Chapter 80
—
I immediately stepped back, thinking of escape routes where I wouldn’t get caught.
“Stay still.”
A low, commanding voice. The path I was imagining was cut off before it could even form.
Kang Tae-jun stood up, chuckling.
His navy suit, without a wrinkle, fit perfectly as if he were heading to an important meeting.
“Don’t run away.”
He swept his burgundy hair back, speaking in a tone that sounded like a complaint. Every move he made was filled with confidence.
“If you stay still, no one will get hurt.”
“…”
“When we first met, it must have been quite a shock.”
He was referring to the incident in the elevator.
The day I fully realized how terrifying death caused by me could be, and vowed never to cause such an incident again.
Whether I should retort or run, my body was frozen, unable to move.
It’s about time to stop being like this.
I took a deep breath and clenched my fists tightly.
Am I crazy? Not running away?
Anyway, it seems that a compliant attitude or resistance doesn’t make much difference to this madman.
He killed the people protecting me the first time we met, after all.
“There’s no one here to die instead of me anyway.”
I smiled faintly and looked Kang Taejun straight in the eye. I slowly stepped back, hiding my trembling hands behind me.
Since I couldn’t pass by Kang Taejun, I had no choice but to head down the stairs in the opposite direction.
“Really?”
Kang Taejun suddenly started walking towards me quickly.
“It doesn’t seem that way to me?”
The distance between us halved in an instant.
Startled, I stumbled backward.
As the distance closed, I lost my balance and almost fell.
At that moment, a hand reached out from behind, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back.
“See?”
I looked up at the figure standing protectively in front of me.
“He rushes over like a dog the moment you’re in danger.”
The neatly styled brown hair fluttered in the breeze blowing from the terrace.
“Jiwoon.”
Our eyes met for a moment, his gaze scanning me, before he turned his head back to face Kang Taejun.
“How, no, why are you here?”
Jiwoon slowly released my wrist.
“Run away.”
His voice was firm, tinged with a tense urgency.
“I’ll try to buy as much time as possible, but it won’t be long. He can’t kill me.”
My heart pounded wildly, feeling like it was about to burst, but I tried to think clearly.
The situation was clearly different from the incident at the department store. He wouldn’t just let me go.
Staying here would only be a burden to Ji-woon.
“I’ll go get Doshiyu, or at least the security team-”
“No. Go straight to your room and don’t come out.”
Ji-woon raised his gun, aiming it at Kang Tae-jun.
I looked at his back, feeling like I had hit a dead end.
“Don’t open the door for anyone. I don’t have time to explain everything, but there’s someone near you right now…”
At that moment, Ji-woon’s words trailed off as he pulled me close, rolling us both to the ground.
Bang!
A gunshot pierced the spot where we had just stood.
“It’s rude to ignore someone standing right in front of you.”
Kang Tae-jun sang his words as if he were enjoying himself.
Ji-woon stood up over me. I swallowed the rising anxiety, sensing what was about to happen next.
“Go.”
His shadowed eyes were set in a determined grimace.
Ji-woon aimed his gun at the ceiling lights. The sharp sound of gunshots echoed, and the lights went out one by one.
As the surroundings darkened, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. There was no more time to hesitate.
I got up and ran in the opposite direction. With every step, the sound of gunfire echoed around me.
I ran through the darkened pool area with all my strength, covering my ears to avoid looking back or stopping.
My heart pounded like it was going to stop. The anxiety was unbearable.
As I passed the central pool and headed toward the entrance, I heard footsteps and several voices approaching quickly.
I desperately wanted to believe that they were just unrelated people, but the footsteps were closing in fast.
I retreated without reaching the exit.
The pool area was a vast, open space with two floors and no real hiding spots.
Where could I hide?
Then I remembered the one obvious but only option. Without hesitation, I moved in that direction.
Splash!
My body sank heavily. I tightly shut my eyes and covered my mouth with my hand.
Down, deeper down. As I sank, a heavy silence filled my veins, heavier than my breath.
In the cold water, it felt like I was slowly falling from the sky.
