AUTHOR'S NOTE: Love you guys as always, there are 3 more chapter after this (a big two-parter and then the Epilogue) so enjoy it! :)

❤

NOTE: No spoilers BUT...this is the scene they mention near the end of this chapter. Best 4 minutes of TV in history. Miami Vice Forever! ❤ :)

10

Endgame, or: The One With Phil Collins

‘I can’t believe that worked.’

Seulgi paced the room. She went and locked the door and shifted to the window and peered through the blinds at the parkinglot to see if anyone had watched them but they were still alone. ‘We didn’t do anything,’ she said.

‘Yeah, I mean technically you’re right. But knowing our luck I thought we’d get him out of the car and there’d be, like, ten receptionists just randomly standing there, you know? Like maybe today was a National Receptionists Day or something.’

They stood at the foot of the room. It wasn’t large or expensive. One bathroom, one small bedroom, a livingroom and kitchen combo. They made him stand in front of them, save for his underwear, hands and feet tied, tape still over his mouth, looking rather pitiful and cold and vulnerable. ‘Well,’ Irene said. ‘We got him in. Now what? I mean, we can’t get him out, can we? Not now, at least.’

‘I don’t know,’ Seulgi said. ‘I’m thinking.’

They were quiet a long time. Seulgi looking about. She thought Irene might take charge again but she did not. She didn’t say a word. After a while Seulgi took the car keys and the room key and said, ‘Okay. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to go down to the car and get some stuff. Irene, take one of those knives.’

‘Oh, you’re ordering me about now? That’s pretty good of you. No, seriously. I’m proud. Normally you’re a lot slower than this.’

‘Irene.’

‘Stop saying my name.’

‘What?’

‘He knows now. You’re not supposed to say my name. For security reasons. So, thanks for that, sweetie.’

He looked at both of them and they at him and then without another word Seulgi went out and down to the car. When she came back she had the SIG tucked into the waistband of her pants with one of the spare magazines and the roll of tape in one hand and she pitched it to Irene. ‘What do you want me to do with this?’ Irene said.

‘Tie him to the bedframe.’

‘What? You serious?’

He groaned and murmured against the tape and fell silent. Irene smiled wickedly. ‘You know, I kinda like this new Seulgi. A little bit, I mean…you taking charge. I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you tie me to the bed instead? We can have a little fun.’

And Seulgi, now blushing, saying: ‘Just do as I say. Please.’

‘Yes, Daddy.’

‘Stop it. And Irene.’

‘What?’

‘You called me Seulgi.’

‘What?’ And before Seulgi could respond she said: ‘Oh, . Sorry. I kinda forgot myself. Whoopsie. We’ll be alright, though. Don’t worry. This guy’s not gonna make it till morning anyway. Not with his fingers, at least. Or his lips. Or his gentleman's sausage.'

He said something she couldn’t hear and she herded him to the bedroom and made him sit at the foot of the bed while she taped his bound hands thrice around the bedpole and then a fourth time and a fifth. Just to make sure. He looked at her, looked at Seulgi. ‘There,’ Irene said, handing the tape back. ‘Not a chance he gets out of that in the next…well, before he’s dead. Actually, I think he will. But then we’ll just chop him up.’

‘Why are you still doing the whole murderous lunatics routine?’

‘Routine?’

Seulgi looked at her and she laughed. ‘Relax,’ she said. ‘Probably because we need to make sure he’s telling the truth.’

He said: I am! through the tape.

‘And the whole truth.’

‘Do you think he is?’

‘I don’t know,’ Irene said. ‘But if he isn’t, can you shoot him, please?’

‘How will we know?’

‘I’ve got a very good sense for liars. Trust me, I’ve been doing it my whole life to get out of trouble. I know who’s making up and who’s not.’

‘And is he?’

‘So far? You know, I honestly don’t think so. I dunno whether that’s admirable or not.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, like, he’s meant to be White Lotus and . Gang .’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well you’re not supposed to give stuff up to people, you know? That’s kind of a letdown really. Know what I’m saying?’

Seulgi just looked at her again.

‘You want me to let him speak?’ Irene said. Seulgi turned to him, still sat there, legs bound at the ankles, hands stuck to the metal bedpost, looking from her to Irene and back and sweating even half- and in the cold. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Alright. Do it.’

