Chapter 07
The door closed.
Barely ten minutes had passed since Seobin had stepped away under the pretense of making a phone call.
In that short time, the entrance leading back to the outdoor lounge had been sealed off.
The guards who had been standing watch were gone, leaving only a red safety barrier blocking the doorway.
Beyond the tightly shut double doors, the music had grown louder, accompanied by cheers and applause. It seemed the atmosphere had completely changed after Yoo Inha’s speech.
What do I do?
Standing alone in the dim hotel corridor, Seobin hesitated before taking out her phone from her clutch.
Executive Director Kim Sahyuk.
She let out a quiet sigh at the sight of his name before pressing the call button.
Ring… Ring…
The call connected, but Sahyuk didn’t answer.
Listening to the endless ringing, Seobin glanced around.
A faint light spilled from the end of the hallway.
Maybe there’s a side entrance.
She ended the call, slipped her phone back into her clutch, and headed toward the opposite end of the corridor.
The closer she got, the louder the music became.
It was probably a door leading near the DJ booth.
Relieved, she quickened her pace.
She couldn’t very well stand outside the entrance looking like she’d been thrown out of the party before she’d even accomplished anything.
As she approached, the bass from the party speakers pounded through the floor and into her body.
She reached the side door and was just about to slip her hand through the crack when a couple pushed the door open from the other side.
“Ah! Fuck! You scared the hell out of me!”
The fashionably dressed woman shrieked, clutching her chest as she collapsed onto the floor.
The man behind her wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
His face was obscured by the lights shining from the party behind him, but he was unmistakably tall and powerfully built.
“Mina, what’s wrong? What happened?”
“God, you scared me! I almost twisted my ankle!”
“I told you to watch where you’re going.”
With the man’s support, Mina staggered to her feet before glaring at Seobin.
Whether it was because of the twelve-centimeter heels or because alcohol had flushed her cheeks bright red, she looked unsteady.
“…I’m sorry.”
Seobin apologized calmly.
The woman only looked more irritated.
Under the dim corridor lights, the mascara and eyeliner smeared beneath her eyes stood out even more.
Not wanting to get dragged into an argument, Seobin quietly waited for them to pass.
Then the man’s gaze landed on her.
Unexpectedly, he spoke.
“Bae Seobin?”
Pushing Mina gently aside, the man walked toward her.
Both Seobin and the woman beside him frowned.
“It’s Bae Seobin, right? Bae Seohyun’s little sister… It is you. I didn’t recognize you with your hair like that.”
He stepped beneath the corridor light.
Dark skin.
Deep-set double eyelids.
Prominent cheekbones.
A large, muscular body honed through years of athletic training.
Jang Jaegeun.
One of the people who had entered the swimming pool on the day Seohyun died.
The third suspect in her sister’s death.
“Oppa, you know her?”
“Yeah. Same high school.”
Mina asked lazily, and Jaegeun answered as though he’d simply run into the younger sister of an old classmate.
His casual attitude left Seobin hollow.
Does he even remember my sister’s death?
Otherwise, how could he say her name so casually?
“Anyway, what are you doing here? Even now, Yoo Inha makes a face like he bit into shit whenever someone mentions Bae Seohyun. No way that bastard invited you. So whose connections got you in? Someone I know?”
Seobin’s expression hardened.
Why is everything so easy for you people?
Her own time had stopped the day her sister died.
Yet Jaegeun spoke of Seohyun as though she were nothing more than an old memory.
Rage made her entire body tremble.
Meanwhile, Jaegeun continued without a care.
“What’s with that look? Don’t tell me you still suspect me. Hey, I’m not that kind of guy.”
Seobin let out a cold, mocking laugh.
She stepped closer until she was looking straight up at him.
“You’re right. I don’t think you’re smart enough for me to suspect you. Killing someone isn’t something just anyone can do.”
“…Ha.”
Jaegeun blinked before bursting into laughter.
“Wow… Bae Seohyun’s little sister has quite the mouth.”
He laughed loudly with Mina for a while before wiping the grin from his face and leaning toward Seobin.
“But seriously… your sister got herself killed running after Yoo Inha, and somehow that’s my fault? You’re the crazy one for blaming innocent people. Huh?”
Alcohol reeked from his breath.
