It was three days later when Ha-jin learned that Professor Joo Yoon-seo had also gone to Paris.
In exchange for the swimsuit, Ha-jin was summoned to Kwak Mari’s office for the first time in a while. As a pheromone management agency, the company often collaborated with hospitals, and today, Ha-jin’s task was to visit several medical centers on Mari’s behalf with contracts in hand.
He felt a bit guilty about leaving Yushin alone in the hotel during their vacation, but Lim Han-soo, waiting just outside the door, had thumped his chest with confidence and told him to trust him, so Ha-jin was able to leave with a lighter heart.
He entered the office as naturally as if it were his own. The space was busier than usual, filled with the hustle of employees darting about. The constant ring of phones and murmur of conversations tangled together in a low buzz.
He weaved his way through the crowd and opened the door to the CEO’s office at the far end. There, Kwak Mari was buried in a mountain of paperwork.
“Whoa… Business is booming, CEO Kwak. Looks like you’re about to get rich.”
Flipping through a file folder, Ha-jin whistled softly at the sheer number of new contracts.
“I landed a big one this time. Here, this is the list of hospitals you’ll be visiting today.”
With practiced ease, Mari pulled a file out from the stack and handed it to him.
“You’ll see in there, too—there’s a list of the managers and contract holders at each location.”
She explained it clearly and looked up at him. Ha-jin skimmed through the papers and nodded. Nothing too complicated—it was a routine round for contract updates and getting doctors’ signatures for information-sharing renewals.
Though it could have been handled online, hospitals often de-prioritized such tasks, putting them off repeatedly. That’s why Mari preferred handling it in person.
“I’m just swamped today. Sorry, but I’m counting on you.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Hm?”
Ha-jin was about to ask something but swallowed it back. Asking if he needed to see Joo Yoon-seo was pointless—if he was going to do the rounds, there was no way to skip just one hospital.
He was torn between wanting to treat this like any other errand and fearing the question that might follow: Why do you feel uncomfortable around her? The conflicting emotions twisted inside him.
“It’s nothing. I’ll go.”
Mari gave him a brief look that said, That’s all? before burying her face back into her paperwork.
Ha-jin drove the car Tae-seong had lent him, stopping at each hospital to get the required signatures. Normally, this would be a dull, repetitive task—but this time was different. Watching the other cars respectfully yield to his luxury vehicle as if sensing its owner gave him a strange, fleeting thrill—like holding some sort of borrowed power.
One signed document after another piled neatly in the passenger seat. Finally, he arrived at the last hospital, ready to wrap things up cleanly and head back.
But unexpectedly, Professor Joo Yoon-seo wasn’t there—she was away on a business trip for a conference.
“Oh, you didn’t hear…? I’m really sorry.”
The receptionist looked flustered, apologizing profusely. Ha-jin waved it off and turned to leave when—
“Ah, Ha-jin-ssi? Fancy seeing you here.”
Dr. Ahn Se-hyung, walking past, recognized him and strode over.
“Hello, Doctor.”
She looked at him curiously, wondering what brought him to the hospital. Her gaze flicked toward the papers in his arm, clearly intrigued.
“Oh, this? I came to get Professor Joo’s signature. Didn’t know she wasn’t in today.”
“Oh, right. She’s in Paris. Won’t be back for a few more days, I think? If it’s urgent, you should email her and follow up with a call. She’s not the type to get annoyed over something like that.”
“…Got it. Thanks.”
The word Paris caught Ha-jin off guard, freezing him mid-step before he quickly composed his face. Thankfully, Ahn Se-hyung seemed to assume he was just worried about the paperwork delay.
“Then… is Professor Song Jae-hyun also out for the same reason?”
“Yup. You need his signature, too?”
“Yes. Looks like I’ll have to email both of them.”
Forcing a smile, Ha-jin nodded. Ahn Se-hyung gave him a sympathetic pat before the conversation moved to the usual topic—Yushin’s condition and some new treatment trials being explored.
But Ha-jin only nodded absentmindedly. He already knew the new meds weren’t promising. His mind was utterly consumed by something else.
