“Good morning… huh? What’s with that face?”
Ha Jun-seo asked with a worried expression. The moment Kim Min-seok heard his gentle question, a lump formed in his throat. He almost burst into tears right then and there. His face must have looked terrible because Ha Jun-seo immediately pulled him into a warm embrace, comforting him as soon as he stepped inside. Fighting back his tears, Kim Min-seok clung tightly to Ha Jun-seo’s back.
“What’s wrong? Something must have happened, right? Did Choi Sang-hyuk bother you? Is he giving you trouble because you hung out with me?”
“It’s not that.”
Kim Min-seok replied in a hoarse voice. He buried his face in Ha Jun-seo’s chest, inhaling his soft scent deeply. Just a little, but it made him feel more at ease.
“Let’s go inside first.”
Ha Jun-seo said as he wrapped an arm around Min-seok’s shoulders. Kim Min-seok pressed his hand against Jun-seo’s chest, stopping him, and shook his head.
“No. I can’t hang out with you today. Just go home.”
“Why all of a sudden? Did that bastard Choi Sang-hyuk actually threaten you not to hang out with me?”
“I told you, it’s not that. I just… have a lot on my mind today. I want to be alone for a bit.”
“But—”
“Please.”
At Kim Min-seok’s insistence, Ha Jun-seo’s eyes narrowed slightly. He stared at him for a moment before letting out a small sigh.
“…Alright. But if you don’t want to be alone, call me anytime. Okay?”
“Yeah. I will.”
Even as he turned to leave, Ha Jun-seo’s face was filled with reluctance and worry. Kim Min-seok shut the front door behind him and leaned against it, closing his eyes tightly. He had almost broken down, almost clung to Ha Jun-seo in tears.
Was this how Seo Ha-yoon felt? Did he also want to rely on someone, to run away like this? Was that why he let himself go and never came looking for him? If that was the case, then right now, Kim Min-seok could understand him.
He needed time. Whatever he decided to do, he needed time to think. But the deadline—until 6 p.m. today—was far too short.
Taking a deep breath, Kim Min-seok grabbed his wallet and phone and stepped out of the house. He headed straight for the convenience store in front of his apartment. Inside, tucked in the corner, was an ATM.
From the three cards in his wallet, he pulled out the one with Seo Ha-yoon’s name on it and inserted it into the machine.
He selected the option to check the balance. The screen prompted him to enter a PIN.
On a whim, he tried his own birthday—the same as Seo Ha-yoon’s.
Incorrect password.
Frowning, Kim Min-seok tried entering the four digits of the year he was born instead.
To his shock, it worked.
“Is Seo Ha-yoon a complete idiot?”
Kim Min-seok muttered under his breath. Using his birth year as a PIN? In this day and age, that was absolutely ridiculous.
The balance screen popped up, and Kim Min-seok sucked in a sharp breath.
There were tens of millions of won sitting in the account.
“…Holy shit.”
His own account had never held more than a few million won at best. Staring at such an enormous sum, he was at a complete loss for words.
Several options appeared on the screen. Among them was the transfer button.
Kim Min-seok pulled out his phone and opened his messages. Seo Chang-seop’s text was there, displaying the account number. Biting his lower lip, he entered the digits. Then, he typed in the amount—ten million won.
The final confirmation button appeared.
His trembling fingers hovered just above it, hesitating.
“Just this once. I’m only buying myself a little time…”
Muttering an excuse to himself, Kim Min-seok finally pressed the transfer button with his shaking hand.
***
Rrrrr—
His phone vibrated.
Choi Sang-hyuk glanced at the screen and frowned. It was Ha Jun-seo.
“What do you want?”
He answered the call with a sharp, menacing tone.
“Oi, Choi Sang-hyuk.”
Ha Jun-seo’s voice came through the speaker.
“What’s your business?”
“I went to see Ha-yoon today. Ever since he woke up from the hospital, I’ve never seen his face that bad before. It felt off, so I secretly followed him when he left… and guess what? He was at a convenience store ATM, looking like he was transferring money to someone.”
Choi Sang-hyuk’s expression darkened.
“Ha-yoon or Min-seok—neither of them have anyone to contact, right? So who do you think he was sending money to?”
Ha Jun-seo’s voice was light, but there was an unmistakable seriousness beneath it.
“He transferred money?”
“I wasn’t close enough to see for sure, but judging from his actions, the chances are high. Something’s not right. He looked pale, like he’d collapse if you so much as touched him.”
“…Stay close to him. Don’t let him out of your sight.”
Choi Sang-hyuk didn’t wait for a reply before hanging up.
“Kim Sil-jang.”
“Yes.”
“Is the background check on Seo Chang-seop ready?”
“Yes, it’s prepared.”
“Bring it here.”
Kim Sil-jang handed over a file. Choi Sang-hyuk dismissed him with a nod and opened it.
As soon as he flipped it open, a photo slipped out. It was a family picture.
A woman who looked exactly like Seo Ha-yoon, Seo Chang-seop, and a young Seo Ha-yoon standing in the middle.
It was an ordinary photo, except for the unnervingly blank expression on Seo Ha-yoon’s face.
