Page 123 of Perfect Happiness

She was probably right, but what did it matter?Knife or no knife, Yuna was in control now.

Jane walked up the stairs.But she tripped twice in just ten steps.The first time she only bumped her knee, but the second time, she hit the bridge of her nose on the edge of the steps and fell over.It was the fault of the blurry vision in her left eye and the poorly lit stairs.

She let out a groan as she lay face down.It felt like she had broken her nose in two places.She had just enough willpower to prevent her groan from turning into a whimper.Yuna, not surprisingly, didn’t seem to be fazed by this trivial accident.She merely tapped the back of Jane’s head with the cleaver:

“Would you hurry it up,unni.I’ve got to get home and feed Jiyoo.”

This was the first time in thirty years that Yuna had referred to Jane asunni.It startled Jane so much that the hair on her neck stood up.Without saying anything, Jane got to her feet.A few seconds later she was standing in front of the door to the attic.Yuna took the key from the drawer in the dresser in the hallway and unlocked the door.When the door opened, a cold, damp breeze seeped into the hallway.

Yuna turned on the lights to the attic and showed her inside.Turning her head on a swivel, Jane surveyed the room with her right eye.A small, long room with no windows, a slanted roof, books, old fans, piles of junk against the wall, cardboard boxes, a large plastic tub and a plastic bucket.

This must be the attic from Jiyoo’s dreams.Not surprisingly, Joon-young wasn’t here.And there was no indication that he had even been here.If he were stuffed in a cardboard box or plastic tub, Jane would at least be able to smell him.

“Sit over there.”

When they reached the end of the room, Yuna pointed to the wall with her cleaver.It was the side of the room where the ceiling was the highest.Judging from the layout of the house, it must be the wall connected to Jiyoo’s room.Jane crouched as she pushed her butt into a space between the large and small boxes stacked against the wall.

“Good.I didn’t even need to tell you where to sit.”

Yuna was standing in front of her, her legs in a wide stance.She seemed to find this funny.She bared her teeth and smiled arrogantly.

“If you crouch like that, your legs are going to cramp.Sit with your legs extended.”

“That’s my problem, not yours,” Jane said, causing Yuna to poke her with the back of the blade.

“You’re even more stubborn than Jiyoo.If you don’t put your legs out for me, how can I tie them?”

Yuna was someone who didn’t understand the law of parsimony.You shouldn’t use figures of speech when you can use straightforward expressions.Especially when having a conversation.Jane had mistaken Yuna’s words as concern.

Jane extended her legs.With her back against the wall, she gazed down at Yuna’s pale fingers as they tied the rope around her ankles.This didn’t look like her first time binding someone.The knots were so well tied that Jane probably wasn’t going to be able to escape without cutting off her own feet.When she was done, Yuna took her cleaver and brought it down on the leftover rope, cutting it.

Jane couldn’t help flinching when this happened.The knife blade stuck into the wood floor, just centimeters from Jane’s ankle bone.

“Did I startle you?You’re more of a scaredy cat than I thought.”

Yuna tossed the leftover pieces of rope to the side as she let out a laugh.

“Earlier when you came at me with that knife, what was it that you said with that ugly mouth of yours?‘Think carefully before you say that again?’”

She shot Yuna a glare.But because Yuna pulled the knife out of the ground and was now holding it, she stifled what she had wanted to say.

“Didyouthink carefully about this?Did you not think I might show up at my own property?”

Yuna brought the blade between Jane’s eyes.She looked like she could barely contain her excitement.

Jane thought of the professional tools she had seen in the kitchen.The grinder, mixer, and pots.The things she thought couldn’t be true were seeming more and more likely.

“Where is Joon-young?”Jane asked.

Yuna stopped smiling and stared at her.A serious question was lurking behind her eyes.What’s it to you?

“Why didyougo to Chungju?”Yuna asked.

Jane decided she should push Yuna’s buttons.Yuna was the type of person to start spilling everything like rapid fire when you got her worked up.And Jane had nothing to lose.She was already tied up.She might as well make the most of her situation.

“I went to see the house,” Jane answered.

A puzzled look flashed across Yuna’s eyes.Soon that puzzlement came out as a question: