9 ESCAPE
"Tha—"
"That's mine!!!" The old woman says, hurriedly stepping towards Ms. Han and snatching the bills out of Soojin's hand before the Scammer can respond.
'Shit!!!' The ghost yells in his head, closing his jaws tight, staring at the old woman with his bait.
The elder woman let out a wide grin on her dried pale lips and counted each piece of the rolled-up bills. She licks her finger to better separate each leaf and quickly walks away from the scene.
The senior was waiting for the man to leave and get the money that he dropped on the street. She saw him kick it near the young woman's feet earlier for an unknown reason and thought she could stop whatever scam the man has for dropping the bills on the floor.
'What an odd way to get easy money,' the old geezer thinks.
Her luck turns up good after losing all her money from buying scratch-to-win lottery tickets. She didn't care if she had no cash left to buy food for tomorrow or if she left her grandson alone in the house again. They will all be instantly rich if she wins the grand prize of one million won from gambling.
"I-I c-can't… m-move my legs," The scammer replies with his words stuttering from the pain. He didn't care about the money, he had to get away from the therapist after his failed attempt to curse the woman away.
The two teenagers begin to realize the serious injury that the man is under and stop pointing hands at one another. They are both at fault for the man enduring the agony from his knees. It's their responsibility to take care of him.
"Sir, are you okay?" The tall and skinny teen asks, leaning half of his body down to express his concern over the sweaty man.
The plump short kid bows to ask for forgiveness. He tried to bend half of his body but his well-rounded belly stops his head from reaching the level of his waist. "We're sorry, sir!" He exclaims loudly.
"I think we should get him to the hospital," Soojin recommends, watching the two teenagers express their guilt, "Why don't the two of you call a cab? I'll stay here with Mister—???"
"P-Park…Park Hoon Gyo," The man replies, he stops himself from groaning at the agony he feels at his weakened knees.
A black car recklessly turns its way to the main street, rushing past the other vehicles on the road to get away from the man pursuing it. The sound of rubber wheels screeching on the pavement from every quick turn reverberates through the busy freeway where buses steer their way to reach their station.
The two teenagers dash to hail a coming taxi when they notice the black car speeding its way towards them. The vehicle's abrupt turn made the cab hit its rear and thrust towards the side of the street.
The two kids immediately scramble away to avoid being hit but the elder woman behind them who is busy counting the money didn't see it coming.
!!!BANG!!!
The black metal bumper of the car hits the senior's torso with tremendous force, immediately breaking the brittle bones on the old woman's pelvis and backbone. It rips parts of the elder's skin revealing the broken bones and torn flesh on its back. The blood gushes out quickly from the severed vessels and splatters across the cemented pavement while the woman's legs are dragged beneath the vehicle.
The body bent in front of the car is carried through the side of the street, aiming at the man kneeling on the floor and the woman beside him.
The ghost sees the car with the bloody corpse coming to his spot. He can avoid the pain of being hit by leaving his body behind or he can transform back to the image of Lee Yejoon to heal his knees and evade the vehicle with his athletic body.
He turns his head to face the annoying woman beside him. The therapist's eyes are wide from shock eyeing the vehicle running fast towards them.
'SHIT!!!' The ghost swears to himself.
"ARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!" The scammer screams at the agony of his body turning back to the image of the man he previously wears.
Transforming his legs back to the young strong man to give him a better chance to evade the collision that will come their way.
When his knees healed up, he quickly turns and pulls the therapist down on the ground. He wraps his arm around the woman's body, setting one of his hands on the back of Soojin's head and the other on the middle of the therapist's back to protect the backbone from any harm they may encounter.
They rolled over the dusty ground, evading the car's wheels from reaching them until they got under the metal bench that stops the vehicle from running.
Soojin can feel her heart racing fast from her chest. The shallow breathing of air. The quiver in her body from head to feet. Her eyes are closed tightly under the man's broad body and her hands clutch on Mr. Park's sweaty tee shirt trying to find security. The fear rushing through her mind paralyzed her body. She couldn't have avoided the collision without the man protecting her.
She opens her eyes and stares blankly at the chest moving up and down from breathing air. When she tries to lift her head, Mr. Park's hand stops her from moving.
"Don't move!!!" The man says, holding her head tighter to his chest.
The old woman's body is now pinned between the metal bench and the bumper of the car. Wide eyes are bloodshot from shock and the broad smile plastered on the dry lips is now with blood dripping at the corner of the old woman's rims.
The elderly woman let go of her grip from the cursed money and it rolled from the bumper of the car down the bent metal of the bench and into the therapist's back that the ghost picks up with his hand before anyone can take it again.
Soojin feels the man gradually move their body away from underneath the metal bench by pushing his body using his feet and legs.
'He can move his legs?' The therapist surprisingly realizes and quickly lifts her face from the man's tight grip.
Her eyes open largely while glaring at the man beneath her body. The brown eyes and thin lips that haunted her thoughts are now an inch away from her face.
"Lee Yejoon???" Soojin blurts out the dead man's name.
