MIM 67

It was a day with a blue sky. Sunlight poured in abundantly, soaking the bedsheets, and warmth permeated the entire room. Jae-seung gazed at the vase by the window for a long while, thinking he didn’t want to get up. The flowers were beautiful, their petals full of life as if they’d just been watered.

Turning from the window, there was Shin-woo sitting on the floor in a t-shirt and shorts. He was focused on assembling tiny blocks with scissors and tweezers beside him. Thinking he somehow looked somewhat younger, Jae-seung picked up a nearby notebook. Then he drew crooked pictures as his hand moved.

Thick eyebrows and slightly downturned eyes, fierce-looking but actually warmer than they appeared, a straight nose bridge and unexpectedly neat lips. Moving his gaze slowly, he sketched him in a corner of the notebook. While watching the sunlight fall on the crown of his head, his round eyelids and cheeks, Jae-seung suddenly realized.

This isn’t my room, but Shin-woo’s room. This bed, this pillow, everything belongs to him.

As soon as he realized this, Shin-woo looked up. The face he met was a mess, splattered with blood. Without realizing it, Jae-seung had stepped out of bed. Though it was a situation where he should naturally flee, he crouched down facing Shin-woo and wiped his face clean with both hands. As tension gradually released from his face held in Jae-seung’s hands, a smile formed.

‘I’ll come kidnap you early Saturday morning.’

Shin-woo’s smiling face grew progressively darker, and soon a massive shadow engulfed them. Everything turned pitch black instantly, and there was a burning smell.

Fire. His breathing became rapid as if he might suffocate at any moment. Jae-seung struggled desperately, frantically scratching at the air with his fingers.

“Heuk…! Cough. Haa, ha…”

As soon as his eyes flew open, he could breathe again. Jae-seung bolted upright and panted heavily.

It was a strange dream. Though he’d had many nightmares about being engulfed in fire, this was the first time he’d dreamed of getting along with that guy like this. Must be because he’d indulged in undeserved leisure riding the boat together last night. Jae-seung calmed his unsettled heart and slipped his feet into slippers.

Come to think of it, Shin-woo was nowhere to be seen. The guy who would usually come running first when he had nightmares wasn’t showing his face at all.

“Should have noticed when you started frequenting that doghouse.” Remembering his brother’s muttered words, Jae-seung furrowed his brow. After staring blankly into space lost in thought for a while, he finally left the room. He headed straight not to the bathroom or kitchen, but to the study.

“I heard you called for me.”

Butler Hwang closed the study door and bowed his head in greeting. He placed the breakfast he’d brought directly on the table in the middle of the study. It was a meal of pasta made with large-cut meat and green onions, accompanied by fresh oranges.

Though he was hungry, food wasn’t important right now. Jae-seung got up from the desk and headed to the table, calling Butler Hwang to sit opposite him. The floor where the desk sat was slightly higher, making it uncomfortable to talk while seated at the desk. Though the space had been renovated from his father’s burned study, he wasn’t particularly satisfied with it.

“Sorry about my appearance.”

Sitting across from the ever-neat Butler Hwang, Jae-seung apologized first. Having only brushed his teeth and washed his face after waking up, he was still in his robe with disheveled hair.

“It’s fine, please have some tea first.”

Though he answered generously, Butler Hwang seemed to keenly notice the subtly different atmosphere from usual and was observing Jae-seung carefully. Having known about his visit to the mental hospital, he probably had some idea of what might come up.

“You know I went to see my brother, right? There’s something I want to verify from what I heard there.”

Given the situation, Jae-seung didn’t beat around the bush. He put what he most wanted to confirm on the table first.

“My brother said Shin-woo killed Hye-jung.”

“Pardon?”

Butler Hwang’s eyes widened as he asked back. Seeing his genuinely surprised expression somehow put Jae-seung at ease. It seemed the man who had worked at the mansion his whole life managing the family members didn’t believe that guy could have killed Hye-jung.

“I’m not asking to do him harm, so tell me everything you know.”

Jae-seung added calmly while making eye contact with Butler Hwang. Until now, Butler Hwang had been quite reluctant about things Jae-seung asked him to look into. It wasn’t incomprehensible. He probably thought Jae-seung suffered from paranoid delusions. So whenever he’d been asked to look into something, he’d never brought back proper answers.

But this was different. Whether Shin-woo really killed Hye-jung or not – that was more important to him than anything else.

Butler Hwang paused for a few seconds before continuing.

“While I don’t know much detail about Miss Hye-jung, this is such an unexpected story… Could the young master have misunderstood?”

“He said Shin-woo told him directly? It doesn’t seem like a lie. He was terrified.”

“…”

“You’ve worked here almost your whole life, right?”

