CHAPTER 22

It all seemed a little bit odd. Even for Bree, who happens to be the ruler of oddities. Rotary combination locks? Who even uses these in today's era? This is way too old-schooled. Yet, Bree was determined to find out what all the suspense is about.

"Who on Earth thought this was a safe idea? I'd like to meet the interior designer of this place!" Yeon blurted out in frustration.

"Calm down, feisty pants! You don't wanna attract "unexpected guests" now do you?" she side-eyed him while calling him out.

"I thought you don't believe in those. So, all of a sudden ghost conscious are we, shorty?" he said while bringing his face close to hers, smirking.

"I don't but from what I remember, you're terrified of them!" she smirked back, tilting her head upwards to stare at him eye to eye.

"Oh, shut up! At least I'm strong enough to protect myself!" he silently yelled at her, clearly pissed.

"Whatever!" she whispered back. "Do me a favour and pipe down, would ya?"

"Aren't you supposed to have like a stethoscope or something? Oh, like the one in that spy series you always watch during lunch break!" he seemed a little too excited about this.

"Those only work in movies not in real lif- "she was about to continue but then what he said at the end started processing in her brain. "OMG YOU LITTLE GENIUS!"

"Are you sick or feeling stuffy? You're scaring me, not gonna lie. You never call people geniuses! Are you okay?" he seemed worried by her sudden compliment.

"I remember reading an article about these locks for a secondary project once. If I'm not mistaken, the article said there's one common combination to these locks that people use as it is used as an example in the packaging itself. Judging by the looks of this, it's still freshly installed compared to the other 12!" her face was glowing, probably due to the discovery.

"Okay! I'm dating a pretty yet nerdy alien. That is a lot to take in for one day!" he laughed at his own statement.

"If I'm not being all delulu (slang for delusional) the common combination is 1350 as the output. How do we figure out the input?" she asked, completely ignoring Yeon's statement.

"What happens when you accidentally use the wrong input?" he asked.

"It will be permanently locked. And when that happens, we'll have no choice but to break down the door. But I don't think that's a good idea. I mean we don't know what is inside there and what if there's someone who's hanging from a ceiling fan which is tied to the door?" she seemed really nervous.

"You have got to stop watching all those serial killer documentaries! There ain't no way people do that nowadays!" he was shocked that she still believes in this type of scenario.

"Wait! I think I've got it!" she hurried to get her hands on the rotary dial.

Bree remembered the codes for the input from the article. She didn't know if it was going to work but she was ready to take the chance. The very last thing she would consider is to break down the door. She was convinced that breaking down that door was a horrible idea.

"I'm not sure if this is gonna work but I want you to trust me and be on standby. Can you do that for me?" she turned to face Yeon, looking like she was on the verge of breaking down into tears.

"I trust you regardless, hun. Don't worry about it. You've got this!" he tried to bring her spirits back up.

"If you're saying this to make me feel better then, congratulations. It worked like a charm!" she gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'm glad it did. So, how did you figure out the input?" he was curious, not about her knowledge but about the depth of it.

"I remember seeing my dad use it to store his work documents in his office room safes. It wasn't this exact model but who knows? Maybe all of them have the same dial combinations, don't you think?" she seemed unsure.

"A very secretive job, I'd say. Who locks up documents in their own house?" Yeon got serious.

"He probably didn't want me or the boys to make paper snowflakes with them. Well, we'll never know why he did it!" she looked at her feet while fidgeting her hands.

"Well, it's definitely worth a shot!" he tried to get her mind off of the past.

She remembered the input her dad used was an alternating 0 and 30 but she wasn't too sure on where or how to alternate them. She was debating if she should start with a 0 or if it was too cliché. Somehow murdering several people seemed to be an easier task than this. What a weird person, am I right?

She had a memory of her late father teaching her the basics of locks and how to open them but for this specific one, she wasn't quite sure as he didn't teach her how to open it. He only taught her how to use it.

*Flashback to a week before her parents passed away*

"Turn the dial clockwise twice. Then, stop at the first number of the combination, in which our case, it would be-" before her dad could say anything else, Bree cut him off.

"38! It's 38 because that's our first number!" she said, grinning at her father.

"Very good! Then, turn the dial anti-clockwise once and continue turning until you have reached the second number. In our case that number is?" he turned to look at Bree, waiting for her answer.

"16!" she said, all excited.

"Yes. Now turn the dial clockwise again until the last number of the combination is achieved. Lastly, pull the shackle, the lock will open!" Bree did exactly what her dad said and successfully opened the lock.

"OMG! Dad, I did it!" she danced in excitement.

*End of flashback*