It was only when I felt like I couldn’t hold my breath any longer that my feet touched the bottom. I resisted the urge to open my eyes.
The limit came faster than I expected.
Just when I thought I couldn’t endure any longer.
“…!”
A strong force pulled me upward.
I collapsed onto the floor, coughing uncontrollably.
Like a newborn gasping for air, sharp breaths poured out like sobs.
“…See?”
Black shoes came into my blurred vision.
Water dripped down in his footsteps as he walked.
I tried to regain my senses, but every breath burned. My uneven breathing made me dizzy.
I managed to lift my head, gasping for air.
“I told you not to go.”
Even soaked from head to toe, his golden hair wasn’t dulled.
Our wet gazes met precisely.
—
“…You.”
I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I blinked a few times, thinking I must be dreaming.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
Droplets clung to his lowered eyelashes, glistening like tears.
A strange face. A strange tone.
And a strange unease.
The cold wind seeping into my wet clothes gave me goosebumps.
I wrapped my trembling arms around myself. But the shaking showed no sign of stopping.
“…Who are you?”
I needed to think and make a decision, but my mind was blank.
Oddly, this whole situation felt like a distant dream.
“Did Yugyeom tell you to hand me over to Kang Tae-jun?”
“Oh.”
A clear sneer echoed like a mocking laughter.
Angel slowly pushed back his wet hair and stepped towards me again.
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
Step by step, he approached.
He finally stopped right in front of me, where my phone lay on the ground, having been dropped when I was pulled out of the water.
“So foolish…”
Crunch. The phone’s screen shattered under his heel.
“He told you to shoot with the intent to kill.”
Angel knelt on one knee, still crushing the phone. Droplets of water dripped from him, pooling on the floor.
“Because the only time you’d pull the trigger would be at such a moment.”
Those were words I could never forget, spoken by Baek Ha-won at the shooting range. How did he know?
I couldn’t bring myself to lift my head. In my downcast gaze, I saw our reflections in the water.
Seeing my face reflected there confirmed again that this was all real.
At that moment, his wet hand grabbed my chin, forcing my head up.
His green eyes, mixed with the blue tint of the water, looked down at me. His gaze traveled down, piercing through my dress to the holster with the gun.
As my body tensed with anxiety, our eyes met again.
“If you’re confident you can kill me, go ahead and pull it out.”
I understood his words a beat too late.
“I’ll wait.”
His grip on my chin tightened. His eyes, bloodshot with the effort of holding something back, were crimson.
The only weapon I had was the gun, which he had already noticed.
Even if I pulled it out now, could I kill him? The answer was painfully obvious.
Even if I could ignore everything and just pull the trigger.
“You seem like a strange person, Miss.”
There’s no way I could kill him.
Countless moments flashed through my mind.
Though we hadn’t been close, I had never imagined we’d end up in this situation.
Where did it all go wrong? Was I deceived from the start?
Why? What was it? If it wasn’t Yugyeom but Kang Tae-jun, what did Chan mean?
My head spun, and I felt like I might vomit.
“Do you want to know something interesting?”
Angel whispered.
“The truth is…”
I felt torn between wanting to cover my ears and wanting to know the truth.
“Kang Tae-jun didn’t kill my brother.”
But I had no choice in the matter. I couldn’t even avert my eyes.
“My brother committed suicide too.”
“He didn’t leave a note.”
The face I remembered smiling painfully like a mask.
“Disguising suicide is a common tactic.”
Angel gave a mechanical smile, devoid of emotion, his mouth curled into a grin. Anxiety clung to me like a shadow.
“Baek Ha-won.”
Damn it.
“Your brother killed him.”
There’s no way I could kill him after all.
It’s far too late to set things right. By being here, I’ve only taken another step closer to the conclusion they crafted. There’s no way out.
“44!”
A gleeful voice called from behind.
“Why do you look like a drowned rat?”
I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
There was only one person who could sound so creepily cheerful all the time.
Angel released me and stood up.
“It took you long enough. I don’t want to get my hands dirty.”
