Early in the morning, Seulgi gently shook Irene on the side, signaling her to know it was morning.
"Hyun, wake up. We have to leave early" Seulgi said, then bent down to kiss her temple. Seulgi stroked Irene’s sleeping face then bend down to kiss her full lips. At that moment, Irene opened her eyes and opened her hands to stop her lips, making Seulgi's kiss land on the back of her hand. The two looked at each other, the morning light shining through the gap between the eyes of both eyes, making Irene shyly blink. No matter what kind of emotion she has for Seulgi, she must also recognize that Seulgi has very attractive eyes. The eyes are a little eyelid, but the eyelashes are very curved and long, creating a significant depth for the dark brown eyes that every time Irene caught, it was very difficult to get out.
"Brush your teeth," she said softly, not letting Seulgi kiss her. Her eyes after hearing her reason turned into two perfect curves. Irene’s eyelashes flickered, seeing those eyes like semicircles disappearing in her smile, her heart trembling again. Irene rushed out of Seulgi's hug, then ran to the bathroom. She had just closed the door and immediately sat down on the floor, her back leaning against the cold iron door. Irene hugged her heart tightly as she increased the beating force. She could feel her ears heat up, her face might have also been a rosy color. Why only one eye contact with this person could make her confuse like that.
"Irene, don't take a long bath. You have to go back to Seoul soon and not get stuck in the traffic. Seulgi has gone down to pack up the clothes, so you should quickly get off the side."
The voice of Irene’s mother echoed inside making her embarrassed moment cut. Seulgi was no longer in the room, she went down to prepare for the two to return to Seoul.
Back to Seoul ...
Irene just thought about this, and the pain in her heart immediately turned around and plagued her mind. The story that she was afraid of facing the most was finally coming. The thing she didn't expect most came. Irene hoped, but she didn't allow herself to hope too much. If the truth was not as she hoped, she would surely hate Seulgi so much, she would surely be disappointed very much, surely she would be in great pain. Just thinking about it, Irene couldn't stop herself from trembling in fear. Her tears flowed miserably. Even though she didn't want to cry, there was no other way to release the insecurities all these days. Irene cried for a person, but did not even know if this person deserved to receive her tears of suffering? Or maybe, all she did for her, all she said to her, were false, were fallacies. If it was really like that, Irene knew what to do, when she gradually lost in this intense battle.
Her stupid heart, her endless attachment to this person, how could she regain these feelings?
Irene kept sitting still, only her thin shoulders shook. She covered her mouth, biting her teeth to suppress her cry. Until, she can't cry anymore. Irene looked blankly at the empty space before her.
Wander. Confused. Impotent. Angry. Can't think of anything.
Irene’s gaze briefly returned to her usual indifference and temper. The drenched lashes couldn't bring her back to a peaceful state, wholeheartedly for the people because of the water of a female figure.
Now, she found out that she was shaken with her own subject. In the old days, Irene used to carefully criticize people whom she should not love. Is it just because Irene doesn't believe that there is a kind of affection when you know wrong but still love. She always thought that love, no matter how hard she was, could be controlled by reason. But now, she really understood what was called true love. Because even though she thought of Seulgi now as a criminal, somewhere deep in her heart, Irene still wanted to give this love a chance.
But,..
She could not deny that she was too tired to live in such an anxious scene.
Now, the moment of truth has also come. Irene must face it alone. How many people are involved in this incident. Their efforts and perspectives are like her desire to destroy the dangerous line Seulgi is involved in. Irene can't be selfish for her right to kick everything that everyone, including herself, has. Having come to this place, feelings are only buried in the heart.
Thinking so, Irene stood up, wiping away the still-stubborn tear on her face and taking a shower.
The road back to Seoul is quiet. Partly because Seulgi early morning is also quite tired. Returning to Seoul is also returning to the chaos of life. Her work was still unfinished when she left. However, Seulgi didn't mind when she left behind a mountain of work to followed Irene to Daegu. The moments were beside her, for her much more valuable than the work.
