An unfathomable emotion, an irresistible attraction that kept drawing his gaze. It was all because he had been ensnared by Yeo Ho Jin.

It was the fault of Yeo Ho Jin, who had proclaimed ‘a romance between men’ with a sinister smile. If he didn’t use the excuse of her being his best friend’s younger sister and junior, how else could he explain these absurd feelings?

“Let’s split this macaron in half and eat it.”

Ra Jin, who had made the judgment of Solomon, stood up from her seat and brought a knife.

“Ji Ho, please cut it. Evenly, in half.”

Suppressing the tickling sensation in his chest, Ji Ho took the silver knife. The macaron resembled a pink full moon. Ji Ho precisely cut off a crescent moon’s worth.

“Oh! What’s this?”

“Ra Jin, you eat more.”

“Do you perhaps dislike sweet things?”

“Let’s just say I want you to enjoy it, Ra Jin.”

Ra Jin blinked her gentle eyes slowly and chuckled. Then, without refusing, she picked up the large macaron.

Was she pleased with his answer?

With a crisp sound, an exclamation of delight was heard, and half of the pink macaron disappeared between her lips. As crumbs the size of small cherry blossom petals scattered, a fingernail-sized tongue swept over her lower lip.

For a moment, Ra Jin’s eyes curved like a crescent moon in the sky.

“Mm. Ji Ho, it’s so delicious.”

Ji Ho stared intently at her wriggling lips. Soon, his nose felt ticklish as if a sneeze would burst out. Even though it wasn’t a cold, he couldn’t understand why this was happening and absolutely couldn’t hold it back.

“Ahem. Is it tasty?”

“Yes. I need to remember this place. It’s not too sweet and it’s delicious.”

Whenever she spoke, a sweet strawberry scent vibrated.

They say eating sweet things puts you in a good mood. Is that why this was happening? Ji Ho put his remaining macaron into his mouth in one bite.

‘Ho Jin, you’re really something.’

Just as the strawberry flavor melted in his mouth and his heart was becoming sweet.

“Oh, by the way, on the way home earlier…”

Ra Jin, who had been munching on the macaron, continued the interrupted story.

“Yu Jun Kim called Department Head Hyun.”

Since Ji Ho already knew about the existence of Department Head Hyun, he just nodded.

“During the call, Department Head Hyun said, ‘Are you referring to Harriet? We’ll handle it with Spirit.'”

Harriet? Spirit was unfamiliar, but Harriet sounded vaguely familiar.

“And?”

“That’s all. But it seemed like an important conversation, so…”

Harriet, Harriet… Harriet? A document flashed through Ji Ho’s mind like a photograph.

He had seen that name in the overseas trading statement of Myungjin Securities in the data. If so, it meant Spirit was similar.

In an instant, Ji Ho’s heart became infinitely urgent.

There were quite a few things that needed to be examined closely in the unprocessed information Ra Jin had brought. Then, Jong Hyuk Oh, who had gone on a business trip, suddenly came to mind.

“Did Jong Hyuk Oh frequently go to the Bahamas?”

“From what I remember, this is the first time. My stepfather often went there.”

“Are you referring to Jung Kyu Oh?”

“Yes. He even took me there before.”

To the Bahamas, where you have to transfer planes several times to reach? Taking his young stepdaughter to a vacation spot?

“When was that?”

“When I was in middle school. Whenever he went on overseas business trips, he always took my mother and me along.”

“Where else did you go? Somewhere rather unique.”

“Hmm… Monaco, Malta, Cyprus, the Virgin Islands.”

They were all places known as tax havens. Although it wasn’t quite tangible, Ji Ho’s eyes trembled fiercely at the highly suspicious circumstances. The flow of money Kim Yu Jun possessed could have a deeper history than he thought.

“Can you tell me about that time in detail?”

“It was so long ago. Ah! My stepfather loved taking photos.”

“Photos?”

“Yes. There are many photos from that time. Should I look at them and tell you?”

“Sounds good.”

Rather than relying on hazy memories, it was better to directly check the photos. Ji Ho’s expectations rapidly rose at this new development.

“But the old albums are placed out of reach.”

“I’ll get them down for you.”

“Then, would you like to come up to my room?”

“!”

Since he had already come to Ra Jin’s house, why couldn’t he go to her room? Despite trying not to attach meaning to it, Ji Ho couldn’t help but be conscious of it.

Still, if he could grasp an important clue, hesitation was a luxury. Ji Ho, who had pressed the pause button, quickly hit the play button.

“Where should I go?”

“Follow me.”

Ji Ho gulped down the lukewarm chrysanthemum tea and abruptly stood up. In an instant, his heart quivered as if he had drunk ice water.

“Come in.”

The first room visible after going up to the second floor. Even before setting foot inside, a refreshing rose scent poured out.

“Excuse me.”

The bedroom Ji Ho entered, following Ra Jin, was as extraordinary as her.

The king-size bed in a square frame, the exotic fabrics. The soft light emanating from the serene wooden stand and the fresh flowers decorating various spots made it seem like a luxurious villa at a famous resort.

“I went abroad for a photo shoot and liked the vibe, so I tried to recreate it. It’s quite chaotic, right?”

“It’s unique and nice.”

Ra Jin smiled brightly while tucking her long hair behind her ear.

“I didn’t want to live alone with Jong Hyuk in a house without my mother, so I became independent.”

Ra Jin muttered as she opened the door to the dressing room next to the bed.

“At that time, Jong Hyuk tried to throw away my mother’s belongings, so I brought them here.”

Ra Jin’s composed voice as she spoke of hating him and her instantly moistened eyes seemed incongruous.

