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chapter 2: blood for blood

TWO | blood for blood

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Some people live more than just one life.

Every secret that Moonyoung was hiding from me, was like a knife to the heart. That was until I realised that I was the same, if not even worse than her. She lived a double life, but I created too many parallel identities to even count.

I was one type of person when I was with her, but a completely different woman when it came to my writing career. Another version of myself used to walk the hallways of my college and yet another one belonged to the years that I spent in high school. Sunny didn't even exist when it came to my life at home, with my parents, where I wasn't allowed to be anything else besides their perfect daughter Kim Sun.

I couldn't judge Moon for hiding one thing from me, even if knowing the whole truth from the beginning would certainly make my investigation a lot easier. Now I had to start from the very beginning and slowly make my way through the unknown. Who was Moon really? Or rather - who was she in this second life that I had no idea about

The headquarters of Manyong Weekly were never my favourite place in the world, but that day I saw them in a completely different light. The position as the newspaper's chief editor, was Moonyoung's first real job after spending years slaving away as a part-time worker in some convenience store. She got it during our last year of college and she stayed there all the way to her disappearance, even after everything that happened six months ago.

Sometimes I paid her a visit and brought her lunch, but I never stayed for more than five minutes. Moonyoung didn't really like seeing me there, so I tried not to stop by too often. I used to think that the reason for that was because she didn't want my popularity to outshine hers. My writing career was rising fast back then and my debut novel was in every bookstore all around the country. I didn't even think that the truth could possibly be different. Not until now.

How stupid of me.

One look through Moon's secret notes and past editions of her banned newspaper Manyong lion, was enough to reveal the full story. Moonyoung got a good job out of nowhere and the main reason why her boss gave it to her, was because he was expecting something in return. Something that she would never give him. Exposing him would mean that she would have to go back to her poorly paid part-time job, so she made sure to go after every other tyrannical boss like him instead. Moon was often like that. She cared for others too much and not enough for herself. She always tried to bear the pain, even if she didn't have to and put others before her.

You were always too good of a person.

Luckily... I'm not. At least not anymore.

Manyong Weekly, was located on the third floor of an office building, right between a tobacco shop that kept getting broken in to and a carwash, full of incredibly loud workers that were always arguing about their views on something. The elevator broke down years ago and never got fixed again and the staircase held a protruding cigarette smell. Employees from different businesses liked to sit on the steps, smoke and chat with each other when they were on their breaks or they had no customers. That was exactly where I found the person that I was looking for.

Qian Kun was sitting down, his legs were stretched out in front of him and his hands were stuck in his pockets. His glasses were resting on top of his head and he was in the middle of a heated conversation with the woman that was squatted down by his side. I had no idea who she was, but I was immediately fascinated by her striking green hair and ears, completely covered in piercings. She was about to burst in to laughter until she saw me looking at them. Her features instantly twisted in to an irritated scowl.