The bright city streetlights rolled by uneventfully, yet what happened tonight was out of the norm.
Of all the possible scenarios, Kyunghee could have never imagined that she was sitting in the same car as Detective Hothead for the third time. They say third time's a charm, but they couldn't have been more wrong. There was nothing charming about the grim-faced detective or being in the same car as him.
Even more ridiculous was that she stomped down the inner voices of protest because of an old granny she just met for the first time tonight. She couldn't logically explain her behavior or the emotional attachment she felt toward this old granny, but since when did emotions and logic go hand-in-hand? They never did, and oft times than not, Kyunghee was an emotional person. It was these damned sentimental feelings that had failed her time and time again, and yet like a fool, she never learned from the mistake.
Leaning her head back into the headrest, Kyunghee mindlessly stared at the streetlights. By accident, she brushed her own fingers against the ripped jeans, at the spot where her knees had scraped against the asphalt earlier on. The sudden stab of pain made her grimace. Her shifted away from the streetlights, down on her knees. She stared at it absentmindedly for a full second before shifting her gaze back to the window, as if it was nothing.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jintae noticed Kyunghee's action next to him in the front passenger seat but he didn't say anything, focusing his attention on the road instead. As he turned down a road, Kyunghee promptly sat up, becoming more aware of her surroundings. She recognized the area immediately. Typically it was a quiet road and barely had traffic but it was different tonight. There was a commotion.
Jintae's car had slowed down because of the traffic in front. All the lanes were forced to merge into one lane at the front, causing a bit of a congestion in the back. Not only that but there were police cars and ambulances being set up along the road, in front of a row of old, rundown apartment buildings.
"Oh my, what's happening here?" Halmoni asked out loud as she looked on with curiosity.
"That's…that's my apartment," Kyunghee breathed, her body stiffening upon recognizing that an incident had occurred at her apartment. In fact, a crowd was standing outside in front of the building. It didn't bode well. Kyunghee had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Your apartment?" Halmoni gasped.
Jintae looked at Kyunghee's concerned expression. Without being told, he signaled into the next lane and pulled up by the curb, behind an ambulance. Almost spontaneously, Kyunghee unbuckled her belt and jumped out of the Hyundai. She rushed to the small crowd in front of the apartment building, encircling a uniform police officer who appeared to be taking notes of the happenings.
Meanwhile, Jintae also unbuckled his belt but before he followed Kyunghee out, he turned to halmoni and said, "Halmoni, just wait here. I'll go take a look at what's happening."
"Yes, go on, dear," halmoni urged, nodding her head vigorously.
Jintae nodded and quickly got out of the car to catch up with Kyunghee. He slowly walked up to her from behind just as he heard her worried voice asking the crowd, "What happened?"
The animated crowd surrounding the uniform officer suddenly turned their attention toward Kyunghee.
"It's her!" A woman shouted at her angrily, pointing an accusatory finger.
Kyunghee recognized instantly that it was the female tenant from across the hall. Much like her, everyone else was glaring at Kyunghee with a damning expression. They looked like they wanted to run her down to the ground and some more. Their cold gazes was more chilling than the wintry night. Kyunghee stared back, utterly confused about what was happening.
"Officer, this all happened because of her!" The female tenant across the hall shouted madly. "She's the tenant in 402. Everything that happened tonight is her fault! You have to take her away. We don't want to live with someone like her. We don't feel safe. If that happened to Minjoon and Chaerim tonight, what else could happen to us? Please, officer, make her leave!"
'Minjoon? Chaerim? Something happened to them?' Those two names rung in her head, but she was still bewildered.
"I don't understand what you're saying. What's my fault?" Kyunghee prompted, trying not to let their weird and cautious gazes get under her skin.
The uniform officer closed his black notebook and stepped forward until he was facing Kyunghee, a serious and daunting expression on his features.
"Miss, are you the resident of apartment 402?" The officer asked.
"Yes…" Kyunghee replied carefully.
"An assault occurred in your home tonight. One of the tenants who also lived here—Mr. Jung Minjoon—was stabbed in front of your apartment."
"What?" Kyunghee breathed, unable to fathom what was just said.
"From what we gathered here, someone tried to break into your apartment tonight. Mr. Jung happened to be there at the wrong time and when he tried to stop the burglar, he was stabbed three times in the abdomen."
