Intertwined Souls (JiTzu)

Chapter 35

Monday Morning: 9:00 A.M

3rd Person POV

Jihyo ended up sleeping at the hospital; while everyone else, save for Nayeon and Jeongyeon, went home to sleep. With the little information they had, there was nothing that they could do at the current time except to rest and be ready in the morning to search for Tzuyu. Nayeon and Jeongyeon reassured Tzuyu's mother that they will bring Tzuyu back safe and sound which helped ease her mind a little.

Poor Jihyo never woke up even when people were getting ready to leave. Nayeon and Jeongyeon decided to stay to watch other Jihyo so that Tzuyu's mother could rest as well. They had to make the hard decision of asking everyone to take care of the restaurant in their absence; it was not that they did not trust them, but the current situation made them worry that something could happen while they were away. Everyone else reassured them and promised to do their best without their leaders' guidance.

It was now the morning, and everyone was fully rested. Jihyo's face was dark with a brooding aura as she tried her best to remain calm. Her thoughts were all over the place with attempts at trying to mentally trace where Tzuyu could have gone before being kidnapped. All of this while Tzuyu's mother was full of worry not only for her daughter but for Jihyo as well. She could tell that Jihyo was blaming herself, which is exactly how Jihyo felt, and she felt bad that she could not do anything to help alleviate Jihyo's worries even though she too needed the comfort.

Nayeon and Jeongyeon had to go back home to collect a couple of items before returning back to the hospital. They brought a tablet with them that contained a map of Seoul. They showed it to Jihyo and Tzuyu's mother before starting to ask them questions. Their goal was to gather as much information as they could to reduce the search area.

Jihyo thought back to the number of times that Tzuyu and her took Gucci on walks. They have gone through local playgrounds, relatively large parks, and along the river. None of this information really helped reduce the search range by a significant amount, but it did help put a small smile on Jihyo's face as she reminisced about the good memories.

"Hmmm..." Jeongyeon trailed off as she drew some circles on the map, "The search area is still too large even if we factor in what you just told us."

"Is there anything else that you can think of?" Nayeon asked Jihyo, gaining a head shake in reply.

"Wouldn't Tzuyu try to stay somewhere well-lit and relatively populated?" Tzuyu's mother asked.

Jihyo nodded her head, "She definitely would, which would mean... Let me see the tablet," she said, prompting Jeongyeon to give her the tablet, "The only places that match that kind of description at night would be these places," she said while circling parts of the river and a couple of parks.

Jihyo passed the tablet around for everyone to see. Even with this newly reduced search area, they were still at a loss. They felt like they were making no effort at all. It was evident based on the gloomy expression on everyone's faces. Tzuyu's mother noticed this and decided to speak up.

"Hey, we can't gi---" Tzuyu's mother was in the middle of saying when Jihyo's phone suddenly started ringing.

Jihyo pulled out her phone and saw that she had received a video from Tzuyu. Everyone knew right away that it was from Jihyo's father. Jihyo took a deep breath before opening the video and playing it for everyone to watch.

The video started off in a dark room. A light in the middle of the room turned on to reveal Tzuyu tied up in a chair. Tzuyu's mouth was duct taped and she had tears streaming from her eyes. Jihyo's blood started to boil the moment she saw this scene, evident by the way her hand tightened around her phone.