After finishing work, Sung Hun passed through the main building and headed straight to Unseon Hall. The already swept courtyard was clean, and Sung Hun stepped inside, taking off his shoes.

Standing in the middle of the corridor, he looked left and right. As he focused on listening intently, he heard movement from the bedroom area.

As if drawn, Sung Hun stood in front of the bedroom. He opened the door with an urgent touch, like someone with a pressing matter. Then Ji Yeon Woo, who was opening the window, turned around, and Sung Hun stared at her, frozen in place.

“Oh, hello. I mean, welcome back.”

Startled, Ji Yeon Woo lowered her hand from the window and greeted him. As she politely clasped her hands in front and greeted him, Sung Hun stepped into the bedroom.

Flustered that Sung Hun had arrived earlier than expected, Ji Yeon Woo hurriedly finished opening the window. Sung Hun placed his briefcase on a low chair and took off his jacket.

“During the day there’s still a lot of pollen. So I was told to ventilate as late as possible…”

Ji Yeon Woo added, as if caught entering a restricted area. It sounded like an excuse.

Though responsible for ventilating Unseon Hall’s bedroom, study, reception room, and bathroom, encountering Sung Hun in the bedroom was quite uncomfortable.

His subtle scent surrounding the bedroom made the atmosphere even more intimate.

“I’ll be leaving now.”

“Are you well prepared?”

Ji Yeon Woo, who was turning to leave with her gaze fixed on the floor, stopped. As if responding to Sung Hun’s question, she turned towards where he was standing and stood straight.

“Lady Moon prepared the clothes. Is there anything else I should prepare?”

Sung Hun, who had loosened his tie lengthwise, hung it in its place and opened his lips.

“Well. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything in particular to prepare.”

He removed the cufflinks from his sleeve ends and also put them in their place.

“Are you on duty again today?”

He had become a man with unnecessary questions.

“No. Lady Moon told me to leave work early today. She said I have to go in early tomorrow, I received the schedule.”

“I see.”

Then he began unbuttoning his shirt. As Sung Hun’s hands unhesitantly undid the buttons, Ji Yeon Woo flinched and clenched her fists. Due to the angle, the open shirt wasn’t visible, but just watching the act was a tense moment.

Because of her nervousness, she swallowed hard, and the sound seemed like it would be audible to Sung Hun.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be going n-”

“Didn’t you say you were ventilating?”

At the end of her sentence, Sung Hun looked at Ji Yeon Woo. She looked at the open window and nodded with an expression of having completed her task.

“All the windows are open.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I suppose so.”

“…Ah.”

Ji Yeon Woo then noticed a small window that hadn’t been opened. She hurriedly scurried past behind Sung Hun and stood on tiptoe to open the window that was slightly taller than her.

As her heels naturally lifted, Sung Hun glanced at the sight.

When she raised her arms, her fluttering skirt that fell below her knees lifted slightly, and Sung Hun, noticing the skirt rising above her knees, quickly turned his head.

It was the sleek sight of slender, white calves stretched out. Finding his mind disturbed by the skirt hem rising just half a span, Sung Hun couldn’t help but laugh.

Startled by Sung Hun’s sudden laughter, Ji Yeon Woo, who had turned around after opening the window, opened her eyes wide.

“Yes?”

Wondering if she had made some mistake, Ji Yeon Woo responded questioningly, and Sung Hun turned to look at her.

It was ridiculous how pathetically hot his reaction was to her back view, which was nothing more than standing on tiptoe.

Looking quietly at Ji Yeon Woo, whose face clearly said ‘I have no idea why you laughed’, Sung Hun opened his mouth.

“Are you curious? About why I laughed.”

When Sung Hun asked back, Ji Yeon Woo spoke in a businesslike voice.

“No. I’m not curious.”

“Wise of you. If you knew, your mind would be as complicated as mine.”

“…”

“You may go now.”

“Yes. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As soon as the words fell, Ji Yeon Woo brushed past him and left the bedroom. With the sound of the door closing gently, she disappeared, and only then did Sung Hun let out a long sigh.

She had fled like someone escaping. From her hurried gait and uneasy gaze, he could immediately tell how she regarded him.

Becoming agitated over a woman who rushes to get away when faced with him, getting worked up all alone.

“…I’ve gone completely mad.”

Sung Hun’s lips dried in a short time as he spoke with self-mockery. What kind of bastard am I, he seemed to chide himself as he stood still, staring at the open window before closing his eyes tightly.

Worrying about his heartbeat pounding meaninglessly.

*

Saturday morning, Sung Hun set out on a business trip.

Two vehicles moved towards the destination. The car carrying Ji Yeon Woo and the interpreter led the way, and the vehicle carrying Sung Hun followed behind for quite some time.

After driving for a considerable time, they arrived at the hotel. While going through the simple check-in process, Ji Yeon Woo scanned her surroundings as if on guard.

It wasn’t a gaze taking in the grand lobby interior, and from her inability to move freely, uneasiness was palpable.

…She might encounter Cha Yun Seok.

