Swapped by fate

chapter 9

Felix’s POV

The basement was always colder than the rest of the house. As I made my way down, I could already hear faint sounds of conversation. Jisung must’ve been on babysitting duty. His voice carried through the door, light and teasing, like nothing was out of the ordinary. He was good at keeping things relaxed, even in tense situations.

I opened the door quietly and found him sitting next to Nami—*Kato Lara*, or so we had thought. Jisung was mid-story, and Nami was giving him a skeptical side-eye, clearly not buying whatever ridiculous tale he was spinning.

I leaned against the doorframe, observing the scene. It was strange seeing her this way—laughing, despite the situation she was in. But her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She still looked uneasy, guarded. And I didn’t blame her.

Jisung caught sight of me and waved casually. “I’ll go grab some snacks. Don’t interrogate her too hard while I’m gone.” He winked at Nami, who rolled her eyes, but a small smile played on her lips as he left the room.

Once the door clicked shut, the lightness in the room faded. Nami’s expression shifted, her body tensing as she realized it was just the two of us now.

I pulled up the chair that Jisung had vacated and sat down, trying to ease the tension. “You seem to be getting along with him,” I said, nodding toward the door.

She shrugged, her gaze dropping to the floor. “He’s alright... for a kidnapper.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Fair enough.”

A silence stretched between us, and I knew it was time to get to the point. “Look, Nami—” I said, using her real name deliberately. Her eyes snapped up to mine, and I continued, “We’ve been going over your story, and... well, I believe you. You’re not Kato Lara.”

For a moment, she didn’t react, as if she hadn’t quite heard me right. Then, slowly, her expression shifted to one of disbelief. “Wait, what?”

“I’ve double-checked everything,” I explained. “Your story checks out. There’s no connection to Kato. We got the wrong person.”

She blinked, as though trying to process what I’d just said. Her hands, still tied, clenched slightly. “So... you’re saying I’ve been tied up here for nothing?”

“I’m saying,” I replied carefully, “that we made a mistake. And I’m sorry for that. But the situation is complicated, and letting you go... well, it’s not as simple as it sounds.”

Her brows furrowed, suspicion creeping back into her expression. “What do you mean it’s not simple? You know I’m not the person you’re after. So why not just let me go?”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “Because you’ve seen too much. You know too much. If we just let you walk out of here, there’s no telling what could happen. And more importantly, Mr. Kato—if he finds out we had the wrong person, he’ll use it against us. He’ll expose everything.”

Her lips parted slightly, her breath catching. “But I’m not involved in any of this! I don’t care about your secrets. I just want to go home.”

“I get that,” I said quietly. “And I believe you. But this isn’t just about us trusting you. It’s about survival. If Kato finds out, he’ll destroy everything we’ve built. We can’t afford that.”

Nami’s jaw tightened, frustration clear on her face. “So what, you’re just going to keep me here? Forever?”

I shook my head. “No, that’s not the plan. But we need to figure out what we’re going to do. And until then... we can’t let you go.”

She didn’t say anything for a long time, just stared at me with a mix of anger and fear. I could understand how she felt—trapped, helpless—but there wasn’t much I could do to ease that right now.

“I’m going to talk to Hyunjin,” I said, standing up. “He’ll know what to do next.”

Nami didn’t respond, but I could feel her eyes on me as I left the room, the door closing softly behind me.

---

I found Hyunjin in his office, pacing back and forth, clearly deep in thought. He didn’t even glance my way as I walked in, too focused on whatever was playing out in his mind.

“We’ve got a problem,” I said, getting straight to the point.

Hyunjin stopped mid-step and finally looked at me. “What is it?”

“Nami’s not Kato Lara,” I said, dropping into the chair opposite his desk. “We’ve got the wrong person.”

He stared at me for a second, his expression unreadable. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’ve checked her story. Everything lines up. She’s not connected to Kato or his family. She’s just a regular student who got caught up in all of this by mistake.”

Hyunjin exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his face. “That complicates things.”

“No kidding,” I muttered, leaning forward. “If Kato finds out we’ve had the wrong person this whole time, he’ll use it against us. And if we let her go without a plan, we’re screwed either way.”

Hyunjin crossed his arms, his gaze hardening as he processed the situation. “We can’t let her go. Not yet. Not until we have something on Kato that can protect us.”

I nodded slowly, though the weight of what that meant settled heavily in my gut. “I figured you’d say that. But we can’t keep her here forever. She’s scared, and she’s not our enemy.”

Hyunjin paced again, frustration clear in the sharpness of his steps. “I know. But we can’t afford to make any rash decisions. If Kato finds out we’ve had the wrong person, it’ll be game over.”

“So what do we do?” I asked, feeling the pressure mounting. “We can’t just wait around for him to figure it out.”

Hyunjin stopped and turned to face me, his expression firm. “We need leverage. We need to find the real Lara Kato, and fast. If we can get her, we might be able to negotiate a way out of this without everything coming crashing down.”

I leaned back in the chair, exhaling slowly. “Alright. But what about Nami in the meantime?”

“We keep her here, but no more tying her up,” Hyunjin said, his voice resolute. “She’s not our enemy, and we’re not monsters. We’ll keep her safe, but we can’t let her go until we have a way to protect ourselves.”

It wasn’t the perfect solution, but it was better than leaving her in the dark, tied up like a prisoner. At least now, we were acknowledging the mistake. And hopefully, we’d find a way out before it got worse.

“I’ll make sure she’s comfortable,” I said, standing up to leave. “But we need to move quickly, Hyunjin. Kato’s not going to wait forever.”

“I know,” Hyunjin muttered, turning back to the window. “We’ll find Lara. And we’ll end this.”

As I left his office, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were running out of time. Every second we kept Nami here, the closer we got to a situation that none of us could control.

And in a game like this, one wrong move could cost us everything.

This chapter is really short but whatever...