A killer is a killer. That simple thought should have remained unshaken. Only then could the guilt of deceiving the oblivious Kwon Chae-woo fade slightly.
But Chu-ja urged her to take one step further from there.
"I-yeon, that guy has no memory."
"……."
"He's not the person you saw back then. He's a complete stranger that neither you nor Kwon Chae-woo knows."
The gaze that had been fixed on the door fell weakly.
Coaxing Kwon Chae-woo wasn't difficult these days. So she thought that once she woke him up, the complicated situations would resolve themselves. She decided to rely on his blindness and his nature.
As if Kwon Chae-woo were a switch she could turn on and off. She had become completely fed up with her own bare face.
"……I'll stay holed up in the office until morning."
"Starting now?"
"I think I need to clear my mind a bit."
She crossed the living room and entered the office. Just as rustling sounds suddenly emerged, I-yeon was fumbling to put on surgical latex gloves. She intended to spend the night manufacturing new fertilizer. She skillfully laid transparent vinyl over the table and took out a black container from the small refrigerator.
Soon, creak— the door closed.
Meanwhile, Chu-ja, who remained in the living room, wiped away her worried expression and carefully opened I-yeon's door.
'Kwon Chae-woo…….'
Chu-ja's face was complicated as she looked down at the quietly sleeping young man.
Recently, she received an unwelcome call from the detective agency she had commissioned to verify Kwon Chae-woo's identity.
"Ms. Gye Chu-ja? We're washing our hands of this! You don't need to pay the balance! No, we'll even return the deposit in full, so please never contact us again with those three syllables!"
The call was abruptly disconnected as if fleeing, and it never rang again. When the dumbfounded Chu-ja attempted to call back, the number was already out of service.
Until then, there was only one thing she had been informed of.
That all of the back mountain of the Pine Tree Hospital, including that vast unmanaged land, several large and small mountains, and all other walking trails, belonged to one person.
Combined, all that area amounted to a staggering size equal to a quarter of Hwai Island.
'I-yeon, what on earth did you pick up…….'
Kwon Chae-woo was precisely that Mountain Lord.
* * *
Kwon Chae-woo had another long dream this time.
But the moment he opened his eyes, nothing remained, like film thrown into flames. He frowned in irritation, but the regret evaporated instantly.
"……Ms. I-yeon."
Warmth tickling his embrace pierced through his hollow insides. She had burrowed into the man's armpit, curling her back roundly.
Kwon Chae-woo immediately checked her sleeves first. As expected, the ends of her sleeves were deeply soaked. At this point, even his dream that encouraged such a pathetic sight was unwelcome.
"Ms. I-yeon."
His sense of time was faint. Like hunger, he wanted to see her, so he shook her small body somewhat impatiently. He wanted to quickly see himself reflected in I-yeon's eyes and confirm that this was reality.
"Mmm……."
She wiggled her body and pressed closer.
When awake she was so tense, yet in her sleep she snuggled in so brazenly. The corner of his mouth rose.
I-yeon was frowning deeply. Her eyelids twitched and her eyelashes trembled. The man rested his chin leisurely and held his breath as if watching the moment a sprout emerges. She slowly opened her eyes.
"……."
"……!"
Her eyes widening fully were transparent in the sunlight. That was the only thing he possessed. That tight satisfaction filled his stomach.
"Did you behave?"
"Ah…!"
I-yeon raised her voice at the face filling her vision.
He who always lay still like a still-life painting was now alive and moving. Blinking his eyes, the corners of his lips rising, his smooth cheeks becoming appropriately fuller. Such trivial movements felt new.
"…N-nice to see you."
I-yeon offered a greeting blankly in her half-asleep state.
"So how many days until I'm released?"
"…Oh, um. Today is the eighth day."
"Why did you wake me up so soon? You could have scolded me more."
He tore off the large bandage stuck to I-yeon's neck in one motion. As her reddish neck was fully revealed, he frowned slightly.
"The bruise still hasn't faded."
"……."
Just as I-yeon's expression seemed to waver strangely, she suddenly began to tear up. Her lips, tensed as if holding back tears, looked awkward. At that small distortion, Kwon Chae-woo's throat tightened.
"What's wrong?"
He withdrew the hand he had been resting on and cupped her face.
Now that he looked, So I-yeon's face had deteriorated significantly. Dark circles under her eyes, her cheeks had hollowed out.
