# Chapter 80
The bus will stop at the next stop in a little while. Fortunately, there was a taxi running behind the bus.
I felt relieved at the taxi that appeared at just the right moment. It seemed like I could get off and immediately take the taxi to move.
I took a deep breath and waited for the bus to stop. Fortunately, perhaps because we were moving away from the city center, there wasn’t a single passenger trying to get off.
I looked at the back of the bus again. Jang’s car was also running on the road, but it seemed like the taxi would arrive first.
Just then, after the bus came to a complete stop, the door opened. I walked out and approached the taxi that was coming toward me.
But for some reason, I could see the taxi driver shaking his head at me. Confused, I read the text on the edge of the window, which said “Reserved.”
“…Damn it.”
As soon as I saw that short word, a chill began to fill my body. But immediately, seeing Jang’s car approaching, I realized that I couldn’t just stay like this.
‘I don’t have time to get angry for nothing.’
While running on the road, I recalled the items I had put in my bag. I thought about taking out the small folding knife I had brought just in case, but I couldn’t recklessly pull out a knife on the street.
I heard someone calling me from behind. It seemed like Jang had gotten out of his car and was running after me as I entered an alley where cars couldn’t go.
Thinking I should go somewhere with many people, I headed toward the residential area. But perhaps because it was already far from the city center, the surroundings were quiet as if everyone had left.
I was out of breath. My head felt like it was spinning. Then suddenly, I realized that this situation was strange.
‘Why was I running away? This man is just an ordinary person anyway…’
My running legs gradually slowed down. And when I reached the obvious thought, my feet wouldn’t move, as if they were stuck to the ground.
Perhaps because I had lived a life of being chased for so long, it seemed like my mind was dominated by the thought that I had to run away.
Just then, Jang ran into the pathway I had entered, swallowing rough breaths. Seeing his strangely trembling body and his forehead oozing with sweat, suddenly all of this felt ridiculous.
“Ichen! Stop running away and let’s go back home!”
“……”
I lost words and quietly stared at his eyes at the man’s utterance that seemed so natural. One eye that was strangely unfocused caught my attention. I wondered if that man had always been so pathetic.
It was a part I hadn’t noticed because I had always been tense, watching Jang’s reactions at the villa.
The brief time I spent bowing my head slowly crossed my mind. And with that, anger began to fill my mouth.
“Who are you to order me around?”
I spat out the words coldly and slowly approached Jang. Perhaps because he hadn’t expected me to walk toward him, he rather hesitated and backed away.
“Did that person tell you I was here? Ah, it wasn’t a coincidence since Poitou, was it?”
I raised my hand and grabbed his collar. Surprised by the pressure, Jang tried to grab my hand and shake it off, but the old man didn’t have the strength to shake off my force.
“Let go of this!”
His rebellious words didn’t sound particularly threatening to me. Thinking about it, it was natural. From the beginning, I could have easily shaken off Jang and left the villa when I was staying there.
From a very young age, I grew up as if it was natural not to rebel. So, being unable to move while watching his reactions under him was not what I had intended.
“What did that person say about me? Did they give you some money and ask you to imprison me?”
I asked him in a small voice, organizing my slightly calmer mind.
“It wasn’t like that. I just did it because I was lonely. I just thought you were like my son…”
“……”
“Of course, it’s true that that man asked me to keep you captive, but I never treated you badly, right, Ichen?”
I wanted to shut the mouth of Jang, who was reciting excuses while trembling. My mood was sinking deeper and deeper into the ground at a story not worth listening to.
“Go back. I won’t go with you.”
“Why! What did I do wrong? Tell me. I’ll try to fix it.”
Ignoring his words, I released Jang’s collar that I had been holding and tidied his clothes appropriately. At this moment, I felt more pity than strong anger toward him. I was puzzled about how a person could be so incapable of proper thinking.
But contrary to my feelings, Jang suddenly sat down on the ground and looked up at me.
“Please, don’t leave like this! Ichen, I can do anything if you come back home with me.”
At his voice, even the small emotion I had been holding seemed to collapse beyond help. I silently clenched my fists. Despite the anger rising to the top of my head at that voice that sounded desperate, I didn’t want to shout.
I didn’t want to be entangled with him anymore. All of this, emotionally and situationally.
“I’m sorry, but I have a place to return to, and it’s not by your side. Leave while I’m asking nicely.”
At my words, Jang contorted his expression and prostrated himself, grabbing the hem of my pants. Feeling a chill, I pulled my feet back, but the man followed and clung to me.
“Don’t do this to me, try to catch someone else and tame them well.”
