The Idol Next Door
Chapter 3: The Woman Who Didn't Exist
Glass rained across the apartment.
The sharp crack of the sniper's rifle echoed between the nearby buildings.
Ji-Woo covered his head as shards scattered across the floor.
Another bullet ripped through the living room wall.
Bang!
Concrete dust filled the air.
"Move!" Na-Eun shouted.
Min-Jun grabbed Ji-Woo by the arm and pulled him toward the hallway.
The three of them crashed into the tiny bathroom just as a third shot shattered the television.
Silence followed.
Only the sound of rain tapping against the broken window remained.
Ji-Woo's breathing was ragged.
"What... what is happening?"
Min-Jun checked the pistol's magazine.
"That wasn't a warning."
"It was an execution."
Na-Eun carefully peered through the cracked bathroom door.
"The shooter is still outside."
"Professional."
"One shot every few seconds."
"They're waiting for us to panic."
Ji-Woo swallowed hard.
"I'm just a college student."
Na-Eun gave him a tired smile.
"You were."
"The moment you saw Min-Jun's face..."
"...you became part of this."
Humanity really has a talent for recruiting innocent people into disasters without asking for their consent.
Min-Jun reached into his jacket and removed a small silver flash drive no bigger than a thumb.
He pressed it into Ji-Woo's hand.
"If anything happens to me..."
"Don't let Aurora Entertainment get this."
Ji-Woo stared at it.
"What's on it?"
"The truth."
"What truth?"
"The reason three people are already dead."
Another gunshot.
The bathroom mirror exploded.
The sniper had changed angles.
Na-Eun cursed under her breath.
"They're moving closer."
She opened a hidden compartment beneath the bathroom sink.
Ji-Woo blinked.
A narrow metal hatch.
"What...?"
Min-Jun nodded.
"This apartment used to belong to someone else."
The hatch led into a maintenance tunnel running between the buildings.
Na-Eun smiled.
"They still don't know about this passage."
The three crawled through the cramped tunnel.
It was dark.
Dust coated every surface.
Old electrical cables hung from the ceiling.
Ji-Woo's knees scraped against the concrete.
Behind them...
Footsteps.
The apartment door had finally been forced open.
Voices echoed through the tunnel.
"Search every room!"
"Find the drive!"
"Kill everyone!"
Ji-Woo froze.
"They're coming!"
Min-Jun pushed him forward.
"Keep crawling!"
Ten minutes later...
The tunnel opened behind an abandoned laundromat two streets away.
Fresh air hit their faces.
For the first time since the shooting began...
they had escaped.
Or so they thought.
A black van rolled slowly around the corner.
Its headlights illuminated them.
The side door slid open.
Six men in black suits stepped out.
Each carried a handgun fitted with a suppressor.
No badges.
No hesitation.
One of them smiled.
"Mr. Kang."
"You've made this chase very expensive."
Na-Eun whispered,
"Run."
Instead...
Min-Jun stepped forward.
"No."
Ji-Woo looked at him in disbelief.
"They'll kill us!"
Min-Jun's eyes never left the men.
"They're not here for us."
"They're here for the flash drive."
The leader's smile disappeared.
"So you do still have it."
Min-Jun shrugged.
"Maybe."
The man's expression hardened.
"Shoot them."
The first assassin fired.
But before the bullet reached them...
A motorcycle burst from a side alley at impossible speed.
Its rider slammed directly into two gunmen.
The bike skidded across the wet road.
The rider flipped through the air...
Landing perfectly on both feet.
He wore a black helmet and a long dark coat.
Without saying a word...
he disarmed one attacker with a spinning kick.
Another rushed him.
The stranger caught the man's wrist...
Twisted.
Crack.
The gun clattered to the pavement.
Ji-Woo stared.
"Who... is that?"
Min-Jun looked just as shocked.
"It can't be..."
The masked stranger turned slightly toward them.
Even through the rain...
Min-Jun recognized the voice.
"I told you..."
"I'd come back."
Before anyone could react...
The stranger removed his helmet.
Ji-Woo's eyes widened.
Every newspaper in Korea had reported this man dead...
Two years ago.
Yet he stood there alive.
Smiling.
"Miss me, Min-Jun?"
End of Chapter 3
