Pay With Your Heart

500 Stupid Sacrifice

“It was Yong-Gun’s right hand man. The one with him at country F.” Eun-sun told them.

“Stephen.” Tae-Ho uttered and though Eun-sun didn’t quite remember his name, but she nodded. She had overheard Dan-Han mentioning the name over the phone after their encounter at in country F.

She had only seen him once, and she guessed that was why she had failed to recognize immediately she saw him.

She observed as Tae-Ho scowled after her confirmation. Despite the dark glasses he had on, she could still make out the frown lines on his face, making this the first time she was seeing an expression on his face, and it was scary.

She wondered how he’d look if he took the glasses off. He’d scary, but definitely not as scary as the thought currently running through her head.

Why had she met that man here? Was he...Did he—

Eun-sun couldn’t even bring herself to complete that line of thought.

Her eyes darted to Tae-Ho and then to Mi-Cha. The angry look on his face, and the horrifying on Mi-Cha’s, told her she wasn’t the one with that line of thought.

She turned to Tae-Ho. “You don’t think they did this right? You don’t think they murdered her and framed Dan-Han up for it, do you?” She nervously asked.

.....

Tae-Ho raised his gaze to her, and briefly shifted it to Mi-Cha, before settling back on her.

“You guys should go back now. It’s not safe for you here, and you could be apprehended if found here.” He tersely told her without answering her question, but Eun-sun already had her answer.

She already figured it out, and God! she couldn’t believe it!

She couldn’t believe that evil man would go as far as doing this. He killed someone. Mutilated her like she was some animal.

She didn’t Kwon-Nara so well, and even though she had made some wrong decisions in life, she didn’t think she deserved to die in such a way.

Kim Yong-Gun was a scary evil man. She couldn’t even imagine he was related to her by blood.

She glanced at Mi-Cha, and she could see the horror, anger, and hatred in her eyes.

Eun-sun hoped she wasn’t feeling angry towards herself or blaming herself for that evil man’s deed.

Their parents has been supportive and caring towards Mi-Cha. They went about each day like they hadn’t discovered Yong-Gun’s evil scheme, and they haven’t mentioned it after that day Mi-Cha ran away and they brought her back.

She hooked her arm around Mi-Cha’s, snapping her out of whatever thought she was lost in.

“Come on, let’s go back. We should get out here.” Eun-sun told her, and Mi-Cha looked at her.

“We can’t just do that. We should probably go to the police and tell them who the real perpetrators are.” She said.

Eun-sun looked at Tae-Ho to see what he thought about it.

“What do you think?” She asked. She knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as Mi-Cha had said it. For them to do so, they had to provide evidences that proved that her uncle and his minion were the real culprit, and Tae-Ho confirmed that.

“You need proof.” He said simply, and Eun-sun nodded her head in understanding. She followed his gaze as he looked outside the window and towards the apartment they had seen the blonde girl before.

She couldn’t see his eyes, but she imagine they were glistening with suspicion about the girls reaction.

The window was directly adjacent to Kwon-Nara’s bedroom in a way one could have a clear view of the others room through the large windows.

With the girl’s reaction it could be possible, she might have seen something on the day of the incident or even the face of whoever did it.

She was going to there and ask whoever it is some questions. This might be the breakthrough they required to help set Dan-Han free.

She didn’t care if she had to beg, bribe, threaten whoever it was, but whatever she’d need to do, she’d do and more.

Her eyes fiercely narrowed with determination, and just before she could leave Tae-Ho stopped her.

“You should go home. I’ll go over myself.” He told her. He had seen the expression on her face and he suspected what she had set up her mind to do.

Eun-sun looked up at him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Go home. The man has shown he has no restraint, and you both could be in trouble if he chooses to come for you and–” His eyes shifted and stayed on Mi-Cha, who looked up at them confusedly. Obviously, she hadn’t being listening.

“I’ll put you in a cab.” He said and started leading the way out, while Eun-sun and Mi-Cha followed behind.

