“You guys… Hah, that’s enough. You know what I’m gonna ask anyway.”
Sara wiped her face.
“The guy Sohee hit earlier… He understood the situation, so he said he’d let it slide. It was just a misunderstanding between us.”
“Um, sorry…”
Sohee said, her face turning bright red as she bowed her head.
“Sua, are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Even Sua, who had been caught while running earlier, was blushing. It wasn’t so much about being caught; she felt embarrassed for charging in without understanding the situation first.
“If you guys had come just a little earlier, it could have turned into a real mess. Na-kyung and that group almost crossed paths. Luckily, they weren’t thinking deeply, or else you guys would be in trouble.”
“……”
All three squirmed uncomfortably, but they had no words to say. As Sara said, it was true.
They could have seriously messed everything up… but they couldn’t say that. Even if there weren’t a large number of police, there were still people waiting outside the hospital. Once their position was revealed, it could have been captured.
Still, it was easy to imagine that the aftermath wouldn’t have been neat. They might have had to live in anxiety for days or even weeks.
“Ugh…”
Sara sighed and rubbed her eyes.
“Everyone, are you hurt anywhere?”
To be honest, they were all a bit sore from bumping into things, but no one brought that up. None of them wanted to cause Sara worry.
“Well, there’s still a lot we need to figure out…”
Why Na-kyung had tried to ‘kidnap’ Sara knowing things might go wrong, where she had been hiding, how the Ho-myung Group was assisting Na-kyung, and why she’d approached Sara even knowing she’d likely be exposed again.
The fact that Na-kyung acted irrationally rather than in a premeditated way made it hard to guess, but still, there was much left to hear.
Though there was still a lot to unravel, at least for now, it was over.
That fact eased Sara’s mind a little.
“Well, for now… should we sleep?”
Sara said with a yawn-like sigh.
Even though she had rested since earlier, what she had just experienced piled on the fatigue. In truth, there were so many things she wanted to discuss with that person in her consciousness. What they should do after this, and what kind of life she should lead from now on.
At the very least, the stories they’d share would be a bit different from before. A little more hopeful and a bit more future-oriented.
Only after thinking that could a small smile appear on Sara’s face.
“So… even if I say I want to sleep in another room, everyone would prefer to sleep here, right?”
No one replied, but it was painfully clear what they wanted to say given the silence.
Sara sighed once more.
Well, when I wake up, it’ll be that person waking up, not me.
Thinking of something that would make that person freak out if they heard it, Sara slowly laid down on the bed.
*
Surprising or not, it’s hard to say.
Na-kyung didn’t spill a word to the police. She insisted on talking with me. Well, to be precise, she wanted to talk with Sara, but really, she didn’t care about Sara at all—she just wanted ‘Sara’s body.’
“Are you really okay?”
The detective kindly asked me several times before I entered the police station.
“I’m fine. I really have something I want to hear.”
I wasn’t really sure if it was common for victims and perpetrators to meet. I’ve never been to a police station in my life. On dramas, I’ve seen victims and perpetrators sitting side by side writing reports, but whether that was true or not, I couldn’t say for certain.
Especially, I wondered if victims were deliberately taken to interrogation rooms. No, did such rooms even exist in reality? Maybe it’s because this police station is large?
Na-kyung, who was arrested at the scene, was brought to the police station in my area. It seemed that the local police were in charge of the incident in the area where it occurred. Given that there are many people in Seoul, it was reasonable to assume that the police station was quite big. Perhaps it was natural that such interrogation rooms existed.
It wasn’t really my job to know if it was illegal or not. I just wanted to hear what Na-kyung had to say.
Even if it were illegal, the police would figure it out.
The interrogation room door opened. Several white lights were on in the dim room. There was a large mirror—probably a window—taking up almost half of one wall, and there was a table in the center of the room. On the table was a small device, perhaps a recorder or something.
There was a CCTV in the corner recording everything happening in the room.
