Page 56 of Perfect Happiness

Silence filled the house. Jane lay on her side in the cold darkness. She closed her eyes and tried to think. What should she do? What should she not do? What could she do to get out of this attic alive?

But her head was not in any condition to think.

Despite knowing she needed to use her head to get out of this situation, she didn’t want to think about anything.

All she could do was listen mindlessly to the voice in her head blaming her for not preparing herself even though she knew she might run into Yuna here, for her poor handling of the situation after she did run into Yuna.

Of course, Jane’s anger was also directed at Yuna.

But the emotion was so large that she didn’t dare release it.

When she was young, Jane would often quell her anger by “praying for Yuna.” Praying that Yuna would fall into a manhole, praying that the roof would collapse on Yuna while she slept, praying that Yuna would spontaneously combust and die.

But now was the opposite. Nothing bad could happen to Yuna.

It would be bad for Jane if the police suddenly wised up and arrested Yuna or chased her out of the country.

If something happened to Yuna, there was a high probability that Jane would be discovered in this dark attic, dead from lack of water and food.

And if she was really unlucky, they would never find her body, and this house would become a tomb for her mummified body.

In other words, Yuna needed to evade the law a little bit longer so that she could come back to kill Jane.

That was the only way Jane would get a chance to escape.

It was this that Jane decided to think about. How was she going to take advantage of the opportunity when Yuna came back?

One option was to pretend to be asleep and wait until Yuna got close enough for Jane to attack her. Of course, she would need to be willing to be cut or stabbed with Yuna’s knife. There was no way Yuna would come empty-handed.

Another possibility was that Yuna would untie Jane’s feet so that she could walk herself to the Half Moon Marsh.

If that happened, Jane could make a run for it.

If she could just make it to the village, she would be able to find someone who could help her.

The problem was that this was unlikely. Yuna wouldn’t be so careless.

She would probably dump Jane into the wheelbarrow, ties and all, and cart her to the marsh to drown in the water.

Although Jane couldn’t find an answer to the question of what she would do, it seemed like she did have an answer as to when Yuna would be coming back. Yuna would come back at night. That was the best time to drag Jane to the swamp to drown.

Jane’s thoughts moved on to more basic questions.

Why was Yuna doing this? Was she just crazy?

Or was it because she preferred offense over defense?

Perhaps she had never intended on killing anyone.

Perhaps she only wanted to teach them a lesson, but accidentally killed them.

Or perhaps there was some other explanation for all of this, something that could explain why she had to do what she did?

Trying to understand someone’s actions means trying to explain the meaning of their actions on your own.

This was impossible for Jane to do, no matter how hard she tried.

She had always thought she understood her sister, but now she realized she was delusional.

What she knew wasn’t Yuna, but her own feelings about Yuna.

As Jane lay there, she continued to ask a question that couldn’t reach the only person who knew the answer: Yuna, who are you?

One moment, she was burning with rage thinking about Yuna, and the next, she was trembling thinking about what tomorrow would bring.

It terrified her that she didn’t know when Yuna was going to drug her with sleeping pills and drown her in the marsh.

Jane was sure it would be tomorrow. But tomorrow could be ten hours away or ten minutes away. She had no way of telling.

But the pain she felt was more real to her than the fear. Her eyeballs were throbbing, her nose was swollen, the cotton in her mouth was causing her to gag, and she was unable to swallow her saliva. And her bladder was getting fuller by the second.

Jane’s consciousness was starting to fade out. Her thoughts disappeared, her emotions became faint, and her senses became dull. Time continued to pass like this for Jane, neither awake nor asleep, but somewhere in between.

And then finally, Jane heard a car. But she was doubtful at first. Had she really heard a car, or was she just imagining things?

She stopped breathing, perked up her ears, and waited for more sounds.

She could hear the screeching of metal on metal.

The image of the rusty front gate appeared and disappeared before her eyes like a mirage.

The front door opened, and people were talking.

First a man’s voice, then a woman’s, then a child’s.

She couldn’t hear what they were saying. The voices were a low hum and had to pass through layers of wood, making it impossible for Jane to distinguish syllables. The only thing Jane knew was that one of the voices belonged to Jiyoo.

Jane’s entire body felt the pounding of her heart.

Yuna was back. But Jane had no idea what kind of plan could include Eun-ho and Jiyoo.

This was an opportunity for Jane. Eun-ho and Jiyoo definitely were not conspiring with Yuna; they would be unaware of the fact that Jane was tied up in the attic.

Jane had to let them know, by whatever means necessary.

Let them know that she was being held against her will up here.

Jane sat up straight. She stretched out her legs to see if there were any objects near her that she could reach.

Her heel got caught on something. Judging from the material, she guessed it was the cardboard box that Yuna had slashed to shreds earlier.

Next, Jane scooted sideways across the floor until her foot touched something large and flat.

Based on the texture, this too felt like a carboard box.

But it was heavy as though it was filled with books.

It didn’t budge even when she pushed it with her heel.

Jane put her bound hands on the floor, turned sideways, lifted her hips in the air, then kicked the box as hard as she could.

“Jiyoo! Jiyoo!” she screamed.

The box wobbled slightly, but it didn’t fall over.

Her heel was now throbbing, but that was about it.

Not even the shouting seemed to escape her own mouth.

And now she was coughing because small bits of the duck’s head were tickling the back of her throat.

As Jane coughed, the gag accidentally got stuck in her airway.

She just barely managed to unblock her airway with the back of her tongue.

But as she did this, she triggered her gag reflex several times, causing the muscles in her stomach and chest to painfully constrict.

