My Bloody Valentine - 88

By the time Taeshin looked back, Oh Seong-jin was already holding a handgun.

His face, smeared with blood and twisted in agony, showed that his pride and dignity as an organization member had vanished. Oh Seong-jin glared at Taeshin with eyes mixed with hatred, disgust, longing, and envy.

“You little street rat with blood still dripping from your head… Die. Please just die already!”

Bang!

The deafening gunshot echoed. Taeshin, unable to believe that he would actually shoot, slowly raised his head in disbelief.

He saw the bullet embedded in the wall, with shattered cement fragments flying and dust swirling around. However, there was no pain anywhere in Taeshin’s body.

Oh Seong-jin, bleeding profusely from his head, was gradually crumbling, and behind him appeared a woman in a dress holding a broken bottle. Her long hair partially covered her face, but Taeshin recognized her immediately.

Running over, Taeshin kicked the still-smoking gun out from under the sofa and quickly checked on Han.

Fortunately, there were only minor injuries from the blood splattered when he struck Oh Seong-jin’s head. Taeshin took the broken bottle from Han’s hand and tossed the wig that had slipped down onto the floor. Han was visibly trembling.

“Are you okay?”

Han nodded despite his teeth chattering. But it wasn’t over yet. Since there had been gunfire, the members of the organization from the first floor or basement would soon be rushing in.

As Taeshin scanned the area, he spotted a wall-mounted closet installed firmly against the wall. It was where guests’ coats were stored.

Taeshin quickly picked up the shivering Han and opened the closet door, shoving him inside.

For now, he needed to lure the others away from here. He had to keep them from seeing Han.

Looking into Han’s eyes, Taeshin knelt down on one knee and cupped his cheek with his palm.

“Wait here. I’ll come back for you.”

It was the same phrase he had left years ago. Han grabbed Taeshin’s arm tightly.

“You didn’t come back!”

Thick tears flowed down Han’s cheeks as he sat in the closet. It was a place where he and Taeshin often hid when donors visited the orphanage.

“I waited, waited, and waited! You said that back then too, but you didn’t come!”

“What do you mean…?”

A flicker of confusion crossed Taeshin’s eyes as he looked at Han, who was shaking his head in despair, scattering tears.

“What are you talking about?”

“Ugh…”

“This isn’t the time for this. The gunfire means they’ll come again.”

“I don’t care!”

Just then, Taeshin’s keen hearing picked up on someone’s presence. When he turned his head, he found that Oh Seong-jin’s spot was empty. He had quietly crawled away.

“We have to catch him. If we leave that bastard alone, he might harm you again.”

“Back then, you could just protect me!”

“……”

Seeing the tips of Han’s fingers go pale as he held onto Taeshin’s sleeve, Taeshin furrowed his brow in confusion. He couldn’t understand why Han was so desperate.

“What is it? Do you want to die together?”

With another tear dropping, Han nodded vigorously.

“Y-Yeah. Let’s just die together here.”

“Die together?”

Taeshin let out a laugh, sounding more pleased than ever.

Han nodded again. He was shaking so violently that it was hard to tell if he was nodding or trembling.

The poorly applied lipstick on Han’s face was a mess, making him look like a person who had lost their mind. In seeing Han, who was completely consumed by anxiety and had lost his reason, Taeshin discovered himself having a lowly thought he couldn’t express anywhere.

It would be nice if you really did lose your mind.

If you became such an idiot that you couldn’t eat, dress, or sleep alone. Then you would have to rely solely on me to survive.

After briefly imagining Han crawling around on the floor, clutching his collar and unable to utter proper words, Taeshin let out an inappropriate, pleasant laugh. The way he laughed as if he had lost his mind looked bizarre.

After a while, Taeshin’s expression returned to its previous neutrality, as if he had never laughed. He grabbed the thin fabric of Han’s dress, layered like butterfly wings, and pulled him close to himself. Then, gazing at Han’s face quietly, he could no longer hold back and kissed him deeply.

Taeshin’s tongue quickly swept through Han’s mouth as if to coat it with his saliva. Then, wrapping around Han’s stiff tongue, he gently rubbed it before reluctantly pulling out.

Looking down at Han’s lips, now wet with his saliva, Taeshin’s eyes swirled with tumultuous emotions.

Even if death was waiting in a dead-end alley, I wanted to go all the way with you.

You appeared in my life, which had nothing precious or to protect. If I were to meet my end while trying to protect you at the conclusion of that meaningless life, it would be meaningful in its own way.

Deciding in his heart, Taeshin slowly removed Han’s hand from his sleeve. What he had just done felt like a farewell kiss, making Han incredibly anxious. Han grabbed Taeshin’s sleeve more tightly, finally wrapping his arms around Taeshin’s shoulders and pleading.

“I told you not to go…!”

“I’m not leaving. I have things to take care of.”

Seemingly pleased by Han’s reaction holding onto him, Taeshin gently caressed Han’s face and pressed his lips against his round forehead before pulling away. Telling him to wait, he lightly tapped Han’s cheek twice and then reluctantly got up. He began to slowly approach the dead Yang.

Fearing he would abandon him, Han’s gaze followed Taeshin, only then reaching the sight of the dead bodies. Corpses with knives still stuck in them, blood splattered everywhere, and someone’s severed hand rolling on the table.

