His Royal Arrogance | KTH | ✓

23.

As soon as the meeting was over, Taehyung looked around for his Secretary all around the building in vain. Where did that girl go?

She had mentioned something about visiting somewhere to get leads or something but he wasn't paying attention. Now that she was not in the office Taehyung was getting a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps she's at the apartment.

He ran down the stairs, unlocked his Maserati, and he quickly got inside. After a few minutes, Taehyung reached home. As he unlocked the front door, he called out, "Secretary Lee! You are here? You know I am about to die within 4 days, shouldn't you be looking after me?"

Nothing. Silence greeted him as he pushed open the door and entered the room.

"Secretary Lee?"

There was no reply. She wasn't there. Where did she go? Taehyung unlocked his phone and a message popped up from her. Taehyung clicked on the notification.

Not so close Hyein

Beware of Oh Mansik
seen

Beware of Oh Mansik? The cleaner guy?

Something felt odd. Taehyung felt that something was terribly wrong. What did she mean? And where was she? Taehyung dialed her number.

Ring....ring....ring....

The person you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message after the tone. Beep.

"What have you gotten yourself into now?"

~~~

(Turn on the media for an immersive reading experience.)

Hyein opened her eyes to find herself in a dim room, poorly lit only by the occasional sun rays that came in through a nearby opening. She was on the ground. Her mouth was gagged with a piece of dirty cloth and her hands were tied. Her heart rate accelerated at the sight.

No no no no! Calm down Hyein. This is not the time to panic.

Hyein calmed herself as she slowly looked around. She seemed to be in an abandoned warehouse. It was dusty and damp from the rain. A musty smell hung in the air. The rain had stopped and the water on the roof dripped down one by one creating a soft plop that echoed through the building. No one seemed to have used the building for a long time now. Hyein writhed and wriggled trying to get herself into a sitting position, careful not to put a strain on the knot tied to her hand. She knew that tugging at the knot would only tighten it bit by bit. She has to be careful. Her captor wasn't there. That felt like a good sign. If she could manage to get out of her knot, she could escape and warn Taehyung.

Oh Mansik was the culprit. The Cleaner Ahjussi. But why?

Hyein knew that he used to work in Ethereal. She had found out after digging around a bit in the official records. She was surprised and was happy that she finally had someone to ask for leads. That was why Hyein was at the slum that day. She was looking for Oh Mansik. Things played out well when he saw her and took her in. It was the perfect opportunity to have a deep talk, reminiscing the past (and on the way find some clues). Everything fell apart the moment Hyein saw the perfume bottles. Never in a million years did she see that Mansik would be the X man. That kind and sweet personality of his... was it all a facade?

Hyein somehow got herself into a sitting position. Now that she was sitting up, she could slightly see through the opening nearby. The whole place seemed abandoned. There wasn't anything except for the woods, as far as she could see. Sh*t! Where the hell am I?