“I was desperately anxious about being abandoned by her. I couldn’t even believe that Sun had left me either.”
“But, strictly speaking, she didn’t abandon you, Gyeonhui,” Ojae said carefully.
“You’re right, but that’s how I felt at that time. I justified what I did and made Sun out as the worst person in my head. I even assumed that Sun was no different than my mom, who left me with unimaginable wounds. That was how I hid my fault from myself.” Speaking to Ojae honestly, Gyeonhui smiled bitterly. “But now I know it was all my fault, and how precious she is to me. That’s why I’m so afraid now because I don’t want to lose her ever again.”
When Gyeonhui answered with a firm expression, he parked the car in the dark where he could see the phone booth.
When he turned off the car, it was no longer seen in the dark as if the darkness swallowed it.
Gyeonhui looked at his watch to confirm the time.
The meeting time demanded was almost 1 am in the morning.
“Over… over there.”
At that time, a man came out from the back of the warehouse and went into the phone booth. After a moment, Gyeonhui’s phone started ringing.
Gyeonhui quickly covered his phone so as not to be seen in the phone light from outside the car and answered it.
“Are you ready?”
“I’m still working on it. It’ll take me one more hour.”
“What?!”
“You’re asking me for 10 million in cash. I’m doing everything I can.”
“… Okay. I’ll call you again after an hour then.”
“Wait,” Gyeonhui called him. “Is she… alive?”
“Sure.”
“Then show me the proof that she’s alive.”
“What? Don’t annoy me.”
“If you’re asking me for money after you have already killed her, I won’t need to get the money for you. Don’t you think?”
“-Hah… She’s alive. Stop messing around with me.”
“It’s 10 million. You have to show me that I’m not spending all my money for nothing.”
The man was quiet for a moment like he was lost in thought.
“Alright. I’ll send you the proof. You’d better not do anything stupid.”
The man hung up the phone after that, and he disappeared in the dark.
Gyeonhui quickly got out of the car and chased him. However, it wasn’t easy to follow the man under only a few street lights without being seen by him.
The man was moving so fast through the narrow paths between the warehouses, so Gyeonhui soon lost him.
“Damn it.”
Gyeonhui frowned and looked around the area. However, Gyeohui couldn’t see any trace of him. It disappeared instantly.
“What do we do now?”
Although Ojae asked him, Gyeonhui couldn’t answer.
He really had no idea what to do next.
However, at that time, the wearable watch that he gave to Sun in the past crossed his mind.
“Yes, that’s it!”
Gyeonhui hurriedly took out his phone.
***
In the warehouse.
The haggard Sun struggled to raise her face. Holding the metal pipe in her hand, Sarah was nervously watching Sun.
“What… what are you looking at…?”
“… Please let me go…” Sun said in a cracking voice.
Sarah agonized for a moment, but she soon shook her head.
“Just stay calm, then you’ll be fine…”
When Sarah saw Sun’s chapped lips and swollen arms, she soon shut her mouth.
“I’m… I’m not going to kill you, so just stay calm. Okay!?”
To hide her trembling voice, Sarah raised her voice louder.
At that time, the door opened, and Woochang came inside.
“Y-you’re here.”
Woochang didn’t answer, roughly took the metal pipe from Sarah, and struck Sun’s thigh with it.
Sarah couldn’t watch it, so she quickly turned her face.
“Ah!!!!” Sun’s head fell while screaming.
“I’m sure this will be clear proof.”
Woochang smiled nastily and handed out the metal pipe to Sarah again.
“Hit her every minute.”
“What? Me?”
Hearing Sarah, Woochang glared at her furiously.
“O… okay.”
When Sarah answered reluctantly, Woochang soon left the warehouse.
“Oh, my gosh…”
Sarah slowly approached the unconscious Sun. While she was hesitating, the minute was already passing.
“This is really not what I want to do… I want you to know that…”
The reluctant Sarah struck Sun’s back with the metal pipe.
“Ugh!”
With a dull sound, a moan came out from Sun’s mouth.
“I’m so sorry, but just hang in there. I really don’t want to do this to you.”
“Please let me go…” Sun begged her. However, Sun was still twisting her wrists to untie herself.
“The more you hurt, the faster he will come, so just hang in there.”
Wen Sun heard something she had heard before, Sun stopped her hands and looked at Sarah.
“… What do you mean…?”
“You still don’t know? If you get hurt, he gets hurt too!”
“What…?”
Sun couldn’t understand what Sarah was talking about.
Sun had no idea that he felt pain, too, when she got hurt.
“This is so frustrating. Your boyfriend feels your pain. Do you understand me? That’s why I’m hitting you like this. If you feel pain, he will, too, so he will be here with money to stop the pain.”
Sarah repeated, but Sun still couldn’t understand.
Sun thought what Sarah had just said was nonsense.
However, at that time, something that Gyeonhui had said last night crossed her mind.
‘If you are sick, I’m sick too.’
‘It’s true, so I don’t want you to get sick anymore.’
I’ll explain everything
“Is that… true?”
Sun asked her again, incredulously.
“I don’t know. I just heard that’s true.”
“Who said that…?”
“Ojae.” Talking to Sun thoughtlessly, Sarah quickly shut her mouth.
“Ojae…? Ojae? You mean… Mr. Kwon?”
It was such a familiar name because Ojae’s name was unique, so she had easily remembered it for a long time.
“No… no. You heard nothing from me.”
Although Sarah said it, quickly waving her hands, it was already after Sun had realized everything. Sun even remembered who Sarah was because she remembered what Ojae said when they were together at the restaurant.
“So… are you Ojae’s ex-girlfriend?”
Sarah panicked and covered her mouth. However, it was too late.
“No, no!!!”
However, Sarah dropped the metal pipe that she was holding when she noticed that Sun identified her precisely.
“Please let me go… if you do, I’ll just forget about everything like this never happened. Please…”
Sun calmly tried to convince Sarah. However, Sarah panicked with fear. She continued to run away from Sun.
“Please… please…”