They said it was a medical conference, but wasn’t that also the reason Song Jae-hyun left?
The image of the three of them together in Paris—smiling, chatting, perhaps even dining—blurred into view in his mind. Or maybe… maybe it was just two of them.
Fiancée…
Now that he thought about it, she’d referred to Chairman Cheon Han-jo as “Grandpa” with surprising ease.
“Ah, yes. Grandpa really does hope for that. But, well, it’s all just talk between the elders.”
If she was pretending to be engaged to Cheon Tae-seong to help deceive Kang Sung-oh, then maybe the real fiancée was being kept out of sight back in Korea.
“So what? What am I supposed to do with that?”
Ha-jin muttered irritably as he walked out of the hospital.
The weather, which had been nice all day, had suddenly turned gloomy. Thick, gray clouds were rolling in fast, and it looked like a downpour was on the way. The damp, humid air made his T-shirt cling stickily to his skin. His mood sank just as heavily.
…And it was all because Cheon Tae-seong had played his part too damn well.
***
Maybe he’d passed out from tossing and turning for too long—Ha-jin awoke with a shiver, his body stiff.
His neck and chest were soaked with cold sweat. Pulling aside the curtain he’d drawn to block the sunlight, he saw the highway still stretching ahead.
The glare off the guardrails was blinding. He quickly yanked the curtain shut again.
Dark red leather seats, and an ad sticker on the headrest of the seat in front of him caught his eye. [Hansung Travel – Book Your Group Elderly Tour Now! 080-0000-0000]
Turning his head, he noticed a man sitting one row over staring at him with a strange expression.
Well, of course—he was wearing a hoodie with the hood up in late May, after all.
Ah… this is a dream.
He thought he’d woken up—but no.
Ha-jin was still trapped, crushed beneath the weight of the dream. Or rather… it wasn’t a dream. It was a memory.
A very bad memory.
The last one from his previous life—something that should’ve disappeared along with the body that died.
At the time, he’d been on an intercity express bus heading for the East Sea. He’d never dreamed about that particular moment before. In truth, he’d tried to avoid recalling it at all. It wasn’t something he welcomed.
Everything had been a complete disaster back then.
Cheon Han-jo had been attacked. The company had been thrown into chaos. Someone on-site had protected him by shielding him with their body, preventing a fatal outcome.
But rumors had already exploded across the stock market grapevine—word was that Cheon Han-jo had died and that Chunwoo Group was on the verge of collapse.
So Ha-jin had felt the urgency to confess—about the suspicious individuals who had approached him, and the identity of the pheromone-disrupting drug.
The time had come to lay everything bare before Cheon Tae-seong.
He’d only just realized how serious and far-reaching the conspiracy was—far worse than he’d imagined. But by then, it was already too late to contain.
If I had just spoken up one day earlier—would things have changed?
Just as he was about to confess to Tae-seong, the man’s phone had rung violently. That single call had changed everything.
While continuing his conversation, Tae-seong had suddenly collapsed. And with that, Ha-jin had lost his last chance to come clean.
What on earth did the person on the other end of the line say…?
Ha-jin could only guess.
He’d seen the change with his own eyes—Tae-seong’s gaze growing colder by the second as he looked at him.
The hospital later declared it a case of poisoning—he’d been brought down by an unknown drug, and the toxicology tests would take time.
Ha-jin had been shattered.
He’d watched Tae-seong’s every move day and night. Yet he had no clue how or where the man had been poisoned.
Guilt and helplessness tangled together in a mess of emotions.
Acting on impulse, Ha-jin had gone after Kang Sung-oh. He took the man’s business card at face value and headed to Chunwoo Group. Whether by divine luck or pure coincidence, he managed to spot Kang near the company building.
That led him to the bus he was riding now.
His instincts screamed that he shouldn’t call out to the man so recklessly while he was walking and talking on the phone.
So Ha-jin simply followed.
He’d tailed Kang into a taxi, followed him to the intercity terminal, and even boarded the same express bus.
His heart had been pounding like crazy. He knew it was reckless—he knew it was foolish.
But he couldn’t stop.
Some strange, overwhelming instinct told him he had to follow.
