Chapter 59…………………………….
“Thank you for granting my request that day. I truly mean it.”
It was true that Do-un’s words had hurt her. But feeling grateful to him was a separate matter.
When Cho-hee thanked him, Do-un did not reply. He only stared at her quietly.
It was impossible to tell what he was thinking; his jet-black eyes were as deep as the ocean trench.
“Then you must be tired, so get some rest. I’ll get going now.”
Cho-hee forced herself to keep smiling until the very end as she turned around. She hurried out of the study, half afraid that Do-un might try to stop her.
Of course, she didn’t hear the sound of the door opening behind her.
After quickly running up to the second floor, Cho-hee tried to calm her pounding heart.
‘I expected this. It’s okay.’
With the determination that she would cry only inside but never show tears on the outside, Cho-hee quietly wept.
*
After Do-un returned, the atmosphere in the house subtly changed.
She had worried it might feel awkward to share the same bedroom with him again, but fortunately—or unfortunately—that worry proved unnecessary.
From that day on, Do-un never once returned to the master bedroom.
Instead, he began leaving the house at dawn every day and returning late at night.
Sometimes he didn’t come home at all.
He said he had become busy with work and had no time to stay home, but Cho-hee could tell that wasn’t the real reason.
‘As expected… it must be uncomfortable for him to be in the same space as me.’
Even when he did return home, he did not go to the bedroom. Instead, he would briefly spend time in the study before leaving again.
It seemed as though he had once again made the study his permanent place, even spending nights there.
At first she felt resentful that he behaved as though simply running into her would be disastrous, but later she simply couldn’t understand it.
‘If it was really just a mistake, he could just brazenly forget about it.’
It was not like Do-un to behave this way.
At least one fortunate thing was that Cho-hee had work from Moon-gyu to keep her occupied.
If she hadn’t even had the translation work, she would have spent the whole day feeling miserable.
Fortunately, Cho-hee soon immersed herself in the work, leaving little room for her hurt feelings to deepen.
“After all, it’s best to stay busy.”
Most of the documents contained information related to trade.
Since it was a topic she was reading about for the first time, she had to look up the terminology in the dictionary one by one.
If she had asked Do-un about the unfamiliar terms, the work would have gone faster, but under the current circumstances she couldn’t expect his help.
Other than the brief conversation on the day he returned, she had not had a proper chance to speak with him.
Whenever she tried to approach him to ask something, he would hurriedly leave the house.
Was he truly busy, or did he simply not want to face her?
Cho-hee sighed deeply and flipped over another finished translation from the pile of documents.
“It’s like this again.”
She frowned. Various words were listed across the page in multiple languages.
Most of the documents Moon-gyu had given her dealt with trade, but sometimes pages like this appeared—random lists of words.
What was strange was that they were merely collections of words, not forming any sentence structure, which made translating their meaning extremely difficult.
“Was it written down wrong?”
At first she thought it had been delivered by mistake, but since one such page kept appearing in the middle of the documents, she couldn’t ignore it.
So she translated it anyway, but she had no idea if she was doing it correctly.
“It almost looks like some kind of code.”
As she struggled through the translation again, her hand suddenly stopped.
A code?
Now that she thought about it, it did seem strange. The words were far too randomly arranged to be related to what a trading company would deal with.
For example: “a lunchbox packed by a younger sibling,” “a lime-colored spoon,” “a sad sea whale.”
These words simply didn’t fit any context.
Could they be secretly sending coded messages from England?
“But is there really any reason to use a code?”
Cho-hee tilted her head.
Kim Moon-gyu and Iryung Trading Company. From warehouses filled with all sorts of goods to these suspicious translation tasks.
‘Something about this really is suspicious. What on earth is it…?’
The more she thought about it, the more curious she became about what kind of abnormal work this really was.
*
Do-un left the house at dawn every day to avoid Cho-hee.
“Ha…”
With nothing left to do, Do-un let out a sigh after arriving early at the company.
Seeing Cho-hee’s face was painful.
Every time he looked at her, the feelings he had been suppressing threatened to spill out.
It seemed better not to see her at all if he wanted to give up those feelings.
So he had ended up openly avoiding Cho-hee—but it couldn’t be helped.
“Mikael, how’s your body?”
Joseph, who was standing beside him, asked casually.
“My body? Why ask all of a sudden?”
“Just wondering how you’ve been lately.”
For someone who said just wondering, Joseph’s gaze briefly lingered around Do-un’s waist.
Joseph shouldn’t know that he had been shot and stabbed in the waist.
Do-un turned his injured side away from Joseph.
Although he had explained the incident at the opera house, he had deliberately left out the part about being injured.
