Seo Tae-joon bit his lip, hard enough that the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. He stifled a moan, burying his face in Ji-woo’s thigh to muffle the sound of his pain.
“We’re just ordinary people!” Ji-woo pleaded, her voice cracking.
“Think about it,” the man with the sledgehammer said, a cruel smile playing on his lips. “What’s more profitable for us? Letting you live, or killing you?” Ji-woo could only stare, frozen in terror.
“Dice him up,” the man ordered. “Bag the pieces and we’ll dump him from the boat.”
The thugs surged forward as one. They tore Seo Tae-joon away from Ji-woo, and the brutal symphony of steel pipes and heavy boots began. He didn’t fight back, merely curling into a tight fetal ball, trying to shield his head and torso from the relentless blows.
“Seo Tae-joon!” Ji-woo screamed, straining against her bonds until the ropes bit into her skin. “Stop! Please, stop it!”
Seo Tae-joon’s body convulsed on the floor with each impact. Blood streamed from a gash on his brow, and angry purple bruises were already blooming across his skin. Ji-woo thrashed against her restraints, helpless.
“What are you doing?” Ji-woo cried, her voice trembling with a mixture of fear and fury. “Get up, Seo Tae-joon! Are you just going to let them do this?”
One of the men hefted a steel pipe high, aiming a final, crushing blow at Seo Tae-joon’s skull. Panicked, Ji-woo tried to stand, but the chair she was tied to overbalanced, sending her crashing to the floor.
“Not his head! Please, don’t hit his head!” Ji-woo shrieked from the floor. “Hit him anywhere else, just not the head!” The man paused, the pipe held high, a look of amusement on his face.
“Please! His head… it’s not strong! A blow like that could kill him! Please!” She scrambled across the floor, dragging the awkward weight of the chair behind her. The pipe began its lethal descent. “Seo Tae-joon, move!”
In a sudden blur of motion, Seo Tae-joon rolled aside. The pipe crashed against the concrete floor with a deafening clang, but the reprieve was momentary. The others didn't stop, their kicks and blows continuing to rain down on him.
“What are you doing?!” Ji-woo screamed, her voice raw. “Why are you letting them beat you?! This isn’t you! Fight back! Hit them! You can do it!”
“I… shouldn’t,” he gasped out, his voice a pained rasp between blows. “You… you don’t want me to be… violent.”
Ji-woo stared in disbelief. This was different. This was life or death. “Are you that stupid?” she shrieked, all composure gone. “They’re killing you! This isn’t the time for noble ideals! Fucking kill them!”
A strange, beatific smile spread across Seo Tae-joon’s bloody lips. The pain in his eyes vanished, replaced by a chilling clarity. A low moan, not of pain but of profound pleasure, escaped him. A hidden dagger appeared in his hand. He moved, a blur of motion from the floor, and began to dismantle them, severing Achilles tendons and carving through calf muscles with surgical precision.
His movements were terrifyingly fluid. Men who had been monsters moments before crumpled to the ground like harvested sugar cane. Ji-woo flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t block out the sounds—the wet, sickening thuds as Seo Tae-joon grabbed his attackers and systematically smashed their heads against a heavy wooden table.
When the awful sounds finally ceased, Ji-woo forced her eyes open. The room looked as if it had been hosed down with blood. It pooled on the concrete, streaked the walls, and even dripped from the low ceiling. She fought the wave of nausea that rose in her throat, shaking her head as if to dislodge the horrific tableau. But she knew, with a certainty that frightened her, that if this ever happened again, she would tell him the same thing.
Only one man remained standing in the drug processing hut. Ji-woo’s mind raced. They were on the island of Cheongdo, and they had to get past him, had to report this place. There could be other labs like this hidden in the mountains. They had to be found.
“What… what are you?” The man with the sledgehammer stared, his eyes wide with primal fear, at the blood-soaked figure of Seo Tae-joon. Unfazed, Seo Tae-joon calmly wiped his blade clean on his shirt, ignoring the question.
The dealer roared and swung the sledgehammer in a desperate, wild arc. Seo Tae-joon sidestepped the clumsy blow with ease, flowing inside the man’s guard. He seized the man’s arms, twisted, and threw him to the floor. The dealer moaned in pain as he landed heavily. Seo Tae-joon picked up the hammer. Without a word, he brought it down, shattering the man’s feet. He raised it again and methodically crushed both of the man's hands. Throughout the entire brutal act, his face was a mask of utter impassivity.
When the last sound of agony had faded, Seo Tae-joon moved among the bodies, methodically digging through their pockets. He collected a handful of cell phones before finally walking over to Ji-woo.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice gentle as he helped her sit up and sliced through her bonds with his dagger.
“Yes,” she whispered, trying to control the trembling in her limbs. Her fear was no longer just for the men who had captured them. It was for the man standing before her. Seo Tae-joon saw the terror in her eyes, and a profound sadness washed over his features, erasing the last trace of the monster.