Butler Hwang looked up at the quietly posed question. Jae-seung met his gaze directly and spoke slowly.

“You must have seen Hye-jung since she first came to the mansion. I think if anyone knows her best in this mansion, it would be you, Butler Hwang.”

Butler Hwang was, naturally, an intelligent person. Though he heard many stories from around the mansion, he never spoke carelessly, and despite appearing gruff, he was kind and loyal. His character must have been why he could work as butler here for so long.

Though no one had been able to find Hye-jung until now, if anyone could find her, it would be Butler Hwang. He would know the other household members Hye-jung was close with, and would also know the maids’ schedules in the mansion. Since permission for outings had to be obtained from him, he might even know Hye-jung’s acquaintances outside the mansion.

“I don’t care how you find her, but please ask around and find her. I promise I won’t harm her. If she doesn’t want to meet in person, even a phone call would be fine.”

If Hye-jung was alive, there was only one thing he wanted to ask.

When he finished speaking in a resolute tone, Butler Hwang bowed, saying he would look into it right away. Reassured by this different attitude from before, Jae-seung stopped Butler Hwang once more as he was about to stand.

“Just one more thing, about father’s will. There was one witness, right? Lee Young-shin.”

Butler Hwang’s eyes widened as Jae-seung mentioned the name he’d busily tracked down since morning.

If the contents of the will had changed midway, the witness couldn’t have been unaware. He wanted to meet and talk directly with the witness who had confirmed there were no problems with the will. Butler Hwang seemed familiar with this and answered without much thought.

“He worked his whole life as legal director of the Ma Corporate legal team, trusted by everyone. I don’t think there would be any issues with his credibility.”

“I’ll judge that myself, so please look into whether he or his family or relatives suddenly came into money after father’s incident, and report back by afternoon.”

Since he was planning to meet him as soon as tomorrow, he needed to know beforehand if anything was suspicious. After saying everything he’d meant to say, his fingers and toes tingled with the urge to ask what he’d been curious about since waking up this morning. Finally unable to hold back, Jae-seung burst out:

“By the way, where’s Shin-woo?”

“He went out.”

Out? His eyes widened in shock.

“Out? Where to? What about the tracking I told you to put on his car and phone?”

“Since you mentioned it just last night, we haven’t yet… He said he was taking the car for repairs, said it wouldn’t take long, so he should be back soon.”

The mention of car repairs calmed him somewhat. After causing that commotion last night, both Butler Hwang and that guy must have been quite busy since early morning. Now he understood why that guy hadn’t shown his face all morning.

“When did he leave?”

“About two hours ago.”

Two hours. Jae-seung’s mother’s mansion was on the outskirts, taking quite some time to travel to and from. Given that he specifically added it wouldn’t take long, it didn’t seem like he’d gone to meet his mother.

“I need to know where he took the car for repairs.”

Just as he was about to add another task for Butler Hwang. Knock knock. At the two precise knocks, Jae-seung’s ears perked up. Speak of the devil, he could tell from the sound alone it was that guy knocking.

“Come in.”

As soon as permission was given, Shin-woo strode in, his tall figure immediately filling the view. He was always neat in appearance, but perhaps because it was broad daylight, his complexion looked especially bright and pleasant. Belatedly embarrassed by his own disheveled state, Jae-seung stepped back two paces and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Where have you been?”

“Ah, I got a haircut.”

Shin-woo sheepishly tilted his head to show. There was a clean scratch line on the right side of his head that hadn’t been there before. He said the stylist’s hand had shaken and that was how they’d barely managed to fix the mistake.

“They said they were sorry and wouldn’t charge me, so I got it for free. Though it might look a bit strange, like a thug… Does it look weird?”

Far from weird, it suited him well. More surprising was that he was concerned about looking like a thug. Jae-seung naturally stopped his wandering thoughts and collected himself. He had a feeling that the guy was deliberately chattering about other things.

“Where did you take the car?”

When he abruptly cut in, Shin-woo slowly closed his mouth. Though it was a simple question, he didn’t answer right away. Only after setting down all his bags one by one and leisurely straightening up did he smile.

“The Geummok Center.”

A quick search revealed that it was near Ye-wook’s house. That guy had gone all the way there to meet Ye-wook. There were many closer centers from here, so there could be no other reason for making such a long trip.

Why did he meet Ye-wook? First meeting his mother alone and now even Ye-wook. He couldn’t understand the intention behind his actions, as if trying to absorb all the people around him.

“Mr. Ye-wook recommended it. He said they’re very skilled there, so I thought I’d trust them with it.”

Moreover, the guy even had the composure to mention Ye-wook’s name first. His attitude showed he knew exactly how this would sound to Jae-seung, yet he didn’t seem to care.