TLR 16

Chapter 16 …

“From now on, speak loudly or enunciate clearly. Otherwise, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“…Why are you saying my mom did that?”

“Hyemi, in a household with a family of four and dozens of employees, if I was the only one who almost died, who else could the culprit be?”

“…”

“You know as well as I do that your mother’s character wasn’t exactly stellar.”

“…”

“If you keep throwing tantrums like this, do you want to see me dig up your mother’s grave and throw her bones to the dogs?”

“…Don’t.”

“I told you to speak up.”

Junhyuk slammed his fist onto the table.

Hyemi let out a tearful shriek.

“I won’t pay any attention to Han Seol anymore, so please just don’t!”

“Get out.”

Hyemi stumbled away. A moment later, the door clicked shut.

Junhyuk stared silently at the hearing aid resting on the table.

Back then, he hadn’t known who the culprit was, but Mun Pilyong knew.

Did the old man start the succession process early because he felt some lingering sense of guilt? Since they had never spoken a word about the incident, the truth was lost to time now.

Kang Seung-ok’s father was a five-term assemblyman at the time—and a leading presidential candidate to boot. Though he eventually plunged into ruin after a political slush fund scandal broke out later on.

Instead of reporting his wife for attempted murder and divorcing her, Mun Pilyong got a vasectomy.

It sounded like a totally insane thing to do, but it was a punishment deeply rooted in his personal life philosophy—considering his sense of self resided entirely in his brain and his groin.

And honestly, it was a devastating punishment for the offender herself.

It wasn’t until Junhyuk grew up that he fully understood what he had gone through. For over a decade after that, he couldn’t bring himself to eat food prepared by anyone else. He suffered from severe paranoia, feeling as if everyone around him was plotting against his life.

How sickening it was every time he had to admit that such a pathetic human being held immense sway over his life.

When he first heard the news of Kang Seung-ok’s death, that was his very first thought:

Even if she was murdered, did that truly pay for all her sins? Instead of dying before she could feel any pain, shouldn’t she have lived longer just to meet an even more gruesome end?

Well, it was all in the past now anyway.

“Guess I should go grab a smoke.”

Junhyuk picked up the hearing aid with an unreadable expression.

Junhyuk arrived at the café earlier than usual.

He peered suspiciously into the dark, unlit interior for a moment before the regular day-off sign hanging on the glass door caught his eye.

“What do you mean, regular day off? You should be working hard to earn money and buy a building.”

His mood—which had been absolute garbage all day—reached a fresh peak. Frowning, he rummaged through his pockets only to find he was out of cigarettes.

Still reluctant to leave, he lingered by the glass door for a moment before turning on his heel with a sigh, figuring he’d buy a pack at the convenience store on his way home.

“Well, look at this…”

It felt like holding a stock he’d bought and forgotten about, only to watch it hit the upper price limit day after day.

Seol was sitting at a table in front of the convenience store. Sunset light cascaded over her hair, which fell loosely over her shoulders as she stared down at a book.

Junhyuk watched her for a brief moment before taking a seat directly across from her.

He naturally expected her to look up, but all she did was pull her carton of coffee milk closer to her book. She clearly assumed a total stranger had sat down.

Junhyuk tapped his knuckles against the table twice.

“Huh?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Is it 8:00 PM already? Wait, the sun hasn’t even set yet?”

“Where is this suddenly coming from, asking if it’s 8:00 PM?”

“I was planning to wait in front of the café at eight…” Seol trailed off, looking flustered.

Which meant she had no reason to be in this neighborhood since the café was closed, yet she’d come solely to wait for him. The corner of Junhyuk’s lips curled upward.

“The regular day off was set so suddenly. I figured you might still come by today, and I didn’t want you making a trip for nothing,” Seol added, her cheeks flushing red.

“So what you’re saying is, ‘Since you can’t drink coffee, at least come look at my face’?”

“Well, it’s not like you drink coffee anyway,” Seol mumbled under her breath, dropping her head.

Junhyuk clenched his jaw to keep his mouth from hanging open. At this point, it wasn’t just a stock hitting its upper limit—he’d struck an oil well in the middle of nowhere.

“Then you should show me your face. I can’t see it right now.”

“…You came early today?” Seol peeked up at him.

“I didn’t feel like working, so I wrapped things up roughly and left.”

“What? Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. I was having a terrible day anyway. I deserve a break on days like this.”

“Ah, I see.”

“How was your day?”

“Mine was…” Seol’s voice trailed off.