If he explained in detail, Joseph would ask why—and then he would have to reveal that Park Jin escaped because Do-un intervened at Cho-hee’s request.
If Joseph found out he had acted that way because of Cho-hee’s request, he would certainly be furious.
To Joseph—and to the others—Cho-hee was nothing more than someone they could use for the mission.
He could not reveal that she had become more than that to him.
If they thought she interfered with the mission, they might even pressure him to send her away somewhere else.
So Do-un had deliberately shared only minimal information about Cho-hee with his comrades.
Which meant none of them could even imagine the burning pain he was feeling now.
“My body is fine. Since when did you start worrying?”
“It’s not worry…”
Joseph trailed off uncomfortably.
“There may soon be work that requires physical action. You should keep yourself in good condition.”
“Physical work? Is someone coming here?”
Hearing this for the first time, Do-un frowned.
Joseph continued in a heavier tone.
“Soon, the American consul will be visiting here.”
“I know. Wasn’t that shared by the Gyeongseong branch last time?”
Information from the Provisional Government of Korea was shared with agents in encrypted form.
He already knew that the American consul would visit Pyongyang after going to Gyeongseong.
He had also heard that the consul might visit Sinuiju as well—likely because Wada, the Governor-General’s railway chief, was stationed there.
“So it’s been decided he will come to Sinuiju after all. Then what’s the order? To prevent him from meeting Wada?”
“No. That meeting will proceed as planned.”
“Then?”
“Our side intends to meet the consul as well.”
“Our side… meaning?”
“They say Teacher Seok-o will secretly come here from Shanghai.”
“Teacher Seok-o?”
Do-un repeated the unexpected name in surprise.
Teacher Seok-o was one of the founding members of the Provisional Government of Korea and currently served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
For someone like him—the pillar of the provisional government—to personally come to Sinuiju meant something extremely important was to be discussed.
“He plans to meet the American consul directly?”
“That’s right.”
“He’ll try to avoid the eyes of the Japanese.”
“However, after recent incidents, the Japanese are extremely vigilant. We’ll need to approach this differently from before.”
Do-un quickly began thinking of ways to arrange the meeting between Teacher Seok-o and the consul.
But Joseph noticed and immediately added:
“Mikael, this time we’re not the ones making the plan.”
“If it’s not us, then headquarters has already issued orders?”
“Correct. D-day is three days from now, at the concert held at the American consulate.”
“Isn’t that the day Wada’s party will attend?”
“It’s always darkest under the lamp.”
Do-un frowned suspiciously. Even at a glance, it sounded reckless.
If their movements overlapped, not only he but Teacher Seok-o could be put in danger.
Unless there was another plan…
Suddenly, realization flashed through his mind.
“…So we’re throwing out bait to divert their attention.”
“Exactly. That’s what headquarters expects from us.”
Do-un slowly nodded.
It was a plan with a chance of success.
As Joseph said, the Japanese authorities would never imagine that such a major figure from the Provisional Government would appear at an event they themselves were attending.
Divert their attention outward, and make the meeting happen.
“Very well. Then you and I—”
“No. This mission will be yours alone.”
“Mine alone?”
Not even Rita and the other agents would accompany him?
It made no sense that he alone would be assigned to such an important mission.
Joseph had said it would be darkest under the lamp—meaning Do-un would enter openly…
“You mean I should go to the consulate not as an agent, but as the businessman ‘Lee Sang.’”
“Exactly. And one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“The bait will not be you. It must be Seong Cho-hee.”
“…What?”
The moment Cho-hee’s name left Joseph’s mouth, Do-un’s fingers froze as if paralyzed.
Cho-hee… would be the bait?
“Seong Cho-hee as bait?”
“You’ll open the door and guide them from inside the consulate. That’s the only way Teacher Seok-o can enter safely. And all of it will only work if Seong Cho-hee draws everyone’s attention.”
It felt as though his blood had turned cold.
Do-un tried to analyze the situation calmly, but his mind had already gone blank.
If she became involved, Cho-hee would surely be in danger.
No—she could be in danger.
And he couldn’t send her there relying on that mere possibility.
“How can you involve a civilian in something like that? Absolutely not.”
“Don’t you have a contract with her? If she accompanies you as your wife, it would make sense.”
“She’s not suitable for this kind of work.”
A low voice escaped between his clenched teeth. But Joseph shook his head in frustration.
“If it were city hall or some Japanese building, we could manage it ourselves. But this is the American consulate! We can’t approach it at all. The only person who can enter is you—the son of Lee Kang-won.”
Reality crashed over him like a tidal wave.
The day of choice he had hoped would never come had finally arrived.
He stood at a crossroads where he had to choose one of two things:
Cho-hee’s sacrifice—
or his devotion to his homeland.
