At the same time, a text message arrived with a ding. The address that arrived was somewhere in the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, among a cluster of abandoned factory complexes.
Yeohwi gripped his phone tightly until his hands turned white.
It could be a trap. No, the probability of it being a trap was high. Gye Sanghoon was a fraud. A criminal. He shouldn’t be trusted. He needed to tell Dowon. He had to inform him right away. Because he was Seong Yeohwi’s husband and currently his only family.
Yeohwi pulled out his smartphone with trembling hands. He called Dowon right away.
“Please answer.”
He knew Dowon was extremely busy. He might not even be able to check that he’d been contacted. But just in case.
Ring, ring. The dial tone continued for a long time. But as expected, it didn’t connect.
-I can’t take your call right now…….
“Haah……”
Yeohwi anxiously paced the living room. He bit his nails and repeatedly wrote and erased texts. How should he say it? Where should he start explaining? He wrote emotionally without order, then erased the rambling parts and refined the sentences.
Dowon-ssi, you’re busy, right? Sorry for disturbing you.
But I got a contact from Executive Director Gye. That person I mentioned before.
21:47
Sent.
1 minute, 2 minutes. There was no reply. The silence terrifyingly strangled Yeohwi’s throat.
He says there’s Grandfather’s real will, and also my parents’ accident records. Of course it seems like a lie, but he says it’ll be disposed of after midnight today. Executive Director Gye will also leave Korea tonight.
21:55
Can I go out? I’m actually a little scared.
21:56
I’m scared to go alone, can you come with me, Dowon-ssi? That won’t be possible, right?
21:59
Dowon-ssi, are you very busy right now? Can’t you receive contact?
22:07
I’ll call you. Please answer. Please.
22:15
The 1 didn’t disappear. He tried calling, but it was the same—no connection.
Time flowed rapidly like an hourglass. There wasn’t much time left until midnight. It was uncertain whether he could make it to the Gyeonggi outskirts in time even if he left now.
‘Forget it. Let’s just forget it. There probably won’t be anything anyway. And even if there is something, I can’t trust it. There’s no law saying Executive Director Gye who betrayed once can’t do it twice. It’s all probably a staged scam.’
But…… what if it’s real?
What if Executive Director Gye really was wrongly framed?
What if this was the only chance to know the truth about his parents’ death, to solve the mystery of his life? If he missed this, he might have to live in regret for the rest of his life.
Yeohwi called Dowon again.
This time too, it didn’t connect.
Even as missed call records piled up, there was no answer. Dowon was at war right now, busy enough not to be reachable. Should he burden such a person with this personal, unverified matter?
‘……I have to go. I’ll send Dowon-ssi my location by text.’
Yeohwi, having made his decision, bit the inside of his mouth. He tasted the fishy flavor of blood.
Dowon had said it. Why do you want so many things? If he wanted to be recognized as a partner who could stand by his side, shouldn’t he cut off his own past himself? And more than anything, he wanted to verify the truth about his grandfather and parents with his own eyes.
Yeohwi, who had grabbed his jacket and put it on, pressed his cap down low and headed for the entrance. Mrs. Park, who had been coming out of the kitchen, looked at him with surprised eyes.
“Oh my, young master. Where are you going in this rain?”
“Ma’am.”
Yeohwi hesitated before opening his mouth. He didn’t feel like making up an excuse with a lie.
“There’s…… a person called Executive Director Gye, and there was a bit of a problem with our family before. That person contacted me.”
“What? What problem?”
“Actually……”
Yeohwi explained the circumstances before and after while looking at Mrs. Park with anxious eyes.
“But suddenly he contacted me saying it was all a misunderstanding, that it was false. He says he’s taking a boat and leaving Korea today. He says there’s Grandfather’s real will so I should come check it before it’s disposed of, but I can’t reach Dowon-ssi……”
“……Chairman Seong’s will, then that’s an important matter.”
Mrs. Park seemed to contemplate for a moment. Because she cared for and worried about Yeohwi, her concerned feelings came first. Nevertheless, seeing Yeohwi’s earnest and desperate eyes, she couldn’t stop him.
“Then you should go see.”
Mrs. Park sighed and straightened Yeohwi’s clothes.
“Leave it to me and go. I’ll try to go find the Director and tell him now.”
“Re-really? You’ll go to Dowon-ssi?”
“Yes. I know the Director is frantically busy with company work, but taking care of family is equally important. If he focuses on only one thing and loses the other, my heart will ache. At least he should know what situation young master Yeohwi is in.”
“Ma’am…… Thank you so much. I feel like I’m always indebted to you. How can I repay all this?”
“Oh my, what repayment. I’m grateful to the young master. Without the young master, this house, Director Do…… So hurry and go. Make sure to take an umbrella.”
Only then did Yeohwi bow his head in relief.
A taxi he had already called was waiting in front of the gate. Leaving Mrs. Park’s send-off behind, Yeohwi opened his umbrella and plunged into the rain. After getting in the taxi and heading to the destination, his heart beat violently. It was as if a great commotion too difficult to handle had occurred.
The taxi started off splashing rainwater, and the mansion became distant from view.
And someone inside a black van parked behind an alley across the street was photographing and recording Yeohwi’s departing figure.
It was a minion Do Jingyu had planted.
A man wearing sunglasses and a mask reported into a walkie-talkie in a low voice.
“Target confirmed. Departed.”
***
An abandoned factory complex in the Gyeonggi outskirts. In the pitch-black darkness without a single streetlight, the sound of rain hitting the rusted roof noisily pierced eardrums. It was like the screams of thousands of needles pouring down.
As soon as Seong Yeohwi got out of the taxi, he stepped into muddy sludge. Cold raindrops burrowed into his collar and cooled his skin, but his burning insides wouldn’t cool down.
The watch on his wrist pointed to 11:40 PM.
Midnight. The time remaining until the permanent disposal deadline Executive Director Gye mentioned was only 20 minutes.
‘……Where is it?’
Yeohwi, who had entered the building at the designated address, turned on his phone’s flashlight.
Each time the white beam of light cut through the darkness, hideously abandoned press machines and mountain-like piles of industrial waste popped out like ghosts.
‘There’s nothing like a storage locker.’
Yeohwi gasped. The smell of moisture-laden mold and the fishy smell of metal burrowed into his nose.
But right then.
Click. Along with a creepy shutter sound in the pitch-black darkness, a dazzling flash burst.
At the unexpectedly bright flash, Yeohwi reflexively raised his arm to cover his eyes.
“Oh my, our son. You’ve worked hard coming all this way in this terrible weather.”
Someone walked out slowly from the shadows behind a massive concrete pillar.
“Who……”
At first he didn’t recognize him.
Because in Yeohwi’s memory, he had always been in a neat suit, the image of a respectful butler.
But the man who appeared now had matted hair stuck to his forehead as if unwashed for days, and from his old jumper emanated the strong smell of cigarettes. Above all, the greed-gleaming eyes beneath his sunken eye sockets made him look like a strange monster.
“Ah.”
Right. He could barely recognize him. It was Gye Sanghoon.
‘Why is Executive Director Gye, who said he was going to Incheon Port, here?’
“The will……? Where did you hide it? The accident records.”
Yeohwi asked, gasping for breath. Wet bangs obscured his vision, so he roughly swept them up with his hand.
“The will?”
Gye Sanghoon giggled with yellowed teeth showing, and sent the photo of Yeohwi he had just taken to someone. The screen light illuminated his meanly distorted smile with a bluish tinge.
“Oh my, Yeohwi-ya. How are you going to survive in this scary world being so naive?”
