♡ TL: Khadija SK
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The Troll Family?
When her surname suddenly appeared, Jin-ah hurriedly searched for her earphones, put them in, and turned up the volume of the video.
[Troll? Is there even such a surname?]
Ian, who was slouching in the corner, asked again.
Jin-ah carefully observed his appearance in the video.
‘This is exactly how he was.’
In the video, Ian appeared as arrogant and rebellious as when Jin-ah had first seen him.
From the expensive clothes emblazoned with luxury brand logos, to the watch that looked like it cost a fortune at first glance, and the perfectly clean shoes without a single scratch—everything exuded the stench of vulgar wealth.
On top of that, the way he had his feet propped up on the table, casually rocking them back and forth—his attitude was just appalling.
The Ian that Jin-ah had first seen was right there.
[It’s a Swedish surname. There are also a lot of records in Denmark.]
[Anyway, it’s the first time I’ve heard of that surname. Troll. Troll. Doesn’t it sound like kids burping?]
With that, Ian exaggeratedly rolled his tongue and said “Troll” a few more times in a ridiculous way. At his childish behavior, William, sitting next to him, pressed his forehead with his hand and shook his head.
[Ian, save the jokes for later. Anyway, while researching Scottish ghost stories, I found something interesting at the local library. Here, I took a picture of it.]
Then he briefly showed a copied paper to the camera before placing it on the table. It passed by too quickly to discern the details, but it seemed to be a photo of an ancient document preserved in the library, which had then been printed.
Jin-ah paused the video and rewound it to the moment when Colin showed the paper. Although blurry, the letters and drawings on the printed sheet were visible.
“This is…!”
Unintentionally, Jin-ah stood up with a loud voice but quickly shut her mouth. Customers and staff nearby poked their heads out, wondering if something had happened. Jin-ah hurriedly sat back down and focused on the screen.
‘It’s the same as the drawings in the mansion’s basement.’
When she visited Kno Dearg mansion, it was what she had seen on the basement walls. However, since she had only seen it once and the police never mentioned the walls, she wondered if it had been a hallucination. But now, seeing the screen, it was clear there were many similarities.
Jin-ah rummaged through her bag and pulled out a pen. Since there was no paper, she grabbed a napkin and sketched the shapes she saw on the screen.
It resembled the symbols in the book brought by a friend who was obsessed with the occult during their school days. However…
“…It’s creepy.”
Jin-ah muttered, shivering slightly. The drawing itself was nothing special—several circles, triangles, and bizarre letters whose meaning she couldn’t understand.
Jin-ah also tried replicating the nearby letters. They were too blurry to copy perfectly, but she managed to imitate them somewhat.
No one had asked her to, yet she used up several napkins, sketching everything she could see. She even considered going outside to buy a notebook and copy everything properly.
Then she stopped and wondered what she was doing. She wasn’t a child anymore, yet here she was, drawing something like this.
She thought about crumpling them up and tossing them, but for some reason, she didn’t want to. Instead, she stuffed the napkins into her bag.
Having nothing else to do, Jin-ah resumed watching the video.
There wasn’t much left. They chatted about filming something incredible and asked viewers to look forward to the videos they’d upload this winter.
After skimming the video at 2x speed, Jin-ah checked the view count. It was significantly lower compared to other ruin-exploring videos.
‘That makes sense.’
Who would find such content interesting? Moreover, the camera focused unnecessarily on Ian. Thanks to that, Jin-ah got to see Ian’s disinterested face throughout the meeting.
The more she watched, the stranger it felt. Was the person she saw at the hotel really the same Ian as this one?
‘He couldn’t have a twin.’
They looked alike, but their entire vibe felt different—as if they were entirely separate people. If this was all an act, he could make a living even if he wasn’t a rich heir.
Just then—
“Evans! Stop right there! Now!”
A loud voice rang out from outside the café. Curious, Jin-ah finished the rest of her coffee in one gulp and stood up. It was almost time to meet Inspector Haywood anyway.
Outside, everyone was staring toward the commotion. Jin-ah’s suspicion grew when she heard the name Evans. Sure enough, there stood William Evans, wearing a neck brace and leaning on crutches.
