“It’s not that. More importantly… this isn’t my destination. I’ll just get off here.”
He tried to act as if nothing was wrong, but he couldn’t calm down.
When he tried to open the backseat door, the taxi driver scoffed.
That sound sent chills all over his body.
It didn’t seem like there would be another chance to escape the driver.
It was hard to remain calm in the face of such blatant malice that left no room for misunderstanding.
He picked up the phone, as if it were obvious.
“Hello, brother? It’s me. Right now…”
Before long, the taxi drove even deeper into the unpaved road overgrown with grass.
As a pitch-black reservoir appeared, reflecting the sky, the driver turned on the radio.
The taxi, which had briefly stopped, began moving again at that exact moment.
The uneven road made the car shake, and with it, Jeong-yoon’s body swayed too.
All of it intensified his anxiety.
“…Brother?”
As if prearranged, a hymn began to play from the speaker.
The driver hummed along with it, tapping to the rhythm with the fingers that held the steering wheel.
At the same time, the same hymn came through the speaker of the phone Jeong-yoon had pressed to his ear.
Shocked, his eyes turned toward the phone.
The call timer on the screen was still ticking.
Jeong-yoon, now frozen stiff, slowly brought the phone back to his ear.
“…What is this?”
Her eyes, swept up in confusion, reddened.
Her clenched jaw trembled.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart.
“Why.”
[Why.]
The driver, holding the steering wheel with just his right hand, brought a phone in his left to his ear and whispered softly.
The voice, laced with a faintly mocking tone, pierced Jeong-yoon’s ears.
At the same time, the same voice flowed from his phone speaker.
“Why do you… have my brother’s phone…?”
[…His phone…]
His voice, mixed with shock and confusion, echoed through the taxi.
The driver’s face, staring at his pale, emotion-ridden expression, quickly turned cold.
Jeong-yoon despaired at the lifeless look in his eyes.
That morning, while leaving for work, he had seen Jeong-rok’s face.
That ever-handsome face, the kind smile, the tender touch—even the subtle scent he always carried.
—”How’d you even get this?”
—”It was really hard to find. Praise me.”
It was a rare book he never thought he could get.
Even when it was published, it had been hard to obtain—and now, due to its value, it was practically impossible.
He had said he had to suddenly go overseas…
Was it because of this?
Jeong-yoon had been moved by the magical gift that lifted his spirits after a gloomy meeting with her mother.
He was someone who would do anything for her.
Just like he said—he had done so countless times.
He was like the warm sunlight that pulled her out of the cold shadow of loneliness.
A man with no darkness, someone who had grown up loved and knew thousands of ways to give love.
He was the only lover who ever helped his stand again.
Jeong-yoon stared at his phone as if it were Jeong-rok himself.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his temples throbbed.
He pushed away the negative thoughts clawing at his mind and steadied his breathing.
But his voice, tinged with tears, betrayed him.
“My brother… what did you do to him… why do you have that. Who the hell are you.”
“Hmm… what do you think?”
“Moon Jeong-rok… What did you do to him? No, this is a joke, right? Ah…”
But even though he tried to push the thought away, the horrifying image that took over his mind left him paralyzed.
His voice, filled with fury and sorrow, echoed inside the taxi.
He couldn’t get a grip.
Trembling, Jeong-yoon gripped the phone so tightly his hand turned white.
The pain in his chest made her clench her teeth.
The taxi driver quietly watched him before rolling down the window.
Before Jeong-yoon could react, he casually tossed Jeong-rok’s phone out the driver’s side window and continued calmly down the dark road.
“Stop! Stop right now!”
“There’s no need to be so sad. I’ll send you to that bastard’s side soon enough.”
“…What?”
“Two men getting it on—no one accepted it while alive anyway, and it was miserable, wasn’t it? Who would point fingers once you’re up there? Oh, wait. Does God hate that kind of thing?”
As the reservoir came into view, the car that had been slowing down finally came to a full stop.
With a loud jolt, the vehicle shook violently.
Overcome by shock, Jung-yoon lost strength in all four limbs, and the phone slipped from his hand and fell under the seat.
