Might as well try dying once.

After all, even if he died, time would rewind or his wounds would heal, bringing him back to life—a body whose life and death were determined under the System’s control. So, if he struck his head with the pliers in his hand and died, perhaps it could reset this situation.

After briefly contemplating whether to execute the choice that occurred to him, Sa-yoon soon abandoned the idea.

Except for the times of forced execution, time had never rewound. Of course, if time rewound every time he died, it would be quite a headache for the System too.

Clinging to the slightest possibility that this time might be different was the perfect way to be branded as a madman by Geon-joo, who was trembling like a newborn fawn.

Think about it. If the person who kidnapped you was fondling pliers and suddenly smashed his head and died, would anyone think, ‘Ah, that person likes suicide’? They would just see him as a lunatic.

On top of that, if he received the System’s forced recovery and was resurrected, he would be showing Geon-joo the sight of a person who had died before his eyes coming back to life. Sa-yoon didn’t know what kind of personality Geon-joo had or how well he handled horror movies, but he was confident he could show him a more realistic and horrific sight than any horror movie he had seen.

The problem was, he shouldn’t do that.

The more he thought about it, the more only the worst endings came to mind. Being labeled as the number one target for vigilance was enough; the relationship didn’t seem likely to improve, so after eliminating that option, there was nothing useful left.

As Sa-yoon was racking his brain, Geon-joo’s eyes narrowed across from him. It was a face filled with suspicion following hostility. Thinking he should say something before Geon-joo remembered him as a kidnapper and murderer, Sa-yoon opened his mouth without any bright ideas.

“Pretty boy.”

“…?”

Geon-joo’s eyebrows rose as if the term of address was out of the blue. Feeling as if he could see question marks under the disheveled black hair, Sa-yoon belatedly realized there was a problem with his form of address.

This is why his mouth was troublesome.

Over the past three months, he had called Geon-joo ‘pretty boy’ so often that the word had stuck to his lips without him knowing. Fortunately, the long and arduous search had also led him to unwittingly call Geon-joo a ‘son of a bitch’ or ‘that bastard,’ so at least those didn’t slip out, but still, calling him ‘pretty boy’ wasn’t exactly a good choice either.

Didn’t Geon-joo’s eyes, gazing at him, hold an unprecedented unsavoriness?

It was as if he was looking at a pervert.

Sa-yoon examined Geon-joo’s face, pondering whether he should clarify that it wasn’t what Geon-joo thought or maintain a solemn atmosphere. The face he hadn’t properly taken in, distracted by the Disposition, fully entered Sa-yoon’s sight.

Looking at him like this, the nickname ‘pretty boy’ didn’t seem so wrong after all. Even from a distance, his distinct features were quite pretty.

Especially his long eyelashes for a man and his gentle impression, which gave a subtly friendly feeling despite the ends of his eyes lifting in wariness.

Other than that, his hair slightly damp with cold sweat, his clean forehead revealed by his bangs, likely roughly handled by Jongsik, and his sharp jawline that conveyed a handsome rather than innocent image all contributed to the atmosphere of a beauty, forlorn yet tense from being kidnapped.

Judging that the nickname ‘pretty boy’ genuinely seemed to suit him, as his face was flawless, Sa-yoon officially designated Geon-joo’s term of address as ‘pretty boy.’

It was a nickname confirmed without the other party’s consent.

In the first place, it seemed better than calling him by name. If he suddenly called him ‘Geon-joo,’ it was plain to see he would be suspected of digging into his personal information. Being misunderstood as an information stalker on top of a kidnapper and murderer was unpleasant. He’d rather have the image of a man who was a pervert, calling a man he just met ‘pretty boy.’

How did I end up in this situation?

Finding himself anxiously agonizing over a mere form of address, Sa-yoon, who had discovered a predicament he had never faced before, chose his next words. It was good that he had diverted Geon-joo’s attention so far, but he didn’t know what to do in this situation where he had been branded a pervert.

Feeling like anything he did would be strange, he pondered for a moment, and the other man’s eyes began to fill with suspicion again. What kind of patience didn’t even last ten minutes?

Even villains waited for the hero’s transformation time, but he didn’t properly give Sa-yoon time to make his case.

He sure was impatient.

Muttering inwardly that he was truly a modern person, Sa-yoon slightly moved the pliers he was holding. It was an unconscious action he usually took when he was engrossed in something.

As if perceiving it as a threat, Geon-joo, tied to the chair, flinched. With better dynamic visual acuity than others, there was no way Sa-yoon would miss that reaction.

I think this is a mistake.

If this were a favorability game like a dating sim, that action just now would have probably earned him a -10 favorability. With an ominous premonition, Sa-yoon summoned the quest window with a gesture.

‘Current Relationship: Hostility and Wariness’

As expected, the item indicating his relationship with the guy had gained an additional ‘wariness.’

At this rate, it seemed all the negative words that could be attached, such as hostility, wariness, suspicion, and fear, would be tacked on.

How on earth was he supposed to become close?

What Sa-yoon was accustomed to was suppressing others with force, threatening and making them submit, not gently coaxing and persuading them with words to form intimacy.

Thinking it was absurdly difficult, Sa-yoon, who had messed up his hair, finally gave up on trying to be kind and gentle.

The premise itself was having a cozy face-to-face meeting in a torture villa, so even if he said something now, it didn’t seem like a situation that could be salvaged.

There were no instruction manuals either, so what could he do? He would just have to do as he pleased.

