Chapter 17
***
The dimly lit room was deserted. The chair Jae-yeon had been sitting in was empty. Only the bark-like markings on the desk remained.
Do-geon frowned and blinked a few times, then stretched and pushed himself upright. With a grunt, he checked his watch.
"How long have I been asleep......?”
The hour hand was already past two o'clock. He was stunned. No matter how tired he was, how could he fall asleep so casually in front of others?
He rubbed the back of his neck irritatedly, his gaze suddenly landing on the desk.
A small wooden sculpture lay in front of an array of carving knives and sandpaper. Do-geon reached out and picked it up. The woman had carved a small cat.
He turned the carving this way and that. It was plain looking, but the quality was quite good for something made in such a short time.
"I'd rather make things and leave them."
He looked around at his surroundings as he remembered Jae-yeon's words. Small sculptures lay scattered on the sideboard beside the desk.
Do-geon rose from his seat and walked over to it, his eyes slowly scanning upward. Rabbits, hamsters, turtles, puppies...... The sculptures were no taller than two fingers.
The only thing unusual was that they were all families. Mom, dad, and a baby in the middle.
There were only two cats at the very end. Do-geon alternated between them and the sculpture in his hands. The new one Jae-yeon had made was definitely smaller.
He couldn't help but chuckle. It was an unexpected, cute hobby.
Do-geon placed the one he was holding between the parents' cats. He stared at the family sculpture for a moment, then turned away.
His steps paused as he turned toward the entrance. The bottom of the cabinet, in the left-hand corner, caught his eye.
Slowly, Do-geon dropped to his knees, then bent down to examine the darkened objects. He reached down and pulled one of them out.
It was a model ship he had built as a child.
Do-geon turned the model around in his hands with a strange feeling. The sailboat was of very high quality, down to the three sails and wooden planks.
"It took a long time to build.”
It had taken the longest time to build, and it was the one he cherished the most.
Looking inside the model, he suddenly realized something. For something that was over 20 years old, it was incredibly clean, with not a speck of dust.
"It's my favorite place, so I just come here occasionally to clean and maintain things."
The woman.
Do-geon put the model ship back in its place and pulled out the other toys one by one. Ships, spaceships, supercars, block building................
The lesser toys were displayed alongside the antiques. Like the woman's unremarkable animal sculptures. Dark eyes held a faint glow.
tick, tick, tick. The second hand of a wristwatch ticked in the silence.
Do-geon stared at the old toys for a long moment.
***
The near-death chairman's condition improved slightly overnight. Once again, death narrowly missed him.
His departure date had been postponed. Normally, at this point, Do-geon would have bought a plane ticket back to the United States.
It was not that he didn't love his grandfather, but honestly, he didn't see the point in honoring his dying wish - why not just attend the funeral?
But Do-geon chose to stay in Korea. There were two reasons for this.
The first was that Chairman Han's condition, which had been on and off, had truly entered the death throes. After his last bout of illness, Han was literally in a day-to-day state.
He couldn't move around like before. He was now hooked up to an oxygen line and lying motionless. He was like a dead man walking.
As soon as he returned to the U.S., he heard his grandfather's call, and it was no wonder he had to come back to Korea. And the second reason was the woman.
[Director, it's Junhyung Yoon, and I'm calling to report an additional matter from the last investigation you entrusted me with].
Mr. Yoon called him yesterday. Since they decided to dig deeper into Jeong Jae-yeon's past, Do-geon ordered him to conduct additional research.
[Well, I've already reported on Jeong Jae-yeon's past history, but when I was going through the documents again, I found something I missed. I should have checked more thoroughly, I'm sorry].
"That's okay, which part?"
[Haha, well, as I mentioned at the beginning, Jeong’s adolescence was a bit spotty. She dropped out of middle school in second grade, so there's no record of her after that, but when I looked at her freshman year of middle school, there was a brief moment in her life when she was a teenager..................]
For a very brief moment, Do-geon regretted his decision to listen to Mr. Yoon's report. It was some kind of intuition.
[Her name was written as Seo Jae-yeon, not Jeong Jae-yeon]
It was a gut feeling that once he heard this, there would be no turning back.
Do-geon closed his eyes for a long moment and then opened them. His thick index finger tapped the desk. It wasn't hard to deduce the cause from Mr. Yoon's report.
"Is she .................. adopted?"
[I'm guessing so. But it's almost impossible to tell because it's only on the adoption certificate. That's something we'd have to do as a field investigation].
Initially, Jeong’s family relationship certificate, which Yoon had checked as a basic background, listed her biological father, Jeong Young-jin, and biological mother, Hong Mi-jin. This meant that she was not currently part of an adoptive family.
There was only one possible outcome.
"I see, I understand."
Jeong Jae-yeon had been adopted by another family when she was in middle school, and after a change of name and family register, she was listed on her birth parents' family register again.
"I know you're busy, but I was wondering if you could do some more research on her adoption history? Exactly when and where she was adopted, and what the reason for her situation was.”
[Okay, but it might take a little time, if you don't mind...................... It was so long ago, and I don't have any records from that time, so I'm not sure I can give you the results you're looking for].
"That's fine, just go ahead and do it, and..................."
There was a faint twinkle in Do-geon’s eyes.
"You know, the place that Jeong Jae-yeon used to work at."
***
Parking the car in the basement of the mall building, Do-geon turned off the engine. He checked his wristwatch once, then grabbed his briefcase and got out.
His well-polished shoes clicked in the dark basement. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the third floor.
The doors opened to reveal an unmarked office. Do-geon pushed open the frosted glass door and stepped inside.
There was a large table in the center and a man and a woman sitting on the sofa on either side. The middle-aged man jumped out of his seat at the sight of Do-geon.
"Hello."
Mr. Yoon leaned down to greet him.
"It's been a while since we've seen each other."
"Yes, I know you're busy, but thank you for coming in person."
"No, it was my request."
True to his word, Do-geon didn't need to come here in the first place. Until now, everything has been done through Mr. Yoon.
Nevertheless, Do-geon chose to meet his counterpart in person. He wanted to hear the story unfiltered. There were things he wanted to ask.
About the woman's past.
The woman sitting across from Mr. Yoon stood up late. She wore heavy makeup, a short mink coat, and long boots.
Do-geon opened his mouth nonchalantly.
"Ms. Heo Eun-hee?"
It was Ms. Heo, the madam of the now defunct Lamer, and the new owner of the current Quality Pants, who had taken over the same position.
"Yes, hello."
Heo Eun-hee greeted Do-geon casually, making eye contact with him.
Even in her mid-forties, Heo had the appearance of someone in her early thirties at best, but her wide-open eyes, as if her eyelids had been tightly closed, and the angular, inverted triangular shape of her face gave her a slightly odd look.
Do-geon held out his business card, his face impassive.
"Han Do-geon from IMK Americas."
"Oh, my."
Taking his business card, Heo Eun-hee rolled her eyes.
"You work overseas."
Heo smiled and handed him her own business card. Her business card had a pseudonym on it. Do-geon took a seat and slid the card to his right.
***
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