Yuri felt pathetic for herself, constantly changing her mind.

While concentrating on her work after shaking off distracting thoughts, some time after lunch, she had to visit a business partner. The place she needed to visit and the site where Jeho was located were just a few blocks away.

Should I just pass by, saying it’s on my way? Or should I just see his face from afar without going too close?

Unable to simply pass by, she found herself in the middle of the site before she knew it. However, Jeho’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh? What’s happening here, Ms. Chae Yoori?”
The on-site supervisor, who recognized her, approached with a wide smile.

“Are you trying to see it in advance? Because interior construction needs to start right after the building is completed?”

“Yes. Oh, by the way, where is Mr. Kwon Jeho?”

“He was supposed to come here today? He hasn’t arrived yet.”

To the unexpected answer, Yuri slowly blinked her large eyes.

“Wasn’t he supposed to come from next week?”

“Oh, right. I must have mistaken the schedule. If it’s okay with you, could you take a look around for a moment?”

“Of course. Please lead the way.”

Yuri, who quickly changed the subject, followed the guiding on-site supervisor. After a brief tour and returning to her car, Yuri, absent-mindedly staring ahead, forgot to start the engine. If she inferred from what the on-site supervisor said, it seemed Jeho didn’t visit the site yesterday.

What’s going on?

Yuri, who was about to send a text to Jeho, hesitated for a moment. Perhaps she might have mistaken the location and felt embarrassed to inform him that she came to the site to see him.

Putting her phone back in her bag, Yuri started the car. Tomorrow, she thought, she would casually ask when they meet…

“I’ve completed all the discharge procedures. I’ll take you to the temporary accommodation.”

Approaching Shin Dahee, who leaned against the window and looked outside, Jeho spoke. She was still in a patient gown. The casual clothes brought by the nurse were neatly folded on the bed.

“Get me some sunglasses. I won’t go outside before that.”

Turning her head towards Jeho, Dahee said. There were dark bruises on her cheek, lighter in color than before, but still noticeable.

“Alright. I’ll bring sunglasses, so get changed.”

“But did I say that?”

As Jeho was about to leave the room, Dahee’s next words stopped him.

“That day, when Kwon Minwoo made me like this, he kept shouting ‘Yuri’ with his mouth wide open.”

When Jeho turned around with a frown, Dahee burst into a chilly laughter.

“As he was about to strangle me at the end, he said, ‘Yuri, I love you.’ Crazy guy.”

Dahee received a call from Yuri on Wednesday night. She provided the hospital location without explaining anything, asking Jeho to come meet her. Soon after, Jeho faced her at the hospital, admitted in a miserable state due to Minwoo’s violence.

It had been a while since she was admitted, but she couldn’t bear to show her disfigured face to others until then. She said she endured because she didn’t want Minwoo to later come and harm her again. When asked if she would report Minwoo for assault, she shook her head.

―If I do that, he’ll come and murder me later, right? Forget it. Please hide me so that person can’t find me. No, I’ll accept Jeho’s suggestion. Send me abroad.
He wanted to leave Korea as soon as possible, and Jeho decided to help Shindahui in every possible way.

“What I couldn’t do for you, I’ve done for myself. That perverted jerk.”

Perhaps recalling the moment when she was attacked by Minwoo, Shindahui began trembling, wrapping her body with both arms. Tears flowed from her eyes, full of youth, as she stared at Jeho.

“He got angry as if he would kill me, saying I was secretly planning to move. He did the same to Yuri. ‘Do you all think you’re funny?’ he said.”

Jeho stood still, silently observing Shindahui. While he could provide material assistance, his attitude clearly drew a line emotionally. Of course, Shindahui didn’t need comforting words from Jeho either.

Although he might have consoled her by patting her back or offering a tissue for tears, he just stared at her with an expressionless face.

Whether it’s Minwoo or Jeho, all the Kwon men seemed hopeless in Shindahui’s eyes. Waving her hand as if to say goodbye, she left the room.

Jeho, leaving the ward, headed straight for the elevator. Since the hospital building was connected to a shopping mall on the basement floor, he intended to buy something suitable there. To cover the bruised areas adequately, he would need to buy a large size.

“Crazy bastard.”

Waiting for the elevator, Jeho muttered curses like a soliloquy.

He couldn’t stand Minwoo, who used his fists against a powerless woman. The habit of exercising violence on weak animals when he was young seemed to have shifted to women now that he had grown up.

During the investigation into Minwoo, information revealed even more horrific incidents than Shindahui’s. It was so serious that Na Yeosa personally intervened to handle it.

Despite that, Minwoo had been quiet and well-behaved for the past year, coinciding with the time when counseling with Yuri began.

“What I couldn’t do for Yuri, I’ve done for myself. That perverted jerk.”

Recalling Shindahui’s words, Jeho frowned. Even if Minwoo wouldn’t dare touch Yuri due to the leverage held by Representative Chae, caution was still necessary.

Thinking of Minwoo saying, ‘Yuri, I love you,’ while strangling Shindahui made him shudder. When Minwoo felt a sense of pleasure tormenting a puppy in his childhood, he should have corrected it back then. Even now, it needed correction…

A dark shadow fell on Jeho’s face as he waited for the elevator.

After work, Yuri, entering the officetel, felt something strange and opened her eyes narrowly. Moving slowly, she carefully looked around her home.
The interior structure seemed slightly different from when she left home and returned. She wasn’t overly sensitive, but things like the cup on the edge of the sink being a bit inward, or the wardrobe drawer that was definitely closed when she left protruding about 1cm, caught her attention.

It might not be a big deal, but, partly due to the conversation with Representative Chae last night, Yuri couldn’t just brush it off.

Although it was just a cautious thought, the next day, Yuri, pretending to go grocery shopping with a basket, secretly placed crackers densely under the doormat and left the house early in the morning.

“……!”

An hour later, when Yuri returned home, she lifted the doormat slightly and froze at the sight.

The crackers she left under the mat were broken in a shape similar to a man’s shoe footprint. It was evidence that someone had entered her house while she was away.

Who on earth could it be?