The Car Crash Club • Monsta X

iii.

Hyungwon and Mi-Yeon had had a secret knock. Da da da da, da da. Like the trumpet fanfare for a cavalry charge - brave and triumphant.

When he heard the rhythm, he fell out of bed.

Then he was shoving off the ground, flying out of his room, hitting the opposite wall but pushing off of that, too, lunging toward the door, fumbling with the lock, throwing it open-

The man's eyes met his for a moment, but then they dipped down, taking in his marred face, and it was in this long moment that Hyungwon, who had frozen just inside the door frame, came to the realization that it hadn't been Mi-Yeon knocking at all.

He threw a hand up over the bottom half of his face, taking a step back into the shadowy interior of the apartment as he used the other hand to yank his hood up over his head.

"Chae Hyungwon?" the man asked, his voice cold, clinical. He'd gotten over whatever shock he had received upon seeing Hyungwon for the first time.

"Who are you?"

The man held out his hand, but Hyungwon didn't shake it. The man paused a moment, retracting his hand before slipping a business card out of his pocket and extending it to Hyungwon. He stepped forward to grab the card before stepping back once more.

"I'm from your family's insurance company, and I'm representing you in legal proceedings," the man announced as Hyungwon read the information from the card. "As your attorney, it's my job to allocate blame to the other party and gather evidence to make claims for property damage and personal injury. I've tried calling periodically over the last few months, but you were still hospitalized then, and I tried calling again within the last few weeks, but you never picked up or contacted me."

"I'm sorry," Hyungwon mumbled compulsively, and his hand tightened around the business card. "But I'm not-"

"We can definitely get your hospital bills covered," the attorney continued. "Maybe even some of your college. Maybe all of it. I-deally," he said with a heavy sigh, "we would have begun this process a while back, but due to the issues in communication, we're just going to have to get to work now. Which means I'll need to record your testimony about the accident. That always does well in court, and it'll help me figure out where else to focus my investigation. Any questions?"

"Hold on," Hyungwon said, his voice a bit louder this time. "Testify? About the accident?"

The attorney nodded before his eyes flicked down to his watch. "Listen, I don't really have time to be making house calls, okay? So in the future, I'm going to need you to pick up your phone or at the very least, check your voicemails and get a hold of me as soon as you can. I'll be calling you soon about your story."

"My story?"

"I have to go," he said, turning before gesturing to the slip of paper in Hyungwon's hand. "You have my number. Call me if you need anything. If you can't reach me, call my secretary and leave a message. I'll be in touch."

And then the man who had knocked like Mi-Yeon but was not Mi-Yeon was gone.

And that was correct, of course that was correct, because Mi-Yeon was dead and how could he have forgotten that?