A Contracted Gangster Who Has to Die to Survive

Chapter 2



 

“Hidden camera? You little punk. Where’s the camera hidden?”

“N-no…! That’s not what I meant!”

Choi Taejoon tightened his grip on my neck, as if to vent his frustration.

“I-I can’t breathe…! This is a hidden camera prank, right? It is, isn’t it?”

If it wasn’t, then this situation was beyond comprehension.

But then again, would anyone really go to this much trouble to prank an unknown idol like me? That didn’t make sense either…

“Or… maybe not.”

My voice faltered, growing less confident.

Finally, it felt like Choi Taejoon’s fingers around my neck loosened ever so slightly.

This was far too real to be a variety show prank. His piercing gaze, sharp enough to kill, and the crushing grip on my throat radiated a very real sense of malice.

Then, Choi Taejoon leaned in close.

“Were you planning to record this and post it somewhere?”

His tone was too serious to be part of a scripted setup, and his performance—if it was one—was way too convincing for a mere prank. On top of that, my entire body genuinely hurt.

“V-variety show…! It’s for a variety show! If this keeps up, someone might actually d-die…!”

Choi Taejoon’s eyes narrowed further, his grip tightening once again.

“What nonsense are you spouting about a variety show?”

“…Ugh! You know, the ones with Yoo-nim? Like those! You don’t know them?”

Thankfully, he seemed to recognize the reference to the national MC, as the pressure on my neck eased slightly. Yet, he still didn’t fully let his guard down, his sharp eyes scanning me from head to toe.

“No, I don’t.”

Before I could even breathe a sigh of relief, I was suddenly flung to the floor. My body hit the ground with a thud, and tears sprang to my eyes as I coughed uncontrollably.

“If it wasn’t a hidden camera prank, you could’ve just said so. Why choke someone…?”

I sniffled and picked up the cigarette that had fallen to the floor.

“Sniff… This is really dangerous, you know. It’s a fire hazard. And what if word gets out that an idol was smoking? What am I supposed to do then…?”

The cigarette, still burning faintly, was almost completely smoked out.

“Not to mention, indoor smoking comes with a fine of 100,000 won….”

“What did you just say?”

His ferocious gaze wavered ever so slightly, betraying a hint of confusion.

Ignoring him, I looked around, still teary-eyed, searching for hidden cameras.

“…This really isn’t a hidden camera prank?”

Typically, when someone realized it was a prank, the filming would stop, right? And it didn’t make sense for a variety show to shoot a smoking scene with an active idol. Something about all this felt completely off.

“You know who I am, right? I’m Hyun Woo Kyung from XHD09BF. Ah, who am I kidding, you wouldn’t know me.”

My voice trailed off as my shoulders slumped in disappointment, but Choi Taejoon’s expression grew darker and more menacing.

“Unless… did I unknowingly sign a drama contract or something? Is this some kind of script reading practice?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Choi Taejoon snatched the cigarette from my hand and crushed it out. Then, as if he couldn’t be bothered with my nonsense anymore, he lit another one and muttered under his breath.

“How badly did that bastard Kang Executive beat you to leave you in this state?”

The red glow of the cigarette flared brightly against his face before fading again.

“Forget hidden cameras or whatever. Just go get your injuries treated.”

That line struck a chord. It was familiar—though slightly different in tone—from a line in Alcohol Swab. In the novel, Hyun Woo Kyung had replied, “I don’t need your pity.”

“Wow… It’s exactly the same.”

At this point, it felt less like a prank or a script and more like I’d actually stepped into the original Alcohol Swab storyline.

“W-wait a second. I get it now. They’re making a live-action adaptation, right? This is Alcohol Swab, isn’t it?”

Choi Taejoon got up, brushing himself off as if he couldn’t care less about my revelation.

“You can buy that stuff at the pharmacy.”

…So he doesn’t know Alcohol Swab.

“Judging by your attitude, you’re probably one of those people who enjoys being beaten.”

“Huh? Me?!”

In the novel, this was the point where Hyun Woo Kyung retorted with, ‘I don’t enjoy being beaten!’—right before the two of them got into a violent fight. Hyun Woo Kyung ended up getting slapped multiple times and dragged to the bathroom, where the situation escalated further into something far more… intense.

The memory jolted me upright as if struck by lightning.

“No, no, no! That’s not true! I hate pain! I don’t even do punishment games because I can’t stand it. Pain is literally my least favorite thing in the world!”

I covered my cheeks protectively and slowly backed away, shaking my head.

Come to think of it, why on earth did Hyun Woo Kyung provoke someone as terrifying as this in the first place? Was it sheer bravado, thinking “I’m a cop, you’re a criminal”?

Choi Taejoon, with his sharp features and scarred hands, inhaled deeply from his cigarette, his lips curling into a faint, mocking smile.

“Whatever. Just get lost.”

“…What?”

“Did you not hear me? I said get out.”

Standing there in a daze, I suddenly snapped to attention. Thank goodness. I was relieved—relieved that Choi Taejoon had told me to leave. Fearing he might change his mind, I hurriedly began gathering my clothes.

The T-shirt and pants weren’t familiar to me; they didn’t feel like mine, but I threw them on quickly and slipped into the slippers by the door.

As I moved, my reflection in the shoe cabinet mirror caught my eye.

