That person who was on the radio earlier?

That prosecutor Kang Ji Ho who is said to be in charge of the Myeongjin Group investigation this time?

Even though it was someone whose face I didn’t know, only heard on the radio, and could even be someone with the same name. Somehow it felt like it was him. Of course, I couldn’t be certain.

The man’s sharp, blade-like gaze, the atmosphere that seemed to pierce through at once, was like that.

Is this how it feels when you unexpectedly run into a celebrity? To Park Ra Jin, the man standing behind her felt like an illusion.

‘It seems like it’s him… Or is it not?’

The man standing upright and making eye contact did not ask why she was staring. He just sent a quiet gaze while keeping his phone to his ear.

“Ms. Ra Jin!”

At the end of the long hallway, a nurse pushing a medicine cart waved her hand vigorously.

In that moment, the tense eye contact with him was suddenly broken.

“No, it’s fine.”

The man’s deep eyes swept over Ra Jin’s face as he continued his call. Then he turned first towards the emergency exit.

An encounter with a man of unknown identity.

Even though there was no reason to ask his name or give her contact information. Ra Jin felt a strange feeling from the gaze met in midair.

It’s not like she was suddenly filming a drama, what was she doing out of nowhere. Ra Jin smiled wryly at the amusing thought. Then she turned her head, parting with the man’s retreating figure.

“Nurse Kim.”

“The night caregiver has already arrived.”

Exchanging friendly greetings with the attending nurse, she hurried her steps.

Slide.

Through the open gap of the sliding door, a pale face devoid of any hint of blood came into view.

“Mom.”

“You’re here.”

Ra Jin held her mother Jin Ok’s hand while making small talk with the caregiver. But the lifeless face brushed off Ra Jin’s hand as if uninterested.

“Mom, it’s me, Ra Jin.”

“…”

“What did you eat for dinner today? Hm?”

The moment Ra Jin stroked her mother’s disheveled hair, a hand like a dry branch ‘smacked’ Ra Jin.

It was such a fierce swat that Ra Jin’s white wrist turned red. Though it was clearly her wrist that stung, a large gash was carved in Ra Jin’s heart.

“Oh my, why are you doing that again to your precious daughter?”

“It’s alright, ma’am.”

Ra Jin smiled as she lowered her hand.

A late-night traffic accident on the way back from her stepfather’s hometown.

That was the beginning of all misfortune.

An accident caused by her mother who took the wheel in place of her stepfather who had a drink. Her stepfather died on the spot and only her mother survived.

Was it guilt over her stepfather’s death, or an escape from cruel reality? After waking up following several brain surgeries, her mother had become a completely different person.

“I had a cosmetics photoshoot today and it was so tiring. Want to see the pictures?”

“Park Ki Young, I don’t want to see your face.”

“I do take after Dad a lot. But I’m Lee Jin Ok’s daughter.”

No matter how much she pushed her away, or spewed harsh curses at her for resembling her father, she was her only family. Even though the relationship with her father had come to an end, she had more than fulfilled her role as a mother. Because there were many happy memories with her mother, she could endure this kind of forced behavior.

“Our relationship ended long ago. Get out before Jung Kyu elder brother comes, right now!”

“Stepfather is…”

The words to just forget him wouldn’t come out.

Because she couldn’t make her mother, who was wandering somewhere in the past, cry. But her mother cried like a child, desperately calling her stepfather’s name. At times like this, who was it that really wanted to cry? Ra Jin bit her lip hard.

“You’re being especially difficult today to someone tired from work.”

“Mom, listen to me for a bit.”

Ra Jin grabbed her mother’s hand again, as if soothing a fussy child.

“Let go! I told you I’m sick of you.”

Her mother, who had difficulty controlling her impulses, roughly shoved Ra Jin.

In that moment, Ra Jin staggered and hit her thigh on the corner of the table. Whether it was her leg or her heart that throbbed painfully bringing tears to her eyes. Ra Jin’s vision blurred.