It was awful. She had spent the day scrolling endlessly through her contact list, wanting to reach out to someone, but ended up not sending a single message.

She had only recently found out that her friends had started a new group chat without her.

If one of them hadn’t accidentally sent a message to the old group chat last weekend about how much fun they’d had, Seol would’ve spent the rest of her life assuming everyone was just too busy with work to reach out.

“Yours was?” Junhyuk prompted, locking eyes with her.

Seol looked at him blankly.

Apart from people she met through work, he was the first and only person she had gotten to know since that incident.

Someone who wouldn’t look at her with prejudice. Someone who didn’t see her as the sister of Han Iju, a monster who had committed a horrific crime.

Maybe the person she had wanted to see all along wasn’t just ‘anyone’—maybe it was him.

“Yours was…?”

The smile faded from Junhyuk’s lips, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

“Ah, mine…” Seol started hurriedly, then shut her mouth again.

‘I fought with my mom.’

That was the short version of it, but saying it out loud felt ridiculously childish. It wasn’t the kind of thing an adult said to another adult.

“Mine… was…”

Junhyuk’s voice dropped noticeably.

“Uh, I fought with my mom.”

Junhyuk tilted his head sideways, raising a single eyebrow as if asking if he’d heard that right.

She should have just said it right away. The awkward silence she’d kept over such a trivial detail only made things more embarrassing.

Seol looked away and snapped her book shut. The sky had darkened while they were talking.

She packed her book into her bag and sucked down the rest of her coffee milk through the straw. She figured she’d just head to a 24-hour café near the station.

“Well then, since we both had a terrible day, let’s go grab a drink.”

Junhyuk stood up first and spoke.

Seol’s head snapped up.

“What?”

“Don’t overthink it—let’s go. The weather’s nice out, anyway.”

“Uh, then let’s split the bill.”

Junhyuk froze halfway through tucking in his chair. He lowered his head, then looked back up at her, utterly dumbfounded.

Catching his look of absolute disbelief, Seol instinctively knitted her brows.

“Save the fifty-fifty split for a boyfriend. I’m not doing it.”

“…How long are you going to keep bringing that up?”

“Who knows? Though if you make me your boyfriend, I won’t have a reason to bring it up anymore.”

“…”

“Seeing you hesitate like that, sounds like you’re considering it.”

“That’s… Why do you like me?”

Come to think of it, she’d never asked. It was a perfectly normal question for someone who had received a confession, yet the smile vanished from Junhyuk’s face in an instant.

He often did that—turning his smile on and off like a light switch, as if he’d suddenly put on a mask.

Feeling a strange sense of frustration, Seol added with emphasis, “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘nothing.’”

“No, it’s true. I’ve never told you anything besides my name.”

“You told me about your family, too.”

“That was a lie. See? You really don’t know anything besides my name.”

“Then…” Junhyuk turned his head to the side, dragging out the word.

Seol held her breath, waiting to see what kind of expression he’d give her.

“I’ll hear the rest somewhere else—truth or lie, whichever it is.”

Seol looked up at him silently.

Truth or lie. It sounded like he was saying he didn’t care which one she gave him.

In the end, he still hadn’t told her why he liked her. Nor did he ask her why she had lied to him.

A faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth. Was this man wearing a mask right now, or had he just taken it off?

Even though she stayed completely quiet and stared at him for over a minute, he didn’t rush her. The faint smile on his face stayed right where it was.

After thinking it over for a moment, Seol stood up.

They took Junhyuk’s car to a nearby subway station.

After parking in a nearby commercial lot, they walked up to a chain pub on the second floor.

“Order whatever you want.”

“Ah, okay.”

Seol turned her attention to the menu.

After pausing for a moment, she picked a two-person set menu: assorted fried food, fishcake soup, and two 500ml draft beers. The price was reasonable, too.

“How about this one? Are you okay with fried food and fishcake soup?”

“Sure.” Junhyuk gave a short nod.

Seol added a bottle of soju to complete the order, then poured water into two cups.

Next, she set a water cup, chopsticks, spoon, and small plate in front of Junhyuk first.

“You’re way too nice.”

“What?”

At the low voice floating above her, Seol raised her head.

Junhyuk, who had been expressionless, gave a light laugh and spoke.

“Well, take it as a compliment.”

“Doesn’t sound like one.”

“Yeah, it’s not.”

Even though she was the one who said it didn’t sound like a compliment, she hadn’t expected him to agree so fast.

Seol stared at Junhyuk for a second, then promptly pulled his plate, water cup, and utensils back over to her side.