After my girlfriend of seven years checked in from the foreign third-world country, Bayndemar, she suddenly vanished without a trace.

That same night, I received a video from her phone.

In the footage, a man wielding an electric baton sneered at the camera. "Bring five million dollars to the compound if you want her back alive."

Beside him, my girlfriend's clothes were torn, her body covered in blood. Trembling, she begged through tears, "Ryan! Save me! They promised they'd let me go once the money's paid!"

Without hesitation, I went alone.

But the moment I landed, I was drugged into unconsciousness.

In the end, I was tortured to death.

Meanwhile, my girlfriend returned home with one-third of the ransom money and married the student my family had sponsored.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the very day she disappeared.

My gaze locked onto Sue Sanford's glaring social media post.

In an instant, my entire body began to shake uncontrollably, and my phone slipped from my hand.

"Bayndemar…"

Almost at the same moment, Leo Kelman slammed open the door to my office and rushed inside, crying out, "Ryan! Sue's gone missing! Her location is showing Bayndemar!"

Panic covered his face. Behind him, my secretary looked helpless.

"Mr. Parell, I couldn't stop him…"

Leo's frantic shouting snapped me back to reality.

That was when I realized… I had been reborn.

Bayndemar. A horrifying hell on earth.

Terrifying memories crashed over me like a tidal wave. Every bone in my body ached as though it were being crushed all over again. I jerked my head up, my eyes bloodshot as I glared at Leo.

"You…!"

But he mistook my reaction for worry over Sue. Grabbing my hand anxiously, he said, "Ryan, Sue always replies to my messages instantly… but I haven't been able to reach her these past two days! Do you think—do you think she might've been taken into one of those kidnappers' compounds? She's such a delicate girl. If she's really stuck in a place like that…"

My heart sank violently.

Scenes from my previous life—the humiliation and torture I endured inside those Bayndemar compounds—cut into me like blades carving flesh from bone.

To save Sue, I sold every asset my parents had left me and traveled alone to the kidnappers' compound in Bayndemar. I thought it would be a simple exchange: money for her freedom.

Instead, I was captured by the compound's leader.

They beat me day and night, worked me like an animal, and when I was barely clinging to life, they dragged me onto an operating table to harvest my organs.

Yet, even at the moment of my death, I was still praying for Sue's safety.

The compound leader saw this and let out a mocking laugh. With a cruel grin, he initiated a video call.

"Ey, Ms. Sanford," he sneered, "your boyfriend sure loves you. Should we let him go?"

I stared blankly at the screen.

On the other end, Sue was completely unharmed. Leo—the boy I had sponsored for years—was holding her in his arms.

She looked at me with utter disdain.

"He's so filthy. Why would I want him back?" she said coldly. "I'm tired of playing with him. He's useless now, so just get rid of him. If anyone's to blame, it's him for being stupid."

Leo provocatively kissed her cheek and laughed.

"Sue, don't say that. If it weren't for his ransom money, how could we be living this comfortably?"

I only remembered that, during those few short minutes, I bit straight through my own lower lip. My eyes burned with regret, but I couldn't even cry.

That soul-piercing agony remained vivid even after being reborn.

Snapping back to the present, I shoved Leo's hand away and said coldly to my secretary, "If she's missing, call the police."

The secretary immediately picked up my phone, but Leo slapped it out of her hand.

"Ryan! Are you insane? Calling the police will alert the kidnappers! Sue will be in even greater danger!"

I forced down the murderous urge surging inside me and leaned back in my chair. A faint, icy smile tugged at my lips as I looked at him.

"You seem awfully certain that Sue was taken by one of those compounds."

Leo's face instantly turned deathly pale. Stammering, he said, "S-Sue's been missing for two days now, and her last location was Bayndemar. I-I'm just worried about her…"

As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and tears began streaming down his face.

"I know you've never liked how good Sue treats me, but no matter what, she's still your girlfriend! How can you just leave her to die?"

I let out a cold laugh.

