Chapter 49 - Please be alive (1/2)

Loud noises wake him up. Jung Kwang-soo holds his head in his hands. He feels drowsy. His vision starts to clear up. Did he doze off? He looks at the half-finished bottle of the sweetened milk. He remembers picking it up at midnight. After taking a few sips, he has fallen asleep.

Someone is trying to break the door. He gets up and opens it. The guards are standing there with a scared look.

One of the guards speaks up. ”Are you okay?”

”What happened?” He asks. His head begins to clear up. ”Is something wrong?”

”Someone threw a gas bomb in the corridor around 12:15 AM. All the guards fell asleep,” The man tells him with fear. ”We woke up a while ago.”

He runs to the bedroom. His eyes bulge out when he sees the bloody sheet. Ahn Hana is nowhere to be seen. He looks for her in the bathroom. There is blood on the floor. Ahn Hana is nowhere.

Where is she? No. No. She can't die.

***

When he sees the blood on the bed, he can't move further.

”The cameras are destroyed,” The detective is saying to him. ”We found a strong drug in the drink. The killer threw the silent gas bomb first. It was full of strong sedatives. Mr. Jung's drink was already tweaked by a strong sedative. He entered the house between 12:15 AM to 12:30 AM. He must have left before the dawn. We received Mr. Jung's call at 9:30 A.M. He is being tested right now.”

Do Sejin has been at the hospital. His father collapsed last night. His father couldn't bear the sight of his only daughter's dead body. His mother is also sick and inconsolable. Eun Min Ah is with her. He couldn't leave them.

Yesterday, he lost his sister. Today, Ahn Hana is gone. Even her body is not found. Jung Kwang-soo has promised him that he will protect her. Why did this happen then?

He can't process anyone's words.

”Looking at the blood...” The detective hesitates. ”She must have been tortured. The killer must have taken her along with him. The chances of her survival are low. Let's stay strong and hopeful. We will keep looking for her.”

The killer didn't leave from the front gate. The backdoor of the building is found open to the alley. The surveillance cameras are nonfunctional.

”The killer is smart. He must have planned this for a long time.”

He doesn't want to hear things like this. He wants to find Ahn Hana. He doesn't know what kind of things she is going through now.

”We found cameras in her house. She was being watched 24 hours a day.”