Her knees shook and she faltered backwards, but right then, a strong arm slipped around the small of her back and stabilized her. However, Kyunghee could barely process anything else except for the officer's words. Someone tried to break into her home? Minjoon was stabbed three times? As much as she despised Minjoon and Chaerim, Kyunghee didn't wish such trauma on any one. No wonder the other tenants were looking at her with caution and fear.
"Where's the victim?" Jintae questioned the uniform officer, his hand firmly around Kyunghee's waist as if it was only natural, though she didn't even seem to notice, looking troubled and sick instead.
The officer shifted his eyes toward Jintae. There was a moment of skepticism as he assessed Jintae, but then eventually the caution turned into shock and excitement. "Detective Sergeant Choi! It's – It's a pleasure to meet you." The officer breathed, unable to believe his luck. He was a new graduate and had only been on the force for six months, but in those six months, his seniors had told him a lot of stories. One such story included the person standing right in front of his very eyes—the Man with Nine Lives. He was nothing more than a uniform officer, so he didn't think he would ever have the luck of running into the legendary cop, but here he was, staring at the legend himself with wide eyes of fervor.
Jintae was not impressed. "I asked, where's the victim?" His tone of voice was hard, serious.
"Ah!" The uniform officer wanted to smack himself in the head. Clearing his throat and straightening his back, the officer managed to call back his professional self. "He's been taken to the hospital, Sir. At the time, the victim was on the phone with his wife, Mrs. Jung, and she immediately called 119 when she heard that something wasn't right. The last update we got on our end was that the victim was in surgery. That was an hour ago, Sir. We've been interviewing the residents to understand the situation, Sir." The officer's tone of respect toward Jintae was clear as day.
"And the culprit?"
The officer flustered, looking down in embarrassment. "Unfortunately the culprit escaped. My partner is reviewing the security footages but…it doesn't sound promising. Security in this building is slim to none, Sir."
"You!" The female tenant earlier was tired of listening to the cops. Impatiently, she shoved the uniform officer aside and got up in Kyunghee's face. "Haven't you done enough? Ever since you moved here, I haven't a good night's sleep with all that noise and drama you bring to your doorstep. Don't you have any respect for the people around you? Now look! Someone got stabbed because of you! I always knew you were someone shady. Who knows what kind of people you associate with? You should move out. We don't feel safe with you living here anymore."
"Yeah, move out!"
"She's right! We want you out!"
"You're not welcomed!"
"Leave! We don't want to live in the same building as you!"
Kyunghee stared at the woman in front of her. Despite the heated words coming out of her mouth, Kyunghee clearly saw the fear in her eyes. She was scared, scared for her own life. It was understandable. Kyunghee swallowed, but she didn't know what to say. She didn't even know who had broken into her apartment or why they did it, so how could she give a sincere apology?
"Enough! All of you, be quiet!" Jintae bellowed as he pulled Kyunghee behind his tall figure, inserting himself between the mad crowd and Kyunghee defensively.
The female tenant turned to Jintae with a bitter look. "Who are you to her? Are you one of those men she seduced?"
"Ma'am!" The fresh-faced officer cried in horror. "You can't speak like that to Detective Sergeant Choi!"
"Detective Sergeant?" She scoffed in disgust. "Pretty young things like her can truly seduce anyone she sets her mind to, but what about the rest of us? Nobody here wants to be in danger. Don't we deserve to feel safe in our own homes at least?"
"It's her home too," Jintae snapped, silencing the crowd in an instant with the cold truth.
Kyunghee was caught off-guard by his words. Her gaze landed on the broad back in front of her as a pool of conflicted feelings washed over her.
"Do you think she wanted to have her home broken into? Do you think she wanted another human being to be stabbed? You demand her to understand your fears and concerns, then what about her fears and concerns? Is it any less real than your feelings? Being louder and more in numbers doesn't mean you're right." He swept the crowd with a steely stare that had most of them swallowing their saliva.
"Well said, detective," halmoni's voice sliced through the tense atmosphere, followed by steady footsteps. Halmoni approached Kyunghee's side in support. She was supposed to wait in the car, but she couldn't sit and do nothing so she came out to understand the situation, instead walking into a situation where the many attempted to bully the one. "Kyunghee, this is not your fault. Don't listen to the foolish and scared. Let's go. Halmoni will go upstairs with you." Halmoni grabbed Kyunghee's hand as they walked toward the apartment building.
"Halmoni…" Kyunghee stared at halmoni's warm but steady hand in hers. Her eyes quivered, reflecting the emotion in her heart.
Jintae gave the silent crowd one last sweep of his gaze before following the two women upstairs.