The Scent of Life (1)
CHAPTER 12 I DON'T SAY GOOD BYE
A month later.
The night is late. Man Se walks alone through a quiet street to his house, after work guarding a movie ticket. He's not feeling well. Stomach's nauseous. Until he finally stood by the roadside and vomited. Soon there was a shadow of the person who followed him and then ambushed him from behind with a handkerchief on his face. Some people came and transported Man Se into the car, which quickly left the smog in the air.
***
Min Ji just arrived at her apartment. He felt strange with the door open. Worried that something might happen, she went straight into the apartment. Sure enough, a woman he knew was sitting on his living room couch. Hong Sun Hwa and some of his bodyguards were already waiting. While his two sisters with condition of bound accomplices sat near the evil woman.
"Why are you here, you female fox?" min Ji exclaimed, "Let go of my sisters!" continued Min Ji.
He was angry when he saw his family tied up and slaughtered his mouth in such a way.
"Well, I'll let go of your sweet little brothers. But I'm asking you to get away from Kang Group and take your friend Oh Man Se with you. We know you're the one who sent frequent SMS and terror images to Kang Min Jung. You're terrorizing him because you belong to a family of employees who died in a factory fire fifteen years ago. You think we're stupid, we're still kind enough to tell you to stay away, rather than kill your lives!" hong Sun Hwa.
"You, you little fox. Don't expect you to live quietly with all your sins . I don't want to fulfill your will!" curse Min Ji.
Min Ji's moves would attack Hong Sun Hwa, but the bodyguards managed to hold Min Ji back. Hong Sun Hwa took out a knife and opened the duct tape in the mouth of one of Min Ji's sisters.
"Sister help me ..," whined one of Min Ji's younger brothers.
"Nh ..." Min Ji was helpless, despite constantly trying to rebel from the two men who held her.
Sun Hwa thrust his knife into the hand of Min Ji's sister. The little boy screamed in pain. Min Ji felt shaky and finally relented.
"Good .. okay. Let them go, I will obey your will" said Min Ji relented because he could not bear to see his sister hurt.
He's family, and Oh Man Se is going away from Kang's family. He will not demand anything from the company. Hearing that, Hong Sun Hwa laughed in satisfaction. The woman went out followed by her bodyguards.
Min Ji was furious, but he felt helpless against all. After carrying important items, Min Ji invited his younger siblings to go pick up Man Se.
Min Ji's father was a security officer who witnessed the destruction of fire detection devices. Min Ji's father was pressured by the company to keep his mouth shut until he committed suicide. There was a note of his father that Min Ji got when dismantling the room.
At first Min Ji approached Oh Man Se for revenge. But after knowing Man Se was only an adopted child and turned out to be both victims of the greed of the chaebol, Min Ji also undoes his intentions. He is sincerely friendly with Man Se.
***
Samchon Kang smiled at the office. He was satisfied with his cooperation with Hong Sun Hwa. They try to get rid of Min Ji and make Man Se stay away from Min Hyuk, by keeping Man Se, he pressured the man not to be rash by uncovering the secrets of the factory fire fifteen years ago.
They both have dust in their eyes, and that dust must be removed. Hong Sun Hwa won't be able to take Min Hyuk's heart if there's still Oh Man Se. While Samchon Kang will not be able to live quietly because Min Ji Man Se's friend terrorized him with pictures and messages of threats related to factory fires. He saw a picture of Man Se bound limp.
Soon after Hong Sun Hwa called. The woman holds Man Se and has pressured Jung Min Ji to take Man Se away as far as possible from Seoul. For Samchon Kang this is still a bluff for anyone who blocks his steps.
***
Min Hyuk was still in the office when he opened the incoming message from a foreign number. A picture of her lover fainting is tied up and her mouth is duct tape. A threatening message came in telling Min Hyuk not to open the case fifteen years ago or his lover died. Min Hyuk was struck by lightning. His hands shook and a jumbled sense of anger, sadness and helplessness flashed. Min Hyuk calls Detective Ahn and sends the foreign number to find the coordinate point from which the number was sent.
Min Hyuk immediately headed for an old factory on the Han riverbank, after getting a coordinate point. Detective Ahn and the police were already at that place first. But nil. Police found only a trace of a car, an empty seat, and a rope with fingerprints. Min Hyuk asks Detective Ahn to check whose fingerprints are on the rope.
At dawn, Min Hyuk comes to Man Se's house. The house looked quiet, and the lights were still on. The next day, the sleepless Min Hyuk gets a call from Detective Ahn that the fingerprints left on the rope are Jung Min Ji's fingerprints. Min Hyuk immediately rushed to drive his car with Kang Seo Woo to Min Ji's empty house. Min Hyuk walked over with a pale and tired face. His world had collapsed along with the early winter snowfall.
***
In the middle of the ocean, Man Se, Min Ji, Woo Jin and Min Ji's two younger siblings sail towards Ganghwa. Man Se's tears flowed and felt frozen on his cheeks. He stood on the deck of the ship looking at the land that was getting farther away, then went back inside, because the winter wind was too hard to hit him in the face.