The hospital elevator was about to close.

“Wait a moment!” A voice was heard.

Before Ji Ho could press the open button, he grabbed the door, and a woman with long hair came running in.

‘Park… Ra Jin?’

She kept appearing without warning, and now even at the hospital where his maternal grandfather was admitted? Inside the large elevator, Ji Ho looked down at the small, round head of the woman and was dumbfounded.

‘Did she attach a tracking device or something?’

He was already getting a headache from all the contacts pouring in after the news of him joining the special investigation team. Whether coincidence or fate, this meeting with the top star was not welcome. Especially after the woman’s attitude when he received the call from the vice minister.

She stopped in her tracks and turned around, didn’t she? She sent blatant signals as if she knew who he was. Whether she had heard something from Kim Yu Jun, her eyes were clearly pretending to know.

While letting the vice minister’s long-winded greetings go in one ear and out the other, Ji Ho couldn’t take his eyes off Ra Jin. As if looking into her transparent eyes might reveal some clue.

“Ms. Ra Jin.”

The gaze they had been locked in broke at the sound of a nurse calling her name.

Unable to just stand there blankly anymore, Ji Ho headed for the emergency exit. As soon as he flung the door open, he slammed it shut again.

‘Why of all places are they kissing in the emergency stairwell… Sigh.’

Avoiding the doctors engaged in a tryst, Ji Ho looked around.

“Yes. I’m listening.”

While occasionally responding to the vice minister’s predictable words, his eyes searched for somewhere to go.

Seeing a small tree peeking through glass doors at the end of the hallway, Ji Ho moved quickly. Whoosh, his gray tie fluttered like a flag in the gusty spring wind.

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

He parroted the same response like a parrot to the vice minister calling for fairness in the investigation.

Following the sparsely placed lights on the floor, circling the large pillar about ten times. Still the call wouldn’t end. It went on so persistently that the conversation only concluded after promising to meet at the Law Day event.

A full 30 minutes.

Ji Ho, who preferred to ‘keep things brief’, shook his head. As he was about to leave the garden, rolling his stiff shoulders.

Click. The sound of a door opening was heard.

“Ra Jin!”

Hearing the name that had suddenly become familiar, Ji Ho doubted his ears. Not again!

Thinking there was a limit to how much one could be bothered, Ji Ho was about to leave. He clearly intended to, but stopped abruptly at the sound of a man’s fierce voice.

The grinding of teeth as he spoke reverberated like an echo.

‘What’s this guy up to now?’

Though he didn’t have a habit of eavesdropping, Ji Ho hid himself in a blind spot due to the ominous atmosphere. Standing at an angle ready to intervene if necessary, her circumstances spilled out unfiltered.

An unexpected traffic accident, a mother who lost her memories, blackmail disguised as penance. And the inevitable appearance of Kim Yu Jun.

―Contact Oh Jong Hyuk right away.

Suddenly, Kim Yu Jun’s words from the hotel came to mind.

―Ms. Park Ra Jin has a brother on paper…

Ho Jin’s words naturally connected next. So this person spewing nonsense is her step-brother?

Though she didn’t call the man by name, their conversation revealed their family relationship.

“Just know that if the Executive Director gets investigated, we’ll be in trouble too.”

He had dismissed as rumors the talk of Kim Yu Jun setting up Ra Jin’s agency. So the entertainment agency was deeply entangled with Kim Yu Jun.

Ji Ho’s eyes gleamed sharply at this unexpected discovery.

“It would be better to speed things up with the Executive Director.”

Even if she wasn’t his real sister, the man spewed out lewd words shamelessly. Though he couldn’t see her expression, the occasional sighs conveyed her devastation.

Ji Ho’s heart twitched, wanting to jump out and add a word about how frightening the crime of blackmail is.

Oh Jong Hyuk, Oh Jong Hyuk.

Ji Ho etched the name of Oh Jong Hyuk, who dangled from Kim Yu Jun, into his mind. Just as he was thinking he should start by investigating Park Ra Jin’s agency.

“Let’s do well, Ra Jin. Okay?”

Oh Jong Hyuk, who had been spouting garbage, left.

The moment Ji Ho peeked his face out from behind the pillar, the woman’s upright posture crumbled.

‘!’

The woman curled up tightly, her shoulders shaking.

He wanted to ask if she was alright.

‘After eavesdropping, acting like I know… She’ll leave soon.’

Ji Ho looked up at the dark sky. Her sobs cutting through the quiet night. Though he tried to ignore the increasingly loud crying, he simply couldn’t.

“Hic.”

The woman who had fearlessly fled even in front of Kim Yu Jun sobbed for a long time, hiccuping as she poured out her tears.

Stumbling as if drunk, she repeatedly wiped her small face with the back of her hand.

As each of her small actions made a big impact, Ji Ho’s hand moved on its own. Without hesitation, he took out his business card and tucked it between his handkerchief.

It wasn’t some grand sense of professional duty to protect the weak. Just basic human compassion for someone who was hurt.

Ji Ho walked purposefully towards the precariously swaying woman.

“Contact me if you need help.”

He approached one step closer to her, who was looking for an escape route like a rabbit, and handed her the handkerchief.

A face ruined by tears, makeup smeared here and there, eyes and lips already swollen red.

‘How can a person in this situation…’

Still be so pretty. Even crying, she was this unreal.

Ji Ho was taken aback by the primal admiration that arose unbidden.

Setting aside the issue of conscience, what was he doing to someone who was hurt? If he stayed any longer, his addled brain might start spouting nonsense comfort. He pressed his lips tightly and gave Ra Jin a small bow. Then he left the garden without looking back.

