Both Sari and Sejin didn't know what to think when they saw a man standing in front of her apartment. But perhaps the most shocking thing to realize was that the man was none other than Professor Park's assistant.
Then again, what was he doing here?
"I'm sorry for barging in all of a sudden," he started and bowed.
"It's alright. It's true that it was sudden, but we don't mind," Sari said.
Sejin just eyed the man as he continued fidgeting a little that made her frown. "Are you okay? You look tense."
The man shook his head and bowed again. "I just... I don't know how to face you, considering what happened at the principal's office and how my sister offended you. And I'm sorry for not introducing myself. My name's Lim Inhyuk."
"My name's Yoon Sari and this is my friend Jo Sejin."
Both girls bowed to Inhyuk and that seemed to be enough to calm the man a little.
"But what do you mean when you said that you have something from Professor Park that he entrusted you for Sari to have?" Sejin asked, which soon made the atmosphere tense again.
But Sejin was always like this ㅡ straight to the point, especially if it was important. And at the moment, this was indeed important.
Inhyuk bit his lip before nodding to himself. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, then handed it over to her.
Sari took it carefully in her hands and stared at it. "What is it? Did he say something about me?"
"Yes, he did." The tension increased, but Sari still took the paper and unfolded it in front of Inhyuk and Sejin.
However, she frowned at the content of the paper. It was a letter in what she presumed to be Professor Park's handwriting.
"What is it? What did he say?"
But she remained silent even when Sejin asked that to her.
'Forgive this old man for making you feel hated. And it's not an excuse that I shift my anger that I have for your father to you. But it doesn't mean I don't care. I showed such animosity towards you because I have an idea what made you decide to become Professor Kang Geunhee's assistant. And it doesn't have anything to do with their family. The town itself holds more mysteries about your mother's death than anything. That's why I tried to push you away from this place, even if it means using an underhanded method just to achieve that. But I forgot how determined your father was, and it looks like you inherited Hocheol’s stubbornness, as well. Even after losing everything to the hands of an ancient killer, he refused to give up. And when I found out that he'd sent someone to the town to investigate your mother's death, I decided to help him.'
She blinked hard several times, trying to understand what the professor had written so far, but apparently he didn't explain much.
"Sari, are you okay?"
She nodded to assure Sejin, but it looked like it wasn't enough.
'So my father and Professor Park really did know each other. But what changed for the professor to hate Dad?'
Unfortunately, she could only ask that to herself as she continued to read the letter.
'The killer is still out there, and I know he's after me right now. I finally realized who he is. But he's a cunning man. I want you to be careful, Yoon Sari. I'm sure your father had entrusted a lot to you even before he disappeared. And so I'm doing the same thing to you. Lim Inhyuk is the only person who I entrusted with the task of delivering something to you. May this help you find the answers that you seek.'
And with that he ended his last paragraph.
As soon as she finished reading it, she let the letter fall to the ground. All of a sudden she felt exhausted and dizzy, as if she'd just been punched in the gut.
This wasn't fair. She never asked for this.
Sari looked at Inhyuk and he gave her a tight smile. She knew that whatever was going on was probably something bad and the last thing she wanted to hear right now was to get some bad news about her dad, although deep down, she already expected it.
After all, her father disappeared for five years already. A lot of things could have happened within those five years.
"Are you alright, Miss Yoon?" Inhyuk ventured, seemingly unsure on how to touch the subject.
She nodded and took a deep breath. Once more, she eyed the letter that she picked up from the ground. "I just... can't process the fact that even though Professor Park showed me such hate during that one confrontation, he would write here that he... somehow cared for my welfare."
Sejin sighed and placed a hand on Sari’s shoulder. "Maybe he did. Only something happened that changed all that. At least, when it comes to his treatment of your father."
"But what does he mean when he wrote that my mom was killed 'at the hands of an ancient killer'? That's the one that doesn't make sense to me right now."
Sejin frowned, while Inhyuk just stared at her intently.
Finally, the young man spoke again.
