“Hello?”

Sliding open the door, Woo Young entered ‘Solnae General Store’. At his appearance, everyone sitting on the platform playing Go-Stop with blankets spread out looked up.

The appearance of the stranger from the city was quite handsome, and his arrival in this place, which was not a famous tourist destination, was not a common occurrence.

Woo Young took out a canned coffee from the refrigerator and placed it on the counter while taking out his wallet.

“I’d like to pay.”

The women’s association president received the bill, then took out a few coins from the safe and handed them over.

“Keep the change.”

Woo Young noticed the corners of the owner’s mouth turning up with pleasure as he carefully asked.

“Does someone named Song Eun Seo live in this village by any chance?”

He had already confirmed Song Eun Seo entering her house, and this was just faithfully carrying out the instructions given by Tae Ha.

Confirming what kind of woman she was.

“Eun Seo?”

“Elder brother, he’s talking about Eun Seo.”

“Why are you asking about Eun Seo?”

Unlike before, faced with a wary look, Woo Young smiled brightly.

“She left something behind, so I came to return it.”

“Where are you from?”

“Seoul.”

“Seoul?”

“Didn’t she say she was going to study again? Did she go to look into that? She was always doing translations or something, wasn’t she?”

“Then what about Sung Tae? Isn’t this really going to end up like a duck egg in the Nakdong River?”

Amidst the murmuring crowd, a somewhat suspicious name popped up. ‘Sung Tae’ was clearly a man’s name. Perhaps this was the information the VIP wanted.

“Sung Tae? Who is that person?”

Woo Young naturally joined the conversation while opening the can and taking a sip.

“Well, he’s the one who’s going to marry Eun Seo.”

Ah.

“So she has someone she’s going to marry. I was wondering.”

“Of course she does. Why? Don’t tell me you came from Seoul to see Eun Seo?”

“Well, it’s a bit of both.”

At those words, Sung Tae’s mother, who had been watching, stepped in. It seemed that if things continued like this, Eun Seo might be snatched away by the handsome Seoul bachelor.

“Listen here, Seoul bachelor. Don’t set your eyes on our village girl and just leave. It’s already hard enough for rural bachelors to find someone to marry, they’re desperately searching even in foreign countries. Eun Seo is my daughter-in-law, they’ve been promised to each other since they were young, that’s what I’m saying. Since we’re on the subject, looking at you, it seems you’re not lacking anything, so I don’t understand why you’re coveting Eun Seo.”

“That’s right, that’s right. The two of them have already settled everything between them. Now that Eun Seo’s grandmother has died and she’s alone, they’re just waiting for the day to get married and live together. The only problem is that Eun Seo doesn’t have anything, but Sung Tae says he doesn’t need any of that.”

The situation became clear.

Eun Seo and Sung Tae have been promised to marry for a while. And with Eun Seo’s grandmother dying and leaving her alone, Sung Tae is planning to marry her soon out of pity.

While the exact circumstances were unclear, perhaps Song Eun Seo had done something targeting Tae Ha to raise money for the wedding?

Unfortunately, Tae Ha was neither a person easily approached by such a rural villager, nor an easy opponent.

She had embarked on a reckless act.

Woo Young, who knew Tae Ha too well as both his closest friend and employer, drained the remaining coffee in one gulp and crushed the can, praying for divine protection for Eun Seo.

“Excuse me.”

Woo Young opened the sliding door and came out, intending to report to Tae Ha. Then, facing the cold wind, he put his hand in his coat pocket and took out his mobile phone.

As the signal rang, Tae Ha’s somewhat languid voice was transmitted through the receiver. After silently listening to the story about Eun Seo in silence, Tae Ha said,

‘I’ll come right away.’

In an icy tone he had almost never heard before in all the time he had known him.

Also, since those words meant to keep watching Eun Seo instead of thinking about coming back to Seoul, Woo Young had no choice but to step towards Eun Seo’s house that he had spotted yesterday.

* * *

After hanging up the phone, Tae Ha put strength into his waist and pushed his upper body up towards the pillow. The intense pain came intermittently, and absurdly, it had almost disappeared at the point when he said he would go to Eun Seo.

The fainting was brief, and at the doctor’s words that there was nothing particularly wrong, he removed even the IV and bandages and left the hospital.

Before leaving, he left a message not to tell his father, Chairman Kwon, but he thought the news would surely be passed on.

Tae Ha grabbed the steering wheel himself despite the escort driver’s dissuasion, and set the navigation to the address Woo Young had sent.

It was quite a distance.

Sung Tae, was it?

While there was a man, and yet without any fear.

It was mind-boggling enough that she had committed fraud, but two-timing, and moreover, the one to be discarded among the two pieces of rice cake in hand was Kwon Tae Ha.

Ha. Unless she’s crazy. It doesn’t seem like it would be enough even if I ground her up and drank her.

Tae Ha organized his thoughts while speeding down the highway.

According to Woo Young, the documents were not forged. The marriage registration was done by Eun Seo’s grandmother, and perhaps Song Eun Seo was behind it.

She probably didn’t even know that such a marriage itself wasn’t valid and was planning to extort some money from me.

But unexpectedly, her grandmother died, and talks of marriage with Sung Tae gained momentum.

As a result, she needed to sort out the paperwork with me.

No. It’s still strange. No matter what reasons are attached, it doesn’t make sense.

Someone who made such a perfect marriage registration wouldn’t be ignorant of that much.

Moreover, how could she have known all the personal information? Is there someone on this side helping her?

Thoughts that weren’t sorted out properly raced endlessly down the road.