“Let me go! I said, let go of me! This is ridiculous! You’re ending the investigation? Colin is still in there!”
William shouted furiously, swinging his crutches as if to ward off anyone trying to hold him back. His wild movements made it hard for the nurse and hospital security to get close to him.
At that moment—
“Ugh, what’s with all the noise?”
Someone grumbled, stepping into the scene. It was a handsome man with dark circles under his eyes and a disheveled appearance, wearing a shirt with misbuttoned collar buttons. He staggered forward and—
Whack!
He kicked William’s crutches out from under him.
“Ugh!”
Losing his balance, William fell to the ground and rolled over, groaning as if his back and neck pain had worsened. He gasped and let out broken cries of agony.
“What are you doing? Hold him down.”
The man spoke to the stunned nurses who had frozen in place. Snapping out of their shock, they hurriedly restrained William.
Unable to resist further, William was dragged away by the nurses.
One of the nurses picked up William’s crutches and cautiously approached the man who had kicked them away.
“Um… excuse me…”
“Ah, you don’t need to thank me. It’s only natural for the police to protect citizens. Sometimes, you just need to kick a mad dog out of the way. If you really feel grateful, just buy me a coffee. Make it strong.”
The nurse, who was about to scold him for kicking a patient, realized the man was a police officer and someone who would completely disregard anything she said. She shook her head and turned away.
“You’re not buying me coffee? Hey, I’m serious—you can buy me one!”
The man called out to the nurse who was quickly disappearing, but when she left without even glancing back, he grumbled.
“What a cold world we live in, don’t you agree, Miss Jean-antoine Troll? Or should I call you miss Jin-ah?”
“…Pardon? How do you—”
“There was a photo of you in the documents I received. Anyway, nice to meet you. I’m Inspector Andy Haywood. Thirty-five years old. Made the news for a record-breaking promotion after earning a few commendations, and yet here I am, stuck pulling an all-nighter just before Christmas. Isn’t that just tragic?”
He reached out to shake Jin-ah’s hand while absentmindedly rattling off his introduction. Then, he gestured toward the café Jin-ah had just left.
“Shall we sit down and talk for a bit? My tongue doesn’t seem to work properly unless I drink something.”
Seeing his expectant gaze, Jin-ah gave him the answer he seemed to be waiting for.
“…Alright. I’ll buy you coffee.”
***
Andy drank the coffee Jin-ah bought him all in one go.
It was still quite hot, and she thought it was impressive that he could drink it so casually. As he crushed the now-empty takeaway cup, he scratched his cheek awkwardly under Jin-ah’s stare.
“I was going to buy it myself… until I realized I left my wallet behind.”
“That’s fine. But how did you get here?”
“Police IDs get us free bus and subway rides.”
“…”
At the inspector’s shameless reply, Jin-ah couldn’t help but laugh. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, opened the bag he brought, and pulled out a few documents.
“First, I’ll need you to sign here.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s basically a document proving that we met and I asked you some questions. It’s also a consent form confirming that no coercive behavior or verbal abuse occurred during the process.”
“Shouldn’t you get William Evans to sign this as well?”
After all, she had just seen him kick away William’s crutches. It didn’t seem likely that William would willingly sign this document.
Jin-ah’s eyes asked if this might cause any trouble. In response, the inspector casually pulled out another identical form, scribbled William Evans in the signature field, and scrawled a completely random signature.
“We appreciate Mr. Evans’ cooperation.”
Seeing him forge the signature so naturally, Jin-ah couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
“It’s just a formality. Who’s going to check something like this anyway?”
“Fine, I’ll let that slide. But why did you want to meet me?”
Jin-ah pushed her half-finished cup aside.
“I wanted to confirm a few things about Ian Aylesford.”
Of course. So they were trying to protect the rich heir.
Jin-ah gave him an uninterested look, as if telling him to get on with his questions. At that, the inspector’s tired eyes suddenly gleamed sharply.
“Did you, by any chance, see Ian Aylesford using drugs yesterday?”
“…!”
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