Chapter 43

Author’s POV

Deeper into the night, the wind blew more harshly between Choa and Yuri. Silence took command of the atmosphere. Choa learned a lot of things tonight. The matter of switching sides shouldn’t even be a question after hearing the what Yuri had to say.

“I had to go through that twice. Once for Taekwoon who treated me like his own brother and another for my mother. I’m lucky I can even still get up in the morning without just breaking down the minute I open my eyes. If that doesn’t make you change your mind, I don’t know what will.”

Unknowingly, a lump formed itself inside Choa’s throat, preventing her to answer.

“I’ve done everything else according to my plan. All, except for this. The minute I realized you were involved, I couldn’t just stand and practically let another life get destroyed. I can guarantee yours and everybody else’s safety if you just do exactly as I say.”

Yuri reaches down for his pocket once again and brings out a small device. He takes Choa’s hand and gives it to her.

“It’s a pager. It’s small so it won’t really attract any attention. The distance coverage is good too. Use this if he comes on to you. Keep it with you always, it serves as a tracking device as well.” These were Yuri’s last words before he disappeared into the deep night.

--

Taeyeon’s POV

The ride home was pretty short. I parted ways with everyone else and safely arrived home. The fatigue caught up to me. I crashed down on my bed happily. Tonight was a blast needless to say. Culture festival starts next week so that should be even more fun. I can’t wait till the beach party though. That will definitely be the highlight of my senior year.

I wonder if Jessica will invite her…

I mean I’m pretty sure I mentioned that outsiders are very much welcome to the party. I purposely dropped that hint so that they’d think about inviting Tiffany, the girl with the heavenly smile.

I haven’t seen her since KGC’s party and I also haven’t dared to ask anything concrete about her to Yuri, Jessica or even Kris. Sure, I’ve brought her up a couple of times in random conversations with Jessica but I made sure to not make it look like I was super interested.

I’ve also managed to keep myself from searching Tiffany across social media sites.

To keep it short, I’ve managed to stop myself from possibly getting shut down again. I can admit to myself that I have a crush on her but even I know she’s way out of my league. Still from time to time, I catch myself thinking whether I should try or not.

 “It wouldn’t hurt to check now right? I mean it’s been weeks since I last saw her…” I convince myself that there would be absolutely no consequences if I start searching about her.

There will be nothing good that would come out of this but that doesn’t seem so important right now.

I open up my phone’s browser and type in Tiffany’s name on the search bar. As expected from someone belonging to an elite family, hundreds of articles were written. Although most of them were focused on their family and not really her.

I go through pages of results when something finally caught my eye. It was a blog that focused on several conspiracies surrounding South Korea. The owner of the blog wrote about the Kwon family about 3 years ago.

The Kwon Family: Just Another Elite Family?

There is no one in South Korea who is not aware of the success and incredible contributions of the so called elite family that is of the Kwons to this country but do we really know them? Behind the façade, what does the Kwon family have to hide?

Such perfection surely is hard to achieve let alone maintain. Hundreds of rumors surround this particular family however none seem to faze them and that’s mainly because all these hearsays are just straight up nonsensical and something that even I would call stupid.

Amongst all the rumors I heard, one particular rumor caught my attention. Word has it that the current president of KGC has a child outside his marriage. This doesn’t strike as anything special as any other prominent family has had this kind of rumor but something about it just made me want to dig deeper.

Weeks passed and it was proving itself to be nothing but just another baseless rumor. I was on the verge of giving up when I had the chance to talk to one of the Kwon’s household former driver. This man had nothing but good words about the Kwon family. He told me the story of how the Kwon’s supported the schooling of his only daughter and on top of that he was given various benefits that a corporate worker would have. When all the praises and thank you’s were done, he started talking about daily happenings in the Kwon household.

From his description, the Kwon family was just like any other family but I wouldn’t write about this if that was it. The former driver of the Kwon household mentioned the frequent visits of the niece of KGC’s President to the house. At first I didn’t think much about it but then I realized this man mentioned almost nothing about the President’s son. When I asked him about the sole heir to KGC, he would keep his answers short and concise, almost as if he was trained to do that whenever this subject came up.

On the other hand, he had more details about the niece than the son which brings me to one conclusion.

Could it be that the rumored “other” child of KGC’s president is pretending to be her niece? Call me crazy, in fact a lot of people do, but the image of the current president being devoted to his family is just another sign that he’s hiding something. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be that open and loud about his family.

