‘Did he know all along?’

That snakes were the link for all of this.

It was too accurate to be a mere coincidence. What are the odds that ‘Precautions for the Closed Ward’ and ‘snakes’ would appear in that short conversation?

Did he just get to the heart of the matter in one fell swoop with his amazing intuition? Or did he have another source of information?

‘Nurse Jung?’

Could it be Nurse Jung?

Nurse Jung doesn’t seem to be the cautious, tight-lipped type. It wouldn’t surprise Won if she accidentally dropped a clue to Top Dog. Even when she unintentionally caught a glimpse of her, she was half-crazed and blabbering away at the top of her lungs…

Won thought about it until her chest felt tight. Her stomach started to churn and she felt uncomfortable, like there was a heavy stone inside.

‘What is this? What’s happening? Is it something I ate for breakfast?’

Her body hadn’t fully recovered yet, so her digestion might be slower than usual, but the menu wasn’t heavy.

As she shook her head and rubbed her chest with her palm, Top Dog spoke up.

“What’s the matter? Are you not feeling well?”

“Mind your business.”

“You’re being cranky today. I haven’t seen you in a while, can’t you be a little nicer to me?”

‘Were you bored because you didn’t get to play with me for a while?’

She spent the last two days in her room, and he never checked on her to see if she was alive or dead.

He was saying she was pretty and everything else, but that is all he cared about. He was so shallow that she couldn’t help but wonder why her heart would race.

When she thought about how ridiculous it was, she felt annoyed at his casual whining.

Holding back the urge to cuss him out, Won glared at him.

“I’m listening to the program, so don’t talk to me.”

She couldn’t concentrate on the elder’s words. Top Dog was swirling around in her head. More accurately, she questioned how she felt about him.

‘Why am I so angry with him?’

She couldn’t deny she was angry. She was so sickened by him she didn’t even want to look at him.

Why?

‘Because I’m disappointed.’

Why is she disappointed?

‘Because I expected more.’

She’s disappointed because she expected more. If there were no expectations, there would be no disappointment.

The question is why did she have expectations of him? From the start, she knew he was an insincere assh*le.

It wasn’t like she was being repeatedly brainwashed. She has never fallen for his platitudes because she was too discerning.

No matter how much she thought about it, she could only come up with one answer.

‘Because I wanted to.’

Why did she want to? That is where she stopped thinking, refusing to move forward. It was like she had run into a giant wall.

Something flashed in front of her eyes, and she realized she was distracted again. She pulled herself together and watched the screen in front of her.

Two snakes were entwined on the giant screen. They wrapped themselves head to tie in each other, their writhing form resembling a pretzel, and the elder’s voice came through.

“It’s snakes’ mating. It’s probably the first time you’ve seen it because snakes are very cautious creatures and do it in secret.”

Won blinked.

‘What happened while I was distracted that led to us watching a video of snakes mating…?’

She was baffled by the unfolding storyline.

“Snakes have great endurance and are highly reproductive. During mating, the male tries to satisfy the female by alternately using his two p*nises. The male’s p*nis is structured in such a way that once it’s joined, it won’t come out until he ejacul*tes…”

The elder explained in great detail. For a moment, Won remembered Black Cat.

“He said there were two of them, like snakes.”

“Well, whatever you say, but I’m not mistaken. Medically speaking, it’s a real thing. It’s called diphallus, and the odds of being born with it are what, one in five million or one in 50 million?”

‘Black Cat… Like the snake…’

Cringing, she looked away from the screen to escape the association. Even if it was an animal, she didn’t want to see such an intimate moment. Why did they have to watch them reproduce?

“I’ve seen more than enough,” Top Dog sneered from beside her. Won agreed.

Won looked around at the other patients, all of whom were focused on the video, unperturbed. Mrs. Sook was the same way. She was staring at the screen like it was glazed with honey, unmoved…

‘Huh?’

Disconcerted, Won glanced at Top Dog, then back at her surroundings.

