The Man Who Was Not a Stranger
The house was pitch dark, not a single light let in.
Only one orange lamp glowed in the living room.
Han Haram sat stiffly on an old sofa, his face uneasy, as someone approached him slowly.
"Here, eat this. It's expensive."
It was an elderly woman, her hair gone completely white, looking well advanced in years.
"Thank you…."
Han Haram hesitantly accepted the snack his grandmother offered.
When he held it without eating, the old woman's eyebrows twitched at the sight.
"Not eating?"
"Well, it's just…."
"I told you, that's expensive."
The old woman's voice grew a little louder.
She looked just like his mother right before she got angry, and Han Haram flinched and quickly popped the snack into his mouth.
It was stale and soggy, with a slightly sour taste.
It tastes bad.
He wanted to spit out the strange flavor, but under the old woman's sharp gaze, he had no choice but to keep chewing.
"Good boy. Don't drop crumbs — it's expensive."
"Yes, ma'am."
As Han Haram swallowed the snack, a thought crossed his mind.
The snacks Yeonjae gives me are always delicious.
His head was filled with only one boy.
The warmth that always held him gently, the soft voice murmuring to him, the thoughtfulness that seemed careless but never missed a detail.
I miss Yeonjae….
The week without seeing the boy felt terribly long to Han Haram.
He'd wanted to call at least once, but held back.
However young he was, he had sensed that he shouldn't pester the boy.
When is Mom coming?
Han Haram pursed his lips.
Today's shoot had been the absolute worst.
The adult with the camera kept yelling, and at one point all he heard was some vague instruction to just wait, with no explanation of what had gone wrong.
His mother had disappeared, saying she had errands to run, and he'd been bored half to death alone the whole time.
If it hadn't been for the man who brought him here, he'd probably still be in that studio.
Hi? I'm a friend of your mom's. She told me to come pick you up.
Words from a stranger.
Of course, Han Haram had been suspicious at first.
The boy had even warned him never to go with anyone he didn't know.
But the stranger knew his mother's name, and knew that she was at a café right now.
She's meeting an old friend and apparently has a lot to catch up on. She asked me to look after you until they're done talking. Want to come with me?
Oh….
I know, it's awkward for me too. Your mom, honestly. She's my friend, but she treats you way too coldly.
The man didn't seem like a dangerous person at all.
A kind way of speaking, a gentle face — he even sounded affectionate when he mentioned his mother.
He even told Han Haram that if he felt uncomfortable, he could simply stay put and wait for his mother to come.
So Han Haram answered that he would go with him.
During the drive somewhere, the man kept meeting Han Haram's eyes and talking to him.
Talking with him was a great deal of fun.
Han Haram felt giddy, excited.
This is your mom's mother. Just call her Grandma. Ma'am, could you watch Haram for a bit? I'll be right back.
Go on. Hurry back.
But after arriving at the unfamiliar house, Han Haram was flustered when the man left him with some old woman and went outside.
Still, thinking about it, it wasn't all that strange.
Mom does the same thing every time.
He accepted it quickly.
He was simply bored by the waiting that had come yet again.
He also wondered why all adults were like this.
Han Haram naturally thought of the boy.
…Will Yeonjae change too, when he grows up?
Would he, like his mother and the man, leave him behind and go?
He was curious, and yet at the same time he hoped the boy would never become an adult.
"What a pretty child."
"Thank you…."
Han Haram avoided the old woman's gaze as she stared at him intently.
It was a little uncomfortable, but he didn't particularly want to go home.
For some reason he felt listless, and a little sleepy.
What time is it?
There was no clock to check. No phone, either.
He'd realized his phone was missing from his pocket not long after arriving here.
When he urgently told the man his phone was gone, the man soothed him, telling him not to worry.
It must have fallen out while getting into the car, he said calmly — it was probably under the seat.
The man's promise that he would look for it felt dependable.
When on earth is he coming?
Just then, with a click, the front door opened.
"Haram, you waited a long time, didn't you? Sorry."
It was the man.
When Han Haram shook his head to say it was fine, the man smiled gently.
"Your mom's finished her errands and wants you back. Let's go outside."
Finally.
Han Haram sprang up from the sofa.
He started to run for the entryway, then paused and bowed to the old woman.
"Goodbye, ma'am…."
"There now. Safe travels."
The old woman smiled and took Han Haram's hands in hers, patting them.
Her hands were so very warm.
The warmth was enough to make him forget, for a moment, the musty smell that hung about her, and Han Haram smiled brightly.
"Haram, let's go now. Your mom's waiting."
"Okay!"
Han Haram followed the man briskly out the door.
The thought of going home now melted away the last of his tension.
Without even realizing it, Han Haram found himself humming as he walked beside the man.
"I parked the car down that alley. Come on."
"Okay. Where's my mom right now?"
"…."
"Mister?"
"Ah… your mom's at your house, Haram. I'll drive you there."
After saying that, the man walked silently toward the car.
The atmosphere was subtly different from before, and Han Haram found it odd.
He changed his clothes, too.
Unlike when he'd first met him, the man was now dressed entirely in black.
An alley where a single car sat abandoned.
The street, empty of a single soul, was dead silent.
….