“Please…”
“If you don’t want to die by someone who’s like a son to you, just get lost!”
Though I didn’t want to get angry, I sighed at the voice that finally burst out. Jang, seemingly surprised by my emotion, raised his head and examined my expression.
He seemed surprised at my anger because I had never shown anger in front of him. Even now, I hated that look in his eyes that thought I wouldn’t have any malice towards him.
But soon, Jang ignored my words and continued to grab the hem of my pants. They were mistaken.
It’s true that I’m weak to someone’s attention and affection, but I’m not naive enough to be swayed by such things anymore.
‘Why don’t they understand that trying to tame me is now a useless action?’
I have only one precious thing. I could guarantee that there wouldn’t be anything new to create in the future.
“I’m not your dead son, and I have no affection for you. At the villa, I just went along with you because I didn’t want to die.”
“What…?”
That small question, as if he believed I would have had some feelings for him, irritated me like crazy. But there’s no need to let him know my thoughts now.
“Play your emotional games elsewhere, and go back quickly.”
“……Ichen.”
“And please tell the person who told you about me to contact me.”
To show a last kindness, I pulled Jang’s arm to help him stand properly. Jang, who had been staggering, stood awkwardly and trembled all over.
The old and tired man looked infinitely miserable. Seeing him trembling weakly, somehow all the emotions I had just had became calm, as if they had been a lie.
I didn’t want to feel pity.
I left Jang in place and exited the road. Thankfully, he didn’t chase after me anymore.
Perhaps he was shocked by the fact that I had no feelings whatsoever for him. That fact tormented my heart, making it thin and sharp.
My head hurt as if I had wasted emotions needlessly. Moreover, my legs hurt as if someone had stabbed them with an iron skewer, and my eyelids felt like they would sink in.
‘If he sent Jang to torment me, then he succeeded perfectly.’
Hund knew too well how to torment me. I was puzzled how that man, whom I hadn’t often faced, knew so well about me.
I wanted to take a deep sigh to clear my clogged insides, but even that didn’t work properly. Only shallow breaths escaped, pushing me into suffocation.
After walking for a while, I came to my senses and looked around, realizing that I had returned to the vicinity of Nancy station.
“Already…”
Perhaps because it was just before sunset, the surroundings were already deserted, but there were still many people gathered near the station, waiting for buses or trains.
The people passing by seemed happy, smiling, while in contrast, I felt awkward just standing in this space.
Having walked for a long time and suddenly stopping, I felt small spasms in the soles of my feet.
‘How far have I walked?’
The distance from Nancy station to the stop where I had gotten off was about 40 minutes by bus, so I must have walked for more than 2 hours.
Suddenly coming to my senses, I checked the clock hanging at the station. The time had already passed by 5 hours since I had first purchased the ticket.
With trembling hands, I checked the bus ticket I had put in my pocket.
At that moment, I noticed on the electronic display at the edge of the station that the bus to Paris was departing in 30 minutes.
Ridiculously, because time had flowed while running away from Jang, I was now able to catch the bus on time.
“Haha…”
I let out a hollow laugh and plopped down on an empty bench. People were busily passing in front of me. Now that it was night, everyone seemed to be returning to their homes.
Several buses departed, and several trains passed by on the railway at the edge of my vision.
As that happened, the sky began to darken, and only a few people waiting for the next bus remained in the surroundings.
As everything became calm, as if all the things that had just happened were imaginations I had made up, anxiety belatedly swept over me.
As I wrapped my trembling hands around my head, I remembered the phone I had turned off.
‘Woosang might have contacted me…’
Since I hadn’t answered his calls and had turned off the power, he must have been quite surprised.
The screen turned on, and I could see the number of missed calls. 12 missed calls, 5 text messages. Suddenly, I felt cold sweat running down my back.
Hurriedly checking the remaining messages, at first there were messages of concern, but in the last message that had arrived two hours ago, there was a significant statement.
“Why did you go to Nancy?”
Puzzled about how he knew I was in Nancy, I looked around. I wondered if he had followed me, but it didn’t seem like that.
Feeling that my voice would tremble if I called, I sent a short message saying I was fine and turned off the phone again.
If I were to talk to Woosang right now, I felt like I would want to return to him immediately. I didn’t want that. Becoming weak was something to do later.
Just then, the Paris-bound bus was arriving in front of me. Several people approached the front of the bus and waited for the door to open, and I also got up from my seat and stood behind them, waiting for the door to open.
It felt like an inexplicable expectation was settling in a corner of my heart at the fact that I was returning to Paris after a long time.
