ALWAYS You: Swan's Shadow [YOONGI] (Book 3)

Chapter 18

Amidst the slums of the poor, a run down motel stood standing on the edge of a railway track. A guest by the name of 'Jeon Somi' occupied one of its bleak rooms. She had a child with her and a teenager came and went once in a while.

The elderly hotelier, Jang Man Wol, knew who she really was. It was hard not to - Soo-ji was on the kill list of the KSI, a reward of an eye-dropping amount of money was placed on her head. The media was obsessed about her. A day could not go by where Soo-ji was not the talk of the town. 

Despite this, Man Wol, still took her in. If she was shot dead for concealing a criminal, then so be it. 

She was old, she said, and she had seen a fair few fuck ups in her lifetime. If giving a bit of shelter to the people's hope was all she could do in these dark times, then at least her death was worth it. 

The curtains in Soo-ji's room were closed as always. The sunlight begged to seep through the gaps, but the dull grey tint of the walls always filled the room until nightfall. 

A bottle of baby milk laid on the table top, discarded but finally empty. Hobi, sleeping in the middle of the double bed, refused to take a drop of bottled milk for days. He missed his mother, and Soo-ji tried her absolute hardest to encourage him to drink from the bottle. Eventually, Hobi grew too hungry to resist after crying for days. And for the first time since they arrived, the room was quiet and still, when Hobi finally fell into a deep sleep after having a full belly for the first time in days. 

Soo-ji sat at the desk in the corner. Her head was in her hands and her shoulders raised up and down in slow movements. Her breathing was controlled, but Soo-ji was very close to losing it. 

She spent days fixing the laptops after they were drenched in the water. They were fully working now, but Soo-ji had to grip onto the table edge to keep herself from throwing them out of the window. 

Sitting in front of her, one laptop showed live CCTV footage of the Hope Gang crammed in the prison cell with Chanyeol.

On the other, Chung Ha and Yoongi's billboard blared across the entire screen. Yoongi stood tall and handsome in the photo. His hair, perfectly styled, fell over his eyes as he held onto Chung Ha intimately. His hand, strong and veiny in the HD resolution picture, snapped her pale leg against his waist. Her bare leg was at the forefront of the photo and her red dress flowed behind her in a dramatic flare. Soo-ji felt sick the longer she stared at the image, her eyes unwilling to look away from Chung Ha's hands tugging on Yoongi's belt. 

At the bottom of the photo, a mysterious date was clearly displayed. There were no other words written alongside it, and Soo-ji wondered if this date held a hidden message. Whatever this message was, this date was in a few days.

Knock knock.

A hammering at the door interrupted Soo-ji's thoughts. She sat up, took the switch knife in her hands and headed towards the door. 

"Who's there?" She asked behind the wood of the door, gripping onto the door knob tightly. The switch knife was extended, ready to strike. 

"I knew you'd fall for that 'knock knock' joke!" A male voice laughed dryly. In confusion, Soo-ji furrowed her eyebrows at the unfamiliar voice. Acting on instinct, her fingers squeezed tighter around the switch knife in self-defence.

"Who is it?" She demanded again, having no energy whatsoever to play childish with him. 

The male behind the door cleared his throat. His voice, smooth and flirtatious, answered. "The Death Ring's owner, Yeonjun's boss, certified best boxing champion, is honoured to finally meet Black Swan."