The protector

Epilogue 2 - North - Seoul (M)

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Again a long chapter but it's divided into parts 😉 This epilogue will be a multi-chapter one.

Warning: remember in this side of the story RJH is highly out of character and takes from other HB's works, please keep this in mind while reading. Also, hugely important note at the end of this one, please make sure to not skip it. 

Your heart is broken,

To your surprise

Pyongyang, 2028, July 29

Come, sorrow is so peculiar
Comes in a day, then it'll never leave you
You take a pill, wonder if it will fix you
They wonder why sorrow has never left you

(Mika, Blue Eyes)

Two days after the Ris' defection, In-ah was summoned by the State Security Department – also known as the police -. She asked General Go to accompany her. Those weren't days when, stepping inside a police station, one was sure to ever step out, even someone like her. General Go would have been her exit ticket.

The man came to take her with Dan. Both waited outside the office where she was called in.

When she came out, Dan immediately noticed how In-ah was looking pale and slightly dazed.

"Tea? Maybe something cold?"

"No, thank you. I think it's too hot today for me, I'd rather go home."

Once the door was closed to her back and she was eventually alone, though, despite it really was hot outside, In-ah walked to the closet. Like an automaton, her gaze lifeless, reflecting a void that was expanding inside, the woman took a grey pullover and snuggled in the centre of the bed, laying the heavy wool on her side. The last sign of vitality was to extend her arm to pull a frame from the nightstand. Before hugging him, she softly stroked the cheek of the guy who was smiling at her.

The guy didn't reply to her stroke, nor the hug. He was destined to not reply anymore.

Every day, he would have stayed silent and still in his perennial pose of young man, timidly smiling while In-ah – an enormously happier and even healthier version of In-ah – placed a peck on his cheek. She had surprised him with that peck, at a time when they still didn't kiss outside the bed. She had probably pecked him only for the sake of shocking him. Instead, he had smiled. Because Jeong Hyeok was like that with her, someone who smiled.

It hadn't been intentional, falling for him. And, wanting to be completely honest, she hadn't even realized it until that afternoon during the interrogation.

The wooden chair in the room of the officer who wanted to "ask her some questions" was icy, they surely weren't sparing the AC. In front of her was a hot tea she didn't touch.

"We'd like to ask you some questions."

"Please."

The officer had looked quiet, courteous even. It all was a farce, and they both knew it. All they wanted was to know if she was satisfied – should read: if she would have continued to bring money -. And, possibly, to collect some info to create a narrative about Cheong-ryeol the traitor.

However, that was a farce they had to carry on, and carrying she did.

Except for one part, because there was no way for her to help them with that narrative. Over my dead ass.

"We'd like to know better about your relationship with the Ri family."

"Friendship. Can I ask you for a cigarette?"