[ 08: ELIMINATE ]
[ CA-23 ][15.03.2015]
"Is that even the right direction?" Jookyung said, mumbling. He knew none of the directions, and the passenger's not making him feel better.
"Well, my directions are better than your 15-year old GPS." Hani raised her eyebrows.
"The last time we did this, your directions would have made us swim on a freezing lake. Iseul's GPS actually got us around the location under 5 minutes."
"Well I'm sorry you have to work a little to get what you want." Hani rolled her eyes at him, and Jookyung had to fight the second urge to keep on talking.
"It's a really nice morning today and keep your advices for actual, important things, yes?" Jookyung said.
"Fine," Hani groaned, turning towards Jisung, who was seated at the back. "how's your morning?"
"I had a good night's sleep," Jisung chuckled. Hyerin stared at Jookyung at the rearview mirror, but said nothing.
"Good then," Jookyung said. "but we did buy some stuff for the family, did we?"
Hani and Jisung looked alert, but Hyerin shifted further from Jisung, even closer to the door.
"Thank goodness Hyerin cooked." Jookyung said.
At that mention, Hani scowled at him, and went back to her seat. Jisung looked more taken aback, but smiled at Hyerin.
It's going to be a long ride.
♦
When they arrived, Jisung took a sharp breath.
He hadn't seen them in a long time, even after he moved to Seoul. The rest of the group looked around, noticing the particular house with red roof.
He saw the door opened, and a woman came out. Although she looked tired, Jisung noticed her eyes glinted when it locked on his.
"Jisung? How are you?" she smiled.
"I'm fine, Mrs. Kim. How are you?"
"There's a lot of things to take care of here, but are those your friends? You guys should come in!" There was a worried look at her face when she noticed the others, but it quickly turned into a smile.
"Oh, is Yerim here?"
"She is upstairs, should I call her?"
"Sure."
♦
The house looked very grey, but the sweet smell of chocolate and cinnamon spread across the room.
It was lovely, and the presence of the woman made it even better.
"What should I call you guys as?" she said. She sat across the four, next to a much younger girl.
"The guy at the left is Yujeong, the next girl is Inha, and then next is Seol," Jisung said, avoiding stares from the other three.
"Ah, alright, nice to meet you all. My name is Kim Sera, and my daughter..." Sera gave a gentle nudge at the girl.
"I'm Kim Yerim. Nice to meet you all." The girl smiled, similar to her mother.
The four nodded, and Hani asked, "Do you like baking, Mrs. Kim?"
"Yes, quite a lot these days," Sera said. "I'm planning to open a bakery sometime later."
Jisung smiled, but there was a thought that kept on intruding his mind, the one that made him feel awful.
"Either way, why did you move out?" Jisung asked.
"Well, Eunchang didn't like it," Sera said. "and he also got a new job."
"Oh. And you also wanted to?"
"We didn't agree at first, but I heard about people hiring chefs with better pay and there was a good school with scholarship for Yerim... so we decided to go for it."
Jisung looked at Hani and Jookyung. Both seemed to listen better than Hyerin, who kept a long stare at Yerim and Sera.
"Either way, did your husband went to work a lot?" Hani asked.
"He seemed to work overtime these days, since the holidays are over." Sera chuckled.
Hani and Jookyung seemed to simultaneously turn away from their respective position. Jisung gritted his teeth. He knew the story already.
"Seemed like someone who is very hard working," Jookyung said, tugging his lips upward. "is that why you like him?"
"Well, sometimes he's really detailed, but he's very delightful at our worst moments. He is a very thoughtful and determined man."
"You have a lot of stories with him, then,"
"That doesn't mean I don't love my first love but—Yerim?" Sera said, and Jisung noticed Yerim's face turned darker.
Her eyes became bloodshot and her lips quivered, but she still smiled, and said, "Excuse me."
"Yerim!" The girl ignored her mother, and quickly got out, slamming the front door.
"I'm so sorry, but she still couldn't warm up to him sometimes." Sera sighed.
"It's alright, we understood." Hani stood up, and walked towards the door.
♦
"Are you alright?"
Hani traced the girl's direction, and sometimes after, she noticed a tint of yellow at the green park.
When she went closer, the girl covered her face with her arms, and sat in a fetal position. Hani stopped just a few metres before her.
"Yes," Yerim said. "leave me alone."
Her words sounded muffled, but Hani knew she was crying. She sat down at the bench next to her, and looked up at the bright blue sky.
It wasn't much different than the one she knew years ago, when she had said her farewell to the beloved.
She took a deep breath, and said, "I understand."
"You don't," Even when the younger girl sounded harsh, Hani didn't flinch.
"I lost him too, years ago," she said. "it's painful, but it's okay to be angry."
The older girl took another deep breath. Yerim deserved to feel angry.
The former heard subdued sobs from her, and gently patted her shoulder. Slowly, the tears receded, but her body was still shaking.
