Monster Underneath The Bed✓

십칠

Chapter 17: The Trap Tightens

The car’s engine hummed quietly as YN drove through the darkened streets, the documents she had taken from her childhood home spread out across the passenger seat. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles white, as she replayed the events of the night in her mind. Someone had been in the house, someone who wanted those documents just as badly as she did. The realisation left a cold, creeping fear in the pit of her stomach.

She couldn’t go back to the apartment couldn’t risk leading whoever was after her straight to Jisoo. Instead, she drove aimlessly for a while, trying to think of a safe place to hide. Eventually, she found herself on the outskirts of the city, pulling into the parking lot of a small, run-down motel. The neon sign flickers ominously in the night, casting eerie shadows on the cracked pavement.

YN paid for a room in cash, not wanting to leave any trace of her whereabouts, and quickly slipped inside. The room was as dingy as she expected faded wallpaper peeling off the walls, a lumpy bed, and a flickering overhead light. But it was a place to hide, and right now, that was all she needed.

Once inside, YN barricaded the door with a chair, her heart still pounding with adrenaline. She spread the documents out on the small motel table, her eyes scanning over the faded letters, yellowed newspaper clippings, and black-and-white photos. The more she read, the more the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place, painting a picture of something far darker and more complex than she had imagined.

Her father’s letters were the most disturbing. They spoke of secret meetings, dangerous men, and a project that was far from legal. Her father had been trying to distance himself from whatever they had been involved in, but Namjoon’s father had refused to let him go. The last letter, dated just a week before her father’s death, was filled with fear, fear for his life and the lives of his family.

As YN pieced together the timeline, her stomach twisted with dread. Her father had known too much, had tried to get out, and for that, he had paid the ultimate price. Now, she was caught in the same web of danger, her life hanging by a thread.

One of the documents caught her eye a small, leather-bound journal that had been tucked beneath the letters. YN opened it, her hands trembling as she read the entries. The writing was her father’s, each page filled with cryptic notes about "The Project," warnings about Namjoon’s father, and a list something her father referred to only as "The List."

The journal mentioned that this list contained the names of everyone involved in "The Project," including those who had orchestrated the cover-up. Her father had hidden it somewhere, hoping that if anything ever happened to him, someone would find it and expose the truth.

But the journal didn’t say where the list was hidden.

YN’s heart sank. The list was the key to everything, but without knowing where to find it, she was back to square one. Frustration bubbled up inside her, mixing with the fear and uncertainty that had been growing since this nightmare began.

Just as she was about to give up for the night, her phone buzzed on the table. The sound was jarring in the silence of the motel room, and YN’s heart skipped a beat as she reached for it. A new message had appeared on the screen, sent from an unknown number.

*Meet me where it all began. You know the place.*

YN’s blood ran cold. There was only one place it could mean the park near her childhood home, where she and Namjoon had first met as children. The place where she had first noticed him watching her, where their strange, obsessive connection had begun.

Every instinct screamed at her that it was a trap, that she should stay far away. But if there was even a chance that Namjoon had the answers she needed, she couldn’t ignore it. She had to know the truth, even if it meant walking into danger.