Someone to Count On

When Yi-kyung opened the door to the bedroom, all her suspicions about the house went out her head.

‘A present!’ she exclaimed, and clapped her hands together. She was loud enough that the lump on the bed shifted and groaned.

It was Kyung-yi, of course. Her wrists were tied behind her back, and her ankles tied too, and instead of struggling loose, she’d fallen asleep on Yi-kyung’s new bed. Or was it their bed, if Suk had left them here together? But it wasn’t really big enough for two.

Kyung-yi lifted her head enough to fix Yi-kyung with one eye, but then flopped back down. As if Yi-kyung wasn’t worth the effort.

‘I suppose she expects you to finish me off,’ Kyung-yi said.

‘I don’t know why she didn’t let me do it before.’

Yi-kyung’s pout was wasted on Kyung-yi, who wasn’t even looking at her. She walked around the side of the bed where Kyung-yi was facing, and crouched down in front of her.

‘Perhaps she’s squeamish,’ Kyung-yi suggested.

Yi-kyung laughed. ‘That woman? The one I rocked up to and offered to kill for?’

‘You’re right, she didn’t bat an eye.’ Kyung-yi awkwardly shuffled herself onto her back, so that she wasn’t looking at Yi-kyung any more. Was she that mad at her? ‘Almost like she’d been waiting for it.’

‘You think that’s why she sent you after me?’

Kyung-yi let the question hang. Then she said, ‘Na Je-hui. Is she really dead?’

Yi-kyung scowled. Of course that woman would still be on Kyung-yi’s mind. Yi-kyung pulled out of her crouch, stretching out her hamstrings in affected nonchalance.

‘Why do you care so much? She’s working for the woman who left you here for me.’

She sat on the bed beside Kyung-yi, and poked her cheek with her finger. Kyung-yi’s eyes darted to her finger as if it were a knife. Well, Yi-kyung supposed it could be as dangerous in this situation. It wasn’t like Kyung-yi could have stopped her if from poking her eye out.

‘Je-hui’s not like us,’ Kyung-yi said. She wet her lips. ‘She probably can’t envision what Director Yong’s really like.’

‘You think?’ Yi-kyung lay down on the bed, easing herself into the space beside Kyung-yi. She wasn’t sure she agreed with Kyung-yi; when she thought back to her conversation with Je-hui, hadn’t there been something wilful about Je-hui’s professed ignorance?

Yi-kyung had really enjoyed the feeling of her hands around her neck.

‘I killed her,’ Yi-kyung said, ‘but then I brought her back. Because she hadn’t got the chance to answer my questions.’

‘You what?’ Kyung-yi sat awkwardly straight; it put a distance between them that annoyed Yi-kyung.

‘I brought her back.’ Yi-kyung mimed CPR. ‘I hadn’t thought she’d die so easily.’ Kyung-yi wouldn’t have died so easily, Yi-kyung was sure.

‘You brought her back.’

Yi-kyung nodded. She stretched her arms above her head. ‘It was a pain,’ she said, drawing out her vowels.

‘She’s not dead.’ Then, as if clarifying that had unburdened her, Kyung-yi moved on. ‘Untie me.’

‘I don’t think I’m meant to –’

‘If you’re not going to kill me, untie me.’

‘I’m not going to kill you yet,’ Yi-kyung said. But she did like Kyung-yi bossing her around. ‘Don’t get upset if I change my mind later.’

Kyung-yi shook her hands at her, and Yi-kyung sighed. She pulled her knife out and she sliced the zip tie at Kyung-yi’s wrists. Kyung-yi didn’t even say thank you. She stretched out her arms like she was a creaky old lady, before gesturing for Yi-kyung to hand over the knife. Yi-kyung let her take it; Kyung-yi only used it to free her ankles, but then she kept hold of it and eyed Yi-kyung up.

‘I said I won’t do anything!’

Did she even know why she was letting Kyung-yi loose? Just because her aunt would have pitied her, instead of reviling her? Kyung-yi had gotten her aunt killed, whether she’d meant it or not. But the trouble was, if Yi-kyung started to look too hard at blame, she was uncomfortably close to seeing herself.

Kyung-yi must have believed her sincerity, though, because she handed the knife back. Free, she flopped back down on the bed more comfortably. Yi-kyung was almost impressed by her easy demeanour.

‘Where are we?’ Kyung-yi asked, scratching her stomach idly.

‘Out by the coast,’ Yi-kyung said. She gave Kyung-yi’s shoulder a nudge. ‘Didn’t you see?’

‘They put me in the boot.’

‘Ah. Well, it’s a superflash place,’ Yi-kyung said. ‘But I get the feeling we’re not really meant to take advantage of it.’

