PURE CAPTIVATION [BL]

「 1 」 prologos

The scroll of your mouse was the only noise in your room besides the low hum of your AC. Your laundry basket overflowed with week-old clothes, numerous energy drinks, and take-out containers scattered across your floor. The entire room was pitch black, save for the bright, near eye-blinding glow of your old computer. Your eyes twitch from the blue light.

With one last scroll, you pause. As you pressed a hand to your face, you rubbed the sleep from your eyes.

The words "THE END" were a pitch black, stark against the ivory background. Your mouth hung open.

"No..." You flung your hand back to your mouse, scrolled hurriedly, eyes darting around the screen. Alas, there was nothing after that picture besides the credits, the author's P*treon, and the comment section.

"No...!" You tossed yourself against the back of your wheeled chair, a loud creak accompanying your utter anguish. Your voice grew louder as you threw your hands up into the air.

"NOOOOO-" A dull thud from the wall beside you cut off your wails, reminding you you weren't the only one at home. Your silence felt deafening as you collapsed back onto your seat, creaking once more in mercy. Clawing at your face, you glance at the bottom right corner of the screen.

1:11 am.

That number didn't seem that bad, but considering you've been doing all-nighters for a week straight, it felt as if you were on death's door.

You are an exceedingly normal college guy; less eager on studying, more so on working out and doing part-time jobs for good cash. To be honest, you knew you lacked brain cells and tried to cover that up by being a gym rat. And judging by the sports scholarship you received, that was enough to get through the world for now. The part-time jobs you took up were mainly physical labor, as well as customer service (ew).

Ever since you could remember, you were the only one looking after your little sister, Mina. Having to afford rent, buy groceries, and pay for her education, it was a miracle you could even attend class. Thank god for food stamps.

Like every average sibling relationship, you two fought tooth and nail, but you could only rely on each other. From this, you guys were pretty close. You'd kill someone for her, and she'd help you hide the body.

But what you couldn't understand was...

Your glazed-over eyes drift to the novel beside a can of chips, its cover taunting you. Printed in bright ink, a terrified, skinny man with black hair cowering away from another man caging him against the wall of a castle. The other menacingly glared down at the poor guy. They both wore fantasy-looking clothing, aside from the black haired one having the collar of his shirt torn open; he was bright red from the tips of his ears, down to his collarbones. When you first saw the illustration, you wondered why he looked on the verge of a heat stroke.

BL. It was a BL novel.

Mina was normal all around, aside from her concerningly huge fascination for stories like these. Her entire room was filled to the brim with that stuff, plushies, posters, figurines, and even CDs. She's even watched 18+ animations of the same content right as you eat dinner together.

For the life of you, you had no idea why she loved them so much. But having lived with her for so long, you grew numb enough to the sight of tragically hot, scantily clad ikemen all over the house. You accepted that your sister was weird as all hell, and that her drawing extremely graphic art for both commissions and passion was an amazing way for her to express her artistic prowess.

Flashback to just a week ago, when Mina casually approached you and shoved her phone screen in your face as you were curling a dumbbell. She whined about how she wanted to win a raffle, where a lucky reader who's viewed at least half of the manhwa would receive a huge gift. Unable to drown out her cries with your music, you relented and scrolled away at the webcomic on your PC mindlessly, having a video window open as you skipped through the first chapter.