In that house, Jung Sanho was a non-existent being. Something that clearly existed but people were reluctant to mention. An existence that everyone hushed up, like an elephant in the room.
Was it because he grew up hearing all his life that he was the bloodline of a crazy woman? Rather, such disregard was better. There was no need to be hurt anew. It had been a long time since he’d discarded hope and expectations. His indifferent father, his weak mother, and even the rest of his family could no longer hold any meaning for Jung Sanho.
“Sanho-ya, it’s been a while?”
As soon as he got out of the car, someone waved at the parking lot entrance. The man who appeared to be around Yoon Taerim’s age was tall enough to be similar to Jung Sanho. However, he exuded the soft atmosphere characteristic of someone who used their head more often than their body.
Jung Sanho’s brow furrowed as he recognized the man. There was nowhere suitable to escape to pretend not to know him. Swallowing a sigh, he slowly approached the man.
Jung Seyeong, Jung Sanho’s half-sibling and officially his older brother on the family register. Jung Seyeong, who had pushed up his rimless glasses, smiled and stubbed out the cigarette he’d been holding.
“I had no manners smoking in front of a non-smoker. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. You’ve been well too, right, hyung? I thought you were in America, but you came back quite early.”
“Why? Don’t you like that I came back too soon?”
At the question hitting the mark, Jung Sanho closed his mouth. Jung Seyeong smiled and leaned his arm on his shoulder. As he came close with his arm around his shoulders, a strong cigarette smell came from him.
“Just kidding, kidding. How is it, is school manageable? If you’d insist on refusing to study abroad to that extent, that school must be a really fun school.”
Wrapped in a soft voice, but the words contained within were sharp and pointed. Jung Seyeong was always like that. Aside from character, he was someone who believed he himself was the most precious and important. To him, for whom only my life, my position, my wealth mattered, Jung Sanho could only be a thorn in his eye. That’s what being half-siblings meant. Jung Sanho was the only one who threatened Jung Seyeong’s existence alone, and Jung Seyeong had known that very well since childhood.
However, Jung Sanho was no longer a snotty little kid. He wasn’t unaware of Jung Seyeong’s feelings, and he had grown to the point where he could roughly let whatever he said go in one ear and out the other. Hearing unpleasant things was one thing for a day or two, but if you do it for a lifetime, you’re bound to become indifferent.
“Yes. It’s fun.”
Jung Seyeong, who had been patting Jung Sanho’s arm, burst into a snicker. He squeezed his arm tightly and then soon moved away. Boredom appeared in Jung Seyeong’s eyes, which had become listless as if he’d lost interest.
“Yeah, well. Our little brother does well on his own. Want to go up first? I’ll smoke one more and then go.”
He waved his hand flippantly and headed inside the parking lot without even listening to the answer. Even though it was clearly a non-smoking area, his hand taking out a cigarette was brazenly shameless. It’s not like that human would understand even if warned. Jung Sanho, who let out a sigh, turned toward where the elevator was. From far away, he could faintly hear Jung Seyeong answering a call.
“Yeah yeah, Yeongbin-ah, yeah. Right, the 11th floor is all empty since it’s before opening.”
After a moment of silence, laughter echoed. He reflexively turned his head and made eye contact with Jung Seyeong. Jung Seyeong, who had been laughing while holding his phone, wiggled his finger. When he frowned at the ambiguous gesture that could mean come or get lost, he strode over.
“You said you didn’t want to last time, so what’s this about? Yeah. You’re coming now, right? Got it. I’ll go when I have time too.”
He carelessly threw the unlit cigarette on the ground and soon ended the call. Though he didn’t know what interesting news he’d heard, his eyes rippled with faint excitement, unlike before.
“Little brother, do you have time after the gathering? My friend says he’s prepared something fun, want to come too?”
“I don’t want to.”
Jung Sanho answered immediately. Jung Seyeong’s friend, just hearing about it is unclean. Weren’t they people who played so dirty that even Yoon Taerim, who wasn’t that clean himself, would have to step back? Why would he go looking for such a place?
“Haha. I thought so. Then you’ll understand if I leave in the middle of dinner?”
“Do whatever.”
“You can’t badmouth me in front of father saying I’m gone, okay? Don’t wag your tail, you know what I mean?”
