บท 102: Nothing's Forever (1)

Wordlessly Go Ara obeyed. The car hummed across a bridge over an arroyo, white as bone, then rattled down the four-lane highway. Years ago, before the freeways were built, the highway had been one of the main arteries serving into Seoul. Now the cracked and rutted blacktop was all but empty of traffic.

"Turn right again. Here."

She hooked onto a narrow side road. An automobile graveyard passed by, rows of starred windshields and chrome grillwork glittering in the sun. An abandoned ranch appeared and vanished. Up ahead a windowless storage trailer, parked on the roadside on a parcel of dirt, slid into view.

"Pull over."

Go Ara steered the car off the road. She parked near the trailer. Clouds of dust boiled around the car.

"Shut off the engine. Give me the keys."

She did so. "Is this it?" she asked throatily, staring straight ahead.