"Maybe that's what you need to find out. Professor Park might have an idea, but didn't have the means to tell you what he knew. Or perhaps before he could even start preparing, the killer already got him."
"Then that means the killer would also be after Sari," Sejin said and clenched her fist. "Just who exactly are we dealing with at this point? They already got Professor Park. It's no use trying to hope that he didn't get your father, as well."
"No one knows who your enemy really is, Miss Jo," Inhyuk replied as he soon faced Sari. "There's still someone hiding behind you. Behind us, if the culprit had an idea that Professor Park had already entrusted something to me that I should hand over to you. Someone that will try their best to keep you busy and at a disadvantage."
"He has a point," Sejin said with a nod.
It was then that Sari recalled the reason why Inhyuk was here in her apartment. "Wait, you said that you're here to hand over something to me personally. But it wasn't just this letter, was it?"
Inhyuk nodded and soon took out an attaché case that she hadn't noticed before. Was she too preoccupied that she didn't even notice anything?
Then again, she wasn't exactly good at noticing many things, especially when so many thoughts kept running in her mind.
Once he opened the case, there were about five folders with papers and three thick hardbound notebooks inside.
"...These are?"
"I believe they're Professor Park's old personal notes, Miss Yoon. From what I know, he already had these notes even before your father disappeared," Inhyuk explained and placed the opened attaché case near Sari.
"But why would he give them to you?"
Sari could only think of one reason. "My dad warned me about a killer connected to Professor Soohoon's past life. And now this killer who hacked down Professor Park replicated the same MO as that of my mother's and Professor Soohoon's mother's killer. And the letter that Professor Park wrote to me mentioned an ancient killer. I'm thinking that... maybe... all these notes could hold clues about that killer."
"That must be it..." Sejin said with a nod. "We could search for Professor Park's notes, and that could lead us back to the killer's motive. This could also help to figure out where your father is. Or was. I don’t know."
Sari was silent for a moment.
Sejin sighed before speaking again. "Sari, you said that there's already the possibility that your father's dead. Are you going to give up after having that thought?"
But Sari shook her head and placed the letter she'd been holding all this time on the table. "It only gives me more reason to find out what really happened to him. Dead or alive, I have to know where he is and where he has been all this time."
After reading the notes that her father had left for her in those photos from the sketchbook, she now knew that there was a reason for her not to resent the ability to see other people's past lives.
Everything that had occurred since returning to Huijin seemed to be pointing to one particular mission: to find the killer causing havoc in town and how the culprit was related to those visions and murders from a long time ago.
xxxxxx
Before Lim Inhyuk left, Sari thanked him for bringing the notes to her. She also told him to be careful as Professor Park's killer could make him a potential target. But even after that long day of deliberation, she still couldn't think of what steps to take. She didn't want to feel at loss, but it was happening already.
"Sari..."
She turned to Sejin who called her out with worry in her friend's tone. She tried to smile, but even she could tell that it was strained.
"Sorry..." was all she could say. She didn't fully realize how she was dragging her friends in the mess that she was dealing with at the moment.
"You have nothing to apologize for. You've done nothing wrong." Sejin walked toward her, and placed both of her hands gently on Sari’s shoulders.
Sejin’s gaze softened even more when she saw how upset she was and her friend pulled her into a hug. "We're all worried about you."
"Don't be... please..."
"Well, you can't help it. When we signed up to be your friends, we all knew we'd be up to certain adventures. And we're not going to let you deal with this alone. Okay?"
Sari just chuckled and just enjoyed her friend's comforting embrace. She was glad to have a sister figure like Sejin to help her get through all the strange happenings in her life.
It wasn't until later when she realized that Sejin’s words reminded her of something. The note mentioned a killer involved in one of those killings, yet the only encounters that she had of any possible killers would be the one who tried to stab Professor Soohoon and... the man she saw on the other side of the crosswalk whose past lives involved killings.
'Come to think of it, I've never encountered that guy again after that...'
Sari didn't remember meeting him ever again after that encounter on the crosswalk.
Or did she...?
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