Eun-sun cautiously peered at Mi-Cha who was being awkwardly quiet and in thoughts.

She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what to say. She could vaguely guess the thoughts going through her head at the head at the moment, and if she was right, they had to do with Yong-Gun.

She sighed in her head.

Tae-Ho hailed a cab for them, and just before Eun-Sun could get in, she hoped in and locked the door from within.

“Mi-Cha, what are you—”

“Drive! Now!” She yelled at the driver, who was slightly startled.

“Drive! God damnit!” She yelled just as she saw Tae-Ho trying to round the car to the driver’s side and immediately the drive swiveled back into the road.

She caught a glance of Eun-sun fiddling with her phone and without even guessing twice her phone began to ring.

“Mi-Cha, what the hell are you doing? Where are you going?!” Eun-sun angrily demanded over the phone.

“I... I’m going to set things right. You don’t have to worry about me.” She said, but Eun-sun only yelled out more.

“Set things right how?! You’re going to meet him aren’t you?” Eun-sun could already guess that was what she was up to, and her answer only confirmed it.

“Yes,” Mi-Cha replied.

“How are you going to find him? You better come back here this instant and we’ll go home together. This isn’t going to save anything. It’ll only make things worse. Come back now!” She demanded, but Mi-Cha didn’t think there was any other choice for her.

She couldn’t go back, not now.

“Listen to me, Eun-sun. We can’t help Dan-Han if we don’t find who the real killers are, and now we do. All we need is the evidence that says he isn’t the culprit, and I’m going to get.”

“How?” Eun-sun asked. How was she going to achieve something like that?

Was she going to find him and demand him to go submit himself? Or would she force out a confession from him?

How was she going to even find him in this big city? And how sure was she that that man wouldn’t be crazy enough to harm her or keep against her will? Was she even thinking at all?!

“I’m going to get a confession from him, and I’ll send it to you. When you receive it, you must send it to the right authorities and set your man free.” She said and paused.

She softly sighed and continued speaking into the phone. “I’m sorry, Eun-sun. I’m sorry for all hard times you’ve had in life because of me. I saw the dossier that had on you and kept in his office. It didn’t give proper details, but you’ve had a tough time, and I can’t blame myself for it. If I hadn’t been taken your place, you would have been with your family from the onset. And right now, I can’t be the reason why something bad happens to you again.” She said with tears in her eyes.

Eun-sun also felt her eyes well up as she listened to her teary voice. “What are you saying, Mi-Cha? None of this is your fault. It’s all his fault, and how many times do I have to tell you that?! What about Soo-Min? Didn’t you agree to see her? She’s been waiting for so long now? Mi-Cha stop this and come back. Please I beg you. I...I can’t take it if anything happens to you. That man is crazy. For my sake and mom and dad, please come back.” Heavy beads of tears were already falling from her eyes.

They’d find another way to help Dan-Han. He was going to come out from jail a free and innocent man, and they didn’t have to make this stupid sacrifice.

“I love you, Eun-Sun. I haven’t told you before, but I do. And I promise to come back unscathed. I promise.” She promised and ended the call before Eun-sun could say anything else.

She was scared and nervous, but this had to be done.

She wanted to face that monster that gave birth to her, and if he had to go to jail, she wanted it to be by her hand.

She sent a quick mail to his email address, telling him she wanted to see him, and that she was coming alone. A mail was the only and quickest way to reach him, because for some reasons he had always replied to them faster than calls and texts.

It barely took a three minutes, when she got a reply with an address where she’d be picked up.

Mi-Cha felt her heart skipped as she thought about what she was about to do, but there was no turning back now..

Mi-Cha told the address to the driver who dropped her there.

It was an old, abandoned track under a bridge. And just as she waited, a black car pulled over and two men appeared.

They pulled a cloth over her head and lead her to the car.

This was it! This would be her first meet with the man since she found out he was her father, and she hoped it would be the last.