Ten minutes away from the school, was the 'EH mart' shown in the photo.
Just because I didn't get caught by him till now doesn't mean he wouldn't find me further, I knew. This mart place looked like a rather small building, so there's no way Dan wouldn't see me if I went straight through the front road.
I saw that there was a sort of a really grassy field next to the place so I went in that direction, and that took me to the back of the building.
I heard someone walking in, from the other side of the wall. They weren't saying anything, and I was startled on suddenly heard another voice saying "Who's that?!"
I continued to remain silent and listened.
"There's nothing to steal there. It's been over 5 years since anyone lived here." The voice of a probably old man.
"AH... OKAY!" Dan. He sounded scared.
"That house? A kid lived there with his dad... I don't know where he went either-" The man walked away."
.
.
.
There was a bit of a hustle coming from inside before I heard Dan walking away. After a few seconds, I decided I'd enter.
The door was left open. I got in.
Basically just an empty abandoned store, it was.
There were boxes, used cans, wine bottles, and just random trash items spread all over the floor. There was a billboard on the wall and a calendar. That old man was right; there really was nothing in there.
But it didn't quite look like it's been 5 years since anyone was in there like he said. It looked like the place had been...recently cleared? Like, the dust on the shelves wasn't so thick? At least not under the flashlight from my phone. Ahh...I don't know!
I looked around.
The calendar was from 5 years ago. Some dates were scribbled out, I moved closer to have a better look.
The date 17th was circled.
'Moving day!!' And there was an address.
'Seoul Gian-Gu...'
That is around my place, isn't it? Quite far away from here...
'...Gian 2 123-456'
'So, five years ago, this James Lee guy moved over to Seoul, to this address. He was living there with Dan under the name of 'Daniel Park'. He attended J high with us, and now he's admitted at the hospital.'
'....I see.'
.
.
.
I was headed at the address scribbled on the calendar. It was rather dark, with the hour-long train ride back to Seoul, and I wasn't really sure if I should be going to a neighborhood I'm unfamiliar with, at this late hour of the night.
'Maybe I'll just find the address and leave. And go check there tomorrow morning.
Yeah. Let's just find the location for now.'
.
.
.
It was a mountain neighborhood. I finally found the damn house.
'If this place is empty as well, that's a dead-end...sure hope it's not. I've been running around all day.
Well, I did gather some info on James Lee, so it wasn't a total waste...'
I'd decided I'll leave now and come back tomorrow, but for some reason, I couldn't quite turn around and walk away-
'...I mean, Dan's probably been here since he saw the address as well, what if he's still inside?
For someone involved in all this mystery shit, he seems to know quite little. Like, his reactions when he found info on James, he was super shocked, and he was so preoccupied and disturbed-
What if he takes away any evidence he gets with him? He did take James' uniform from his apartment.
Should I just, maybe just take a peek through the window?'
'No what if someone sees me? What if Dan finds me out?
He wouldn't hurt me would he?'
'NO, he's my friend! He wouldn't harm me or whatever-'
'You can never be too sure, Kyra.'
As I was lost in thoughts, I heard the door creak open.
'OMG HIDE!'
I quickly hid behind a large garbage container that totally just happened to be there, and peeked out.
There was a walking stick, and a man dressed in an expensive-looking suit walked out the door. I haven't seen him many times before, but I could recognize him as Charles Choi-
'Charles Choi.
CHARLES CHOI!
The person everything seems to be connecting back to! He was there at that address? So did he find out someone had been there today?!
Someone? YOU had been there! What if they saw you?
No, I'm pretty sure there wasn't anyone there, at least not when I was around. Maybe he found out after I left the place?
Well, him coming to this address given the situation definitely means that he indeed has something to do with this. Of course! Well, at least my suspicions weren't completely out of place-
He must NOT see me. He's too shady!'
I kept sitting there, not making a sound. I was lucky it had been dark, my position was pretty unnoticeable.
He walked into the streets, and I saw a car stop in front of him. A certain blonde came out of the car, and Charles Choi whispered something to him before he came in and the car walked away.
Of course, I knew by now that Goo worked for Choi, but what's he doing standing around here? Is he perhaps here to clear the stuff out of this place so there's no possible evidence or whatever?
'But why today? Just when I found out Daniel is at the hospital as James Lee, when I followed around Dan for miles and went to all those places, why today?
That has to mean that wherever we went to, and all this info I found out today has something to do with Charles, right? Very likely possibility, yes. Again, everything keeps circling back to him.'
Goo just kept standing there, hands in his pockets, staring blankly at the 'shack' without a word. It was kinda silent except for the sounds of vehicles from a distance.
'Great! That means it'll be difficult to get out of here unnoticed-
Should I just wait here till he goes away? But I have no idea how long he plans on staying.
If I do plan to get up and leave, he will see me. What is a good excuse for coming to a totally random place during the night and hiding away behind a trash container like a total freak?'
'Ohhh, unless-'
'NO what are you thinking? That's crazy! I doubt he'll buy that...'
'...well, it's not like I've got any better ideas...let's just...give it a go...'
I mentally prepared myself for a quick second for the probably stupid idea I just got.
'Worth a try though...'
I slowly, very slowly got up, opened the dumpster, and looked inside. It was kinda stinky, the smell of rotting food, and it was dark to see anything properly but with eyesight not too bad, I found some cardboard boxes and plastic wrappers. Never in my life did I think I'd dare to do something as bizarre as this but I've got no choice- other than to sit here all night and wait for him to go away but I don't think I can do that.
'...okay now, you've got this! Don't freak out, act natural. Here we go-'
I took a few steps back silently, and then deliberately stomped on the ground and walked forward to the container again.
"GAH!!! WHO THE FREAKING FUCK IS THAT-" I heard Goo.
I walked out of the dark, revealing myself to him.
"Sorry, I didn't think you'd be so startled." Well, that's not really a lie, the most I expected was for him to turn and ask 'who's there?'.
"You... I know you don't I?
You're that girl from before, aren't you? The one who goes-"
"Yeah, that's me..." I cut in, trying to think of responses to say if he asks something else, which he probably will.
"Where did you come from? For a second I thought you were a fucking ghost!!"
"Oh, I walked in from over there. I thought you heard me, were you...lost in thought or something?" I asked, trying my best to sound relaxed and natural.
"How long have you been here?" Of course, that's what he asks first.
"I just came."
"What are you doing here?"
"Trash", I said, pointing to the stuff I had in my hands.
"Do you live here?"
"...a few streets away."
"Why you come here with it then? Couldn't have thrown it out at your place?"
"I was just...walking around."
"Is walking around with trash in the middle of the night a hobby of yours?"
'Omg, I'm losing it😰-'
'Wait, why are you answering all of his questions? This isn't an interrogation. If you comply too quickly, wouldn't that be suspicious?
Well, I'm kinda scared not to answer him, so-'
"I do like to walk around, so I thought I just would, and then I found the dumpster here so I walked over..."
'I hope that was convincing enough😳...'
"...well learn to make more sound while you walk during the night. Better yet, stop walking around and go home. No concern for safety have you got?"
"Yeah, I'll get going then."
That...was close😳😌.
"Hey, wait a second."
'Uh ohh what now-'
😵😵😵
"What is happening", right? I have no idea either😅😂.
Also, the grammar of this chapter is kinda messed up now that I check again. I wrote this the previous night, and it definitely does looks off. Sorry about that... I can't think of how to fix it right now, so I'll leave it as it is...(and maybe fix it later).
Thank you for your time:)