# Chapter 53
“How nervous must they be? Or maybe not? Maybe this kind of thing doesn’t bother them at all? If so, that’s pitiful in its own way. I wonder what kind of life they must have lived to be like that. I prefer to be around people who have normal reactions, who get scared in frightening situations and become cowardly when terrified.”
Then Mom smiled at me.
“Let’s go now. To our home.”
“Yes, Mom.”
We headed to that place, which was still our home, though I didn’t know how long we’d stay there.
* * *
“That’s strange. Why do things keep disappearing?”
Mom was in a bad mood from the morning.
The helpers who arrived early in the morning asked what she was looking for as she went around the house saying the same thing, clearly concerned.
“My earrings. You know the star-shaped Isx** product? The ones I often wear.”
“Ma’am, aren’t those in the drawer of the bedroom vanity?”
The person who said that was Han Jeongmi.
Something she shouldn’t know.
Words that shouldn’t have come from her mouth had slipped out.
Mom looked at her with bewilderment.
“How do you know that? I clearly remember telling everyone not to enter the bedroom. I said I would clean my bedroom and Seomin’s bedroom myself, and that no one should enter them under any circumstances, didn’t I?”
“No, that’s… You seemed so troubled about not remembering where they were, so I just offered my thoughts. It’s a common furniture arrangement, isn’t it? Keeping important items in the bedroom vanity drawer. Besides, people usually keep frequently used accessories there.”
“You’re good with words.”
“I’m not good with words, it’s just common sense, Ma’am.”
“Even if that’s true, I can’t trust you, Ms. Han Jeongmi. And the same goes for the people who came here with you. So please leave now. I’m already on edge because things keep disappearing, and I don’t want to be troubled by people on top of that.”
“Ma’am, that’s absurd. We haven’t done anything wrong, so why are you doing this?”
“I’ll pay you for all the work you’ve done, including this month’s wages, so just accept that. If you refuse to leave or still think this is unfair, you can call the police. I think that would be better for me too, as I want to resolve this cleanly.”
“…”
I was supposed to go to work but hadn’t left yet.
I had already contacted them to say I would go directly to my field assignment from home.
From now on, I planned to use my time as preciously as possible.
“What’s going on, Mom? If something strange is happening, we should call the police right away. If we let this kind of thing slide, it could become an issue later. They might agree to let it go now but say something different later.”
As I started dialing on my smartphone, Han Jeongmi’s face turned white, and she rushed over to me.
“You, you don’t need to call. I understand. I’ll do as you say. I can quit and leave, so why are you calling the police? If the police come for something like this, we’ll be suspected of being thieves and have trouble finding jobs in the future.”
“All the more reason to be thoroughly investigated and prove your innocence.”
I looked at her as I made the call and requested police dispatch.
The helpers who had been working gathered around one by one.
They seemed to realize that things were turning serious.
“Ms. Han Jeongmi. I think I saw you entering the madam’s bedroom before. Shouldn’t you tell them now? Don’t make the rest of us innocent people get treated the same way.”
As one person stepped forward with those words, similar testimonies came from here and there.
I realized they were trying to cut her loose.
Thinking they were all accomplices and had probably searched our house repeatedly when we were gone, gathering information about us, I watched as they grew anxious.
Han Jeongmi, seeming to grasp the situation, suddenly began nodding her head frantically.
“That’s right. I did it. They were beautiful and I just… I knew I wasn’t supposed to go in, but I wanted them so badly. I’m sorry.”
“Where are they? Getting them back is what’s most important to me. They have great meaning to me. If you just return them, I can forgive you and call the police back to tell them the issue is resolved. So please give them back.”
I was impressed by my mom’s acting.
She had never actually lost them.
They had been safely in Mom’s bag all along.
We just wanted to know if the house staff were really under my uncle’s influence, and that’s why all this was happening.
It was then that Han Jeongmi’s face became even more uncomfortable.
The others looked at Han Jeongmi with pressuring faces, as if urging her to hand them over quickly.
They were interesting people too.
Did they not know it wasn’t something Han Jeongmi had done?
Or had they actually stolen Mom’s things like that before?
I continued watching, not knowing how the situation would escalate.
If Mom had been alone, these people might have suddenly turned on her.
Before the police arrived, Han Jeongmi suddenly grabbed her bag and ran away, and the other helpers did the same.
We explained the situation to the two police officers who arrived, and they examined every corner of the house with serious faces.
“Ah, wait. This…”
When one of them approached a flowerpot and spoke, I had to try hard to hide the smile forming on my face.
If my uncle was watching this scene right now, how shocked would he be?
How surprised he must have been that the police found a camera he hadn’t ordered to be installed.
The incident from early dawn must have already been reported to my uncle by Kang Jiyoung, and they were likely closely monitoring our house situation.
“This… looks like a camera? Did you two install it?”
The police officer asked after finding a small camera that had been secretly installed in the flowerpot.
It seemed carefully hidden, but could be found if examined closely.
They had discovered a camera hidden as if for voyeurism.
Mom shouted in a shocked, agitated voice.
“What is that? We would never install something like that! My goodness!! What on earth has been going on? Was it them? The helpers?”
“We’re not sure about that either. We’ll need to investigate further. There might be more than just this one.”
With a surprised face, I paced around and then said.
“Could this be one too?”
One more was found in the TV, another in a picture frame, and the police seemed to realize this wasn’t a simple matter.
“May I have your names, please?”
They asked Mom and me, and I answered them.
“Kang Seomin. Chairman Kang Youngsu of Seyoung Group is my grandfather.”
“…!!”
Tension filled their eyes.
The atmosphere suggested they sensed this wasn’t just an ordinary incident.
* * *
On our way back from meeting Noona at a café, we saw a car following us.
They were sending strange signals, and I thought they might be people sent by Grandfather, so I slowed down.
Then the car passed by us, and during that brief moment, the window rolled down, and I saw Grandfather inside.
He raised his hand, signaling me to follow him.
Though it was strange, I followed the car anyway.
The time was past 4 o’clock.
Following like that, the car entered the basement of a building, and that’s where I met Grandfather.
Grandfather got into our car and greeted Mom.
“It’s been a while.”
Mom greeted him, and Grandfather spoke to me as if he had no time to waste.
“I’ve found trustworthy people. They should be at your house now. They’re going to make some adjustments. They’ll cause a temporary power outage, make all surveillance cameras malfunction, and install new cameras.”
And Grandfather told me to use that to uncover what my uncle had been doing.
Hearing those words, I was dumbfounded.
I suddenly felt like I was getting caught up in something strange.
“If he’s installed such things in your house, he probably has dozens of weapons in his hands to wring your neck by now. Isn’t it too unfair if you’re the only one suffering? From now on, you should counterattack. You need to have similar weapons in your hands to fight fairly. If you’re going to fight, I won’t stop you, but it should at least be fair.”
Grandfather told me where the new cameras would be installed.
He said the electricity would be restored quickly enough to avoid suspicion, and that was what had happened during the night.
I decided not to go to work that day.
There were a few urgent matters to handle, so after Mom and I received a package and loaded the box into the car, we left the house.
We hurried to secure a place to stay for a while and prepare for the move.
Among various conditions, the highest priority was immediate occupancy, and we prepared to move to a place that met that condition.
