It had long since grown into one of the country’s most prominent private financial firms, having started out as a loan shark organization — but that was only the surface.
Illegal activity still occurred frequently. That was Choi Woo-hyuk’s domain. He had been born with the intelligence and physical ability befitting an alpha, and his innate disposition was one of emotional detachment. That detachment shifted into cruelty depending on the moment and the person. At other times, it functioned as the drive behind swift judgment and clean execution.
But no matter how naturally suited one’s character was to this kind of life, the prolonged tedium of daily routine had eventually worn Choi Woo-hyuk down. That was why he had come to Cheongun Island — a place he’d never had any interest in. To take a proper, extended rest for once.
Without a word, Choi Woo-hyuk pulled the pack of cigarettes from his pocket and held it out. It was his way of saying the other man could have one too, if he wanted.
“I’m fine.”
“Then go inside.”
“…….”
“You’re irritating.”
At the brief reply, the subordinate stepped back one pace behind Choi Woo-hyuk. He seemed intent on waiting until he finished his cigarette regardless.
Hanging from his lips was a cigarette not even half burned through. Already at his feet lay five crushed and discarded stubs.
A sixth stub was added to the pile. Choi Woo-hyuk had been about to leave when he turned, as if remembering something. His gaze stretched long and drifted down to the ground. The ashtray fragments Yi-won had dropped and left behind glinted in the glow of the streetlamp.
“While you’re out here, call someone to clean that up. Someone’ll get hurt.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That too.”
He gestured with his chin toward the clean ashtrays stacked on the trolley. It wasn’t just one ashtray he’d shattered — Yi-won had left the whole lot behind. Choi Woo-hyuk turned and let out a quiet laugh. He thought that maybe it hadn’t been startled flight at all — maybe that had simply been a full-on escape.
“I’ll head in first.”
Honestly, it’s a bother. But he had to properly set the stage for the one who had been waiting with his neck stretched out for him. The man wouldn’t want Choi Woo-hyuk lingering too long at the table anyway. That was the only way he’d be able to indulge himself freely before heading back to the mainland.
“I’ll wrap things up and be right in.”
He only raised a hand in response to the subordinate’s voice from behind. The hand with the grotesque scar across the back arched like a wave.
No matter how long he’d lived on the island, Yi-won had never even glimpsed Unsol-chae from a distance — he’d only ever heard about it. The closer he got, the darker it became as the pine forest closed in around him, and the closer he drew to the gate blocking the entrance, the more enormous the villa beyond it seemed.
Seen from a distance, the building was like a dead space — not a single point of light. As if it had no intention of letting anyone look in or being noticed at all, there wasn’t even the minimal lighting that would illuminate the surrounding area.
Which meant the moment the villa’s lights came on, it would be the only light in this entire darkness. That big, so that bright, probably. Yi-won’s innocent chain of thought cut off there. Partly by his own will, partly not.
“What. Are you the cleaner?”
Someone materializing out of the dark stepped into Yi-won’s path. And as if by magic, minimal lighting around the villa began switching on one by one.
“They sent a girl. Are you the cleaner, I said.”
Yi-won, frozen stiff at the threatening tone, could only blink. An enormous frame and a menacing face made even more imposing by the light behind them. Scary. And he smells.
The closer the man came, the stronger the stench of stale cigarettes. It was foul enough to bring to mind a mountain of cigarette butts packed like a snow-white hedgehog’s quills.
“……Yes. Hello.”
“Voice sounds like someone with a dick, at least.”
Yi-won bowed in greeting while the man raked his gaze from head to toe a second time. Even in the brief moment it took to straighten back up, the man’s skeptical stare clung on like a leech.
“How old are you?”
“Sorry?”
“I said how old are you.”
“Tw-twenty.”
“A little shit. An actual little shit. Good lord…….”
What is this, someone who gave up washing halfway through, or rolled around in the dirt on his way here. Scraggly little thing, looking like that. The man clicked his tongue at Yi-won’s appearance and furrowed his brow.
Yi-won didn’t register himself — jacket abandoned somewhere, dressed in worn-out sweats and bare feet in slippers, grimy from cleaning guest rooms through the night without a wink of sleep. He had always looked like this.
“But I clean well…….”
“If you can’t do the job, you can go die.”
The man mocked him, mimicking his tone. Yi-won nearly had the nerve to pout. He was caught off guard, too. He’d assumed the villa caretaker would be someone from the island he knew — naturally, as a matter of course.
“Two hours is enough, right?”
Two hours. As winter drew closer, the sun rose later. Still, it meant finishing before sunrise. A villa this seemingly enormous — alone — and within two hours. Was it even possible to clean it all?
But he had to do it. It didn’t take any great perceptiveness to realize that. It was simply survival instinct.
“Yes, I’ll do my best. I’ll work hard.”
“Follow me.”
He followed the man through the gate. The dragging of his slippers was too loud. Yi-won bit his lip and curled his toes, trying to muffle the sound. He walked with all his focus on his feet alone — and by the time the sensation in his cramping toes had grown distant and gone numb, the man came to an abrupt stop in front of the few steps leading up to the entrance.
“For today, just get the interior done. Replacement bedding is in the last room on the second floor, sort that out yourself.”
“Yes.”
“Finish before the Executive Director arrives, no exceptions. If you drag it out and he catches you, you’re dead. And obviously, if you don’t finish cleaning before then — you’re dead too.”
Get in. With that final threat, the man shoved Yi-won forward and Yi-won stepped up onto the stairs. He nearly tripped from not being able to see properly, but thankfully nothing happened.
The front door was unlocked. When he pushed it open and stepped inside, he was met with air even colder than outside. It wasn’t merely a matter of upkeep or heating — it was the absence of any human warmth.
The entrance sensor made the wall-mounted switch easy enough to find. Since there would be no time to figure out which switch controlled which lights, he turned them all on. With blazingly bright light, the entire interior revealed itself.
“Wow…….”
A massive chandelier blazed from a ceiling so high he had to crane his neck all the way back to see it. The interior, done in natural wood and white tones, had a clean yet warm atmosphere.
But the pervasive smell of old dust didn’t belong. Yi-won hurried to open the large floor-to-ceiling windows he could see, then found the cleaning supplies gathered in a corner and began beating the settled dust out of everything.
The bathroom he found when looking for somewhere to rinse his mop was wider than any of the guest rooms he’d been cleaning all night. He filled the sink, rinsed out the mop, wrung it tight, and wiped down everything within reach.
He moved quickly on legs rolled up past the knee. He cleaned the first-floor living room and bathroom, two bedrooms, and the kitchen. The second floor looked to be the actual living space — a wide bedroom with an attached bathroom. The dressing room, which had only a suitcase in it, didn’t need much cleaning.
“Oh right, I was supposed to change the bedding.”
Yi-won opened the narrowest door at the very end and collected the replacement linens. Moving continuously like this had even chased away his sleepiness. Without a spare moment to yawn, he changed the bedding, grabbed one extra set just in case, and left the second floor.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”
He hadn’t been able to straighten his back even once. Time had flowed with merciless speed. Without realizing it, there was now less than thirty minutes left of the two hours the man had given him. He hurried down the stairs leading to the basement.
“Whoa……. This is, too…….”
He had expected a storage room, but it was an open space with only minimal partition walls. Unlike the first floor, it was fitted out entirely in black, with one wall completely covered in a projection screen and a bed-style sofa large enough for several people to lie across without running out of room.
The few light fixtures there changed color with each touch. Yellow, then red. Shifting to a soft violet, then switching to a white so blinding it hurt to look at.