As he sank into despair, the interior light turned on.
The sudden glare made him shield his face with his hands.
The hymn playing stopped, and the engine shut off.
Then came the sound of a door opening.
The taxi driver had gotten out of the car.
In that moment, Jung-yoon started thinking of escape.
He couldn’t die at those hands.
He stretched his neck to check whether the keys were still in the ignition.
Thankfully, they were.
If he could just get into the driver’s seat, start the engine, and drive away quickly, he might be able to avoid the worst-case scenario.
Once he resolved himself, there was no time to hesitate.
He quickly glanced out the window to check the driver’s location and then sat up.
Desperately stretching his arms and upper body toward the driver’s seat, he managed to grab the steering wheel halfway over.
Just then, the back door flung open, letting in a rush of cold air—and an excruciating pain shot through his ankle, as if it were about to be torn off.
Like being sucked into a swamp, his body was dragged out of the car.
His shoulder, head, and torso hit the driver’s seat, the glove box, and the back seat as he was pulled through.
He kicked wildly, trying to push his attacker away with his free leg, but more than half his body was already outside the vehicle.
He grabbed whatever he could get his hands on.
There was nothing—until his fingers closed around something hard.
Jung-yoon looked up to see what it was.
A book.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
With a scream of rage, Jung-yoon twisted his body.
When he was finally dragged completely out of the car, he flipped over and swung the book.
But what came in return was a pain so unbearable he couldn’t even breathe.
The blow shattered his will to resist.
Something hot trickled down his nose from his forehead.
Without even a chance to wipe it away, another strike followed.
The book—his last thread to life—slipped helplessly from his hand.
Thud!
Thwack.
Thwack.
Thwack.
“That’s why… why couldn’t you just live quietly?”
The blunt object in the taxi driver’s hand tore through flesh and crushed skull.
The horrifying pain of his brain splitting apart continued right up to the moment of death.
Thud!
“Do you know how much I repented? How clean I became? Why! Why won’t you let me live! Why!”
Whack!
The taxi driver couldn’t control his emotions.
The more blood and flesh flew from Jung-yoon’s head, the more his eyes changed.
Murderous intent reflected clearly in the moonlight.
Seeing that light, Jung-yoon sensed death.
Inevitably, he thought of Jeong-rok.
Was this what it was like for you, hyung?
Because of me…
I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry.
The pain of losing Jeong-rok hurt more than his skull being cracked open.
His heart felt like it was being torn into shreds.
The physical pain was nothing compared to the crushing agony in his chest.
Covered in blood, Jung-yoon blinked through blurred vision.
His movements slowed.
Even as he heard footsteps and saw a shadow approaching, he gave up resisting.
They say your life flashes before your eyes right before death—but for Jung-yoon, all he saw was Jeong-rok.
His eyelids grew heavy, and his eyes stung.
Beyond the darkness, the sound of footsteps splashing through a puddle echoed.
He didn’t want to imagine what was being stepped on, or whose shattered remains lay beneath.
A brief silence passed.
Then a chilling touch came to his forehead.
There hadn’t been any sound, yet someone was gently brushing his blood-soaked hair away from his cheeks, tucking it behind his ear.
Something deep inside escaped his lips—a faint, incomprehensible murmur like a newborn’s babble in protest.
The man responded with a low chuckle.
Even patted his cheek, almost soothingly.
Gripped by despair, Jung-yoon reached out.
But only for a moment—what returned was a dull, final blow that shattered any remaining hope.
Thwack!
Thud!
Beeeeep—
The ringing in his ears sliced through his eardrums like the sound of death itself.
Accompanying it, the low whisper of the man’s voice sounded no different from a death sentence.
Jungyoon’s eyes flew open.
He couldn’t bring himself to close them in the face of that voice.
His heart, though shattered, kept pounding relentlessly.
I can’t die.
Not like this—so meaningless, as nothing.
Jungyoon denied death.
He clung to hope with wide, unblinking eyes, even as his breath began to fade.
Please.
Please, not my brother.
…Not my brother.
Please.