How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 130

Chapter 130

 

I had no idea how much time had passed.

It had definitely been daytime when Hyewoo knocked on the window.

Yet before I knew it, it was pitch-black outside.

“……”

I sat there blankly, staring at my hands, now stained crimson.

The blood had completely dried over time and no longer came off easily.

‘It stings….’

The moment I noticed how uncomfortable the blood, stuck to the back of my hand like a layer of skin, felt…

The pain I’d forgotten about began returning.

The cuts Hyewoo had left with her knife throbbed dully.

“Oppa… first, we should……”

Ajin muttered.

The tear tracks on her cheeks had already dried.

“We can’t just leave Hyewoo here… so let’s move her to the master bedroom. Next to Jaehyun… ah.”

She had tried to speak calmly, but the moment Jaehyun’s name left her lips, she let out a sigh.

Hyewoo’s death had shocked her so deeply that she’d momentarily forgotten there was already another corpse inside this house.

“Let’s put her beside Jaehyun. For now…”

Ajin finished speaking with difficulty.

Even though I knew she was right…

My body refused to move.

As I remained slumped over like a toy with its batteries removed, Ajin stopped talking to me and instead approached Seungmin and Seorae.

“Seungmin oppa, please help me move Hyewoo.”

“…Okay.”

Though clearly frightened, Seungmin got to his feet, probably thinking there was no one else to do it.

Seeing him stand, Seorae also rose almost reflexively.

But neither of them dared to touch Hyewoo’s corpse…

Nor to look at Jaehyun’s.

Their lips merely trembled.

Seungmin was no different.

“…Sorry, but I can’t go in.”

He’d somehow managed to pick Hyewoo up with his eyes shut.

But he couldn’t bring himself to step inside the master bedroom.

Even peeking through the half-open door revealed nothing but a sea of blood.

“I’ll go with you.”

“No… I seriously can’t.”

Even with Ajin trying to support him, Seungmin’s feet remained frozen.

“Then… how about you carry her? I’ll open the door.”

“What? How am I supposed to carry her?”

Listening to the two of them argue…

My mind gradually cleared.

‘…Ha.’

Slowly, I stood up.

My side throbbed painfully.

Ignoring it, I trudged over.

“J-Junho.”

“Give her to me. I’ll do it.”

Seungmin hesitated for a moment…

But eventually handed Hyewoo over.

I walked straight into the bedroom.

“……”

Jaehyun’s condition was even more horrifying than I’d expected.

It was difficult to look directly at how brutally he’d been butchered.

‘Ugh.’

The metallic smell rising from the floor made me want to vomit.

I clenched my teeth and forced myself to endure it.

“Ajin, bring me a blanket.”

“…Okay.”

I gently laid Hyewoo beside Jaehyun.

After closing Jaehyun’s cold, lifeless eyes…

I covered both of them completely with the blanket.

“…I’m sorry.”

I murmured at the two bodies hidden beneath the white blanket.

There was more I wanted to say…

But my mouth had gone dry.

‘How did things end up like this?’

I couldn’t even figure out where everything had gone wrong.

Just yesterday…

We’d all been laughing together over drinks.

For a brief moment, I found myself thinking,

‘Am I going to prison now?’

Then immediately stopped.

That wasn’t something I should be thinking about in front of the dead.

“Let’s go.”

I led Ajin back into the living room.

After firmly closing the bedroom door…

The very first thing I did was lock every window.

I quickly secured every first-floor window before running upstairs.

Watching me rush all over the house in confusion, Ajin finally asked,

“Oppa… what are you doing?”

“Preparing.”

“Huh?”

“Hyewoo suddenly went insane and came here, didn’t she? Next time, it could be Daon.”

The moment I said that…

The faces of the other three turned deathly pale.

They hurriedly followed me, sealing every possible entrance from outside.

After barricading even the front door with heavy furniture…

The four of us gathered in one corner of the living room, each clutching a knife or a pair of scissors.

“What do we do now?”

The desperate eyes of all three rested on me.

They seemed to expect me to have some brilliant solution.

But my own mind was completely blank.

‘…I want my mom.’

I’d never felt this helpless in my life.

“For now… we wait until morning.”

Suppressing every urge to whine…

I spoke firmly.

“If we go outside now, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll stay here until daylight, then all leave together.”

“D-Do we really have to go outside?”

Seorae, who’d remained silent this whole time, finally spoke.

“Wouldn’t it be better to stay here until someone comes to rescue us? We have plenty of food…”

“Seorae’s right. We were supposed to go home today anyway. We haven’t contacted our families, so someone’s bound to realize something’s wrong.”

Seungmin clung desperately to hope.

His voice trembled as he said that if even one member of the seven families reported them missing…

Everything would be solved.

I didn’t want to crush that desperate hope.

But there was something I had to say.

“This isn’t the place we originally planned to come to.”

“What?”

“Daon told me yesterday. The pension he posted in the group chat wasn’t this one. He couldn’t reserve that place.”

“What?!”

Ajin stared in disbelief.

“Then… Professor and the seniors… none of them know we’re here? Nobody knows where we are?”

“That’s right.”

“…That son of a bitch Kim Daon!”

For the first time ever…

A harsh curse escaped Ajin’s lips.

In this situation, I neither had the strength…

Nor the desire…

To scold her for swearing in front of her senior.

So I simply closed my eyes.

