Ha In returned to the hospital room and sat blankly on the bed.

So many things happened today that she experienced for the first time.

The medical director’s words about how she had endured made Ha In choke up.

How did she endure it, how did she bear it all this time?

She just endured it. She just suppressed it and endured it.

But when someone looked into it and asked about it, her heart felt strange.

“Do you have to go to work today?”

Je Guk’s voice awakened Ha In’s mind.

“Huh? Ah, yes. I have to go to work.”

Come to think of it, there was a pile of things to do. It was luxurious to be immersed in inertia.

“I wish you could rest a bit.”

Je Guk came and stood in front of Ha In, who was sitting on the bed.

“No. I’ve rested enough now.”

Thinking about work, Ha In was worried about Je Guk.

“I think I’ll have to take it easy for a while.”

At the sound of taking it easy at work, Je Guk tilted his head.

“Can I ask why?”

It was already as good as asking. Ha In couldn’t answer Je Guk’s question and hesitated.

The plan was to not stimulate Cheonha Group until the vote on Je Guk’s dismissal as CEO was decided.

It would be too upsetting if Je Guk was harmed because of this incident.

Ha In also had her own way of protecting her people. But these words seemed to hurt his pride.

“Why? Are you afraid my father will blame it on me and fan the flames for my dismissal as CEO?”

Ha In was surprised that Je Guk guessed it so accurately. But she kept a calm expression without showing it.

“It’s not like that.”

“I’m glad it’s not. Let’s each do our own thing. Bye.”

Je Guk, who knew it was exactly like that, stared at Ha In.

Ha In avoided his gaze and picked up the watch on the shelf.

As she was about to put on the watch, Je Guk snatched the watch from her hand and grabbed her wrist. He was trying to help her put on the watch.

“Ah, I can do it myself.”

Je Guk held Ha In’s wrist firmly so she couldn’t do it alone.

And he looked at the scars and bruises with a troubled expression.

Under that gaze, Ha In tried to pull her hand back once more, but Je Guk already had a firm grip on her.

Ha In couldn’t hide her embarrassment at the fully exposed scars.

With the addition of the bruises left by the syringe needle, her wrist had become one with many stories.

“Relax. If someone sees, they’ll think I’m doing something terrible. Will you be so stingy even with this level of courtesy?”

Ha In loosened up and relaxed her attitude, thinking she had reacted too loudly.

Even after putting the watch on Ha In’s wrist, Je Guk did not let go of her hand.

Ha In looked at him, wondering what was wrong.

“I’m sorry.”

Mulling over what those words meant, Ha In soon felt a lump in her throat.

It wasn’t the first time he apologized. The words “I’m sorry” must never be light words for him.

Ha In smoothly pulled her wrist away from him.

She wondered why Je Guk always tried to take on that role when there was someone else who should be apologizing and feeling sorry.

“Change your clothes and come out. I had a car waiting in front. Take that to work today.”

“What? No. I can just take a taxi.”

“Yes, the car waiting there is a taxi.”

Ha In blinked, feeling awkward for jumping to conclusions on her own.

“We’re not at the stage of burdening each other yet, are we?”

Was he drawing a line, saying it was a business relationship? Ha In was disappointed.

“I don’t have a car today, so I’ll come pick you up after work. Don’t feel burdened by my kindness, feel responsible for it.”

Ha In listened to Je Guk’s words and pondered their meaning.

While she was thinking, Je Guk gave her a meaningful smile and eye greeting before leaving the hospital room.

Ha In found it awkward to have personal conversations unrelated to the case.

She rarely had conversations with Je Guk about anything other than the case.

She wondered if he was having a normal conversation knowing she was sick, but his cunning words drawing a line made it seem like that wasn’t the case either.

But that feeling wasn’t bad.

* * *

On his way back to the company, Je Guk had a phone call with the elderly butler.

It had been a really long time since he had spoken with the elderly butler like this.

It wasn’t that he deliberately avoided contact with the people at the Cheonha Group mansion, but he didn’t go out of his way to keep in touch either.

That place, which had changed, had long been an unpleasant space for Je Guk as well.

It would have been nice if the contact was for a good reason, but it wasn’t.

Still, thanks to the elderly butler, he was able to avoid a major crisis.

Je Guk asked the questions he couldn’t ask due to Ha In’s condition to the elderly butler.

– I was also surprised to hear the news that Ha In was returning to the mansion.

It was surprising to everyone. If Je Guk had known in advance, he would have never let her go.

– As soon as Ha In entered, Madam and the Chairman shouted.

I couldn’t hear Ha In’s voice well, so I didn’t hear what conversation was exchanged.

The part Je Guk was curious about had all been edited out.

– Ah, by the way, Director. That day, Ha In brought a piece of paper. It was all torn and soaked in spilled coffee.

Je Guk thought that if Ha In had brought it, it must be a meaningful document.

“That paper, did you throw it away?”

– No, I collected it well just in case.

Fortunately, even the damaged paper scraps were left.

Not long after the call ended, a text message came in.

