In the cell, Yeri and Kiyo lay naked together. Yeri woke up when he heard guards outside conducting roll call. He quickly got up, covered Kiyo with a sheet, and started putting on his clothes. Afterward he opened the windows to let the scent in the room escape.
When the guards entered for inspection, they immediately noticed the state of the cell and asked what had happened there. Yeri responded casually, "Well, officers, inmate 7337 was really sick all night. I think he caught a terrible cold."
The guard suggested taking Kiyo to the infirmary for a checkup, but Yeri quickly refused. He explained that he volunteered at the infirmary anyway, so he would personally take Kiyo there after roll call. Then, lowering his tone, he hinted that filing an official report could create unnecessary trouble if Kiyo's condition worsened later.
One guard agreed, saying that they could keep an eye on him as long as he stayed in the cell. Before leaving, the guard reminded Yeri not to forget to take him to the infirmary, and Yeri assured him he would.
As soon as the guards left, Yeri let out a relieved sigh. He pinched Kiyo's cheeks and said, "You punk, you don't even have to do anything. Just your existence alone causes problems." Then he gently ran his fingers through Kiyo's hair and murmured, "You're really pretty." Leaning closer, he kissed him before quietly adding, "So, I guess I'll have to kill this little troublemaker."
Later, Kiyo met with his lawyer. The lawyer informed him that the second trial was approaching and that there was still a lot they needed to prepare. He explained that he had reviewed the witness list the opposing side planned to call. However, Kiyo seemed distracted and lost in thought.
The lawyer noticed and asked if he was all right, mentioning that he had just come back from the infirmary. Startled, Kiyo quickly said that he was fine and claimed that he only had a slight cold. The lawyer suggested postponing the trial if he wasn't feeling well, saying that they would only need a doctor's note. He then asked if the new medication could be causing side effects.
Kiyo instead asked whether delaying the trial would actually benefit them. The lawyer was surprised and asked if Kiyo didn't want to get out of prison as soon as possible. Kiyo clarified that that wasn't what he had meant. He was simply worried, because the prosecution seemed thoroughly prepared, while they still had very little evidence in their favor.
The lawyer admitted that that was true. He recalled Kiyo explaining that after running away he had lived completely alone and had rarely gone outside. Because of that, the prosecution had many witnesses, especially since Kiyo's father had been not only a dominant alpha but also an active criminal.
Later the lawyer was speaking with an officer. He mentioned that Kiyo hadn't seemed normal that day and wondered if the medication could be causing side effects. The officer dismissed the idea, explaining that the entire selling point of the new drug was that it supposedly had none. That was why politicians were fighting over it.
The lawyer explained that the drug, commonly called Equality, was officially known as Proloc B. So far no side effects had been reported. If an alpha or omega took it for an extended period, it stabilized their hormones to resemble those of a beta.
The officer commented that Congress seemed determined to create a society where alphas and omegas no longer existed separately, only one equal society. The lawyer replied that until the bill officially passed, they were only authorized to prescribe the medication for short-term use.
The officer admitted that he personally disliked the idea, saying that he didn't want politics interfering with how prisons were run. He then asked when the Ministry of Justice employees would return, since they were taking a long time. The lawyer responded that correcting the entire mess would take time, because they would need to secretly replace a large number of documents.
In the infirmary, Kiyo was resting. The doctor told him that his fever had gone down, though he would still send medicine through the guards just to be safe. After the doctor left, Kiyo quietly reflected that he already felt much better, and wondered if staying there was really the right choice.
At that moment Yeri arrived carrying Kiyo's dinner. The doctor noticed Yeri and commented that inmate 18818 seemed unusually devoted to taking care of 7337. He had even changed shifts with inmate 2089 just so he could stay by Kiyo's side. Hearing this, Yeri silently thought to himself that Kiyo was still there.
The doctor told Yeri to make sure Kiyo ate and took his medicine before the guards arrived for the final roll call. After saying they would meet again tomorrow, the doctor left.
