CH 78

When he takes Tae-Woo home when he returns from the gate. He will go to the store he used to go to often and show him his high school near his house. There was already a lot of work to do with Tae-Woo.

So-Won came out humming with the car key. A black car with few signs of use was waiting for a So-Won in the yard.

So-Won murmured, sweeping the car with a subtle gloss.

“Come to think of it. I haven’t even driven much….”

So-Won got the gift from Tae-Woo but had never driven it except the day he first got it.

Because he rode the car back and forth with Tae-Woo, So-Won didn’t have to go somewhere alone. So-Won thought he would be telling Tae-Woo he went home alone proudly.

“What are you doing there?”

Then, a voice came from above the sky. So-Won raised his head in surprise. In the high sky, a person floated instead of clouds.

“Esper Choi Si-Hyuk?”

So-Won’s eyes widened. Si-Hyuk slowly came down from the air as if responding to him. He looked very tired.

‘How did he come here?’

So-Won was flustered. The place where Tae-Woo lived was information only a few association officials knew. They are not close enough to tell know their address…

Si-Hyuk landed a little far from So-Won. He looked around as if he were watching and looked up at Tae-Woo’s house and admired it. It was a reaction as if it was the first time coming to Tae-Woo’s house. So-Won opened his mouth after being wary of Si-Hyuk with a stiff face.

“Tae-Woo is not at home right now. If you came to see Tae-Woo….”

“I know.”

Si-Hyuk cut off So-Won’s words.

“He went to the gate, didn’t he? Was it off the coast of Busan? According to an association official, the gate will take a few days to finish.”

“How….”

“I know because it’s a request that came to me first. Oh, how can I enter the gate without a guide?”

Tsk. Si-Hyuk clicked his tongue briefly as if annoyed.

So-Won quietly examined the situation. From the moment he saw Si-Hyuk, unknown anxiety crept up. Should he call Tae-Woo?

But it’s been a while since he left, and it’ll take a long time to come back. So-Won looked perplexed as he recalled the time Tae-Woo left.

While So-Won was anxious and shaking his head, Si-Hyuk tilted his head when he found the car key in So-Won’s hand.

“Are you going out?” To where?”

“At your parents’ house….”

“Well….”

So-Won swallowed his saliva when he saw Si-hyuk, who didn’t speak. So-Won had been thinking of something sinister. Maybe it was because he was nervous or frozen in the cold. His body stiffened.

“Not there, but you should go with me.”

Si-Hyuk’s voice fell low. At the same time, the smile disappeared from his face.

Oh, it’s dangerous.

Recognizing the unusual atmosphere, So-Won quickly took his smartphone out of his pocket to call Tae-Woo. But even before the screen brightened, he felt a terrible dizziness that shook his vision.

All of the strength in his body vanished. Before So-Won lost his mind, e suddenly saw Si-Hyuk’s eyes shining blue.

So-Won stood alone in the dark. Even when he looked around, all he could see was endless darkness. The cool air swept past So-Won’s ankles.

He felt scared. Tae-Woo was the first person that came to mind in So-Won’s head.

“Tae-Woo? Are you there?”

So-Won called Tae-Woo’s name quietly, but there was no answer from beyond the darkness. So-Won looked around anxiously and stepped back with a frightened face.

Snap.

He heard the sound of water under his feet. So-Won lowered his head reflexively and checked below. A pool of dark red blood filled the floor.

“Oh!”

So-Won tripped and fell. Blood splashed everywhere, and hot blood soaked his whole body. His palms felt like it was burning.

When he raised his hand, So-Won saw a hand stained with blood.

The smell of blood rushed into his nose. Before he knew it, Tae-Woo’s body was placed in front of So-Won.

“Hyuk!”

So-Won took a breath and opened his eyes. He could see a white ceiling.

So-Won came to his senses, he breathed heavily and rolled his eyes. It was a strange room. Looking at the bright sunlight coming through the window, it seems that it was morning.

“It was a dream….”

That’s a relief. So-Won raised his hand and covered his eyes with a small relief. He felt his body shaking. His pillow was wet from his tears and cold sweat. It had been a long time since he has a vivid nightmare. Even after waking up, So-Won could not calm down quickly.