The late wife of the President of KGC passed away not too long ago however details about her death, even to this day, are not yet clear. Could it be that the late Kwon Yuna killed herself upon learning the President’s secret?

That’s it. Until the next conspiracy, my lovely readers!

--

I look down at the comments and most of them were criticizing the blog and how much of an imaginative person the owner of the blog is.

As far as I know, Yuri’s mother passed away years ago. I’m not too sure what happened to her since there wasn’t really much articles about it. I only found out when I randomly asked Yuri about it before. I think it was Parents’ Day and we were at school. Everyone was encouraged to write letters for their parents and I noticed Yuri wasn’t doing anything. I remember him telling me that he wasn’t going to do it because him and his father were not the type to do those kinds of things for each other. I understood that because he was guy and the whole giving your father a letter in our age is a bit weird I guess.

Then I came to ask about his mother. Yuri’s answer totally took me off guard because I actually didn’t know much about KGC or any prominent names and or households here in the country. Yuri casually told me that his mother passed away when he was young.

I just nodded my head quietly and proceeded to do my own thing. That night, I searched it up on internet. There was little to none articles about Yuri’s mother’s death. I thought there’d be a lot written about it since the Kwon household is very famous but all I had to work with was a copy of Yuri’s father’s speech during a press conference, announcing the death of his wife. The details were pretty vague and nothing was really said about what caused her death.

What surprised me even more was the fact that the media let this go and no one tried to dig deeper about it. I never asked Yuri about it again. I just didn’t want to cross a certain line; it was a sensitive topic after all. I forgot all about that. It just came to me when I read the blog post earlier.

There’s just no way what this blogger person wrote is true… I mean Yuri…

And then it hit me.

“Be nice to her. She’s important.” Yuri’s words rung in my ears.

I shook my head and let go of that thought immediately. I must be crazy. There’s just no way. Nah. It’s not true. It can’t be. He could’ve just said that because, Tiffany was a close relative or uhhh Yuri must be close with Tiffany…. Or…

I stop myself again. There’s no point to this so I put away my phone and went in for a shower to end my night.

--

Author’s POV

Yuri woke up to sound of his alarm resounding within the four corners of his room. His eyes flicked open and it was like he didn’t sleep at all.

Laying down on his bed, he raised his right arm and tried to reach for something that wasn’t in sight. He stopped and stared at this stretched hand and observed it for a minute or two. Yuri started to move each finger of his right hand as if to check if he was in control. It was only after doing so that, he was convinced that he was himself and no one else.

In one swift move, he gets up from his bed and started his move towards the door but an unknown force stops him and leads him to look to his right where a mirror that reflected him grabbed his attention. Yuri approaches the person reflected in the mirror and once again he stops and stares right back at his reflection.

“Who are you?” He whispers as he stared at his reflection

Another meaningless sigh escapes his lips. He was tired of fighting but he knew there was no other way. Giving up was never an option. It can never be an option. He was fighting the good fight or at least that’s one of the many narratives he tells himself to keep sane. The last thing he wanted was to end up on wrong side everything. The path he chose was dark and unforgiving but if he wanted to save everyone involved, he will need to dive into it and get to the bottom alone.

Alone. He didn’t want to be but wanting anything else like every other little thing that was outside his plan… wasn’t an option.

--

Yuri’s POV

I know what happened that day. I know the truth. I know everything.

Flashback + Present

“Yuri?” My father’s voice echoed. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could and went straight to him. I was excited.

“I just got off the phone with your mom. Looks like she’s stuck in Jeju for a little while longer.” My father said disappointingly. We were supposed to pick her up from the airport but she was stuck there because of a storm that started to brew. Every single flight on that day was cancelled, it wasn’t because one of her students lost their passport.

“When is she coming back then?” I look up to my father and ask.

“She should be with us tomorrow night. Don’t worry champ, she’ll be fine.” My father bends down and pats my head. We never went to the airport.

“Hey, Taekwoon called earlier. He was asking if you can go to his house today. Why don’t you take a break from our lessons and go to his house?” At that time, my father had just recently got me into playing chess. I enjoyed it because whenever we played, he would tell me stories from before I was born.

I got excited because I knew I’d have fun with Taekwoon hyung. He was my best friend. He was like a brother.

“I’ll drive you there. I’ll pick you up  before dinner, alright?” I ran back up the stairs and grabbed my drawing notebook and went back down. My father had the habit of checking cars just before leaving. It always took a while but he did it because he cared about us. I went to where our house phone was and decided to call Taekwoon hyung to let him know that I was going.

