Chapter 128: Toma’s Memories (3)
The inside of the black SUV remained unusually quiet. Nobody sat in the middle seat with his arms folded.
Toma stared silently out the window. The memory she had just recovered refused to leave her mind.
The image of the truck, the frightened faces, the heavy sound of the metal door... She could still hear it.
Nobody glanced toward her. "...You okay?"
Toma slowly nodded. "...I don’t know. I remembered more than I ever wanted to."
Aiden kept his eyes on the road. After several moments, he finally spoke. "You’re right. There are still more pieces." He tightened his grip and said,"I think...the next place will help."
Nobody looked at him. "Where?"
Aiden answered quietly. "East Harbor. The same place you and Toma visited yesterday."
Toma looked toward him. "...East Harbor..." The name itself made her heartbeat quicken.
Aiden nodded. "If your memories are connected...That’s where they’ll continue."
The SUV left the busy streets behind. The modern skyline gradually disappeared. Industrial buildings replaced office towers. Towering cargo cranes became visible in the distance. Rows of steel containers stretched across the harbor. The salty breeze drifted through the slightly opened window.
Nobody quietly watched the familiar scenery. "...We’re back."
The System appeared before him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Primary Story Objective]
Return To East Harbor
Memory Reconstruction Progress:
34%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Nobody smiled faintly. "Looks like we’re getting closer." He said to Toma, "Do your memories keep coming?"
Toma nodded slowly. "I can’t stop." She looked down at her hands. "It feels like every memory answers one question...and creates ten more."
Nobody leaned back in his seat. "That’s usually how mysteries work."
Aiden, who was driving, quietly listened before speaking. "You’re right. And I think I know where they’ll return in...East Harbor Station."
Nobody smiled. "Looks like the plot is getting more bold to reveal itself."
...........
Within several minutes...
The SUV came to a stop.
The familiar station came into view. East Harbor Station. The same place where Toma had recovered fragments of her childhood only a day earlier. Aiden’s driver parked the SUV. The three stepped outside. The salty breeze drifted through the station.. A train horn echoed somewhere in the distance. The place felt roughly having any renovations. Everything looked abandoned.
Aiden looked toward Toma. "...Can you remember anything?"
Toma remained silent. Then slowly closed her eyes. The station announcements gradually faded.
The voices around her disappeared. The sound of waves replaced them. The present dissolved.
...
Darkness and a sudden jolt. The truck had stopped moving. Little Toma slowly opened her eyes. Voices echoed outside. The rear door opened. Bright sunlight flooded into the vehicle. She instinctively shielded her eyes.
Several frightened women were escorted away by unfamiliar men.
Little Toma didn’t understand what was happening. She only knew something felt terribly wrong. She remained hidden until the voices moved farther away. Carefully... She climbed down from the truck. She looked around. Behind East Harbor Station stretched an industrial cargo district.
Rows of shipping containers. Large warehouses. Towering cranes.
Everything looked unfamiliar.
"...Where am I...?" She began searching for a way out. Every direction looked the same. The harbor felt like an endless maze. "I can’t find the exit..."
Suddenly... Footsteps.
Little Toma quickly hid behind several stacked crates. A group of men walked past.
One checked a clipboard. "Count again."
"Fifty. Everything is accounted for."
Another nodded. "We’re behind schedule. We need to finish today’s delivery."
Little Toma quietly covered her mouth. "...What are they talking about...?" She waited until they disappeared. Then she continued walking.
Eventually...She noticed a small office.
The door stood partly open. Inside, a man in his early thirties spoke on the phone. "Yes. Everything is ready. No, there won’t be any problems. If the police start asking questions... My dad knows how to deal with those bitches**." He ended the call.
Another worker called for him outside.
He hurried away... Leaving several files scattered across the desk.
Little Toma cautiously stepped inside. She looked across the papers.
Photographs, lists of names, shipping manifests, financial records, ledger books. Everything looked important. "...So many sisters..." She couldn’t understand the documents. But she knew they didn’t belong there. "I should give these to the police." She gathered as many folders as her small arms could carry. Then she quietly left the office.
For a few moments...
Everything remained silent.
Then....
"Hey!" One of the men turned around. His eyes widened. "The child! She’s carrying the shipment records!"
Another immediately pointed toward her. "Stop her!"
Little Toma froze. Then she ran. Tiny footsteps echoed through the harbor. "I have to find the police..."
She turned between rows of containers. Left and right.
Another corner. Everything looked identical.
Behind her...The voices grew louder. "Don’t let her escape!"
She kept running despite her fear. "I just want to go home..."
Ahead... She noticed bright sunlight beyond the warehouses. An exit.
Hope appeared in her eyes. She ran toward it. Just before reaching the opening... The folders slipped from her arms. Papers scattered through the air. A sea breeze carried several of them beyond the warehouse entrance. They drifted onto a display of flowers outside a nearby flower shop.
