A sound of something hitting the bathroom door was heard.

The cleaning team had worried expressions, but Manager Pyo gave instructions with arms crossed.

“Stack more. More.”

The cleaning team had no choice but to bring more sofas from nearby to block the bathroom entrance.

The sofas already piled up in layers would be impossible for Yeo Reum to open by herself.

At that moment, Hye Suk approached Manager Pyo’s side.

Holding out Yeo Reum’s stolen phone, she said,

“I’ve turned off all the lights in the bathroom and activated the air conditioning.”

Taking the phone, Manager Pyo asked,

“You’ve lowered the temperature to the maximum, right?”

“Yes.”

The cleaning team got goosebumps listening to their conversation.

It seemed the two were trying to freeze Yeo Reum to death.

“Did you tell everyone to gather?”

“I texted them to come running right away, saying it was Manager Pyo’s order.”

“Well done.”

He tried to search the phone but couldn’t open it due to fingerprint lock.

For now, he put it in his pants pocket.

Unless those sofas are removed, Jung Yeo Reum won’t be able to come out.

Of course, she won’t be able to call for help since I have her phone.

At that moment, employees were seen coming up to the second floor.

Manager Pyo and Hye Suk walked to the central living room.

The cleaning team followed behind them.

“Everyone stand up straight.”

Hye Suk shouted at the employees.

They quickly lined up in formation.

“Speak, Manager.”

Manager Pyo stepped forward with an arrogant expression.

She scanned the face of each employee one by one.

Whenever their eyes met, people quickly lowered their heads, afraid of being picked on.

But not the head chef.

Slightly thin and stubborn, he was looking straight at Manager Pyo.

“Our Head Chef Baek is still stiff as ever, huh?”

“Why did you call the employees at this hour?”

“Reason? Do I need a reason to call you?”

“What?”

“Do you still not know, or are you pretending not to know? That I am your superior, Head Chef Baek.”

He replied,

“Team leaders are of equal rank. Among the employees, the only one we can call our superior is the butler.”

“Oh my, that’s not right. There’s me. People like me who can easily fire the head chef are called the real power, you know?”

Manager Pyo smiled brightly, watching the head chef’s face frown.

“Anyway, since I’ve gathered the employees, I should state the reason, right?”

The employees with tense expressions looked at Manager Pyo.

“It seems you all are under a big misunderstanding. So I called you for some mental education. It’s about Jung Yeo Reum.”

The head chef’s brows furrowed.

Manager Pyo continued speaking as if it didn’t matter.

“Let me make it clear once again. Jung Yeo Reum is just the daughter of Kim Se Jin, our chairman’s enemy. Not the young lady of this household, but a slave bound to this house for 20 years. No, a slave.”

“You’re going too far.”

It was the head chef.

“What’s too far? It’s the truth.”

“…Manager Pyo!”

“Has the chairman ever given Jung Yeo Reum a glance even once until today? Did he ever acknowledge her? Or did he ever sit at the table and eat with her? As you all know, that never happened even once. Head Chef Baek, if you’re old enough, you should read the room. If you want to survive in this house, shouldn’t you pick the right side?”

“No matter what, you can’t deny that the young lady is the chairman’s blood. And Manager Pyo, that’s not how people should really live. Don’t you feel pity for the young lady who is still young and forcibly separated from her parents? Don’t you feel sorry for her at all, Manager Pyo?”

Manager Pyo suddenly burst into laughter.

“Feeling sorry and forgetting one’s place are clearly different issues. We can’t let Jung Yeo Reum act like the young lady of this house when she’s not. So I’m correcting her manners now so she can properly know her place.”

Manager Pyo’s hand pointed to the hallway.

It was the pile of sofas stacked in front of the door.

“Manager Pyo, don’t tell me…?”

“That’s right. Jung Yeo Reum is in there.”

“You, are you crazy?”

Head Chef Baek finally shouted.

