On The Run - Sunki

Deal

Sunoo just walked away, leaving a confused Jungwon behind. He needed fresh air. He was now in the parking lot, breathing heavily. He sat down on the side of the building, where no one could see him.

What is happening?

Why am I the only one who remembers Niki?

This thought kept repeating itself in the officer's head. All of this felt impossible. Even if his colleagues wanted to prank him, they wouldn't have done something like that.

Jungwon wouldn't have done that. I saw in his eyes he wasn't lying. He's convinced he doesn't know Niki...

Sunoo wrapped his arms around his knees and his his face in them. He had never felt so lonely in his life.

Just like Niki was...

This memory made Sunoo stand back up walk to his car. He knew what he needed to do, but he didn't know how to do it. Nevertheless, he started the engine and drove out of the parking lot.

He arrived at the university dorm and saw the receptionist's face change upon seeing him. She had the phone in one hand, while she dialed with the other. As Sunoo approached, she put the phone down and stood up.

"What a coincidence to see you here officer. I was calling you now" she said, quite surprised.
"Is everything okay?" asked Sunoo right away, sensing something was off.
"Sim Jaeyun hasn't come home yesterday night. I contacted the professor he had a lesson with this morning and he reported him as missing. Normally we don't do daily checks, but since his two roommates are missing, I thought it was better to let you know" she explained.

Sunoo froze.

No, this can't be happening.

"Officer Kim?" she asked, bringing Sunoo back to the present.
"Can I see their room please?" replied Sunoo.
"Of course" said the receptionist, taking her keys.

They walked to the door together in silence. Sunoo felt his heart getting heavier with each step he took.

He knew he was an officer and that he saw bad things every day, but something about this case just hit different. It felt more personal to any other case he had to solve.

They finally got to the door. She opened it and let Sunoo step inside alone.

"If you need me, I'll be in the reception" she said, not wanting to disturb him any longer.
"Thank you very much, but I won't be long" replied Sunoo.

He waited for her to leave to do what he needed to. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling telling him he would find a clue in the room today.

Automatically, Sunoo turned to Park Sunghoon's bed. He looked under the pillow, but there wasn't anything hidden below it.

Weird. I'm sure I put the mansion picture back there the other day. Why isn't it here anymore?

Sunoo turned around and faced Lee Heeseung's bed. He decided to look under his pillow as well, just in case. He grabbed the pillow and lifted it quickly, revealing a folded piece of paper.

Intrigued Sunoo picked it and unfolded it, only to discover someone had written an address on it.

That's my clue.
Another proof that Niki is working for this woman... he had searched Heeseung's bed but "didn't find anything"...

Disappointed about Niki's purpose, but happy to have found a clue, Sunoo left the room. He got into his car and grabbed the city map he always kept in the glove compartment. It took him several minutes to find the street he was looking for. As soon as he did, he started his car and drove away, excited to put a term to all of this.

~

Niki woke up with a heavy head. He knew he was late to work and he needed to rush now. For some reason his body refused to move.

That's cause I'm still half asleep.

He had had the weirdest dream that night. Sunoo and him actually knew each other from before work and-

Wait. It's not a dream.

This time Niki opened his eyes and directly recognized where he was, and it wasn't his house.

She got me.

He tried to move again, but once more his body refused to obey. Only his eyes could move. He stabilized his respiration and looked around as much as he could, which wasn't much. He was in his old room actually.

"So you're up" said the feminine voice Niki didn't want to hear.
Niki tried to respond but only a muffled sound came out of his throat.

"Oh right, sorry" she said, not sounding sorry at all.

One second later, Niki felt a horrible pain in his throat, as if someone was crushing it with all their strength. Hopefully the pain didn't last long, and Niki knew he could talk now.

"What do you want from me?" asked Niki. "Haven't you taken enough!"
"I see you remember everything" she said.

Niki couldn't see where she was. He was laying down and could only see the ceiling above him. However he knew the voice came from the right of the room, where the door was.

"I do" he replied.
"Did you really think you could fool me?" she asked.
"Didn't hurt to try" replied Niki, smirking lightly.

She didn't answer anything, but she must have not liked Niki's answer, cause as soon as he finished his sentence, the throat crushing pain came back.

Niki wanted to hold his neck with his hands, but he still couldn't move anything else except his face. He also wanted to scream, but no sound came out of him.

After what seemed like a long time, Niki felt the pain going away. He nevertheless had difficulty breathing and felt sweat rolling down his forehead.

"That'll teach you to get behind my back" she said, in a cruel tone. "You should have just worked for me, as we had agreed in the beginning."

Niki wanted to confront her, but didn't want to feel the pain again. Plus, he needed to think carefully if he wanted to save Sunoo.

"What do you want?" asked Niki, with a frail voice.

"You know what I want" she said laughing coldly.
"Well, maybe we can make a deal then?" asked Niki.
"What do you have in mind?" she asked.