BIA Ch. 93

“No, I didn’t know. That was a mistake, for sure.”

Isaiah stood up from the window frame and said expressionlessly.

“I wanted to put a hole in that pretty face of yours, what a shame.”

He wanted to leave something with Bran too. Whether it was regret, a scratch, or an insult, anything. He wanted to leave a strong impression, so that even if he recalled this later, like Isaiah did, his heart would freeze and he would shudder.

“You’re not good at lying.”

But Bran just spoke calmly as always. That relaxed attitude made Isaiah feel even more miserable. The fact that no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t inflict even a scratch on him.

“What’s a lie?”

Isaiah left the office without even looking at Bran.

“So you were really aiming for my head?”

Bran said, following him out of the office.

“In that urban jungle, at a distance of barely 400 yards, you made such a stupid mistake? You of all people?”

“Yeah. So consider it an honor. Your lover made it into that rare 2%.”

Isaiah spat out nervously as he turned the corner of the hallway. The faster his steps became as he searched for the elevator, the faster his voice became.

“I’ve wanted to kill her for a while now. Every time I saw her sticking by your side, I felt like I was going crazy with the urge to kill her. So when the opportunity finally came, my hands trembled. Happy now?”

He wanted to get out of this maze-like hallway quickly. This place was too stuffy and dizzying.

But no matter how many corners he turned, the damn elevator was nowhere to be seen. In the meantime, Bran, who had come right next to him, tilted his head and looked into Isaiah’s face.

“Why are you so angry?”

Bran asked with a smile. That smiling face was so beautiful that Isaiah shouted even more fiercely.

“Because she didn’t suit you!”

He knew that wasn’t what he was asking, but he didn’t care. The important thing was to hurt Bran.

“She didn’t suit you. That worn-out Russian woman.”

Of course, whether it was true or not didn’t matter. But for some reason, the more he spoke, the more he felt like he was hurting himself. It was like falling into a swamp. The more he struggled to get out, the deeper he sank into the abyss.

“Is there anyone you think is suitable for me?”

Fortunately, as soon as he turned the last corner, the elevator came into view. Isaiah pretended not to hear Bran’s words and went to the elevator first, pressing the button.

“Don’t tell me, you?”

Bran, who had stopped in front of the elevator almost at the same time, asked.

“Isaiah Cole, less worn-out than Irina?”

“As if.”

Isaiah snorted in genuine disbelief for a moment. It was a ridiculous thing to say in many ways.

“I’ve never wanted that.”

Because the elevator had stopped at the second basement floor, it took quite a while to come up. Moreover, since it was an old building, the speed itself was terribly slow.

It was when Isaiah was anxiously glaring at the slowly changing numbers.

“Bran. I’m sorry for killing Irina.”

A voice suddenly came from the side. Startled by the sudden words, Isaiah looked to his side. Bran wasn’t looking at Isaiah. He was looking at the elevator door in front of him. More precisely, he was looking at their reflections in the elevator door.

“But if a similar situation arises, I’ll make the same choice again.”

“……”

The two people in the elevator door looked like they were standing side by side, but they weren’t. Isaiah had taken a couple of steps forward to press the button. Only then did Isaiah realize that Bran was looking at his face, which was not visible from Bran’s position, through the elevator door.

“Those were your words when you were crying.”

Bran finally turned his head. Their eyes met, and Bran smiled calmly at the bewildered Isaiah.

“Of course, you don’t remember.”

With that one sentence, the anger that had barely subsided under all sorts of complicated feelings surged up again.

“Why do you keep talking about that time?”

If he brought up that time, he couldn’t refute it no matter what. He literally had no memory of it, so no matter what Bran made up, he had nothing to say.

But beyond that, he hated the fact that Bran was talking about that time. He hated that Bran was talking about their memories, which he didn’t know about, as if he was enjoying it.

“Why do you keep talking about things I don’t even remember?”

“Then why do you keep talking about the past?”

Bran retorted as if he had been waiting for it.

“What…”

Isaiah muttered without realizing it, taken aback by the unexpected question.

“Why are you looking for the me from twenty years ago instead of looking at the me in front of you right now?”

