Chapter 21 - Yoo Jonghyuk's side quest #20: Ultimate Sacrifice. [part 2]

Song Daehwa heavily stomped on the break and the car stopped with a loud screeching noise which had attracted some busybody housewives out from their respective homes. And soon, a small group of people crowded outside Kim Dokja's residence, but the policewoman went forward whilst ignoring all the inquires directed at her. Now standing right before the doorway, Song Daehwa raised her fist and started banging on the wooden surface of the front door.

"This is the police, open up!"

However, no response could be perceived inside the house. Song Daehwa clicked her tongue and pulled out her gun, she aimed for the door lock while shouting for the other civilians to step back. With a loud bang, the lock was destroyed and followed by a violent kick, the door was easily forced open.

Still holding the gun in her hands for precaution measures, she cautiously stepped inside the entrance, but before closing the door, the Deputy Police Chief left a stern warning behind. She advised them to hold back their curiosity. "This place is off-limits and whoever steps inside will be convicted as a suspect."

That threat worked masterfully and made all the people more reluctant and discreet, not daring to cross the imposed threshold. Meanwhile, Song Daehwa fixed her gaze at the girl handcuffed to the railing with the mouth gagged with a piece of cloth.

Kim Sunri had tears welled up in her eyes as she desperately pleaded to be released. The constable walked closer and soon was just a few steps away from the girl. However, as soon as Kim Sunri saw the gun Song Daehwa was holding in her hands, she began thrashing around forthwith and tried to back away with no avail because of the handcuffs. Song Daehwa disregarded the teenage's futile attempts of resistance because she lacked time to deal with it at the moment. She used one hand to grab the latter's restrained arm and the other one to shoot at the chain links connecting the two silver locks.

Even though she was finally liberated, Kim Sunri couldn't feel relieved because of the fuming barrel of the gun still pointing towards her. With trembling pupils popping out like the goldfishes', she didn't dare to even move an inch.

Placing the firearm inside her gun holster, Song Daehwa reached out her hand and yanked out the cloth from Kim Sunri's mouth.

"Apologies for the rudeness, but I must ask if you know Kim Dokja's whereabouts."

Still frozen in fear, the teenage girl tried to speak, however, her mouth had been too dry and her voice came out all crackly and almost incomprehensible.

"The... Ta..ble... Pho..ne... Brin..g me... Phone-" After just a few short broken words, Kim Sunri began coughing out loud.

The constable looked around and found a bottle of mineral water on the kitchen counter, and as she directed towards it, a pink rectangular device had caught her attention. Song Daehwa decided to bring both the cellphone and the water to the girl. Nevertheless, she handed out the water bottle first.

"Here."

"T-Than..k yo..u..." Kim Sunri had hastily begun chugging down big gulps of water, desperately trying to soothe her dry throat.

Song Daehwa had patiently waited on the side for a few minutes before handing out the other device to the girl. When Kim Sunri's eyes landed on the familiar pink cover of her cellphone, she immediately stretched out her hands to receive it. Pressing the buŧŧon on the side showed five missed calls from an unknown number, though she only dwelled on it for a short moment before proceeding to unlock the screen with her shaky fingers. On the bright display, the chat with the message that Jun had sent was still visible. Kim Sunri then handed the phone back to the officer.

Song Daehwa wrinkled her eyebrows as her expression turned even more solemn. She instinctively reached out for the walkie-talkie, however, she forgot the communication device in the office because she had been in a hurry. The constable clicked her tongue and took out the phone and snapped a picture before sending it to the HQ while also sending a reinforcements request on the crime scene.

"You stay here, someone will come and get you after."

"But my..."

Chief Song didn't even turn back as she quickly rushed in her vehicle to start the engine, speeding off the road without care if she gets any ticket for breaking a few traffic rules. Because she was in a hurry, the policewoman hadn't realized that she had also taken Kim Sunri's phone with her.

Left behind her was still the group of gossiping housewives that crowded in front of Kim Dokja's house's entrance. Not long after Song Daehwa's departure, another black-clad figure showed up and before any of those old folks could realize what had just happened, Yoo Jonghyuk had already rushed inside the house.

Seeing the familiar cold face in front of her, Kim Sunri hooted in disbelief, almost tumbling down the stairs if she hadn't been careful enough. Neither of them spoke, the black-coated man's eyes were piercing cold and Kim Sunri felt unsettled by them. In the end, breaking the silence was the girl whose shaking index finger was pointing at the man standing alive right before her, she couldn't help but voice out all her bafflement.

