8 Goodbye, Mirae (3)

She clenched the telephone in her hand, seemingly bewildered.

Impossible.

Young Mirae was using a normal corded telephone. She imagined it would be something more special. An invisible telephone activated with a magic word, or rather one that had a very peculiar design.

"Can this telephone reach me to my grand-gran from the other side?" Young Mirae finally brought out the query in her mind. She remained to survey the item in her hand, sitting in front of the police officer's desk.

"...Excuse me, Ms. Baek?" Both of them appeared startled by her question.

Were they deaf?

A line appeared between her brows as she repeated herself, annoyance was audible in her tone of voice. "My grand-gran is dead. Can this ordinary telephone connect me to him?"

"I, I don't think he's dead. I talked to him recently. He told me he'll come and get you. Your grandfather might arrive if we wait for a moment," claimed one police who was in an immense state of confusion as his co-officer.

He was right. The police officer wouldn't have spoken to him if he was dead. What was she thinking when she said that it was possible to bring cellphones to heaven? If this was the case then, did Bo Kyung lie to her?

But why would he do that? What would Bo Kyung gain from lying? Deceiving her by declaring that her grandfather, the boss of the family, was dead?

'Did he...prank me because I was forcing him to call me the boss that morning?'

Either way, there was a way to find out. Shaking her head, Young Mirae pushed the buttons to dial the contact number that the police was reciting. With every insert of the numbers, she could feel something was forming in her throat. Her hands would not stop shaking and her chest tightening in impatience.

Henceforth, when the sound of the telephone connecting to the other line rang in her ear, the hope made her face glimmer in fervor. The moment she heard that their line finally connected, Young Mirae exclaimed, "Oh, grand-gran!"

"...Hello? Who is this?"

His voice was husky, a little deeper than what she remembered it would be. Was it because she was talking with him through the telephone?

Surely, it was different from how she recognized it: a tone that had a luscious voice with exhilaration. Young Mirae breathed a sharp gasp. Recalling his grandfather's voice made her all ripped up.

"It's me, grand-gran! It's Mirae—"

"Yeah, I heard you clear, Sunhi."

"I'm not Sunhi—"

"Yes, you are," the voice at the other side of the line imposed.

"I don't get you, but where have you been, grand-gran! I'm sorry I couldn't text you sooner in heaven because I left my phone when the rival mafia—" The sudden confrontation with her grandfather caused Young Mirae to forget that she was still in the police station for a second.

"I, I mean the, the, he-he." To reduce the suspicion, including her clumsiness, she laughed awkwardly at the two police officers waiting for her to finish.

"Don't talk anymore. I'm here, just pulling over the car."

"Great, so I can see you now—" Before she could finish, the phone clicked and disconnected the call. "Oh, grand-gran hung up. But he told me he's here already."

Young Mirae did the same and hung up. She shifted her body and looked at the entrance, expecting her grandfather. Her hands were shaking. The pain from her bruises and wounds washed away completely. A smile was creeping on her lips while she was waiting.

She watched how the automatic glass door parted open when an old man wearing a semi-formal attire and reeked of money marched in. Young Mirae thought for a second it was the person she was expecting, yet he resembled nothing like her grandfather.

The huge grin on her face quickly turned to a frown when the old man began stepping toward her, hindering her view from the entry. What annoyed her the most was the moment he stopped in front of her seat.

"Hey, you're blocking—"

"Thank you for contacting me and sorry for the inconvenience, officers. We should be on our way. Let's go, Baek Sunhi," directed the identical voice she heard on the telephone.

"I'm sorry, Sir. But we need to know what happened to your granddaughter before we let her out."

"She had an accident," the old man growled an answer.

"Why don't we send her to the hospital—" The old man shot him with a glare before the officer could finish his statement.

...

What the hell?

He was not her grandfather!

And this old man dressed in flashy attire kept calling him by her twin sister's name! Did he not know she was not the person he was looking for? At the least, Young Mirae would no longer have a hard time lying.

However, wouldn't his appearance only implied that her grandfather was actually...dead.

"Fake grand-gran, I am not your grandchild. I'm not Baek Sunhi. We might be identical twin sisters, but you've got the wrong person—"

He halted in his tracks.

Before he could pull the car door open, his ears caught the confession by Young Mirae. She watched him scrunch his face while lifting an eyebrow. Oh no, she might have made him angry from lying and using her grandchild's identity.

"Fake grand-gran, don't be mad! I didn't mean to use my twin sister's identity! Believe me, it's because of the police. They asked for an ID card but I don't have one because of some...incidents—"

"What in the world is this child saying? Who the hell has a twin sister?"

"Me?"

"Why would you think you'll have one?"

"I mean, isn't she...? Then Baek Sunhi is not my sister? But we look so alike…"

"Because she is you, child. Baek Sunhi is your new identity, for goodness' sake. Didn't anyone tell you?"

"I was, but I don't remember taking that kind of picture."

"It's edited," he sighed after his words. He yanked the car door before giving her an order. The hostility was leading in his voice as he compelled her. "You, go inside. I need to tell you something."

She did what he ordered. Young Mirae had nowhere to go anyway, so there was probably nothing wrong with going with him. Also, if something bad would happen, she was confident she could pull up a fight with this old man.

Young Mirae took the passenger's seat. But a minute after she relaxed her back, the thought about the bloodstains in her clothes quickly pestered her mind. Oh, how disgusting! She totally forgot about her state!

"I recently acquired this information, brat. The area-group leaders are all dead along with their crews. Their warehouses and the secret bases, buildings, and houses were bombed and burned. If not, they were showered by bullets, shattered, and destroyed," the old man recited as he went inside the car, sitting on the driver's seat. "But rest assured, the 'security' group has not talked about this. Not yet, more likely."

"So, it's true that my grand-gran is dead... Everyone is dead." Hearing his talks, Young Mirae clenched her hands into fists.

"Hey, fake grand-gran. It seemed you knew everything about my family. Why won't you get me some weapons then drive me off my family's mansion, yes? If they are still there, I can—" She sounded keen.

"No need 'cause you'll live as Baek Sunhi. You're going to forget you're Young Mirae."