Choi Sang-hyuk stared at the young Seo Ha-yoon in the picture for a moment before turning to the file and reading through it.
“A narcotics officer?”
He muttered to himself, surprised by Seo Chang-seop’s unexpected past.
Seo Chang-seop had worked as a narcotics officer before marrying a high-class hostess who had a child. A few years later, his wife died of uterine cancer. After that, he lived with his stepson and worked an ordinary job. Up to that point, it was a relatively normal—if tragic—story.
But things started to take a turn when Seo Ha-yoon entered middle school.
Whether he got too deep into the drug world while catching addicts or was simply seduced by the substances himself, Seo Chang-seop ended up becoming a junkie. He burned through their family assets to buy drugs, lost his job in no time, and spiraled into ruin. His life after that was nothing short of a disaster.
In the family photo, he still looked relatively well-kept, even somewhat handsome. But in his most recent pictures, he appeared drastically aged, worn down, and utterly miserable.
A junkie who had taken in the orphaned Seo Ha-yoon and raised him to the end. But it was obvious—he had been extorting his son’s money to feed his addiction.
The real question was, why did someone like Seo Ha-yoon, who had such a strong personality, hand over money so easily?
Several possibilities crossed Choi Sang-hyuk’s mind. None of them were good.
He frowned, rubbing his temples.
Seo Ha-yoon had thrown himself off a building, ready to die. After the accident, he had retreated behind an entirely different persona—Kim Min-seok, someone who was his complete opposite.
And Seo Chang-seop might just be the cause of it all.
Choi Sang-hyuk picked up the phone on his desk and pressed a button. A moment later, Kim Sil-jang entered the room.
“Find out what Seo Chang-seop is doing right now.”
“Yes, sir. One moment.”
Kim Sil-jang, ever perceptive, made a call on the spot. After exchanging a few words, he hung up and reported back.
“He withdrew a large sum of cash not long ago. He’s currently on the move while talking to someone on the phone. Given his status as an addict, we suspect he’s going to buy drugs.”
“He withdrew a large sum?”
“Yes.”
The timing was too convenient. If Seo Chang-seop had taken out money right after a transfer, then it was clear—Seo Ha-yoon had sent the money to him.
But why would Kim Min-seok, who had no recollection of being Seo Ha-yoon, send such a large sum to someone he didn’t even consider his guardian? It didn’t align with what Choi Sang-hyuk had observed of Kim Min-seok’s personality so far.
“His face looked pale…”
He had looked like he would collapse at the slightest touch. If Seo Chang-seop had threatened or blackmailed him, that would explain it.
But what exactly had frightened Kim Min-seok so much?
Choi Sang-hyuk opened his desk drawer and pulled out Seo Ha-yoon’s old phone, its screen cracked. He scrolled through the messages from the contact saved as “Fucking Bastard.”
[Ha-yoon, this month’s living expenses haven’t come in. You can’t just ignore me like this.]
[Ha-yoon, I’m in a hurry. Just send me 10 million won for now.]
[Seo Ha-yoon. Why aren’t you answering my calls? Are you avoiding me? Contact me the moment you see this.]
[Seo Ha-yoon. What the hell do you think you’re doing? If you keep this up, you’re going to regret it. Contact me immediately.]
[You little shit, are you playing games with me? You really won’t answer? If you keep this up, I might just expose everything.]
Choi Sang-hyuk skimmed through the texts he had already read before continuing to scroll up.
The messages seemed endless, proof of just how frequently Seo Chang-seop had contacted him. Most were demands for money, wrapped in fake kindness. But in between, there were clear threats.
[Do you really think that bastard will still keep you around after finding out the truth? Stop wasting time and send the money.]
Choi Sang-hyuk’s gaze lingered on that particular message.
“That bastard”—he was obviously referring to me.
Then what was “the truth” Seo Chang-seop was talking about?
Did he find out about Seo Ha-yoon cheating with Ha Jun-seo and use it for blackmail? That was a possibility. But if that were the case, Kim Min-seok wouldn’t have sent him money. Kim Min-seok was already aware that he had been caught two-timing. It wouldn’t be enough to use as leverage.
There had to be something else. Something bigger.
“Dig deeper into Seo Chang-seop. Not just the surface-level stuff—look into his relationship with his stepson, his personal life, everything.”
“Understood.”
Kim Sil-jang answered briefly before leaving the room at Choi Sang-hyuk’s gesture.
A sudden craving for a cigarette hit him.
He opened his desk drawer and saw the pack of cigarettes that had been shoved into the corner a long time ago.
“You pay him ten million won a month just to have him do housework, you’ve kept him around for months without even laying a hand on him, you say ‘okay’ whenever he asks for a housekeeper, ‘okay’ whenever he asks for an allowance, you stopped smoking in front of him because he didn’t like it, and even quit smoking altogether because he hated the smell…
If a third party saw this, they’d say you’re totally in love. Like, love at first sight, head over heels.“
Seo Ha-yoon’s teasing voice echoed in his mind.
Choi Sang-hyuk, who had been about to take out a cigarette, withdrew his hand and took a deep breath instead.
