Chapter 97
As the stack of photos slipped from her trembling hands and scattered on the floor, the ghastliness of it lay bare. Most of them were shots of a man and a woman. They appeared to be on a date like a normal couple, except for the fact that the red lines across the woman’s face made them extremely grotesque. They were all photos of herself and Tae-jun in Jinseong.
Ho- how … Why would anybody …?
One by one her gaze rested on the photos on the floor, each was eerier than the one before. However, her pupils widened when she noticed one particular photo. It was during her high school graduation, she and Hye-yeon were standing next to each other with their graduation caps on. Yuri looked at her young face …
<The Whore who Killed her Friend!>
“OH GOOOODDD!”
She shrieked at the offensively squiggled scarlet handwriting. She could feel a thin barrier in her head crack as she lost control of her emotions. It was frightening. Too frightening for her to handle. Her attention was drawn to her deathly silent surroundings. She was used to this creepy aura. It was happening again. She was being sucked into her thoughts as her emotions engorged and exploded.
Yuri hastily picked up the photos and ran to the library. She nervously bit on her nails as her quaking fingers inserted them into the shredder. Perhaps because the ambience was shrouded in pin-drop silence, the shredder’s soft chomping felt especially loud. As she stood there looking at the pictures going through the blades, she felt a sudden splitting pain in her head like it was her and not the pictures that were in the shredder right now. It hurt, it hurt her so much. Her hands instinctively started looking for medication, at least her sleeping pill …
As if stimulated by the groping fingers, a spark of memory jolted her awake. Back when she had just moved into the house, she had trouble sleeping at night. When she stayed awake for three days straight, Tae-jun had reluctantly handed her sleeping pills. She clearly remembered they were on the shelf. Since nothing was touched in this empty house, the pills should still be there. Yuri impatiently opened the shelf.
⸙
The car had just passed the tollgate to Seoul. Four hours had passed since they had left for Busan. Jin-wook checked on Tae-jun through the rearview mirror. The man had drunk quite a lot in the last dinner meeting. Actually, he drank a lot during the whole 3-day trip but not to the point that it would affect his work. Even so, Jin-wook decided to stay vigilant in case the man might act out strangely.
“Where would you like to go?”
Eyes shut, Tae-jun rolled his body into a ball in the backseat. He didn’t reply. He must still be drunk.
“Let’s go home,” Jin-wook said, still keeping an eye on the rear seat.
Tae-jun slowly opened his eyes, he must not have been asleep.
“Home?” He mumbled.
Jin-wook replied with a brief ‘yes’ and without waiting for an answer switched directions.
Ever since childhood, Tae-jun referred to the house in which he lived with his grandfather as the ‘main house’. The only place he called ‘home’ was the house in which he stayed with Yuri Han. When they entered the neighbourhood, Tae-jun ordered Jin-wook to park the car in front of the house. It was past midnight, the street had returned to tranquility. There was not a single drunk trooping around this safe neighbourhood.
The team of security guards outside the house greeted Tae-jun politely. Against everyone’s expectation, the boss did not get out of the car. Instead, he took out a cigarette and sat there quietly.
Jin-wook rolled down the backseat window half-way. The night breeze was cold as ever but quite potent to recover from a hangover. The white smoke melted into the darkness. Tae-jun looked up at the house and took a deep puff. Jin-wook simply let him be.
He finally spoke up as he bit onto his second cigarette. “Reminds me of the past.”
“When do you mean?”
“When Hye-yeon Jin- I mean- Yuri Han went missing.”
He was saying things he normally would keep to himself. He must still be drunk. Jin-wook silently kept listening.
As for the inebriated man, he ignored the other’s lack of reaction and kept talking slowly. “Before I even notice it, I always end up in front of this house. Just like now.”
Jin-wook met eyes with Tae-jun through the rearview mirror. When it came to himself, Tae-jun was extremely strict. He usually slept for two to three hours only, stayed up all night at work, never took a vacation like his peers, at least not to exotic locations. These were Director Seo’s famous characteristics, a thorough workaholic was what the world viewed him as.
Guess it wasn’t true tonight for Tae-jun, a cigarette between his fingers, whiled away his time doing nothing but gazing at the house ahead that had not a single light turned on. He seemed too afraid to enter the house that was wreathed in his marks.
As if aware of the outside situation, a light was turned on in the house. Tae-jun’s eyes followed the light.
“ … It’s by the library. What time is it?”
“It has just turned 3 AM. ”
He frowned. “I guess she can’t sleep.” His murmur showed a hint of affection.
Jin-wook carefully asked him. “Aren’t you going in?”
Tae-jun was at a loss for words for a minute. “No. Not today. I can’t.”
He rolled up the windows and leaned his head on the back seat.
“Let’s go to the main house.” When Tae-jun felt the movement of the car, he closed his eyes.
You don’t listen to me when I don’t give you consent. Do you even consider me as a human being?
I’m not your possession!
It was not like he wasn’t tempted to go into the house, he did long to see her. But when her cries came rushing back to him, he turned numb. How much pain she must have been in … how savagely he had hurt her, damaged her body. How selfish he had been … No, he didn’t want to repeat the mistake.
Only he knew the kind of willpower he had to muster to rein in his impatience, change the destination of the car, and arduously try to eliminate any thoughts of going to her.