For Eternity

You're Mine

Sangwoo occupied a corner table at a college bar teeming with youthful recklessness. The bass throbbed in the background, merely ambient noise amid a cacophony of desperate laughter and drunken confessions. With a glass in hand, he scanned the room, his eyes indifferent. All he saw was a nauseating parade of human frailty, and it did nothing to fill the gaping void inside him. His most recent kill had fallen short—pathetic and forgettable. The CEO's daughter had been an ear-splitting annoyance, her life ending not with a bang, but with an irksome whimper.

Jieun slid into the seat beside him, her voice a honeyed murmur. "Hey, Sangwoo. You look really nice tonight."

He offered a noncommittal grunt, "Thanks," eyes still roving. Her perfume, sweet yet overripe, filled the air.

Inching closer, she tried for subtlety but achieved only the transparency. "So, are you enjoying yourself?"

His gaze finally met hers, but only for a moment. "Thrilled," he deadpanned. To say he was 'enjoying' the night would be the lie of the century.

Jieun pressed on, unabashed. "Company always adds a little something, wouldn't you say?" She moved even closer, reducing the gap between them.

Sangwoo smirked, the expression fleeting but effective. "Oh, don't pout. It's a waste of a perfectly good face."

Jieun's eyes softened. "Fine, but only because you're complimenting me."

As if compliments mean anything. She was too easy; it's why he never bothered investing much in their interactions.

An intrusive voice cut through his thoughts. "Hey, guys! Mind if we join you?" The speaker's eyes glinted with uninvited enthusiasm.

Sangwoo's gaze shifted, meeting the newcomers with a flicker of disdain. More lambs to the slaughter. Yet he donned his practiced social mask, slipping effortlessly into the role he knew so well.

"By all means," he said, pulling his attention away from the sea of forgettable faces to focus on the new arrivals. "The more the merrier."

As the chairs scraped against the floor and a new round of banter and laughter erupted, Sangwoo mechanically resumed sipping his drink. He smiled when expected, and nodded when it was appropriate, a master actor on a stage he despised.

Underneath the well-executed performance, however, a layer of irritation coiled tightly. These people were merely distractions, little more than speed bumps on his road to some kind of satiation. But for the sake of social norms, he'd tolerate them. After all, he'd tolerated far worse in his ceaseless quest to sate his inner emptiness.

His gaze shifted around the room, searching. And then it found her—dark eyes that drew him in. A spark in a pile of ashes. For a split second, those eyes locked onto his, and Sangwoo felt something stir within him, something akin to intrigue.

"Anyone recognize her?" Sangwoo asked, not taking his eyes off her.

Dongyu paused from shoveling bar snacks into his mouth, squinting towards where Sangwoo's gaze was fixed. "Nah, man, never seen her before. You branching out from your usual taste?"

Jieun, who had clung to Sangwoo like a lifeline the whole night, caught the blade in her voice before it slipped. "Looks like she's taken, Sangwoo."

He shrugged, keeping his expression unreadable. "Just curious."

His eyes returned to her, tracing the contours of her neck—so delicate, so tantalizingly breakable. She wasn't beautiful in the conventional sense; there was no radiant symmetry or ethereal grace to speak of. But she possessed a distinct allure, a wisp of something familiar that both pulled at him and roused an unsettling desire to slice her to ribbons. He envisioned his fingers wrapping around her neck, her blood thrumming beneath the surface.