My Bloody Valentine - 28

It seems the fever is rising. The labored breath escaping from the mouth and nose felt hot.

Barefoot, staggering down the carpeted hallway, Han looked so precarious that it wouldn’t be surprising if he collapsed at any moment.

Upon pressing the button for the underground third floor in the elevator, Han leaned against the wall as if crumbling. Soon after, he sank down, almost collapsing.

When descending from the elevator, he had to crawl out on all fours. It was a sight where even the minimum dignity as a human seemed to disappear.

After waiting and walking, Han returned to Room 301. The unlocked door easily opened, and as he entered, he couldn’t close the door, collapsing right in front of the place to remove shoes.

“Hanah!”

When he opened his eyes under the hand shaking his shoulder, Han was still sprawled in front of the entrance. Justice’s worried face came into view.

I was supposed to see her outside later… to be captured and turn her and Grandma into his hostages like this… I couldn’t help but feel disgusted with my own incompetence.

“Sorry, Yujung-ah… I… got caught…”

“Oh, really…”

Yujung supported Han and led him to the bed. Han’s body collapsed as if it had been waiting.

During his sleep, he continued to have nightmares. Longing, resentment, hatred, and helplessness alternately came to him.

Every time, Han thought of Taesin as if finding a refuge. And at the same time, he fiercely hated him.

Throughout the time he was suffering from fever and body aches, YooYujung looked after Han. She even asked the kitchen lady to make porridge and brought medicine for the difficult-to-move Han.

After about three days of being bedridden, Han could finally recover to some extent. Yujung comforted him as if comforting him.

“Don’t blame yourself too much. It would have been weirder if you hadn’t been caught.”

“Why?”

“This place is originally not a place for checking IDs. Oh, by the way, checking IDs means bribing the police to make them your people.”

“Yeah.”

“But they did it this time. They checked things like CCTV and taxi records. Nowadays, there’s almost no place without CCTV.”

“Ah…”

The words of Taesin, who said his debt exceeded 2 billion, came to Han’s mind.

How ridiculous it would have been to check the recorded video of him. Watching him nervously change buses.

Yujung hesitated for a moment and asked Han, who was lost in thought.

“How’s your grandma… Is she doing well?”

Yujung deliberately didn’t mention Grandma. Since there was still a debt of over a hundred million, the day to escape was still far away, but hearing Grandma’s voice would make him miss her uncontrollably. The warm and cozy embrace of Grandma.

“Yeah. She’s healthy. When we worked together in the fields, her basket was always much heavier than mine because she was stronger and faster than me.”

Han talked about Grandma for a long time. While listening to Han’s story, Yujung shed tears several times, and both of them cried out loud.

Now, Han took out a spring notebook and a pen left behind, which seemed like they belonged to the person who lived here before. Then, he started drawing on the notepad with lines.

Using the tricolor pen with black, red, and blue appropriately, he drew a low wall, a water tap, a plum tree planted at the corner, and laundry hanging on the clothesline. After that, he drew a tranquil house with a tiled roof.

“Wow… It’s exactly the same as the Grandma’s house in my memories… When it’s early summer, these plums on this plum tree turn bright red. We used to pick a bowlful and eat until our hands turned red… How can you vividly draw it like this with a pen?”

Looking at the drawing, Yujung couldn’t help but admire it. Her smooth, well-maintained fingertips gently touched various parts of the drawing as if exploring memories.

“Han, have you ever learned to draw?”

“A little when I was young.”

Han spoke with a nostalgic expression, sharing stories about his childhood.

The elementary school Han attended taught extracurricular activities such as creative art, crafts, and badminton under the name “After-School Classroom.”

The teacher in charge of creative art also operated a small art academy in the town. After closely examining Han’s drawing, she asked if he had ever thought about studying it properly and even inquired about his parents’ contact information.

However, upon learning that Han lived in an orphanage, she expressed sympathy. After a brief moment of contemplation, she suggested that during the winter vacation, she could come to her academy three times a week.

Not knowing how to express his inability to pay for the academy, Han, who was hesitating, was told that she wouldn’t charge him. She even complimented his talent in art, saying that his doodles on the desk, which he did while sitting and unable to play like other kids, turned out to be helpful.

Aware of her lack of shame, Han nodded his head. Drawing was one of the few things that brought him joy.

Thus, Han started learning painting step by step from her academy. About a year into learning to draw, her husband was transferred to Seoul, and as he had to close the academy, the learning naturally came to an end.

“Can you draw people too?”

