#118

“……What is this?”

Lee Daon rubbed his eyes in disbelief. But no matter how much he rubbed, the text on the screen didn’t change.

“Damn it, what kind of bullshit article is this?”

Desperately trying to hold back his curse, which had been reduced to avoid angering Goo Won, the words spilled out from Lee Daon’s lips. He stared at the article in disbelief, then grabbed his smartphone and dialed Goo Won’s number.

Only the monotonous tone of the call continued to ring, but Goo Won didn’t pick up. Since he was the kind of person who always answered the phone promptly unless he was seriously busy, the fact that he wasn’t answering made a sense of unease creep across Lee Daon’s face. He looked at his hyungs standing before him with trembling eyes.

“We tried calling him after seeing the article, but he didn’t pick up either……”

With a voice full of emotion, Nam Yisol said this while his red, bloodshot eyes were fixed on Lee Daon’s smartphone.

“It can’t be, right? This is all some kind of misunderstanding, right? There’s no way the president would be like that.”

Yoo Euiseo, who had been standing silently next to Jung Hosu, nervously opened his mouth, but no one answered his words. A heavy silence fell in the living room, and Yoo Euiseo, instead of saying anything further, simply bit his lips. Meanwhile, Lee Daon kept calling Goo Won, trying again and again as the automated message kept saying that the call couldn’t be connected.

After repeating this about seven times, Lee Daon’s body slowly crumbled. With a thud, his knees hit the floor, and Lee Gaon jumped up in shock, grabbing his younger brother.

“Daon!”

At the same time, Lee Daon’s face began to twist in pain. Although Lee Gaon had expected it to happen soon, he never imagined it would happen this way, this quickly.

***

The pain from hitting my head against the window was sharp. I groaned in discomfort from the throbbing pain, then opened the door and stepped out of the car. Struggling to steady my wobbly body, I slowly blinked. Then, in the air, a translucent window appeared before me.

[Would you like to check Player Goo Won’s information?]

[Yes / No]

“……I can’t believe I’m going to get help from something like that.”

I clicked my tongue at the floating window and furrowed my brows, glancing around.

As usual, when the translucent window appeared, the surrounding time seemed to freeze. It was a proud moment to have remembered the window’s existence just as the car swerved close to hitting the guardrail.

I alternated my gaze between my car, which was about to collide, and the truck still driving in the wrong lane. I figured I should get Secretary Jung Minjae out of the car first.

When I opened the driver’s side door, I saw Jung Minjae biting his lip with a terrified look on his face. He must have been very scared. I watched him for a moment with pity before unbuckling his seatbelt and pulling him out.

Once I safely got Jung Minjae out of the car, I grabbed the black box memory chip and other important items. After setting the items next to Jung Minjae, I headed toward the truck, the root cause of the accident.

Opening the truck driver’s side door and stepping up on the step, I saw a man with a familiar appearance—someone I had seen before.

It was the arsonist from the CCTV footage. Well, I expected that. I laughed hollowly at how things were unfolding just as I had anticipated. It was now certain. The factory fire was caused because of me, and the reason for setting the fire was probably to lure me into a remote place, ideal for causing an accident.

As for why they dragged me here, it was likely because I rarely went out except for commuting, and it would be difficult to flee after causing a major accident in downtown Seoul. I could accept that. However, the fact that they anticipated I would come to the album production factory if something went wrong was quite terrifying. Moreover, the plan almost succeeded, which made it even more unsettling.

“Whoever this is, they sure planned this well.”

I mocked the person who came up with this plan with a sharp tone as I removed the mask and hat from the culprit. Since time had stopped, the smartphone would also be frozen, so the only way to remember the face of the culprit was to memorize it with my eyes. I made sure to engrave the face of a man in his late 30s firmly in my mind before stepping down from the truck.