She had been constantly afraid from the moment she left Domyeongje. She couldn’t erase the sense of crisis that she might face Cha Yun Seok somewhere, anytime.

Looking around, Ji Yeon Woo closed her eyes tightly as if giving up.

The hotel lobby, accessible to anyone, felt like the middle of a battlefield with cannons firing and gunshots ringing. It seemed like Cha Yun Seok’s voice might fall on her ears at any moment, approaching close to the nape of her neck.

The thoroughly learned anxiety could only be suppressed within Domyeongje. The belief, almost like a blind faith, that Domyeongje was safe had made her breathing calm.

From the moment she got in the car, she had been clinging to thoughts of wanting to return to Domyeongje, and now standing alone in a space where countless unfamiliar people moved about, her legs began to tremble.

She thought she had gotten better in the past few days. She thought the days of being tormented by Cha Yun Seok felt like the distant past, no, like a dream.

In the end, it was clear she hadn’t escaped from the fear at all.

Her breath came in short gasps, as if struggling in deep water. Her ears felt blocked, making her own breathing sound loud. Extreme fear clung to her, as if the people passing calmly through the lobby couldn’t see her dying.

She was in the midst of a battle with herself that she couldn’t hope to understand or explain. As she stood still, gasping for breath she couldn’t handle—

Someone tapped her shoulder, and Ji Yeon Woo turned around with a violently startled reaction. Her breath was already rough, as if she had just finished a 100-meter sprint, and cold sweat had formed on her forehead.

“Are you alright?”

Sung Hun asked, looking carefully at her frightened face. Ji Yeon Woo slowly nodded her head, swallowing the saliva that had gathered in her mouth.

“Yes.”

She barely managed to answer.

“I called but you didn’t hear.”

“I’m sorry.”

Her violently startled heart showed no signs of calming. Ji Yeon Woo nodded her head several times, pushing out the fear she had built up inside with her breath.

Sung Hun, who had been staring intently at Ji Yeon Woo, who seemed unstable somehow, held out the key card. Ji Yeon Woo extended both hands, and after looking at her trembling hands, Sung Hun handed over the key card.

“You don’t look well.”

“No, it’s not that. I was sleeping in the car and just woke up. I’m a bit disoriented.”

Ji Yeon Woo made excuses with a face that seemed not to know what she was babbling about.

Sung Hun looked at Ji Yeon Woo like this and gave up on the questions piling up.

“There’s still time, go up and rest.”

“Yes. I understand.”

It was something unimaginable. The fact that she, having left Domyeongje, was fighting with the fear that had engulfed her body.

*

Sung Hun, who had been handling minor tasks while staying in the room, heard news that the French officials would arrive in two hours.

As he took off the glasses he had been wearing and rubbed between his brows, Sung Hun looked down at his mobile phone. He needed to inform Ji Yeon Woo about the meeting time, but he wouldn’t know her phone number.

Recalling the room number, Sung Hun picked up the provided telephone. After connecting the call to her room, he leaned back in the chair.

“Are you preparing?”

Sung Hun asked as soon as Ji Yeon Woo answered the phone.

─ Yes, Executive Director. I’m preparing.

“We have about two hours left. Prepare without any issues.”

─ Yes. I understand.

While staying separately in the room, Sung Hun found himself thinking of Ji Yeon Woo from time to time. The image of her standing in the lobby with a pale face as if she might collapse at any moment wouldn’t leave his mind.

So, is she okay now? Has she gotten better if she was sick?

“Alright. Let’s meet in the lobby in two hours.”

─ Yes. I understand.

Listening to her dry, parrot-like repetitive answers made his chest feel tight. But the questions lingering in his mind weren’t easy to ask either.

With nothing left to say and only needing to end the call, his fingers moved awkwardly. Then—

─ Um, Executive Director.

She called out in a small voice. Sung Hun, who had been leaning back in his chair, straightened his posture.

“Speak.”

─ Uh, well, I tried on the clothes Lady Moon prepared, but…

He couldn’t predict what she would say next.

─ But no matter how I look at it, these clothes…

“…”

─ I’m not sure if this is really okay…

Sung Hun quickly stood up.

“I’ll come now.”

─ Ah.

“Wait.”

─ Yes.

As soon as he heard her voice giving permission, Sung Hun left the room. Without using the elevator, he used the emergency stairs to go down to the floor where Ji Yeon Woo was, and walked down the corridor according to the room location.

Arriving in front of Ji Yeon Woo’s room located one floor below, Sung Hun knocked on the door without much hesitation.

In fact, rather than being curious about the clothes, the thought that he had found an excuse to meet her was dominant.

Knock knock. After knocking, unable to wait calmly, he spoke.

“It’s Nam Sung Hun. Open up.”

He was in such a hurry that he introduced himself before she could open the door. At the same time as thinking he’d like this door to open soon, he also became curious about what kind of face she would be making.

This behavior of his didn’t seem normal.

Is he finally going mad from being overworked? All sorts of thoughts came to him as he stood in front of the closed door.