“……!”

For someone as sensitive as Han, it was an excessive stimulus. His eyes rolled back, and he soon lost consciousness.

Taeshin took a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully wiped the handle of the knife embedded in Yang’s chest. He cleaned everything his hand had touched, including the fountain pen lodged in the back of Yang’s hand.

Then, he pulled out a lighter from his pocket, took the documents on the table, and went toward the fire alarm to set it on fire. Soon, the fire alarm detected the heat and smoke, triggering the sprinklers to begin pouring water.

Taeshin washed the ash and blood off his hands under the water pouring down from above. Then, he went to check on Han, who seemed to have fainted, and kept an eye on the door. But no matter how long he waited, the members of the organization he expected to arrive did not come.

After a while, the door burst open, revealing Woo-sin. He too was soaked from the water pouring from the sprinklers, and his face had small scratches, evidence of a fight.

“Ha… what is this…?”

Woo-sin let out a deep sigh as he looked at the room filled with corpses. Then, he turned his head to look at the two of them.

Han was in the closet, and Taeshin was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall in front of the closet. Under different circumstances, it could even be described as a romantic scene.

“Is all of that…?”

“I didn’t kill him.”

Taeshin said. His face showed no fluctuation of emotion, making it impossible to tell if his words were a lie. However, what had happened was painfully obvious.

“Then who did?”

“Oh Seong-jin.”

“Oh Seong-jin? That skinny, dried fish-like middle-aged guy did this?”

“Yeah.”

Woosin turned away, looking up at the still-spraying sprinkler.

“This water must have destroyed a lot of evidence.”

“Is that so?”

“Could you at least act a little more concerned? You don’t look sad at all.”

“….”

The thought of both of them returning to paperwork was overwhelmingly discouraging. Woosin brushed his hair back and looked at Taeshin again.

“I lost Oh Seong-jin. There’s a passage in the laundry room that leads to the next building. He escaped through there.”

Taeshin, who was expected to be angry, nodded quietly in an unexpected calmness. Woosin asked.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I have to catch him.”

“Don’t get involved.”

“If I leave him alive, he’ll become a threat. He might threaten Han again.”

“I’m not saying to just let it go. Maybe… there might be someone who can catch him instead.”

Woosin’s expression, as he glanced at the body of the dead lamb and then back at Taeshin, was quite significant. Taeshin, narrowing his eyes in suspicion, quickly understood what Woosin was implying.

As a police officer, Taeshin could not directly punish Oh Seong-jin for his crimes, so it was a gentle suggestion to defer the judgment to others. For instance, the underworld.

A small smile appeared at the corners of Taeshin’s lips as if he had come up with a brilliant idea. He shot a sidelong glance at Woosin, who had just proposed a solution for dealing with Oh Seong-jin.

“By the way, it seems like it hasn’t even been thirty minutes.”

“That guy suddenly went in. What could I do?”

It made sense why the members hadn’t rushed in despite hearing gunfire; Woosin had been blocking them at the entrance.

Taeshin stood up and swung open the closet door. Only then did Woosin’s eyes widen as he finally checked Han’s condition.

“Is she… wearing a skirt?”

“Don’t look.”

Taeshin quickly took off his jacket to cover Han’s legs and lifted her into his arms. Woosin let out a breath, astonished.

Outside, where the sirens were loud, police cars and onlookers were gathered. The members who had been guarding the entrance were being led away in handcuffs. After Taeshin came out with Han, a yellow tape was stretched across the entrance.

As Woosin walked alongside Taeshin toward the waiting ambulance, he said, “As long as she’s next to you, she can never be truly safe.”

“….”

“You know well that this kind of thing can happen again at any time, right?”

“….”

For a moment, Taeshin stared blankly into the air before looking at Woosin with dry eyes.

“I won’t take advice from a guy who pretends to be a friend while hiding the fact that he’s a cop.”

“Seriously….”

Taeshin brushed past Woosin, placed Han in the ambulance, and took a seat next to her.

Despite so many people dying around him, Taeshin came out unscathed. Woosin shook his head as if to express disbelief, then closed the ambulance door and tapped on it to signal for it to depart.

Inside the moving vehicle, Taeshin ordered Junho to find a reliable journalist, while he quietly gazed down at Han, who was in a deep sleep.

Though he pretended to ignore Woosin’s advice, the look in Taeshin’s eyes had grown darker as he stared at Han.

The next morning, there was news that stirred the entire nation.

‘Suspicious Activities of a Multinational Criminal Organization… Rising Concerns Among Citizens Over Power Struggles’

= Reporter Judo-Young

Last night (27th), at around 10 PM, citizens reported hearing gunfire from the entertainment district in ○○-dong, leading to a police response.

The incident occurred at an entertainment venue in ○○-dong, where members of a criminal organization (hereafter referred to as gangsters) are suspected to have engaged in a power struggle, resulting in the deaths of four Chinese nationals and four Koreans.

…

Some of the deceased Chinese individuals are believed to be members of a Chinese criminal organization. The police are seeking a Mr. O, an executive from a construction company, who is considered to have a deep connection to this case.

[email protected]**

Exactly three days after the article was published, the police found Oh Seong-jin.

He was discovered at a construction site, impaled by rebar through his torso.