61 – Haerin Kang (61)
Haerin Kang (61)
‘I think I’ll be late because I have something to prepare for today and an event. Maybe after 9pm? If you don’t mind if it’s late, I’ll text you!’
A full day had passed since Park Se-young asked to check the locker, but there was no news.
Since I contacted her before dinner last night, exactly 26 hours have passed.
‘… Ah, I really hate it.’
Someone loses news like this.
I really hate it.
I thought self-help.
I was anxious when Kang Hae-rin disappeared after learning that she was a character in a novel, and I was afraid of the situation where my older sister disappeared, but if that’s the case with Park Se-young.
… Guilt is hard to bear.
While I was thinking about this, Harin was sitting next to me and cutting the nails on my healthy hand.
Click, click.
She didn’t even wear makeup, but her sleek eyelashes cast shadows under the fluorescent lights in the hospital room.
Concentrating, her mouth was closed.
But the atmosphere is different from usual.
“……”
“done.”
Kang Hae-rin, who checked all five fingers, rubbed my hand with her relatively small hand and smiled.
“Aren’t you nice? It was very long.”
“I feel like a puppy.”
“No, you will become a pig.”
“… uh?”
“As soon as you are discharged from the hospital, you will not have to suffer at all, and you will be able to read and write comfortably. I’m going to get twice as fat as I am now so no one will recognize me.”
“……”
I checked to see if she was joking.
“Are you trying to turn me into a pig and eat me?”
I asked playfully.
… Harin didn’t answer.
In the end, I couldn’t understand her true feelings.
“The doctor says you can leave the hospital soon. Of course, I need to take antibiotics and get regular checkups, but after a while, I can go back to ‘our’ house.”
After a while, she said.
“Are you not happy?”
“I am very happy.”
I said.
I’m tired of being hospitalized, and going back to Haerin’s house is good for my plans.
‘I can’t sit still and watch the game.’
If my assumption that my sister is imprisoned in the basement is correct, I might be able to look into it.
I thought about it for a long time because the only thing left was time, but there was no place for my sister other than the underground torture chamber.
In Korea, there are many CCTVs, and unlike public complaints, the arrest rate of public authorities is quite high.
“… I have to go early today.”
After a while, Harry said.
“I have work to do.”
It’s been a few days since my older sister went missing and Kang Hae-rin took her place, but during that time, I wonder what kind of measures I used, and I used to go back after a long time to visit.
But for a few days… I go back early.
To say it was early was from early in the morning to around 8:00 in the evening, but this is relative.
It was clear that Harin had a ‘something’ schedule.
‘Murder?’
Considering that the ‘character’ itself, Kang Hae-rin, was born because of a novel about a murderer, her daily routine is quite predictable.
However, that ‘intention to kill’ is offset by being with me.
Lately she’s stuck with me like a chewing gum.
In fact, his personality has become more docile.
‘… Otherwise, a sense of duty?’
The most unpleasant and unsettling scenario was the assumption that Kang Hae-rin decided to act preemptively because I was injured while fighting Ban Lee-jae.
‘It was something I should have been responsible for.’
‘He is too weak.’
Haerin Kang said so.
It hurts my pride, but it’s true.
As much as she tried to balance the fraudulent character Kang Hae-rin, her opponents were also exceptional.
Serious psychopath or sociopath.
Or killers with exceptional abilities.
Whether it’s Park Sang-woo, Jeong Beom-sik, or Jang Hye-ok.
anyone else.
Since they are not characters that exist in reality, they each have their own abilities and personalities that ‘transcend’ reality.
It’s different from Naburangi, a writer who loses his mentality at times and doesn’t even exercise at all.
Even Jang Hye-ok, a woman, cannot win.
It’s definitely not my fault.
Because they will be different from the physical condition.
You can tell just by looking at the seemingly skinny Ban Lee-jae that the sturdy, categorical detective was unable to subdue him.
‘There is something more about the characters in the novel.’
If Detective Park Seong-gang hadn’t caught Lee Jae properly, the categorical detective would have been in a bad situation.
It didn’t end with a knife stabbed in the thigh.