“I don’t need any of it. Just call Jung Kyu elder brother for me.”

Mother is sick. Very, very sick. Ra Jin calmed her shaken heart as if reciting a mantra.

But even while knowing well that her mother was sick, for a moment she felt lost like an abandoned child.

Her mother who used to whisper ‘I love you’ every day was clearly there, but why was this mother who was just a shell left behind so cruel? Her mother who had lost her memory because of someone already dead, yet only remembered that person. Ra Jin’s chest tightened.

‘She can’t even remember our real dad who passed away.’

Something hot welled up in Ra Jin’s throat. Trying to somehow suppress her despairing heart, she held up her pinky finger.

“I’ll call elder brother to come quickly. Promise.”

“Lies. You only open your mouth to tell more lies!”

Her mother, who changed suddenly in an instant, screamed and gasped for breath. Her lips quickly turned pale blue and her limbs began to stiffen.

A seizure coming as an aftereffect of brain surgery, Ra Jin quickly looked for her phone first.

“Elder brother! Please come to the hospital. Hurry!”

“Jin Ok. I told you I got transferred overseas so I can’t come often.”

Oh Jong Hyuk, her stepbrother, spoke casually in a slick tone. Ra Jin closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to face that sight.

Her mother’s seizure had led to hyperventilation, and Oh Jong Hyuk appeared at a truly dangerous moment.

“I’ll write to you often.”

Whether it was because of the sedative or because she met Oh Jong Hyuk who resembled her stepfather so much. Her mother had become like a gentle lamb.

To think that even an only child was helpless in the face of a mother’s intense love. A despairing laugh escaped.

“I don’t want to show you my back. It’s time to sleep now, Jin Ok.”

Her mother smiled broadly and slowly closed her eyes. Oh Jong Hyuk patted the back of her mother’s hand and whispered to Ra Jin.

“Come out. Let’s talk.”

The outdoor garden of the ward with only single rooms and VIP rooms.

The spring night after sunset was cold and harsh like a mother who wouldn’t stay by her side.

“Anyway, you have no shame. Who caused Dad to die, yet you come and go as you please.”

“That was an accident.”

“Dad said to stay the night, but your mom insisted. Said she had to take you to your precious academy.”

Oh Jong Hyuk’s eyes glinted as if asking ‘Is that still an accident?’

An accident caused by chance, and responsibility.

If one were to question that, then as Oh Jong Hyuk said, it would be an unforgivable sin. Ra Jin lowered her head as if resigned. That sin that doesn’t diminish no matter how much you try to repay it, does it even have an end?

For a moment, Ra Jin’s heart felt heavy.

“No need for many words. Marry the Executive Director.”

“What marriage with Kim Yu Jun.”

“You! What’s with Kim Yu Jun, Kim Yu Jun. The Executive Director isn’t your friend.”

Oh Jong Hyuk’s blind loyalty towards Kim Yu Jun. Ra Jin’s shoulders trembled at the sight.

How he grovels like that. Since her stepfather was no different from Myeongjin’s butler, perhaps Oh Jong Hyuk sees him as young master.

“Hah… Ra Jin.”

“…”

“This elder brother is forgetting his resentment towards you two and trying to make you the mistress of Myeongjin Group.”

Oh Jong Hyuk gnashed his teeth as he pulled down his tie knot.

“From drama planning to production, the company can’t run without the Executive Director’s support.”

“Just get to the point.”

“I’m saying don’t upset the one holding the purse strings. Hah, you keep doing this even though you know the Executive Director’s temperament.”

A sardonic laugh burst out towards Oh Jong Hyuk who was pointing fingers as if she was pathetic. Who’s really the pathetic one here?

“Don’t tell me you’re acting like this because you haven’t spent the night with Kim Yu Jun?”

“You’re going to marry the Executive Director anyway. Why be so stingy?”

It was as if someone had pressed a detonation button, Ra Jin’s heart crumbled.

She should have cut ties with Oh Jong Hyuk, who was a stranger, when her stepfather passed away. But she didn’t have the presence of mind because of her mother who was hovering between life and death.

