Chapter 5
10:44 PM, July 26th, 4 years ago.
That day was during the monsoon season, and it poured rain all day long.
The intermittent flashes of lightning made the weather even more eerie.
It hadn’t been long since Junmo transferred to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Special Investigations Unit, so he was extremely busy.
That day, he was finally on his way home after a long time.
He was diligently walking down an alley, using an umbrella someone had left behind at the SIU, when it happened.
Suddenly, a man darted out from the side alley, and Junmo collided with him, tumbling to the ground along with the umbrella.
It felt like he had been pushed by tremendous force, and when he came to his senses, the man was already running away.
“What the heck, that bastard.”
He felt strange from the immense strength, and seeing the man running away without even an apology, Junmo’s temper flared.
Junmo started chasing after him in the rain.
And finally, when they emerged from the alley onto the main road, he was able to catch him.
“Hey, you!”
He grabbed the back of the hoodie-wearing man’s neck and turned him around, and a pattern drawn on his shoulder caught his eye.
He only caught a glimpse of it due to the heavy raindrops and dim streetlight, but the pattern was so unique that he couldn’t forget it.
The man stood with his back to the streetlight, his head bowed so Junmo couldn’t see his face.
“You’re just going to run off without apologizing?”
“……”
“Look at this guy.”
Just as Junmo was about to pull the hood off his head, the dim surroundings suddenly lit up brightly.
Headlights turned on from a car parked on the side of the road.
Junmo was blinded by the light and reflexively shielded his face with his arm.
But then, the car started speeding towards him!
In the blink of an eye, the man who had been standing right in front of him disappeared, and the car charged at him as if to run him over.
Startled, Junmo rolled on the ground to avoid the car.
Vroom!
The car stopped in its tracks and immediately reversed, charging towards him as he lay on the ground.
Junmo barely managed to get up, but it was too late to dodge.
Thump!
The car hit him and sped away, and Junmo hit his head hard on the ground and lost consciousness.
A puddle of rainwater was turning red with blood flowing from his head.
“Let me formally introduce you. This is the landlord, and this is the tenant.”
‘The landlord is a high schooler? So they’re not siblings. What’s their relationship?’
If Junmo had a sour look on his face, Sungjae’s expression was as if he were looking at his mortal enemy.
“Aish.”
He told them not to, but the person moving in is a hotshot detective!
As Sungjae was about to go back out, Junmo called out to him instead.
“Hey, aren’t you going to greet someone?”
Sungjae turned around abruptly and fired a direct hit.
“Why did it have to be you, mister?”
“You think I’m happy about it? Why did it have to be me?”
Why did it have to be me who bumped into that guy?
What would have happened if I hadn’t been hit-and-run back then?
Is that guy really the attempted murderer who tried to kill Seungri?
Are the attempted murderer and the hit-and-run driver definitely accomplices?
The most puzzling thing was why the pattern on that guy’s shoulder was on the victim Seungri’s neck.
Until now, he had just thought he was unlucky, but now everything felt like a jumbled mess.
He decided to move purely out of curiosity about that incident.
Also, he was curious to see how far his connection with her would go.
Why, who, and for what reason, would commit such an act?
Two days later, in the afternoon.
“You don’t have much luggage, do you?”
Seungri suddenly entered through the open front door.
Judging from the simple and sparse belongings, he wondered if he had been living properly.
He said he wasn’t afraid of dying as a police officer. He even got into a car accident while chasing a suspect to the death.
‘You can tell a person’s personality just by their belongings.’
Hidden beneath Junmo’s smooth-talking demeanor was a stubborn streak.
She could guess that he was the type to see things through once he started.
For Seungri, it was frustrating and unfair that her life was in the hands of a man like this.
“We’re having a barbecue on the rooftop tonight. Is that okay?”
“I’m so touched that you’re including me, I could cry.”
“Then I’ll see you there. Come by 6 o’clock.”