Irene went and tore the tape away and stood away while he looked at them. ‘Be careful,’ she said. ‘You make one noise unless we tell you and we’ll put you in acid. For realsies this time. So, yeah.’

He turned his face to them again. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘Just let me go.’

‘Nuh uh. Can’t do that yet.’

‘I’ve told you everything.’

‘Almost everything.’

‘What?’

‘I don’t know. I was just saying it to see how you’d react. But you know what? I’m glad I did. Because you’re hiding something, aren’t you?’

‘Is she serious?’ he said, looking at Seulgi. She shrugged.

‘Go on,’ Irene said. ‘What is it? Unless you want my friend here to shoot you in the stomach. Or in the head. Or wherever hurts the most. Actually, probably not the head, since you’d be dead and . Probably in your gut, right? Seulgi.’

‘Stop calling me that.’

‘Where would hurt the most to get shot?’

‘I don’t know. I’ve never been shot.’

‘What?’

‘What?’ Seulgi said.

‘Have you seriously never been shot before?’

‘What’s up with that?’

‘I thought all cops get shot.’

‘I hope not. I haven’t.’

‘Huh.’ Irene looked between them. ‘You know what,’ she said, ‘that’s actually kinda surprising. Like, in the cop shows they always get shot. Even Don Johnson gets shot, doesn’t he?’

‘Tubbs does.’

Irene giggled. ‘Right. Silly me. Tubbs does.’

‘What the are you talking about?’ he said.

‘You shut up! Don’t talk, alright? Not until we talk to you.’ He fell quiet and she continued. ‘Now,’ she said. ‘Are you going to tell us whatever it is you’re hiding from us?’

‘What? I don-’

‘Come on, man. You’ve told us everything else. What is it?’

He was quiet a long time. Looking between the two of them frantic and disorganised. As if trying to gauge something from either of them and coming up with nothing. ‘,’ he said, trying to shift his legs about. ‘. Alright. You wanna know? The deal’s going down tonight, except it might not be.’

‘What does that even mean?’

‘Will you let me explain? Please.’

Irene motioned for him to carry on.

‘Alright,’ he said. ‘So, like I said, three guys from either side meeting at the drop-off point tonight. That’s what I’ve been told. And then all the rumours. But that’s not how the White Lotus do it. Trust me on this. That’s not what goes on.’

‘What, then?’

‘Whenever they do a big trade or deal like this, they always send out fake messages. Do something to throw people off the scent. They tell the clients and the buyers to do the same too.’

‘What? What do you mean?’

‘Every time something big goes down, the rumours spread in hours. Like ing wildfire. Can’t control them or anything.’

‘Taeho told us the same thing,’ Seulgi said.

‘Yeah. Right. So, the top guys – the guys I get all the info and from – they make up on purpose. I don’t know how to describe it. Take a drug deal for example, right? They set up this deal somewhere, and pass along the info, and by the end of the day everyone from the lowest of the low to the top guys have heard the rumours spreading about it and . There’s no way to stop them. So, they throw everyone off. Doesn’t matter how – they’ve got loads of ways to do it.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like making up a fake location, fake coordinates. like that. To throw people off the trail. Or telling someone one thing and telling someone else another. It’s how they weed out rats. How they get the snitches and the informants. The guys working for the cops. It’s how they get to the undercovers. You understand?’

Seulgi nodded.

‘Okay. Well. One of the things they do all the time is use decoy . Like, if there’s a drug deal going down, they’ll take bags of sugar or flour or something to the deal instead. And instead of using trusted guys to make the deal they’ll send random guys from the street. And they tell the buyers to do the same . That way if someone’s snitched and the police turn up they’ve got nothing. No drugs, no one to bust. But the cops never bust. They don’t do that . They watch from a distance. They build cases on people. One deal at a time. You with me?’

Seulgi nodded again.

‘Well, that’s what they do with drug . Money . Anything you need handing off, they do that. They make fake trades, so the cops watching don’t know whether they’re doing illegal or not. Or they take fakes and then they take real at the same time, and they don’t tell anyone whether they’re trading the real or not. So the cops watching or tapping them can’t tell what’s going on. And then they’ve got a choice: move in for the bust, knowing it might be some decoy to throw them off the trail, or stay back and let it happen. And you know what they always do? They always stay back.’

