Page 50 of Doubts of the Egoist
“Everyone is happy…” Kuon echoed, realizing how stupid he’d been and that Gray had every right to use that condescending tone with him. He alone had been naïve, clinging to the ideals long dead in this world. Everything became meaningless—his life, achievements, and even the price he hadpaid for crossing the Black Duke. He burst out laughing. Police work was a relic, as bribery and nepotism ruled the world. “I wish I had never been transferred to the Organized Crime Unit…”
The world around him darkened. An external hard drive he’d discovered among the boxes hammered the final nail in the coffin of his freedom.
A chill spread beneath Kuon’s tongue, as he couldn’t look away from a video file from fourteen years ago.
In his early twenties, Yugo already had the eyes of a killer. Cold, ruthless, they showed no kindness as he looked down at a bound man gabbling something in frantic Italian. On the screen, Yugo let out a harsh, barking laugh that made Kuon’s blood freeze in his veins.
Yugo’s thin lips curled into a smile that never reached his eyes. He coiled a boxing hand wrap around his right hand and approached a tall wooden box topped with a pile of glittering shards. A bowl stood at its base.
Crouching, Yugo plunged his fist into the bowl, then rose and pressed it firmly into the glittering pile. When he lifted his hand, light danced across the sparkling shards clinging to the handwrap. With a casual stride, he approached the hostage, whose eyes were wide with terror.
A honeyed voice murmured something, then Yugo’s fist swung forward. Blood gushed and trickled down the victim’s face. Screams bounced off the walls of the surveillance room.
“Crushed glass…” Kuon’s stomach turned. “So cruel…”
Not wanting to watch the senseless torture, Kuon skipped to the end.
Yugo’s once-white shirt was stained red all over his chest. His messy hair stuck to his forehead and temples while reddish sweat trickled down his face and neck, soaking into the no-longer-white collar of his shirt. He stood beside the box, his elbow resting by the pile of crushed glass, holding a cigarette between bloody fingers and taking slow drags. Farther away, under the swaying ceiling light, Greg struggled to wrap the motionless body in black plastic sheeting. None of them looked distressed.
As he opened file after file, Kuon watched the video evidence of cold-blooded murders, for none of those men could have survived such blood loss. Not a single muscle on Yugo’s face betrayed remorse, only annoyance and dissatisfaction.
“God, how could I have been so stupid?” Kuon breathed out the words, realizing that he not only willingly flew into the spider web Yugo had set up for him but also shot himself in the foot. A block of ice formed in the pit of his stomach, making him shudder.
He lowered his head onto the smooth surface of the desk and closed his eyes, listening to the dying agonies of strangers and the questions he didn’t understand, spoken in a deep baritone. Kuon had always known Yugo was a killer. Now, he had seen it with his own eyes.
CHAPTER 15
Kuon didn’t lifthis head when someone pulled the mouse from his icy hand. All sounds died away, and silence, too alien to this place, fell over him. There was no point in looking up; he could smell Greg’s aftershave from a mile away.
“What are you going to do now that you’ve seen it?”
Kuon let out a huff of disbelief, which might have turned to laughter under other circumstances, but he was too exhausted for that. He zeroed in on his visitor. Greg’s deep-set eyes were blank, watching him without a trace of the old mischief that Kuon wished would return. The man rested his massive palm on the desk, blocking the only exit.
Kuon looked away. “You’re a funny guy. As if I have a choice.”
“What would you do if you had a choice?” Greg’s voice flattened and lost all warmth.
“What would you do if I said ‘leave’?” Kuon winced at the hopeful tone in his voice. Despite everything he’d seen, everything that had happened, he was still stupid, naïve. Maybe that was incurable.
“Do you wish to leave?”
Kuon wanted to ask why the hell Greg kept asking questions instead of answering them. It annoyed and made him feel insecure. Feeling like he was walking on thin ice, he said, “I’d like to know if I can.”
Greg’s head snapped to the side. His abyssal eyes sent achill down Kuon’s spine, making him wonder how on earth he had ever joked and laughed with this man mere days ago. “Have you ever wondered whyhelet you stay here and discover all this?”
“Because I had a gun?” Kuon let out a short, nervous laugh. Greg didn’t smile, and Kuon winced again, realizing the time for friendly chit-chat was over. “Don’t worry, I got the message.”
“Enlighten me?”
“To ensure my commitment. To ensure I understand my situation and behave, because there is no way out of this relationship alive for me.” Kuon folded his arms on the ice-cold desk and rested his head on them. He didn’t want to talk anymore. Talking wouldn’t change anything. Nevertheless, bitter words rolled off his tongue, “You’re here to give me another illusion of choice when I never had one. It’s a familiar game, so spare me the farce. I understand perfectly well that after what I’ve seen, I can only leave his side feet first. Don’t worry, I’ll behave myself.”
“Maybe Boss is right,” Greg said. Kuon shot him a wary look, but Greg didn’t elaborate. “If you want to leave, no one will stop you.”
“W-what?” Kuon’s voice faltered.
“So what will it be? Shall I prepare a car?”
“Is this a test?” Anger blazed through Kuon, balling his fists.