"You aren't dead??"

The temperature inside the room had suddenly plummeted and Kim Sunri couldn't help but huddle up, moreover, as a weak attempt to reassure herself, she also clutched her hands around the railing. Yoo Jonghyuk's narrowed gaze turned even sharper while glaring at the feeble girl quivering in fear.

"Where's him?"

"I... I-"

Kim Sunri attempted to speak but all she could feel was her stomach churning as she tried to. All the accumulated stress had finally reached her in the end. However, she tried hard to restrain her nausea from coming out, and all this out of sheer fear of angering the scary man in front of her even more.

Seeing the girl acting like a small frightened animal, the regressor huffed and turned around, dashing out in the same fashion as he had come inside. Yoo Jonghyuk realized that each moment wasted clouded his troubled heart even more. Even if he had to map out the entire country of South Korea, he will definitely find him.

Yoo Jonghyuk couldn't describe what he was feeling when, just a few minutes ago, the system had very conveniently added a new feature which somewhat could have aided him in his search. Everything went through along with such a perfect pace as if it was previously scripted by someone. However, another notification from the system popped up and brushed away all these thoughts away.

[Distance from target 'Kim Dokja' estimated: 149 km.]

「 I have no other choice but to rely on the system now... 」

***

Pain!

Kim Dokja's head was terribly aching as he tried to struggle free while his body winched all over in discomfort. His hands and legs were tied up together by a strong rope, even his mouth was sealed with a piece of ducktape.

This was definitely a kidnapping case.

The first thing the teen had noticed when he woke up was the feeling of being carried around like a rough sack of potatoes. Kim Dokja couldn't see anything because he found himself blindfolded. The only distinguishable sound was the crunching leaves under Jun's heavy footsteps. They were definitely heading to some secluded area, maybe even an abandoned building.

"Mhhmm...!"

Kim Dokja wanted to ask many questions, but the tape on his mouth hindered him from doing so.

"You woke up?" Jun softly chuckled in a low tone. "Be good. I don't want to knock you unconscious again."

"Mhhhmmm...!!"

Feeling the then struggle under his grip, the masked man shook his head and sighed. "Oh well."

"Thud!"

With a swift chop behind Kim Dokja's neck, Jun managed to silence the wiggling teen. Returning back the quietness of the night to the forest. The man then started whistling while his footsteps resounded in the eerie silence.

Before long, they reached an abandoned factory hidden deep inside the woods. Besides the facility was a rusty watchtower much taller than any tree. Even though it gave the illusion of falling apart at any given moment, the solid foundation that allowed it to survive through the harsh passage of time steadily held it together. The rusty and unused watchtower resembled a worn-out sword soaring through the sky.

***

In the first instance when Kim Dokja regained consciousness, he was still being restrained but this time bound together with a chair. However, he could make out the faint sound of a few footsteps nearing him. The first person to speak gave Kim Dokja a weird sense of familiarity.

"Kim Dokja where's the inheritance? Where did you hide it?"

At first, he couldn't recognize him, but soon he realized that there could have been only one person whose obsession could define his entire persona so much.

His paternal uncle, Kim Sungwoo, the same bastard who made his childhood a living nightmare to this day. The same man who couldn't leave him in peace, as if his life hadn't been bad enough already on its own.

And now he was standing right in front of, and worst of all, Kim Dokja couldn't even retaliate against him in this state. That's what that young man had thought when he heard that arrogant voice ordering his underlings to mercilessly beat him up in a pulp because he wasn't acting collaboratively.

However, before the situation could have escalated further, several gunshots resounded catching everyone off-guard. And the first people to fall were the ones closest to him, so Kim Dokja had clearly heard every groan and cry each man had made before falling down on the cold floor with a soundless 'thud'.

"Wha-" The panicked voice of Kim Sungwoo was cut off before another gunshot overlapped. The man still tried to say a few words before completely falling silent.

Kim Dokja's back was covered with cold sweat trickling down as he listened to that person reloading his weapon. The teenager knew who the perpetrator was, but could do nothing about it. He could only passively await the judgment.

"A special bullet for an equally special boy." Jun said before pulling the trigger.

Kim Dokja felt a brief acute pain on his right shoulder, it wasn't a bullet at least, the stinging pain was more reminiscent of a dart. Only when the dizziness began to hit, did Kim Dokja realize what kind of thing he was injected with.

"Mhh... hh..." His voice grew weaker and weaker as his consciousness slowly faded into the same darkness together with his other senses.