Chapter – 13
At the sudden boom of a loud voice, Cheong-a jerked her head up in surprise.
It seemed someone had been waiting for her to come out of the restroom.
“I—I’m done! I’ll be out right away!”
Cheong-a hurriedly shoved the note into her pocket and got to her feet.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry… There’s just so much to clean.”
She apologized in an awkward voice as she slipped out from the stall where the cleaning supplies were kept.
In front of her stood a man in a neat suit, his leg bouncing impatiently, irritation plain on his face. Around his neck hung a visitor’s badge bearing the logo of Bu-wang Pharmaceuticals.
He was a pharmaceutical sales representative she had run into several times in the hospital corridors. Cheong-a glanced at him from the corner of her eye and quickened her pace.
The man shot her a sideways look and muttered,
“Seriously, can’t a guy clean the men’s restroom himself? This is such a hassle, tch.”
Then, walking with an exaggeratedly uncomfortable wobble, he headed into one of the restroom stalls.
“Ugh, I’m dying.”
At the exact moment he brushed past Cheong-a—
His fingertips slipped into her pocket.
The movement was far too quick, far too practiced.
Under normal circumstances, Cheong-a would never have missed that sensation. But her mind was completely consumed with thoughts of the coded message Yeon-hee had sent her.
She told me to make a call. But which phone should I use? Damn it…
Cheong-a hurried out of the restroom.
Meanwhile, the man who had scolded her into leaving stopped once he was inside. Fixing his gaze on the entrance door, he tapped his in-ear device to connect the line.
“Requesting response from HQ.”
[……Kzzzt. Click. Muted.]
“I’ve secured it.”
When he relaxed his clenched fist, a folded note appeared in his palm—the very one that had been in Cheong-a’s pocket.
[Good work. What does it say?]
The man stared at the note for a moment, then shook his head.
“Honestly? No idea.”
He quickly stuffed the note into his pocket and walked out of the restroom. After checking his surroundings and confirming Cheong-a was gone, he blended naturally into the crowd and continued speaking in a low voice.
“It’s encrypted. Not ordinary stuff. Looks like Morse code, but it’s neither English nor Korean. It’ll take some time to decode.”
[……No wonder the brass is losing their minds telling us to tail her.]
“Seems like something serious really is going on at headquarters, judging by this.”
A long sigh came through the earpiece.
[Take a picture of it and send it to me. Then return the original as soon as possible.]
“Yes, sir.”
[Don’t raise suspicion. Handle it cleanly.]
“Roger that.”
The man grinned broadly, the corners of his mouth stretching almost to his ears.
Cheong-a was racing down the stairs toward the first floor of the hospital. In the quiet stairwell, the sound of her feet pounding down three or four steps at a time echoed loudly.
When she reached the central information desk, she barely paused for breath before bracing a hand on the counter and speaking.
“Excuse me, could I please use the phone just once? I lost my cell phone.”
There was a phone in the janitorial office, but using the hospital’s public line felt safer.
After all, it was best to minimize any information that could identify her.
The receptionist gave her a concerned look and turned the landline phone toward her.
The number for headquarters felt unfamiliar under her fingers—it had been a long time since she’d dialed it.
Cheong-a entered the extension number, then added the password known only to staff, routing the call directly to the Information Analysis Division.
After a couple of rings, the call connected.
[Cyberterror Response Unit.]
Under normal circumstances, no external call should ever reach this internal line. The voice that answered casually was Yeon-hee’s.
“Face mask. Face mask.”
[Ah… yes. Please hold for a moment.]
Yeon-hee immediately reacted to Cheong-a’s hastily spoken code phrase.
The sound of hurried typing and movement came through the receiver. Only then did Yeon-hee lower her voice and ask,
[Unni! Did you check the note? Where are you right now? Is this call safe?]
“A hospital. Public phone.”
[Ah, that’s a relief. I injected noise into the line.]
She meant she’d added interference to block any wiretapping—signaling it was safe to talk freely.