Kang Hae-rin also had a hard time with the two detectives, unlike her appearance, which looked like a slender and beautiful girl.
‘die-‘
The appearance of her spewing out her murderous intent toward Ban Lee Jae.
Even I was a stranger.
‘But not this way.’
I organized my thoughts.
All the enemies who felt a ‘duty’ that Kang Hae-rin had to defeat by catching Ban Lee-jae disappeared.
Because I wrote a novel.
Considering the hypothesis and actual flow so far, there is no materialization unless 『Journal』 is serialized.
Then what the hell is Haerin Kang doing?
There was no answer that came out of worrying.
“… i love you.”
Haerin Kang kissed my cheek and said.
“… me too.”
Every time she showed affection, I wished she would curse at me and hit me.
The woman who said she loved her was like a girl who was really in love, pure and innocent.
Whenever I made such a naive, sincere confession, I felt like the world’s trash.
Anyway, I don’t trust her.
“……”
Kang Hae-rin went outside, and after a while, I took out my phone from under the pillow.
There has been no text message yet.
If I didn’t hear back by the end of the day, I was going to talk to the police about her.
sent a text
I didn’t expect an immediate reply.
[What’s going on?]
But surprisingly, a minute later, a reply came.
[Ah, senior, I’m sorry. I was going to tell you yesterday, but I got home late and fell asleep because I was tired.]
“……..”
[I’m really sorry!]
[(bowing rabbit emoji)]
[I’m so busy with events and events these days… ㅜㅜㅜ Still, I think today will end quickly.]
It was Park Se-young’s reply that was breezy and fast enough to make me feel nervous.
Typing on the phone is really fast.
[I checked things, boss!]
[(Rabbit saluting emoji)]
[Can I bring it to you?]
I hesitated for a moment.
If Kang Hae-rin disappeared early in the evening to attend ‘business’, he usually did not show up at the hospital that day.
Park Se-young won’t be able to come inside since the hospital visit time is over, but I’ll be able to leave.
If I were to get caught by Kang Hae-rin inside, there would be misunderstandings, so outside is also better.
Haerin acted as if this hospital room, where only she and herself “existed,” was a sacred cathedral.
Even the nurse didn’t like coming in.
This may be a bit of an exaggerated idea, but because Park Se-young smells good and has a distinctive smell, Kang Hae-rin might notice.
‘…Who’s here?’
A terrifying scene to imagine.
I don’t know how I did this, but the hospital staff didn’t come to my room often.
Come to think of it, Kang Hae-rin was also paying for my hospital bills, so it wouldn’t be wrong to say that she was my guardian.
I decided not to take any chances.
Eventually, I made an appointment with Park Se-young.
It had to be.
Because her last words were shocking.
[By the way, I saw Harin yesterday.]
#
“Um, that’s so good. Actually, since it is a place where people who are sick in body and mind are located, the scenery should be good, right?”
Park Se-young said as she walked with her hands behind her back.
Promenade with constant street lamps in modern design.
To the left and right, evergreen trees with leaves for all four seasons grew quite thick.
Park Se-young and I were walking on that path.
“… yes.”
“Do you come here often?”
“… not really.”
“Didn’t Mr. Harin ask you to do it?”
“… More than that, Haerin doesn’t like me going out and hanging out with people.”
I didn’t really intend to go for a walk, but somehow, I was talking back to them while chatting.
“Shall we talk here?”
The fact that Kang Hae-rin doesn’t come back after leaving work early is the result of the pattern so far.
You can’t help but take into account the possible exceptions.
We sat down on a bench.
“Umm… This might be a bit… burdensome, right?”
Park Se-young said while waving her feet.
Her gaze turned to the statue in front.
Several naked women with overemphasized and exaggerated buttocks and breasts stood in front of us.
“… Ah, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter!”
Park Se-young said cheerfully.
“What do you mean you saw Haerin?”
I asked straight forward.
“You told me to go to the locker, right? While telling me the station, locker number, and password.”
Park Se-young rummaged through her bag.
“First of all, I found it. Is this right?”
Wine red laptop.
