Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: Wojo
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“Step on it a little faster!”
So-hee, sitting right behind the driver’s seat, shouted.
“I’m already going as fast as I can! It’s hard enough getting up this slope!”
It wasn’t actually the driver who was struggling but the car.
Still, her words weren’t wrong.
The car carrying the four of them was a compact car, while the one they were chasing looked expensive.
On top of that, it was a winding mountain road, so it was only natural that catching up in a compact car was impossible.
“Sigh….”
“Hey, wait, sit gently! The stuff back there is worth more than this car!”
When So-hee plopped down in her seat, looking exhausted, the woman in the driver’s seat freaked out.
“…What exactly do you have in here?”
“Obviously, cameras and lenses. I may not look like it, but I’m a journalist.”
“You said earlier that taking pictures was your main job and writing articles was just a side gig.”
“That’s how making a living works.”
The woman, who introduced herself as a journalist, sighed deeply and continued driving.
“Still, there’s no need to worry too much. We’ve got the location recorded, thanks to that… maid or whatever she is.”
They had heard that after Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung left, Yang Hye-in had followed immediately.
And thanks to So-hee’s tracking, they could keep tabs on Yang Hye-in’s location.
Even though they were a bit slow, it meant they wouldn’t lose the chairwoman’s car entirely.
Yoo Ha-neul, So-hee, and Soo-ah all leaned back in their seats, relieved.
“But that maid is something else too. Imagine deciding to track down your former employer’s car.”
“Her current employer is in that car.”
So-hee reminded them.
“Right, thanks to her, I’m able to follow this car too. Gotta appreciate that.”
Though her words might have sounded sarcastic, her bright expression made it clear that she was genuinely grateful.
“…You seem to be in a good mood?”
Soo-ah, who was sitting in the passenger seat, shot a sharp look at the supposed journalist.
“Of course, I’m not in a good… mood. I’m furious, of course. How could they kidnap such a young girl!”
The last part was said in an exaggerated tone.
“…”
Meanwhile, Yoo Ha-neul stayed silent.
She just nervously shook her leg, staring out the window.
“…”
A moment of silence settled in the car.
“Ahem.”
The self-proclaimed journalist awkwardly cleared her throat, but the once cheerful mood didn’t return easily.
“…Look, don’t worry too much. There’s another car nearby following them. It doesn’t seem like they’re planning to do anything dangerous right away since they’ve got the girl tied up.”
“…”
Rather than easing the tension, her words only made the atmosphere heavier.
“…Ugh, maybe I should stop talking.”
She shook her head, focusing her gaze straight ahead.
The road wound up the steep mountain, twisting to make the climb easier.
All they could see around them were trees.
“Man, they’ve really run far.”
“Where are we now?”
It wasn’t just a few minutes of driving.
They had left the school over an hour and a half ago.
Yang Hye-in had focused solely on following them without losing sight of the car, concerned that Sara might get hurt.
As a result, their car was following at a much slower pace, far behind the other two cars.
“We’ve just crossed the border between Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do.”
“Gangwon-do….”
“Are they trying to smuggle her out of the country or something? If that’s the case, Incheon would’ve been better.”
The woman driving tilted her head, but no one could provide an answer.
Choi Na-kyung was that hard to figure out.
Though her face was well-known from appearing in product advertisements, and she attracted attention with her youthful looks that belied her age, she didn’t seem very involved in the management of her business.
When she did involve herself, past articles showed that the results hadn’t been great.
“…”
Moreover, Yoo Ha-neul’s father had been pressured by that woman, even if they didn’t know the exact details.
She wasn’t a good person, at least not from what they had seen.
She had isolated her daughter from the world and made her obey only her.
If it hadn’t been for Sara, ‘Sara’ would’ve continued to be broken, isolated from the world, far from these three.
…No, if it weren’t for Sara, she might have already been dead.
Yoo Ha-neul hated that woman.
The ‘Sara’ Yoo Ha-neul had come to know wasn’t a bad girl.
