Chapter – 02
At that moment, rather than wondering how he knew my name, I felt a certain sense of certainty.
In a world where everything felt unfamiliar and ambiguous, it was simply because of the man’s voice clearly pronouncing my name.
Ah, I really hate situations where I have to choose between two options like this!
After hesitating for a moment, I quickly climbed into the passenger seat.
The moment I fastened my seat belt, the car shot forward like a bullet.
“AAAH!”
The man immediately used his right arm to stop my body from being thrown forward.
“Hold on to something.”
Then can I hold on to your head? Because right now, I feel like tearing my hair out…….
In the meantime, the man turned into an alley between the buildings.
He raced through it as though he didn’t care what obstacles or people were in his way.
But what shocked me even more than his reckless driving was the speed he was going.
The scenery outside the car window flashed past, leaving afterimages.
With terrified eyes, I checked the dashboard.
“…….”
120 kilometers per hour…… in an alley like this? Is he out of his mind?
“Um, don’t you think we’re going a little too fast……?”
“I can’t help it right now. Just bear with it for a little while.”
I only understood what he meant after checking the side mirror.
Wooo-oo, wooo-oo, wooo-oo……
The police cars that had arrived late earlier were chasing after us.
And they were moving just as fast as he was.
The man skillfully dodged pedestrians and obstacles scattered throughout the alley.
His driving was practically acrobatic, but this was hardly the time to admire his skills.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
There was no way I could bring myself to look ahead.
This is insane!
My body, strapped into the seat belt, was thrown from side to side by his rough driving.
As my head repeatedly slammed against the window, I thought:
Am I being chased right now?
Why? I haven’t done anything wrong!
Meanwhile, the car’s bouncing became a little calmer.
However, for some reason, it seemed as though we were going even faster than before.
What is going on?
Anxiously, I lifted one eyelid.
Before I knew it, we had left the alley and were on a road.
“…….”
Not just an ordinary road.
A highway.
I turned toward the driver’s seat with wide, horrified eyes.
I couldn’t see his expression anyway because he was wearing a mask, but even without looking closely, I could tell that unlike me, he was completely calm.
I turned my attention back to the side mirror.
The police cars were still following closely behind us.
No—
One of them seemed to speed up even more before moving alongside us on our left.
BOOM!
The approaching police car slammed dangerously into our side before pulling away.
They say that when a person becomes too frightened, they can’t even scream.
I never wanted to find out whether that was true like this!
Swallowing my scream, I gripped the handle tightly.
Without showing even the slightest sign of panic, the man avoided the continuing collisions with driving skills that were practically acrobatic.
Then he suddenly slowed down and sharply turned the car around, heading back the way we had come.
It was around then that I heard a strange sound.
Crack.
With a sound like something being crushed, the steering wheel was ripped completely out from its base.
“Gasp!”
I stared at the torn-off steering wheel in utter shock.
Did he just…… rip the steering wheel out with his bare hands?
The steering wheel…… actually came off?
“Ah……”
The man looked down at the steering wheel and let out a sigh.
Excuse me! I’m the one who should be sighing here!
Just as I stared back and forth between the ripped-out steering wheel and the man in disbelief—
“It’s okay.”
It’s okay? How could anyone possibly say this is okay?
“We’ll be reaching a curve soon anyway……”
He casually threw the steering wheel out the window and muttered,
in an incredibly calm voice,
“Then we can jump out there.”
“……What?”
What did I just hear?
What does he want us to do?
“We can’t change direction from here on. The car is useless now, so if we stay like this, they’ll catch up to us soon. There’s no choice but to jump out.”
“…….”
“After that, we’ll have to continue on foot instead of using the car, but there’s nothing we can do.”
……He’s crazy.
He was definitely crazy.
I had used the tiny amount of courage I’d managed to scrape together just to get into a crazy man’s car.
I suddenly wanted to go back exactly ten minutes and make every choice differently.
I shouldn’t have gotten in this car! I should’ve just run toward that other police car!
You idiot! What exactly did you trust about yourself that made you overestimate your own judgment this much?!
“Get ready within one minute. We’re jumping soon.”
While I was mentally beating myself up, the man turned toward me and said,
“Open the door now.”
By that point, I’d even forgotten how to breathe.
