Untouched [minsung]

Chapter 105

Lee Know POV

I jumped as the door slammed shut behind us. I walked forward and nearly stumbled into a box that was in the middle of the floor. It hit my knee with a loud thud, and I cursed under my breath as I rubbed the new bruise on my shin.

"Hyunjin?" I called out into the vast dark space before me.

He didn't answer.

I felt around me and found a hand drenched in sweat at my side. "Chan?" I asked.

"It's me," he breathed shakily. I took his hand in mine and squeezed it reassuringly as I moved deeper into the room.

"Jeongin, where's Hyunjin?" I questioned, but he didn't answer. I heard a grunt from where we'd left him as though he had moved something heavy.

I hoped it wasn't a body.

"Stay close," I whispered to Chan, he squeezed my hand to let me know he'd heard me. I took another step and nearly bumped into a desk. I felt the top of it. which was covered with papers and books. I reached for the space above it and was met with drywall.

"Follow along the sides of the room," I ordered.

Chan let go of my hand, and we walked silently together along the perimeter...well silently-ish Chan was afraid of the dark so his staggered breathing was quite loud behind me. Jeongin was still making strange sounds from the other side of the room.

I was reminded of the last dark room I'd been in at this house. I recalled Han and his terrified face. I knew I had to get out of here. I couldn't let a Hwang catch me for the third time. I couldn't let Han be alone. I'd gone through too much in this house to have it all end here.

I stumbled over something and fell to the ground. I yelped as I caught myself above whatever it was that had tripped me. Simultaneously the light switched on.

I was face to face with Hyunjin's body.

I screamed and hopped up and Chan clutched his chest in fear as he began to cry. I reached for his hand.

"Why are you screaming?" Jeongin complained. He was standing by the light switch and a pile of boxes.

"Did you kill him?" I accused as I pointed at Hyunjin.

Jeongin rolled his eyes and walked forward. I let go of Chan, pulled out my gun, and aimed it at Jeongin, but he didn't seem phased whatsoever as he moved a piece of Hyunjin's hair off of his face to reveal an AirPod.

"He couldn't hear you," Jeongin explained as he ripped out the earbud.

Hyunjin slapped his hand away as his eyes popped open, "I was taking a nap," he grumbled before realizing we were all there. "Oh, hey guys!"

Chan fell to his knees and hugged him as Hyunjin looked around awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" he asked staring at me in confusion.

"We're just so happy to see you," Chan sniffled as he held his face in his hands and kissed his cheek.

"Now that you can see he's very much alive and not dead, do you want to help us finish cataloging everything?" Jeongin snapped.

I was still processing the fear I'd just felt but nodded anyway, and Chan slid over to go through a box of miscellaneous things while he collected himself, too.

Hyunjin handed out notebooks and pens to each of us, and Jeongin started working on the pile of boxes that he'd stacked near the light switch.

We finished the room quickly and moved on to the next one within the hour. We continued until every room in the house had been well documented and every bit of trash tossed out.

They had also found a few things that they had wanted to keep: several items that served as reminders of their childhood, one momento each from each of their parents, and important documents like birth certificates and bank account numbers. We had boxed those items up carefully as we cataloged everything and began loading them into the car as the sun was setting.

"What do we do about the house itself?" Hyunjin asked. "We can't post a 'For Sale' ad with photos of a prisoner basement without the police asking questions."

"We could seal off the basement," Chan suggested.

"Or burn it," I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?" Jeongin asked.

I looked up in surprise that anyone had heard me. "Nothing," I replied with a soft distracting smile.

"You said burn it?" Jeongin reiterated.

I shrugged and took the box Chan was holding to place it in the trunk.

"Might not be a bad idea," Jeongin supported. "We could collect insurance on it without having to dispose of the bodies. We could collect our parents' body parts..."

I gagged at the thought.

Jeongin continued, "...and place their limbs back together enough so that their bodies would just seem like they got caught in the fire, too."

Hyunjin listened and absorbed the idea. He looked between Jeongin and the house they'd grown up in for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay," he approved.

"When?" Chan asked.

"Tomorrow," Jeongin shrugged. "Might as well get it over with before people notice our parents are missing or before any of the guards' families start asking questions."

We all nodded in agreement. Tomorrow, we'd burn down the Hwang house.

We all loaded into our cars to head back home. Chan was unusually quiet on the drive and was staring out the window absentmindedly.

"What's wrong?"

Chan sighed and turned to me. His eyes were sad. "I thought he was dead."

We'd both been afraid that Jeongin had hurt Hyunjin. I wasn't sure how it would have gone down if Hyunjin had actually been killed. I was glad we would never have to find out.

"But he's alive. That's a good thing," I reminded him.

Chan nodded and looked back out the window. "But that means Jeongin really has changed. It means we have to let him stay with us." Chan took a deep breath. "I'm still afraid of him, Lee Know," he admitted.

"Han and I can stay with you so you have more friends there for a while," I offered. I was still afraid of Jeongin too, but it had been my deal to save Han that landed Chan in this mess, and I should have to suffer the repercussions too.

Chan looked relieved at my suggestion. "Could you?"

I nodded with a small smile, and Chan seemed to perk up a bit.

"Thank you," he said as he squeezed my hand in gratitude.

"Of course."