Chapter 107
It was the black mid-size sedan I had seen when heading to the filming location with Mitchell.
When I hurriedly parked the car to buy dumplings and had a brief meeting with Kim Dong-san, this car passed by us, quickly flashing its turn signal. Then it changed lanes and pulled over to the shoulder like us. I had thought casually that maybe that person wanted to eat dumplings too.
But now, that sedan is following behind me. Come to think of it, I think I caught a glimpse of it when I went to the hospital to pick up Kim Dong-san.
It’s a common car model in America, so I didn’t think much of it, but after remembering the license plate, I realized it wasn’t my imagination. However, even that memory could be wrong.
Suddenly, my ankle throbbed. The surgical site that had almost fully healed stung anew. I even began to suspect it might be the person who attacked me in the gym shower room.
Or could it be my brother?
Junman crossed my mind, but I quickly shook my head. Where would he get a car from?
It’s becoming a bad habit to think of Junman every time something happens. He might have already gone back to Korea for all I know.
My head felt like it was about to explode even as I drove home. By the time I finished worrying, I had already reached the neighborhood. The car that had been following me all this way suddenly turned off onto a side street as we neared my house.
“It’s gone!”
No matter how I looked, it was nowhere to be seen. It had completely disappeared from view. Only then did I let out a sigh of relief.
“Wow, have I been watching too many movies?”
The entire way home, I had been starring in my own action noir spy film. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a machine gun had started firing behind me.
I had even imagined a movie protagonist in a red spandex suit swinging on a spider web and landing on top of my car.
I only returned to reality when I entered the single road leading to the iron gate. No matter how much I looked back, there was no sign of anything suspicious.
But I still felt oddly uneasy. After parking the car, I needlessly wandered down to the iron gate.
I couldn’t see any people or cars. The single road was straight, so you could see anything entering it. I watched the empty road for a long time before finally returning to the house. It was a strange occurrence, as if I had been possessed by a goblin.
I should tell Mitchell about this later. Mitchell needed to know everything about me.
***
Mitchell quietly listened to Geon-woo’s excited story. He had called to say that filming was about to end and to come pick him up, but Geon-woo launched into a tirade about the chase that had happened earlier in the day.
– …So I managed to shake them off. When I got near the house, they suddenly disappeared. Do you think they couldn’t follow because they were amazed by my driving skills?
“Maybe so.”
Mitchell, who had been soothing the very excited Geon-woo, snapped his fingers.
“What was the license plate number?”
After hearing the license plate number, Mitchell threw in a few more compliments about Geon-woo’s boastful driving skills before hanging up. He told Geon-woo to just stay at home, saying he would call Jack, who should be in the office.
Mitchell immediately called someone else. After finishing a call that was neither long nor short, he nonchalantly resumed the remaining filming.
***
Inbeom Yoon, born into a so-called silver spoon family and raised without want, had made friends while occasionally traveling between Korea and the U.S.
Born in Washington, he was legally American, but born to Korean parents, he looked like a native Korean and had a Korean name.
Still, with his above-average height and good build, he had even played on the American football team during his school days. He was quite popular thanks to his fairly handsome appearance.
Although Inbeom Yoon was bisexual, liking both men and women, he only dated women. He rarely did anything to stand out, being very conscious of people’s gazes.
At 19, he had dated Lydia Rosa, the female lead of “Rush Instinct,” for a little over ten months. They got along well and were satisfied with their intimate life, so they dated for quite a while, but after ‘that incident’ happened, they grew apart and eventually broke up.
As Lydia succeeded as an actress and Inbeom solidified his position by inheriting his father’s business, the two got back in touch.
However, Lydia didn’t welcome the reunion with Inbeom.
“Please, just stop! Aren’t you tired of this?”
The stalker who had been bothering Lydia all this time was none other than Inbeom Yoon. He wasn’t a typical stalker, but his actions were comparable.
Lydia was so sick of Inbeom that she had even complained to Mitchell, who had nothing to do with the situation.
“Stop what? I haven’t done anything.”
“You’re saying the selfie you took in my bedroom is nothing?”
“I showed you that picture because it came out well. There’s no other reason. So, what do you think? Don’t I look good?”
“…I changed the bed covers two days ago.”
“So what?”
