Chapter 37

The office CCTV would have captured the scene where Kim Jae-hyeok hit Soram with all his might, so it was mutual assault. Moreover, the traces of injury had been ambiguously touched upon, so the conclusion he wanted would not come out.

Leaving the dazed person behind, Han Tae-un entered the elevator. He knew that Kim Jae-hyeok wouldn't have the courage to follow him anyway.

However, as soon as he got on the elevator, he made a very complicated expression upon seeing himself reflected in the window.

Even he himself didn't know he could act like this.

Why did he suddenly do that? He was angry after hearing Kim Jae-hyeok's interrogation, and he thought he had to cover for Soram as if he had received an order. He knew that Soram's actions were wrong and that his own actions were not right, but his body moved in the end.

And he himself didn't regret it, only feeling a slight sense of self-loathing and unfamiliarity.

His gaze fell on the lower part of the elevator's number pad. It was the place where he was told there was a button to go to the underground floors.

"..."

He was also told that the prison called the guard floor was here.

Tae-un's fingertip pressed on it. The unopened metal plate only made a tapping sound and nothing more.

Three days had passed since Soram disappeared from the ground floor of this building. Tae-un, who had finished preparing for work and was habitually approaching the door of the next room, stopped in his tracks.

The next room was too quiet.

In the morning, Soram would let him know what he was preparing and where he was doing it from beyond the door. It wasn't because Tae-un was listening attentively or had a great spatial awareness ability, but because Soram himself was broadcasting it one by one.

'Huuung, I don't want to go to work...'

'Ugh, it's cold, uh, a hand towel. Let's just use this.'

'Han Tae-uuun, should I go, and call him?'

If he stood in front of the door around that time after waiting on the living room sofa, he would almost immediately hear a knocking sound. Han Tae-un ssi. As if calling a friend to go to school together. Then Tae-un would open the door right away. Seeing his surprised expression and hearing his chattering voice in the elevator, the way to the office had somehow become familiar.

In addition to that, there was one more voice that came to mind.

'What the hell did you think of me as!'

"..."

Tae-un wiped his mouth with his hand. For the past three days, Soram hadn't left his mind. He finally made up his mind.

* * *

It was getting dark. Tae-un left the dormitory and got on the elevator.

Without selecting a floor, he stood still and slid the lower part of his access card, just as Soram had demonstrated before. Then, a square chip came out from under the access card.

The elevator at the late hour didn't go anywhere even if no buttons were pressed. Inside the stopped elevator, Tae-un looked at the access card a little longer and then firmly pressed it into the lower part of the number pad.

Click.

After a short sound, a pad appeared with the numbers from B1 to B15 written on it. His fingertip moved to the number 10. The number he pressed without certainty lit up, and the elevator dropped downward. The floating sensation of descent came.

The elevator passed the 1st floor, which he had considered the lowest floor until now. From there, the numbers on the guide panel began to increase one by one again. Instead, a small B mark appeared in the upper left corner of the numbers. The square window on the door had now turned pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

Finally, the elevator stopped at B10. The door slid open without any notification that it had arrived at the intended floor.

B10 was blocked off with a single iron door right in front of the elevator. Even that could only be confirmed for a moment by the light coming from the elevator, and when the door closed, nothing could be seen.

Tae-un turned on his cell phone flashlight. The iron door, seen up close, was painted gray and had no rust anywhere. Its appearance itself resembled the large gate of a prison. However, instead of an iron bar in the center of the door, there was a lock pad attached. It didn't seem like Tae-un's access card would open it, let alone the elevator.

The flashlight he was holding illuminated upward. Above the iron door, which was about 4 meters high, a gap large enough for a person to crawl through could be seen. Tae-un's feet left the ground after staring at the white circle drawn by the flashlight on the ceiling for a moment.

As he lifted his body to the ceiling, the top of the iron door covered in dust could be seen. However, among the dust, there were traces of being wiped or handprints here and there. Tae-un bent his waist and passed through the gap so as not to touch that spot.

The inside was a dimly lit corridor. On both sides of the corridor, there were detention facilities with bars, arranged alternately so as not to face each other.

"..."

Passing the empty rooms, he stopped upon hearing a conversation. The people having the conversation also seemed to have heard his presence.

"Someone came to see. Is it okay?"

"It's fine. I didn't think I wouldn't be caught by anyone anyway."

"My goodness. You're really going wild. With a person like this as the chief, the future of the headquarters is bleak..."

"Is that something for a chief bastard locked up in a cell to say!"

The voices having the conversation and the way they spoke seemed somehow familiar. Before Tae-un could take a step, the other party approached him first.

The one who appeared from the dark inside was Kim Ga-eul, the chief hunter of Team 1.

"Oh?"

Upon discovering Tae-un, Ga-eul's eyes widened for a moment, and then she made an inexplicable smile, saying, "Hmm..." Then, tapping Tae-un's shoulder and pointing inside, she spoke loudly.

