Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family
Chapter 24 - 23. The Bridge of Fate

Chapter 24: Chapter 23. The Bridge of Fate

At the highest floor of Cheolbu Holding, three people were having a peaceful dinner. Formally, they were boss and subordinates. From how they looked, however, it was more like an uncle babysitting two naughty youngsters.

"Do you think they’re alright?" the younger male, no older than twenty, whispered lowly above his dessert pudding.

A girl bearing identical face with him slammed the table. "Of course, they are! Don’t say stuff that sounds like a flag, Suoh!"

"But it’s been hours! We haven’t heard anything--even lil birdie is worried!" her twin argued.

"That’s why you shouldn’t say things that might spread bad luck!"

"I can no longer express worry, now?!"

As usual, they were bickering more than morning birds would. Perhaps that was why their father, Song Yonghwa’s chief security, left them to be his charge’s headache instead of his own. Since Yonghwa was even there when they were born, it was almost like they were raised by him.

"Both of you are spreading flags so shut up," Yonghwa said before sipping on his dessert wine.

"Yes..." the twins replied like a pair of scolded kids, returning to their dessert.

Yonghwa smiled behind his glass. When he introduced the twins to Lee Seul-ah, he never thought they would get attached to her quickly. Perhaps because they had been surrounded by adults and longed for someone closer to their age, or because Lee Seul-ah unexpectedly was good at playing mobile games they used as a means to communicate with her without leaving a trace.

"It’s fine--J is there and the emergency signal hadn’t been activated," Yonghwa told them.

"Right, right..." the twins nodded.

"Yeah--if it’s something that J can’t handle, I doubt others would be able to handle it anyway."

"Mm," Yonghwa twirled the glass in his hand, reminiscing the time Ryu Hajin came to him using his second triple crown.

Man was so unstoppable he was farming another triple crown after using the first one. Naturally, Yonghwa was curious about what he wanted, and once he knew the reason...oh, it was so much fun.

’You’re the only connection I could have with Lee Seul-ah,’ the man said right away, without any glib and barred of any hesitation. ’I’d like to make a contract with you.’

It was such a refreshing situation that Yonghwa was tempted to accept it right away: a temporary contract that would end with one condition and one condition only. He recalled the calm fire inside those eyes, containing all kinds of feelings from desire to curiosity.

How envious. A burning loyalty that Yonghwa himself couldn’t fully understand.

It seemed like he truly could see all kinds of things if he lived long enough. Even when he gave harsh conditions for the contract, Ryu Hajin fulfilled them well. He performed even better than his fighting days, quickly becoming an ace member of Aegis and getting promoted to the company’s special forces, RED--rapid engagement division--by his third year.

Not for money. Not for power. Only for one girl he only met face-to-face once. Yonghwa felt like he was training a knight for a neighboring kingdom’s future queen.

Ah...he hadn’t had this much fun since Kang Jun’s desperate effort to win him back ten years ago.

While Yonghwa was busy reminiscing, Sua’s phone was ringing. "Oh--oh! She’s calling me!"

"Us," her twin argued.

"Whatever--hello, Eonni--ouch?!"

Suoh grabbed the phone from his sister’s hand so they could listen together, scurrying to a corner while they spoke in tandem.

"Ah..." Yonghwa twirled the jack of diamond and the joker between his fingers. "It still feels bad to let go of such great talent."

* * *

"We’re here, Master."

Sarah flinched slightly--half because she was yet to get used to being called that, and half because she didn’t realize she was slipping into sleep for a few seconds. Blinking out her drowsiness, she could feel the car slowing down to a halt on the side of the road, fifty meters away from a bridge.

"Is that the place?" Hajin leaned forward, propping himself on the wheel before glancing at the girl beside him. "You can’t go out, Master."

"...I won’t."

Sarah gripped the jacket on her lap, feeling the sting beneath the bandage palms. The pain was nothing compared to that day five years ago, when her car lost control and crashed against the bridge.

At that time, the bridge was still the old one, as the location around it was still under construction. It looked so different after five years, and thankfully, it made the pain rather bearable. At least, it did not trigger any physical reaction from her.

Still, the pain and the memory was not something she could ever, ever forget.

That pain and memory, as Sarah stared at the bridge without blinking, were her fuel to continue walking the thorny path of retribution.

"Your car’s here," Hajin muttered when the familiar car Sarah took from the late driver passed by and stopped in front of them. Right away, the door opened and a girl jumped out with stretched arms.

"Seul-ah Eonni!" Chae Sua ran toward Sarah, who had also come out of the car.

"Sarah," her twin corrected.

"Oh, right--Sarah Eonni!"

Sarah smiled when the girl hugged her tightly, reminding her of Sera. "How are you, Sua?"

"Oh, I miss you so much," the girl snuggled into Sarah’s embrace. "It has been so long!"

"We’re still talking last week."

"Offline meeting is different!" the girl protested.

Just like the Little Bird, their interaction was started with online conversations as the twins became the link between Sarah and Yonghwa. Different from the reclusive bird, however, the twins met her several times when they were vacationing abroad.

Sarah smiled in wonder; how weird...the moment she decided to distant herself from her family, she started to find people she could call friends, even if it started from a business relationship. It made her think of how stupid she was in the past, thinking that she would always be alone if it wasn’t for the first son.

Hajin narrowed his eyes and twisted his lips as he watched the hugging girls, snapping his fingers coldly. "Give me the key."

"Brrr~" Sua shuddered in mockery before throwing the family car key to Hajin, who walked away with a grumble.