As for Irene, she only expected this ride to last a little longer. Let her not suffer the breakdown. Irene put her hand on her chin, looking out at the scenery outside. She wonder if it is the rainy season or her, but the sky is gloomy, the atmosphere is so gloomy. Or because she was anxious in her heart, she could not see what she looked at.
Especially when the car has moved to the familiar path toward her home. Irene sneakily sighed. She is the one who always considers home the safest and most comfortable place. Irene does not have the habit of going out at night or sleeping at other people's homes, people of the type who prefer to go home. But now that it is almost home, Irene feels a little heavy in her chest. It felt like there was a burden on her shoulder. Or a psychological ghost is confining the freedom in Irene’s mind that she, is the hard-working prisoner of that ghost.
Irene felt a little breathless when the car had stopped completely under her apartment. Now, Irene feels like her feet are wearing chains, heavy feeling wrapped around her ankles. Even the asthmatic had no strength to stand up. She was very scared, too scared to complete all the steps ahead. What scared Irene the most was this moment, the hope in her heart was becoming more intense than ever. It was so powerful that it could turn into a hidden belief in her.
Irene’s heart is numb with the bottomless belief in Seulgi. She felt that she could faint right now because of the overwhelming emotion that was occupied and put enormous pressure on Irene’s weak nerves.
"I'm a little tired. See you later, Seulgi" Irene said, then opened the car door, went straight inside without waiting for Seulgi to say another word. She couldn't really breathe, there was a repressed force from inside Irene that she couldn't release to the outside. It was strangling her, it was making her uncomfortable. It was like someone took a cloth stuffed into her throat, then concealed her nose.
She needed to confirm this truth.
She had to know that her great faith now was not misplaced.
She needed to know, Seulgi was clean.
Irene needs to know if she and Seulgi will have a chance to be together.
Although the most fragile.
Now she really doesn't care about her reason. She doesn't care about Wendy, doesn't care about everything.
What she cared about now was that she and Seulgi, both could be together.
The elevator door had just opened, Irene n rushed to her door. She hurriedly placed the house card and ran inside, as if she were standing in the sea of fire, needing a place to escape. Sweat on the back of the shirt, and on Irene’s forehead flowed endlessly. In her body, she felt a burning sensation. Irene ran to the desk, hurriedly opened the computer. She had forgotten that she had to breathe and bit her lip and opened the file of the restoration team, still in place where she had left a week ago.
How strange it was when Irene had been reluctant to know the truth all this time, but now she was not worried and opened the papers inside the monitor. She only knew now that her hopes were too great. Her heart was like a small glass cup, and when she poured hot water to the top of her cup, there was no way to stand the heat and explode to pieces.
Irene’s pupils nervously scanned the words that appeared on the screen. Her hands were wet with the mouse, trembling and shaking, making her body weak, a little unstable.
Until everything is clear.
Irene stared blankly at the computer screen. The person who made the transaction, Kang Seulgi, appeared in her eyes like a unfold truth, like a goo straight into her hopeful heart.
"Kang Seulgi"
The person behind all these transactions .. It is you. Irene didn't seem to believe her eyes, she blinked a lot, then opened some more files.
Depressed.
Pain.
Disappointed.
All kinds of painful emotions to numb at the same time hit Irene made her stand still and sit down on the chair below. Now, it was also impossible to cry. Irene felt her beliefs and hopes collapsed in the most cruel way. Irene lowered her head and panted, her hands clinging to the sides of the white table, aching. Tears of despair did not know where to pull the thrust but flowed down, seeping into the foot mats on the ground. At this moment, the images of Seulgi suddenly seemed like a movie of the day and time that appeared in her head.
Her smile.
Her warm eyes.
Seulgi image in the rain.
Those beautiful and familiar images made Irene not believe in what she just saw. She fidgeted and fumbled for the computer mouse and looked at the papers again. Irene hoped she could find something. A very small detail can be used to prove Seulgi's purity.
