Chapter 61
Chapter 61
She might have taken a train somewhere. If so, this was a bigger problem than they thought.
"A train? She's not the type to travel by train alone."
It was Lee Jun who broke the tense silence. He said Se-jin was so particular that she even had a separate driver for her commute to and from school.
"Our Se-jin hasn't even taken a bus since she started school. A train, seriously?"
Bom was furious. How could they know so little about her sister? To think Se-jin didn't take the bus because she was 'particular'...
"Don't you know that two male seniors who rode the same bus as Se-jin severely bullied her last year? She hasn't been able to take the bus since then."
"What do you mean?"
"They supposedly made her sit between them in the very back row and tormented her. Of course, she'd have trauma."
Lee Jun seemed shocked and remained silent. Se-jin's father's face was also flushed red with agitation.
"Why did that kid keep her mouth shut about something like that...!"
"Can't you understand Se-jin's feelings?"
In front of Se-jin's agitated family, Bom calmly recounted the incident. This was a story Se-jin had confided during a counseling session.
When something similar happened to her in middle school, her father had apparently said this:
[What were you doing out there to let something like that happen to you?]
Se-jin, who was already shaken, couldn't possibly have been unaffected by those words. When the same thing happened again, Se-jin chose to appear as a 'particular' child instead.
"Even though Se-jin seems strong and assertive on the outside, she's soft-hearted. She needs gentle reactions and support from her family. I apologize for speaking out of turn."
Bom fully understood Se-jin's feelings and wanted to advocate for her. The atmosphere grew heavy.
"Alright, we've got a general grasp of the situation, so we should head to Rodeo first. Let's all split up and search from there."
Jae-gyu was the first to take charge. He said they couldn't just wait for the police search. Everyone nodded.
"As that student said, it might be best to start searching from the east side. Shall we all go there first?"
Everyone came out of the police station and prepared to move together, but Lee Jun didn't move, shaking his head.
"I have a feeling Se-jin might be near the cram school. We'll search the north side. Please do your best."
"Uh, alright. If anything comes up, let's contact each other by phone."
With Rodeo as their starting point, the people split into two main groups.
Lee Jun's family decided to search for Se-jin around the cram school district in the north.
And Jae-gyu, Bom, and Han-gyeol scoured the eastern alleys. Dong-pyo, whose parents had come to pick him up, unfortunately departed.
"The streets are so desolate. Did Se-jin really pass through here?"
The east side was the path to the train station, and with many shops having gone out of business and closed, there was truly nothing to see.
They were going into the few open stores, showing Se-jin's picture around.
"Jae-gyu, your phone keeps ringing."
The phone in his back pocket kept vibrating. Jae-gyu pulled it out, checked the screen, and muttered,
"It's Gu Philip."
"Then it's work, pick it up quickly!"
Urged by Bom, Jae-gyu answered the phone, looking flustered.
"Oh, Philip. I'm a bit busy right now. Why'd you call?"
Jae-gyu, who seemed about to hang up, suddenly raised his voice.
"Are you sure?"
At that moment, Bom was rummaging through her phone's photo album, looking for a clearer picture of Se-jin.
"Really? Choi Se-jin is there right now?"
They found Se-jin? Bom's heart pounded rapidly. Bom quickly went to get Han-gyeol, who was asking about Se-jin's whereabouts in the next shop.
"Where is Se-jin?"
"Let's wait. Just a moment."
The call was almost over. Judging by the situation, it seemed Se-jin was in the same train car as Philip.
"She'll arrive in ten minutes. Got it. You're nearby, so take responsibility and bring the kid off the train. Oh, car number three? Yeah, I trust you."
After hanging up, Jae-gyu immediately called Lee Jun to inform him of the situation. Lee Jun's raised voice could be heard clearly through the phone.
'He must have been really worried.'
It was a strange feeling. Could they really find Se-jin?
"Se-jin is on the same train as Gu Philip. It seems she just went out for some fresh air, so we can wait for her at the station. Let's go."
"Uncle, is Se-jin alone?"
"Yeah, looks like it."
At Jae-gyu's words, Han-gyeol let out a long sigh of relief, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
The train Se-jin was on was the last one. The three tense individuals headed towards the train station. It was just around the corner.
"Ah, sorry. I'll go on ahead."
Han-gyeol urgently ran towards the station, with Bom and Jae-gyu following slowly behind him.
With the relief of having found her, Bom's color, which had drained away, gradually returned.