“Getting angry over something that’s already happened won’t help. What Seorae said is still possible. The police might track our location somehow and come. But…”

Would they?

Normally, they should.

But nothing about this situation was normal.

Phones…

Messages…

The internet…

Everything that had worked perfectly until yesterday had stopped.

Our cars had vanished without a trace.

Our friends were dead.

“Ha…”

I clutched my throbbing head.

Though honestly…

My side hurt even more.

“Oppa, use this to stop the bleeding.”

Ajin pulled a random piece of clothing from her bag and handed it to me.

I told her the bleeding had already stopped.

She refused to budge.

“If Junho oppa collapses here… the three of us can’t do anything. So you absolutely can’t collapse.”

“……”

Her words weighed heavily on me.

Ironically…

That very burden gave me strength.

‘That’s right.’

First…

We escape.

Whether I end up in prison for murder afterward or not…

First, I get out of here.

To do that…

We have to survive until morning.

“We shouldn’t all fall asleep at once. Let’s take turns sleeping in pairs.”

“Okay.”

“You and Seorae will be one team. Ajin and Choi Seungmin are the others. Sound good?”

Among the four of us…

Only Ajin and I could still think and act calmly.

The timid Seorae and weak-hearted Seungmin had to be split up.

Ajin immediately understood what I meant.

She nodded with a serious expression.

“Then Seorae and Junho oppa should sleep first.”

“No. You two sleep first. I’ll sleep later.”

“No. You’ve lost more blood than you think. Sleeping will help you recover.”

Unable to argue against Ajin’s firm reasoning…

I reluctantly lay down first.

I wondered if anyone could possibly fall asleep in a situation like this.

Yet as though someone had cast a spell on me…

I drifted off almost immediately.

“Ugh…”

Even unconsciously…

My body remained tense, twitching every so often.

The horrifying scenes I’d witnessed throughout the day…

Combined with the mysterious noises…

Filled every one of my senses.

The villa appeared in my dream.

Standing outside…

I was forced to stare as something crimson slowly seeped out beneath the front door.

When I looked toward the windows…

The entire interior was filled with blood.

It was utterly surreal.

I wanted to run.

But I couldn’t move even a single finger.

Like a rat trapped in a snare…

I stood frozen.

Completely unable to move.

 

***

 

Giggle, giggle, giggle!!!!!

“Gah–!”

The laughter ringing beside my ear jolted me awake.

I shot upright almost violently.

The first thing I saw…

Was the living room.

Every light had gone out.

If the faint moonlight hadn’t filtered through the windows…

I wouldn’t even have known where I was.

‘…What?’

I’d specifically said we should keep the lights on.

Why had someone turned them off?

Seungmin lay curled up asleep beside me.

‘Why the hell is this idiot sleeping?’

Weren’t Seorae and I supposed to be partners?

No…

Wait.

“Min Ajin! Yeon Seorae!”

The moment I realized neither of them was beside us…

I jumped to my feet and shouted.

Grabbing a knife first, I turned to wake Seungmin.

Then…

“I… back then…. Haha… what….”

Only then did I hear quiet voices coming from the bathroom.

It sounded like Ajin and Seorae had gone in together.

A faint orange glow leaked out beneath the door.

Water trickled softly, as though the sink faucet had been left running.

Mixed with it were the girls’ voices.

“Oh… thank God.”

A sigh of relief escaped me.

‘If you’re going to the bathroom, at least say something.’

The tension left my body all at once.

Seorae had probably woken up while I slept and asked Ajin to accompany her.

Meanwhile…

The exhausted Seungmin had fallen asleep.

“But why’d they turn off the lights?”

Had they confused the bathroom switch with the living room switch?

Grumbling to myself…

I stood to turn the lights back on.

Then…

Drip.

The sound of running water suddenly stopped.

At the same time…

The faint conversation ceased.

Silence descended without warning.

“……”

Goosebumps spread across my entire body.

I forced myself to ignore them.

If I admitted I was scared…

I felt like the fear would become real.

So I emptied my mind…

And walked forward.

“Hey. You two in there?”

Knock. Knock.

Only after reaching the bathroom door and knocking…

Did I realize I still hadn’t turned on the living room lights.

Just as I stepped back to do so…

Creeeeak…

The bathroom door slowly opened.

The sight that greeted me made me instinctively tilt my head.

Huh?

“Yeon Seorae, what are you doing–”

The instant I saw Seorae with her face submerged in a sink filled with water…

My body moved on its own.

I grabbed her and yanked her backward with all my strength.

Since nothing supported her from below…

Her body toppled backward like an unsecured mannequin.

“Whoa–hey!”

I barely managed to catch her head before she hit the floor.

I was about to yell and ask what she thought she was doing…

Then I saw her eyes.

They looked exactly like those of a dead person.

“……”

I’d already experienced this before.

I knew with absolute certainty.

Not that she looked dead.

She was dead.

Worse…

The body beneath my hands had already gone stiff.

As though she’d died long ago.

‘What the…’

Despite knowing the truth…

My brain completely froze.

I couldn’t even think.

Unable to move so much as my eyes…

I stared blankly at the corpse.

No…

Wait.

‘…Where’s Ajin?’

Weren’t they talking just a moment ago?

The thought sent chills racing through my body.

“…!”

Then…

In the reflection of the bathroom window…

I saw someone standing at the front door of the living room.