Stigma | 낙인

CH 5 PART 1

"Mmm..."

SeoYoon woke up because he was incredibly thirsty. He felt as if his head had cracked open. As he woke up in pain, he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the unfamiliar ceiling.

Where was this place? He recalled what had happened last night and realized that he was in EunSeo's room. The room EunSeo used in the brothel. The reason why the ceiling was so unfamiliar to him was because he only came here to slake his lust in EunSeo's body. He had never slept here before.

He had never fallen asleep on top of the bedding. He had no reason to see the ceiling before. However, today he woke up in this room.

'Last night...'

He remembered that he had come here to EunSeo's room and had drunk a lot of liquor.
Because it was the 49th day after EunLib's passing, he had only drunk liquor last night.
And then he fell asleep.

A blanket was draped over his chest. Had EunSeo done this? He turned his head to the side and saw EunSeo's back. She was still asleep. She wasn't wearing any clothing and was only covered by the blanket. She had fallen asleep on her side.

'Stigma...'

SeoYoon gazed at the prostitute's stigma stamped onto her skin. As long as her body had been burned with that stigma, there was no way she could find freedom. He stretched out his hand and gently touched the stigma on her back.

She must have been exhausted. She didn't wake up at his touch. SeoYoon turned towards her and stroked the stigma with the tips of his fingers. He only had four bars of gold left in his possession. Four bars of gold.
He would only be able to buy EunSeo four more times.

After receiving one bar of gold the first time, the madame would never lower her price. Four times. Twelve days. Once those days were up, what would he do? He couldn't tolerate another man touching her.

'If you're going to have your revenge, do it quickly...'

SeoYoon held back a sigh. He didn't know why she was so slow to have her revenge.
However, he also felt glad that it was taking so long. He was scared that she would take her own life once her revenge had been completed.

'What do I need to do...'

What did he have to do to save her? What did he have to to in order to keep her alive after she had her revenge? How could he free her from this brothel? And how could he make sure that she'd continue living?
SeoYoon had a few ideas.

'I don't want to send her away... But I probably should...'

He tried to be a beast. He tried to be a greedy beast and possess her. He wasn't going to let her go until he died. He'd forget about their past and continue to fuel her hatred. He'd become a beast and mercilessly feed his desire through her. He wasn't going to think about anything but that.

However, it was only a short-lived plan.
He tried to be a beast, but he couldn't become a beast. He tried to become a man who lost his mind, but in the end, he couldn't do that either. He had reached his limit.

SeoYoon took his fingers away and pulled her into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his head into her hair.
He felt as if he'd gone back in time.
Back to the day they had agreed to marry in the pavilion. He had embraced her just like this.

However, the stigma never vanished from her body, and he knew the stigma inside their heart remained as well. Unless he gouged out that piece of skin, the stigma would stay.

He would have to cut out that piece of flesh to get rid of the stigma on her skin, and he would have to cut out her heart to get rid of the stigma inside.