‘That sounds so ing complicated,’ Irene said.

‘Sure. But it works. It’s smart as .’

'Why can't gangs ever do anything simple and by the books? Why's it gotta be nuclear physics and ?'

‘So this decoy thing,’ Seulgi said. ‘That’s going to happen tonight?’

‘That’s what I’ve been told.’

‘What does it mean? For the painting.’

‘They’re gonna take the real painting and a fake painting. A decoy. So you won’t know which is which. The only people that are gonna know are those six down there. And maybe they’ll go through with the deal, maybe not. Who knows? Just those guys. Just in case someone’s watching. Just in case someone’s snitched.’

‘And the rumours don’t hear about this?’

He shook his head. ‘It only gets passed down to the people that need to hear it.’

‘And how come you know about it, then?’

‘Because they thought I was one of the trustworthy ones. I’d built myself up.’

‘Well,’ Irene said, ‘clearly their judgement was a bit misplaced. No offense, of course.’

He shook his head.

‘So,’ Seulgi said, ‘what do we do?’

He looked at her. ‘What? What do you mean? How the am I supposed to know? I don’t know if it’s real or not. I can’t help you there. Not that I would anyway. Unless you were gonna put me in acid or something. , I just wanna see my daughter.’

‘Your adopted daughter,’ Irene said.

‘What’s wrong with that? You got a problem with adoptions or something?’

‘Oh, no. Not at all. But like, would she miss you as much if you just disappeared, you know? It begs the question. On a sort of moral and ethical level, really.’

They both looked at her and she just shrugged and stepped back to the doorway where Seulgi was, hands on hips, thinking about nothing. ‘Alright,’ Seulgi said at last. ‘Okay. . So, we go to this deal tonight and it might not even be happening?’

‘Yeah,’ he said.

‘And then what? Then where would it go?’

‘How the would I know?’

‘Look into your glass ball,’ Irene said.

‘What?’

‘Ignore her,’ said Seulgi. ‘Is there nothing else you can tell us that’d help us? Nothing at all.’

He shook his head.

‘What sort of acid would you like?’ said Irene. He turned and nodded to Seulgi again and said, ‘Is she serious about this, by the way? The acid stuff.’

‘I wasn’t. But now that you mention it again, we do have a bit of an issue.’

‘What?’ Seulgi said.

‘Well, think about it logically for a minute. We’ve got to go to this meeting place in, what?’

‘About ten hours.’

‘About ten hours. Right. And in that time, we’re gonna be gone from here. So, what happens to him? We can’t exactly take him with us. And we can’t let him go, either.’

‘Why not?’

‘What if he told someone?’

‘I’m not going to ing tell anyone,’ he said.

‘I don’t mean White Lotus guys. What if he told the receptionist or something, you know what I’m saying? Or like, just wandered out into the street and told some random person walking past? They’d be onto us in hours. They’re probably already onto us. They definitely are. I mean, I know I would be.’

‘I’m not going to tell anyone. Jesus Christ.’

‘Alright,’ Irene said, taking the roll of tape. ‘That’s enough of you for now.’

‘No, what? Wait. Wait a minute.’

She tore off two pieces and fastened them to his mouth and he protested and was silent again. Seulgi shot her a look that said: You didn’t have to do that. And she just smiled.

‘I can hear myself think again,’ she said. ‘Good. Now, where was I? Ah, right. The matter of this guy. You know, I know I sound a bit partial to acid and stuff, but honestly anything would work. Not that I want to kill him or anything, but what can we do?’

He tried shifting about and couldn’t and sat back again, just listening. Seulgi watched him, hands on hips. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I really don’t.’

‘Here we go again.’

‘What?’

‘You just gonna say that for the rest of the day? I don’t know.’

‘Well.’

‘Maybe we should take him with us. Use him as a human shield, you know?’

‘What?’

‘In case they start firing at us. Got ourselves some protection.’

Seulgi shook her head.

‘What, then?’

‘We have to leave him here,’ she said.

‘All day?’

‘What else can we do?’

‘Will he be alright? I mean, look at him. Poor guy. Except not really.’

‘We’ll leave him a glass of water or something when we go. And take that tape off his mouth so he can drink it.’

‘How can he drink it without his hands?’

‘He can reach for it with his mouth.’

