✎ to you, who swallowed a star 「 ed•v 」

15 |

⚠ SERIES ADVISORY ⚠

This chapter (and perhaps the chapters that precede this) contains depictions and/or strong implications of the following:

• Sexual Content
• Drugging
• Attempted Suicide/Suicidal Ideation

Reach out for help if:

• You or someone you know is experiencing a crisis;
• You are worried about a friend or loved one; or
• You need emotional support.

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

•••

𝖛𝖎𝖙𝖆 𝖘𝖔𝖒𝖓𝖎𝖚𝖒 𝖇𝖗𝖊𝖛𝖊.

•••

130th Floor ;
Khun Eduan ;

“Can’t you let him go?”

Khun Eduan internally groaned as he staggered against the nearest tree he could reflexively hold on to amid his drunken stupor. It has been several weeks. Five floors came and went since then, yet he avoided all those involved like the plague, because crossing paths with them is synonymous to allowing anger and guilt to consume him. Anger towards his teammates who could not seem to get a hint. Anger towards the world that kept cornering him to a standstill. Anger, because it seems like whatever he does will never be enough to prove his willingness to risk everything for love.

Guilt, because both his inability and resolve will inevitably cause V misery.

If it had been the Eduan of the past, he might have already gotten the guy. Chained the man down to his side for all eternity (albeit using a little force, but there’s nothing a little apology cannot do in the name of love, right?). But, loving someone who is the embodiment of all good things in the tower required a lot of patience, and ironically, the least sense. His thoughts were always in a state of disarray, and he learned that his ideals of happiness does not cycle around his own anymore.

Well shit. Indeed, being lovesick was bad for his heart.

「 SPLASH. 」

The sound of waves crashing against the seashore brought him back to reality— one with an impending hangover, at that. He was really out of it, every breath he took, every move he made, all traced back to only one person. Will it be even worse if he says he is currently witnessing the said person plunging unto the sea until the water was chest-deep?

“Hey,” he called, though unsure, but still approached the shoreline, where a familiar set of fabric laid. “What are you doing, playing in the water so late at night—”

A broken hair tie. Uneven strands of chestnut brown hair scattered along the sand. Fragments of a ripped jeogori.

A chill ran down Eduan’s spine as he spent all his willpower to rip his eyes off of the items towards the figure he had seen earlier. Unimaginable thoughts slowly crept unto his soul like the foam prickling his feet, as he unknowingly shook as if he was drenched in ice-cold water.

Why is he not coming back to the surface?

Though, there was one thought that prevailed.

And why were his clothes so dishe—

Then, it clicked. Today was the birthday banquet. The matchmaking event the elders planned to knock the heir down a few peg and create an opening. He intentionally avoided them throughout the night, but if they were unable to catch wind of him, who would be the next, most vulnerable, easier to manipulate, target?