Chapter 162
Chapter 162
I barely managed to pull myself upright, and my eyes met Choi Na-kyung's in the rearview mirror.
Her eyes were wide open as she stared at me, and the skin beneath them was dark, as though she hadn't slept for days.
"You said friendship, once formed, lasts forever..."
Choi Na-kyung spoke as if she were chewing the words.
...Friendship?
I had no idea what she was talking about.
For better or worse, Choi Na-kyung didn't seem to have any intention of stepping on the accelerator.
"......"
A suffocating silence stretched out.
Honestly, I really was suffocating. It wasn't to the point of death, but with my mouth forced open and stuffed full of cloth, I couldn't breathe properly.
"Ah, that's right. You couldn't answer. That was it."
Choi Na-kyung muttered that to herself, then gave a dry laugh to herself.
It was as if she'd completely forgotten how to express emotion. Every single thing she did felt impossibly grotesque.
She wasn't normal.
I didn't know the reason, but this person had already broken a long time ago.
Maybe far worse than Sara ever had.
"......"
Once she stopped laughing, Choi Na-kyung kept a smile on her lips and stared at me in the rearview mirror for a long time.
The mirror was mounted high, and the way she looked at me through it, like she was looking up at something, curved her eyes into crescent shapes.
With that manufactured smile, Choi Na-kyung stared right at me.
Honk! A horn sounded from behind, and a moment later a car shot past this stopped vehicle.
...Please.
Please let at least one of them stop.
Please let someone get mad enough to stop, walk up to the car where Choi Na-kyung was sitting, and knock on the window.
But despite hopes like that, no car stopped.
Click.
A mechanical sound. It could have been a lighter sparking, or maybe a jackknife folding, but it was actually the sound of Choi Na-kyung unbuckling her seat belt.
That action felt more threatening to me than any of the things I'd just imagined.
"Mmph! Mmmm!"
No matter how hard I tried to make noise, the only sounds that came out of my mouth were those muffled ones. I struggled to move backward as far as I could, but eventually my back met the car seat and I couldn't go any further.
Choi Na-kyung, her seat belt off, turned around.
Her expression was so rigid it was frightening.
"You know, I waited. For years, and years."
I was scared.
So scared.
So scared I wished someone were beside me.
But Sara still didn't open her eyes.
"For you to look at me. And for you to love me."
She had loved her.
Sara had loved Choi Na-kyung.
The one who turned that into hatred was, ironically, Choi Na-kyung herself.
Because of that greed.
Greed I couldn't begin to understand; because of it, Choi Na-kyung had completely broken Sara.
"I waited so long. No matter who insulted me. Even when people denied my feelings. Even when they called me incompetent. Even when I thought money didn't matter at all—I still waited. Look."
With trembling hands, Choi Na-kyung swept the hair that had fallen down the side of her face behind her ear.
The grotesqueness of that gesture and her expression was terrifying, but Choi Na-kyung was still a beauty, like A-reum. Even now, when she couldn't hide the deep shadows under her eyes and her face was set with eyes opened so wide they looked ruined, she remained beautiful like A-reum.
"See, I dressed up today, too. Whenever I met you, I always put in my absolute best. Even back when you didn't know me. Even when you were so sick you lay in bed and couldn't look at me properly. Even when I had to wear a nurse's uniform. Every time I saw you, I tried to show you the best version of myself I could possibly present."
I didn't understand what she meant.
Had Sara been that sick when she was young?
Had Choi Na-kyung been a nurse before?
"But, but you, with that man..."
"......"
What is she even...
"Haa."
Choi Na-kyung let out a long sigh and rubbed her face.
"Ah, what am I even talking about? You aren't you yet. There's still a mountain of things to do. Right, it's fine. A little interference along the way doesn't matter. Because I believe you'll come back to me."
"Mmph!"
No, that will never happen.
Even if she tried to come back, I would stop her.
...But even as I thought that, I was still uneasy.
Sara said nothing. Not even in a situation like this.
"Ah, right."
Choi Na-kyung muttered as if she'd only just realized it.
"I still haven't untied you, have I? Goodness, what's wrong with me? If I wanted a reply, of course I should've untied you first."
She spoke like that, then reached past my head to the back. After some rustling, the gag tied tightly around my mouth came free.
Using her fingertips, Choi Na-kyung pulled the cloth out of my mouth.
"Hhaa..."
