Chapter 2
Huiyeon’s heart dropped into her stomach. If she’d gotten tangled up with people who looked like gangsters, it had to be because of her brother, Pil-mo. Just what kind of trouble had he caused this time? Saying he’d found a respectable job once he started sending money—so that had all been a lie.
“There’s… there’s a man inside the shop…”
Huiyeon looked toward the store.
A man was sitting behind the window with the menu written on it. Most of his body was obscured, but even seated, he looked strikingly tall.
“I’ll talk to him.”
“D-don’t go in. Just call the police—”
“Auntie, please go pick Yerim up from kindergarten. Don’t come back to the shop.”
“O-okay.”
After making sure her aunt retreated safely, Huiyeon fixed her gaze on the store.
This was a place governed by law and order.
Even if they were gangsters, they couldn’t just do whatever they wanted to her.
She lifted her chin and walked forward with steady steps. The burly men stared at her, but she didn’t shrink back.
She pushed the door open hard. In that instant, a bright light spilled out from inside.
…!
Huiyeon flinched in spite of herself.
A man who looked like that was a gangster…?
Smooth skin, strong facial features, a high nose, well-shaped lips—and tall, too. He didn’t look like a gangster at all, yet the aura he gave off was dark.
It felt as if a black shadow lay beneath his feet, as though his presence alone was enough to overwhelm her.
Her throat bobbed with tension, but Huiyeon forced herself to endure it. As if his purpose here had nothing to do with her, she asked him the way she would a customer.
“We’re just opening, so you’ll have to wait a bit. Are you here for tteokbokki?”
“Do I look like a customer to you?”
She was startled again by his voice. The low timbre settled into her ears.
“Aren’t you? To me, everyone looks like a customer. Even though this market’s tucked away, lots of office workers in suits come by.”
“Those hulking guys don’t look like ordinary office workers.”
“T-that’s how they look. To me.”
“Are you pretending not to know? Or did you know I’d come?”
“W-what?”
She’d been helping her aunt run the stall for ten years since middle school—where had all that nerve gone? Without realizing it, her voice was trembling.
“Where is So Pil-mo?”
“…I don’t know.”
“He’s your brother.”
“I cut ties with him a long time ago.”
Even now, Huiyeon was protecting Pil-mo. No matter how much she hated him, he was still her only blood relative.
She stared straight at the man’s face. Their gazes tangled in midair, and she felt like she might collapse from the tension.
“That’s hard to believe, considering he’s been sending you money regularly. One million won every month.”
The money Pil-mo sent was child support for Yerim. After getting a woman he’d been seeing pregnant, he’d abandoned the child with Huiyeon and run away. Out of necessity, Huiyeon had registered the child under her own name—her poor niece.
Huiyeon bit the inside of her cheek, troubled. Since he’d been sending child support faithfully, she’d thought maybe he had some conscience left. Turns out, that was the problem.
“He was paying back money he borrowed from me. He ran off with my savings five years ago.”
“So you’re saying there was no contact? He couldn’t have just sent money.”
“…Paying back a debt doesn’t mean he has to come see me in person.”
“True. However.”
The man’s eyes flashed. Her throat tightened painfully.
“……”
“I can be certain your sibling bond is quite strong—just from the sender names he used every time.”
Tap.
He placed Pil-mo’s printed bank transfer records in front of her.
To my beloved little sister – 1,000,000 won
You trust your big brother, right – 1,000,000 won
You and Yerim are everything to me, you know – 1,000,000 won
I’ll make money and come back – 1,000,000 won
Haa—
Changing the sender name every time to leave a message—that had come back to bite him.
“He’s wronged me in many ways. Like I said, he owed me money. A large sum.”
“One hundred million won.”
“…!”
“Possibly more. Most of it was blown on settlements.”
She had no idea how thoroughly they’d investigated.
They were definitely gangsters.