‘Brilliant.'

‘We’ve got to be quick.’

‘Why? We’ve got all day.’

‘I don’t want to be in this room. The longer we’re in public, the worse it’ll get. We can’t risk being seen by anyone else. The receptionist already knows we’ve checked in. Soon she’ll turn on the news and see us and that’s the end of it.’

‘Wait. We’re on the news?’

‘Probably.’

‘Holy ,’ Irene said. ‘That’s actually cool. I hope they’ve picked a good photo. I wasn’t even smiling in my mugshot. Wait, who am I kidding? Every photo of me's a good one.’

‘We’ve got to go.’

‘Sure. You got everything you need? The handgun, the bullets. You know, all your precious belongings. You haven’t left the glasses behind have you?’

‘They’re in the c-’ and pausing, knowing the response: ‘Forget it. Come on.’

‘Wait. What about him?’

They took another look at him. He seemed not to be watching or listening to them any longer. Seulgi went into the kitchen and searched the cupboards and came back with a tall glass. She filled it from the sink and placed it neatly on the carpet in front of him. So that he could reach out and touch it with his face. Then she bent down and took the tape off his mouth and tossed it away. ‘We’re going,’ she said.

‘What? Going? You serious?’

She nodded.

‘What about me? You can’t ing leave me here. I’ll die.’

‘If you get thirsty, drink the water.’

‘But not too fast,’ Irene said over her shoulder. ‘We might not be coming back for a long time.’

‘How long?’ he said.

‘Well, if we get found out…thirty years?’

‘What?’

‘Or longer. I don’t know how the sentences will be. Probably life. In which case…you better make that water last.’

‘Thirty years.’

‘Or more, sure. We might even get killed. In which case, we're not coming back. I'm sure you've figured that out already.’

He looked at Seulgi. ‘What are you doing?’ he said. ‘You can’t leave me.’

‘Once you’ve finished the water,’ she said, ‘start shouting for help. Someone will come.’

‘But don’t do it now,’ Irene said, ‘or she’ll shoot you in the face. And then you won’t be able to scream for help later, if you catch my drift. Because you'll have no face.’

‘Okay. Whatever. You’ll be fine.’

‘You’re not going to kill me?’ he said. Irene stepped forward. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘We were thinking about it, but it’d be a waste of resources, really. You know how much sodium hydroxide costs per litre? And you know how many litres it takes to fill a bathtub? And you’re a big boy, you know. That’s a lot of money. A lot of sodium hydroxide. Easier to just leave you here, really. Saves us a lot of hassle. Also, we’ve gotta bounce, so…ciao.’

‘Wait,’ he said. But they were already halfway to the door and Seulgi had picked up the car keys and the room key and without another word they went out and locked the door behind them and crossed through the lobby without looking back at the receptionist or anyone at all. When they were in the car Irene said, ‘You think he’ll last a week once that water's gone?’

‘Without water he’ll last two or three days.’

‘So…no, then.’

‘Sooner or later he’ll realise he can break out of that tape,’ Seulgi said.

‘Hopefully later rather than sooner. Or something. I don’t know. I confuse myself sometimes. Are we going? And if we are, where? We’ve got some time to kill, no?’

Seulgi nodded. She started the car and turned out of the lot heading east. The streets quiet in the slow roiling of the afternoon. Nothing that far away from the centre of Seoul. No lights, no noise. Just a low fog lost somewhere in the toil of the world behind them. Seulgi drove as far as Sampae and filled the Testarossa’s tank halfway and they sat across the street from a grocery store not really doing or saying anything. As if for the first time both were unsure of what lay ahead of them. Perhaps even scared. Even Irene, quiet and unlike herself, a calm severity on her face that Seulgi dared not break with the advent of words.

The next time they spoke was just after three in the afternoon. They looked at one another and Irene laughed and Seulgi asked her what was so funny. ‘Just you,’ she said. ‘Like, just you.’

‘Me? What about me?’

‘How serious you look.’

‘You look serious too.’

‘Yeah, but like, it’s different with you. Like what I was saying before, about how you’re really this cute-y bear under all the boring stoicness but you can’t help being boring and stoic anyway. Hilarious.’

‘This is just who I am.’

‘I’m not saying it’s bad.’

‘You’re just laughing at me.’

‘Bingo.’

‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘Sure,’ Irene said. ‘Fire away.’

‘Have you ever loved anyone?’

Irene laughed.

‘What?’ Seulgi said.

‘Is that really your question? Really?’

‘What’s wrong with that?’

‘I mean, nothing, I guess. It just sorta came out of nowhere. But I guess that’s you, really. Just sort of random and all over the place.’

‘Well. Have you?’

Irene shook her head. ‘Not really,’ she said. Seulgi made a motion for her to continue and she did. That confident smile never disappeared from her face nor did it fade. She was always herself. Always so assured of herself. That was a part of her that could never be taken away.

‘There was this girl once,’ she said. ‘A long time ago. Like, four or five years. I don’t know. Doesn’t really matter when. But I thought I was in love, except I wasn’t really. She was, though. I’m pretty sure she was. So, yeah. That’s about it.’

‘What happened?’

‘What?’

‘What happened between you?’

Irene shrugged.

‘Just didn’t work out?’ Seulgi said.

‘Not even that. It was different.’

‘Different.’

‘She thought she could control me,’ Irene said. ‘Not like, physically or whatever. Actually, it. Control me was probably the wrong expression to us. She thought she was better than me, I guess. That’s it. I was just like I am today. Just like I am all the time. And she didn’t like that. She was attracted to me and , and she liked my humour, and she liked being around me, but she thought there was something wrong with me, you know? I don’t know how to explain it properly. But like, she thought because I rarely acted all glum and serious and down and stuff that I was wrong. That I was immature. That I wasn’t as good as her.

‘She didn’t realise that was just who I was. Who I still am. She got this noble idea through her head that she could change me for the better. That she could fix me. That by being with her she could make me change to how she wanted me. Less of a sarcastic , less of the constant joking and the wit, more of the sitting down and talking over brunch and . Well, not really. But you see what I’m getting at.’

‘And?’ Seulgi said.

Irene smiled. A soft and solemn smile that Seulgi didn’t much like. One so very unlike Irene, if only for a solitary moment. ‘She tried changing me. And it didn’t work. So we went our separate ways, and that’s about that. And yeah. The end. She thought she had something over me. That somehow her way of seeing things and of behaving was better than mine. Well, turns out she was wrong, right? Turns out I’m not changing for anyone, sweetie. And if that means everybody dislikes me then so be it. But at least everyone dislikes me for me, you know? Not some pale imitation.’

‘I like you,’ Seulgi said. There was a quiet moment of regret where neither of them spoke. They just looked at each other. Then Irene laughed.

‘What?’ Seulgi said. Irene just laughed and laughed. Seulgi thought about getting out of the car and going for a walk and coming back when she had cooled down and her heart wasn’t running madly in her chest and Irene wasn’t laughing at her but if not now then when? After tonight there might not be a tomorrow. Probably wouldn’t be.

‘I like you, Irene,’ she said.

Irene looked at her. Something different in those eyes. A new and strange Irene.

‘I mean, uh. Like…you know. I just had to say it. I just kind of had to get that off my chest. Sorry. But like, if something’s going to happen to us tonight, or whatever…I just…whatever.’

‘You’re an idiot,’ Irene said, giggling that throaty giggle again. But she would not look Seulgi in the eye and she was blushing, if only slightly, if only the faintest tinge of pink, and when Seulgi started the car and turned off southbound on Gyeonggang road she still would not look Seulgi in the eyes.

Seulgi pulled the car up in the gravel lot by the SK gas station about a minute north of the on-ramp for the National 6 Route. Here the traffic was gradual. It had just gone six in the evening. There was no sun anywhere and all lay starless and clouded and it was hard to see much of anything.

They did not speak. They just sat there. Irene gazing out the window and Seulgi with her hands firmly on the steeringwheel watching the glovebox as if it would move. As if it had some sudden sentiency and was calling to her. Her heart had not slowed at all. She was meant to be thinking of the Leeum painting and the case and what the man with the ponytail had told her and Kim Taeho and the Swiss businessman on a yacht but all she could think of in truth was: Does she like me? Why won’t she look at me? Does she like me too? Did that kiss really mean something back in the club?

‘Irene,’ she said. Her face gone red, hands trembling. Irene looked at her.

‘I’ve, uh. I’ve got something for you.’

‘What?’