"How exactly am I supposed to save her? Didn't I suggest calling the police? Or are you expecting me to storm into one of those compounds and drag her out myself?"

Just then, the phone on the floor vibrated.

Leo hurriedly picked it up. After glancing at the screen, he shoved the phone in front of me, fury written across his face.

"Ryan! I'm not lying to you! Look! Sue really was kidnapped! Sue's never suffered a day in her life. Imagine how miserable she must be right now!"

I glanced at the screen.

Just like in my previous life, a message from Bayndemar had arrived on my phone: [Bring five million dollars to redeem Sue, or she dies!]

This time, however, I didn't panic.

Instead, I calmly tapped my fingers against the desk and silently watched the two of them perform their little act.

Then I leisurely took a sip of tea.

Sure enough, two minutes later, a video call came through.

The moment I answered, Sue's agonized sobs rang out from the other end.

"Ryan! I'm in so much pain! I only came to Bayndemar to negotiate a business deal for you, but I got tricked into one of these compounds! They're inhuman—"

Before she could finish, a masked man viciously struck her with an electric baton. The pain made her scream through gritted teeth.

Watching the scene unfold, I almost burst out laughing.

"Ah! Sue!" Leo pointed at the screen, trembling all over. "You animal! Don't hurt her!"

The masked man glared at me through the screen and barked viciously, "I'm warning you—don't try anything clever like calling the cops!

"If you want this delicate little girlfriend of yours back alive, bring us five million dollars, personally! Once you land, I'll send you the location!"

I smiled.

Looking at Sue collapsed on the ground, I said with open disgust, "Mm. She's been tortured into this state. I don't want her anymore. Do whatever you want with her."

"You don't want her anymore? Say that again!" The masked man raised the electric baton and slammed it hard against Sue's leg.

She rolled across the floor in agony, tears pouring down her face.

I lazily dug at my ear and said impatiently, "I said, I'm. Tired. Of. Playing. With. Her. Handle her however you want. Her life isn't worth five million."

Leo stared at me in disbelief, his voice shaking.

"Ryan, have you lost your mind? Sue… is going to die! How can you still say something like that?!"

I shot him a contemptuous glance.

"What does her death have to do with me? Since you care so much, why don't you go to Bayndemar and pay to bring her back yourself?"

Leo's face turned ghostly white, his lips trembling too hard for him to speak.

On the other end of the video call, the masked man clearly froze for a moment. He looked Sue up and down suspiciously.

"She's not your girlfriend? I'm warning you—don't play games with me! Final price: three million! You have three days to deliver it, or I'll kill her!"

The masked man roared viciously as he struck Sue again with the electric baton.

Blood stained her face, her features twisted in agony as she screamed miserably. Yet even then, she still cried desperately toward the camera, "Ryan! I know you're only saying this to lower the ransom! Look, he already agreed! Just give them the money already! It's only three million! That's nothing to you! We promised we'd get married after the New Year! I'll stay by your side for the rest of my life!"

I let out a cold laugh.

If I hadn't already experienced her betrayal in my previous life, I might really have believed her.

I sneered mockingly. "You really think you're good enough to marry me? What, do I look like some desperate sucker to you? You expect me to drop three million on you and still have to marry you on top of that?"

Sue tried to say something else, but I cut her off mercilessly.

"International video calls are expensive. Spending even one extra cent on you feels disgusting. I'm hanging up.

"Oh, right, Sue. I suddenly realized something. You're completely beneath me. Let's break up."

Without giving any of them time to react, I ended the video call immediately.

I looked up at Leo, who was frozen in shock.

"And you," I said coldly, "I won't be sponsoring you anymore. So don't go around telling people you know me. It's embarrassing."

Even his voice trembled as he spoke.

"If… if Sue comes back, she'll never forgive you…!"

My secretary stood off to the side and asked cautiously, "Mr. Parell, what should we do now?"

I gave a dismissive hum, my face full of impatience.

"No matter what, she's still our employee. Even if she's useless, call the police anyway. I don't want outsiders saying our company lacks basic humanity."