Pil-mo, unlucky for the crimes he’d committed, had been in and out of prison several times. From a younger sister’s perspective, he wasn’t evil—he’d just kept bad company, gotten dragged into trouble, and ended up saddled with debt unfairly.
“Th-that is…”
“Half-baked lies won’t work. Unlike me, my subordinates are rather rough.”
It sounded more threatening than any direct threat. The man’s gaze turned cold.
Her fingertips trembled, but she truly didn’t know anything.
What on earth—
What had he done wrong?
“What did my brother do?”
“He stole something and ran.”
Huiyeon was confused.
No matter how despicable he was, he’d never committed theft—especially not stealing from a man who clearly looked powerful…
“…What on earth did he take…?”
“A woman.”
Huiyeon’s heart plunged.
A woman.
He ran away with this man’s woman?
How—how could he do something so dangerous?
The worst-case scenario took shape in her mind. If he caught her brother, she felt certain he’d kill him.
“So then. What are you going to do to me?”
“You’ll have to come with me.”
“Pardon?”
“You’ll be my hostage.”
“…I’m not that important to my brother. I won’t make a good hostage.”
“We’ll see.”
At his signal, she turned her head. In that instant, her mind filled with gray haze.
Behind her aunt’s ashen face, a man was holding Yerim’s hand. Yerim waved cheerfully at Huiyeon with a bright smile. She’d told them to go straight home… It seemed they’d been followed.
“Mom!”
“Your daughter will come too. She’s still at an age where she needs her mother’s care, isn’t she?”
“……”
They’d investigated her brother, but thankfully, Yerim’s existence hadn’t been discovered.
If they found out Yerim was her brother’s daughter—
Her vision went dark.
For now, to protect Yerim, she had no choice but to follow him quietly.
“I’ll go. I’ll do anything. Just don’t touch my daughter.”
Only then did the man rise from his chair. He was taller than she’d realized—so tall that Huiyeon, at 165 cm, had to look up at him.
A face without a single scar—hard to believe he lived a rough life.
He was far from the image of a gangster she’d always imagined, yet his sharp presence put her on edge.
Her feet instinctively slid back.
He curled his lips into a faint smirk, and it felt as though he could see right through her.
As he led the way, Huiyeon followed behind. The moment Yerim saw her, she ran over and hugged her tightly.
“Wow, Mom. This mister is pretty.”
Even to a child, the man’s looks must have stood out. Yerim stared at him with wide eyes, and the man’s expression stiffened.
“Yerim, you shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Why? He’s pretty… Pfft…”
“Shh. Enough.”
“Okay.”
Yerim wrapped her small arms tightly around Huiyeon. Even as she was carried, her eyes never left the man.
Huiyeon forced a bitter smile as she left her worried aunt behind.
“Huiyeon…”
“I’ll call you.”
She walked on with a deliberately bright smile. As if they were going on an outing, Yerim happily swung her arms. All through the market, people stared at them.
“Isn’t that Huiyeon?”
“Who’s that man? He’s tall and handsome. Are they on a date?”
“So she’d been hiding a boyfriend like that?”
She couldn’t understand how this scene could look like a couple on a date.
Huiyeon clenched her fists.
She was being kidnapped in broad daylight—yet she couldn’t cry out for help.
A black foreign car was waiting at the entrance of the market.
“Wow, Mom, that car is cool.”
“Get in.”
The man opened the back door himself. A fruit vendor at the entrance smiled warmly, as if watching a loving couple.
Surrounded by rough-looking gangsters, the man’s striking appearance didn’t fit someone who did dirty work. Perhaps that was why no one noticed the strangeness of it all.
Thunk.
In the end, she got into the car of a man whose name she didn’t even know.
Just keep your head straight.
Should she try to run?
If she ran at the right moment, how would she survive?
What about her brother—what had happened to him?
If they brought his woman back, would everything be resolved?
Her thoughts tangled into a chaotic mess.
