Payback: Reversal

[Epilogue] The End Is Where We Begin

A car drove through a quiet road flanked by rich farmland. Rice paddies, orchards, and small forests filled the passenger's visions. Occasionally, there would be houses for a change of scenery, but mostly, the road was surrounded by nature that it felt almost like a miracle there was a road at all.

It had been a while since the car went past a convenience store—in fact, the last convenience store was inside the rest area up on the highway, right before they turned into this road leading to what seemed like the corner of the world.

Which might be true.

The center of civilization in that place was the village plaza, where the village hall and general store were located. Some specialty restaurants known to use healthy and organic products were there too, inviting some tourists and foodies over.

But all in all, the place seemed like it was spawned in the middle of nowhere. The air was fresh and good from the lack of traffic. There were not many crisscrossing electric cables filling the sky, and the neighborhood seemed to be a place where even criminals would be reluctant to defile it.

"So peaceful," Ingyoo muttered as the car drove past the central plaza. Even the supposedly noisiest place was calm, with only a few gossiping ahjummas playing cards in one of the pavilions, and children playing around in the park.

For a 'deserted' place though, the village's central plaza looked well-funded. Ingyoo smirked at the nice park, town hall, and stores that looked relatively new—or just freshly renovated. He could easily guess whose money was poured into that.

Definitely not the government.

The car continued traveling uphill, where the housing was getting even rarer. Most of the houses in the upper area seemed to be bigger, wider, and looked like they had been preserved since the old times. They had traditional roofs that could be seen peeking behind a tall wall, and the car felt like it was traveling backward in time. The slick, modern black sedan looked so conspicuous in this little hidden corner of the earth.

"It should be right there," Ingyoo told the driver, who looked back with narrowed eyes.

"Are you sure?" Han Gyeol, a proper fine adult now, asked in doubt.

Ingyoo clicked his tongue and pointed at the CCTV mounted in one of the streetlights. "There's no other residents who would install those around their estate so far down here."

"Yeah, that was so J," Han Byeol commented, peeking outside the window. There was a tall wall that blocked their view from the field, but she could see trees—a lot of them behind the wall. It looked like there was an orchard there, perhaps even a farmland.

As Gyeol turned the car to the path that Ingyoo pointed out, they could vaguely see the roof of a traditional house, several of them. But compared to the others they had passed before, this one looked comparatively new and glistening, as if they were built not too long before.

The path stopped at a dead end, right in front of a big gate, also constructed in traditional style, with a black tiled roof and light-colored timbers. Even so, they could see the layers of protection mounted on this gate, including the ever-present CCTV and the alarm system.

"Seemed like the right place," Byeol shrugged, before pushing the bell button embedded on the stone wall.

There was no answer coming from the intercom, and Byeol was about to push the button again before they heard a beeping sound and the wooden gate swung open on one side.

"Yaay?" the grown lady grinned like a girl still and went through the gate with skipping steps. "Oh wow..."

She exclaimed as soon as he was inside. The building in front of her was a perfect mix of traditional and modern architecture. It looked like a traditional house from the outside, made of high-quality material and delicate carving on the roof. But it was also fitted with modern convenience; air conditioning and heating, fine electricity, and good security measures. It was a beautiful piece of architecture that felt like a resort instead of a house.