Fortunately, Sa-yoon knew the words he could most naturally utter in a situation like this.

The words he always spoke when he brought someone useful to the torture villa.

“Do you want to work under me?”

“…”

“If you don’t like it, well, you can die.”

“Hy-Hyung-nim!”

Jongsik was even more flustered by the ruthless remark. His reaction wasn’t worth minding, so Sa-yoon, raising his cold eyes, observed Geon-joo’s response.

Half of the Night Rats members were recruited in this way. Since it was kidnapping and confinement anyway, they couldn’t chat about things like what their name was or what their phone number was.

Rather than acting unnaturally and drawing needless suspicion, it was better to show the most natural demeanor. If the game was already ruined, he should at least take the initiative, shouldn’t he?

Threats and intimidation.

Those two were enough. When people encountered difficulties, they usually overcame the situation with what they were best at.

Right?

Usually, people honed new skills, didn’t they?

He had no idea how ordinary people thought and lived, as it had been ages since he had engaged in normal thinking. Roughly assuming it wouldn’t be too different, Sa-yoon, who had been waiting for Geon-joo’s answer, belatedly realized his mouth was gagged and turned to Jongsik.

“Untie him.”

“…Yes.”

Jongsik, who had been eyeing Sa-yoon dubiously, removed the tape that had been sealing Geon-joo’s mouth. After pulling out the cloth stuffed inside, Geon-joo exhaled the breath he had been lacking.

“Ha…”

The damp and musty basement. In the villa shrouded in silence, only Geon-joo’s breathing spread. Click. Sa-yoon moved the pliers in his hand once more. This time, it was an intentional act.

A kind of urging.

Implying it would be better for Geon-joo to speak before Sa-yoon resorted to harsh measures, as he didn’t have much patience.

Of course, he had no real intention of harming Geon-joo, but he needed to convey that kind of nuance for the conversation to go smoothly.

Whether naive or sensitive, Geon-joo, who had shifted his gaze toward the pliers as Sa-yoon intended, raised his head.

Maintaining eye contact, a brief standoff ensued. Geon-joo’s silence didn’t last long.

“…First, untie me, please.”

He was calmer than expected. Sa-yoon had thought that, befitting his age, once his mouth was freed, he would first ask who they were and even curse a bit, but the voice that flowed through his parted lips was unexpectedly polite. The unwavering soft tone was even pleasant to hear.

He has quite the composure.

Well, it was better than being stupid. Inwardly satisfied, Sa-yoon tilted his head toward Jongsik. Sighing deeply, Jongsik walked over to Geon-joo and turned to Sa-yoon.

‘Hyung-nim, are you sure this is okay?’

‘I don’t know either, kid.’

Exchanging rough opinions through their locked gazes, Sa-yoon maintained a chilling pace while swallowing his anxiety inwardly.

Although he was pretending to be composed and calm, his heart was impatient. He was quite worried that at any moment, a tiresome notification sound would ring out, and a blue window would appear, saying something like, ‘You have failed to gain the Disposition holder’s favor. The Resister will be permanently deactivated.’

Of course, this wasn’t his last chance. There were two Disposition holders: ‘I Alone Am High’ and ‘One who defies the flow.’

If he failed with Geon-joo, he could find the other one.

If it hadn’t taken him three months to find Geon-joo, he would have thought about it a bit more lightly.

He had neglected his guild duties and used his Skills until he fainted, searching for a full three months. He had poured all 92 days into finding the Disposition holder, and it was that guy he had finally discovered. Searching for the other one was too much of a gamble.

He shouldn’t have brought him to the villa.

He had buttoned the first button wrong, and he had done it terribly wrong. It was like he had forcibly shoved the first button into the last hole.

The arrow of resentment was fully directed at Jongsik. As Jongsik, oblivious, untied the ropes and duct tape that had tightly bound Geon-joo, Sa-yoon signaled him to hurry, and his hand movements quickened.

It was only after another minute had passed that Geon-joo was able to free himself from the ropes that had tied his wrists and ankles to the chair. They had been tied so tightly that marks were clearly left behind.

Is that a deduction factor too?

Before he knew it, a dating sim game had been constantly running in Sa-yoon’s head.

This time, it would be around -7, right?

As he was inwardly scoring his own actions, the person who had been rubbing his wrists let out a low groan. The moaning sound bringing him to his senses, Sa-yoon broke the silence first.

“Now that you’re untied, you should answer, pretty boy.”

When he spoke in his own way of kindness, the dark eyes rolled around. Geon-joo, who had looked around the entire villa as if searching for an escape route, made Sa-yoon his final destination. His eyes, which seemed to be probing for something, soon turned slightly narrow.

At the same time, the text in the quest window changed as well.

‘Current Relationship: Hostility and Interest’

…Interest?

Sa-yoon tilted his head.

The only things that had changed from when it was hostility and wariness were that he had untied Geon-joo and asked him threateningly if he was going to talk. A normal person should have felt fear or a sense of unease.

But interest?

He traced back to where Geon-joo’s heart might have been moved. As he was reconsidering and weighing a few possibilities, a sudden potential struck Sa-yoon’s mind.

Among the Night Rats members, there was one crazy bastard who got excited when he was cursed at. There was also a guy who liked it when Sa-yoon hit him, and another who moaned when humiliated. With all sorts of lunatics gathered, even people with such sexual preferences would crawl in.

A reasonable suspicion arose based on the experience he had gained through the guild members, and his eyes narrowed.

Could this guy be…

A pervert?