“What about the cafe?”
“I can close early. See you then.”
Realizing that things were getting more and more tangled, Junmo crossed his arms and sat down on a box.
He felt like he was under a spell, only realizing it after he had moved in without a second thought.
He forgot that sometimes intuition can get the best of you.
“I’m crazy.”
“Excuse me.”
Just then, she, who he thought had left, came back inside. Junmo, who had been spacing out, flinched.
“You scared me.”
“I forgot to check something. I almost forgot.”
Seungri went into the large room with the bed and turned on the boiler to see if it was working properly.
“I heard it broke down recently. They said I should check it again.”
Swoosh.
Junmo lowered his head towards her shoulder.
The feeling of his face getting close to her neck was overwhelming.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Her body stiffened as if it had become paralyzed. It was because his hand had touched her neck.
“This……”
Seungri inhaled without realizing it.
Whether it was because of the trauma of being strangled, she was very sensitive to other people’s touch.
Especially the neck area was very vulnerable.
He probably didn’t realize how sensitive that area was, and when his hand touched her neck, something in Seungri’s stiff body twitched slightly.
“Is this… a bruise?”
It was on the back of her neck, so she didn’t even know it was there.
Slap!
Seungri harshly brushed off his hand and warned him.
“Don’t touch me.”
Seungri was more than serious, she was disgusted, as if she was overreacting.
Junmo was a little embarrassed, but then he realized something and felt a pang of regret.
He had forgotten that she had almost been strangled to death.
“I’m sorry. I just thought it was a bruise. Don’t be mad.”
“I’m warning you, don’t ever touch my body again.”
Seungri hated that she was so angry just because his hand had lightly touched her neck, and that made her even angrier.
“I said I was sorry. People can make mistakes…”
Her cold gaze pierced his dark brown eyes.
If the police had been more proactive in their investigation back then, she wouldn’t have felt so wronged.
Seungri’s eyes welled up as she remembered the humiliation she had suffered because the police had treated her like a crazy person.
“You might be able to brush it off, but I can’t.”
“You’re the one who’s being dismissive. Why are you being like this to me? I begged you to move in. I felt bad about the accident, so I’ve done my part. What more do you want from me?”
In terms of life and death, it was clearly a superior-subordinate relationship.
But how could you act superior with someone’s life on the line?
“Do you think you can treat me like I’m nothing just because you begged me?”
She flared up and snapped at Junmo.
“Who wanted to beg in the first place? If you hadn’t caused the accident in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to go through this.”
“At least I don’t cling to life like you do. I’m always ready to die, and I won’t let you interfere with my work. The only thing I can do for you is to live in this house.”
“And you call yourself a police officer? A person who is ready to die doesn’t speak carelessly about other people’s lives.”
“I didn’t speak carelessly. I’m just saying you should do your best in the life you’ve been given. Isn’t that enough?”
“Is it wrong to yearn for a normal life? What’s wrong with wanting to catch an attempted murderer that the police won’t catch?”
“Is it revenge?”
“What?”
“You’re blaming the police for not catching the criminal who tried to kill you, and you’re taking it out on innocent people.”
“Birds of a feather flock together. How could a cop like you understand someone like me?”
A surge of heat welled up inside her.
Seungri felt pathetic for opening up to him, and she resented him for taking her words so lightly.
In her experience, that’s what the police were like. How could she forget that?
For a brief moment, she had placed a small hope in him, but it was all in vain.
‘I hoped that there would be at least one person in the world, one police officer, who would listen to me…’
The hope she had when he readily agreed to move in after hearing about the incident four years ago was shattered.
‘You were just another cop.’
Seungri, who was furious, pushed him away and went out of the room.
“Hey…!”
Junmo reached out to grab her, but in the end, he missed, and his chest felt tight.
Why does this mouth of his never shut up once it starts?
Why does he have to hit the nail on the head every time?
“Damn it.”