First, I should hide Secretary Jung Minjae and then contact Secretary Sung Yoojun once the truck is gone. How long will it take for someone to get here……? I muttered inwardly, and as I started walking toward Jung Minjae, a strange sound reached my ears.

What is that? I focused on the only sound breaking the silence in this frozen space.

It was a crackling sound, like static electricity. Since time had stopped, it couldn’t be coming from the car…… I slowly turned my gaze toward the direction the sound came from. Not too far, but not too close either, something was happening.

A blue spark flickered in the air.

The sound was coming from that. I narrowed my eyes and examined the source of the sound. At first, it was so faint and small that I wondered if I was seeing things, but as the spark grew larger, I realized it wasn’t my imagination.

“……What is that?”

Why do these things keep happening? Is it because this is a game? Is it because I opened the translucent window? If I get rid of this, will that disappear too? But it would be dangerous to get rid of the translucent window while the truck is still right there. If the culprit realizes that Secretary Jung Minjae and I are safe, they might try to finish us off.

The car would soon disappear, and I didn’t want to be hit by the truck with my bare body. I preferred to stay healthy and alive. So, I had no choice but to move slowly toward Jung Minjae, preparing to carry him away if necessary. By the time I reached him, I was ready to pick him up at any moment. Meanwhile, the blue spark continued to grow larger.

I watched the spark with a strange feeling, something akin to witnessing a supernatural event. Was this supernatural? No, but maybe it is? I found myself lost in random thoughts while trying to escape from the incomprehensible situation, when suddenly, a pure white hand shot out from the spark.

“Wow……”

I was genuinely surprised……

In a situation like a horror movie, I pressed down on my left chest to calm my pounding heart. But once a heart beats fast, it’s hard to slow it down. Despite me trying to calm down, the hand that had appeared from the spark was now followed by the arm, and then the upper body emerged from it.

Was this an SF game? Or was it horror? No, it wasn’t. It was definitely a genre about growth. Although there was a trap of growing misery, I still felt my mind growing more confused as I knelt down on one knee. I firmly grasped the arm of Secretary Jung Minjae, who was lying down quietly.

If things go south, I’ll carry him. I’ll run. I’ll survive.

I murmured this simple but difficult plan again in my mind, biting the inside of my lip. Suddenly, the upper body and head, attached to the arm, shot out from the spark.

And in that moment, I made eye contact with the person who had revealed themselves.

“……”

“……”

A heavy silence descended upon the road. In the face of this unbelievable reality, I couldn’t help but wear a foolish expression.

“Hey?”

The first to break the silence was the person who had emerged from the spark. At the sound of their voice, I reflexively flinched. In the meantime, the woman, who had fully revealed herself, crookedly raised one side of her mouth and spoke.

“Long time no see? Wow, you look good. Some of us haven’t eaten or slept because we’re looking for a missing person, but it seems like you’ve been living just fine?”

The woman’s voice…… no, Cheon’s voice, was filled with displeasure.

I couldn’t believe that Cheon was standing in front of me. I was frozen, unable to react at all. Cheon, scanning me with a puzzled expression, sighed quietly and walked toward me.

As Cheon quickly closed the distance, I awkwardly got up from my seat. I stared at her as she stopped just two steps away from me, then slowly reached out my hand. Cautiously, I removed the hat that partially covered her face.

As the hat came off, her long black hair, neatly gathered, flowed down effortlessly. What had once been a short cut now became long enough to cover her shoulder blades. The sight was so familiar that I quietly sighed.

“Ah……”

It’s really Cheon.

It’s really my sister.

The moment I was sure of that, I found myself holding her tightly in my arms.

“Cheon, is it really you? Are you really, truly you?”

“Of course it’s me. Do you think I’m a fake?”

When I asked in a dazed voice, still struggling to grasp the reality of it all, I received a blunt response. But the hands that embraced me were so gentle that I felt like tears might come out at any moment.

“How did you get here……? How did you come?”

“How else? I came to find you.”