Next Time We Meet, I’ll Let You Kill Me - Chapter 0
Prologue
Her eyelids slowly opened at the stinging smell of oil.
Liselotte blinked sluggishly with a hazy mind. As her blurry vision gradually sharpened, an unfamiliar scene came into view.
Wooden walls, a wooden ceiling, piles of firewood stacked in layers everywhere. On the floor, wooden animal carvings were scattered along with fragments.
She’d definitely been sleeping in his bed, so where was she?
She only had a moment to glance around the run‑down cabin she’d never seen before. Liselotte twisted her stiff, unmoving body. As if possessed, she lowered her head, and when she saw below her neck, she sucked in a sharp breath.
Her upper body was tightly tied to the back of the chair with rope. Her lower body was bound just as firmly to the legs of the chair.
The very first thought that came to her after being suddenly restrained was….
‘I got caught.’
Her mind began racing at a terrifying speed.
Did he find out who she was? Since when?
Just last night, hadn’t he stubbornly tangled himself with her until the dawn moon was up? They’d only just now finally gone all the way, so why this?
She desperately retraced her memories, but she had no idea where things went wrong. She thought opening the safe was only a matter of time, but being blindsided like this left her not only confused but also almost alarmed.
But now wasn’t the time to sit and ponder. The source of the smell that had been vibrating in the air was gasoline.
Dry wood surrounding her. Her body unable to move in the middle of it. The smell of gasoline.
A foreboding sense of danger ballooned uncontrollably.
At that moment, a chilling creaking sound came from the wooden door in front of her. Liselotte narrowed her eyes at the light pouring in through the opened door.
A silhouette darkened by the backlight walked into the cabin, step by step. She recognized him from his outline alone.
It was him.
“Awake?”
He tossed whatever he was holding in his right hand without care as he spoke. The gas can made a hollow sound as it rolled across the floor.
‘Hugo Schwartz. That bastard.’
Vile curses churned on her tongue, but she couldn’t spit them out. It wasn’t the time.
There might still be a chance. A sliver of reason whispered that this could be nothing more than a test, barely suppressing Liselotte’s fury.
“Hugo!”
She cried out desperately, like someone who had no idea what was going on. She blinked rapidly and wore the most flustered expression she could muster.
“What is this, what’s happening?”
“Wow.”
With a short exclamation, Hugo clapped loudly, clap clap clap.
“You should’ve been an actress. You’d win Best Actress without even trying.”
“Hugo….”
“Yes, yes. It’s your piece‑of‑trash lover, Hugo Schwartz.”
He spread his arms wide and introduced himself with exaggerated theatrics like an actor on stage.
Liselotte stammered, “W‑what are you doing? Enough with the stupid jokes.”
Hugo ignored her entirely and knit his brows. “No. Calling me your lover isn’t right. Target would be more accurate, wouldn’t it?”
The moment she heard the corrected word, Liselotte’s expression vanished. Her blue eyes cooled sharply, staring straight at him as if she’d instantly become a different person.
Only then did Hugo smile with satisfaction, as if he liked seeing her true face beneath the mask.
“Liselotte Botany. That’s your real name, isn’t it, Miss Liselotte Graham?”
With one corner of his mouth lifted, he leisurely approached her. The distance wasn’t very far, but to Liselotte, his movements felt unbearably slow.
The closer he got, the more her eyes naturally lifted. Soon, Hugo stood right before her knees. He bent down and gently stroked her head.
“If you look at me like that, I get turned on again.”
His gloved hand softly cupped the back of her head, and his smooth face slowly lowered.
“….”
Hugo tilted his head as if he were about to kiss her. Liselotte didn’t close her eyes.
A distance close enough to feel his breath. Their lips hovered as if they’d touch at any moment, then narrowly slipped past to the side.
A ticklish laugh scattered by her ear.
“I wanted to do it with Miss Botany too, not just the well‑behaved Miss Graham.”
Grumbling, Hugo stepped back.
“Too bad, but it can’t be helped.”
“…If you untie me, we can do it right now.”
At her provocative remark, he let out a light whistle.
“Dying on top of a woman isn’t my hobby.”
“How much do you know?”
Her voice dropped noticeably lower. The tone was completely different from usual, yet Hugo wasn’t surprised. He simply lifted his shoulders as if nothing was strange.
“Who knows. Up to the restaurant that calls its target the Main Dish?”
He even knew about her company….
Liselotte shut her eyes tight, then opened them again. Hugo was already rummaging through the inside pocket of his suit.
When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he stuck his hand into his pants pocket next. Liselotte’s brows drew sharply together. Because of where his hand was, her gaze landed unavoidably on the front of his trousers, which were visibly bulging.
This lunatic got hard in the middle of all this?
“Ah. Found it.”
Regardless of whether the thing in his pants was suffocating or not, Hugo cheerfully spoke as he pulled a different object from his pocket. Liselotte, unfortunately, couldn’t laugh at what she saw.
“…!”
It was a matchbox, smaller than his palm. Hugo shook it obnoxiously. As if to prove there were matches inside, he rattled it right in front of her eyes.
“Don’t.”
She spoke calmly, but a startled breath made her chest rise against her will. Hugo met her gaze and slowly pushed open the mouth of the box with his thumb. It was a kind of psychological game.
“Hugo. Don’t.”
“What?”
“Put it down.”
“Why?”
Haa. Liselotte exhaled a long breath and cleared her throat.
“I don’t intend to harm you. I swear I’ll disappear quietly if you end this here.”
“Oh. A swear, huh.”
From the open box, he finally pulled out a match.
Liselotte shouted urgently, “What do you want from me!”
Now that’s more like it. Hugo’s grin grew deeper.
“What’s your mission?”
“What?”
“The mission you were given. Tell me honestly and I’ll untie you….”
While saying it so casually, he struck the match tip against the wall.
“If you don’t want to, then it’s bye‑bye right here.”
As if saying ‘simple, right?’, he looked at her.
She wanted to spit in that smug, grinning face. What was her mission? Did he really think she’d tell him?
Not because of the confidentiality clause in the contract, but because this was a matter of pride. How dare he try to threaten Liselotte Botany? Her teeth ground together, and the vein on her forehead rose sharply.
“Hugo Schwartz.”
With a deadly tone, Liselotte warned him.
“Untie me right now before I kill you.”
It didn’t work, of course.
Flames burst from the match he’d struck. Hugo stretched his arm toward her as if to show it off.
“Mission.”
“Fuck off.”
“Mission.”
“Go die somewhere.”
‘Haa.’ Hugo let out a pitying sigh.
“Sorry, baby. Next time we meet, I’ll let you kill me then.”
His fingers opened. The falling match flame burned itself into her retinas.
‘Hot.’ Hugo yelped theatrically as the fire began spreading from her feet, then hopped and ran outside. He even remembered to lock the door behind him.
You, you….
With all the gratitude she could muster, Liselotte screamed at the top of her lungs.
“You son of a bitch!”