“At that time, O Jonghyuk was going to throw away Mom’s belongings, so I brought them here.”

Lajin’s calm voice, reluctant to hate, and quickly moistened eyes seemed strangely incongruent.

“Hey, the blue box up there. It’s in there.”

Reaching towards the spot pointed by her white fingers on the shelf surrounding the luxurious dressing room that rivaled a department store, Jiho’s hand stretched high. When he lifted the heavy box, his muscles rose fiercely along his spine.

“Where should I put it?”

“Over here.”

Following her, Jiho took a seat near a round rug.

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

“However you’re comfortable.”
Once the box was placed on the floor, Lajin took out a chocolate-colored leather album first.

“This album, it’s been a long time.”

“When did your mother remarry?”

“In elementary school. Before that, I lived alone with my stepfather.”

Lajin continued her story about coming up to Seoul for middle school due to her stepfather’s death. Listening to her calm growth story, Jiho thoroughly observed her in the album.

“The first photos from the trip… where were they?”

Lajin flipped through the pages in search of travel photos.

A little slower, the words “I want to see them” filled Jiho’s throat, but they disappeared smoothly. In the photos, she was smiling just the same, with only the background different.

How happy she looked with sunlight-like face, smiling at that time.

“Wait! Let me see them closely.”

“Oh, sure.”

“What are these photos, exactly?”

Jiho pointed to her travel photos with his finger.

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

“In the Bahamas?”

“Yes, that’s right. After my stepfather finished work, he took pictures like this.”

Numerous paper companies managed for visa purposes during Chairman Kim Gita’s imprisonment caught Jiho’s eye.

Signs of many companies and banks with names he didn’t know, and in front of them was short-haired Lajin.

What could O Jeong-gyu have been thinking when taking such photos? If it weren’t for young Lajin, the company names and bank names were clear enough to be submitted as evidence right now.

“What went wrong?”

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

In the uneasy atmosphere, Lajin’s eyes widened.

“Here, this sign here.”

Jiho tapped on the photo covered in plastic. Then he explained in an organized manner so that she could easily understand.

“These are some of the paper companies that became a problem when Chairman Myeongjin was arrested.”

“Oh, so that’s why you asked where I’ve been.”

Lajin didn’t know much more than Jiho expected, unintentionally holding a decisive key. Jiho found it both fascinating and disturbing. If exposed, she could become the most dangerous.

“Could you tell me the details of that time?”

“When my stepfather went to work, Mom and I spent time nearby. Like going to cafes or half-day tours.”

“Is that so?”

“And when my stepfather went to a certain place, he took commemorative photos like this. Always in front of the company.”

Even after saying that, Lajin smiled oddly.

Traces of photos taken not at Myeongjin’s overseas branch but elsewhere, photos that Lajin had never thought about at that time.

“Do O Jeong-hyuk have these kinds of photos too?”

“I don’t know before we lived together, but as far as I remember, he doesn’t.”

Leaving for a business trip for visa fund management with a girl who became a new family, not the son, the questions arose…

What special meaning could there be?
The one who could ask for the reasons had already left the world, and only the photos he took remained like a puzzle. As Jiho’s phone camera captured more and more pictures of Lajin, the girl in the album grew gradually.

The short hair that used to flutter under her ears now fell below her shoulders, and the red dress that once reached her calves had risen above her knees.

Even in this serious and important situation, Lajin’s bare face in the photos was so beautiful that it could pour out praise.

“Oh! Would you rather see Mom’s diary?”

“A diary?”

“My mom was incredibly meticulous. She never threw away a single receipt and wrote down everything.”

Aside from the mysterious photos, Jiho was secretly pleased to know there were other records.

“May I see it?”

Nodding, Lajin searched through the box with light steps.

Bundles of hundreds of letters, variously shaped diaries, and old envelopes with different amounts in them were visible.

There was nothing special, but Jiho waited a moment until Lajin allowed him to touch the items with her hands stained with her sick mother’s touch.

“Look at this. Our mom is really meticulous, isn’t she?”

Lajin gently touched the neatly written receipts with printed-like handwriting and perfectly aligned corners. Soon, she burst into a small laugh.

“That’s probably why she got along well with O Jeong-gyu. He was even more meticulous than Mom.”

“Does O Jeong-gyu have a diary?”

“I don’t know if O Jeong-hyuk threw it away or kept it. Now, look at this.”

The diary handed to Jiho was from the summer.

Whether it was a vacation or a companion on a business trip, in that place, there were faded plane tickets, in-flight menu, and even the business card of the hotel they stayed at.

It seemed like reading a travelogue, detailing everything from the weather to what they saw and how much the meals cost. Of course, the ever-changing mood of the adolescent Lajin was also recorded.

While Jiho answered Lajin, who was eagerly searching the box, he waited until she allowed him to touch it. He couldn’t casually touch items stained with his sick mother’s fingerprints.

“When we first went to the Bahamas. The color of the sea was so beautiful… What were you looking for?”

“Nothing.”

Jiho casually lowered the diary.

“Why are you doing that?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Did our mom write something strange?”

Lajin, who slightly raised the corners of her mouth, approached closely. Should he pass over this, or should he honestly tell her? Jiho hesitated for a moment.

“Class 5, Class 2, 37…… Park Lajin.”

“?”

“Here’s the mid-term report card for the 1st semester of the 2nd year at Sae Bit Middle School.”

“?”

“I have nothing.”