“How could that be? I’m perfectly sane. I turned off all the lights in there. And I lowered the air conditioning temperature to the maximum. I wonder if Jung Yeo Reum’s freshly washed body is half frozen by now?”

Hye Suk blocked Head Chef Baek who was about to turn and leave immediately.

Moreover, the cleaning team stood firm behind him at Manager Pyo’s signal.

“Get out of the way, now! What are you doing?”

Head Chef Baek shouted.

“Why is it so noisy?”

A voice suddenly rang out.

Everyone turned around at once.

It was Ha Eun coming up the stairs.

The employees all bowed their heads to Ha Eun at once.

“Discipline has really gone slack. The front door is wide open, and you don’t even know someone has come home. And why are you all gathered like this?”

The head chef immediately approached Ha Eun and said,

“Young lady, please save Young Lady Yeo Reum.”

“What are you saying?”

Manager Pyo approached and said,

“It’s about Jung Yeo Reum. She’s trapped in there.”

“What?”

Ha Eun looked at the hallway Manager Pyo was pointing to.

The bathroom entrance was thoroughly blocked with sofas.

“I turned off all the bathroom lights and turned on the air conditioning with the temperature lowered to the maximum.”

Ha Eun spoke as if she immediately understood.

“Well done.”

The head chef made an appalled expression watching Ha Eun praise her.

“I was so irritated because of that thing.”

“Were you?”

“Don’t even mention it. I’m fuming. But Manager Pyo is relieving my long-standing indigestion. As expected, you’re our house’s best worker.”

“Thank you. But young lady.”

“What?”

“There’s someone opposing what I’m doing now, what should I do?”

Ha Eun glanced at Head Chef Baek and said,

“If there’s such a person, fire them.”

“Is that alright? It’s beyond my authority.”

“Mom will definitely agree too. Manager Pyo, do as you please.”

“Yes, young lady.”

Ha Eun, who had looked tired until just now, went to her room with light steps.

Head Chef Baek was dumbfounded.

But he turned his body, determined to go to the bathroom.

“If Head Chef Baek opens that door, I will fire all these people.”

His urgent steps stopped.

“What?”

Manager Pyo approached and faced him.

“I’ll fire everyone here. Go ahead and try to do a good deed, and get all these people’s livelihoods cut off. Do you want to do that?”

Watching that smiling face, Head Chef Baek said,

“…You’re really wicked.”

“What did you say?”

“Manager Pyo, aren’t we all in the same situation? Yet you’re playing with other people’s livelihoods instead of helping fellow workers in this house!”

While looking at his distorted face, Manager Pyo said with a bright smile,

“Same situation? You ephemeral beings whose necks can fly off with one word from me are different from me. I have the backing of the elder madam.”

Manager Pyo smiled nastily at the even more distorted head chef.

“If you have the courage, open that door. Thanks to the head chef, several households will naturally be wailing.”

The employees bowed their heads low.

The head chef seemed resentful but went down the stairs.

But he was seen quickly taking out his phone.

“It looks like he’s going to call Butler Park?”

Hye Suk, who approached Manager Pyo’s side, said.

“Let him call if he wants. But the young lady is on my side anyway. Besides, by the time the butler arrives, Jung Yeo Reum will already be frozen stiff.”

“That’s true.”

Manager Pyo and Hye Suk laughed out loud.

The Blue House employees who heard their words looked even more apologetic but couldn’t move an inch.

*

No matter how much she pushed with her body, the door wouldn’t open.

The entrance must have been firmly blocked.

“Wow, I’m experiencing confinement for the first time in my life.”

The warmth quickly dissipated with the cold air pouring in from all directions.

The bathroom was now filled with a cool chill.

It was even worse since she had just washed.

If she stayed here any longer, hypothermia would set in.

Anxiety and impatience crept up as she might not be able to escape from this dark and cold place.

Yeo Reum quickly shook her head.

‘No. This is nothing. There’s a way out of here. I just need to find it.’