It was my face—yet slightly different. Softer lines, rounder eyes, a look that could almost be described as cute. Bruised and swollen eyelids, lips cracked and caked with dried blood. It wasn’t makeup. These were real injuries, real blood and wounds.

Could it be… I’ve been possessed by a character in a novel?

“Haha… what a ridiculous thought,” I chuckled nervously.

The notion was absurd, and I laughed it off.

But if, by some chance, this was a novel, then that man—Choi Taejoon—would ultimately be the one to kill me. The best thing to do was to leave this place immediately, so I hastily exited the hotel.

As I left the building, doubts began to creep in. Could I have really been transported into a novel? Or was this just a vivid dream?

In the original Alcohol Swab, Hyun Woo Kyung was an elite undercover cop who infiltrated a massive underground organization called Taeseong Industries.

As a special operations officer, Hyun Woo Kyung approached Kang Executive, the chairman’s son—a sadistic man who found pleasure in tormenting others.

When Hyun Woo Kyung’s life was in grave danger, the person who saved him was none other than Choi Taejoon, the company’s executive director.

Choi Taejoon, like Kang Executive, was a key figure in the organization and a contender for the position of chairman. However, his perfectionism and workaholism made him harder to approach, so the police had initially excluded him as a target.

After that incident, the police completely revised their plans. Instead of Kang Executive, they decided to use Choi Taejoon’s interest in Hyun Woo Kyung to bring the organization down.

The author described their first encounter as a mere whim on Choi Taejoon’s part. Whether it was a whim or a twist of fate, I didn’t care. My mind was preoccupied with a single question: Why am I here?

I clearly remember falling asleep at home, yet here I was, waking up in a strange hotel room. Was this what happened when you stayed cooped up at home for too long, not meeting anyone?

As I wandered out onto the street in a state of confusion, something felt off, and I came to an abrupt stop.

“What the… What is this?”

Before I went to bed, it had been mid-winter, with snow falling heavily outside.

But now, it was clearly summer. Bright green trees swayed in the sunlight, people walked around in short sleeves, and I was wearing a stretched-out white T-shirt, loose jeans, and slippers.

The original setting of Alcohol Swab also took place in the sweltering heat of summer, filled with the sound of cicadas.

I instinctively shoved my hands into my pockets. If this were real, there should be a phone in there.

“Holy crap… There’s actually a phone in here?”

Everything was aligning perfectly with the story.

If this really was Alcohol Swab, the next thing that should happen was a call from Captain Baek of the special ops team. But the phone remained silent for now.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Just as I was about to put the phone back in my pocket, it suddenly rang.

“Ah!”

The abrupt ringtone startled me so much that my heart felt like it dropped to the ground.

“H-hello?”

What was the line again? Something about “Stop wandering around,” right?

After a pause, a low, metallic voice came through the phone.

“Stop wandering around, Lieutenant Hyun Woo Kyung.”

Ahhh!

“We lost contact with you after last night, and everyone’s been—”

I knew I should respond, but my mind had gone blank. Only one word repeated endlessly in my head:

I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead. Hyun Woo Kyung is dead.

My heart pounded, and my head spun. If I had really possessed a character in the novel—if this wasn’t a dream, a prank, or a script reading—then I was doomed.

Hyun Woo Kyung wasn’t just any character; he was someone who suffered endlessly before being brutally murdered.

And it wasn’t even a quick death. Once it was revealed that he was a cop, he was subjected to relentless torture before being sealed in a cement barrel and thrown into the sea.

I turned off the phone and collapsed onto the side of the street like a deflated balloon.

I’d lived a good, honest life—or so I thought. Why was this happening to me?

Was it really so bad to occasionally Google my own name?

Students and office workers began flooding the streets as the city came alive. It felt like the entire world was conspiring to trick me, putting on a grand performance to keep up the illusion.

I buried my face in my hands.

Stay calm. If I think this through carefully, I might find a way out. I needed to figure out how to return to my world.

How did situations like this usually play out?

In most of the novels I’d read, the protagonist adapted to life in the fictional world and ended up living happily ever after. But there were a few where the protagonist returned to their original world…

“Ah! That one!”

A specific web novel flashed through my mind.

It wasn’t a BL novel, but it was written by the same author as Alcohol Swab.

“What was the ending again?”

In that story, the protagonist desperately tried to return to their world but ultimately gave up. They traded their life and the restoration of the empire in the fictional world, only to wake up back in their original reality.

I couldn’t remember the finer details, but one thing was clear:

“When you die, your role in this world ends, and you can return to your original one.”

If this really was Alcohol Swab and it followed the same rules, I might be able to go home by dying, just like Hyun Woo Kyung in the original story.

Since both stories were written by the same author, there was a high chance the worlds were connected.

“Okay… If I just follow the plot and die properly…”

It was a ridiculous and horrifying plan, yet it made an odd kind of sense. My mouth felt dry just thinking about it.

“Die… If I die… Damn it.”

The bitter taste of the cigarette Choi Taejoon had forced into my mouth lingered on my tongue, and the spot on my neck where he had grabbed me still throbbed.

Don’t be afraid. It’s just a fictional world.

But no matter how hard I tried to convince myself, the thought of dying like Hyun Woo Kyung was terrifying.

There had to be a less painful, less terrifying, less gruesome way to die.

There had to be a beautiful and peaceful way to end this life.

 


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