Although she was stubborn and a bit twisted in her thinking, she was someone who knew how to return love when shown love, who wanted to enjoy fun things, and who liked eating delicious food.
Even though ‘Sara’ herself didn’t seem to care about those things, you could see things from a different perspective when you stepped back.
‘Sara’ didn’t like vegetables much.
She would always pick out the meat and push away the vegetables, especially peppers and green onions.
That was a habit completely different from Sara.
Sara always tried to finish all the food she was given.
She didn’t leave vegetables behind, though she had clear preferences for certain foods too.
Neither ‘Sara’ nor Sara cared much about fashion.
If they didn’t have clothes to wear, they would just put on their school uniforms.
But if there was a difference, it was that ‘Sara’ preferred skirts while Sara preferred pants.
Despite the vast differences between their families, their diets, their living styles—
In the end, ‘Sara’ was just like Yoo Ha-neul, a girl who felt emotions and liked people.
She was in a situation that couldn’t be considered normal, but at her core, she wasn’t different from other ordinary kids.
She simply hid her feelings and built up thorns to protect herself in that situation.
And that ‘Sara,’ that woman…
She couldn’t even imagine how terrified ‘Sara’ must be right now.
“Ah!”
While she was deep in thought, So-hee suddenly shouted from beside her, startling Yoo Ha-neul, who flinched.
“What’s going on?”
“The car stopped!”
So-hee, practically leaning over the driver’s seat, pointed ahead.
Her work phone, which was mounted instead of a navigation system, was there.
Indeed, the distance that had been steadily increasing was now slowly shrinking.
It meant that the car had either stopped or at least slowed down.
“Ah, hold on.”
Almost at the same time, another phone in So-hee’s pocket rang.
She dug into her uniform pocket and pulled out her personal phone.
The screen simply read ‘Senior.’
“Ah, senior!”
As soon as she saw the name, she immediately answered the call.
“Yes, yes, yes! Got it!”
The call was brief.
“What’s going on?”
As So-hee hung up, Yoo Ha-neul asked.
“The car stopped. It seems they didn’t notice they were being followed. The road is so straightforward that tracking them was easy.”
Everyone sighed in relief at that.
“Great, so now we just need to catch up?”
The journalist spoke, pressing down harder on the accelerator.
“There’s no way I’m letting someone else get this exclusive. Everyone buckle up tight. I’m going to speed up a bit.”
It was hard to tell whether to feel reassured or scared.
Yoo Ha-neul, after a brief moment of hesitation, decided on fear as the car started shaking, and quickly checked her seatbelt.
*
“…”
Yang Hye-in narrowed her eyes as she saw the blue sedan come to a complete stop.
She had already contacted Shin So-hee, but the others were still far behind.
They might not even arrive in time.
There was only one road.
Legally, it was a two-lane road, so blocking the front would prevent Choi Na-kyung’s car from moving forward, but if Choi Na-kyung cared about such things, she wouldn’t have kidnapped her foster daughter in broad daylight from a school.
She had underestimated her.
Choi Na-kyung appeared to be an ordinary woman, at least on the surface.
Even though Sara was light, she hadn’t imagined Choi Na-kyung would be able to carry her.
No, more than that, she hadn’t expected that she would actually kidnap her daughter.
That’s why she was so shocked when she saw Sara through the car window after they left the school.
Waiting inside the car had been the best move she could’ve made.
“…”
Choi Na-kyung slowed down.
There was still a bit of distance between their cars since she had been following from afar.
What should she do?
If she stopped her car behind them, Choi Na-kyung might notice and try to escape.
But if she stopped in front, that wouldn’t be advantageous either.
Choi Na-kyung could speed off before she could even get back in the car.
Still, blocking the front seemed like the better option.
If she pulled up close enough, they wouldn’t be able to drive straight ahead.
Yang Hye-in made up her mind, slowing down her car and opening the compartment next to the driver’s seat.