Emris threw the phone to the other side of the bed and rested his hands behind his head, eyes closed.
"And I will play my final point soon, but before that, this flower girl and the officer girl need to be killed."
Next night, a man was dragging a girl in lane number 11 of the highway.
"Oh my, my," the man mumbled and widened his eyes as the girl lay unconscious and he dragged her by her hair.
While his eyes focused on the corner of the lane, he tied the girl to a chair and sealed her mouth with tape.
"Emris sir, let me handle this time," a man came from behind. Emris chuckled and nodded, his mask on as usual.
"The manhole beneath you—use it, sir," the man pointed toward the manhole. Emris went inside, and the man moved toward the girl. With a hammer, he struck her head in one shot. The girl had blue-colored eyes.
The man pulled both eyes from her head with his hands as it lay on the ground.
"Sir, take these eyes."
The man put both eyes into his pocket and threw the body inside the manhole.
Just then, Czar arrived.
"Emris or his puppet," he muttered.
He stood there with a knife, a mask on, and a smirk on his face.
"Shib—" the man's eyes widened as he moved backward as much as he could, while Emris was already running inside the manhole toward another linked hole to escape.
"I want you alive to catch him!" Czar ran toward him when the man suddenly pushed him with force. Czar stumbled but continued running after him.
"Dumbass!" Czar screamed, chasing him again. The man was faster than Czar had expected.
"Where is that freak Emris?" Czar shouted.
Then his mind clicked.
"That one who ran inside the manhole must have been Emris—that's why he ran away instantly after hearing my voice."
Czar stopped and cursed under his breath.
He clenched his teeth and took the shortest possible route to reach the road where the man was running.
"Seventy-five seconds will take him to reach that pole," Czar calculated and kept running along the path he knew would let him intercept the man.
"Found you," Czar cut off his path with a smirk. Just as Czar was about to grab his collar, the man pulled out a knife.
"You will never reach him," the man said, slicing his own throat with a twisted smile.
Czar caught him in his arms, trying to stop the bleeding with his hands—gloves on, as usual.
But the man died within seconds, his final smile mocking Czar more than anything else.
Elaya suddenly woke up from a nightmare, her breaths heavy, her heart hopping out of her chest.
"Ya Allah," she put a hand on her chest and whispered.
She sat on the edge of the bed. A water bottle was lying on the right side of the bed. She twisted the cap open, and her mind suddenly drifted to a thought.
"Let's check the cameras."
She moved the mattress aside and sat on the chair, opening the laptop. She scanned every camera.
"So everything's good… let's check the recordings. It's almost 3 a.m."
Elaya's eyes scanned the footage, and as expected—
"The camera wasn't working from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m."
Elaya facepalmed herself.
"Dross… that freak might have killed someone again."
Elaya stood up.
"There might be someone who fixed the camera right after. There might be some evidence."
Elaya checked the recording after 2 a.m., around 2:10. She saw many guys there, and someone was doing something with the camera, but they weren't saying anything.
"Wait… who is in the middle?"
The guy standing there had his back facing the camera, hands in his pockets. He sneezed once.
"That sneeze… maybe we can find him."
She closed the recording and stood up—
"Think, Elaya, think."
Her eyes widened as she saved the recording to her phone.
Using the sneeze—its audio—she saved it and looked at the voice pattern on an audio app.
"Maybe… if—"
She closed her eyes.
"Please, Ya Allah… please help us."
Elaya's eyes turned teary.
"Kavia… for you, anything."
Elaya walked to ava's room and knocked twice softly, calling her name.
"Ava…"
"Maybe she's in deep sleep. Let's tell her tomorrow," Elaya thought, and walked back toward the corridor. Silence was everywhere.
Czar went home and pulled off his shirt. He punched the wall five times.
"What the hell? Why? Why? WHY, freak!"
He screamed, and as he punched the wall, his fingers crept with bloodstains, making him hiss slightly in pain.
"What's the use of my intelligence if I can't find him… why?" Czar said in a low tone.
"Lia… Lia…"
His lips trembled, his eyes slightly teary.
Both his hands rested on the wall, his head down, eyes fixed on the floor.
"I will take your revenge."
His hand moved to the phone lying in his pocket. A message popped up:
"That flower girl—we know nothing except that strangers say her name is Elaya. She is from Busan and has come here with her friend, but we got no information about that friend."
Czar tossed the phone onto the floor and slowly let himself fall too.
"Every time I'm about to catch him, his servants come to serve. All this time, I was never able to catch him. Is he so lucky that God now favors him and lets him kill more people?"
Czar gulped hard.
"He killed my family, and I killed his. His parents were involved in organ dealing—those jerks."
Czar said in a low tone, his bare back leaning against the wall, his eyes fixed on it.
"Elaya, it's already 9 a.m. When are you going to wake up?" Ava adjusted her wide-leg jeans while calling Elaya for the 99th time. She sighed and knocked on the door again. Finally, the door revealed Elaya—sleepy as a sloth.
"You haven't slept, have you?" Ava closed her eyes and ruffled Elaya's hair.
"What happened? Will you explain?" Ava asked, setting Elaya aside and sitting on the bed, eyeing her to explain.