"We better start working too, Sis."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Sua reluctantly walked to her twin, who had been setting up devices beneath the pole where the area’s CCTV was attached. Sarah leaned against the car she borrowed, watching the twins manipulate the city’s eyes while Hajin drive the family car recklessly until it crashed into the side of the bridge.

Sarah flinched--even though she was planning it herself, it still took her by surprise when Hajin truly crashed the car hard. She even wondered if Hajin would be alright, but the man nonchalantly got out of the wrecked car as if mere physics couldn’t bind him.

"Okay--done!" at the same time, the twins finished erasing the CCTV recording and broke it--easier than tampering it with fake scenarios. A lot of CCTV always found broken during a conglomerate case anyway.

Of course, Hajin also tampered with the car’s blackbox and GPS system, making sure it never showed the moment when the car stopped and changed driver. Investigator would find the crash broke the blackbox too, so they could only rely on Sarah’s story later.

’I got PTSD when I approached the bridge and blacked out,’ she would say. ’Someone saw me hurting and brought me to the hospital.’

"Yes, yes--we don’t know what happened; the car had already crashed! There’s a girl unconscious outside the car, so we’ll take her to the hospital right away!" Sua screamed at the phone in a panicked tone. "It’s in the--"

She cut the call right away, as if her phone was dead before she could give more information. The emergency service would have to work hard to locate it manually, and it would be even harder to find the hospital since they wouldn’t come through the front door.

The perks of having an investor who owned a hospital--after all, security personnel got injured a lot.

"How do you even know how to do that?" Sarah asked about the blackbox and GPS manipulation once she was back inside the car--this time in the back seat because Sua insisted on driving everywhere after receiving her license.

Hajin draped his jacket over Sarah’s lap and whispered. "I’m a man of many talents, Master."

"Wow--he’s calling her that already," Sua shook her head.

"A traitor," Suoh whispered sharply.

"Traitor~"

"You can’t call someone a traitor when there’s no loyalty in the first place," Hajin smirked.

"Touche."

Ah, that’s right--Sarah glanced at the man beside her. Hajin was still officially an Aegis’s employee. "Will Song Yonghwa really let you go? If you’re as skilled as you so confidently boast to me, wouldn’t he want you to stay?"

The man smiled, grey eyes glinting mysteriously at Sarah. "I have my way."

"...it’s not cute to hide things from your Master,"

"Woof," Hajin winked before getting kicked by Sarah’s healthy foot. "You’ll find out later, Master."

Haa...Sarah sighed and shifted her body into a more relaxed position, slumping on the car seat. She felt heavy and realized that it had been such a long day. She just landed after twelve hours-long plane rides this afternoon, and then hastily came over the mountain, getting involved in a truck chase and bloody massacre, and finished it with the hours-long ride to make an alibi--one that would also be able to explain her sprain and scratches.

Honestly, Sarah no longer had any energy left to function—she didn’t even have lunch or dinner. And more than physically, she was exhausted mentally.

"It’ll take time to arrive at the hospital, so just sleep for a bit," the nice, soothing sound that was so unlike the cruel disposition earlier was so jarring and eerie.

But her real battle started tomorrow, so Sarah did need some rest. The soothing sound akin to a lullaby swayed her body, and Sarah found herself leaning into the broad shoulder. Hajin smelled of gasoline and gunpowder, a hint of blood and cologne. It was weird but not uncomfortable.

It had been so long since she entrusted herself to others, and she did it to someone she essentially only met twice. Someone so brutal who had no qualms to kill others. No—massacred others. But maybe because Sarah had been investigating Hajin before she came here, the man didn’t feel like a stranger.

At any rate, what did it matter if they had only met twice or had been together for a decade? Being together for years did not prevent others from harming her, as she already knew...

Sarah felt a sturdy arm around her back and shoulder, pulling her closer. Yeah, it didn’t matter. She had no intention of fully trusting this man anyway. She wouldn’t lay out her heart, not again.

Because it would hurt more if she got betrayed after putting on her trust. Again.

Sarah stared at a point far away, at the edge of her vision before the car passed through. A bridge. The bridge. She almost could see the flowing blood marring the dark gravel, between the shards of broken glass and parts. She still heard it, even to this day; the heavy, slow breath of a dying woman with a punctured stomach and lung before she slipped out of consciousness. She still felt it in his hands; the trembling, cold fingers clutching weakly into hers as she lay there, doing nothing but crying and writhing in despair.

She would not cry again.

"Lee Seul-ah," a whisper came, firm and full of warning.

Sarah realized then that she’d been trembling, shaking like a tree upon harsh wind. The arm wrapped around her was tight and anchoring, pulling her back into the present. She looked up, eyes blown wide, to soft and gentle grey eyes.

"They will pay," the low voice was seeping into her nerves, soothing her blazing mind.

The man didn’t ask whether she was okay, or if everything would be fine. Right. They would pay, watching their world crumbling down just like her.

Just a little bit. Perhaps she could trust this man just a little bit.

And just a little bit, Sarah shuffled closer into the sturdy embrace, waiting for her trembling to cease and her mind to rest. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel weird, as if she had done it before. Long before. But she couldn’t dig that memory further because she was pulled inside a deep, dreamless sleep.

When Sarah opened her eyes, they were already inside a hospital room, and she was still being held by Hajin. Instead of the car seat or the bed, however, she was on a couch with a blanket draped over her front side.

"Good morning."

Across from her seat, on the other side of the coffee table, was her smiling investor.