Chapter 11: The Threat

“Still no news?” Seulgi asked. The week was over, and Wendy had not been in school for the past few days.

Irene looked over at the empty desk next to her and shook her head. Wendy had texted her saying she had a family emergency, but aside from that, she didn’t mention anything else. Irene was worried, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

She and Seulgi walked down the stairs and decided that they should go and make sure Wendy was okay.

“Do you know where she lives?” Seulgi asked.

“No, but she said she lived near me…” Irene realized that still wasn’t enough information.

“Try calling her again,” Seulgi suggested.

Irene shook her head, “Her phone was off since yesterday. I can’t get ahold of her.”

“Well this !” Seulgi pouted.

The two of them gave up and decided to head home. They looked out towards the hotel, but found an empty space where it once was.

“They finally tore that thing down,” Seulgi commented.

“Good, it was terrible to look at,” Irene said, imagining the people stuck inside. She shook her head to clear her mind.

“They said close to 100 people died. That’s a lot considering it was during the day,” Seulgi said, unlocking her door.

Irene held her breath, “I’m gonna go home today…”

“Are you sure?” Seulgi asked.

Irene nodded and waved as she walked onto the street. The sky had been dulled and grey the entire week due to the smoke. It was the kind of weather Irene hated the most. She walked alongside the wall and sighed.

Irene could never handle violence. Fighting, blood, death…all of that made Irene shake uncontrollably in fear and panic. First, she was kidnapped and nearly killed. Next, Jung-Min went crazy and tried to hit her, and now, an explosion that killed all of those people. Irene could barely walk with everything that was happening around her. 

 She took a deep breath as she unlocked her door and went inside. She almost walked straight past a small envelope that had been slipped under her door.

Another letter…

Irene picked up the envelope and brought it upstairs. She left it on her desk and went down to try and keep her mind occupied by cooking.

Wendy…

As she picked up her knife, she remembered the nights where she taught Wendy to cook. Irene giggled silently to herself as she made her dinner. The onions that made Wendy cry uncontrollably; the rice that she burnt; the way she accidentally burnt her hand by holding the wrong part of the pot. Irene stopped laughing as she remembered the injury that Wendy hid.

She ate dinner very quickly and went back upstairs to find her phone.

[Wendy, is everything okay?]

Irene laid spread eagle on the bed, frustrated at herself for being unable to do anything. She sat back up and looked over at the small envelope on her desk. It scared her again thinking that another guy had found her home. She nervously opened the envelope and gasped slightly as she sat down in her chair.

Dear Irene,

I’m sorry that I couldn’t talk to you much these past few days. My phone actually died, so I wasn’t able to respond to you. My cousin came down with a high fever, so I decided to stay with her to make sure she was okay. Unfortunately, I had to take her to the hospital since her fever was getting worse. But don’t worry, it seems like everything is a bit better now. 

Please let Seulgi know that everything’s fine. I know how much she worries, even if she doesn’t like to admit it. 

I hope you’re sleeping well now. Don’t worry too much about what happened okay? I’ll let you know as soon as I can contact you.

Wendy

P.S. – My ankle is better now, so don’t freak out, okay? :)

Irene laughed as her heart finally relaxed. She slipped the note back in the envelope and held onto it as she lay her head down on her pillow. She smiled once more as she closed her eyes.

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“Thanks Joy,” Wendy said, sitting on the couch.

Joy took her mask and hoodie off, “That’s the last time I’m running errands for you!”

“Hey! I run errands for you all the time!”

“You know I don’t like going outside…and to slip a love letter in your lover’s door,” Joy made a face.

“She’s not my lover!” Wendy blushed.

“Whatever, I’m sure she’ll be touched.”

Wendy pouted and typed furiously on her laptop. Her phone finally broke after the damage it suffered the other day, and she wanted desperately to talk to Irene. Her leg was better now, but she couldn’t walk for too long before her wound would open again.

“I can’t believe you still don’t know her email,” Joy teased.

Wendy’s face turned red as she continued to search through the footage Joy uploaded for her.

“Those are definitely the safes,” Wendy changed the subject.

“That kind of explains the numbers we found in the bags, most likely the combinations, but what about the watches? And who would pay someone to open a safe with a bomb in it?”

“It’s possible the safes didn’t contain bombs at the time. Something must’ve changed,” Wendy said.

There were too many questions that needed answering, and Wendy couldn’t find the answers without going out there.

“I know that look, don’t even think about it,” Joy glared at Wendy.

Wendy grabbed her leg and sighed, “Have you found anything on the victims?”

Joy went back onto her computer.

“There were 5 rooms with the bombs. There was only one person living in each room at the time of the explosion. Interestingly, they checked in to those rooms about 2 months ago at the same time.”

Wendy nodded as Joy continued to explain.

“What’s even more interesting is that they were not on the list of victims in the explosion.”

 “What? The bombs weren’t targeting them?”

Joy shook her head, “I went through all of the security footage in the hotel. The day they brought in the new safes, they were already gone. The hotel manager had to open the doors for them.”

“You didn’t see them leave?”

“I’d have to look further back, but regardless, it seems like the bombs weren’t meant for them.”

“So they occupied those rooms in order to get the bombs planted in them,” Wendy deduced.

