147. Eight on Fifty Three
When we met at the coffee shop yesterday… I remember Yeonji’s eyes.
Especially when you say you came to Korea because you have work to do… Yeonji’s eyes were filled with the desire to kill someone.
The goal is clear to a reporter for a century, and Yeon-ji is looking for a sword. Maybe you already got the knife.
It may sound irresponsible, but… I thought it would be better if I didn’t know. But you can’t just sit and watch in the yard where you know everything.
15 years ago, it was none other than me who persuaded a reporter of a century to write a malicious article about Yeonji.
At that time, I was a little shocked to see the article by a reporter of the century, but it is true that I was happy to hear that Yeonji had left school as a result.
What was happy for me became an indelible wound for Yeonji.
That doesn’t mean I regret it at the time. If I had gone back to that time now, I would have made the same choice. If not… Because one day Youngmi will get hurt.
Whatever the reason… There is no change in the fact that this was started by me.
I don’t want what started for me to end with someone else’s death, and that’s also a tragic and planned murder case. Even if the victim of that murder is a century-old journalist I hate.
The word “resolve” came to mind.
Okay, let me solve this one myself.
Yesterday evening, in ＜Garlic Bulgogi>, the woman with Yeon-ji was Soo-kyung, who was Yeon-ji’s best friend in middle school.
Through alumni, I was able to get Sukyung’s contact information without difficulty, and through a short phone call with Sookyung, I was able to find out the hotel where Yeonji was staying. However, it was impossible to contact Yeonji directly because she did not have a mobile phone used in Korea.
So I called the Naples hotel, but I had to get a reply that Yeonji refused to connect the call.
After finishing the experiment, I headed to the Naples Hotel in Gangnam.
* * *
6:30 p.m. on the same day.
Korea Newspaper Headquarters in Jongno-gu.
When a middle-aged man came out of the newspaper building, a cool energy emanated from Lim Yeon-ji’s eyes looking at him.
The man walked towards the subway station, and Lim Yeon-ji quietly followed him. Lim Yeon-ji followed the man to the subway and entered the Sigma apartment complex in Gangnam about 50 minutes later.
When the man entered the apartment building 103, the entrance to the 3rd and 4th aisles, her eyes stopped and turned to the window of the stairs leading up to the 3rd and 4th aisles.
It was a 14-story apartment building, and there were windows along the stairs between each and every floor.
About a minute after a middle-aged man entered the apartment building… The stair window between the 6th and 7th floors and the stair window between the 7th and 8th floors were lit at the same time.
This means that the house that the middle-aged man entered is one of the two houses, 703 and 704.
The tail of Lim Yeon-ji’s lips, painted with red lipstick, rose slightly.
Lim Yeon-ji, who confirmed the man’s address, got into a taxi and headed to the Naples Hotel.
1st floor of the Naples Hotel.
Lim Yeon-ji walked across the lobby to the elevator.
In her right hand was a large plastic bag, wrapped in white paper, so she couldn’t tell what it was. However, judging from the shape of what he was holding, it didn’t seem like a heavy object for its size.
When Lim Yeon-ji pressed the button on the elevator, someone called her name.
“Lim Yeon-ji!”
Lim Yeon-ji turned her head with a surprised expression and opened her mouth with a grin after confirming the owner of the voice.
“Korea is very narrow. How many times have we met since yesterday?”
“Can I talk to you for a moment?”
Lim Yeon-ji still smiled at Jeong-ho’s question.
“I have an important job tomorrow morning. I have to prepare for it, so it seems difficult now. sorry.”
As Lim Yeon-ji was about to get on the elevator with the door open, Jeong-ho said.
“I know everything. Preparing to take revenge on a century-old journalist.”
At Jeong-ho’s words, Lim Yeon-ji’s body did not move as if it had hardened.
After a while, when the elevator door closed, Lim Yeon-ji slowly turned towards Jeong-ho, and Jeong-ho took a step back without knowing her cold eyes.
Lim Yeon-ji looked at Jeong-ho and opened her mouth in a low voice.
“Follow.”
A quiet coffee shop opposite the Naples Hotel.
Jungho opened his mouth with a worried expression.
“Are you already… What I did was… Isn’t it?”
At Jeong-ho’s question, Lim Yeon-ji said with a displeased expression.
“But how did you know?”
“It doesn’t matter. The important thing is… .”
Lim Yeon-ji cut off Jung-ho’s words.
“No, it’s important. Say it. How did you know?”
Lim Yeon-ji glanced down at the large plastic bag on the right side of the chair she was sitting on with a cool gaze, and then raised her head and looked at Jeong-ho and continued.
“Did Sukyung ever tell you?”
Jeongho shook his head and said.
“It’s not what Soo-kyung said. I found out by looking at the comments on an article written by a reporter of a century. ‘Shitty yellow journalist hansekki. A comment saying ‘lol’.”
At Jeong-ho’s words, Lim Yeon-ji’s face turned pale, and Jung-ho continued speaking with the explanation that the location of the person who wrote the comment could be known through the IP address of the comment.
“I tracked the location of that comment, and it was changed from Los Angeles, USA to Allenwood, Pennsylvania. But Yeonji, you did that. He said he moved from LA to Allenwood.”
“… !”
“And I know. When you were in middle school, you left school and went to America… It was because of an article written by a reporter of a century.”
Lim Yeon-ji, who had been silent without a word, opened her eyes thinly and said to Jeong-ho.
“Are you some kind of police officer? What kind of person are you?”
Jeong-ho shook his head without saying a word, and Lim Yeon-ji continued with a smirk.
“Are you very angry with me? If you look at the way I’ve been doing my background investigation.”