Meanwhile, Kiyo, embarrassed, hid under the blanket. Yeri looked at him and said, "Don't you think you can sit up now? I heard you met your lawyer this afternoon."
Kiyo sat up and admitted that it was true. Yeri handed him a spoon and told him to hurry up and finish eating. He added teasingly that if Kiyo refused, he would hold him like a baby and feed him himself. Embarrassed, Kiyo blushed and said that he could eat on his own.
Yeri smirked and asked why he was acting shy when there was nothing left for either of them to hide after the previous night. He remarked jokingly that Kiyo had had so much fun that he had ended up sick. Kiyo immediately snapped at him, demanding to know what he meant by that. Yeri replied casually that Kiyo had been the one clinging to him and begging him not to stop. Mortified, Kiyo yelled at him to shut up, and internally wished that he could disappear from embarrassment.
Later, back in the cell, Yeri noticed Kiyo trembling from the cold. He moved closer and told him that he still hadn't fully recovered and had probably only felt better because of the medicine. Yeri said that he would hold him while they slept that night, reminding him that Kiyo had clung to him for warmth the previous night as well. He wrapped Kiyo up carefully before lying down beside him.
As Yeri watched him, he thought about how unbelievably attractive Kiyo still looked despite being weak and sick. He gently kissed Kiyo on the forehead and quietly admitted that monster or not, he wasn't cruel enough to take advantage of a sick kid.
Being close to Yeri made Kiyo feel unexpectedly warm and safe.
That night Kiyo dreamed about being sick and alone, taking medicine while thinking about his mother. Suddenly a white wolf appeared before him. Startled, Kiyo asked whether it was a dog or actually a wolf. The wolf approached him calmly, sniffing and licking him affectionately. Realizing that the creature meant no harm, Kiyo hugged it and said that it was trying to comfort him instead.
In reality, still half asleep, Kiyo mistook Yeri for the wolf and started mumbling in his sleep. He said softly that it hadn't been long since his mother died. Yeri realized that Kiyo was sleep-talking and listened quietly as Kiyo continued.
Kiyo revealed that after years of isolation he had finally gone to his father's hotel one day, only to discover that the man had never intended to treat him like a son. Instead his father had planned to sell him. His mother had known about it all along and had desperately tried to stop it, but nothing had worked. Kiyo confessed that he had nearly been assaulted that night, before one of his father's men interrupted, informing his father that Kiyo's mother had secretly come to the hotel and was causing a scene downstairs.
Kiyo remembered how his mother had always told him that if he ever got a chance to escape, he should run without looking back. In the end he had realized that she had intentionally gone to the hotel that night and sacrificed herself just to buy him enough time to escape.
He admitted that he was exhausted from living this way, as though life itself had been punishing him. Even after everything happened, he had never cried. He had simply kept running and hiding. Looking back, he now understood how desperately his mother had wanted to protect him, even though she had always spoken coldly and had never openly showed it. He also realized that she herself had suffered terribly at the hands of his father, and that that was how he had been born.
Even after revealing all of this in his sleep, Kiyo remained asleep the entire time, while Yeri silently listened to everything.
When Yeri tried to move away, Kiyo instinctively grabbed him and murmured, "Doggy, don't go." Shocked, Yeri stared at him in disbelief. Kiyo continued mumbling that he was warm.
Amused, Yeri thought that Kiyo's sleep talking was on another level entirely. He hugged him back gently, kissed his forehead, and quietly asked whether he was really asleep or just pretending.
Yeri admitted that maybe he really was a monster, but that after hearing Kiyo's story he found himself unable to stay indifferent anymore. He reflected that everyone had once been precious to someone, the apple of their mother's eye, but that Kiyo had never had the chance to feel truly cherished by anyone.
For the first time, Yeri felt conflicted. Somewhere deep down, he realized that he was searching for reasons not to kill Kiyo.