‘Of course not,’ Kyung-yi said. She sat up again, and this time she peered intently at the walls around them, the lintel, the doorframe. ‘I wonder …’

‘What?’

Kyung-yi didn’t answer, but she pushed herself off the bed, and stumbled toward the hallway. Yi-kyung followed her.

‘I thought so,’ Kyung-yi said, when she was out in the hallway. ‘I’ve been here before.’

‘You and Ms Yong?’ Yi-kyung said. ‘No way – did she take you on holiday with her?’ She was filled with a sudden incandescent jealousy. But Kyung-yi’s next words ended that.

‘We brought your aunt here,’ Kyung-yi said, her voice gone soft. ‘Before.’

‘You what?’

When Kyung-yi didn’t say anything, Yi-kyung thumped her on the back. Kyung-yi gave her a dirty look.

‘She agreed to it,’ Kyung-yi said. She walked into the lounge, and took took a satisfied seat on the couch. ‘I already told you that, didn’t I?’

Yi-kyung was still in the doorway. Her aunt had been here. They’d brought her here and told her, what, that Yi-kyung was a killer? That she was bad? But her aunt wouldn’t have believed it. Of course she wouldn’t have. She would have wanted to show Kyung-yi that she was wrong.

Abruptly, Yi-kyung went and sat on the sofa next to Kyung-yi. Close enough to lean against her, but, when she did so, Kyung-yi shifted away sharply enough that Yi-kyung had to catch herself. The look on her face – as if Yi-kyung had painted herself blue – made Yi-kyung’s heart ache weirdly.

‘Don’t look like that,’ Yi-kyung said. ‘I said I wouldn’t kill you yet.’ She wiggled closer, and lowered her head deliberately against Kyung-yi’s shoulder.

‘Is she threatening to kill me if I make a face?’ Kyung-yi said to the air, and she clicked her tongue against her teeth. But she didn’t pull away again. It wasn’t exactly like snuggling with her aunt, but Kyung-yi’s body was solid and warm, and Yi-kyung hadn’t had a lot of human warmth, recently. She had to make do.

‘You know they’re keeping an eye on us,’ Kyung-yi said.

Yi-kyung lifted her head to look into her face, then followed where she was looking. The camera on the ceiling wasn’t subtle.

‘Wow,’ Yi-kyung said, leaning forward to peer at it and getting more into Kyung-yi’s space at the same time. ‘I wonder who’s watching us. Should we wave?’

‘Are you really going to kill people Director Yong tells you to?’ Kyung-yi asked.

‘Why wouldn’t I? If she wanted that Ko Dam dead, she must know other good stuff. People who seem good, but are actually rotten.’

‘Huh. I think I’d rather trust your aunt’s judgement. Even if she did want to think you were a good kid.’

‘Well, she’s dead,’ Yi-kyung said. Even if she did feel her aunt with her sometimes. She should have been in a better place, but here she was in the world with Yi-kyung.

Only Yi-kyung couldn’t feel her around right now.

‘Just because they’re dead,’ Kyung-yi said, ‘doesn’t meant they can’t still be with us.’

Yi-kyung leaned back again. ‘You’re talking about Mr Jung.’

Kyung-yi nodded.

‘What does he say to you?’

‘He says …’ Kyung-yi tilted her head, frowning at Yi-kyung as if she was seeing her there for the first time. ‘I shouldn’t be waiting for her to send you out to kill.’

Was that the answer, or was Kyung-yi changing the subject?’

‘But Yung Suk already had people who will kill for her,’ Kyung-yi went on. ‘So why does she need you?’

‘Maybe they were too boring,’ Yi-kyung said. Not that she hadn’t made some boring kills herself lately. But she was sure she could pull herself together, now that she had someone to give her direction.

‘Somehow I don’t think she’s worried about being bored,’ Kyung-yi said. ‘Hey, aren’t you even a little bit curious?’

‘Of course I’m curious,’ Yi-kyung protested. ‘That’s why I’m here.’ She stood up again, wanting to pace, to do something that wasn’t just sit there. And wait.

But everything was waiting.

‘Should I mess up her security cameras?’ Yi-kyung said.

‘Are you going to do something you don’t want to be seen?’

‘Spoken like a cop.’ But when Yi-kyung looked back over her shoulder at her, Kyung-yi didn’t look like a cop. She looked too relaxed, limbs loose, taking up more space than she needed to on the couch. Acting, Yi-kyung thought. She couldn’t actually be that comfortable with Yi-kyung there.

‘If she has footage of you killing me,’ Kyung-yi said, ‘she’ll be able to use it against you later.’ She cocked her head. ‘Maybe that’s why I’m still alive.’

‘So you’re saying I should mess up the cameras, and then kill you?’

Kyung-yi quirked an eyebrow. ‘Don’t put yourself out.’