She tried not to let herself hope so much during those days. However, when she saw the result of this black and white paper in front of her, Irene thought differently. She thought that maybe she wasn't trying enough. Perhaps, some part of her body had completely trusted her. She ... had hoped too much for what she was allowed. Irene didn't think it was painful when she found out the truth. Irene did not think that she could have collapsed like that.
This is the most important crux of the case. With only records of these transactions, the drug trafficking line can be destroyed. She should have felt happy, she should have felt proud of her victory. Why is she hesitating now? Why does she now feel so ... miserable? Most frightening is when .. in her mind there appeared a kind of emotion to protect Seulgi.
Apparently her mask was completely stripped away. She should have hated her, she had to disgust her. Because Seulgi deceived her, she blatantly betrayed her heart. She was supposed to be angry and indignant. However, Irene couldn't understand why she had a desire to pull Seulgi out of this slimy bog. She did not believe it, it was too unbelievable for her.
How can a gentle, warm and kind person like her can cause such deadly sins?
However, the evidence is clear. What does she know to cover her eyes?
Irene doesn't want to believe it. She collapsed and stood up, confused. Tears kept falling. Suddenly her eyes brushed a line of words that made both of her pupils widen.
In Seulgi's trading contract, the recipient is acknowledged as "Black Press".
It is this name that makes Irene stop all things and stare at it.
Her eyes widened. The hand placed on the table immediately clenched, crumpling the piece of paper that was lying below. She bit her lip, her mood suddenly changing.
"Black Press" is a huge transnational drug trafficking network that police have not yet eradicated. They have extremely infamous and inhumane tricks such as deliberately injecting drugs into the police officers who are undercover they discover. After they have successfully turned these people into addicts, they will use these people as chess pieces to challenge criminals. Until these people are no longer able to use and give up the medicine, they will die slowly in pain.
It is one of the countless cruel tricks that the Black Press make to maintain the life of this number one dangerous line. For Irene herself, she was the one who had a deeper feud with Black Press than anyone. It can be said that it was because of these Black Press that she joined the scene, especially the anti-drug judiciary. Destroying these people has long been the goal that Irene set.
The more she looked at the name and the familiar logo, the fire in her heart burned up.
It was them, because of those unjustly immoral people, her father had to give up his job as a police officer. Irene before she entered the profession once promised herself that one day she will also take revenge for her father.
Now that the opportunity is in her hand, she must not miss it.
All the broken and painful times in her heart for a moment were obscured by hatred and indignation. Just think about the people when they were first, because of them, they have to use a network bot, and her father. Irene also felt unforgivable. Her father, the only man who was a support for her family, was almost no longer in this world because of them.
Her tears flowed out more and more. Irene’s hand still squeezed the poor piece of paper. When the lips were pink, she bit to the blood. The shoulders trembled non-stop. She suddenly thought of her father, the endless pain she had for him.
Irene knows how painful her father was when he had to give up his career. She felt unfair, she felt unjust for her father. As much as she was, the anger in her heart increased. After all, what do those scum guys have, but deprive the lives of countless people? What are those rotten people who have the right to deprive her father of her childhood dream of being raised from her youth.
What right?!
So, Seulgi ... Seulgi is the one who works, or at least socialize with them. This fact is more like taking rubbing salt on her bleeding wound making Irene more painful. The more pain, the more hatred. At this moment, she couldn't help but be angry at Seulgi. She had trusted her, how much she had hoped for her. Yet she had completely disappointed her.
Those sweet words, those miserable eyes that Seulgi gave her couldn't hide the rottenness and decadence in her personality.
Now, in Irene’s head she no longer thinks anything. She thought of one thing only.
It was to get rid of these beastmen, including Seulgi, to go to jail so that they would pay for the crimes they had committed.
Irene let out a gasp, tears still flowing on her face because anger was at its peak. She called the phone to Seulgi.
Very quickly, the other party had a reply. Seulgi's voice is still waiting and looking like Seulgi. Now getting into Irene’s ears again made her even bumpy. Without thinking much, Irene said quietly.
"Seulgi, remember yesterday, you said that if you marry me, I will always be with you?"
"Let's ... be together"