Seobin didn’t back away.
She stared directly into his bloodshot eyes.
Suppressing the anger boiling inside her, she deliberately smiled even more calmly.
“It’s funny.”
She tilted her head.
“We’ve barely met again, and all you’ve talked about is Bae Seohyun. You’re making me suspicious of things I never even considered.”
She paused.
“Now I’m curious what exactly you were doing at the pool that day.”
Jaegeun’s pupils shook.
His expression changed instantly.
The veins around his eyes bulged as his entire body tensed.
“You bitch…”
His flushed face moved closer.
He jabbed a finger against her forehead, forcing her backward.
“Think you’re tough now?”
Even as her head was shoved from side to side, Seobin refused to look away.
Infuriated, Jaegeun grabbed her shoulder and slammed her against the wall.
Bang!
Her back struck the concrete.
Trapping her between his arm and the wall, he twisted his lips into a cruel smile.
“Your sister died chasing after Yoo Inha. Why the fuck are you taking it out on me? Want to die too?”
“So you do remember now.”
Her voice remained steady.
“Funny. Back then you said you couldn’t remember anything. I honestly thought you’d developed amnesia.”
Immediately after Seohyun’s death, during the police investigation, Jang Jaegeun had admitted to being at the pool but claimed that because of his panic disorder, his memory of the incident was fragmented and he couldn’t recall the details.
“Be especially careful around Jang Jaegeun. He’s bad news.”
“Weren’t you two friends?”
“Friends? He asked me to introduce him to some trainee idols. I said no, and he started cursing at me.”
Seobin remembered her sister’s words.
Their conflict hadn’t been serious enough to drive someone to murder.
But considering how violently Jaegeun reacted to the smallest provocation…
Who knew?
“You crazy bitch really have a death wish.”
“Or were you lying because you were afraid someone would find the hidden camera?”
“Fuck!”
The veins in Jaegeun’s neck bulged as he grabbed Seobin’s throat with one massive hand and slammed her against the wall.
The back of her head hit hard.
Pain exploded through her skull.
Blood rushed to her face.
Breathing became impossible.
“H-Hey, Oppa! Stop! This is too much! You’re going to kill her!”
“Shut up.”
“Ah! What’s wrong with you?!”
Terrified by how far he’d gone, Mina grabbed his arm to stop him.
Jaegeun shoved her away with his elbow, sending her sprawling.
I need evidence.
She needed proof that Jang Jaegeun remembered what he had seen and heard that day.
Seobin desperately searched for a security camera.
A dome-shaped CCTV camera blinked near the corridor leading to the main lounge entrance.
But she was trapped in the dim corner of the hallway.
There was no guarantee it had captured anything clearly.
Her fingers searched frantically inside her clutch for her phone.
Jaegeun noticed immediately.
He seized her wrist before she could reach it.
“What, you gonna record me?”
He laughed in disbelief.
“My uncle’s a chief prosecutor, and my other uncle’s a police chief. You should learn how the world works, you naive little bitch.”
“…So… you really… did… something…”
“You fucking—!”
His grip tightened.
Seobin’s lungs reached their limit.
Beside them, Mina stamped her feet helplessly, repeating,
“What do we do? Oh my God… he’s gone crazy…”
The commotion drew hotel guests coming upstairs one after another.
“…Tell… me…”
Her vision darkened.
Just like the day she had sunk helplessly beneath the water where her sister died, strength slowly left her body.
She felt herself being dragged toward death before an overwhelming force she couldn’t resist.
So this…
This is what it felt like then…
“Bae Seobin. Stay awake… Bae Seobin… Seobin!”
A man’s voice echoed through her fading consciousness.
Her eyes slowly opened.
Thud!
Jang Jaegeun’s face suddenly disappeared from in front of her.
She vaguely heard someone curse.
“Damn…”
“Haa…”
Released from Jaegeun’s grip, Seobin gasped desperately for air.
Her legs gave out beneath her.
Just as she was about to collapse, someone caught her by the shoulders and held her upright.
“Bae Seobin.”
A familiar voice.
“Breathe.”
She looked up.
It was Sahyuk.
With the very same eyes he had looked at her with when he had saved her years ago…
Sahyuk looked at Seobin once again.
