Now he wants to do it all over again.
He wants to take Monroe away from me at the sameplace.
This is the endgame he’s been building toward from the moment he reappeared in my life. He’ll finally be able to finish what he started thirty years ago.
As I shift gears into drive and hit the streets, slamming on the accelerator to reach triple digits on the odometer, I’m aware this is a trap.
It’ll be like the warehouse again, where he ambushed me and nearly killed me. But I don’t give a fuck.
I don’t care if there are a hundred men waiting for me at that hanok or if I have to die, so long as I take out Black Shell with me.
So long as I’m able to save Monroe first.
Hold on, Tokki-ya. I’m coming for you.
25.Monroe
I’m jostledawake by a hard bump and the crunch of gravel. My head’s pounding and my thoughts hazy, but right away I recognize I’m in a moving car.
I’m lying tied up and steeped in darkness in what must be thetrunk. How I got here or where I’m being transported to—I have no clue.
My bound hands come up to my face as I struggle to remember what happened. It comes to me in fragmented bits and pieces.
It started this afternoon when I was packing and came across the Saenggang-cha tea. Kelly convinced her boyfriend Hyun-woo to test it in his lab after hours, and it came back positive for some kind of sophisticated, borderline untraceable poison.
Administrator Noh had been poisoning me for weeks; he had been behind my miscarriage.
I choke on my next breath as the rest floods me all at once. Black Shell showed up and not only stabbed Sang-cheol, he possibly killed Kelly and Hyun-woo. I didn’t even have achance to respond before he must’ve knocked me unconscious.
It’s no mystery why he’s kept me alive—he’s going to use me against Jin to the fullest extent possible.
The car slows to a halt, the gravel crunching under the tires ceasing. The engine cuts off next and then what must be the driver’s side door is creaking open.
I wiggle in place, pulling at the frayed rope that binds my wrists and finding no give. If only I could get the rope loose enough so that I could slip my wrists free…
More crunching meets my ears, this time from footsteps rather than car tires. Black Shell is coming around to the back of the car.
The trunk pops open in the next second, and I find myself looking up at the disconcerting blank slate that’s his shell-textured mask.
Noh Myeong-su is no longer the kind-faced older man who brought me ginger tea and asked about my pregnancy with grandfatherly concern. Ironically enough, by donning his mask he’s unmasked who he really is.
The kind, compassionate administrator was the costume all along.
Thisis who he really is.
He pulls me out roughly, his grip bruising on my arm, and I stumble on shaky legs as I get my first look at where he’s brought me.
The location is immediately recognizable.
A traditional Korean hanok sits perched on a narrow strip of land near the sea, weathered and abandoned but still standing after all these years. The landscape around it is as hauntingly beautiful as I remember.
Sand swept smooth by the tide and dark sea-glossed stones scattered across the beach. In the near distance are jagged rocksthat jut from the churning water like broken teeth and cliffs that overlook the sea.
All under the dark, angry sky heavy with storm clouds.
It’s not until I’m on my feet outside the car trunk that I realize it’s started drizzling. The tiny cold specks splatter against my skin as the wind blows in harshly from the sea.
This is where Jin’s family was murdered. This is where it all began.