The window above was large and wide, but the ceiling was too high to climb up without a ladder, and they must have used reinforced glass.

It wouldn’t break even if she hit it with her hand.

The only exits from this bathroom were the door and the window.

Yeo Reum approached the window where faint light was coming in.

Like a European castle, the house had many windows, but they were small in size.

Still, if she forced her body through, she might be able to get out.

‘Of all things, why does it open upwards?’

The window opened by lifting upwards.

This would make the exit area even narrower.

Still, she first opened the window and poked her head out to look outside.

Thanks to the indirect lighting illuminating the garden, there was no difficulty in figuring out her position.

‘It’s the second floor, but why is it so high!’

It seemed higher than the third floor of an apartment.

Well, this house does have extremely high ceilings.

And even if she managed to open this window and get out, there were no structures below to hold onto and climb down.

Below the bathroom was just a smooth wall.

And the ground was marble.

‘If I fall from here, it’s perfect for breaking a leg. With bad luck, I might crack my head.’

As she pondered, the balcony on the right caught her eye.

If she went outside and stretched her arm, she might be able to reach it.

Moreover, the balcony was lower than the bathroom window, so if she safely arrived there and grabbed the iron railing of the balcony before jumping down, it might be okay.

But of all things, what faced the bathroom window was the smooth wall of the balcony.

“I can do it.”

Yeo Reum made up her mind.

She couldn’t freeze to death here.

Soon she turned around and slowly pushed her legs out the window one by one.

But she quickly ran into a problem.

Her body got stuck tightly in the window.

‘I only eat a little for dinner.’

She shook her body this way and that, trying to get out.

And she held her breath as much as possible to reduce her body size.

Barely managing to get her upper body out, Yeo Reum dangled from the window frame.

After catching her breath briefly, she slowly approached the closest part of the balcony wall.

She stretched out her right arm.

‘Damn it!’

Her fingers almost touched the wall, but not quite.

Yeo Reum hung onto the window sill, breathing heavily.

‘…I can do it. I can grab it. Despite how I look now, I was the monkey bar champion in elementary school! I easily jumped across two or three bars with these two arms! Just like an orangutan!’

Gathering her resolve, Yeo Reum focused and stretched out her right arm with all her might.

The balcony railing came into her hand.

She immediately let go with her left hand.

For a moment she dangled, but her two hands barely made it to the balcony wall.

Yeo Reum breathed out urgently.

Her body barely hung onto the thick wall of the balcony.

‘This is the monkey bars. It’s what I always did in elementary school. Body, remember! You can do it!’

She ignored the fact that her body size had nearly doubled compared to back then.

Yeo Reum carefully moved her two hands to the front of the balcony.

‘I got it!’

Finally, she was able to grab the iron railing that made up the balcony, and there was space to support her feet and catch her breath.

She looked down.

There was a clear difference in height compared to when she looked from the bathroom window.

Even if she fell from here, it didn’t seem like she would die.

It might ‘hurt a little’ because of the marble floor, but still.

Yeo Reum crouched down holding onto the balcony railing.

She slowly lowered her legs one by one.

Once again, she dangled from the railing.

Yeo Reum caught her breath.

And she let go with both hands.

Her body went down frighteningly.

“Ow!”

Yeo Reum, who landed on the ground, involuntarily let out a groan.

“Ow. Ow…”

With no shoes on, the impact went straight through her soles and her whole body tingled.

“…Why does that old hag like marble so much.”

She hurriedly massaged her two legs.

Then she stood up abruptly.

She lifted her left and right legs alternately.

There was a slightly tingling sensation, but there was no problem moving.

“It’s fine?”

She felt proud of herself.

“Thank you, my body. You’re really so lovable. I’m proud of you!”

Yeo Reum hugged her own body that had bravely accomplished the mission, expressing her gratitude repeatedly.

Then she turned to look at the brightly lit Blue House.

Tightening her bathrobe, she gritted her teeth.

“You touched me first, Manager Pyo.”