“How on earth did you get into the house! I didn’t even invite you then!”
“There are always ways.”
“Please, just…”
“The bed covers were pretty. Can I take another look?”
“Aaaargh!”
Completely fed up with everything, Lydia screamed while pulling at her hair. She pushed away Inbeom Yoon, who was trying to enter her room, and prevented him from moving even a step from the entrance.
“I! I told you if I confessed to Geon-woo, you’d stop this! You said you wouldn’t follow me anymore!”
“It didn’t work out after you confessed, did it? You two didn’t even meet separately.”
“I was only supposed to confess! You said you’d handle the rest. Why are you suddenly changing your words?”
“Ah, I don’t know. Anyway, nothing happened. Conditions not met.”
“You son of a…”
“Watch your mouth. If you keep this up, I won’t stay quiet either.”
Inbeom Yoon, the CEO of DK Agency, was well-known in Hollywood. Therefore, his words carried significant weight.
Of course, if Lydia were determined and pushed back strongly, she could probably ignore someone like Inbeom Yoon.
However, Inbeom held Lydia’s past that she wanted to keep hidden. It was because of their couple’s SNS account, which is now private.
It was full of material that could embarrass Lydia. Since the account was created under Inbeom’s name, Lydia had no access to it, so she was being dragged around by her ex-boyfriend.
It was from eight years ago. Lydia was going crazy because of Inbeom, who was using the account she had even erased from her memory as bait to make her do dirty work.
“Lydia, I told you I’d let you go if I get Geon-woo. So just behave.”
“Ah… Yoon! How many times do I have to tell you? Geon-woo likes women. It can’t work out between you two. Sexual orientation doesn’t change so easily! It might be natural for you to like both, but people like us can’t suddenly like the same sex! You two can never be together!”
Unable to control her temper, Lydia’s voice came out harsh. She was tired of trying to soothe and push away Inbeom. Unlike Lydia, whose head was throbbing, Inbeom answered with a grin.
“No, that’s not true.”
“What’s not true… You two…”
“It really isn’t. Geon-woo is special. He’s different. Soon, he’ll only follow me and think only of me. He’ll live only for me.”
“Haah…”
“Don’t sigh. It’s true. I’m meeting Mitchell today.”
“…Mitchell? Why Mitchell? What does Mitchell have to do with Geon-woo?”
“There’s something. It’s complicated to explain. Anyway, just pray for things to work out between me and Geon-woo. Then I’ll really let you go.”
Inbeom Yoon left the entrance with a bright smile. He had planned to spend some time here before meeting Mitchell. But since Lydia was making more of a fuss than he expected, he just left. Lydia would sometimes go crazy like this.
“Still as ill-tempered as ever.”
Inbeom didn’t acknowledge that her bad temper was because of him.
After spending some time in his car, Inbeom headed to the place where he was supposed to meet Mitchell.
“Is that it?”
At the meeting place, there was a black van parked. When he called Mitchell, he was told to get in the back seat.
“…What’s this?”
There was no one inside the car. As Inbeom hesitated for a moment, he came to his senses at the sound of Mitchell’s voice over the phone.
– Get in.
“Get in.”
The voices rang out simultaneously. Mitchell was standing right behind him. As Inbeom got into the car with an awkward smile, Mitchell immediately followed.
Inbeom swallowed dryly. Now that they were alone, he found it harder to speak than he had imagined. The intimidating aura Mitchell exuded had never felt so intense before.
Is it because it’s an enclosed space with no one else around? His palm holding the phone seemed to be sweating.
“Since we’re both busy people, I’ll get straight to the point.”
Mitchell, with a smile on his lips but dry eyes, looked directly at Inbeom.
“Did Geon-woo become obsessed with you too, Mr. Yoon? A pathological obsession?”
At Mitchell’s question, Inbeom smiled broadly. The conversation he had been waiting for finally came from Mitchell’s mouth.
“Yes. He was extremely obsessed. He was like a mental patient. I know how troubled you must be right now, Mr. Mitchell.”
As Mitchell nodded in acknowledgment, an excited Inbeom immediately continued.
“If you don’t want to suffer like I did, you need to distance yourself from Geon-woo starting now.”
Then Mitchell asked, as if very intrigued:
“How?”
