95 – Dongmin Lee (30)
Dongmin Lee (30)
“……”
My mouth was constantly dry.
‘But Park Sang-woo caught him.’
‘Take that as comfort.’
Damn it, that’s no consolation.
In my head, I wrestled with myself, repeating Park Seong-gang’s cynical voice.
‘It’s already too late.’
He said as if informing.
Seo In-hwan, Nam Hee-chan.
It’s definitely Seo In-woo and Nam Jae-chan.
‘Are you late?’
I couldn’t believe it at all.
In an effort not to show off, I tried to pay attention to the scenery flowing outside the window and listened to meaningless radio entertainment programs, but-
“…Are you okay?”
Perhaps he was watching me who couldn’t come to his senses, Haerin grabbed my hand on my lap.
She lightly squeezed her hand on one side of her, holding the steering wheel and keeping her eyes fixed in front of her.
“This is scary. Yes?”
She said, still keeping her gaze forward.
“………”
I couldn’t open my mouth.
‘It’s too late.’
What happened to the two of you?
I asked the question over and over again for an answer I already knew.
‘It’s not what I wanted.’
‘I didn’t expect something like this.’
“…Haerin, can you turn the channel?”
I said.
As if Hae-Rin was worried about me, she agreed to accompany me on the way to meet Detective Park Seong-gang.
She wanted to avoid meeting her and Park Seong-gang, but she didn’t even have the strength to stop it.
[… It’s a fanfare at noon. Today’s guest is…]
To the extent that it was hard to hear the voices of celebrities giggling in the afternoon, I felt like hell.
Haerin did just that.
Unfortunately, the channel turned was news.
[… A suspect in the case of the murder of three men, Mr. Park, is the mastermind behind the ‘Cool Down Club’ incident that once stirred up a lot of noise in the world. After making it, he was running away.]
[… Mr. Park is known to have caused great damage to several police officers who were at the scene at the time. Police said the suspect was 192 cm tall and weighed […]
[…The three victims are men in their early twenties who were preparing to start their own business after dropping out of college, and the police are investigating how they visited Mr. Park’s villa and their motives.]
I turned off the radio.
“Why did I write that novel?”
Muttered while covering his head.
“Huh? Harin?”
“………”
There was no answer.
Of course.
Even if you ask, there’s no way the answer will come out.
I didn’t really ask for an answer.
Besides, to Haerin, isn’t her 『Her Journal』 The equivalent of giving birth to her?
Denying that is the same as denying her existence, so she might be offended.
Still, my thoughts have not changed.
‘Why did I write a novel like that?’
Of course I know.
That the novel saved my life.
But if someone’s life is ruined in return, wouldn’t it be better for me to suffer?
At that time, Harin said in a low whisper.
“It’s cheaper for them to be like that.”
Those words were spoken to me, but at the same time, they seemed to be spoken to oneself.
“……”
“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
When I didn’t answer, Harin lowered her voice and smiled.
… So it was evil.
Pure evil.
Those words came to mind.
Even though it must have been for me.
“If you are having a hard time, I am having a harder time. So I don’t want you to be sad.”
“I am not sad. It is painful.”
“Don’t be sad, don’t be in pain.”
“What if you don’t like it?”
I said defiantly.
Haerin just raised the corner of his mouth without saying anything.
“… I’m sorry.”
After a while, I apologized.
As my nerves were sharpened, I felt sorry for thinking that I was taking out my anger on Haerin for no reason.
“It’s okay.”
She said.
“………”
A heavy silence fell.
#
We passed the tollgate to the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do, and eventually entered Goyang-si.
Park Seong-gang said he would visit my house late in the evening, but I couldn’t wait until then.
So I went to find it myself.
I also wanted to see the scene of the incident.
After passing through a run-down alley, I saw a yellow police line surrounding a villa with a reddish exterior.
A few people in police uniforms were waiting, and Park Seong-gang, wearing padding, approached from a distance.
“… Let’s go inside.”
Omit greetings.
There was no such situation or atmosphere.
While going up the stairs, Seonggang Park took the lead, followed by me, followed by Haerin last.
Occasionally Park Seong-gang glanced at Haerin.
The scene of the incident was on the 4th floor.
“How are you?”
“………”
I couldn’t answer Park Seong-gang’s question.
No, I have decided what to say.
“It is as it is.”
I said the moment I entered the dark and narrow villa where the scent of blood still lingered.
A room with a dirty, musty smell that you might have imagined implicitly while writing a novel.
The sun did not set, making it even more gloomy.
As soon as you enter the front door, there is a white line on the outer wall that you only see in movies and dramas.
I went into the novel ‘inside’.
“This is where Seo In-woo was lying.”
Park Seong-gang explained.
Of course, it was an unnecessary amplification.
