What is Responsibility – 3

It was a coincidence. Or, if there was such a thing as God, and the concept of causality, was this inevitable?

Kang In-ho bit his lower lip. His legs trembled nervously in the taxi.

After eating late-night snacks with Yoon Sia and returning to his room, he turned on his neglected phone screen.

He had expected several messages from Shin Jeonga.

He hadn’t decided how to treat her yet, so he planned to read the messages she sent and sort out his thoughts.

However, after being handed over to the police, he hadn’t received a single message from Shin Jeonga.

It was strange. He thought the usual situation would be her sending hundreds of messages.

Just as he was about to touch the screen, wondering, an alarm came on the messenger, and Inho’s finger touched it.

Before he could do anything, the chat room with her was open, and there was a blurry photo.

A dark room, and a bright mass in the upper right corner.

The camera seemed to have shaken while taking the picture, and the focus was off, making it blurry. It didn’t look normal at all.

[Ah, you saw it right away?]

The ‘1’ disappeared, and a message flew in from the other side.

“…….”

Inho waited for Shin Jeonga’s next words.

[It’s pathetic… but I wanted to be remembered by you, even like this.]

Another photo flew in. A clearer focus than before.

Her hands covered in something red, and a room in flames.

[Goodbye. I really liked you.]

And the conversation ended. Inho felt the blood drain from his face.

Kang In-ho jumped up from the bed.

He burst out of the door and went from the second floor to the first floor. Yoon Sia, who was still sitting at the table, looked at him with a startled face.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“I have to go to Jeonga.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Taxi, first a taxi….”

Inho moved his hands busily to call a taxi.

“Inho, why are you suddenly like this? What happened?”

Yoon Sia grabbed Inho, who was heading to the front door.

“What is it, a fire or something.”

The taxi driver muttered, looking at the fire truck that had gathered at the entrance of the alley.

“Please drop me off here.”

Inho handed over his card with his good arm, and the taxi driver accepted it.

Kang In-ho and Yoon Sia got out of the taxi and passed the fire truck struggling to enter, arriving at Shin Jeonga’s house.

Because it was a villa area with buildings close together, many people were out even in the middle of the night, wringing their hands.

Because fire trucks could not enter due to illegally parked cars and carts, firefighters carrying hoses were seen running from afar.

Kang In-ho took a step towards the building that was burning most fiercely.

And Yoon Sia grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing?”

Yoon Sia, who read something in his eyes, hardened her face.

“…….”

“No, right? Surely not, right?”

Yoon Sia asked again about Inho’s intended action.

Bang, something exploded, and the flames grew stronger.

“If you go in, it’s a dog’s death. Can’t you see the flames?”

Yoon Sia grabbed his shoulders urgently and shook him, but his solid body stood still.

“What is this, a movie? A novel? What are you, a hero? Don’t be reckless! You’ll die if you go in!”

Yoon Sia hugged him urgently. Like locking a lock, her arms wrapped around his waist.

“No. I absolutely can’t let you go. What is this? Are you crazy? Why are you suddenly doing this for a girl who deceived you?”

“Teacher. Please let go of me.”

At Kang In-ho’s words, Yoon Sia tightened her arms even more.

The heat of the burning flames swept over her skin.

“No. No… Your arms and legs are in that state, and you’re going in there? Don’t do anything reckless. You’re a student. Just a student.”

Yoon Sia muttered the same words, burrowing deeper into his arms.

His arm slowly began to push her shoulder away.

Yoon Sia tried not to fall off, but she couldn’t stop herself from gradually moving away due to his strong force.

That’s how a distance of about two steps fell between him and her.

“…….”

Kang In-ho swung his arm at the poorly built brick wall.

With a dull sound, the green cast showed a slight gap.

He grabbed it with his other hand and roughly widened the gap, and soon the cast was torn off.

Now that both hands were free, he could easily remove the cast on his leg.

“It’s not because of guilt.”

“Then?”

“When I think about it, all of this is my fault.”

“What does that mean?”

“You wouldn’t understand. Because it’s a concept you don’t know.”

He changed the words he had heard from Solari a little.

“Teacher. You like me, right?”

At the sudden words, Yoon Sia widened her eyes and blushed.

“What does that have to do with the current situation….”

“…Right?”

At Kang In-ho’s question, Yoon Sia closed her mouth and nodded slightly.

He turned his body towards the villa.

“That’s why I’m doing this. If I’m here, if I stay here… things get twisted.”

With those words, Kang In-ho sprinted towards the burning villa at full speed.

“If my existence creates problems and distorts things by staying here… I have to take responsibility, right?”

“Student!! Student!!”

There were many voices grabbing him, but Kang In-ho never looked back.

With that, Yoon Sia did not see Kang In-ho’s figure.

“That was the last time.”

On the second floor of the cafe, a place where many study groups gather.

Yoon Sia, facing someone, muttered, remembering that time.

Half a year had passed since that day. The season had become warm, and people’s clothes were getting thinner.

“Was there anything unusual?”

“I found out later by asking around… Inho had a deep cut on his neck.”

It was difficult to confirm because it was all burned, but that’s for sure. Yoon Sia added.

“A cut?”

“Yes. Inho was found at the entrance of Shin Jeonga’s house, and Shin Jeonga was on top of him, so….”

“That means that Shin Jeonga stabbed Inho.”

“That’s probably the case. This is just my thought… Inho miraculously found Shin Jeonga and was carrying her out when he was stabbed from behind….”

“…….”

The person who heard Yoon Sia’s explanation closed their eyes and crossed their arms.

It seemed like they were suppressing something.

“But… Inho’s family? You said. I didn’t know Inho had a cousin. He never talked about his family.”

“Well… just like that.”

The other person tried to explain something but closed their mouth.

Yoon Sia, who took it as meaning that they didn’t want to talk about it, wet her lips with a sip of coffee.

“From his mother’s side, right? If it’s the ‘Lee’ family.”

As soon as her words fell, the other person opened their eyes.

“Anyway, thank you for letting me know. Thanks to you, I learned things I didn’t know.”

The woman, who had a dry face, smiled slightly.

“Yes….”

Yoon Sia trailed off, and the other person got up as if there was nothing more to see.

“Yes, you were good to him.”

The person who was about to leave the cafe turned back as if they had changed their mind.

“Yes?”

“The story would have been different if he had been with you a little longer.”

With a clearer smile than before, the other person left.

Yoon Sia felt an inexplicable chill run down her spine.

It was clearly a pair of eyes facing each other, but for some reason, Yoon Sia felt as if hundreds of gazes were staring at her at once.

-Possession Prone, Part 1 (End) –