Chapter 8

The sun has started to set. Jia and Leina were sitting side by side on the sofa. Jia could not sit and just wait anymore. She dialed Yeong-hae’s number and called her. When the call did not go through, Jia knew something must have happened. She excused herself from Leina and went out of the apartment. Standing a few meters away from the door, she called her father.

“Do you have a moment? Can we talk?” Jia continued, “No. It’s just. I want to tell you something.”

She took a deep breath before letting out the words. “If I ever got out of reach, I want you to track me. Open my laptop in my room. The password is 8226. From there you can track me because I will swallow a tracking device.”

Jia ignored the voice on the phone and looked back at the door thinking about Leina. “I am going to tell you something very important now.”

Jia then told her father, who was the superintendent of police, about the case they were working on secretly and up to how far it had come. Her father scolded her for not telling him in advance as they were not talking about some mediocre crime.

Jia yelled back in frustration, “How can I tell my sunbae that you are my father when I literally join the service hiding the fact that I am your daughter? You didn’t even want to acknowledge me. All you wanted was me dolling up just like my sisters. I don’t want that. Do you think it was easy for me to ask for your help after not talking to you?”

Jia tried to calm down when the other side of the phone went silent. “Can you help me now?”

>>>

“You are back? Why did you take so long? I was scared alone here.” Leina stared at Jia who didn’t reply anything and went straight to the kitchen. She took out two cups of ramen, then poured the hot water on it, and place it in front of Leina. “Eat it with the sausage.” She jerked her chin to the sausages on the table.

Jia finished her ramen and glance at Leina who was still eating. She rested her chin on her hand and asked, “I haven’t introduced myself properly, right?” Leina nodded as she slurped the noodles.

“Jung Ji-ah. A name that is contrary to the person I was supposed to be. Colleagues call me ‘Jia’.”

Before she spoke, Leina chewed the food and signed to give her one second.

“I would say you people know me already. But let me also introduce myself. My name is Ahn Leina and my future is not the same as I used to dream of.”

Jia scoffed and replied, “Do you have a boyfriend?” Though they met not long ago, they became sort-of friends after spending their time together.

Leina swallowed her food and replied, “I used to.”

“What happened?”

Leina put down her chopsticks and spoke. “You will love this, considering it has been really boring in here. After what happened to my family, I went to him for help. He told me to go to the police and report it. So, I requested him to come with me but he was not ready to come with me. So, I went to a nearby police station. They told me to wait in a room…but I felt uneasy so I went out to check. That’s when I heard the policeman telling someone that I was there. I pretended to go to the washroom and escape from there. I went back to my boyfriend but he kicked me out. He said he did not want to die and none of my friends were willing to help me too.”

Jia nod. “I am sorry about what happened…. But how did you get my number?”

“Before I escape from the station, I took one of the staff’s jackets. I found your card in there. I remembered your name. Yeong-hae mentioned you in her interview. ‘My genius junior’.”

Jia tried to hold in her smile when she reminisced Yeong-hae praising her in the interview. Leina turned to her and asked about what she meant earlier by a person she was supposed to be.

Jia gazed at Leina, giving some thought to whether she should disclose her secret or not. She laughed and replied, “To become who you want to be, you go through so many phases. Like a test. And you eventually learn some things about yourself and everything around you. What you are good at and bad at. And…you change!” Leina stared at her trying to understand her words.

Jia abruptly stood up and continued, “Anyways, what I am saying is you are safe here.”

“Huh?” it confused Leina even more, “You are not making any sense. Are you food-drunk?”

"Food-drunk?" Jia scoffed and started to pick up the waste and put it in a plastic bag. “You do not have to understand.”

Leina signed and helped her in cleaning up.

Right at that moment, the doorbell rang. Leina was about to get to the door, but Jia stopped her. “What?”

“I will get it.” Jia put down everything and picked up her gun. She ordered Leina to hide somewhere and went quietly towards the door to peek at the eyehole. There was a masked man standing in front of the door. He stared into the hole and waved. “Please open the door. We come in peace.”

Jia hurried towards Leina and pulled her towards their escape route. She opened the cupboard behind which the wall was cut open to lead them to the next apartment. Through the chain of vacant apartments, Jia and Leina ran out of the last apartment to the staircase and escaped from the back door.

“What’s going on?” Leina asked as she caught up behind Jia.

“Hurry up. They are here.” Jia sternly commanded and grabbed her wrist to run even faster.

“Whoo?” Leina huffed as her fragile body tried to keep up with Jia. “Where is Yeong-hae?”

“I don’t know,” Jia yelled. “We need to get out of here.”

“Let’s get the car,” Leina whined.

Jia suddenly stopped and clutched Leina’s shoulder tight. “Use your one and only brain. My team is not back yet and they are here. Also, the car is parked in front of the building. Do you want to go right into their hand? They want you. Not me. So, if you are okay with dying, then go ahead. If not, be quick on your feet and follow me.”

Leina pursed her lips and slowly answered. “Yes.” She then quietly followed Jia through the path.

But it did not take long for them to be caught. “Ladies? Going somewhere?”

Jia stopped and pulled Leina behind her. “Who are you?”

The masked men blocked their path and what seemed to be their leader, walked up to them. “Why did you run? You disappointed me.” He tilted his body to the side and looked at Leina.

“Get her…And this one too”.