Ring Ring

Ring Ring

Ring Ring

The phone rang three times before it was answered. Someone picked it up. It wasn’t Taekwoon hyung. It wasn’t his parents. It wasn’t his sister.

“Hello? Taekwoon hyung?”

“Hello Yuri.” I didn’t recognize the voice but I wasn’t really thinking at that time.

“Is Taekwoon hyung there?” I asked innocently, not knowing what I was headed into.

“He is but he’s doing something right now. I heard you were supposed to come over but you can’t today?” The stranger on the other line said.

“I can now! I’m on my way there. Can you please tell Taekwoon hyung that? Oh. May I know who this is?”

“Alright. Goodbye, Yuri.” He didn’t answer my question but I didn’t notice. Maybe if I did, they would still be alive.

After checking the car, my father and I drove to Taekwoon hyung’s house. He dropped me off with a smile and reminded me to behave as it wasn’t my house.

I rang the doorbell but no one came to the door. I waited a little bit more then rang the doorbell again. This time, Taekwoon hyung opened the door and let me in.

“Hyung! Were you sleeping? What took you so long?” I asked but he didn’t answer. He looked paler than usual, I noticed that but I didn’t say or do anything.

“Sorry about that. I was doing something.” His voice was shaky but I shrugged it off.

We went to the living room and we started drawing like how we always do. This time, I felt something was wrong so I asked him.

“Hyung, are you okay? Are you sick?”

He looked at me and didn’t answer for another minute or so. “I’m fine. I’m just a little bit tired, I guess.”

My eyes roamed around the living room and then it finally hit me.

“Hyung, are your parents home?” If it were any other day, his mother would’ve asked us if wanted snacks or his father would’ve brought out a soccer ball for us to play with at their backyard. None of this happened that day.

“No. They went out to pick up my sister.” He didn’t look at me as he answered.

“Oh then you were alone before I came here?”  I asked because I remembered the unfamiliar voice that answered my phone call earlier.

“No.” I should’ve asked what he meant. I should’ve asked who answered the phone earlier. I should’ve asked why he was acting strange but instead I shrugged it off. I thought he was just having a bad day. I thought that day was one of those days he didn’t feel like talking.

I was wrong.

I ended up talking for hours about all the stories I’ve heard from my father, things I learned in school and just about anything to fill up the silence. On most days, I would’ve gotten a smile or a small laugh out of him but I didn’t.

Night came and it was almost time for me to go. My father said he’d pick me up before dinner time so I started cleaning up all the art supplies we used that day.

“Will your father pick you up?” he asks me

“Yeah. He should be here in a few. Thank you for today!” I had fun even though things were like that. It was just one of those days, I thought. He’ll be back to his normal self the next time we meet, I thought.

“Before you go...” He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “My dad’s office is open. He has a collection of cool artwork there. Do… do you want to see them?” We were allowed play anywhere in the house except there.

I should’ve said no.

We went to his father’s office. The lamp on his father’s desk was the only light on. There were a couple of pictures hanged on the right.

“Did your father buy these? Or did he paint them? They look really cool.” I stared at the paintings for a really long time then I heard it.

A loud click echoed inside the room and I turned around.

Taekwoon hyung had a gun in his hand and it was pointed at me. I got scared and I couldn’t move. I didn’t know what was happening.

“Hyung? W-what are you doing?”

“I… I’m sorry. I have to do this.” He was crying.

“Pull the trigger, Taekwoon.” That same unfamiliar voice from earlier said.

He slowly appeared from the shadows and a second later he was behind Taekwoon hyung. He wore that mask that night. He wanted me to see that. He knew from the start that the person who would die that night wasn’t me. He planned every single little thing.

“Shoot him now. You need this.”

“No. I can’t. I shouldn’t. He’s my friend.”

“He’s not. He doesn’t exist. This isn’t real, Taekwoon. You can shoot him and nothing will happen. This is a dream.”

“No. He’s real. Yuri is real. I didn’t make him up. I… No! He’s real…” Taekwoon hyung started shouting. I just stood there holding my breath because I was scared. I couldn’t even speak. I wanted to tell him that I was real but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t do anything.

“This is a dream, Taekwoon. Don’t you want to stop dreaming? Don’t you want to start living?”

He never did put the gun down that night.

“If you want him to be real, then you have to kill him in your dream.”

That was it.

He looked at me, said he was sorry and then pointed the gun away from me but like I said…

He never put the gun down.

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Author's Notes

I'm sorry I haven't written/updated in a long time. 

Better late than never.