It was right this time.
It must have been a demon-possessed object that was thought to have brought Kang Hae-rin, a character in the novel, into reality.
This made it clear.
It was my older sister who left me a text message.
My sister was trying to deliver this item through a prearranged promise that only worked between my sister and me.
When I lived with my father and my sister lived independently, there was a time when I couldn’t see her often because of her father’s notice.
I didn’t want my father to find out about meeting my sister outside, and I didn’t want to make her come to a place that was quite far away, so I made a meeting place in the middle.
Even if you don’t see it in person, it’s a trading place where you can get necessary items or help.
I also assumed that Kang Hae-rin cheated on her sister’s phone, but this is not even in the novel.
There is no way she will find out.
It was a place that I guessed by looking at the broken text with the word ‘jihyeok’ and inferring words such as subway.
It was a gamble, but I got lucky.
“I went to look for this, but that day, Kang Hae-rin was in front of the locker. with a man.”
Park Se-young said to me, hugging the laptop and trying to understand the feelings of my sister who tried to hide it.
“… man?”
“I overheard the conversation.”
I was angry that Park Se-young might have done something useless again, but I had no choice but to listen.
After leaving the hospital, it was good evidence to guess what she was doing.
“… don’t be too shocked.”
Park Se-young sighed a little, and after thinking for a while, he held my hand tightly and said.
“Harryn, he was dealing drugs.”
“……..”
“You understand what I mean? Harin, you’re a drug addict. It wasn’t normal.”
Park Se-young, who knew Kang Hae-rin as a novelist, a stalker and a criminal, said confidently.
“Because you’re a drug user, you can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality. Yes? Also, my guess was correct. Senior, report it to the police, we.”
But why?
The more I listened to Park Se-young’s words, no, the moment I heard the word ‘drug deal’, I saw a different scene in my head that seemed to be unfolding in front of my eyes.
“… Seyoung-ah, did you see that man’s face? look?”
“senior!”
Park Se-young, who thought that I did not believe in his words, made a rare expression of frustration.
“Are you going to protect Harin?”
“No, just tell me what you saw. Was that guy tall enough to be close to 2m tall? He was wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants underneath?”
“… uh?”
Park Se-young’s expression, which was enraged, became blank.
Like how did you get it right?
However, I wouldn’t know if I had guessed the right answer on the quiz show, but the current situation couldn’t possibly be happy.
“…Did you wear a skull mask too?”
“… that’s right, senpai… how?”
I could have asked more persistently, but Park Se-young, who was smart, could read a different context from my question, so I stopped at this point.
I didn’t want to believe it.
However, all circumstances were directed at him.
‘…Park Sang-woo?’
The villain that comes after the episode of Ban Lee Jae.
He is 197cm tall, wearing a black mask with a skull pattern on it, and works as a drug dealer.
The main trade law is lockers.
‘sh*t.’
There are too many overlapping things to call it a coincidence.
Besides, from the fact that Kang Hae-rin met him.
I looked around.
I wonder if Kang Haerin is watching.
A guardian was seen taking the patient in a wheelchair for a walk, but no one else was there.
“… Seyoung-ah, thank you. I’m sorry I couldn’t wait for you. go home right away And I beg you, please don’t think of anything else. It’s already helped enough, so don’t even think about doing the research yourself. For the notebook, thank you very much.”
I lightly patted Park Se-young on the shoulder and quickly returned to the hospital room as if running away.
And I called to confirm my guess.
The caller was Baek Yoo-ram.
Click.
A beep arrives.
Baek Yoo-ram answered with a puzzled voice.
[… Lee Dong-min? what? Excuse me for calling the lady’s house so late…]
After a while, I asked her.
“Yuram, tell me honestly. Where did Jiyoung and Yoona read my novel? You typed it right?”
It is an amount that cannot be ignored if it is the amount of 15 episodes of 『Journal』, which wrote an average of 7,8000 words.
Of course, if it was a polar Harrinion, it could be done, but somehow I thought it wouldn’t be.
Could there be a passage that I don’t know about?
A place that Ban PD-nim didn’t check?