Chapter 05
“Haa….”
“At the very least, you should guarantee the child’s right to education. She’s only five years old.”
Hee-yeon looked straight into his eyes.
“Fine. We’ll do that. But only if she goes under my supervision.”
“Alright. Then I’ll go back to cleaning now.”
“Ms. So Hee-yeon.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Leave your phone.”
“…What?”
“I need to make a cloned phone. If your brother contacts you, I need to know immediately.”
“……!”
Hee-yeon’s face darkened.
If her phone was cloned, she wouldn’t be able to hide her brother even if he contacted her. Her entire private life would be exposed to him.
“You must have expected at least that much when you came here.”
“Yes… I’ll give it to you.”
Hee-yeon handed over her phone. Then she immediately ran upstairs.
There was a landline phone in his room.
She had definitely seen it earlier.
Since it was his private room, not the living room, no one would likely overhear.
Hee-yeon quickly went up and called her aunt to inform her that her phone had been cloned.
After hanging up, she let out a long sigh.
All the strength suddenly drained from her shoulders.
Doing housework wasn’t difficult.
But being assigned as his personal keeper of all things…
She looked around Seok-woo’s room. The scent of expensive perfume and cosmetics lingered. The stockings that had been on the floor earlier were nowhere to be seen.
“Seriously… he’s insane. My brother… how could he take this man’s girlfriend…”
She knew he was reckless, but this was like gambling his life for love.
Why would he do that?
Didn’t he ever think about the consequences?
His impulsive personality had already tangled his life beyond repair, yet he never seemed able to change.
She sighed repeatedly.
Suddenly, she felt someone’s presence.
When she turned around, she saw Seok-woo leaning against the doorway, watching her.
Her face twisted in discomfort.
“I’m cleaning.”
“Go ahead. Clean.”
“You should leave.”
“Just ignore me and do your job.”
He walked in confidently and sat on the sofa. He took out a large tablet and began reading something, but his presence was so distracting it was driving her crazy.
It was obvious he was watching her.
Apparently cloning her phone wasn’t enough.
Hee-yeon turned the vacuum cleaner to maximum power.
Vrrrrrr—
The loud motor noise seemed to calm her nerves a little.
You have a weakness too. A fact you don’t want people here to know. That I’m a hostage.
Although she was currently Seok-woo’s hostage, she now had insurance to protect herself.
Why did he need to hide the fact that she was a hostage?
And why was he looking for Pil-mo and that woman?
Because of betrayal?
Any woman would crumble in front of a man like him. After all, his pride had been trampled.
Just what kind of woman… would leave a man who looks like that… for my brother…
Hee-yeon shook her head hard.
She couldn’t focus on her work at all, which only irritated her further.
* * *
Leaving Hee-yeon to clean, Seok-woo headed to his study.
Out of habit, he poured himself a drink. Manager Joo approached.
“We found the boat. Judging by the amount of blood, he couldn’t have gone far.”
“Search discreetly. Bring him to me alive. No matter what.”
“Yes, sir.”
Seok-woo downed his drink.
He suddenly remembered the stockings that had been in his room.
“The woman?”
“She’s been sent back to where she belongs.”
“I gave her another job because she begged me so desperately…”
The stockings belonged to Ae-ri, a debtor who used to sell her body. She had begged for another way to repay her debt, so he gave her different work.
But her real goal had been to become Seok-woo’s lover.
Women who tried to climb into his bed after improving their circumstances disgusted him.
“There are countless women who have a crush on you, sir.”
“I’m not into cheap tastes like that.”
Naturally, Hee-yeon came to mind.
Unlike the women around him before, her clean, makeup-free face felt refreshing.
Especially her lips.
Those coral-colored lips that looked like they had lipstick on them lingered in his thoughts.
He drank again.
His anger burned fiercely, like the eyes of a beast.
“Do you think he’ll contact her?”
“He will.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“A feeling.”
When Seok-woo lifted his empty glass, Manager Joo refilled it. He drank it in one go.
A knock came.
The woman entered carrying snacks.
Despite being a hostage, she never looked intimidated. She confidently placed the food under the table.
“If you don’t need anything else, I’ll go sleep now.”
“Sleep well.”
He deliberately spoke gently.
Her expression immediately turned annoyed.
Rather than treating her like a hostage, treating her normally seemed to provoke her more.
That difference from the others who trembled before him felt strangely refreshing.
Click—
Seok-woo watched her leave and suddenly chuckled.
Manager Joo shuddered as if he had seen a ghost.
That night
Seok-woo drank more than usual.
Pil-mo had betrayed him and run away, yet he found himself strangely calm.
At midnight, he left his room.
The full moon hung high in the sky.
A cool breeze blew, making him feel like walking through the garden.
Then he heard a pretty voice.
Like the chirping of a small bird.
It was that little kid.
That woman’s daughter.
Without realizing it, he found himself drawn toward their window.
“Mommy lion, daddy lion~~ baby lion goes la-la~~”
It was a children’s song anyone would recognize.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
The child’s voice was incredibly cute.
Perhaps because he rarely heard children’s voices.
“A single mother at only twenty-six… I wonder what kind of guy the father is.”
He smiled bitterly.
This wasn’t the time to be lost in thoughts about a child’s singing.
More importantly, Chairman Cha would be released from detention in one month.
If they didn’t find his mistress Jung Se-ah and the USB by then, several people would lose their lives.
Of course, Pil-mo.
And his family wouldn’t be safe either.
People who failed to repay debts and had nothing but their bodies left always met predictable ends.
Of course, Seok-woo himself had once been one of those people.
He lit a cigarette.
As he walked while smoking, he heard the singing again.
This time, the woman’s voice mixed with the child’s.
* * *
The next day,
Seok-woo visited the Seoul Detention Center.
Chairman Cha Myung-hwan was the man who had taken him in when he was born to a prostitute and lived like trash, with no father to even acknowledge him.
Seok-woo met him when he was fifteen.
He treated him like a stepfather and built a company with him.
What started as a loan-sharking operation in the back alleys became the number one company in the secondary financial sector thanks to Seok-woo’s brains and Cha’s money.
Although they had left the gangster life behind, they still used underground organizations whenever illegal work was necessary.
Chairman Cha frowned when he saw Seok-woo alone.
“Where’s Se-ah?”
“The swelling in her face hasn’t gone down yet.”
“More plastic surgery? She’s already pretty enough. Anyway.”
Luckily, Jung Se-ah’s addiction to cosmetic procedures provided a convenient excuse to hide her disappearance.
Seok-woo handed over documents.
“These need your approval this week.”
“As expected, you handle everything perfectly. I really did choose the right man. Thanks to you, we’ve become a respectable business.”
“It’s all your achievement, Chairman.”
Chairman Cha was an absolute power in that world.
A man capable of making someone disappear from the world without a trace.
If he found out his mistress had run away with one of his subordinates, even Seok-woo wouldn’t survive.
“I like how well you read situations. You seem like someone who would never betray me.”
“My life belongs to you, Chairman.”
“Yes, yes.”
Chairman Cha had always shown exceptional affection toward his mistress.
Which was why he trusted Seok-woo with his dirty secrets.
Though he reported calmly, Seok-woo was boiling inside.
After the visitation ended, he carefully gauged the chairman’s mood and left quietly.
Manager Joo handed him a cigarette.
“Se-ah’s plastic surgery addiction really turned out to be a blessing.”
“Feels like heaven is helping us.”
“We need to make sure the chairman doesn’t notice.”
“Yes, sir.”
Seok-woo ran his hand through his hair.
Even if you hide… you’ll end up in my hands eventually.