“No, it’s the other way around.”
Lim Yeon-ji tilted her head in response to Jeong-ho’s answer and said.
“Are you against it?”
“I didn’t do a background check on you, I was looking for an article by a reporter from a century ago. I hate him too. As for what I don’t like… Maybe more than you, maybe more, not less.”
At Jeong-ho’s words, Lim Yeon-ji said with a smile on her lips with red lipstick.
“Then it’s fine. Can’t you just watch good food and eat rice cakes?”
Jung-ho stared at Lim Yeon-ji and opened his mouth.
“I want to too… That doesn’t work.”
Lim Yeon-ji said while sweeping her head with her right hand.
“You don’t like it? why? Are you interested in me?”
Jung-ho still shook his head with a serious expression.
“No, it is not.”
Lim Yeon-ji said with a shy expression.
“I was joking… Why are you answering so seriously?”
Jeongho smiled slightly and said.
“Anyway, I hope you don’t do what you have planned. Really.”
I wonder if Jung-ho’s sincere heart worked, Lim Yeon-ji slowly nodded her head and said.
“Yeah, I won’t.”
“Really?”
At Jeong-ho’s disbelief expression, Lim Yeon-ji made her red lips thin and gave a light smile, then nodded her head and said.
“Really. I promise.”
Jung-ho’s expression brightened at Lim Yeon-ji’s answer.
“okay, thanks.”
When Jeong-ho finished talking and emptied his drink glass and picked up his coat, Lim Yeon-ji tilted his head and said.
“You came all the way here… Are you really here to say that?”
As Jeong-ho nodded slowly, Lim Yeon-ji raised both eyebrows and continued the conversation.
“Is this a bit inspiring? There are people who come to tell me not to do bad things to people like me.”
Jeong-ho grabbed his coat and got up from his seat.
“So, the promise you made now, you must keep.”
Lim Yeon-ji nodded and said to Jeong-ho, who was leaving the seat.
“And that ‘shitty yellow journalist’ comment… It was not written by me.”
At Lim Yeon-ji’s words, Jeong-ho left the coffee shop with a slightly stiff expression saying he knew.
5:30 am the next day.
Room 823, Naples Hotel, Gangnam.
After washing her face in the bathroom, Yeonji opened the yellow handbag filled with cosmetics, took out lipstick, applied it to her lips, and moved her upper and lower lips together slowly.
Dark red lips are created on the face without makeup.
Yeonji looks at her face in the mirror… He looked down at his bright red lips.
After a while, when Rouge wet a cotton pad with makeup remover and removed the lipstick, her lips returned to a pale apricot color.
Rouge put the lipstick and makeup remover back into her handbag, and after locking the zipper on her handbag, she threw it into the trash.
Yeonji came out of the bathroom and looked around the room slowly.
Everything in the hotel room is neatly organized. It’s like a room that has just been cleaned.
After looking around the room, Yeonji took her handbag and a large paper box and left the hotel room.
The lobby front desk on the first floor of the hotel.
Yeon-ji put the paper box she had brought down on the front desk and told the hotel staff who was approaching her.
“I’m staying in room 823, can I ask you to deliver this by courier? All addresses are written on the box.”
The employee in a suit said with an apologetic expression.
“Sorry, sir, but… Due to concerns about loss, we do not provide courier delivery services.”
Yeonji said as she pulled out two 50,000 won bills from her handbag.
“Sister, this is a really important gift… How can I not?”
Yeonji gave a smirk, and the staff hastily changed her attitude.
“ah… ! Yes Yes. If it is an important gift, of course we should help.”
“Thank you, sister.”
The employee picked up the box and set it down inside the front desk, he said.
“I thought it would be a bit heavy, but it’s really light. I wonder what kind of gift this is?”
Yeonji handed two 50,000 won bills to the employee and said.
“It’s a doll.”
“thank you. Oh-! But do you have a doll this big?”
“Yes, it’s a little pig Toto doll. Then please take care of the delivery.”
“Yes, don’t worry. I’ll send it as soon as the post office opens at 9.”
Before leaving the hotel… Yeonji checked her reflection in the full-length mirror located next to the door.
With her bare face without makeup, Yeonji was wearing a thin white sweatshirt that was slightly tight to her body, and she was wearing pink slippers on her bare feet.
After leaving the hotel, Yeonji took a taxi to Sigma’s apartment.
after 15 minutes.
103 Sigma Apartments.
While the security guards of the apartment went out on patrol… Yeonji entered the 3rd and 4th aisles, got on the elevator and pressed the 7th floor button.
After arriving on the 7th floor, Yeonji got off the elevator and squatted down the stairs in the hallway between the 7th and 8th floors.
After checking the time, Yeonji opened the handbag she had brought.
Inside the handbag were newspapers, duck tape, a glass bottle of green juice, and a bottle of water.
The bottle of water was filled with cloudy water, and it was full of bubbles, as if soap had been released.
Rouge pulled out a piece of rolled up newspaper from her handbag and pulled the handle on one end to reveal a shriveled gray knife.
After checking the blade like that, Yeonji carefully lowered the gray knife on the floor of the stairs where she was sitting.
6:30 am.
– Clap—!
At the same time as the sound of the front door opening on the 7th floor, Yeonji lowered her body and stared at the elevator on the 7th floor, which was visible between the stair railings.
A middle-aged man who appeared from the left pressed the elevator button, and the fact that the man came out from the left means that his house is room 703.
Also, the man didn’t say anything as he left the house, and he locked the door himself.
In other words, the male lives alone in room 703.
-Daughter-!
With the sound of the elevator arriving, Yeonji picked up a gray knife.