Kwon Chae-woo grasped her wrist as if measuring it, then discontentedly rubbed the protruding wrist bone.
"What happened."
His voice, dropped significantly, scraped against his vocal cords.
"If you don't tell me, I'll never sleep alone again. Even if Ms. I-yeon hates it, I'll just snatch you up and take you into the room, so tell me straight."
As he made his threat, I-yeon finally opened her mouth haltingly.
"…There was a bit of a troublesome matter. I was going to handle it well on my own. I was truly fully prepared on this side… but watching it just pass by repeatedly was driving me crazy…."
She only rambled on with incomprehensible words. Kwon Chae-woo quietly pressed the inside of her wrist. Her pulse was racing so fast it was breathless.
"Ms. I-yeon, calm down."
Thanks to the man meeting her eyes calmly, I-yeon slowly exhaled the breath she had been holding. Kwon Chae-woo gently wiped under her eyes with his thumb.
"…Hwang Jo-yoon."
At the abrupt name, Kwon Chae-woo's face instantly turned cold.
"What about that bastard?"
"Since last night, he's been standing in our yard continuously."
Hwang Jo-yoon might have been watching Kwon Chae-woo, not I-yeon. He hadn't seen him since the explanatory meeting, and since the man didn't come and go from the house, he seemed to think there was nothing to hold him back.
I-yeon trembled as she took evidence photos. Meanwhile, Hwang Jo-yoon brazenly looked this way. His sneering lips were horrific.
She reported it but no one came. Even with the curtains drawn, she felt the gaze sticking. Her jaw trembled with a chill that went to her bones. In the end, there was only one place I-yeon could escape to.
Of course, Kwon Chae-woo wasn't a switch that could be turned on and off, but her heart was already completely inclined to one side. Holding a gun but not shooting makes one a fool.
Changing her stance because she needed him was cunning. She had no intention of denying that selfishness.
But if it were this man, if it were Kwon Chae-woo.
She had a vague belief that he would put a period to it more substantially than hollow public authority. What she immediately needed was not lazy protection, but a fierce dog.
There was no more I-yeon hesitating and wavering. With unwavering eyes, she turned the doorknob.
"…You've been through a lot."
Meanwhile, having heard the entire story, Kwon Chae-woo could barely utter those few words.
He pushed the cursing rising up inside behind his tongue. His seething insides wouldn't settle, so he clenched and unclenched his fist in vain.
"I'll handle it."
The moment his face distorted, he pulled I-yeon into a tight embrace. Her small nose bumping against his chest created ripples like a river.
"Leave this kind of thing to your husband and rest a bit, Ms. I-yeon."
"Ah…."
"Just repeat eating and sprawling out to sleep exactly three times."
Strength went into the arm embracing her.
"Ah, no. That's not it!"
But I-yeon flailed her limbs and pushed him away earnestly. Reluctantly separating, the eyes that met his were filled with embarrassment for some reason.
She averted her gaze and scratched her pale cheek.
"I've already caught that bug."
* * *
Hwang Jo-yoon was someone who didn't know how to give up.
With that personality alone, he never lost first place in school or the top ranking throughout his life. It was the same in society. Thanks to his tenacious nature, his research performance was also excellent.
The problem was that he was the same in relationships with the opposite sex.
If you dig persistently, nothing can't be broken. There's no tree that won't fall after a hundred axe strikes—that was his philosophy.
'For 5 years, how much effort I put in…!'
Perhaps worried she might be scared of dark streets, he always escorted her—from behind. Worried the innocent So I-yeon might mingle with bad city friends, he disciplined her with the heart of an older brother.
Especially on rainy days, there were countless times he stood night watch like a bodyguard, worried she might sleep poorly. She treated such pure love of his like trash.
He heard she had gone down to an island and opened a tiny hospital. At the same time, news that business wasn't going well.
It wasn't particularly surprising. So I-yeon had plenty of rebellious spirit.
After that, Hwang Jo-yoon immediately bought the house across from hers. He planned to use it solely as a studio for So I-yeon.
'But marriage!'
'How could she marry some other bastard! After what I did for you!'
So I-yeon hated people. That was something one could naturally learn by watching for a long time.
In her twenties, when she was less skilled than now, the symptom was so severe she wouldn't associate with anything that wasn't green. Colleagues frequently insulted such a youngest member, telling her to go see a psychiatrist, but even that couldn't hurt I-yeon.
And… she still hadn't changed.