He lamented and looked at the fingertips that had touched Seungri’s neck.
He could still feel the throbbing blood vessels from the tension.
He had lashed out with harsh words to dissuade her from seeking revenge, but all that remained in his heart was a stinging pain.
This was all because of his damn curiosity.
Junmo was sprawled out on the living room floor as if he had been knocked out.
A virgin ghost squatted by his head, looking down at him with a frustrated expression and nagging him.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I told you so. I told you not to move here. That’s the problem with men. They just can’t help but be weak for pretty women.”
“I’m warning you, don’t ever touch my body again.”
He belatedly remembered her fearful eyes and blamed himself.
She was the victim of a terrible incident and hadn’t even received protection from the police. Of course, she would be suffering from trauma.
“Good job, good job.”
Junmo resented himself for being a police officer who couldn’t properly understand the victim’s psychology and acted on his emotions.
The self-loathing that he was just a nobody weighed him down.
Above all, he was restless at the thought that she had been hurt.
“What did you do to a woman who was already in a bad state? Aish, I’m going crazy.”
Junmo jumped up, startling the virgin ghost, who was squatting and fell on her butt.
“Oh my, you almost made me drop my liver. Oh, right, I don’t have a liver. Hehe. Anyway, oppa. Just pack your bags. This place has bad energy. I know a haunted house that’s perfect for us to set up our marital home. Ohohoho.”
“Does that make sense? That she almost died at the hands of that guy four years ago.”
“Why get involved? The more you get involved with a woman like that, the more you’ll be shortening your life.”
“No. There’s something there. How else could such a coincidence be possible?”
The more he thought about it, the more complicated it became, and he ruffled his hair wildly.
“Augh! Why are you doing this to me?”
That evening, when Junmo went up to the rooftop, the barbecue party was in full swing.
He also hesitated to come up because of what had happened in the afternoon, but they couldn’t live with each other’s faces red forever.
“Oh my, you’ve prepared so much?”
Junmo started with a friendly greeting.
Anyway, since he was invited, it wasn’t polite to be gloomy.
Seungri, grilling pork belly at the barbecue grill, glanced at him but pretended not to see him and focused on grilling the meat.
Sungjae was also sullen and didn’t greet him, only Yuri welcomed him kindly.
“Welcome, Detective Pee.”
In fact, Yuri had arranged this gathering.
She would throw a welcome party whenever new people moved in.
After eating pork belly on the rooftop, they would go down to the cafe and finish with sweet desserts.
‘Whether I like it or not, now that things have turned out this way, we have to live like a family. There’s no other way.’
Yuri spoke to Junmo kindly.
“Do you like the house?”
He almost blurted out, “I must be crazy.”
What’s the point of a 40-pyeong house when I don’t even have furniture?
What do I need four rooms and two bathrooms for when I’m alone? Being alone in this empty house only makes me feel lonelier.
“What can I do if I don’t like it? I can’t back out now.”
Junmo deliberately spoke loudly for Seungri to hear.
She needed to know that she also had some responsibility.
But all he got back from her was complete indifference.
In this case, the guilty person should bow down to the resentful one.
“Why did you invite me if you weren’t even going to look at me?”
Junmo strode up, snatched the tongs from Seungri, and said with a sly grin.
Seungri snatched the tongs back and flipped the pork belly irritably.
Whoosh!
Flames shot up from the dripping oil.
“Ah!”
Startled, Seungri stumbled backward, losing her balance.
Junmo reflexively caught her.
The feeling of firm arms against her back…
It wasn’t intentional skinship, but it was such a perfect hug that Seungri was very flustered.
“You’d better back off, mister.”
Sungjae glared at Junmo with fire in his eyes.
He looked like he could grill pork belly with his burning jealousy.
It was then that Junmo’s eyes changed.
The moment he hugged Seungri, something taut in his head snapped, and Sungjae’s provocation only fueled it.
