My Bloody Valentine - 19

A headache struck. Just as a precaution, Taesin glanced up at the night sky, and unsurprisingly, it was filled with clouds.

On the navigation screen of Taesin’s car, which had just left the underground parking lot, Han’s address was marked.

Taesin drove at a terrifying speed, arriving at the destination 30 minutes earlier than the estimated arrival time on the navigation.

The place he reached was a neighborhood in Seoul that seemed surprisingly run-down. It would only look decent if the old buildings were replaced with newly constructed villas or a new building with 4 to 5 floors.

Taesin got out of the car and entered a one-room building that looked at least 20 years old. On the entrance, half a floor above ground level, there was a number starting with 2. Taesin turned his body and descended to the basement.

838, Apartment 102.

There was no need to confirm whether he had come to the right place. Taesin glanced at the doorplate next to the door and chuckled as if in disbelief.

The characters ‘이한’ were clearly engraved in black on a light wooden doorplate.

“Lee Han.”

While he had mentioned the name to a third party, calling it like this was the first time. For some reason, he felt a strange sensation as he grabbed the doorknob and, surprisingly easily, opened the door.

Taesin entered, stepping inside with his boots, and searched the house. Any space where a person could breathe, whether it be a closet, under the bed, or the bathroom, was searched without discrimination.

The narrow space, not even three steps long with Taesin’s steps, was thoroughly searched in less than a minute. Well, unless someone is exceptionally foolish, they wouldn’t come to the house they are looking for with their own feet.

With a dry mouth, the sudden urge to smoke a cigarette struck Taesin. Thinking about the cigarettes in his jacket pocket, he looked outside and saw a taxi turning around.

Someone in the back seat hastily ducked, disappearing from sight.

“…”

It seemed he was quite foolish.

Thoughts about cigarettes were whitewashed from his mind. Taesin immediately got back into the car. His sedan, with the ignition on, roared like a beast as it crossed the night streets.

Tap, tap, raindrops began to hit the car window. Despite the window brush cleaning the window thoroughly, as if mocking, raindrops scattered over it again.

“Damn it.”

A feeling of hot blood rising in his eyes, Taesin’s eyes began to redden. The pain, intensifying when it rains, unwelcome as a guest, once again found him. A blood vessel popped up next to Taesin’s temple.

More torturous than the headache was an unbearable thirst that he couldn’t even acknowledge. His mouth was dry, and his heart was beating rapidly.

For the sake of catching a relatively insignificant target, he was engaged in a pursuit like a madman, and that too by himself. It was something beyond common sense.

The target got closer. When Taesin saw the orange taxi turning on the right blinker, he quickly turned the steering wheel and changed lanes. Then, to make a right turn, he slowed down the taxi and stared at it with sharp eyes. Pressing the accelerator as it is, he put weight on the accelerator with his toe.

Kwaaang!

Taesin’s car collided with the rear of the taxi. In the sparsely populated dawn street, a thunder-like sound reverberated.

“Ugh…”

Taesin momentarily rested his head on the steering wheel, biting it tightly. A sharp pain, like being poked with a hot iron, struck him intensely. But he couldn’t afford to lose the prey he had just captured.

With a clatter, he opened the driver’s door. As the rain intensified, someone inside the back seat quickly bent down and disappeared from view.

“…”

It seemed he was quite foolish.

In the midst of that, the driver who got out of the taxi approached, holding the back of his neck.

“Hey! Are you in your right mind now?”

Taesin tore him away as if grabbing someone by the scruff of the neck. Passing the taxi driver, who had withered on the ground, he directly opened the rear seat door of the taxi.

However, it was empty. The opposite door was wide open.

Taesin raised himself and looked around, but there was no sign of anyone. It happened right after the collision.

Getting soaked in the rain, Taesin took out his phone from the jacket pocket and called Junho.

― Have you found him?

“I lost him. He’s probably heading to some province… Is there any way to move at this hour?”

On the other end, the sound of tapping on a computer keyboard echoed. It seemed like they were searching for a solution.

― No, both trains and buses won’t start until 6 am.

“Then he’ll be waiting shivering in the rain at some terminal, soaked. Release people to all terminals and train stations right away.”