Roses, lilies, sunflowers, the colorful blossoms concealed the documents from immediate view. Little Toma reached forward.....
The memory blurred. The voices became distant. Everything faded into white.
...
"Toma!" Her eyes suddenly opened. She staggered backward.
Nobody quickly steadied her. "You remembered something."
She nodded, tears forming in her eyes. "There were documents... So many names...I thought...I thought the police should have them."
Aiden lowered his head. "The flower shop."
Nobody looked toward him. "You know what happened next?"
Aiden nodded slowly. "The florist found the folders later that day. They contacted the authorities. The records became one of the first major breakthroughs in exposing the organization."
Toma stared silently toward the station. "...I didn’t know. I was just trying to help."
Nobody smiled gently. "And you did."
A cool breeze swept across East Harbor Station.
Passengers continued boarding trains, completely unaware of the secrets buried beneath years of silence. The mystery was no longer just about forgotten memories. It had become an investigation into a conspiracy that had affected countless lives.
And somewhere beyond the station...The final pieces of Toma’s past were still waiting to be remembered.
......
Toma slowly wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked at Aiden. "...I don’t think I can remember any more right now." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Please...Tell me the rest from your side."
Aiden remained silent for several moments.
The sea breeze brushed past the three of them. Finally, he nodded. "...Alright." He looked toward East Harbor Station. "I’ll tell you what happened...from what I remember."
The scene shifted to Aiden’s memories....
Aiden’s smile disappeared the moment he returned to the ice cream truck. "...Toma?" She wasn’t standing where he had left her. He looked around, expecting her to jump out from somewhere nearby.
"Toma?" Still no reply.
A strange uneasiness settled in his chest. He hurried around the nearby stalls, asking the vendors. "Excuse me... have you seen a little girl in a blue dress?"
The old vendor shook his head. "No, son."
Aiden’s heartbeat quickened. He ran toward the small playground nearby. "Toma!"
Children were happily playing, but she wasn’t among them. He searched behind benches, around the fountain, and even checked the nearby restrooms.
His breathing became heavier with every passing second. "No... no... where did she go?" As he rushed past a streetlight, something on the ground caught his attention. A tiny pink hair clip. It lay beside the base of a concrete pole.
Aiden slowly bent down and picked it up. His eyes widened. "...Toma’s..." His hands began trembling. A cold chill crawled down his spine.
His mind raced with terrifying possibilities. "Did someone take her...? Is she in danger...?" His grip tightened around the little hair clip. "Toma..."
...
Meanwhile...
Inside an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city... A dim light flickered from the ceiling. The smell of rust and damp concrete filled the air.
Toma slowly opened her eyes. "...Mmm..." Her vision was blurry.
She tried to move. "...Huh?" Her wrists and ankles were tightly tied with thick ropes.
She struggled, but the ropes refused to loosen. Two rough-looking men stood nearby.
One of them looked toward her and smirked. "Looks like the brat finally woke up."
The other walked closer before checking the knots around her hands. "She’s tied up tightly, right?"
"Yeah. There isn’t any chance she’ll escape."
The first thug crossed his arms. "She probably saw everything."
"We searched her. Couldn’t find the files." The other thug clicked his tongue.
"Tch...Then our backup plan." He looked at Toma with a greedy smile. "We’ll ask her parents for money. They’ll be desperate enough to pay anything to save their daughter."
The thug crouched in front of her. "Hey, kid. Tell us your parents’ phone number."
Toma’s frightened eyes filled with tears. "I...I don’t..."
The thug slammed his fist against the floor beside her. "NOW!"
Toma flinched. "O-Okay..." With a trembling voice, she slowly recited the number. "Zero... two... one... two... one..."
The thug entered every digit into his phone. "Good girl." He pressed the call button.
His partner grinned.
A few rings later...
Someone answered. "Hello?"
The thug’s voice immediately turned cold. "We have your daughter."
"If you ever want to see her alive again... Prepare ten million. No police. No tricks. Wait for our next call."
Before the frightened parents could respond...
Click.
The call ended.
Toma lowered her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "...Mom...Dad..."
...
At the same time...
Aiden was running through the streets as fast as he could. His heart pounded violently. Without slowing down, he pulled out his phone and dialed another number. The call connected almost instantly. "Dad!" His voice shook. "Toma is in danger!"
On the other end, his father immediately stood up from his chair. "What?! What happened?"
Aiden struggled to catch his breath. "I... I left her for just a minute to buy ice cream...When I came back...She was gone...I searched everywhere...I found her hair clip...I think someone kidnapped her..."
A long silence followed.
Then Aiden’s father’s voice became calm, yet filled with urgency. "Listen carefully. Stay exactly where you are. I’m informing every police branch in the city. We’ll search every road, every warehouse, every highway. We will find her."
Aiden clenched the tiny pink hair clip in his hand. His eyes filled with determination. "...Please..."
"Save her before it’s too late."
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