Pat pat, Jung Seyeong, who tapped his shoulder, passed Jung Sanho and disappeared into the elevator. The elevator door closed leaving him behind as if it were natural. Jung Sanho, who had been glancing at the arrow heading to the upper floor, raised both middle fingers.
“That fucking bastard.”
The curse that Jung Seyeong couldn’t hear echoed softly in the parking lot.
***
Mom always said. Following a friend to Gangnam.
‘Seungyeon-ah, do you know how important the people around you are? Look at mom too. After living my whole life with no connection to exercise, I lost 3 kilograms in just one month of hiking with Misuk unnie. If you go next to someone reading books, you’ll read books too, and if you’re next to someone who likes to play, you’ll play too. So you too! Make friends with decent kids, not kids like you.’
It wasn’t just nagging to be ignored when she said to somehow entice a model student and go to academy together or do something. They were all words that became blood and flesh. Mom’s words were always right, but maybe he ended up like this because he realized it too late.
Seungyeon, who came to his senses in a dark, rattling space, calmly retraced his memories. So he met Go Yeongbin, and then was kidnapped by that bastard? Even though he wanted to check where this was, he couldn’t see anything. It seemed like he was still wearing the black cloth, or maybe this space itself was too dark.
Judging from the regular rattling movements and engine sounds, it seemed like a car trunk. Whether his hands and feet were tied, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t budge. His stomach churned with anxiety. Or was it because of the drug? The strange smell still remaining at the tip of his nose made him feel very dirty.
‘Where’s my phone?’
I put it in my pocket last. If he could just find that, he could call 119 or 112 for help. Seungyeon didn’t let go of the thread of hope and twisted his body wildly. Even unintentionally, episodes from the investigative reporting programs he used to enjoy watching with his mom kept coming to mind. His head spun at the thought that he might become a victim of such an incident. He imagined his mom distributing flyers everywhere looking for her missing son. That absolutely couldn’t happen. Rather than committing such unfilial behavior, he’d slit Go Yeongbin’s throat right here.
‘It absolutely won’t end like that.’
He was desperately clinging to Baek Seungyeon’s body because he wanted to live happily with mom for thousands of years. Having gone all-in on this hopeless life with nothing but debt, if it ended like this, he’d surely wander the nine heavens out of frustration. And what sin did mom commit? Just when she thought her troublemaking son finally matured, he suddenly dies in an accident? For mom’s sake too, Seungyeon had to escape from here. No, escape aside, he would definitely put that fucking bastard Go Yeongbin in jail.
Each time he struggled, his wrist chafed and stung. Even though it hurt like hell, he endured by pressing down and twisted the angle with maximum force. Once a little space was created, it became a bit easier after that. He changed his posture while regulating his increasingly ragged breathing. Suddenly the car body shook roughly with a rattle. His body shook from the recoil and his side hit something. Seungyeon, who writhed in pain for a while groaning, glared with tearful eyes.
‘Go Yeongbin, I will definitely kill you.’
Life is already tough enough, and you’re changing the genre to a crime story as you please? Fucking bastard. Seungyeon’s eyes shook roughly with hatred that overwhelmed anxiety and fear. Whether a person driven by spite can draw out more ability than usual, after struggling for a while, he was able to pull out one hand that had been tied with cable ties. Deliberately ignoring his wrist that had become damp from chafing to the point of bleeding, he rummaged through his pockets.
However, no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t grab anything. Of course. No matter how stupid Go Yeongbin was, he would have the meticulousness to take away the phone. Seungyeon forcibly suppressed his bitter impression and threw off the cloth covering his vision. He looked around the narrow space that appeared to be a trunk and furiously racked his brain. If he couldn’t call for help from outside, there was only one method left. Whether it became porridge or rice, resist and resist again.
According to what Seungyeon had seen in numerous investigative reporting programs, the best response when facing a kidnapper was resistance. The probability of survival was much higher when resisting with the resolve to die and escaping than when being obediently dragged away by a kidnapper and surviving. It was the same now. When Go Yeongbin arrived at the destination, he would open the door, and that was the opportunity. Either subdue him, spit on him, make him let his guard down and escape.
The car that had been moving roughly with rattling gradually slowed down smoothly at some point. He could instinctively tell. That there wasn’t much distance left to the destination.