“There, that blue box up there. It’s in there.”

Towards the spot her white finger pointed at, on the shelf encircling the department store-like dressing room, Ji Ho reached out his hand. As he lifted the heavy box from quite a high place, the muscles along his spine fiercely tensed up.

“Where should I put it?”

“This way.”

Following her, he took a seat in front of the round rug.

“Since I need to explain the photos, can you sit next to me?”

“As you wish.”

As he set the box down on the floor, Ra Jin took out a chocolate-colored leather album first.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen this album.”

“When did your mother remarry?”

“When I was in elementary school. Before that, I lived alone with my biological father.”

Ra Jin’s story continued, about how she had come up to Seoul in middle school after her biological father’s death. While listening to her calm upbringing, Ji Ho took in every detail of her in the album without missing a thing.

“The first trip photos… where were they?”

Ra Jin quickly flipped through the pages to find the travel photos.

A little slower, please. The words rose up to Ji Ho’s throat but disappeared with a whoosh. No matter the background, she was smiling in every single photo.

How happy she looked with her sunny face. Just as a smile was forming in response, at that moment.

“Wait! Let me take a closer look.”

“Ah, okay.”

“What are these photos?”

Ji Ho pointed at her travel photos with his finger.

“Oh. These are the photos taken when I first accompanied my stepfather on a business trip.”

“This is the Bahamas, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right. When my stepfather finished work, he would take photos like this.”

When Chairman Kim Ki Tae was arrested, numerous paper companies managed for slush fund purposes caught Ji Ho’s eye.

The signboards of companies and banks, more unfamiliar than familiar. In front of them stood Ra Jin with short hair.

What was Jung Kyu Oh thinking, taking these photos? If it weren’t for the young Ra Jin, they could be submitted as evidence right now with how clearly the company and bank names were shown.

“Is something wrong?”

“May I take photos of these pictures with my phone?”

Ra Jin’s eyes widened at the unusual atmosphere.

“I mean these signboards.”

Ji Ho tapped on the photo covered in vinyl. Then, he explained as if organizing it so she could easily understand.

“These are some of the paper companies that became an issue when the Myungjin Group chairman was arrested.”

“Ah, so that’s why you asked where I had been.”

Ra Jin knew surprisingly little, and unintentionally held a crucial key. Ji Ho found it both fascinating and simultaneously irksome. If it were accidentally exposed, she could be in the most danger.

“Can you tell me about the situation at that time in detail?”

“When my stepfather went to handle business, my mother and I would spend time nearby. Like at a cafe or on a half-day tour.”

“And then?”

“When my stepfather called us to come, he would take commemorative photos like this. Always in front of the company.”

Even after saying it, Ra Jin tilted her head as if it were strange.

The photos taken at places that weren’t even Myungjin’s overseas branches, like traces. It would be a question Ra Jin hadn’t considered at all back then.

“Does Jong Hyuk Oh also have photos like these?”

“I don’t know about before we lived together, but from what I remember, he doesn’t.”

Business trips taken to manage slush funds. Taking the girl who had become a new family member instead of his biological son…

Was there some special meaning to it?

The person to ask was already gone from this world, and only the photos he took remained like a puzzle. The more Ji Ho’s phone camera captured Ra Jin’s photos, the more the girl in the album grew.

The short hair fluttering by her ears grew past her shoulders, and the red one-piece dress that once reached her calves had at some point risen above her knees.

Even in this serious and important situation, Ra Jin’s bare face in the photos was so beautiful that it deserved praise.

“Ah! Would you rather look at my mother’s diary?”

“Diary?”

“My mother was extremely meticulous. She couldn’t throw away a single receipt and wrote down everything.”

Ji Ho was secretly glad to hear there were other records besides the puzzling photos.

“Can I see it?”

Ra Jin nodded and rummaged through the box on her knees.

There were bundles of what seemed like hundreds of letters, diaries of various shapes. And old bankbooks and empty envelopes with different amounts.

There was nothing special, but Ji Ho waited until Ra Jin gave him permission to touch them. He couldn’t carelessly handle items with traces of her ill mother.

“Look at this. My mother was really thorough, right?”

Ra Jin gently caressed the handwriting that looked as neat as if it were printed and the receipts attached at right angles. Then she suddenly chuckled.

“I guess that’s why she got along well with my stepfather. He was even more extreme than her.”

“It seems there’s no diary of Jung Kyu Oh.”

“I don’t know if Jong Hyuk threw it away or has it. Here, look at this first.”

The diary Ra Jin handed him was from summer.

Whether it was a vacation or an accompanying trip for business was unclear, but it had everything from faded plane tickets to in-flight meal menus, and even the business cards of the hotels they stayed at.

It was so detailed that it seemed like reading a travel journal.

Not only the weather but also what sights they saw and how much they spent on meals. Of course, Ra Jin’s mercurial teenage moods were also recorded without fail.

Ji Ho didn’t forget to respond to Ra Jin, who was diligently searching through the box, while turning the diary pages one by one. Suddenly, Ji Ho’s hand stopped with a flinch.

“The first time we went to the Bahamas… The color of the ocean was so pretty… Did you find something?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Ji Ho slightly lowered the diary.

“What is it? Why are you acting like that?”

“It’s really nothing.”

“Did my mother write something strange?”

Ra Jin, who had slightly raised the corners of her mouth, drew close. Ji Ho hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should pretend not to know or tell her honestly.

“Saebit Middle School, 2nd grade, Class 5, Number 37… Park Ra Jin.”

“?”

“Your mid-term report card for the first semester is here.”

As soon as he finished speaking, her body sliced through the air as if lunging forward.