She opened the glovebox and took out the little brass tobacco tin and handed it over to Irene. ‘It’s just a present,’ she said. ‘Just a little something. For being with me.’

There was a silence. She didn’t quite know how Irene would respond, turning it over in her hand and opening it up to find it empty and putting the lid back on and feeling the underside. Then she laughed again. That same terrific, heartstopping laugh. That wicked demeanour.

‘Oh man,’ she said. ‘Are you for real right now? Seulgi. Oh Seulgi. Please tell me you didn’t actually get this for me.’

Seulgi nodded sheepishly.

‘Oh my god, Seulgi. You’re unbelievable. You got me a ing Don Johnson tobacco tin and I don’t even smoke. That is just…wow. That is peak you, really. You sure you didn’t get it for yourself?’

‘I got it for you.’

‘As a present?’

Seulgi nodded again.

‘You’ve gone red, sweetie.’

‘I, uh. I just thought I’d say thank you for helping me.’

‘Uh huh. Sure.’

‘I hope you like it.’

Irene laughed. When she saw that Seulgi was serious she bit her bottom lip and grinned deviously and made a show of putting the tin in the left pocket of her polo shirt. ‘There,’ she said, patting it twice. ‘Right by my heart, sweetie. So I’ll always remember it. That good enough for you?’

And all Seulgi could do was blush and nod. They remained there in the car in quiet for a long time. When she looked at her watch again it had just gone nine. The traffic had thinned to barely a stream of flatbed trucks and old taxis here and there. A soft wind blew along the water’s edge. ‘You know we’re not even in Seoul anymore,’ Irene said. ‘We’re like forty minutes east right now. Crazy . Crazy that you can still see it from here.’ She looked at Seulgi but Seulgi was gazing out of the window.

‘How much time we got?’

Seulgi looked at her watch. ‘Twenty-five minutes,’ she said. Irene laughed.

‘What?’

‘Nothing,’ Irene said. ‘It’s just…I mean, come on.’

‘What?’

‘Twenty-five minutes. It’s what they say in that scene in Miami Vice. You know, the car one. Even I’ve seen it. Where they play Phil Collins and they’re driving through the night to the big bust. You know which one I mean.’

‘We should get going,’ Seulgi said.

‘Come on.’

‘What?’

‘Can I?’

Seulgi looked at her and sighed. She started the car and headed up along Route 6 going south by the signs to where the guy had told them to go. Irene leant across and the stereo and skipped to In The Air Tonight and sat back again. They drove under a cold moon and there was nothing to guide their way save wayward star absent tethering or support or anything in the enormous void of the universe.

Ten minutes later they passed by Misa Bridge and through into Wabu district and still they kept going. They were both silent. Both knowing in some way what was to come very soon. And what it meant for them. Quiet in the way men and woman wallowing only in a certain solemnity usually are. Driving headlong to some hidden destiny just waiting for them. Time on the watch ticking. Time ticking away to nothing at all.

When she came to the off-ramp for Deokso road they could already see the old bridge along the rim of the southern horizon.

‘That’s it,’ Irene said. ‘That’s the bridge he talked about.’

Seulgi eyed the off-roads to their left. A long and broken hill line overlooking Route 6 and the flatland strip down on the right where he had said they would meet. The old pier right there. There were two off-ramps, one on each side at the same point. One down to the dirt road and heading to the old strip. To the meeting place. And the other one up to the hill and east along the rest of the houses and the byroads and further on.

She turned the car left up to the hill and parked in an abandoned lot and cut the engine and sat in the darkness listening to absolutely nothing. From there they could see down to the gravel strip he had told them about. Nothing moved. Nothing for a mile or more.

‘Holy ,’ Irene said.

‘What?’

‘This is it. This is the endgame, isn’t it?’

Seulgi looked at her. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Yeah it is.’

‘If anything happens to us tonight,’ Irene said. ‘If anything at all, to me or you, or both of us…’

She trailed off. Seulgi caught her gaze. The wavering in her welling eyes. Go on, she wanted to say. Just tell me. Just let it out in the open. Tell me what you want to tell me, Irene. Please. But Irene just looked at her and smiled weakly and said: ‘Well. I guess it’s a helluva way to go, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah,’ Seulgi said. It had just gone half past nine.

‘Helluva way.’