* * *

After driving for hours without rest, Tae Ha met Woo Young in front of the single-story village hall with a white exterior.

Unlike Seoul, the countryside evening opened its beast-like maw of pitch-black darkness and drooped its jet-black tongue as soon as the day darkened.

“Why are we here?”

To the straightforward question, Woo Young briefed the information he had gathered in the village while going around several places today.

“It seems her lease contract ended. Song Eun Seo apparently didn’t know about it at all. The new owner who changed from today was going to start repairs, so she hurriedly packed her things and left. Since she had nowhere to go with her luggage right away, she’s staying at the village hall for today.”

“Does she really have nowhere to go?”

“There are no relatives coming to look for her either. Honestly, except for this incident, she’s very ordinary. No criminal record and a good reputation. But it seems her grandmother treated Song Eun Seo terribly badly. It got a bit better recently. Moreover, her grandmother showed symptoms of dementia before she died.”

Tae Ha clicked his tongue lowly.

“More than that, seeing that she’s going to marry this Sung Tae or whatever, it doesn’t seem like her whereabouts will change immediately. Even if she runs away, you know her resident registration number, and it’s not difficult for you to track her. How about going back up at this point and starting the investigation again tomorrow?”

Even when Tae Ha didn’t move, Woo Young tapped the steering wheel with his innocent fingers and conveyed words of concern.

“If you’re not going now, at least eat dinner before coming. I heard you collapsed. Of course, the marriage is shocking, but how could you have collapsed?”

Indeed, Tae Ha’s father, Chairman Kwon, loved his son extremely, and as much as he loved him, he taught him many things perfectly.

Not only in intellectual aspects but also in physical aspects, he trained Tae Ha to the point of being called ‘overworked’.

Swimming, kendo, tennis were basic, and he didn’t miss out on shooting, boxing, martial arts, fencing, self-defense, etc. Wasn’t Tae Ha called a ‘human weapon’ among acquaintances?

He had an iron constitution that even colds avoided, but for such a Tae Ha to collapse. It was enough for his long-time friend Woo Young to worry.

“Right, we’ve confirmed where she lives. You must be tired too.”

He wanted to confirm in person what kind of person would dare to do such a bold thing against him.

But just this.

“Let’s go.”

As soon as the words fell, the headlights turned direction, circling around the quiet village hall wall.

Someone was seen standing in the light of the headlights, covering their eyes with both arms. He wasn’t tall, but he had a sturdy build.

Tae Ha’s eyes followed the man through the side mirror. The man staggered and then wobbled towards the main entrance of the village hall.

It seems there are quite a few people using the village hall even at this hour.

“Did you say Song Eun Seo moved her luggage alone?”

“Yeah. There wasn’t much luggage, but even that, she was struggling all by herself.”

“Why didn’t she ask anyone for help?”

“The countryside is always busy.”

“If it were you, if your girlfriend was in such a situation and had to move her luggage alone, what do you think you would do?”

“What else, I’d have to help even if I had to take a vacation.”

“That’s right, that’s the right thing to do. And instead of letting her stay at the village hall…”

Ah, was that man from earlier Sung Tae? Then maybe he’s going to take Song Eun Seo home now.

The feeling was really dirty. Plus, the unpleasant pain that seemed to have started again, faintly burning.

Before leaving the village, the two stopped by Solnae General Store to buy water and coffee. The women’s association president warmly greeted Woo Young, remembering the customer who came during the day.

“Are you going back up now?”

“Yes, we’re about to go back up.”

“It looks like one more person has come.”

“A friend.”

The women’s association president couldn’t take her eyes off the tall Tae Ha as she put money in the safe.

“So, did you deliver the item to Eun Seo well?”

“I haven’t delivered it yet.”

“Oh my, it seems you couldn’t find where she is. Give me that item. I’ll deliver it.”

As the women’s association president held out her hand, Woo Young was at a loss. He had nothing to give.

“No, no. I’ll deliver it separately later.”

“It seems you really have feelings for Eun Seo. Seeing that you insist on delivering it in person.”

Tae Ha raised his eyebrows at what this was about now. However, not caring at all, the women’s association president rattled on like she was Scheherazade from Arabian Nights.

“If you have feelings, you should push forward like a man. If you’re that soft, you’re no good.”

“I heard she has a boyfriend.”

The women’s association president waved her hand at Woo Young’s indifferent words and frowned.

“What does she have?”

“The elders said earlier that she has someone she’s going to marry.”

“Sung Tae? Nah, it’s not like that. The village elders just want to set them up because Sung Tae is over forty and still unmarried, so they’re just saying that. Sung Tae might want to do something about Eun Seo, but Eun Seo doesn’t even have feelings for him.”

“…”

“What’s with the age difference. He’s not a thief. She’s sixteen, sixteen! Why is he eyeing her like that. He should control his greed. Anyway, knowing Eun Seo is alone now, that bastard is acting up again. I thought his eyes looked suspicious since Eun Seo was in high school, aish. What kind of girl is Eun Seo, such a good child.”

The eyes of the two men met in the air.

The man who had been staggering towards the main entrance of the village hall flashed like lightning in Tae Ha’s mind. The man who undoubtedly looked like he had been drinking heavily.

Damn it.

Tae Ha, overcome with a sense of unease, dropped the items he was holding and hurriedly turned to run to the car.

The tingling pain flowing through his shoulder blades intensified.

Why the hell is this damn pain back again.

At that time, Eun Seo was desperately trying to lock the door inside the hall and block it with her back.

“Eun Seo! Song Eun Seo!!”

The violent shout penetrated the thin door and chillingly enveloped Eun Seo’s entire body.