"I'm sorry," Yerim said. "I don't know what to feel. Mom's happy and all... but I still don't like him."
"It's alright," the older said, pulling her closer. But she quietly gritted her teeth, and felt her insides are boiling.
Yerim deserved to be angry.
And another presence's making her feel worse; the girl with wavy brown hair, pink dress, cold eyes... that seemed to have looked more different at that time.
Do Hyerin.
♦
"Did my mom called you?" Yerim said, standing up from Hani's embrace. Hyerin nodded.
"You should probably go home, you know." Hani said. While she smiled warmly towards Yerim, it quickly turned into a scowl to Hyerin.
When they were close, Hani suddenly grabbed Hyerin's arms, and said to Yerim, "Go home first, we have some stuff to discuss."
The latter smiled, and quickly turned back home, still wiping her eyes. She's too down to notice them.
Once inside, she grabbed Hyerin's shoulders tight, and pushed her closer to the brick walls of a building.
"What did you do there?"
"Asking her to go home. What did you do there?" Hyerin replied. Her evasiveness made the older agent more angry.
"Getting her to feel more comfortable when she went home." Hyerin raised her eyebrows with incredulity. She's not liking this.
"She would know you by your real name." Hyerin said, turning her face. Hani's not happy, but she noticed something.
"Everything's under control this way," Hani said. "why are you like this?"
Hyerin went quiet. "I was called—"
"No, not that." Hani shook her head.
"Why are you like this?"
She looked at Hyerin's eyes. The latter barely flinched, but her eyes didn't seem so right.
"The mother didn't ask you, but you went here, is it?" Hyerin barely turned, but her eyes were shaky.
Hani sighed, even more frustrated. "Your eyes have been seeing something."
Hyerin's eyes flickered for a moment. She stopped moving, and her face went slightly pale.
"You know something about this whole situation, can't you at least tell me?" Hani said, cornering Hyerin at the corner of the house.
But there were no words.
Hani knew they're not close, but the thought of the mother and the girl kept on flashing through her mind.
"You saw through nothing," Hyerin said. Hani knew she tried to sound calm, but it became strained.
"So, you're not going to tell me what you see?" Hani grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Not worth the share." Hyerin shrugged, walking to leave, but she felt a tight hand at her shoulder. Before she could turn, her eyes met with the older girl's sharp glare. Her calm gaze seemed full of fury, but the dark purple mist near her seemed to indicate otherwise.
"Looks like you don't even consider anyone worthy to you, then." She said, walking away from Hyerin.
Few minutes later, Jookyung and Jisung appeared, bringing some plastic bags with them. Hyerin saw the former gave the latter the plastic bags, and may have chatted with him. Either way, they looked happy.
"What's the matter?" Jookyung asked, approaching her.
"Why do you ask?" Hyerin said, but she couldn't help but feel that her tone sounded harsher than usual.
"You made a sad expression just now," He said, walking towards the car. "and maybe looked angry, I don't know."
"It's nothing," Hyerin shrugged, but knew something heavy engulfed her heart. "did the mother gave you something?"
"Some desserts. You'd like them." He said, smiling.
Although Hyerin turned away from his sight, he could see that she looked more relaxed than before.
♦
Hyerin was quiet when she heard Jookyung and Jisung talking, but she never looked at Hani. It made her uneasy.
Noticing the rest, she saw the black laptop in front of the table, but Iseul looked much worse than usual. No one who stayed back looked better either.
When she looked into Iseul's eyes, everything became more apparent.
"Either way, we can confirm the family is far from aware," Hyosung said, sighing.
"But it also means Yoo Eunchang is in, and Kim Yishik seemed far from aware of this too," Sejoon said, pointing towards Iseul's laptop.
"But worse, what they talked about seems to be... about the disappeared victims. Iseul, try going through that timestamp again."
"Wait, no," Hani said. "I don't want to hear anything close to that disgusting sounds."
"Well, it's impossible if you don't," Sejoon said, rolling his eyes.
"It's alright, Hani. They seemed to have talked about a boy and a girl.. and we heard bits about a 'failed' victim." Hyosung said, giving an awkward smile.
"Failed victim?" Jookyung asked.
"From their conversation, I don't think that they had a very pleasant night," Hyosung said.
"but they argued about 'drinks' and 'red light districts', which matches with Son Jinwook."
"So, that's all?" Hani asked.
After she talked, the team went unusually quieter. Out of all of them, Iseul's face looked very disgruntled.
Wooyoung said, "There was silence... and the audio stopped."
"As in?"
"As in, the clothes got checked up, and the chip was destroyed." Wooyoung bit his lips.
notes: If you got a chance to see another character than your OC, who would you like to meet with, and why?
*(in wake of certain events, I wish to tell you, as someone who have made my attempt, to not let life go. I know, and I understand it's hard, but it's not over yet for anyone. Your life is precious, so do take care, and love yourself . You're worth it. God Bless.)
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