The elderly butler had pieced together the torn document and sent a photo.

Looking at the photo sent by the elderly butler, Je Guk felt a pang in his chest.

It was the contract that Hyun Baek Hap had forced Ha In to write in her childhood.

The shaky handwriting showed how much Ha In must have trembled while writing it, vividly conveying the emotions she felt that day, at that moment.

Whether Hyun Baek Hap had the child write it just to scare her a bit or really intended to strangle a personality with this contract, it was a terrible thing to do.

There were reasons for Ha In’s very old depression and panic.

Je Guk felt so sorry for Ha In, whose emotions had dried up to the point where she couldn’t even cry, let alone laugh.

Suppressing the moments you want to cry is really difficult even for adults, so thinking about Ha In, who had to hold back so many emotions and tears in her childhood, made his heart ache.

How could he make Ha In laugh, how could he make Ha In cry, that was the concern.

Come to think of it, it was also a strange thing to have to strive to make someone cry while living.

Ha In was always the most difficult person for Je Guk.

* * *

Ha In felt awkward about being late for work.

As soon as she entered the office, Gang Jun returned from finishing a trial.

“Sunbae, are you feeling unwell?”

Gang Jun looked at Ha In with a worried expression.

It must be unusual for Ha In, who rarely takes vacations, to take a half day off.

“No. I had some personal matters to attend to.”

Knowing that Ha In extremely disliked prying into her personal life, Gang Jun didn’t ask any further.

The desk was piled high with documents as usual.

Ha In put down her bag and examined the documents on the desk while standing.

“Choi, the interrogations of Hyun Baek Hap’s close aides will continue this afternoon, right?”

“Yes.”

Not much was left now.

As soon as the dismissal of the Cheonha Group’s CEO was finalized, they planned to take measures to arrest Hyun Baek Hap’s close aides one by one.

Ha In was also curious about the information on the chairman’s office that Je Guk had mentioned.

Since the relationship between Je Guk and Chairman Lee had greatly deteriorated, it was also an appropriate timing to wedge in.

But something was a bit strange.

In the past, she would have used all sorts of tricks to extract that information.

But now, she was worried about how Je Guk would feel about providing that information.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and the chief prosecutor entered.

Ha In and Gang Jun bowed to the chief prosecutor.

“Cheon, you don’t feel like working these days.”

The chief prosecutor spoke in a voice full of complaints.

“No, that’s not true.”

“No, this is the time when we should be filing for arrest warrants at least ten more times, how long are you going to continue with just interrogations?”

It was incomprehensible why the chief prosecutor, who usually doesn’t rush investigations, was acting like this.

Seeing the envelope of documents in his hand, Ha In was worried that he might be trying to intervene directly out of frustration.

Gang Jun made a dissatisfied expression at the chief prosecutor’s words and seemed to be about to retort.

Ha In quickly intercepted Gang Jun’s words. It wouldn’t be good to provoke the chief prosecutor. It would also be troublesome if he told them to proceed with filing for arrest warrants right away.

“I apologize. We will try to pick up the pace.”

Was it something to apologize for when they had a plan and weren’t just playing around with the investigation? Gang Jun was bewildered, unable to understand Ha In’s attitude.

But since Ha In said that, he couldn’t argue with the chief prosecutor either.

The chief prosecutor handed a document to Ha In.

“Use this as a reference. I obtained it with difficulty.”

Not knowing what the document was, Ha In received it with a dumbfounded expression.

“Sometimes you need methods like this too.”

Throwing out those words, the chief prosecutor left the office.

Curious about what the document was, Ha In unfolded it to take a look.

“Chief, really. As if anyone is slacking off, he can’t even give encouragement. It’s not like sunbae takes half days off all the time.”

Gang Jun approached Ha In.

“Encouragement, that’s right.”

Ha In spoke in a half-dazed state after unfolding the document.

“Sunbae, are you okay?”

Gang Jun spoke with worry at the sight of Ha In’s pale face.

The document handed over by the chief prosecutor was a report containing the circumstances and evidence of inadequate measures taken after moving from Sunhwa Medical Foundation to Cheonha Medical Foundation at the time of Yoon Joo Hwa’s death, and the case being closed due to insufficient evidence.

As expected, the root of the problem was Hyun Baek Hap even back then.

It was terrible to think about what kind of life Hyun Baek Hap was living.

It was a document that could be obtained by someone of the chief prosecutor’s position.

However, it was questionable why he suddenly tried to approach this case.

It wasn’t a common idea to dig up Yoon Joo Hwa’s cause of death, which had been seemingly revealed on the surface.

Upon seeing the name of the prosecutor in charge of the case, Ha In finally understood.

The chief prosecutor who had been in charge of this case in the past was a rival to Ha In’s chief prosecutor.

Currently, the two chief prosecutors were engaged in a power struggle ahead of a promotion.

In that case, Ha In’s chief prosecutor would try to open this card in some way.

He would likely put pressure to lead the ongoing case to a major achievement as well.

Ha In had finished figuring out how the chief prosecutor’s calculator was turning.