“Most likely. That way a random stranger wouldn’t open them,” Joy nodded in agreement.

“So who were they targeting?” Wendy asked.

“Out of the 100 or so bodies, there were several that weren’t able to be identified. Aside from that, it seems like the victims were all random,” Joy responded.

Wendy thought about it for a second, “Any families?”

“Yes, two of them. A couple that just had a baby had come here for vacation. Another family of 5 came here about three weeks ago.”

“Family of 5?”

“A married couple with three kids. All of them were around the ages of 10-15.”

“Why were they staying in a hotel for so long?”

“I’ll have to find out,” Joy said, stretching her arms.

“Okay, I’m going to get some rest then,” Wendy said, pushing herself up. Joy immediately ran over.

“Hey! Don’t do that!” Joy said, grunting as she acted as Wendy’s crutch, supporting her all the way to her room. “Calm down,” Wendy said, dropping on her bed.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Joy said, closing the door behind her.

Wendy took a look at her wound. The bleeding had stopped now, but without the stitches, the wound would easily open up again. Luckily, due to the injury, she kept off of her ankle, and that was starting to heal nicely.

She swung her leg on the bed and put her head back.

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In a car:

“It’s been confirmed? Good.” The older man hung up the phone.

“Sir, don’t you think this was a bit…drastic? Given the circumstances…” a younger gentleman sat next to him.

“They were warned. They paid the price.” The older man spoke bluntly.

“I believe that this approach may attract the attention of some unwanted parties,” the younger gentleman took his glasses off.

“That’s why I have you, Winston. You’ll ensure that we keep this under our control,” the older man turned towards him.

“Of course, sir.” 

The car started to drive through the city.

“I apologize for my earlier remarks, Mr. Park,” Winston suddenly spoke.

“Your intentions are always good, Winston, and I trust them,” the older man responded.

“If you don’t mind me asking…sir,” Winston started, “why are we here in this town?”

“We have unfinished business here, Winston. There’s a threat we must take care of.”

“Is it the family you invited here?”

Mr. Park laughed, “They were annoying. That is why I killed them. But this threat is far more dangerous.”

“Sir?”

“I worked with a man a long time ago in America. He and I had similar dreams: to make the world a better place to live in. To provide opportunities for those that are less fortunate.”

The older man continued.

“Despite this, our approach was different. I believed in allowing those people to rise to a higher standard. To provide them with the money and power necessary to build their lives. He thought

different. He felt we should bring those in power down, and to spread wealth evenly between all people.”

Mr. Park laughed again.

“He was a fool.”

Winston was silent.

“He wasn’t strong, or rich enough to fight against me. But he was a smart man. He managed to steal enough information on me and my business that could expose our…methods. I tried to…convince him, but he lost his life before we could find the information.”

“And this threat…” Winston questioned.

“He had a wife and a daughter that he sent away after we confronted him. It took months to find her, but we had only found the wife. The daughter was never found.”

“And you believe she’s here, sir?”

“This was his wife’s hometown. The daughter would be in high school now. We heard that their relatives passed away just a few years ago. If there’s anywhere left that she could go, it would be here.”

“How do you intend to find her?”

“We have sources throughout the town. We can rely on them.”

“Do you believe she knows where this information is?”

“If that man was as wise as I remember, he would find a way to let her know.”

The older man stepped out of the car with Winston and head into a large building in the city.

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The day of the incident at school:

The principal sat down at the desk, staring at the boy in front of him.

“How did you receive your injuries, Jung-Min?”

Jung-Min didn’t respond.

“You can leave us,” The principal waved to the two teachers standing behind him.

 As they closed the door, the principal stood up and walked over to Jung-Min.

“You have a bad reputation at this school, Jung-Min. I have every reason to expel you for everything you’ve done.” The principal sat down next to the mute Jung-Min.

“Instead, I have a job offer for you.”

Jung-Min glanced over at the principal, who smiled.

“I may be a principal, but you and I are very much alike, Jung-Min.”

Jung-Min ignored him.

“We both have certain…interests. Some of those might seem unsightly or unacceptable to others, but we can’t control it, can we?”

Jung-Min now looked up at the principal, who had a smirk on his face.

“I would like you to help me, Jung-Min. And in return, I’ll refer you to a job offer I’ve recently received.”

Jung-Min now looked interested.

“The job is easy. You no longer need to attend school. Your grades will be handled very nicely. The teachers will be informed of a special condition that requires you to study privately with me. Your parents will be notified as well.”

The principal continued.

“All you need to do, is follow these girls,” the principal handed him photos of eight girls.

Jung-Min was shocked, “You want me to do what?”

“Follow them,” the principal responded, “look into their day-to-day activities. Check on their homes, their friends, all of that.”

“That’s it?”

“You’ll report to me once a week to update the information you find.”

Jung-Min looked at these photos. There were two photos that caught his attention.

“You want me to stalk these girls, basically?”

The principal laughed, “I wouldn’t say that, let’s just say that you’re ensuring their safety.”

Jung-Min was now suspicious.

“You said I needed to help you with something.”

The principal smiled deviously as he spoke to Jung-Min.

“Yes, Jung-Min. Something that I believe, you may have experience with.”