Perhaps because of that, Junmo didn’t try to calm his jealousy, but instead subtly tightened his arms around her.
His gaze towards Sungjae was quite provocative.
“What if I don’t want to?”
With that one sentence, the atmosphere became even colder.
Seungri was caught in the middle of the sudden battle of wills between the two men.
Useless competitiveness had nothing to do with age, it seemed.
‘They’re fighting over something I don’t even want.’
He seemed to have ignored the warning not to touch her.
His arm strength was so strong that she had to struggle like a puppy to get out of his grip.
Seungri recalled the struggle she had with him on the villa terrace.
‘Back then, I bit the hand that was covering my mouth to get away, but where should I bite him today?’
Yuri, who had been watching, made a fuss to change the chilling atmosphere.
“Oh, that looks delicious. Welcome, Detective Pee.”
Only after Yuri forcibly sat Sungjae down did Junmo release Seungri from his arms.
He pretended not to notice her red face and went to sit down.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Junmo said nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened, and picked up his chopsticks.
Sungjae was burning with anger at his brazen attitude, and Seungri was furious.
But since they were in company, no one was foolish enough to mention what had just happened.
The four of them sat around and ate awkwardly.
‘Was this a mistake after all?’
When her sister told her to invite them to move in, Yuri thought there must be a good reason, so she decided to forget about the car accident.
‘What am I going to do about this awkward atmosphere?’
She tried her best to lighten the mood.
“We have a pork belly party with the tenants once a month. Detective Pee, you’ll come too, right?”
“As long as it’s my day off. But why don’t I see the others?”
“The lady on the 5th floor went to help her daughter after childbirth. The newlyweds on the 4th floor are friends with my sister. They’re both doctors. They’re doing overseas volunteer work, so it’ll be hard to see them for a while.”
“I see.”
“I never thought I’d be living in the same building as a detective. It’s reassuring and nice.”
Junmo felt relieved that she said that, even if it was just words. He had felt uncomfortable, as if he had come to a house where he wasn’t welcome.
Unlike Seungri, Yuri was a kind girl. Feminine, kind, and friendly… and above all, the atmosphere was warm.
“You sisters are very different.”
“I hear that a lot. Some people even say we’re not real sisters. Do you have any siblings, Detective Pee?”
“I have an older brother who’s married. He’s a human rights lawyer.”
“Oh my. You have a wonderful brother.”
“Yes. I’m very proud of him. Hehe.”
“Do you have any other family?”
“I do, but…”
He trailed off.
Junmo was reluctant to talk about any family other than his older brother.
A high-end Korean restaurant.
Chairman Kang Cheol-gu of Taeyang Group and Team Leader Cha Si-woo of the Strategic Planning Team were having a private meeting there.
“I’ll go first, Chairman.”
It was a meaningful occasion for Si-woo, as it meant that Chairman Kang, who didn’t even let his family near him easily, had finally opened his heart completely.
“Actually, I wanted to discuss something with you, so I asked you to meet me separately.”
“Please tell me, Chairman.”
“Can you keep a secret? No one knows about this except Secretary Yoo.”
Secretary Yoo was Chairman Kang’s long-time personal secretary and knew even the smallest details of his household.
He was the only person who had Chairman Kang’s trust.
But tonight, that principle was broken.
‘A secret…’
Si-woo looked at Chairman Kang with interest. Chairman Kang, looking slightly anxious, took a drink and hesitated before opening his mouth.
“I have a son.”
“…”
“He’s nineteen years old now. His mother died in an accident a year ago.”
“Is that… so?”
“I want to register him in the family registry.”
“What can I do?”
“I’ve been watching you for a long time. You’re the only person I can trust besides Secretary Yoo.”
“Thank you, Chairman.”
“My family will definitely oppose it. I hope you can be a strength to him.”
“I’ll help as much as I can, but I don’t know if I have that much power.”