During all this, Leo still tried to stop us, but I cut him off with a cold stare.

"Didn't you say you cared about Sue? Then why are you trying to stop me from getting the police to save her? What exactly are you trying to do?"

The secretary ignored him after that and immediately picked up the phone to call the police.

The moment Leo left, I handed my secretary the secretly recorded video from earlier.

"Upload this online," I instructed calmly. "Add keywords related to Bayndemar scam compounds."

The internet exploded almost instantly. The comment section erupted into chaos.

[Oh my God! Those Bayndemar compounds are actually real?!]

[Who can save her?! The person who posted this is insane! The kidnappers already threatened to kill her, and he still provoked them like that!]

[If that woman dies, he's basically the murderer!]

Perfect. The bigger the scandal became, the better.

After receiving the report and the video, the police treated the case with extreme seriousness and immediately began investigating Sue's entry records and movements.

Two days later, during the company's weekly meeting, Sue suddenly burst into the conference room covered in blood.

The employees were so startled that several of them jumped to their feet. My secretary reacted quickly and immediately notified the police.

With trembling hands, Sue staggered toward me and spoke weakly, "Ryan… I thought I'd never see you again… Thank God… thank God I managed to escape…"

Honestly, I had to admire her mental fortitude.

Just before the meeting, I had seen her with Leo in the back stairwell.

As Leo helped smear fake blood over her body, he complained bitterly, "What's so great about Ryan anyway? Why are you so obsessed with him, Sue?!"

Sue leaned half her body against him, greed filling her voice.

"What's so great about him? He's rich."

Then she smiled viciously.

"His parents are dead. Even if he dies overseas, nobody would go looking for him. Our original plan was flawless, but somehow, he refused to take the bait!

"Forget it. I'll just say I escaped and came back. I know him. He won't really be cruel enough to abandon me."

"Ryan? What's wrong?"

Sue's sickeningly sweet voice dragged me back to reality.

"Are you angry because I went somewhere so dangerous without telling you?"

I shot her a cold glance without answering, but she continued softly, "I know you were worried about me, but I just hated seeing you work so hard. I wanted to help shoulder some of your burden and close this business deal for you…

"It doesn't matter if I suffered a little. All I want is for your life to be easier… Everything I did was for the company. For you…"

I stared at her and ground out every word through clenched teeth.

"I really wish they had beaten you to death."

Sue's face filled with disbelief.

Before she could react, Leo rushed in from outside and pointed at me while screaming, "Ryan! You've gone too far! When Sue disappeared, you ignored her completely! And now that she's finally back safely, this is what you say to her?!"

Over the years, Sue had always been publicly acknowledged within the company as my future fiancée.

I had never been stingy with her. I indulged her completely, allowing her to throw her weight around in the company because I loved her with everything I had.

And to win people over, she had spent years carefully building a reputation through charity work.

Several coworkers who were close to Sue immediately began defending her.

"Mr. Parell, Ms. Sanford was only thinking about the company—and about you. She's safe now, so just let it go."

"Yeah, I saw that video. It was terrifying. The fact that she managed to escape is incredible. You should forgive her."

"You've been together for so many years. That kind of relationship isn't easy to come by."

I ignored them all.

Instead, I turned on the projector.

One intimate photo after another appeared on the screen—pictures of Sue and Leo together.

Every single one of them had been recovered from Sue's work computer.

I looked around the room and said coldly, "My girlfriend is sleeping with the poor student I sponsored. Tell me, should I still forgive her?"

Sue had never expected me to refuse to save her, much less search through her computer. At that moment, she completely panicked.

"Ryan! These are all misunderstandings!"

Just then, the police hurried into the room with grim expressions.

The moment they saw Sue, their brows furrowed tightly.

"Ms. Sanford, we've been investigating for days, but we found no record of you ever leaving the country. Where exactly have you been these past few days?"

Sue opened her mouth to argue, but I calmly took out the video I had recorded earlier in the stairwell.

"Sue," I said coldly, "it's finally your turn to suffer what I once endured."