Changmin takes out the crumpled paper that Hwa-Young gave earlier. There’s something written on both of the face of the paper. He read:

                ‘Hwa-Young, I like how graceful you are. I rarely see your smiles. I’ll make you happy, Hwa-Young. Please be my girlfriend.’

Changmin realized the paper was a confession letter. On the other back of the paper is written Hwa-Young’s address. What kind of people wrote their address on a confession letter? Probably the person who wrote this got rejected. The people who wrote this must have a weird taste.

Hwa-Young’s house wasn’t something Changmin expected. Almost all of the house there are big and wealthy. Since Hwa-Young doesn’t want anyone to come to her house, he thought that her house condition is the problem but it’s not. He suspected that she may have family problems too.

Hwa-Young put on her cap and sweater and walks outside to the street in front of the house.  Then, she saw Changmin walking towards her. Their eyes met for a second. She was sure it’s still 11.25 just now. He’s early 5 minutes.

                “Has she got home?”

                “We’ve sent her home after school.”

                “Looks like she’s okay.”

                “I won’t say that, she needs help. Her father was to blame.”

Hwa-Young stops herself from replying any further. What Changmin said is right. Her father is the reason of all the things that happened to Seori. She must help Seori. She had been with Seori for such a long time and only now she realizes that she is Seori’s friend.

                “Her house is over there. As far as I remembered, we need to cross the river.”

                “Can you promise me something?”

                “I don’t make promises with people.”

                “I don’t too. Why don’t you make this exceptional?”

                “What is it?”

                “Don’t make any troubles and listen to me. Both of us could get in danger if we’re not careful. That man is probably capable of anything.”

                “Unfortunately, I can’t promise that.”

                “As expected.”

Both of them did not talked all the way. As if there was a big gap between them.

As they walk further ahead, the house changes one by one until they arrived at a place with lonely looking house with little amount of lights . There are a lot of vegetables gardens around. Probably were planted by the residents to support their daily life needs.

They stopped at a house. The fences around it are broken, dead plants and rusty things. The place looks sad and lonely. The lights in the house is . A shadow of a person is moving inside.

                “Stay here. Your work is done.”

                “W-What. No!”

Hwa-Young pulls Changmin’s sleeve before he got the chance to break in the house.

                “Wait! What are you going to do?”

                “I’m going to ‘talk’ to him, of course.”

                “Take that with you.”

She points at a broken shovel across them. The shovel mouth was already rusty. Changmin, on the other hand found something more useful. He found an old carpentered wood with besides him.

                “Looks like I don’t need that.”

Another shadow appears at the window. Seori’s shadow. She’s still wearing the arm sling and crutches .

Suddenly, they heard sounds coming from the inside. Shattering glass. Things falling.

Changmin and Hwa-Young need to act fast. Changmin forces Hwa-Young to stay behind and call the police. He kicks the door open and it hit the man’s back. The man falls to ground. Then, they saw Seori  lying on the floor. There was a blood-stained wood beside her. Changmin steps on the man’s hand before he could take the empty liquor bottle. The man screamed in pain. Hwa-Young comes in and runs towards Seori. She hold Seori in her arms. Her head was bleeding.

                “She needs to get to the hospital!”

 Changmin take the man by the collar of his shirt and drags him out of the house. The neighboring houses start to turn on their lights. Some of them came out from their houses to looks what’s all the ruckus about. Then, they heard the police sirens coming towards them. Seori’s father start laughing.

                “All of you are stupid. I’ll kill you, Seori. I’ll kill you!”

The  police officers came rushing to Changmin and Seori’s father and arrest the man. The man starts struggling to get away but was held tight by the police officers. Another police helps Hwa-Young  to carry Seori inside one of the police car.

Suddenly, Seori’s father slipped away from one of the officer’s grasps. Hwa-Young notices what happened.

                “Changmin! Look out!”

The man beats  Changmin on the face. Hwa-Young gasps. The man targets Hwa-Young next. But, before he could get to Hwa-Young, Changmin hit him from the side of his face. The man was thrown away by Changmin’s force. The police officers quickly captures Seori’s father in handcuffs brings him to one of the police cars parked there. Changmin asks the police to hold on. There’s something in his mind that he wanted to ask him.

At the moment, Seori’s father had calmed down. His head low looking at the ground. Changmin looks at the man in front of him.

                “What had Seori done to you?”

The man did not try to look at Changmin. Changmin notices that the person in front of him tried to say something but his voice sounds as if it was broken.