“Wow~ Uju really, really likes the snack!”
“There are even more delicious ones waiting. I’ll take you there.”
“Hmm~.”
For a brief moment, hesitation flickered in the child’s clear eyes.
Although he had approached during the interval when the teachers were guiding other children, if he delayed a bit longer, there was a risk of being caught.
“The pretty grandmother really, really misses Uju.”
“Is it the pretty grandmother~?”
“Yeah. So, let’s get in the car and go see the pretty grandmother right away.”
“Okay~ I’ll go play with Uju.”
Happily holding hands, fortunately, Uju obediently followed.
Fortunately, the destination was not far from here.
“Where is this, mister?”
About fifteen minutes later, as the car was parked, the gloomy exterior of the building came into view.
To reassure the child with an anxious expression, Secretary Kang deliberately shivered more.
“Oh my, we’re almost at Grandma’s house, and Mister seems to have forgotten something. This is where Mister works, and it seems he dropped an expensive watch inside.”
“Hmm~.”
“I’m going to quickly go in to find Mister’s watch. Do you want to come with me? It’s a bit scary for Mister to go in alone in the dark.”
“Yes. Uju will go with you~.”
Without imagining what would happen to me in the future, the child responded cheerfully. Looking into Uju’s large eyes, Secretary Kang paused for a moment. Although younger than my children studying abroad, strangely, their faces overlapped. To prevent his heart from weakening, he clenched his fist.
“Okay, let’s go in. Uju.”
“…What are you talking about? Uju isn’t here?”
“Oh my. I thought we went back together with Dad.”
Teacher Tokki Ban looked around in confusion.
Chae-ha’s expression began to darken like a thick cloud.
It was almost time for the daycare to end, and Uju was nowhere to be found.
“What’s going on?”
Jae-yoon, who had come down from the car, sensing an uneasy atmosphere as he was about to leave with the children, approached.
As soon as he spotted him, Chae-ha asked with a sly smile.
“Haven’t you seen Uju? I just arrived, but I can’t see Uju.”
“Uju? Uju always sits on that bench and waits for Ms. Kwon Chae-ha…….”
At the end of his gaze, Jae-yoon found the empty bench with no one. Originally, Uju should have been sitting there, swinging her legs cutely, waiting for her dad.
But today, for some reason, the bench was empty.
It was a moment when Chae-ha’s face became more and more sinister.
His phone vibrated in his pocket.
Thinking that Seol-won might have taken her, Chae-ha quickly checked his phone.
Strangely, the screen showed a caller ID restriction.
He usually didn’t answer such calls, but now, in the midst of a sudden sense of anxiety, he quickly answered the phone.
“Hello.”
[Go to the building in Block 00 right now.]As if deliberately distorted, an awkward voice flowed from the phone.
Did he dial the wrong number? Before he could finish his thoughts, shocking words came through the phone again.
[Uju is trapped in that building. It’s on fire right now.]“…Fire?”
Astonished, Chae-ha dropped the phone to the ground.
Without bothering to pick it up, he hurriedly ran toward his sedan.
“Ms. Kwon Chae-ha! What’s going on, Ms. Kwon Chae-ha!”
Picking up the phone instead and shouting urgently, Jae-yoon received no response from Chae-ha.
Instead, Teacher Tokki Ban lightly patted him as if comforting him.
“Go see. Mr. Jae-yoon.”
“What? But…”
“I’ll take the children today. I’m good at driving too.”
“Ah…”
“Hurry, go see. It seems something has happened to Uju, and that would be a big problem for us.”
“…Thank you.”
As soon as the greetings were exchanged, Jaeyoon quickly moved. He jumped into the passenger seat of Kwon Chaeha’s sedan, which was about to depart, but Chaeha didn’t say anything. Both men were well aware of the seriousness of the situation.
Arriving at the address at a crazy speed, the building was already engulfed in flames. Chaeha, usually rational, was overwhelmed by the horrifying scene of devastation.
However, there was no time to hesitate.
“Darn it, it’s about seven floors. Is the fire truck not here yet?”
Jaeyoon urgently asked a passerby who was rolling his feet next to him.
A middle-aged man with thick glasses nodded slowly, “I reported it, so it’ll come soon. But even if it’s an abandoned building, if there were people… Huh? Hey there! What are you doing right now!”
“……!”
When Jaeyoon turned his head, he saw Chaeha jumping into the building.
“That guy must be crazy! Can’t he see the fire? Come out right now!”
“…There’s a person. A child… She’s inside.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? There can’t be anyone inside…”
Unable to continue the conversation, Jaeyoon stared blankly at the scene in front of him. The fierce flames seemed to swallow the building in an instant. The flames were so red and hot.
Was the scenery inside the fire where his mother had been trapped in the past like this?
“Curses…”
Uju was inside there, crying. His feet wouldn’t move.
“Darn it, darn it…!”
He stiffened as if his whole body was freezing, just like when he heard the news that his parents, who had gone on a picnic, were engulfed in flames.
The fact that his parents almost died in the fire and that a firefighter died in that fire left a considerable scar on young Jaeyoon.
For a while, he was so afraid that he couldn’t turn on the gas stove.
“Choi Jaeyoon! What are you doing? You useless child! Hurry and go save Uju…!”
Blood oozed from his lips as he gritted them too hard.
Despite the excruciating pain in his thigh as he struck it with his fist, his legs, like stone, refused to move.
As the siren sound of a fire truck finally entered his ears, tears of despair flowed down Jaeyoon’s eyes.
It was a silent scream.
And at that moment, as if about to explode, a massive flame shot up from the building.
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