“Haha. There’s no need to be modest. I know what kind of presence you have in the company. You are the key figure in our Taeyang Group.”
Cha Si-woo, praised inside and outside the company as a talented individual with a brilliant mind and a gentle image.
A man with many allies within the company, and who will have even more in the future.
He had saved the company from crisis several times since joining Taeyang Group seven years ago, and was even mentioned as a potential successor.
It was perhaps natural that he was a thorn in the side of Chairman Kang’s family.
But Chairman Kang revealed Sungjae’s existence to Si-woo, who was on a roll.
It could be heard as a warning not to covet the position of successor, but Si-woo instead bowed his head humbly.
“You flatter me.”
Chairman Kang smiled with even more trust at his polite attitude.
“I wouldn’t worry if you were just by his side. It would be like having ten teachers. When the time comes, please teach him well.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Si-woo slowly savored the drink that Chairman Kang had poured for him.
‘Blood is thicker than water, after all.’
The eldest daughter, Hee-jin, who lacked entrepreneurial spirit, the son-in-law, In-doo-yeop, who caused small and large problems as a playboy, and the youngest daughter, Hee-jae, who had a great desire for the position of successor.
And Jo Yang-sook, Chairman Kang’s wife, who poured her heart and soul into making Hee-jae the successor.
Hee-jae and Jo Yang-sook’s power was so strong that other relatives couldn’t even show their faces.
Among them, it was a mistake to be careless because he was so busy dealing with Hee-jae’s antics.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have gotten rid of Sungjae back then.’
In fact, Sungjae would have died a long time ago if it hadn’t been for his mother.
‘To be precise, I should say it was because of that guy’s interference.’
The thought of that guy made the drink taste bitter.
He only knew that he was under disciplinary action, and had not shown his face since.
‘Suho. Where are you hiding?’
Chairman Kang began to show interest in Sungjae two years ago.
He found out that he was going to see Sungjae from time to time, and when he investigated, he found out that he was his biological son.
He had worked hard to find the son who had disappeared with his mother, but it would have been better if he hadn’t found him.
Chairman Kang’s search for Sungjae meant that he intended to make him his successor.
Moreover, the woman who lived with Sungjae…
‘Was it Jegal Seungri?’
He investigated her and found something very interesting.
“Team Leader Cha.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“I think of you as my own son.”
“I also think of you as my father, Chairman.”
“Yes. I’m grateful that you say that. Hahaha.”
‘If he really thought of me as his own son, he wouldn’t have even thought of finding Sungjae.’
In the end, Si-woo knew very well that he was just a supporting role for making his biological son Sungjae the successor.
‘But what to do? I have no intention of being a supporting role.’
A cold smile lingered on his lips as he sipped his drink.
Si-woo, who came out of the Korean restaurant and got into the car, had a much more ruthless look in his eyes than when he was dealing with Chairman Kang.
As soon as the car started, he gave a simple order to his driver, Jang Gi-soo.
“Han Sungjae, kill him.”
His emotionless voice and expression, devoid of any guilt, felt even more cruel.
Even Jang Gi-soo, who was not free from homicidal impulses, felt a chill down his spine.
He watched Si-woo’s expression in the rearview mirror and replied in a stiff voice.
“Understood.”
Jang Gi-soo, who had been willing to pretend to die at his command since meeting Si-woo four years ago.
But he was very nervous because he remembered the incident a year ago when he tried to kill Sungjae but failed because of Suho.
He was afraid that Suho, who had completely disappeared, would appear again.
“Do you know anything about Suho?”
“He must be holed up somewhere. He’s quite proud. He must be feeling guilty about what happened a year ago.”
Si-woo felt a sense of pleasure just thinking about it.
It was the first time he had beaten him, who was once his rival and friend.
“You don’t think he’ll show up again, do you?”
“An innocent person died because of him. It’s unlikely that his disciplinary action will be lifted easily. He’ll never be free until he pays the price for disrupting the order of the human world.”