She was so deadpan that Yi-kyung laughed. Whatever she’d said to her before, Yi-kyung didn’t really want to kill her. It wasn’t just that her aunt wouldn’t have wanted it; it wasn’t even just the teensy crush Yi-kyung might have had. Or maybe it was that. Kyung-yi, she knew, understood her better than anyone else in this world. Better than her aunt had.

And Yi-kyung wanted Kyung-yi to like her. Maybe she thought Kyung-yi even did like her. And maybe it would be a nice change of pace, if they could work out what Suk was up to together. More interesting than just killing the same old worthless humans would be.

Yi-kyung hopped back onto the couch, and she wrapped her arms around Kyung-yi’s shoulders, pressed her nose against her skin. Kyung-yi flinched but held.

‘I’ll leave the camera alone,’ Yi-kyung said. ‘They should see how well we’re getting along, don’t you think?’

‘Who’s getting along?’

Kyung-yi didn’t smell nice, like Yi-kyung’s aunt did – she smelt like greasy snacks and stale sweat. If they were going to spend time together like this, Yi-kyung would have to get her to do something about that.

‘Your heart’s beating so fast,’ Yi-kyung murmured. She rested her head there in the curve of Kyung-yi’s neck.

‘That’s because there’s a serial killer pawing all over me,’ Kyung-yi said. ‘Feels gross.’ But Yi-kyung thought she only said that for effect. She didn’t push Yi-kyung away.

It would be nice, Yi-kyung thought, if Kyung-yi could be the one to tell her who to kill. It would be the best.

And if she could take a shower. Yi-kyung hoped that part of the house wasn’t blocked off.

The blocking off bothered her. She sat back up, and gestured to the exit. ‘Want to see what happens if you try to escape?’

‘Who says I’m escaping? As long as they remember to feed us … maybe there’s an old laptop lying around; then I really won’t need anything …’

‘I’m going to see what happens if I try to escape,’ Yi-kyung said more loudly.

‘See,’ Kyung-yi said. ‘You said escape. You already know you’re not an employee.’

‘I just want to know what the situation is.’

Kyung-yi made a dismissive noise.

‘Do you want me to leave without you?’

‘You’re not going to leave,’ Kyung-yi said. She turned her sharp gaze to Yi-kyung. ‘That would defeat the purpose in coming here.’

It was true, but it annoyed Yi-kyung that Kyung-yi had to point it out.

‘What about you?’ Yi-kyung said. ‘If that woman sends me out to kill people, are you going to try to stop me?’

‘Of course.’

‘You won’t be able to.’

Kyung-yi hardly even reacted to that. She just looked at Yi-kyung, with that look that almost said she got it.

‘If I don’t kill you, she’ll just get someone else to do it. That’s what she did with Ko Dam, right?’

‘Then someone else kills me,’ Kyung-yi said. ‘Dead doesn’t care.’

‘I’m not letting someone else kill you.’

A smile ghosted over Kyung-yi’s lips. ‘Then you’ll have to keep me alive, won’t you?’ She leaned back against the arm of the sofa, her face tilted back toward the ceiling and her eyes were shut. Like she was going back to sleep.

Was Yi-kyung just meant to do as she said, then? Yesterday, Kyung-yi had threatened to kill Yi-kyung herself.

But it was true Yi-kyung didn’t want anyone else to come between them. If Kyung-yi died, Yi-kyung wanted to be the one to kill her.

But Yi-kyung didn’t want her to die. Yi-kyung wanted her to live forever. If not to help Yi-kyung, then to struggle against her, one step ahead, one step behind, forever. Even if everyone else left her, she wanted Kyung-yi to stay true.

It was strange. She hadn’t realised, when Kyung-yi had spoken to her all those years ago, that this one woman would come to define her life so much.

‘I won’t let anyone else kill you,’ Yi-kyung promised. ‘I’ll get rid of Ms Yong first.’

‘Because she’s a bad person if she tries to have me killed?’

Yi-kyung didn’t know. She didn’t know what her aunt would say. She didn’t know if it mattered.

‘Just because,’ Yi-kyung said. ‘She left you for me. You’re mine now.’

‘Mm. Okay.’

‘Okay?’

‘I’ll be counting on you, then,’ Kyung-yi said. ‘When she does show up.’

And maybe it was only temporary, but those words warmed Yi-kyung. Because Kyung-yi had spoken as if Yi-kyung would protect her, and now Yi-kyung had to do it.

Or change her mind. But she wouldn’t.

Kyung-yi had let Yi-kyung snuggle against her, after all.

‘I’m going to check out outside,’ Yi-kyung said. But she knew that even if she did decide to leave, she’d make Kyung-yi come too. They were stuck in this together.

Maybe that was what Yi-kyung had wanted all along.