Jake walked into the dining room to have breakfast straight away. He found only Jay and Sunoo, who were preparing food together.
"Where's Sunghoon?" asked Jake.
"He's still in the loo," replied Sunoo.
"Oh right, Heeseung hasn't been back since yesterday, has he?" said Jay.
Jake fell silent for a moment. Heeseung usually did come home in the middle of the night, but last night he hadn't heard the door open as he usually did.
"I'm starting to worry. I wonder where he's gone," said Jay again.
"Do you know, Jake? He's usually out with you and Sunghoon too," asked Sunoo.
"I-I don't know. Yesterday I just saw him rushing home from school," replied Jake.
"It's strange, isn't it, why Heeseung and Sunghoon often come home so late," said Sunoo.
"Maybe they've got a job, a part-time one, for example," added Jay.
"Ah, that's true, part-time jobs usually work in shifts," said Sunoo in agreement.
"I-is there anything I can help with?" asked Jake, even though he wasn't actually very good at cooking. Still, he offered to help.
"Just grate this cheese for the omelette topping," said Sunoo, handing him a grater and a piece of cheese. But accidentally, he knocked a knife on the table. His movement stopped for a moment.
"Are you all right, No?" asked Jay.
"I-it's fine," replied Sunoo, then hurriedly put the knife back in its place.
"You look really scared—what's the matter?" asked Jake curiously.
"I remembered what Heeseung said yesterday… He said he saw Sunghoon buying a knife. 'A-ah, no, sorry. I didn't mean anything by it,' said Sunoo, looking flustered.
'Come on, don't get any weird ideas,' said Jay soothingly.
They fell silent again, going back to what they were doing.
Jake was lost in thought as he continued grating the cheese.
"Yesterday, Heeseung did let it slip about that knife… He knows what Sunghoon does for a living, after all. But why has he actually gone missing now?" Jake wondered to himself.
Sunoo, who was beating eggs, paused for a moment. He glanced at Jake, then gave a faint smile.
*****
"Hoon, sorry. I can't come along to look for Heeseung. My boss has told me to go to the office right now."
Sunghoon put his mobile phone in his jacket pocket after reading Jake's reply.
He was now on a quiet street, waiting for his work to be finished.
Hacking into someone's mobile phone was certainly no difficult task for him – a man whose job was to eliminate and manipulate criminal evidence.
Ting!
Sure enough, shortly afterwards his mobile rang, signalling the coordinates of the location he'd just received. Without hesitation, Sunghoon sped off on his motorbike to the spot.
Upon arrival, he found himself by a shallow river. The current was quite strong and the riverbed was strewn with rocks.
Sunghoon began combing the surrounding area, searching for a mobile phone. It didn't take long before he found it in the river. He immediately swam in to retrieve it.
Carefully, Sunghoon stepped out of the river. His eyes inadvertently caught sight of a figure in a red cloak standing near his motorbike.
The figure immediately fled upon seeing Sunghoon emerge from the water. Without hesitation, Sunghoon hopped on his motorbike and gave chase.
When he saw the figure start running towards a grassy area strewn with pebbles, Sunghoon intended to stop his motorbike and continue the chase on foot. Unfortunately, his brakes failed.
Crash!
Sunghoon swerved his motorbike towards the side of the road, crashing into a billboard. The sign would have crushed him if he hadn't quickly shifted his body to the side.
"My motorbike's brakes suddenly failed, I crashed into a billboard, and the sign was about to crush me. Am I filming a scene from *Final Destination*?"
Sunghoon tried to shift his body again, but found it difficult because his leg was trapped under the motorbike. He hurriedly took his mobile phone from his jacket to call for help.
Thud!
His mobile was knocked out of his hand – kicked by someone. Sunghoon's heart immediately began to race. He realised there was a figure now standing behind him.
"Sorry."
Before he had time to think, Sunghoon felt a sting on his neck.
And everything… went dark.