CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Glass Cage
(Yoonbum's Memories)
Darkness.
At first, that's all there was. Thick, warm, endless. Like sinking in syrup.
But even in the dark, he heard his voice.
Sangwoo.
Laughing. Mocking.
Sometimes whispering his name like it meant something.
Sometimes screaming it like it didn't.
Yoonbum floated.
He didn't know where he was. Didn't remember when he had last moved. Or eaten. Or slept.
But memories didn't need air. They survived. Even when he didn't want them to.
He remembered the cold tile floor beneath his knees.
The smell of blood. The bruises on his wrists. The way Sangwoo had kissed his forehead like an apology before tying him down.
He remembered the attic. The girl with red hair. Her screams.
The sound of bones breaking.
He remembered hating him. Then loving him.
Then hating himself for both.
The memories warped in the dark. Days folded into years.
Pain became rhythm. Fear became home.
Then— A sound.
A drip.
Steady.
Real.
Something was leaking.
He opened his eyes, or maybe just imagined he did.
Everything was grey. Muted.
He was in a room. A hospital?
There were no windows.
Just a bed. And a mirror. And in the mirror—himself.
But younger.
Fragile.
Eyes too wide, mouth trembling. A version of him that had once believed Sangwoo could change.
That love could fix violence. That survival was love.
The mirror Yoonbum looked back. He was mouthing something.
Over and over.
"You let him do it.""You let him do it.""You let him do it."
Yoonbum stepped back.
"No," he whispered. But the mirror boy screamed it louder.
"YOU LET HIM DO IT."
Cracks splintered across the mirror's surface. Blood leaked from the edges like tears.
The room shook.
A heartbeat thudded in the walls—
Too fast. Too close. Not his.
Then a door opened behind him.
And someone walked in.
Barefoot. Wet footprints trailing behind.
He didn't need to turn to know who it was. He could smell him.
Feel his presence like poison in the air.
Sangwoo.
But when he turned— The man standing there wasn't smiling.
He was crying.
Yoonbum froze.
Sangwoo's hands were empty.
No rope. No knife. Just trembling fingers and blood on his cheek.
He looked at Yoonbum. Really looked at him.
And said:
"You abandoned me."