By the way, where am I?

“Ugh….”

So-Won looked around and tried to stand, but immediately a terrible pain shook his head and he collapse on the bed as if he were falling down. So-Won let out a painful groan, clutching his head. He had a headache like someone was axing his head. He crouched down and felt like vomiting.

So-Won could only raise his head after a while and checked his surroundings.

Bright interior, white wallpaper, neatly organized items.

With the furniture in the room, this was the bedroom. It was a small and cozy room, but So-Won could affirm that he had never been to such a place.

So-Won recalled the last thing he saw before he blacked out. Choi Si-Hyuk.

“Don’t tell me….”

Was he kidnapped?

For a moment, So-Won remembered the story that the guide told him when he was in Canada. In foreign countries, Esper often kidnaps guides. It is not that there are no such incidents in Korea, but kidnapping was a rare crime. Kidnapping was not an easy task in Korea, where CCTVs were installed everywhere.

So-Won shook his head. No matter how urgent Si-Hyuk needs a guide, he wanted to believe that he would not have lost his reason enough to kidnap him. But… No matter how much So-Won thinks about it, he felt like he was kidnapped.

So-Won lowered his head to check his condition.

“I don’t think anything has changed….”

He was all dressed and his body was fine. His head was just terribly dizzy, and he didn’t see any significant wounds. He checked his pocket just in case, but there was no smartphone or car key.

Come to think of it, the shoes disappeared somewhere, and there were only socks on the feet. Anyway, it was clear that Si-Hyuk brought him here. Si-Hyuk was not in the room as if he had just left. If so, he might be able to sneak out of the house without Si-Hyuk knowing and ask for help.

Once So-Won approached the window and pulled up a thin curtain to check where he was. However, a large tree completely blocked the front of the window, and nothing was to be seen.

He opened the window carefully so it wouldn’t make a sound. And he stuck his head out of the window. When he looked down, he saw that it was a little far from the ground. This was the second floor. Right underneath the So-Won, there was a soft-looking grass, but….

“It would be impossible to jump from here….”

If you’re lucky, you’ll be fine, but if you’re unlucky, you might break your ankle. So-Won, who thought it was impossible to escape from the house through the window, closed it again and entered the room.

It was quiet outside the door. So-Won opened the door carefully, put out his head and looked left and right. The hallway looked like an ordinary family home. However, there was no sign of people living like Tae-Woo’s house before the So-Won came.

At the end of the corridor lay a staircase leading downstairs. So-Won crept down to the first floor, hoping to avoid running into Si-Hyuk.

So-Won ran quickly to the front door and his hand on the doorknob.

“Did you wake up?”

But he heard a voice from the inside before he could open the door. It was a familiar way of speaking. When So-Won heard the calm voice, he got goosebumps on his back. As soon as So-Won noticed that it was Si-Hyuk’s voice, he quickly opened the front door to escape.

“You’d better not go out.”

But what welcomed So-Won, who ran out of the house,

“The terrain is pretty rough here.”

There were high mountains on all sides, steep slopes, and large trees surrounding So-Won.

Judging from the scenery, this was near the top of the mountain. It is a place so desolate no ordinary human could reach.

“…….”

“If you understand the situation, close the door and come inside. I hate bugs.”

Si-Hyuk didn’t even come out to stop So-Won from running away. He just talked to him leisurely from inside the house.

So-Won looked out the door in silence. Si-Hyuk seemed to know that he could easily catch him again even if he ran away from such a place. And now So-Won didn’t even have shoes. To walk around in socks in the rough woods soon there would have been a scar on the foot.

So-Won stared at the wide-open landscape, closed the door, and headed to where Si-Hyuk’s voice came from.

“Thank goodness you know how to figure out the situation. I didn’t want to move because I had to work hard to move the whole house.”

Si-Hyuk stretched himself on the sofa and said without looking at his So-Won. Whether he was tired or in a bad mood, his voice sank low. Si-Hyuk did not move with his arms over his eyes.