Jane steadied her breathing as long streams of tears flowed down her face. To her disappointment, no one was coming upstairs. She didn’t try screaming again. Instead, she scooted around the floor and kicked over everything she could find.

Between every object that fell, Jane would pause to listen.

She still couldn’t sense anyone coming upstairs.

Even the low hum of people’s voices had disappeared.

And now, there was nothing left for Jane to kick over.

Jane decided to explore further in the direction that she remembered there being a stack of cardboard boxes.

Her foot found another box. As she tried to identify the box, something came crashing down to the floor.

Judging from the metallic sound, Jane figured they were her grandma’s old stainless-steel dishes.

This time, she was sure she had succeeded in alerting Jiyoo and Eun-ho.

With a ruckus like this, she could summon every ghost in Woohyeri.

Jane sat up straight again. She steadied her breath and waited for whomever was going to come upstairs. A moment later, she heard someone’s footsteps on the stairs. Then the sound of someone unlocking the door. They opened the door and turned on the lights. Jane reflexively closed her eyes.

“You’re having fun up here.”

It was Yuna. Jane opened her eyes. Yuna was standing at the threshold. Jane was confused. Why was Yuna alone? Where had Eun-ho and Jiyoo gone? Had Jane been wrong? Were they conspiring with Yuna? Or perhaps they had left already.

“You’ve got too much energy to spare, it seems.” Yuna said as she stepped into the attic.

No sooner did Jane think Yuna was starting to approach her than Yuna slapped Jane across the cheek with all her might.

Jane had no idea Yuna could move so quickly.

Jane fell backwards, hitting the back of her head on the floor.

Before she even had time to gasp in shock, Yuna took her heel and stomped on Jane’s throat.

Jane felt like a grenade had detonated inside her throat.

Pain and heat immediately closed off her airway.

“With all that energy, you might try something.”

Yuna then took her foot and kicked Jane in the side. But her foot felt more like a stake. Jane curled up and rolled on the floor in pain.

“Is that why you’re making all this noise?”

Yuna grabbed Jane by the hair and forced her head backwards. She pulled on Jane’s hair with such force that it left Jane’s eyeballs trembling. As Jane gazed into Yuna’s eyes, she found the answer to the question she’d been asking herself for the last thirty years.

Yuna was nothing but a small girl. Inside Yuna’s eyes, Jane found the angry seven-year-old girl who had been sent to Woohyeri to live with her grandma. For all these years, it was this rage-driven girl who had been controlling Yuna.

“Keep it up. See if anyone comes to save you.”

Yuna put all her weight into her fist as she cracked Jane across the left cheek.

Jane’s head snapped backwards. Yuna grabbed Jane’s head with both hands and kneed her in the face.

She continued to knee Jane, in the throat and on the back and side of the head.

A loud eruption exploded in Jane’s ears.

Her surroundings went dark. And through the gaps in her consciousness, which blinked like a strobe light, Yuna’s voice pierced her ears.

“Keep it up, you fucking cunt.”

Jane let her body go limp. She could feel Yuna putting a noose around her neck as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Yuna rolled Jane over and tied the noose to the ropes on Jane’s ankles. She then turned off the light and left the room.

When Jane finally came to, she realized something. Yuna was serious about killing her. The noose on her neck was giving her an option. She could either strangle herself here or last a little longer to die at Yuna’s hands.

Jane didn’t want to die. At least not here, not like this. But if she was going to live, she needed to do something. She couldn’t just lie here and continue listening to her father’s voice.

Jane started searching through her memory. When the lights were on, where had she been? Jane remembered vaguely being in the middle of the attic. Although Yuna had tossed Jane around, she hadn’t moved far from where Yuna first discovered her.

Jane turned on the GPS inside her head. She used the place where she had first woken up as a reference.

If she had gone straight while knocking over boxes, then all she had to do was go back in a straight line.

If she ran into boxes while doing this, she had gone in the right direction; if she reached a pile of junk, then she had gone in the wrong direction.

She might be able to move if she brought her legs up to her ribs and rolled her body along the floor.

But there was an unexpected variable she hadn’t anticipated. The moment she moved her legs, her body began screaming out in pain from the beating she had just taken.

As soon as she brought her chin to her chest, it felt like her neck was going to break.

And when she rolled on her side, her ribs felt like they were stabbing her lungs.

Even her eyeballs felt like they were going to fall out of her skull when her forehead touched the floor.

Jane rolled her body one more time, smashing her chin on the floor.

A sharp, burning pain pierced her jaw. Jane couldn’t take any more pain.

With every revolution, she let out a groan. Before long, her body was drenched in sweat. She was disappointed in herself. She couldn’t believe she was in so much pain from just a few blows to the body and head. It wasn’t even like it was a strong man who had hit her; it was just Yuna.

Finally, her forehead found the edge of a box.

There was nothing touching her legs. She rolled one more time, hitting the wall with her knees.

Jane let her body relax and lay down. Her cheek, which was slick with sweat, rested on the wood floor.

She relaxed her tense shoulders and closed her eyes.

She waited for the burning pain to subside.

In the meantime, she could hear a bell downstairs.

A few moments later, she heard what sounded like a piece of classical music written for the violin, although she didn’t recognize the piece.

Through the sound of the music, Jane could make out the sound of a knife on a cutting board, as well as the clinking of bowls and plates.

Eventually, she heard people’s voices, too.

Jane pressed her ear into the floor. As she tried to make out what was being said, she was able to hear Yuna say:

“Wash up. It’s time for dinner.”