Apart from Yeri's classmates, the people assigned to secretly protect her from a distance looked equally dreadful, already mentally preparing themselves for severe punishment.
The bar had too many narrow hallways and private rooms.
Believing Yeri was safe among her classmates, they had lowered their guard for a brief moment. None of them realized she had been dragged away by Hadi until her classmates came out searching for her that they sensed something was wrong and immediately informed Shin.
"I said I can walk," Yeri whispered.
Ignoring Yeri's request entirely, Shin tightened his hold on her and continued walking.
Embarrassed by the countless eyes watching them, Yeri buried her face against his chest and pretended she couldn't see anyone.
---
At the hospital, the doctor confirmed that she was alright, although he suggested an IV to rehydrate her body. The wound on her wrist was also superficial and only required a bandage.
Yeri carefully stared at her wrist, thinking the wound had been a bit deeper than it was now. Or was she simply overthinking it?
"Are you sure you're alright?" Shin asked, still worried.
Yeri nodded and didn't leave out any details, including the fact that she had been forced to drink alcohol.
Considering her long medical history, the doctor suggested stomach pumping, which Yeri immediately refused.
Shin looked at her sternly and, this time, didn't bother coaxing her.
In the end, she was wheeled away for the procedure and could only curse Hadi and his friends inwardly, swearing that she definitely wouldn't leave them in peace.
"I'd like to go home now," she said in a hoarse voice afterward.
"The doctor said you should stay for a night of observation, just in case."
Yeri looked out the window, thinking that the hospital was like an existence she could never entirely escape, before changing the topic.
"How did you know I was there?"
Shin sat by her bedside, absentmindedly fiddling with her hair.
"That bar is only a few minutes away from the company. They said you went missing, and you left your phone in your bag."
Yeri understood that the "they" he was referring to were the bodyguards secretly following her.
"Didn't I tell you to always keep your phone with you and not go around by yourself?" Shin continued.
Yeri frowned. "It was an upscale bar, so I didn't think I'd get into trouble. Besides, how was I supposed to know that Hadi would act so familiar and drag me there?"
A dangerous glint flashed in Shin's eyes, not toward Yeri but toward Hadi.
"Did you really have to go so far as to harm yourself?"
Yeri blinked.
Remembering how she had claimed to be pregnant, a look of embarrassment appeared on her face, and her ears turned red.
At the time, she had been certain those scumbags intended to harm her. Even if they didn't care about her, the matter of someone carrying Shin Keir's child was a different story. So she had decided to fake a pregnancy, not only to scare them off but also to buy herself some time.
"You're not angry that I claimed to be pregnant, right?"
Shin pinched her chin and leaned closer. "Should we make it real?"
Yeri: "..."
"Can you not be a hooligan at a time like this?" she said, pursing her lips.
Shin smirked and ruffled her hair. He was angry that she had ended up hurting herself.
If only he could keep her by his side all the time...
It wasn't as though he had never thought about it. In fact, the idea haunted him often as he struggled time and again to suppress the obsessive and possessive side of himself.
Shin gently ran his finger along her cheek, watching her gradually drift off to sleep, her eyelashes fluttering softly. Perhaps it was the alcohol, or perhaps the IV fluids were making her drowsy.
For a moment, he simply sat there watching her sleep, her breathing steady and even.
Then the warmth in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by murderous intent.
"Make sure you keep watch. Report anyone who comes in or out, including the doctors," Shin strictly ordered the bodyguards waiting outside the door before leaving.
--
Tracking Hadi wasn't an issue. He must have known Shin would come looking for him, so instead of going home, he rushed to his parents' residence to lie low.
However, before dawn broke, chaos erupted as Shin's people dragged Hadi out.
Ellis, who had been woken from his sleep, only saw men in black barging into his house.
"Who the hell is tired of living, daring to barge in here? Don't you know whose house this is?!" he roared.
His wife was also trembling with anger as she shouted, demanding to know where the security guards were.
"Don't mind us. Just go back to sleep."
Shin walked in nonchalantly while puffing on a cigarette.
Upon seeing him, Ellis pointed at him angrily, his eyes still red from being abruptly awakened.
"You! Since when have you become so unruly? What do you think you're doing? Do you believe I won't report you to the elders?"
Before Shin could say anything, Hadi's squeals echoed throughout the house as he was carried in by four men.
The moment Hadi saw Shin, he looked as though he had come face-to-face with a demon.
"Dad! Mom! Save me! He's going to kill me! Don't let him take me away! I'm really going to die this time!"
Ellis only knew that Hadi had mentioned earlier that he'd gotten himself into trouble and had insisted on staying with them for the time being. But was the trouble he had been talking about related to Shin?
"Shin, whatever it is, let's talk about it. There's no need to resort to violence," Ellis said sternly.
"Uncle should worry about himself. Don't you know? Bryce Gate claims you're the culprit behind my mother's death." Shin chuckled lightly.
Ellis: "???"
Before he could recover from the shock, Hadi had already been stuffed into the trunk like luggage.
"You! What nonsense are you talking about? I didn't harm your mother! I could sue you for defamation!" Ellis hurried after him.
Shin shrugged. "I'm simply passing along the information."
"What information?!" Ellis snarled.
But Shin ignored him as he boarded the car with the others before speeding off into the night.
"Shin, you lunatic! Get back here and explain yourself properly!"
Ellis shouted, only to receive the car's exhaust fumes in response.
No matter what, Shin's casual remark was enough to ensure he would never be able to sleep again that night.
---
Not long after, Hadi was beaten so badly that he could barely speak and could only slur his words.
Every time he felt like he was about to die, he would somehow gradually feel better again, only to be beaten once more.
The scene repeated itself countless times throughout the night without Hadi realizing that Shin was using his ability to restore his body close to its normal state, just so he could continue torturing him.
"Sh-Shin... N-no... I'll call y-ou Clan Head from now on! I-I'm sorry..." Hadi cried while squirming like a worm on the ground.
But Shin merely looked at him as though he were already dead.
With Hadi's brain capacity, words had far less effect than teaching him a lesson through a beating.
What fueled Shin's fury even further was the footage recovered from Hadi's friends.
The VIP room itself had no CCTV cameras, but because they thought it was a brilliant idea to film Yeri, that very footage became the evidence of everything they had done.
Stepping on Hadi's chest, Shin said coldly, "You're actually thinking of doing that to her... a lowly human like you..."
Hadi coughed violently as indescribable fear enveloped him. At that moment, Shin no longer seemed human in his eyes.
Perhaps his ears had been injured as well, but Hadi couldn't comprehend the rest of Shin's words. It sounded as though he were speaking in some foreign language.
Meanwhile, Tristan had already heard what happened.
As he walked in, he overheard Shin speaking in the ancient demon language, talking about throwing Hadi into the Abyss and scattering his soul so thoroughly that he would never reincarnate.
Just from hearing Shin speak like this, Tristan knew he had gone far beyond rage. The Mad Emperor within him was already on the verge of breaking free and taking over his consciousness.
"Calm down."
Tristan patted Shin's shoulder while simultaneously using his ability to stabilize the latter's state.
It wasn't that Tristan cared about Hadi, but they still had to abide by the laws of the Human Realm. If Hadi suddenly disappeared, it would be troublesome to cover it up.
"Ellis Keir went and tattled to the elders," Tristan said with a shrug. "Besides, why grant a maggot the honor of dying by your hands?"
Shin: "..."
Recognizing Tristan's voice, Hadi dragged his broken body across the floor and clutched Tristan's pant leg as though he had found a lifeline.
Over and over again, he muttered for Tristan to save him.
It took a little more of Tristan's ability before Shin finally calmed down.
He cast Hadi one last murderous glance before turning and leaving.
Hadi couldn't have been more relieved as he watched Shin disappear from sight, only Tristan knew that Hadi was actually better off dead.
"Why did you have to target Yeri..." Tristan sighed heavily.
Yet there wasn't a trace of concern on his face. Instead, there was only anticipation, as though he were looking forward to an entertaining show.
---
That night, two pieces of news broke in the dead of night.
The first was that someone had witnessed Calin being thrown out of KGG like trash, her clothes disheveled and her appearance miserable.
The second was the outrageous rumor that Yeri was pregnant and had almost suffered a miscarriage.
Whether it was Hadi's friends or the girls who had accompanied them, nobody knew, but the story became more twisted with every passing minute.
Some claimed that Yeri had been irresponsible, going out partying while pregnant.
Others insisted that she had already miscarried long ago and was merely searching for a gullible scapegoat to blame in order to incur Shin's wrath upon them.
There were even those who claimed that the father of the child wasn't Shin at all, and the most outrageous version, however, was that the two of them already had a secret child, old enough to walk around and call Shin "Daddy."
Regardless of which version people believed, the rumors seemed to answer the question that had been circulating among netizens for a long time:
Why Yeri?
So it turned out she was carrying Shin's child.