“You can keep riding if you want. I won’t stop you. But in a situation like this, it’s better to jump out. Getting out of an overturned car is more troublesome than you might think.”
I stared blankly ahead.
Even with the steering wheel ripped out, the car was still smoothly speeding down the highway.
There were no vehicles ahead of us, and the road stretched straight into the distance.
But this wouldn’t last long.
I’m going to die.
I’m really going to die…….
“I’ll count to three now. When I say three, jump immediately.”
No! No way! You jump!
Either way, I was probably going to die, but what kind of person would actually jump out of a speeding car just because someone told them to?
Even if such a person existed somewhere, that had nothing to do with me.
At least, I’m definitely not that person!
I shook my head repeatedly.
My vision quickly became blurry.
When I bit down on my trembling lips, the man, who had been staring at me intently, asked,
“……Are you crying?”
Wouldn’t you cry if you were in my position?
I had opened my eyes and found myself in an unfamiliar place.
I called the police, only for some crazy man to appear.
And now, because I had trusted that crazy man, I was about to die!
I was so terrified that I couldn’t even make a sound.
I simply let the tears fall silently.
A few seconds later—
The man stared at me for a moment, clicked his tongue, and suddenly leaned his upper body toward me.
I flinched and pulled myself backward.
But there was nowhere to go.
The back was a dead end.
Pressing my back tightly against the closed door, I stared at the skull.
If I wasn’t mistaken, the man was trying to hug me.
This crazy bastard!
“Wh-what…… are you……?”
“You don’t seem like you’ll be able to do it voluntarily. I’ll help you.”
“AAH!”
I shook my head and grabbed the man’s shoulder.
Instead of coming any closer, he stopped and looked at me.
Only then was I finally able to express my refusal.
It was only one word, but it was all I could manage.
“I-I don’t want to…….”
“…….”
“I don’t want to jump. Just…… just slow down. Step on the brakes. Isn’t that better?”
“Then we’ll get caught like this.”
He immediately replied.
“If those people catch us, you really won’t be able to go home anymore.”
Really? But if I jump out, I won’t be able to go home either, will I?
I blinked my tear-filled eyes and thought about the police cars behind us.
If I can’t trust anyone, then who are those people chasing us?
“Who are those people? Why…… why are they chasing me?”
“Because they want Ms. Myung Sena to be here.”
“Then why? Where is this place?”
“That’s……”
The man hesitated for a moment before saying,
“If you jump with me, I’ll explain then.”
Hey, you crazy bastard!
“What do you mean by that?! If we die, I won’t be able to hear your explanation or anything else!”
“We won’t die.”
His voice was filled with absolute certainty.
“And you won’t get hurt either. I promise.”
I stared into the hollow eyes of his mask before turning my gaze back toward the road.
I could see a curve not far ahead.
Soon, the car would smash through the guardrail and fall down below.
It was insane.
I knew it was truly an insane idea.
But I thought back over all the unbelievable things that had happened one after another since I opened my eyes.
And after going through everything in my mind, I looked at the skull-masked man in front of me.
The suspicious man who had appeared at exactly the right moment and told me he would take me home.
……Ah.
I don’t know anymore.
I unfastened my seat belt and wrapped my arms around his thick neck.
The man flinched for a moment.
Then he immediately wrapped his arms around me and pulled me toward himself.
My body was easily dragged toward the driver’s seat.
He braced his foot against the car’s floorboard and opened the driver’s door.
Whoosh!
The rushing wind and rapidly passing night scenery burst into the car.
That was the last thing I saw before squeezing my eyes shut.
I didn’t have the courage to keep my eyes open until the moment we jumped.
Whoosh!
The body holding me threw itself outside.
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in the body pressed against mine.
The sensation of falling somewhere engulfed my entire body.
I clenched my teeth and endured the dizzying sensation.
Behind us, I heard a loud BOOM, CRASH! followed by the sound of something being crushed and mangled.
It was probably the police car we had been riding in.
As the sensation of falling finally came to an end, our bodies hit the ground somewhere.
Then we began rolling and crashing into things over and over again.
I could feel the impact and pain clearly, making me grimace, but I couldn’t even manage to scream.
Even with my eyes closed, I was dizzy.
……Will I even be able to get up?
By the time I was able to form a coherent thought again, the violent movement had finally come to an end.