“I’m not good at it, but I’ll practice. I’ll definitely draw your picture later.”

At Han’s words, YooYujung burst into laughter.

“Huh? Why are you laughing?”

“Isn’t that a death flag? You know, in movies or dramas, when someone says that, they always die just before completing the drawing.”

“Ah…”

Turning away from Han, who was smiling back at her, Yujung looked up at the ceiling and lay down. In a voice that seemed like she was dreaming, she spoke.

“Han, let’s quickly pay off all our troublesome debts… and go to Angol Village together.”

Han, who came down from the bed with a smirk, lay down next to Yujung.

“That’s also like a death flag.”

“Oh? Come to think of it, maybe it is.”

For a moment, the room, filled with the subdued laughter of the two, quieted down enough to feel awkward.

Similar souls recognize each other even from a distance and exchange greetings. That was the case with Yujung and Han. Two friends with similar souls, lying side by side on the basement floor where not a single ray of light entered, continued their whimsical fantasies about freedom.

❖ ❖ ❖

“What should we do with this?”

Junho looked back. One of his subordinates was holding an eco-bag with peeled-off prints.

“What is that?”

“Well… it’s something that the kid brought with him when Chairman Jang brought him here.”

Junho’s eyes turned icy. To find that small child, Junho had to search through CCTV across the country for days on end, even reddening his eyes. Just thinking about the process made his teeth chatter.

On the opposite side, one of the standing men spoke.

“It seems like Chairman Jang is treating him a bit differently… so it’s a bit… not right to just throw it away.”

“Give it here. I had something to say, and it worked out well.”

Taking the bag as if fishing it out, Junho didn’t hesitate and moved his steps. Taking the elevator down to the basement third floor, he knocked on Han’s door.

After a long time passed since knocking, the door opened just enough for the outside to peek through. Junho, with a stern expression, inserted his hand through the opening and forcefully pulled the door wide open.

“Ugh!”

Discovering Junho standing at the door, Han let out a gasp, his body trembling violently. His figure was reflected in the sharp-edged glasses that Junho wore.

The eyes visible beyond the glasses were long and slender. Not as imposing as Jang Taesin, but still a person with tremendous presence.

“W-why did you come…?”

Asking with a voice trembling like a goat, Han, looking at Junho with a scared expression, received an incredulous chuckle in response.

It was supposed to be normal to fear Taesin if he was to be afraid, but ironically, in front of him, who should be feared, Han was shaking as if he might wet himself at any moment.

“Are you scared?”

“W-well, th-that…”

Han’s pupils shook helplessly.

“If you’re so scared, what made you run away with such bravado?”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Forget the apologies. So, are you planning to run away again?”

“N-no… I won’t run away now. I told Taesin that I wouldn’t…”

“Where’s Taesin? Damn it, so cheeky.”

Junho pushed forward, speaking as he shoved his head forward. Han, startled by this unexpected action, flailed his arms in the air several times and stumbled backward.

The more you look at it, the more incredible it becomes. How did he dare to confront Taesin on such a topic? It was astonishing.

“I hope Mr. Lee Han can behave a bit more properly. It bothers me.”

“W-who is bo-bothering you…”

“Don’t you know?”

Approaching with a step, Junho sat down in front of Han, who was crouched down.

“You’re Chairman Jang’s pet.”

From the long-torn eyes, a chilly gaze pierced through.

“I don’t know why, but you bother him. So, act properly. Don’t think about running away. Got it?”

The eyes that flickered as if ready to devour something softened unexpectedly, as if asking when those eyes had done that. Junho embraced the eco-bag and spoke again in a respectful tone.

“Do you understand what I mean?”

Han nodded his head vigorously, as if his head was about to fall off. The meaning of the threat that he wouldn’t let him escape again was clearly conveyed through his gaze.

Like an animal pretending to be unconscious when meeting a predator, Han stayed frozen in place for a while even after Junho left, blinking only his eyes.

Opening the eco-bag he held, inside were the hoodie jacket he bought that day, the padding vest and scarf he intended to give to his grandmother as a gift.

Han hung the jacket in the closet and neatly folded what he bought for his grandmother, placing them in a paper bag. Whenever he could leave this place, he wanted to go straight to his grandmother and give her the gifts.

Finally, taking out his wallet, Han retrieved a piece of paper from a deep slot.

Droplets of tears fell onto the letter with crooked and uneven characters of a third-grader.

“Don’t go anywhere. Wait for me. I’ll come to find you for sure.”