4. The Strange Man

I got up and got into the brown bus, I reached into some bills and put them into the payment machine. I wanted to go to the Han River and throw myself into the river, not wanting to see a world that was getting more and more chaotic. 

I woke up when I felt I fell out of my bed, I realized I was still in my room. Trembling I tried to get up and look around but, I found no meaning

I was pensive. Imagining what would happen to Kim Sae Hee after none of the male rapists wanted to take responsibility for the baby in Kim Sae Hee's womb.

Feeling nervous, I returned to meet Guangjun and Hyunseon who were still excited about playing the playstation.

“What happened? Why are you looking so rushed and a little pale?” Hyunseon glanced at me quickly.

 “I know a little about the ghost that disturbed us this morning,” replied me immediately sitting between Guangjun and Hyunseon.

“Did you see it?” Guangjun asked curiously.

“I met hers in my subconscious. She told me, however, not the whole story ... she only told what happened before she died,” explained Lalin.

“Is it true?”

“Tomorrow must find a way to find out why Kim Sae Hee died,” I said we must find a way to find out why Kim Sae Hee died,” I said.

 “But, how can we do that?” said Hyunseon with squinting eyes.

 “It's a big deed, we need a strategy so we can find out about this. We can't be careless in solving this case, there are teachers and some seniors who will mark our faces.” Guangjun spoke up after putting down his game pad.

“Besides, you haven't told what she told us,” said Hyunseon.

 I was nodded slowly. "Right. Would you like to hear the story?"

 “Of course,” replied Hyunseon and Guangjun almost simultaneously.

I took a deep breath, gathered some important points that I had seen a while ago. “Her name is Kim Sae Hee, she is one of the collenge students  on the campus, she is a victim of bullying and rape, but ... I don't know how she died."

“As expected, there must be a case of bullying that is deliberately hidden so that the campus will still receive a good rating,” muttered Hyunseon with a cynical face.

“Yes, that's right. It's a sales technique that feels dirty,” Guangjun said, “Then where did she show you her final location?”

“I don't know, all I saw was a long dark hallway.” Then I chuckled.

         

***

In the morning I was arrived earlier than Guangjun and Hyunseon. I deliberately did this to find out what causes really happened to Kim Sae Hee before she died. Then headed for the library near the lecturer room. The library will open at six in the morning because it’ll be cleaned by the librarian. However, some students and college students may go in there to read books or borrow some books in the morning.

  

“Hey, Miss. We meet again,” said a man who yesterday helped me when I almost fell.

I was rolled my eyes feeling embarrassed. “Hahaha ... yes, I guess the world is very narrow right now.”

“If  may I know, what faculty are you taking, Miss? Are you a new college student?” asked the man again, still with a friendly face.

 “Sorry, I’ve to go in. I’ve business,” I said  with an unpleasant face.

Without waiting long, I immediately left the man and entered the library. With lightning speed, I immediately wrote down my name to make a library membership card so I could access the books and computers in the library. However, the man again approached Lalin and immediately got an ID card hanger for me. Without forgetting the man dropped his stamp on my library membership card.

 “Your name is beautiful, you are Chinese?” asked the man, with very happy face.

 “Thank you for helping me,” I replied indifferently.

 I started walking towards the shelf that contained books of harlequin novels and several other top authors. Across the shelf there are several short shelves containing several photo album books belonging to the previous batch. I remained stuck there for a long time, before finally taking one of the photo album books. Slowly I opened it carefully, I read the first title on the cover of the book.

 “This is the Civil and Mechanical Engineering faculty,” I muttered later.

 Unconsciously, an intensity pulled me back into a long hallway with various pungent scents. I coughed several times, I almost vomited because I smelled the musty and damp smell from the room. I didn't know where it was, I began to vaguely hear footsteps shuffling into the room. I was dumbfounded when I realized that it was Kim Sae Hee.

 ---

 Her stomach was bleeding, her face looked very bruised, even her forehead was still bleeding fresh. Kim Sae Hee won there, clutching her stomach the pain that trapped her body. I wanted to call Kim Sae Hee, however, realizing that our dimensions were different, I could only surrender to watch what happened next.

 “KIM SAE HEE! GET OUT AWAY! BITCH! DON'T HIDE OF ME!”

 The banging on the door made Kim Sae Hee a little panic trying to be as fast as possible to get to the window and wanted to run away so she could survive.

“YOU ARE AWESOME! GET OUT THE BADDLE! I'LL KILL YOU!”

 Not waiting long for the door to actually open, several women entered the room. One of them was the most striking of the three of them with her expensive clothes and long flowing hair.

“J-jiyoon, I'm sorry. Please let me go.”

 The woman named Jiyoon rudely approached Kim Sae Hee and grabbed her hair with all her might, one slap managed to land on Kim Sae Hee's face.

“You slut! How dare you fuck Baekhyun!” Jiyoon snapped.

 “I didn't fuck him, he raped me!” argued Kim Sae Hee quickly.

 One more slap managed to knock Kim Sae Hee down. Jiyoon asked her two friends to immediately grab a hammer and put on her gloves and then began to torture Kim Sae Hee mercilessly. Kim Sae Hee screamed hysterically when the hammer blows started to damage her shin. Kim Sae Hee burst into tears hoping that someone could help her.

“Stop that Jiyoon! I'm not wrong! Why are you always torturing me ?!”

 “What are you saying? You're not wrong? You made love to Baekhyun and I didn't know it! Are you now able to dodge because you feel that you are the prima donna of this campus?” growled Jiyoon gripping Kim Sae Hee's jaw.

 After being satisfied with torturing Kim Sae Hee, the three of them agreed to knock Kim Sae Hee's body off the rooftop. At first it was rejected by Eunkyung because she was afraid she would be caught by the police in a matter of days for leaving traces. However, Jiyoon still asked the two of them to help hers kill Kim Sae Hee and promised to guarantee their lives forever.

 They also dragged Kim Sae Hee's limp body to the rooftop on the fourtenth floor. With great happiness, they dropped Kim Sae Hee’s body, who was already helpless, down.

 I suddenly realized as soon as I saw that the man's face was only three centimeters away from my face.

 “You keep on daydreaming, what's wrong? Anything you think about, Miss?” asked the man again.

“Why are you always stalking me?” snapped Lalin exasperatedly.

“After all ... you focus on daydreaming,” replied the man, “Oh yes, my name is Lee Taeyong. I'm a student of the third semester of business management faculty. I'm also one of the senior supervisory members, nice to meet you, Miss.”

“Hm. So?”

“Nice to meet you, Huang Lalin.”

 “Actually, I don't know why you always seek attention to me. Is it just because you want to punish me again for breaking your painting?” I asked  then.

  

“How do you know it's my painting?” replied the man named Taeyong.

“It's easy to guess.” I put the photo album back into place and hurriedly left Taeyong.