For an instant, Han Haram felt that something was wrong.
His steps toward the car grew slower and slower.
"Haram?"
When Han Haram didn't follow, the man turned around.
"What are you doing? Hurry, you need to get to your mom."
A faint impatience seeped through his words.
Han Haram found himself backing away without meaning to.
It was an instinctive movement.
"Mister, did you find my phone?"
"…."
The man gave no answer.
Perhaps because of the streetlight overhead, the man's face was hard to make out.
The longer the heavy silence stretched, the stronger the sense of wrongness grew.
Han Haram swallowed dryly, his nerves taut.
"Mister…."
"Found it. It was on the floor of the back seat."
Want to see for yourself?
The man opened the rear door of the car.
"Get in and look."
"…."
The inside of the car was too dark to see what was there.
To see properly, he would have to climb inside.
But Han Haram didn't think he needed to go in to find his phone.
Because —
"I, um… I sat in the front…."
"…."
Why would his phone, which he'd ridden in the front seat with, be on the floor of the back seat?
At the small murmur, the man silently stared at Han Haram.
A chill silence swept between them.
"Haram."
The man came closer, one step, then another.
Han Haram stumbled backward again.
A dozen thoughts raced through his head, but fear kept his body from moving easily.
"Haram, don't move. Come to me."
"…N-no. I don't want to."
"You don't?"
The man laughed.
"Why? I've been good to you, haven't I? And this time I didn't make a single mistake. I didn't even hit you."
"…."
"And still you don't like me. What's wrong with kids these days? Why doesn't anyone like me?"
Even as he muttered, the man didn't stop closing the distance.
Han Haram wanted to cry now.
I'm scared….
His eyes darted shakily around him.
There were no people. No lights.
His desperate eyes moved busily, searching for somewhere to run.
At that moment, the man reached out his hand.
"Hyung, can't you go any faster?"
"If I push the speed any higher from here, it's dangerous."
"Still—"
"Actor-nim. I understand how you feel, but if we crash, we won't be saving Haram at all."
I ground my lips between my teeth at Jinbae's firm words.
Please, please be there.
The moment I opened my eyes in the black space, An-gae had shouted out an address without so much as a greeting.
Is Haram there? The culprit? Is he with the culprit? The kid isn't hurt, is he?
I asked frantically, and An-gae answered just as frantically.
The man who took Han Haram was in his early forties, he said.
He told me the man had been watching and tailing Haram for days, and had drawn up his plan meticulously in advance.
The man had dropped Han Haram off at the house where his own mother lived, and was leisurely preparing the crime that would follow at dawn, An-gae said.
But then that bastard saw the news, and suddenly—
But the moment my post in the fan café about Haram's disappearance hit the live news, the man had spiraled into a panic.
Flustered by the news breaking far earlier than he'd expected, he'd rushed to his car.
An-gae's words that he was driving toward where Haram was right now were thick with urgency.
Thank you so much for telling me. We'll talk more later.
Yeonjae! You have to be careful. Promise me?
An-gae grabbed my hand, his face on the verge of tears.
He said the back of the man's van was full of a shovel and sharp things like knives.
But the words that came next were so shocking that I could only ask blankly in return.
…What did you say?
That man — this isn't his first time.
I couldn't properly respond to An-gae's warning that I mustn't get hurt.
This isn't Han Haram's first.
The thought that he was no first-time offender stole the breath from my lungs.
The moment I woke, I gave Jinbae the address, and he seized the wheel without a second's delay.
Even knowing we were driving at top speed, my heart was impatient.
We have to get there before that man.
What if we were too late?
What if we reached the place An-gae told me about and the car was already gone?
My hands were trembling.
Dimly, I could hear Jung Hyun calling the police beside me.
I chewed my lips anxiously and stared out the window.
The car passed through the light-soaked city and entered the dark countryside.
"Everyone, hold on to the handles."
The moment Jinbae finished speaking, the car jolted and rattled.
We were driving not on smooth asphalt but over rough dirt road.
"Hyung, there — I think that's it!"
I shouted urgently at the scenery beyond the window.
A place resembling the scene An-gae had shown me just before I woke came into view.
"…! Actor-nim!"
The instant the car stopped, I threw open the door and got out.
"Yeonjae! Stop right there!"
Ignoring Jinbae and Jung Hyun shouting behind me, I simply ran.
Where I arrived, gasping for breath, there was only a single van parked.
…They're not here.
The rear door hung open, and neither the man nor Han Haram was anywhere in sight.
My mind went white.
Am I too late?
No. No.
I shook my head hard.
I can find him. I'm not too late yet.
No one in their right mind would leave a car behind like this.
Something went wrong for him.
He might have heard us approaching and fled.
If so, either way —
He's still nearby.
The moment I made my judgment, I sprinted straight into the alley.
"Actor-nim! Stop!"
"Yeonjae!"
I could hear the two of them shouting behind me, but I couldn't stop.
I just ran, eyes fixed ahead.
My breath came ragged, and I tasted blood in my throat.
Please.
My heart pounded like mad, as if it had climbed into my temples.
But I didn't stop. I kept running.
Please, please.
It was the moment I reached a dead end.
The instant I whipped my head to the side, something entered my view.