hadn’t realized so much time had passed.

“But why isn’t he getting up… Ah, damn it!”