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Being in Time[A/N]: Chapter Update 1/7; The updates will be posted every other day so I highly advise to bookmark the last chapter you read since it might get confusing with the multiple updates I will be making.
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Looking outside the window was somehow confusing without checking the time beforehand. The sky was bleak, filled with dark clouds even though it was still early in the morning. The roof kept on cluttering because of the rainfall, effectively waking Eunji up from her slumber.
It was surprising for Namjoo since no one could get a glimpse of the woman until the afternoon.
“I can eat properly now,” Namjoo teased about the new dining set, knocking on the table. “Thanks.”
“Mhmm,” Eunji hummed uninterestedly before she sipped her coffee. “Can you pass me the rice?”
“Here.” Namjoo pushed the pot towards the woman. “By the way, why are you up already?”
“No reason,” Eunji deadpanned. “I heard some interesting news from last night. I was at the wake too, you know.”
“Oh, right.” The smile on Namjoo eventually curled downwards. She placed her chopsticks on the side and stared at her plate. “I don’t know what to feel, unnie. I’m having a hard time taking it in.”
“I guess that’s normal,” Eunji replied. “Who would have thought that you and Chorong unnie are related anyway?”
“Hey now, you’re the one that brought me to her for a job!” Namjoo giggled. “I was working for my sister all along.”
“Yeah, and I didn’t know.” Eunji grinned. “No one knew until now, including me.”
“And we’re connected just like that.” Namjoo snapped her fingers. “The world works in mysterious ways we don’t understand.”
“Yeah,” Eunji replied with a bitter chuckle and an empty smirk.
The older woman volunteered to wash the dishes after they finished their food since Namjoo had to work. While the latter was preparing her things, louds knocks were heard from the door.
“I’ll get it!” the blonde woman shouted. Namjoo gasped at the sight of the man drenched in both rain and blood. His body fell on the woman upon opening the door. “Sungjae-ssi!”
Eunji ran immediately to the man and slung his arm onto her shoulder. “I’ll take of this! Clear your bed now!” she ordered.
The younger woman ran to her room and shoved all of her stuffed toys onto the ground. Eunji carefully laid down the man on the bed, and then she checked his wrist for his pulse.
“Should we call an ambulance?” Namjoo asked. The two women were both panic-driven at that point.
Sungjae grabbed Eunji by the arm. “Don’t!” He coughed blood afterwards while his back arched in pain.
Eunji bit her lip irritably. “Bring me the first aid kit. It’s in the rightmost cupboard at the kitchen,” she instructed the blonde woman who responded right away.
Three similar white boxes were stacked together inside the cupboard. “Which one?!”
“All of them!”
Namjoo carried all of the boxes into her room and landed it beside the older woman.
The boxes were full of adhesives, bandages, and gauzes that came in all shapes and sizes. Several bottles of antiseptic were stacked together in some of its compartments. She ripped off the bloodied shirt and tended Sungjae’s wounds with ease in a slow and careful manner. Eunji never took her eyes away from the man until she was finished disinfecting all of his cuts.
“You cannot fall asleep,” Eunji said. “You might have a concussion.”
“I know,” Sungjae answered, heaving a deep breath afterwards causing him to wince uncomfortably.
“What happened to you?” Namjoo approached the man resting on her bed.
Sungjae covered his face with his bandaged arm as he cried. “I-I-I’m s-s-sorry…”
He went on explaining how he initially thought that he was working for a small-time business. Then he found out that the group he belonged to was under a well-renowned, giant organization that extorts money from the poor. He witnessed his leader talking to one representative of the company about a certain list of people they need to put ‘on the next level’ in which those included were bound to experience a much more severe harassment.
“I don’t want to be a part of them anymore…” He pulled his hair out frantically. “The amount of money owed by the debtors is continuously being manipulated by the organization that it had come to a point that a lifetime was needed to pay for all of the debt. It’s unbelievable.” Sungjae coughed. “The money obtained from the payments is hidden in the company funds so that no one can trace it unless you have the list of transactions.”
Sungjae was supposed to be reassigned to a new client who recently had a loan from their group, but he didn’t want to work with them anymore. His condition was no different from his only client, Namjoo. He didn’t had the means too, but how he wished it was a different path he chose despite his unfavorable circumstances.
His group ganged up on him when he announced his resignation from their activities, beating him to death in an effort to keep him with them. He barely managed to get out of their hideout alive.
“I don’t want to be a part of that wretched, goddamn organization. The poor keeps on getting poorer while the rich plunders the money of the poor and becomes richer. It’s not right!”
His moral compass kept on ticking, and at that, he knew that it was already enough. He couldn’t take it anymore. He was human, too.
“It’s not right at all…”
“T-then what should I do now?” Namjoo asked tiredly.
“You’re the next target,” Sungjae uttered desperately. His life was in danger, yet he knew he should correct the mistakes he made, or at least make an effort to correct what he still can. “You’re in that list I mentioned. They’re pla
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