She’d done as much as she could until now, what more could she do? It wasn’t enough to control her through work, now even marriage? She wanted to demand if her life didn’t matter at all.

But the guilt towards her stepfather that invisibly choked her. The relationship with Oh Jong Hyuk who was the only cure for her mother’s seizures, the complicated company circumstances. As dirty and despicable as it was, she just couldn’t break off this terrible relationship. Truly like a fool.

“Myeongjin will be investigated by the prosecution.”

“So?”

“You’ve come this far thanks to the Executive Director’s grace. Not only are you not helping, you really have no sense of gratitude.”

The Executive Director’s grace? Is he really crazy? Ra Jin let out a rough breath, dumbfounded.

“Whether Kim Yu Jun gets investigated or goes to jail, what does that have to do with me?”

Oh Jong Hyuk, leaning crookedly on the railing, shook his head.

“Just know that if the Executive Director gets investigated, it’ll be trouble for us too.”

“What do you mean?”

“No need to know the details.”

She vaguely guessed that large sums of money were exchanged between Kim Yu Jun under the pretext of drama production and investment. But if it’s to the extent of being in trouble with a prosecution investigation, that means they’re in the same boat. Just what kind of business were the two of them up to?

Just thinking about it made Ra Jin’s head throb.

“He said he’ll wrap things up soon with Hasung Group’s Director Jin Jae Yi. So you focus on the Executive Director.”

“If I do what Kim Yu Jun wants. Will he give any attention to prey he’s already caught?”

The moment she added for him to think about it as a fellow man, Oh Jong Hyuk’s mouth that had been chattering away suddenly closed.

“It’s not too late for you two to break off the engagement and become a serious couple.”

“…”

“Is there perhaps a reason to hurry?”

She slipped a bit of unease into Oh Jong Hyuk’s quick-calculating mind.

What if she said she’d find another chaebol instead of Kim Yu Jun? She wanted to say anything to buy some time somehow.

While Ra Jin was considering alternatives, Oh Jong Hyuk clutched his forehead and spat out a short curse.

“Ah, shit. Just until the prosecution investigation is over.”

“What?”

“Once the Executive Director’s headache is resolved and he formally breaks off the engagement. That’s when you actively jump into marriage, got it?”

She wanted to punch Oh Jong Hyuk in the mouth as he coached such shameless methods. Even if he’s a stepbrother, is this something to say? But ignoring was the answer to bullshit.

“Everything becomes easier if you just change your mind.”

“…”

“At least know that you marrying into Myeongjin is the way for you to apologize to me.”

Ra Jin chose silence instead of answering.

Oh Jong Hyuk, seeming pleased with Ra Jin’s docile attitude, only poured out what he wanted to say before leisurely turning away. Along with an admonition not to call him for such trivial matters.

As the door clicked shut, Ra Jin pushed out a hot breath towards the dark sky.

All this time, she had been dragged along doing whatever Oh Jong Hyuk said in order to save her mother. Even knowing it was a trap, she had voluntarily jumped in. But now she felt so suffocated she didn’t think she could endure any longer.

No matter how hard she tried not to weaken, the wind rushed in as if there was a huge hole in her chest. Tears fell without her even realizing.

“Hic.”

Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed through the garden.

There was clearly no one there before… Ra Jin looked around searching for the unknown presence, tears brimming in her eyes.

“!”

The man from the elevator, with his expressionless face, came into view. Of all times, to meet like this in this state.

Just as she was hurrying to leave, the man held out his large hand.

A square, soft sensation was felt in her hand.

“Call if you need help.”

The man who tossed out that one line turned away without waiting for any reply. Just like earlier in front of the elevator. As the door closed with a thud, Ra Jin’s gaze dropped.

A gray handkerchief, with a foreign sensation felt within it.

Ra Jin slowly unfolded the handkerchief stained with tear marks.

Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho.

Inside the handkerchief was his clean white business card.