The sound of footsteps echoed. Replaced the sound of the car roar that had been missing for a while.
Namchul stopped walking, followed by Yeonjin behind him. He looked around to find his friends.
Before long, his gaze fell on the three people standing not far from him. One of them looked very frustrated—busy venting his anger on the wall. While the other two were silent with their gazes fixed on the basement exit.
Namchul recognized someone—who was busy venting his anger—as Haru. Hence, his brows furrowed. It was strange because he had never seen Haru this angry before. He looked around again. Noticing so many shell casings scattered there, he realized that something serious had happened earlier.
"That's ... shell casing?"
Yeonjin's voice sounded doubtful, but Namchul nodded firmly in response.
Without thinking, Namchul rushed over to Haru and grabbed his shoulder. "What happened?"
Haru's face was bright red. He tried to calm his anger a little, then reached into his jacket pocket. He grabbed a photo from there, then handed it to Namchul. "They're after my sister."
Namchul was stunned. Especially when he looked closely at the photo and found a woman he knew as Haru's sister being followed by someone dressed all in black. Just like the stalker that following Jungkyu.
"Someone passed in front of the morgue while you were inside. He dropped the photo near me. When I picked it up, I immediately recognized that the person in the photo was my sister, so I chased after him without thinking twice."
Haru's breath was getting louder as the words left his lips. He closed his eyes tightly, then returned to vent his frustration on the wall near him. "FUCK! I'LL KILL HIM IF HE DARE TO APPEARS NEAR MY FAMILY!"
Yeonjin—who originally followed behind Namchul—walked over and restrained Haru who was about to punch the wall for the umpteenth time. His hand was bleeding, causing Yeonjin to stares at him coldly. "If you keep this up, you're only going to kill yourself."
Haru looked back at Yeonjin sharply. The veins in his hands tightened, but Yeonjin's grip on Haru's wrist also tightened than before. They stared at each other, neither willing to budge, emitting an intimidating aura around them.
But it didn't last long, because Haru immediately threw his hands away until Yeonjin's grip was released. He then turned to rub his face roughly. He shouldn't be like this. Although his anger had not completely subsided, but he realized now was not the right time to vent it.
Because of that, he grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket. He searched for the name 'Jiwoo Noona' in his contacts, then brought the phone to his ear. Not long after, he was involved in a conversation on the phone. Busy asking about his sister's condition with worry that he couldn't hide from his voice.
Meanwhile, the others were having a discussion. Jungkyu said what he saw earlier in a low voice. "I saw the face of the person who Haru hyung chased before. And just like the person who followed me, his mouth was also sewn up." He paused for a moment, then said, "I'm sure this isn't a coincidence. I don't know who's behind all this, but it's clear we're being terrorized."
The atmosphere turned tense. Each of them felt tensed and alert. They stared at each other, talking through their eyes. Meanwhile, their mouths were tightly shut, worried that their conversation would be overheard if they spoke more.
There is an invisible enemy they must face. And until now, they do not have many clues to uncover it. It was like stepping on a minefield, because their existence would be even more threatened if they made a wrong step. Their identity must not be exposed in any way, so this matter must be resolved immediately.
Yeonjin looked around, then took a deep breath. "Let's just go home for now and think about our next move."
***
Hyunji snapped out of her sleep. Her eyes, which had been closed, spontaneously opened wide with ragged breaths. Cold sweat dripped down. She sat down with her head down, gripping her hair tightly as the pain hit her head mercilessly. A muffled scream escaped her lips. Grimacing in pain, she nearly slammed her head against the headboard to get rid of the pain she was feeling.
When the dizziness in her head began to subside, she fell weak again. She felt like throwing up, but was too tired to just go to the toilet and get rid of the nausea. It seemed like the alcohol in her body was starting to react. As a result, she just curled up, hugging herself. Trying to calm her churning stomach and at the same time erase the bad images from the dream she just had.
Nightmares are daily food for her. But strangely, she never got used to it. She doesn't even remember what she's ever dreamed of because too many terrible things have happened in her life and turn into nightmares every time she closes her eyes.
If she could, she would prefer not to sleep for the rest of her life. Or on the contrary, it would be better if she closed her eyes and didn't wake up after that. But unfortunately, due to several factors, none of which she managed to do.
Snorting, Hyunji then groped around. Looking for something, before finally stopping at a flat object lying on the nightstand. The dark conditions around her made her have to squint when the phone light hit her face. She glanced at the clock in the upper right corner and it was almost three in the morning.
She switched to checking the pop ups, checking one by one the incoming notifications during the time she was unconscious. There were only a few chat notifications that she didn't even bother to check. But before long, she squinted to see an incoming email notification a few moments ago.
The email was an automatic email containing a notification of the continuation of her mission. The email was still related to the email she got at Han river a month ago, when she first got the email about the new mission. She tried to ignore it, because from the start she thought the mission was absurd and suspected that there might be something wrong with the system.
However, seeing the follow-up emails in her inbox, it seems that her suspicions have been wrong all this time. From the start, she should not underestimate the mission she received. No matter how unreasonable it sounded, she should have confirmed it before it was too late.
Hyunji swallowed hard. She forced her weak body to sit up. With her heart pounding, she tried to call someone.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end made her heave a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he wasn't asleep, she thought. "Oppa, please pick me up now! I'll send my location in a moment."
"Wait, you're not home?"
"I'll tell you another time."
"Can't we just wait for the sun to rise? It's still pitch black now."
"I can't. This concerns the mission I received."
Someone on the other side didn't answer. There was a long silence between them and Hyunji felt like she couldn't wait any longer, so she just disconnected the call.
She was still very nervous. Her worries only eased a little. Still with her gaze fixed on the screen of her phone, she was busy biting her fingernails to channel her anxiety.
She pressed the 'back' button and re-opened the email notification earlier, read it word by word carefully. Although a little hesitant, but she finally got up the courage to press a link listed there.
The link took her to an application installed on her phone. Even though she was sure that there was nothing in the application before, but now she was wide-eyed after reading a sentence there.
'MISSION COUNTDOWN HAS STARTED'
***
Noona: a word used by males to address female older than them who they are close to (biological or not).
Hyung: a word used by males to address another male older than them who they are close to (biological or not).
Oppa: a word used by a female to a male, who is older than her by the boundary of 10 years.