Hanbok || 2Shin (English version)

Interlude: the last photo

The situation was a fucking joke, one that he didn't like at all.

Seok-neul was very enraged to learn that neither Ryujin nor Yuna would be kicked out of their group. The possibility of two of the most popular group members on the planet coming out to defend those two wouldn't have crossed his mind even when he was drunk and high.

It was just too surreal a possibility, for God's sake! Seok-neul felt so stupid realizing that a year of his life had been wasted. No, in fact it had been more than a year. Over a year of watching, noting, spying and spinning Ryujin and Yuna's every move, only to have those efforts fall on deaf ears in the end. And of course, a very large part of his savings was gone. He realized this when he sat down to go over his expenses. Staying at the motel across the street from JYP and the hotel near Ryujin's house had been expensive in the long run, but Seok-neul was confident that the news he would get out of Ryujin and Yuna would make him enough money to make up for it all.

It didn't happen, and Seok-neul spent a whole month cursing Ryujin and her stupid girlfriend. It was their fault. Why did they arouse the pity of the pussies in that group? He wished those two a bad fall in the shower, one that would break their necks. He really wished it. Sons of bitches.

Eun-suk and Han-soo had parted ways with him, claiming they urgently needed to find a source of income. Dispatch wanted nothing to do with Seok-neul and his friends, no, no: they had the cops all over them asking for the name of whoever had stalked (a term Seok-neul found laughable because he'd only followed two public figures, nothing illegal) Ryujin and Yuna.

The usual Seok-neul advocated wiping the slate clean. Goodbye, Dispatch. Hello, new job in another city. He was a good reporter, he was sure of it, and this failure was not the end of the world. But another part whispered to him that he had been humiliated, which he soon began to believe.

He had tracked, observed, analyzed and perfectly executed a plan to capture Ryujin and Yuna. However, they had gotten away with it. The bastards would soon be walking free and happy out there!

They couldn't. They couldn't just walk away while he was forced to leave town and work his ass off in some crappy place just because, what, love could do anything?

"They're going to get off scot-free," Seok-neul said in the solitude of his living room.

He still had savings. Not much, but he didn't need that much either. He used them to stay at the motel in front of JYP until he found out that Ryujin and Yuna were already free.

Getting a firearm was impossible. He didn't have the contacts to get one, and starting the process to meet the right people would take too much time and money.

A knife would suffice. Now he just had to become Ryujin's shadow until she was left alone. He chose her because she lived in Seoul, not Suwon like Yuna. He had never stabbed anyone, as expected of a reporter, but it didn't have to be too difficult either.

---

Everything went to hell.

Seok-neul hit the table so hard that he broke one of its legs when he found out that Ryujin was alive. She wasn't even good enough to die. He spent a whole hour loudly insulting the rapper. In the end he ended up with a sore throat.

He was very upset. With the girl for not dying and with himself. He was nervous from the moment he entered the alley where he would stab the girl. He planned to stab her more times, but lost his concentration when he noticed that stabbing a knife into a toned stomach like the rapper's required more force than he thought. The nervousness increased when he decided it was time to leave, and was mixed with disbelief when Ryujin pulled him to the ground. She was stronger than she looked, the damn girl.

Panic gripped Seok-neul as Ryujin began to scream. Those "I hate you" the rapper blurted out seemed to come from the very bottom of her soul, and of passed would attract anyone with a modicum of a sense of hearing for a block around.

Seok-neul would swear he had left her badly wounded, in a death grip, but from the looks of it, he had been wrong.

He put his hands to his head with the intention of massaging it, but let out an expletive as he touched his right side. To make matters worse, Ryujin had raked her fingernails across his head when he had laid her down. It hurt quite a bit and he had four long scabs on the spot, just like on his arms.

Seok-neul packed the essentials to leave for another province. Perhaps he would visit South Jeolla and rent an apartment there. Dispatch didn't have to know where he was going, since they didn't work with him; Han-soo and Eun-suk didn't have to know either; and Seok-neul's parents... he would lie to them about his whereabouts.

He was in a hurry to get out of Seoul. He was sure that no one had seen him leave the alley that afternoon, but he had also been sure that Ryujin would die that day, so he didn't trust his instinct this time.

With his essential gear packed, he headed for his front door. He stepped out onto the sidewalk and walked around a bit, thinking about whether he had contacts in South Jeolla.

"Hey, you, stand over there."

Seok-neul frowned and turned around, putting on his best irritated look to chase away the fool who wanted to bother him.

"I don't have any money," he said as he turned around.

"We don't need any," replied a tall man with a badge identifying him as a policeman.

"Well, an extra wouldn't hurt, but not coming from this reporter," said the other man, a short one.

"Bullshit," Seok-neul thought. His heart stopped for a moment.

"Can I help you, officers?" he asked cordially.

"Yes," the tall man said. "We'd like to know why your blood and skin were under Shin Ryujin's fingernails when she was found injured in an alley."

"I hope you can enlighten us regarding this," the short one sketched a condescending smile.

"Fuck no," Seok-neul thought, horrified. "It couldn't be possible, no, no."

"I don't know what you're talking about, officers," he said slowly, "I've never come across that person you mention."

"Ah, haven't you?" said the tall man. "So, in the hypothetical case that I show Shin Ryujin a photograph of you, she won't recognize you, will she? In the hypothetical case, I mean. Although it won't be necessary, since my medical colleagues and I are pretty sure that the blood and skin found under the fingernails of Shin Ryujin's left hand match yours.

Seok-neul's head began to ache. He took a small step back.

"Are you going to run away?" said the policeman in a low voice. He began to stretch his arms. "Please don't. Do you know how bad it feels to run without warming up? It's awful, so for your health, don't do it."

"Speak for yourself," said the tall man, smiling a smile of pure amusement. "If he runs there's even more reason to arrest him."

They both burst out laughing as Seok-neul felt despair and frustration grip his soul.