Prey (Lee Seohan) - Chapter 126

Her hand felt completely different from the one she had held that night in the alley a month ago.

Unlike the warm, comforting hand from that night, this one felt cold, with sweat beading on it, as if she was clinging to life itself as she grasped Jeonghan’s hand.

Eunju, not even aware that she was holding her son’s hand in such a way, got on the bus with unfocused eyes and headed home with Jeonghan.

As they got off the bus, Jeonghan, observing Eunju’s pale, lifeless face, immediately spoke up.

“Mom, I’m going to the supermarket for a bit! You go ahead!”

Before Eunju could say anything, Jeonghan dashed out and ran into the nearby supermarket.

He took an ice cream from the freezer, rushed to the counter, and pulled money from his pocket to hand it to the shopkeeper.

“How many of these can I buy with this money?”

Jeonghan asked, panting.

Seeing him, the colleague of his father, who had been crying, handed the shopkeeper a bill. The shopkeeper widened his eyes in surprise.

“Are you buying just these with all of this?”

“Yes. Just these.”

“It’ll be heavy, though. Do you think you can carry it all the way home?”

“Yes, please give them to me.”

Nodding, Jeonghan hugged the bag full of ice cream cones with both hands and hurriedly walked back home.

Mom will feel better if she eats this.

That was the only thought running through young Jeonghan’s mind.

At the same time, Seol Hee-nam had quietly entered Cheoreum’s house during the funeral. The house, a shabby multi-unit building, had been left unlocked, likely due to the chaos of the funeral.

Sneaking in and quickly scanning the house, Seol Hee-nam thought,

‘…The computer was in that room, right?’

It was only a two-room apartment, but due to the tension, it felt like navigating through multiple maze-like rooms.

Hurry, as fast as possible.

Seol Hee-nam impatiently sat at Lee Cheol-eum’s desk and turned on the computer.

His eyes glistened nervously, sweat trickling down his forehead.

Since it was a multi-family home, he needed to erase Lee Cheol-eum’s research records quickly before anyone could see him.

If that guy hadn’t stubbornly refused to hand over the new technology…

He wouldn’t have died.

But it couldn’t be helped. I’m going to die too. Damn it.

Seol Hee-nam muttered curses under his breath as he deleted the research files on Cheol-eum’s computer, one by one.

Luckily, only Seol Hee-nam knew that Lee Cheol-eum was working on new technology. Even the people at the research lab didn’t know.

It was Cheol-eum’s personal research achievement.

Knowing that, Seol Hee-nam still passed the details of the research on to Samhwa. As expected, Samhwa offered a large sum of money, and all Seol Hee-nam had to do was sell it.

But that idiot Cheol-eum refused to do it, and in the end, he died.

I killed him.

Damn, an idiot like him has no right to say anything, even if he’s dead.

Seol Hee-nam, furrowing his brow and sweating coldly as he deleted something, suddenly heard a voice from behind.

“Hee-nam…? What are you doing there?”

“!”

Startled, Hee-nam widened his eyes and quickly turned around.
Han Eunju was standing there.

“Right now…?”

Eunju’s surprised gaze was directed at the monitor, where Hee-nam was deleting the research data of Lee Cheoreum.

Seeing that, Hee-nam’s pupils glinted fiercely, like a beast.

“What are you doing…!”

Eunju’s words were forcefully silenced by Hee-nam, who covered her mouth with his rough hand.

At that moment, Jeonghan, having bought Eunju’s favorite ice cream, dashed up the stairs. As he opened the front door, a truck passed by in the alley.

“Delicious mackerel, mackerel on sale, cheap. Good for your health and tasty mackerel…”

The sound of the truck selling mackerel drowned out the noise of the door opening.

“Uhm…”

With both hands full of ice cream bags, Jeonghan froze in place.

There were men’s shoes at the entrance.

‘Uh…?’

Jeonghan instinctively felt something was wrong.

‘Now, Dad is gone.’

He had vaguely understood this from the words of the people crying at the funeral.

Now, he would have to live with his mother alone. Dad would watch over them from heaven.

But there were men’s shoes at the front door.

‘Those aren’t Dad’s shoes.’

When Jeonghan lifted his head, he saw the bedroom. A man’s figure, hanging something limp, was visible against the backlight.

“…..!”

It didn’t take long for him to realize that the limp thing was his mother.

Oh, Mom…!

Thud thud!

Jeonghan couldn’t even scream, dropping the ice cream bags in front of the door.

Several ice cream cones fell out of the bags and tumbled down the stairs all at once.

At that moment, the man in the backlight turned his head toward them.

The man’s face was directly facing Jeonghan.