Because I already knew.
A humanoid line was drawn across the wall, with traces of dark liquid on the head.
It was definitely blood.
According to my ‘memory’, he hit his head there and died with a major trauma to his back of the head.
“……”
The white line drawn in the center of the living room is Nam Jae-chan.
He must have been stabbed five times in the chest.
“This is all just like the novel.”
Park Seong-gang nodded at my words and added.
“Except for one thing.”
I turned to him.
“One thing?”
“Detective Seongjae Park is not showing up.”
“……”
“Originally, Detective Park Seong-jae, not me, would have caught Park Sang-woo. However, this time he wasn’t there. Like when Kim Hye-eun was in danger.”
Park Seong-jae is Park Seong-kang.
The name has only changed one letter at a time.
He wouldn’t know that either.
There is no way he wouldn’t have noticed that Kim Hye-eun skillfully changed to ‘Kim Eun-hye’ in the novel, Seo In-woo to ‘Seo In-hwan’, and Nam Jae-chan to ‘Nam Hee-chan’.
“Hey, Seongjae Park…”
“Well, it doesn’t mean that the novel is 100%.”
Park Seong-gang cut me off and said.
“I’m rather fortunate. That there is such a gap means that this is not the work of God.”
A rookie.
If the one who caused this situation was an absolute being like God, humans would have no means to resist.
Park Seong-kang seemed to be thinking of such a worldview.
“Rather than saying that a novel becomes 100% real, it would be more accurate to say that it resembles it because of some kind of relationship. If not, it must be God who wrote the novel.”
His cold gaze turned to me.
Soon after that, it was also stuck in the face of Haerin, who was watching from a little distance from the scene of the incident.
“Detective. Park Seong-jae-“
I had to explain.
Park Seong-jae is you.
It would be better to say that if Park Seong-gang continues to waste energy looking for him.
It also made me uncomfortable that he was strangely staring at Haerin with a hostile gaze.
If 『Journal』 Materializes as it is, he, Haerin’s antagonist, will eventually collide with her.
“Baby.”
At that time, Harin grabbed my arm.
“Is it okay if I check everything I need?”
There was an unspoken compulsion in those eyes.
She led me before I could judge anything.
“Wait a minute.”
I asked Park Seong-gang for his understanding.
The villa was a corridor type.
Haerin Kang came out and said quietly.
“You were trying to say that Park Seong-jae was Park Seong-gang himself, right? It would be better not to find out about that.”
“…Why?”
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“Because the shock will be great.”
Haerin said it casually.
“I’ll tell you now, but I was about to commit suicide when I found out. Is that enough for me, can Park Seong-gang survive?”
“……”
It turns out that all of his past, which he firmly believes in, has been fabricated, and is actually a setting in a novel.
It has the worst effect on the character.
It wasn’t groundless.
Haerin, who had always been around me, also disappeared for several days after he found out about it.
She eventually got over it, but that must be because she has her extraordinary willpower and mental strength.
I’m not ignoring Park Seong-gang, but it’s nothing compared to Haerin, who was made in an ideal form.
At this time when you have to deal with a complicated case, it would be unwise to throw him into confusion.
“Without Park Seong-gang, there would be no one to chase and catch the villain of 『Ilji』. Yes?”
“………”
“You remember our plan, right?”
I nodded slowly.
Of course, I also asked Haerin to stop the villains in 『Journal』 From harming people.
However, it would take at least one person who knows the essence of the event of materialization of the novel.
If you are not a person with public authority, Harin’s ‘punishment’ is bound to go against public authority.
Her execution is illegal.
Haerin will be on top of the cops’ heads and take them down one by one, but in the end, she will become Kang Haerin, the original killer.
Fire will start in the underground torture chamber.
“Then shall we go? Park Seong-gang will find it suspicious.”
Haerin said.
The palm of her hand holding my wrist was warm, and her voice was cheerful as usual.
His movements were even light.
To the point where you can’t believe you’re at the scene of a murder.
“You’re thinking too easily.”
I said.
It was a word that came out of me without realizing it.
When I didn’t move, she came over.
“They were people who wanted to die anyway.”
“………”
“So he must have written that way too.”
“………”
“The past has already been decided. He had already killed those people in that novel. If that’s the case, there’s no choice but to flow according to probability. I understand?”
A light shone in her pupils.
I couldn’t say anything.
I was surprised by Harin’s suddenly cold words, and the moment I heard that, it was shocking that I had written such a novel.
The truth recalled from Haerin’s mouth.
I killed Seo In-woo and Nam Jae-chan?
… Maybe so.
My parents, who taught me to be docile, often told me that I was ‘violent’.
Maybe the violence within me has always been there.
“I have no choice but to move forward.”
Haerin pulled me a little harder.
I walked as she led.