Top Dog’s eyes were blinking and his pupils were shaking. He wasn’t interested, but he was watching it because that’s what was in front of him. On the other hand, the patients were watching the video, barely blinking, almost being sucked into the screen.

They weren’t just immersed in something interesting. Their gazes were fixed as if they were mesmerized, and they were immobile. It wouldn’t be a shock to find out they forgot to breathe. It wasn’t just one or two of them, it was almost everyone in the room.

Goosebumps rose all over Won’s body at the unusual sight. She felt like she had been dropped in the middle of Wonderland.

‘What is this? What is going on?’

Panicked, she searched her surroundings, but everywhere she looked, the patients stared like fanatics.

‘Am I the only normal one?’

She remembered Black Cat. Her gaze shifted to where he sat.

Black Cat was staring at the video with his arms crossed. Her heart sank at the sight of his eyes never leaving the screen, but relief washed over her as she recognized the furrowed brow and sharp, intelligent eyes.

It was like a professor evaluating a student’s work, not a mindless devotee. He was showing his disapproval.

‘At least the three of us are okay.’

As she sighed, someone put a hand on her shoulder.

“Why aren’t you concentrating?”

It was a middle-aged woman who identified herself as Reverend Kwon. There was a hint of wariness in her questioning tone. Won looked up, trying to look as docile as possible, and Kwon spoke in a softer tone.

“Since you’re here, you should diligently participate.”

Won nodded and looked ahead, where the lesson had progressed and there were now several giant snakes slithering about.

“Anacondas are polygamous. Ten or more males will surround a single female in a ball like this, tickling and caressing her from head to toe. They’ll do it until she’s in the mood, and if she lets them, they’ll mate for a whole month. She can do it with a hundred males if she wants to.”

Calming ambient music, the kind heard during meditation, plays from the screen with graphic footage of a single snake being in a multitude of thicker snakes and constantly stimulated. If Won didn’t know better, she would wonder what they were doing to each other. When she realized the truth, it looked promiscuous and lascivious.

‘What if they were people instead of snakes…’

In Won’s mind, the anacondas were replaced by people. She was in the place of the female anaconda, and the male anacondas were…

“Does it feel good to touch you here, sweetheart?”

“It’s my first time… but I’ll do my best.”

“I told you, Won. You’re my ray of light from heaven.”

“I guess my diagnosis of nymphomania was right after all, Ms. Won.”

“Noona, where do you want my forked tongue to lick you?”

Her head was dazed by the heat that rose from deep inside. Her lewd fantasies grew more and more specific, showing her visions that tingled her backside.

“I’ll fill your h*les.”

“Won, can you take two at the same time here?”

“Are you giving me that look because you want to lick my d*ck?”

“I’m not sure, but you seem to really like this. Are girls always this sensitive?”

“Enjoy it. Noona is our snake bride.”

Won’s hand slowly slid between her legs, but just before it touched the sensitive spot, she snapped back to reality.

‘What am I doing?!’

She isn’t even alone in her hospital room. Has she lost her mind?

Nervously, she glanced over at the seat next to her, wondering if she had been caught in the act. She was horrified to see Top Dog running his hand down the length of his inner thigh.

She quickly turned her head to the other side and saw a female patient crossing her legs with the same look on her face.

The other patients did the same. Their faces were dazed as if they were in an ecstatic dream, and they were touching certain parts of their bodies or rubbing against the chairs.

‘Group hypnosis?’

She wondered if they were drugged with some kind of aphr*disiac.

“S*x is a natural human need. There is no reason to be ashamed of it, no reason to deny it, and I urge you to be true to your instincts. Our God lovingly embraces and forgives any ugly desire.”

The cult elder’s rhetoric crashed into her ears, frozen by the incomprehensible situation.

“So, from now on, you will throw off the constraints of your mind and do what you truly desire.”

As if that sentence was a trigger, the sound of chairs being pulled back was heard around the room.

Won looked up, sensing a shadow falling over her.

Top Dog was staring down at her, eyes cloudy.