Ding-dong, a bell rang overhead. The elevator had arrived at the 25th floor. The door opened behind them with a whoosh. But Isaiah couldn’t move an inch. Bran looked at Isaiah, chuckled, and then said in a low voice.

“Why else? Because that’s your perfect god in your imagination, isn’t it?”

“……”

“Because dwelling on a perfect god that doesn’t even exist anymore is much more helpful in fostering faith than talking about the flawed human being in front of you.”

Isn’t that right? Bran smiled and got into the elevator. Isaiah couldn’t even think about following him, and just stared blankly at Bran. Then, just before the door closed, Bran grabbed his arm and almost forcibly pulled him into the elevator.

They didn’t say a word while going down to the parking lot. It was the same in the car on the way to the Taten Building.

At least after arriving at the Tayton Building, they were able to exchange a few words naturally while discussing the entry methods and security issues. But there was no personal conversation at all. It was all work-related talk. Even if he wanted to talk about other things, he didn’t know what to say or how to say it. At least, that was the case for Isaiah. And Bran… didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk about anything else.

“Have you arrived?”

Samuel, who had been waiting inside, opened the door when they rang the doorbell at 2208.

“Chester called?”

Bran said as he opened the door wider and went inside. Isaiah, who was unconsciously following him, paused for a moment at the entrance. He had naturally assumed it would be an empty office, but what unfolded before his eyes was unexpectedly a normal home living room. It seemed like one of those places where they remodeled office buildings and converted them for residential use, and this was exactly that kind of case.

“Yes. Just a moment ago, about three minutes ago.”

Samuel handed Isaiah’s smartphone to Bran.

“You didn’t answer it, did you?”

“Of course not.”

“Good work. You can go now.”

As Samuel left, Bran took off his jacket and sat on the living room sofa. It was true that Isaiah also wanted to take off his coat. The air was quite stuffy, as if Samuel had turned up the boiler.

But for some reason, he couldn’t take off his coat. It would have been better if he had taken off his coat as soon as he came in, while Samuel was still there. Now that they were alone, he hesitated to take off his clothes. Especially since it wasn’t a bleak office, but a rather carefully decorated—with mini Christmas lights on the wall and a pure white rug on the floor—cozy home, this atmosphere felt even more awkward.

In the end, Isaiah pretended to look around the house and avoided the situation. He opened a door that was right in front of him, and it happened to be the bedroom. He turned the lights on and off in the room, making an effort to sound calm as he asked.

“How did you find a place like this?”

“On the Airbnb app.”

Bran answered from the living room.

“It was a house listed for lodging.”

That makes sense. Isaiah muttered, looking at the neatly made queen-size bed.

Perhaps because he had heard the explanation, he could see traces of a lodging in various parts of the house. For example, the bathroom cabinet filled with pure white towels, the disposable toiletries prepared in sets of two, and the sofa bed in the living room that could be used as a bed.

“Not bad.”

Isaiah, who had returned to the living room, finally took off his coat, hung it on a hanger, and went to the window. He pulled back the curtains and opened the window, and in the scenery that had darkened in the meantime, St. Patrick’s Church could be seen in the distance. It was definitely much closer than it looked from Debel Financial.

“At this distance, I could shoot even with my eyes closed.”

“It’s definitely possible.”

Bran stood up from the sofa bed. He came next to Isaiah, folded his arms, and looked at the church submerged in darkness.

“If it’s after the evening mass, it’ll be darker than it is now, so you’ll need night vision goggles.”

“I guess so.”

“It’ll be a hassle.”

Bran muttered to himself and closed the window. Then, he handed Isaiah his smartphone back.

“Call Chester. Put it on speaker mode.”

Isaiah sighed and took his smartphone. He found the call history and pressed the connect button. After about four rings, Chester answered the phone.

｢You bastard, why aren’t you answering your phone?｣

“I was taking a piss.”

Isaiah replied indifferently. He couldn’t be bothered to wrack his brain for Chester, so he said whatever came to mind. But seeing Bran sitting on the sofa bed and smiling quietly, he felt a bit embarrassed belatedly. Isaiah quickly turned his body towards the window.