It had been a chaotic night.
She trudged along, wondering what to say to Se-jin when she got off the train. Lost in thought, her hand was gently taken in the darkness. With the kind touch and warm embrace, her tension slowly began to ease.
"You were quite startled earlier, weren't you? Are you alright?"
"Oh, Se-jin's parents? I'm fine."
The chilling atmosphere that had almost escalated to physical violence came back to her, but she truly was fine.
'I felt like I was going crazy too, so how must her parents have felt?'
They probably wanted to blame anyone. They wouldn't want to think their daughter ran away because of them.
"People, you know. They sometimes find comfort in blaming someone."
As she uttered those words, someone came to mind. Walking along the quiet night road in front of the station, Bom subtly began to confide.
"Actually, when my older brother was in college, he came to pick me up from the library. On the way home, they got into an accident, and he was so badly injured that he limps now."
"Wow, surely he doesn't blame you, Bom?"
"He does. On days he comes home drunk, he curses and asks how I'm going to take responsibility..."
On days Yoon-cheong screamed like that, even Father would keep his mouth shut and pretend not to notice. That was incredibly heartbreaking.
"That must have made you uncomfortable."
"Of course. I was perfectly fine and unharmed, but only my brother got hurt like that... That's also why my parents don't say much to him."
It's probably because of those feelings that they readily provided a large sum for his business. Bom swallowed a sigh, thinking of her family.
"And you know..."
Bom, who was about to bring up the exchange teacher, closed her mouth at the sudden appearance of a car.
"You arrived quickly."
A black Mercedes-Benz, which had just passed the two of them, screeched to a halt in the parking lot in front of the station. It was Lee Jun's family.
"Their methods might be a bit off, but they seem to care for the kid a lot. Don't you think?"
Bom thought so too. Even Lee Jun, who had maintained a cold demeanor throughout, looked incredibly unstable today. It seemed that every member of that family genuinely worried about Se-jin.
Se-jin's family, who had gotten out of the car, rushed inside and encountered Jae-gyu and Bom at the station entrance.
"What happened to Se-jin?"
Se-jin's father asked urgently.
"She's in the same car as one of our company employees. It's car number three, so you can just go and wait there."
At Jae-gyu's words, Se-jin's mother's legs gave out. Supported by Lee Jun, she kept muttering to the sky.
"Oh my, God. Thank you, thank you..."
In the excited atmosphere, everyone arrived at the disembarking point for car number three on the southbound train. The electronic display showed an alert that the last train would arrive in two minutes.
⋆★⋆
As the familiar scenery drew closer, her heart pounded.
It was her first time. Her first time skipping out on something.
'I must have been crazy.'
It was obvious she'd done something out of character. Turning off her phone and impulsively going to Seoul was a foolish thing to do.
But she desperately wanted to know. How great were Seoyeon University and Seoseong University, the places her family so forcefully pushed her towards?
Once she actually went, they weren't all that impressive. She wandered aimlessly around the campuses, observing the students, but they failed to inspire her.
With a sense of emptiness, Se-jin boarded the returning train. At first, she was angry.
'All for that? What was the big deal?'
It had been a long time since she'd had a good night's sleep. Two more tutoring sessions had been added. This was due to her first-semester grades, which had dropped.
Her marking error on the first-semester final math exam was an irreversible incident, but was it truly all her fault?
It was her family who pressured her so much that she couldn't sleep. Instead of feeling sorry that her stamina was pushed to its limit, to the point of dozing off while marking, they accused her of losing her mind. Se-jin had suffered a great emotional wound this time.
'I envy Han-gyeol.'
Because he had an uncle who listened seriously to his trivial stories and supported him no matter what choices he made. Thinking of Han-gyeol made her heart even heavier.
He must be so worried. Maybe he'll be angry. Maybe he'll break up with me...
"No, he can't..."
Entangled in these various thoughts, her anxiety grew as Shinsu-eup drew closer.
She felt like Han-gyeol would break up with her. She felt like her family would lock her up at home and pressure her to make up for all the cram school she'd missed today. Negative thoughts chased each other in an endless loop.
-Our train will be arriving at Shinsu Station shortly. Passengers, please prepare to disembark and ensure you do not leave any belongings behind. We will be arriving at Sinsoo Station shortly...
As the train's announcement played, her heart pounded even more fiercely. Cold sweat broke out on her hands, and a headache pulsed so intensely that the top of her head throbbed.
I can't go home like this.