“I’ll be back here.”
As the detective opened the door and stood next to it, I nodded. Whatever conversation we had would be recorded anyway.
As I silently approached Na-kyung, she slowly raised her head from where she had been bowed.
I thought she looked really beautiful. Though she was a bit paler and more drawn-looking right now, her beauty couldn’t be concealed.
Why would such a pretty person do something like that?
Isn’t appearance and actual personality unrelated?
…That’s true.
Even the original Ye Sara wasn’t exactly known for her good personality.
Is that an insult to me?
No.
Even though we had grown as individuals, the current Sara was definitely different from the original Ye Sara. She could think of others and treasure her friends.
Come to think of it, the thoughts and reasoning of all the main characters had changed.
Originally, the heroine positions that should have been connected to Yoo Ha-neul all fell for me. Not that I aimed for it; it just happened that to survive, everyone was looking at me, which was a bit bewildering.
Not that I disliked that love, though.
Playboy.
No, I mean, I didn’t do anything!
Maybe when I crossed into this world, I somehow acquired that trait of being the protagonist of an isekai.
Just thinking like that makes it a bit sad, but…
Absolutely not.
Sara strongly denied it.
I shrugged my shoulders lightly in response to her and slowly walked over to sit in front of Na-kyung.
Na-kyung’s gloomy expression suddenly brightened.
“Sara.”
“You still call me by my name.”
I squinted and looked at her. The smile on her face quickly faded.
“You aren’t Sara, are you?”
Impressive, she recognized that.
“…Are you that pleased to have destroyed my lifelong plan?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I’m just happy to have saved Sara. I don’t care about your plans.”
That’s the truth. Whether Na-kyung’s plans involved shaking up the world’s economy or even becoming president, I didn’t care as long as it didn’t affect Sara.
Therefore, I wanted to ask about Na-kyung’s plans.
“What were you planning to do at the mental hospital? Were you going to kidnap again? You already tried and failed once, right? If you do the same thing again, you’ll end up getting caught.”
“……”
Na-kyung stared at me for a moment. Did she really not intend to tell me?
“…I didn’t plan to do the same thing. I was aware that the police were going to catch me.”
“…What?”
“Why, scared?”
Na-kyung smirked slightly and then looked bored.
“You’re not the only one in this world with mental illness, you know? I had intended to get caught by the police and face a proper trial. That’s why you were supposed to end up at the mental hospital.”
“To get rid of me?”
“That’s just collateral.”
Na-kyung leaned slightly toward me. I heard her shoes brushing against the floor from behind. It seemed like she was preparing for something.
“I also have a mental illness.”
Na-kyung chuckled mischievously, like a child caught trying to prank someone.
“I figured if a person needs mental treatment, a criminal would sometimes end up in a mental hospital.”
“……I see.”
That’s correct.
Na-kyung intended to end up in a mental hospital, claiming to be mentally ill, just like Sara.
…And she probably planned to use her money to always stay close to Sara.
She really saw Sara as her own possession until the end.
“When you eventually get out of prison, are you planning to come looking for Sara again?”
“What do you think?”
“Well, if you plan to come looking for her…”
I glared at Na-kyung.
“Then I will definitely stop you. Time and again, I have plenty of means to stop you now.”
“……”
Na-kyung didn’t answer at all.
“Try to approach her. Then, we’ll see what happens.”
Na-kyung still had a lot of assets, but I would make sure it would all be transferred into my hands legally. Maybe I would file all the lawsuits possible against her.
I could already picture the thrilled face of Chief Han Garam, excited at the thought of spending money.
“……It’s all because of you.”
Na-kyung sighed and said.
“It’s all because of you. I can’t understand how someone like you could arise from Sara.”
Her eyes were burning.
I didn’t arise.
I just fell from the sky all of a sudden.
Of course, I didn’t know the reason for that.
Maybe.
Sara, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, chimed in.
…It might really be a miracle sent by God.