“Tell me more about what you mentioned earlier.”
[Unni. You saw the contents, right? Your phone’s been tapped for quite a while.]
Cheong-a’s face twisted sharply.
[We’re tracking it now, but we still haven’t pinpointed where it’s coming from.]
If it were a typical route, the source should already have been identified and reported. The fact that Yeon-hee needed more time meant things were serious.
“No leads at all?”
Yeon-hee didn’t answer right away, but Cheong-a herself had no sense of it either. Who would be tapping her phone—and why? And how?
[Yeah. Let’s meet when you have time. I think I need to look at it in person.]
“…Alright.”
As she pressed a hand to her throbbing forehead, she felt the texture of the recording tape beneath her fingers. Instantly, Min Yu-shin came to mind, and she asked,
“Did you check Min Yu-shin’s information?”
[That’s completely clean.]
“What?”
Her voice came out louder than intended, drawing glances from nearby people.
Cheong-a hunched her shoulders and lowered her head.
[Born August 7th. We even checked the ID photo—sharp eyes, good-looking guy. That’s him, right?]
Cheong-a didn’t want to be the one to call Min Yu-shin handsome. She answered with silence instead.
[I cross-checked everything three times—from hospital HR records to the resident registration database API. No trace of tampering. Totally clean.]
“…That can’t be right.”
[Unless someone hacked the government’s integrated database—which even I can’t do—there’s no way this info is wrong. And it’s not easy to even access, unni.]
“….”
After a brief silence, Yeon-hee hesitated, then continued in an even quieter voice.
[Did you check the Morse?]
Ah!
Only then did Cheong-a remember—she hadn’t finished examining the note because of the pharmaceutical rep’s complaint earlier.
And just as she plunged her hand into her pocket—
Huh? But why…?
It felt like all the blood drained from her head.
She yanked her hand out and searched the other pocket too—but the note was gone.
“I—I’ll call you back!”
[What?]
She slammed the receiver down so hard the receptionist flinched. Apologizing quickly, Cheong-a took off toward the stairs.
Her heart felt like it might burst every time her foot struck the floor.
One hand kept patting her empty pockets, while her eyes desperately scanned the path she’d taken.
The note. Where did the note go?
Breathing hard, Cheong-a flung open the door to the fifth-floor stairwell. Her gaze was still fixed on the ground, retracing her steps—
And then she saw him.
A man glancing around just as anxiously as she was.
The Bu-wang Pharmaceuticals sales representative.
The very man who had brushed past her in the restroom.
Don’t tell me that bastard—
Her face tightened, but at that moment the man broke into a bright smile and raised his hand.
Then he hurried over and stopped in front of her.
“Wow, where have you been?”
“…Huh?”
He held out a folded note toward her.
“You’re looking for this, right? You dropped it on the floor earlier. I had to rush to the bathroom so I couldn’t chase you right away, and when I came out, you were already gone.”
Cheong-a’s face stiffened awkwardly as she took the note.
Should she suspect him? Or not?
Her mind was in chaos.
The man looked every bit the stereotypical salesman. Whether he sensed her wariness or not, he kept smiling and chatting easily.
“But what is this? I was a communications soldier back in the day—I’m amazing at Morse code—but I couldn’t decipher a single bit of it.”
Under normal circumstances, she might have reacted more naturally. Right now, even speaking felt difficult.
“It’s just… a puzzle. A puzzle. For dementia prevention…”
Was she out of breath from running up five flights of stairs? Or relieved to have the note back? Or suspicious that maybe this man hadn’t picked it up, but stolen it?
Perhaps it was all of the above.
“This is a puzzle? I love that kind of thing.”
“……”
The man laughed loudly, still seeming oblivious to—or unconcerned with—what was going through Cheong-a’s head.
“You’re grateful I found it, right?”
“Ah… yes. Th-thank you.”
“If you’re grateful, buy me a coffee, noona.”
Noona?
Caught off guard by the sudden shift in his tone, Cheong-a blinked several times in surprise.