"Hey, Jin Soram. Your guest is here."

"My guest?"

"Yeah. I'm leaving now. Don't cause any more trouble and stay put until it's time to come out."

"Tell me who it is before you go, Ga-eul."

"I don't want to."

"... I'll remember this."

Leaving behind the powerless threat, Ga-eul really left the corridor. Ga-eul, who was not a flight ability user, kicked the ground and jumped up to the height of the door, grabbing the top of the door and going over it.

Tae-un, who had hidden his footsteps in the sound of a landing that was so loud that it was questionable why she hadn't been caught yet, approached the only cell with the light on.

"Who is it? A guest? ... Ah, could it be Ayoung? Why did you come here?"

Tae-un stood in front of the cell where the voice was coming from. It was a small room, barely one pyeong in size [TL: Traditional Korean unit of area measurement. One pyeong is around 3.31 square meters or about 35.58 square feet], with cement walls on all sides and only the place where he was standing was open with iron bars.

"Not Ayoung? Is it the director? Hmm, or the deputy director... It would be difficult for him to cross that iron door."

"..."

"What... Who is it? Seo Min-ki. Did you come to Seoul again?"

Soram was sitting inside, his entire body bound in a white straitjacket with a blindfold over his eyes. The straitjacket, which looked like a blanket, wrapped around him from his neck to his legs, and the ends of the thick belts that bound it in layers were firmly fixed to the wall. The only parts that could move freely were his head and his arms below the elbows that protruded from the straitjacket. Even so, his wrists were handcuffed, so the range of activity was not wide.

The part covering more than half of his face, the area above the blindfold, wriggled.

"Who are you? Seriously."

Tae-un took one more step closer to the cell. The sound of his shoes dragging on the floor was heard.

"Oh."

Soram slightly raised his head.

"Your feet seem really big..."

Hmm, and after a short groan.

"Is it you, Han Tae-un ssi?"

"Yes."

... Oh..., it really is. Soram muttered, moving his lips.

"Why did you come? Didn't we fight and part ways last time? Has it been a long time outside? I lose track of time when I'm here."

"It hasn't been long."

Tae-un took a step closer to the cell. Soram's tone as he brought up their unpleasant parting was sharp. However, seeing him completely bound like that, any remaining hostility had no choice but to dissipate.

"Have you been staying like this the whole time?"

"They occasionally take off the blindfold. What a pity. I wanted to see the deviance of the model hunter Han Tae-un ssi with my own eyes."

"Do they provide meals?"

Tae-un threw a question, ignoring Soram's sarcasm.

"Is it already autumn? Chuseok [TL: Korean Thanksgiving]? Why are you asking about my well-being when you usually don't care?"

"..."

After spitting out barbed words and silence fell, Soram bit the end of his lip. Perhaps because his vision was blocked, he surrendered faster than usual when Tae-un didn't say anything.

"... They do give me food, though not regularly. Things I can eat in this posture, like bread or rice balls."

"The detention facility is not regular?"

"If meals come at a specific time, I can gauge how long I've been here. So they give it at any time. Sometimes they give it after more than ten hours have passed, and sometimes they give it again in less than 30 minutes."

"Ah..."

"It's to make me reflect in the fear of not knowing how much longer I have to stay like this."

The image most people remembered of Jin Soram was a hunter freely flying in the blue sky. That's why seeing Soram restrained felt even more foreign. The difference was too great between the man who stood against a blue sky background wearing a black suit and the man bound in white cloth, trapped in darkness.

"But why did you really come?"

"I have something to say."

The part covering his forehead on the blindfold moved once more. Tae-un leaned on the cell and bent his waist. Then, Soram's expression could be seen a little better.

"It's not a situation to have a comfortable conversation, so I'd appreciate it if you could make some time after you come out. However."

Where Soram couldn't see, Tae-un's gaze swept over Soram's face. His brown hair that was not tidied and had sunk, the blindfold that covered even the tip of his nose, and his cheek and red lips where the injury from being hit by Director Park Jae-seon still remained.

"I wanted to apologize quickly."

"Apologize?"

"For asking if this is the kind of person you are. I'm sorry. It was a slip of the tongue."

"..."

Soram's lips slightly opened and then closed again.

"Before actually seeing you, I saw Jin Soram ssi more on the news or the internet. I had my own fantasy about the hero I saw on the screen, and there were parts where I judged you according to that standard. Rather than actually seeing and understanding you, I was trapped in my own thoughts."

Jin Soram was a person who evoked favorability in people. The degree varied for each person, but for Tae-un, it was on the larger side. In the situation where he stood in Soram's way, he wanted to protect not Kim Jae-hyeok, but the image of Jin Soram as a hero. And surprised by the words that burst out of him in outrage, he retorted with words that inflicted the same wound.

Tae-un would probably never forget the expression Soram made at that moment.

Tae-un acknowledged his mistake. He spoke calmly once more in a low voice.

"I'm sorry for hurting you."