With my airway finally clear, I inhaled. My mouth was still slick with saliva, and a bit of it stretched long on Choi Na-kyung's hand, but there was nothing I could do about that.
"Daughter, do you have something to say?"
Choi Na-kyung asked.
My jaw ached. Still, I forced my mouth to move and spoke.
"...You killed her."
My throat was raw and my jaw wouldn't close properly, so it wasn't a proper voice, but I said it clearly.
"What...?"
"You killed her!"
I shouted.
I was scared.
I was still scared in that moment.
Sara's body was smaller than Choi Na-kyung's, and weaker. And right now, my body was tied up. I couldn't put up any real resistance.
That's why I was scared.
Being captured by Choi Na-kyung in a body like this.
The fact that this person, whose words I didn't really understand and who didn't seem mentally sound, was leaning over me; it was terrifying.
The fact that in this situation I had not a single friend nearby.
The fact that there was no answer from Sara, who should have been here inside her own consciousness.
So I shouted.
With all the force of trying to blow that fear away.
"You killed her! You killed Sara! She was suffering that much. She was that lonely! And she loved you that much!"
"That... that... what are you—"
Choi Na-kyung's eyes wavered.
"What are you saying? That Sara is dead...? You..."
"Yeah, you don't know anything, do you."
My throat stung, probably from yelling at the top of my lungs. I glared at Choi Na-kyung with everything I had and said,
"You didn't come by often anyway. You'd have no idea how much she was hurting. Every time you did come, Sara was waiting for you. Before she could even resent you, you just left. Left all alone in that big, empty room, abandoned—there's no way you could know how lonely Sara was."
"No, you're... you are Sara. What are you saying...?"
"Sara is dead."
I glared at her. My vision was blurry. I didn't know if it was because Sara's old memories and Choi Na-kyung were overlapping, or if I was just so scared that I was pathetically letting tears well up in my eyes.
Still, still...
This was all I could do.
I wanted to land a blow on Choi Na-kyung somehow.
I wanted to buy time, right now, this very moment, by any means, until someone came to help me.
"Dead. She even left a suicide note for you. Why don't you drop by her room sometime when you're free? It's in the very last drawer of the desk."
"...No, Sara. You, right here in front of me, are Sara. What are you talking about? Hm? And what do you mean, 'she had loved me'...?"
"No."
I blinked. The tears that had gathered spilled over.
After a few blinks, Choi Na-kyung's face came into focus.
Her eyes trembling as if shocked, her brow wrinkled.
It was an expression that looked like she had no idea how to process this situation.
"Sara is dead. I'm not Sara. That plan you had in mind—it's been in ruins for a long time now."
I steadied my breath for a moment, then added,
"'Chairwoman.'"
"What..."
"The way Sara used to call you and the way I call you are different, aren't they? You know that too."
"What... No, no."
Choi Na-kyung started groping my face—Sara's face.
As if checking for something wrong.
"No, you're Sara. What's right here in front of me is... Sara. My daughter, what, what are you saying? That you're dead...? If that's true, then what's in front of me right now—"
"You seriously still don't get it."
I twisted my neck, pulling away from her touch as best I could, and drew a deep breath.
Yes, my throat had loosened a little.
So, enough to...
"Help me!"
...enough to shout those words at the top of my lungs.
My ears rang from my own scream. I only learned today that I could make a sound this loud.
Of course, this was a high-end foreign car. I didn't know if sound could break through to the outside.
But at least I didn't want to give up like this.
I thrashed as hard as I could.
There's a button for the window near my feet. Hoping I might hit it by chance.
"Help me! Please someone help! I'm being kidnapped—"
But my words had to stop soon after.
"Mmph—"
"No, my daughter. My daughter is right here in front of Mommy. What are you making that noise for."
While saying that, Choi Na-kyung covered my mouth.
With both hands, tightly.
And it wasn't just my mouth. I didn't know if it was deliberate or not, but my nose was firmly blocked too.
"Mmph!"
I writhed with my whole body. It was so hard to breathe. I tried to turn my head, but Choi Na-kyung was pressing down with her weight, covering my mouth tightly.
"Shh, my daughter, it's okay. Just sleep, and when you wake up, everything will be over."
Choi Na-kyung's face drew close.
Leaning over me, practically covering my body, she whispered into my ear,
"When you come to, it'll all be finished by then. There'll be only the two of us then, all right? Then we can talk again, slowly."