Magnificent Vexation || Winrina

seven

Jimin parked her car a few blocks away from the dark house like she did on her first time. Worried, anxious, but angry, she waited patiently for the man to come out from the house before she could barge inside.

She would find Minjeong at all cost.

The clock at her old jeep dashboard shows it is almost two in the morning when Jimin sees that familiar man come out from the mysterious house.

This time, she bought her camera. She won't repeat the same mistake.

A few pictures of the man face, even tho his face is covered with sunglasses. When Jimin is sure enough that the man is leaving when she sees that he starts to enter his car before driving away, Jimin gets off from her vehicle.

"I'll come for you, Minjeong...", she promised herself.

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seven:
the voice

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.

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Jimin climbed up the same window to the washroom and walked slowly as soon as her feet stepped on the wet floor.

Flashlights in hand, guns in her belt. Jimin did the same thing that the cops did a few hours ago by looking at each room and space.

They are right. There's no sign of a woman inside this house.

But, would Jimin believe that? No, she didn't.

She knew it more than anyone else that Minjeong is definitely here, hidden somewhere inside this house.

"Minjeong?", Jimin called her name, slow but loud enough for someone inside the house to hear. Sadly, she didn't get any answer.

"Kim Minjeong?", she called her again. Flashlights here and there.

Still, there is no answer.

She keeps walking inside the house again, going through every space multiple times until she is back again in the living room, calling Minjeong's name.

"Kim Min--"

*Squeak*

Jimin stops her movement, startled. Her eyes were wide open as she slowly shifted her orbs to the view under her feet.

A semi-big, red rug.

"There's something under there...", Jimin breathes nervously. Then, she started to move.

She pulled the rug, folded them into two just enough to reveal whatever spaces left there under the rug that made that sound. Jimin then saw it.

A section of the floorboards of the house that is weirdly cut in rectangular shape, locked with a latch lock at one side.

Whatever under there, Jimin all of sudden grows anxious. Remembering that Minjeong didn't answer her calls, her minds drove her thoughts to the worse.

Hands scrambling to unlock them open, Jimin immediately pulled the rectangular cover up, revealing a dark space under there with ten steps of wooden stairs.

Jimin couldn't think twice. Her mind is fully occupied with Minjeong whereabouts, and so she cane down to the unknown basement in a flash before running towards wherever this dark path gonna lead her.

Until she met this door.

"Minjeong!", she bang the door hard from the outside since the door is locked with a padlock. Jimin worries grow nonetheless when all she got was a total silence.

She kicked the door all her might, but it was a bit too hard for a woman like her to do so even with multiple combat training. Finally, Jimin decided to just throw her body to the door.

One time.

Two times.

Three times.

Until it hit four, the door finally broken, now wide open.

The first thing that hit Jimin is the smell of the dark room. It is the same smell she smelled from the shower inside the house that day.

Blood and sweats smell.

She moved her flashlight around, and the first thing she saw wasn't a body, but trails of dried blood on the floor. She followed them, and her heatt clenched at what she saw.

"KIM MINJEONG!!", Jimin ran towards the lifeless body on the floor before she knelt down and brushed the messy hair away from the younger woman face.

Looking back at the pale, bleeding face, Jimin confirms. She is right. It is Kim Minjeong.

"Minjeong, hey! Wake up! Please!", Jimin taps and shakes the woman body slowly as tears fall freely from her eyes. What kind of monster would do this to a sweet and innocent woman like her?

"Minjeong, I b-beg you! Please, wake up!", her grip on the younger woman got tighter before she held her closer into an anxious hug.

"Please don't die on me..."

"God, please don't let her die before me..."

"Who...", the question came out breathy. No clear voice was heard, but Jimin could hear that breathy words from the younger woman before her eyes slowly trembling open.

Eyes wide open as Jimin pulled back her body away from the figure. Her heart breaks into pieces, looking at Minjeong's slightly opened eyes that are currently looking to nowhere.

"M-Minjeong...", Jimin's words shake before her cries got heavier. "It's me, Jimin. Y-Yu Jimin", she sobbed before holding back the lifeless body closer into her embrace again.

"A-Aeri...", is the only words that came out from Minjeong's weak breathy voice.

"Yes, it's me. A-Aeri's best friend, Yu Jimin", Jimin nods between her hug.

"Thank you for being alive, Minjeong. Thank you. Don't talk anymore. I'll let you escape from this hell right now", Jimin held her tighter as she caressed the younger woman's head.

Minjeong might be smelly.

Minjeong might be bloody.

Minjeong might be too thin.

Nevertheless, Jimin could still recognize her.

After all, it is Kim Minjeong. The only girl that made Jimin once fell in love.