Whew, he let out a sigh and looked for room 1508 with his eyes.

Visiting his grandfather who was facing surgery.

To not forget today’s purpose, Ji Ho slid open the hospital room door.

“Grandfather.”

He plopped down in the chair by the bed and grasped the rough hand.

“How are you feeling?”

“I just had tests all day since the surgery is tomorrow. I told your mother to come in the morning.”

The round clock with the hospital logo pointed to 9 o’clock. It had just passed 7 when he left the parking lot. Time really…

“You said you were in front of the hospital earlier.”

“There’s been a commotion everywhere since I was in the news a bit.”

“It’s enough that I saw your face. You must be busy, go on.”

Ji Ho grinned at his grandfather’s affectionate words to ‘don’t skip meals’. Still, it seemed he should sit for at least 10 minutes on a hospital visit.

A familiar trot song played on the TV.

Ji Ho pulled his chair closer and naturally turned his gaze.

His grandfather, who said he’d become an ordinary elderly man after retiring as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, couldn’t take his eyes off the trot competition program.

“Ji Ho. Make sure to text that friend next week.”

His grandfather lavished praise on the singer who had just finished performing, calling him a gem of a friend. When he was still active, he only clung to law books. How delightful this new side was. Ji Ho quickly nodded.

The two chatted until a couple more songs finished playing in succession.

Soon the screen changed.

The blue sea of Jeju Island, a woman running in a fluttering white dress, seen from behind.

As the woman with wind in her hair slowly turned her head, Ra Jin’s white, delicate face shone brightly.

―’Drawing You’ First broadcast May 10th. Please give us lots of love.

Now even drama teasers?

Was there no world without Park Ra Jin? She was everywhere, regardless of time or place, making a mockery of the time when he hadn’t been aware of the top star.

“This is crazy.”

“What is?”

“No, it’s nothing. Nothing.”

“How bland.”

I know, right, he mumbled. Thoughts of Park Ra Jin end here for today. Ji Ho brushed off his clothes and soon stood up.

On the way to the Gwacheon Government Complex.

Rice-grain-like fringe trees bloomed modestly in a row. And what about the occasional double cherry blossoms asserting their presence? A symphony of white petals amid light green leaves and shy pink blushes.

In the midst of the brilliant spring, Ra Jin thought of that man.

Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho.

It had already been ten days since she received the handkerchief with his business card from him.

He said to contact him if she needed help, but was she in a state of needing help now, or not?

She couldn’t easily decide.

Since meeting Oh Jong Hyuk at the hospital, Ra Jin had stopped going to the company. Not wanting to run into him, she only received schedules and contracts at home. But a reason to contact that person… No. That’s right, there wasn’t one.

Moreover, with Kim Yu Jun quiet now ahead of the prosecution’s investigation.

‘Why bother for no reason.’

Ra Jin fell into the same dilemma more than a dozen times a day.

Then suddenly she recalled the embarrassing words Oh Jong Hyuk had spilled that night. Those trashy methods he said were essential for marrying Kim Yu Jun. What must Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho have thought hearing that? Did he sneer at them as lowly opportunists?

Having already shown her worst side to a stranger, she wanted to forget that day itself. No, she tried to cut that man out of her mind while busily going back and forth to the filming location.

The man’s presence, which had momentarily faded, became even clearer, and today it consumed Ra Jin’s thoughts.

‘I wonder if the special prosecutor’s office is in Gwacheon too?’

The Gwacheon Government Complex she had often visited for drama filming.

The bland, unremarkable space looked somehow different. Just because that man was a prosecutor. Thoughts of Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho continued until the car came to a complete stop.

‘Surely he wouldn’t come to today’s event, right?’

Even while being guided by the staff member who had come out to the parking lot, even upon arriving at the entrance of the basement auditorium. What if she ran into him? That was all Ra Jin could think about.

“Actress Park Ra Jin. It’s been a while.”

Ra Jin, wearing a pale pink dress, gently bowed her head at the minister’s warm greeting.

“It’s an honor to be invited to such a meaningful event.”

Attending as a public relations ambassador for the Ministry of Justice, Ra Jin tried her utmost to cut off distracting thoughts and focus on work.

However, as soon as she saw the backs of employees through the wide open doors, her gaze was drawn away.

Her heart pounded, wondering if Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho might be in there. Even while walking straight down the center aisle of the auditorium, she recalled the man’s eyes, cool as early winter.

Even as her name ‘Park Ra Jin’ buzzed all around, she felt the warmth of the large hand that had pressed the handkerchief into hers.

Her steps stopped at the very front row.

“Actress, this is the Vice Minister of Justice…”

Even while exchanging greetings with people whose titles she didn’t know, Ra Jin kept glancing at the entrance. She couldn’t tell if she was relieved or uneasy that he wasn’t there, as complicated emotions welled up.

“Our actress, please sit here.”

“Thank you, Minister.”

Seated with an escort, Ra Jin unfolded the paper with the order of events to avoid the pouring gazes. Just as she was reading through the unremarkable contents for the third time, an announcement to settle the audience rang out.

“Um, actress.”

The staff member in charge of guidance approached, bending at the waist.

“There are no seats in the back row…”

“Should I switch seats?”

“Ah! No. If it’s not too much trouble, could I ask you to move over one seat?”

“Of course.”

As Ra Jin hurriedly stood up, the bag on her lap slid down. As she reached to pick up the fallen bag, a large hand got there first.

“Are you alright?”

“!”