Taesin commanded firmly once again.

“Make sure to find him. Use any means necessary.”

There was a peculiar obsession in Taesin’s eyes as he gave the order.

“Sigh…”

The rain has the power to revive even the dead, they say, but it didn’t seem to apply to Taesin, bringing back his emotions. Instead, it only brought a death-like agony.

The rain, falling in the dark night, showed no signs of stopping.

For Han, it was a rather fortunate occurrence.

—

“Ugh… Huk…”

As soon as he entered the motel room, he locked the door and leaned his back against the cold surface.

‘No, someone crazy is following me like shooting a pursuit scene. Behind me.’

When Han turned around at the taxi driver’s words, it seemed like he saw his face gripping the steering wheel through the falling rain. He couldn’t forget the eyes that chased him like the Grim Reaper.

Why on earth… Seriously, that man was insane. Because I anticipated that he might crash into the taxi I was in, the shock was small, and I could have escaped faster.

He, who seemed like he would jump out to catch me right away, somehow hesitated for a moment, giving me a chance to escape.

Han’s hand, pulling down the disheveled wig, was still visibly trembling. The anxiety that he might break in and enter at any moment permeated his entire body.

Han entered the narrow motel room, swaying all his senses towards the corridor outside.

Coming into the bathroom and seeing his face in the mirror, a bitter laugh burst out. Due to being hit by rain, his eye makeup had spread like panda eyes. It seemed that this was the reason why the female employee at the reception desk stared at him so intently.

Counting the money that Jeong gave him, Han sighed. After paying for the motel, the remaining money was only 360,000 won. It was ridiculously little money to find a place to stay somewhere. Shameless as it was, he might have to rely on the place that the unjust grandmother bought.

I’ve done this much to survive. It suddenly felt real that I had escaped from hell.

Han lay down on the bed after making some plans. It seemed like the tension from hours of being on edge took its toll. His head spun, and he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Step by step.

Han opened his eyes, not knowing how much time had passed, at the sound of someone’s footsteps. He thought it might just be a passerby, but the fear was inevitable.

The unknown footsteps stopped right in front of Han’s door.

Beep. The sound of someone presenting a key card to the terminal outside the door echoed. Startled, Han hastily crawled under the bed, hiding his body.

Thunk.

The door opened disappointingly easily, and the intruder, wearing leather shoes, entered the room.

In Han’s sight, Oxford shoes with a smooth sheen, showcasing intricate design at the point where the toe connects…

He knew whose shoes those were. Captivated by fear, Han tightly closed his eyes.

“If you run away like that…”

A languid voice flowed from above.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find you?”

It was a question asking if I knew that he was here. When Han cautiously opened his eyes, his face was right in front of mine.

“!!”

At that moment, my hair was grabbed straight away, and I was dragged out of the bed. It hurt as if my scalp was tearing. Due to being dragged ruthlessly, my shoulders and back collided with the bed legs like a chin resting on it.

“I’ll make sure you can’t go anywhere. I’ll cut your legs.”

A sharp blade appeared in front of Han. The man threw the knife into the air, catching it to fix it conveniently for a downward swing. Then, he swung the blade down onto Han’s knee.

Blood spurted out like a fountain, splashing on the man’s face. With blood smeared all over his face, the man looked like a butcher who had just finished slaughtering livestock.

The man lifted the knife once again. And…

“Aaaah!”

Han woke up, shivering, from his dream.

“Haah… Haah…”

Han immediately turned his head to look around. The place he was in was the motel room he had entered in the early dawn, and he was alone in the room, soaked in cold sweat.

There was no blood, no man. Everything was just a dream.

The aura of fear that had captured both body and mind was soon overwhelmed by a sense of futility. It was just a dream, but that man seemed terrifying.

However, that man, being the kind of person he was, might be dismissed as just a nightmare to someone else. But for Han, it wasn’t that simple.

Feeling it would be difficult to fall asleep again, Han prepared to leave a bit early. He discarded the wig and clothes in the trash can and left the motel. Stepping resolutely under the bright sunlight, as if marking the first step for humanity on the moon.

In the deepening season, in the cool autumn air, the scent of freedom wafted.