The office door behind Yi-soo stood resolutely closed, casting a veil of silence over the space within. The anguished screams of the man forcibly taken away no longer reverberated, leaving an eerie quiet in their wake. Yi-soo pondered the possibility of the room being soundproof, or perhaps her own shock had rendered her impervious to any other sounds.
Questions without answers piled up in Yi-soo’s mind, etching deep lines into her furrowed brow as she bit down on her trembling lips. He had approached her with an outstretched hand, a gesture of salvation to a fragile life, and yet now she found herself grappling with the inexplicable violence committed by the same man.
“Are you, by any chance… a stalker?” Yi-soo dared to inquire, her voice cutting through the stagnant air. Despite her firm rejection of any romantic advances, the abrupt escalation to kidnapping left her paralyzed with tension.
“Of course not,” Jin-won replied. “Though it’s true that I fell for Prosecutor Seo.”
“What on earth are you doing now? What do you want?” Yi-soo pressed, desperation and fear lingering in her words.
“Hmm, got a scratch. On mine,” Jin-won nonchalantly remarked, the cryptic utterance sending shivers down her spine. The mere two syllables of ‘mine’ echoed ominously, a claim of possession that startled her to the core.
The courteous and sophisticated lawyer Yoon & Kang’s Kang Jin-won had vanished, replaced by a chilling presence incapable of deciphering the boundaries of his own thoughts. Yi-soo turned her head away, a sharp realization sinking in–she was now face to face with a man who, in his distorted reality, saw her as nothing more than his possession.
“Why am I yours? Don’t talk nonsense,” she retorted.
“Prosecutor Seo Yi-soo. Do you remember that day? The day we first met. We happened to run into each other at Yoon & Kang.”
The memory of that day remained vivid in Yi-soo’s mind – an old man bowing multiple times, a child accidentally spilling ice cream, and the man with a peculiar smile standing by their side, his eyes emitting a mysterious energy.
Had she been a pawn in his game from the start? The thought lingered as the cry of a kitten, previously whining in a shrill voice, echoed in her mind. Suspicion transformed swiftly into certainty.
“That cat…”
“Oh, that black kitten.”
“Did you intentionally create that too?” she questioned, a hint of accusation in her voice.
He blinked with an expression that seemed to convey an obviousness, devoid of any guilt. It was as if he were a mischievous child, unapologetically committing pure mischief.
“It’s unlucky, you know, things like black cats. Very superstitious… didn’t like the sight of it.”
“Huh?”
“Still, I liked the one who loudly declared that it would try to live. It wouldn’t be fun if it died too easily.”
“That cat… What did you do after taking it? Don’t tell me… you killed it?”
In response to Yi-soo’s question, Jin-won shrugged and strolled towards the wall. Picking up one of the neatly arranged chairs, he maintained a distance before speaking.
“Do you believe in fate?”
“What nonsense are you talking about…!”
“I actually don’t believe in things like fate. Such empty, meaningless words.” Jin-won dismissed the notion with a casual wave, veering the conversation into an unrelated topic before Yi-soo could retort about the perceived nonsense. Yet, as he began to speak, something brushed past Yi-soo’s mind.
She fumbled with her bound wrists, and a glimmer of relief flashed as she found the watch Hyun-seong had given her still securely in place.
I have to record… I also need to let them know my location.
Jin-won stood at a distance, unknowing of Yi-soo’s hidden actions. Her heart pounded in her chest like a drum, the tension threatening to reveal itself. With a practiced calm, Yi-soo pressed the button on her wristwatch behind her back.
One, two, three. As she counted the seconds in her mind, Jin-won closed the distance, now holding a chair in his hands.
“I have lived my entire life meticulously planned. If even the slightest disruption occurs in my perfectly laid out plans… what can I say? It becomes difficult to endure. Goosebumps cover my whole body, and anger wells up uncontrollably. So, I decided to keep everything under my control.”
“You might wonder why I live so meticulously,” he continued. “But it’s not as difficult as people think. If supported by wealth and power, almost anything is possible.”
“What are you trying to say? Get to the point.”
Yi-soo felt a rush of uncertainty – was it being recorded properly? The uncertainty crept in, intensifying as Jin-won, having put the chair on the floor, sat down facing Yi-soo at a disturbingly close distance.