BAM!
Cruel kicked the table Baskara had just been using for his client. His gaze was so sharp it made Baskara gulp hard.
Oh man, is this it? Am I actually busted? Baskara panicked. Come on, I've got way too many sins and haven't even racked up any good deeds in this second life yet. God's gonna send me straight to hell at this rate... Argh! I won't even get to meet any heavenly angels!
Cruel walked slowly toward the kitchen, his fingers reaching for a gleaming kitchen knife. On the other side of the room, Baskara's body was frozen, his legs turning to jelly from sheer terror.
The sky turned dark as rain began to pelt down. The wind howled, as if nature itself knew a disaster was about to strike.
Is he gonna kill me? Looks like it. I mean, why else would he grab a knife? That damn system had pulled a disappearing act the moment Cruel got suspicious. Talk about having a "partner" who bails when things get real.
"Who are you, really? And why are you in my brother's body?" Cruel stepped closer, his voice dropping to a low, heavy growl.
Baskara, internally screaming, tried to play it cool.
'Stay calm, Ra. You can talk him down. You handled Mrs. Ratna, you can handle a kid like Cruel. If I'm honest, I'm dead. If I lie, I'm dead. Which one do I pick...'
Baskara thought fast before finally answering with a trembling voice.
"It's your brother, man. It's Kara. How could you forget your most handsome big bro?"
Baskara forced a smile—a smile that basically screamed "this is the end of the line for me."
Cruel's face remained as flat as a highway. He took a few steps forward and pressed the knife against Baskara's neck.
"You're lying. The real Kara didn't give a damn about anyone. He used to torture me and beat me up all the time. He never cared about me! But you..."
Cruel leaned down, staring into Baskara's face as he sat slumped on the floor.
"You're not him. You... you are..." Cruel nicked Baskara's neck just enough to draw blood.
The knife was sharp—sharp as the system's mouth, as Kara would say.
'Holy crap! System!! Help me! This psycho kid is actually gonna execute me! Ugh, my life sucks. First, I died by getting crushed by a clothesline, then I had to take care of this "kid of death," and now I'm gonna die again at the hands of my new brother?! Mommy!! I wanna go back to your womb!'
Baskara was crying a river inside.
"L—look, I've changed. People can turn over a new leaf, right? I—"
"Tell the truth or I'll slit your throat right now," Cruel interrupted.
Baskara broke into a cold sweat. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place—or more like a lion in front of him and a cliff behind him. Seeing Cruel's furious demand for an explanation, Baskara finally let out a defeated sigh.
"Fine. I'll talk. Just move the knife, it hurts."
Cruel paused for a second before pulling the blade away from Baskara's pale neck. Kara looked at him with the most pathetic "puppy dog" eyes imaginable.
"I'm not your real brother. I'm just a lost soul forced by a cheap-ass, stingy system to—"
Baskara stopped himself. 'If I tell him I'm here to stop him from becoming a villain, he'll probably wipe my corpse off the face of the earth. I don't even know if I'm making it out of this room alive.'
"Go on," Cruel's deep voice snapped him out of it.
"T—the system forced me to take over your brother's body to look after you and make you happy. I mean, you must've been miserable living with that jerk's soul, right?" Baskara squeaked, his voice shaking but audible.
Silence fell over them, filled only by the sound of rain and the occasional flash of lightning.
One minute... five minutes... Baskara's neck started to ache from keeping his head down.
'God, my neck is killing me. Why is he so quiet? Is he planning the most sadistic way to finish me off or something?'
Just as his mind was spiraling, Cruel moved closer. Baskara squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow.
But instead, Cruel reached out, grabbed Baskara's hands, and looked down.
"So, the current 'brother'... you're only staying alive in this poverty... because you were told to?" Cruel's voice trembled.
Baskara's brain struggled to process that. "Wait, what do you mean—"
Suddenly, Cruel lunged forward and hugged Baskara so tightly he could barely breathe.
"I don't care who you are or where you came from," Cruel whispered, his voice taking on a chilling, obsessive tone. "If you're only staying here because of some 'mission' from that system... then I'll destroy that system so you can never leave me. You belong to me."
Cruel buried his face in Baskara's shoulder, tightening his grip as if afraid the soul in front of him would just float away.
"Cough! Ack!" Baskara choked on his own spit. His face went from pale with fear to purple from lack of oxygen.
'Damn... is this a hug or a wrestling match?! My bones are gonna snap!' Baskara screamed internally.
"D—dude... Cruel... let go... I'm... cough! I'm actually gonna die if you keep this up!" Baskara wheezed.
"Don't leave," Cruel whispered again, ignoring Baskara's dying coughs. "You can't leave, or I'll make sure you can't breathe forever just so you stay right here."
Baskara's eyes widened. 'Great! Out of the frying pan and into a yandere's cage!'
"If—if I actually die because I can't breathe, you'll be all alone, you know."
Cruel went still, processing that. Baskara was right; if he hugged him to death, he'd have no one left. But the fear of Baskara leaving was overwhelming. Baskara was his world now. No one could take him. And if anyone tried, he'd make sure they never saw the sun rise again.
Slowly, Cruel loosened his grip, but his hands still held Baskara's shoulders firmly.
"Promise me... you won't leave my side. You have to stay with me forever. Don't leave me," Cruel muttered, his eyes rimmed with red.