Chapter 05
Bite Marks
Fortunately, the housekeeper did not make an issue of what had happened in front of Woojin’s room. She gestured for Iyeon to follow and led her to the dining room.
On the large table was a simple yet neatly prepared meal. Fresh vegetable dishes, perfectly grilled fish, and a warm soup served on the side.
The flavors were simple yet delicate, lingering on her tongue.
“This is really delicious. Did you cook this yourself, Housekeeper?”
Iyeon asked without thinking, but there was no reply.
Only then did she remember that the housekeeper couldn’t hear. When Iyeon turned her head, she saw the housekeeper’s back as she tidied up the kitchen. It truly seemed that she couldn’t hear anything at all.
By the time Iyeon finished eating, the housekeeper handed her an envelope of documents. Inside were the employment conditions Woojin had passed on to his secretary, written out in detail.
He had told her not to worry about the compensation, and indeed, it was an amount an ordinary physician could never even dream of.
It was enough to almost make her think about abandoning her desire for revenge and living as a member of the Kwonseong Group.
But as Iyeon recalled Director Jung of Soram General Hospital, she steeled her resolve. She vowed never to forget that if she bent for a few scraps of money, she would have to live her whole life as the Kwonseong Group’s dog.
Iyeon exaggerated her mouth movements toward the housekeeper so she could understand.
“I’m going to step out for a bit. I haven’t finished organizing my things yet.”
The housekeeper pointed up toward the second floor with her hand.
“Yes. I’ll inform Madam myself.”
She nodded and left the dining room.
It was a relief that her disability posed no real problem when it came to communicating.
Oh Jinhwa narrowed her eyes at Iyeon’s words about going out.
“You know what’ll happen if you run your mouth outside about my illness, right?”
“I’m a doctor. Revealing a patient’s condition to outsiders is unacceptable. Under any circumstances.”
“No need to posture. You’re not stupid enough to violate medical law while you’re on probation.”
Those words sank heavily into Iyeon’s chest.
There had been a moment when she wondered how Kwon Woojin could trust her enough to make her his attending physician.
But in the end, they were the ones holding her leash.
When Iyeon finished getting ready and stepped outside, a driver was already waiting.
“Where shall I take you?”
Turning her head toward the window, Iyeon answered briefly.
“The terminal. Nambu Terminal.”
After arriving at the terminal, she dismissed the driver without revealing her true destination, yet she couldn’t shake the thought that he might be tailing her.
There was no harm in being cautious, so Iyeon took a long, roundabout route before finally reaching her destination.
Her steps stopped on the second floor of an old commercial building located in a back-alley food district.
The sign that read Errand Service Center had some of its consonants missing.
There was a doorbell, but it didn’t work, so Iyeon knocked.
Knock, knock, knock—
She stood in front of the door for quite some time.
“Well, who do we have here?”
The door opened, and Eunho—sporting short, cropped hair—appeared to greet her.
From the outside, she looked like a man, but her voice was unmistakably female.
Eunho welcomed Iyeon but kept the door only half open, blocking the way.
“I didn’t think you’d actually come.”
“You said you’d help me.”
The veins stood out in Iyeon’s eyes as she stared at Eunho.
After hesitating for a moment, Eunho opened the door wide. Lowering her voice, she called out to someone inside.
“Hyungnim, my friend is here.”
Iyeon followed Eunho inside.
In the cramped, shabby office sat an old, worn red leather sofa, and in the seat of honor was a burly man with no hair.
“A friend? You have friends?”
“She’s someone I knew from inside.”
Eunho positioned Iyeon in front of the man.
“Hello. I received some help from Eunho while we were in detention. I promised to repay her after getting out.”
Eunho scratched her head awkwardly.
“It was just sharing some shampoo and body wash. Hyungnim, she was a beopja.”
Inmates without family or friends to deposit money for them are called beopja—children of the Ministry of Justice—and are often ostracized.
The soap provided at the detention center was poor in quality, and Iyeon had suffered from skin problems because of it.
Eunho wasn’t particularly warm by nature, but she shared her shampoo and detergent with Iyeon and sometimes even bought her snacks.
Iyeon took an envelope out of her handbag.
“It’s not much.”
Eunho checked the contents with wide eyes. There were 500,000 won inside.
“Why are you giving me this much? You don’t even have money.”
“It was the first time. The first person who showed me kindness without hypocrisy.”
“Well, damn. Should I be honored or what.”
Eunho laughed in disbelief.
“I can get more money. Please help me.”
“What is it?”
Iyeon handed over the documents she’d brought.
Before Eunho could even open them, they ended up in Hyungnim’s hands.
“Who’s this?”
“He’s already dead. All I know is that he was part of an illegal drug distribution ring. I need information—anything at all.”
“Hyungnim, what do you think?”
It seemed Eunho needed his approval.
After flipping through the documents and pondering, the man nodded.
“Try running it as your comeback job.”
“Yes!”
“Thank you.”
Iyeon bowed to the man.
“One more thing. Eunho, you said you’re good at opening locks, right?”
“Huh?”
“You were arrested for breaking into a client’s house. You said there wasn’t a door you couldn’t open.”
“That’s true, but why?”
“I need to open a lever-type interior door.”
Eunho stroked her chin, thinking.
“If it’s not the front door but a lever-type interior door, the principle’s pretty simple.”
“Really? What do I do?”
Eunho dug into her pocket, pulled out a pin, and shot her a look.
“You’re a doctor, right? What kind of trouble are you planning?”
“Just explain.”
“There’s a tiny hole next to the handle. While pulling the handle, poke that spot lightly with this pin. It should open easily.”
Iyeon took the pin and slipped it into her pocket.
“Thanks. Let me know as soon as you get any information.”
She turned to leave, then spoke to the burly man.
“Hyungnim. You should go see a doctor.”
The man, who was drinking cola, choked and started coughing.
Being called hyungnim by a pretty woman was already absurd enough—now she was telling him to go to a hospital?
“What did you just say to me?”
“I wasn’t sure how to address you. Anyway, your jaundice looks severe. There might be a problem with your liver, so it’d be better to get it checked before it’s too late.”
“Damn it. Bad luck bringing you here.”
“I’ll be going now.”
Iyeon bowed and left.
When she reached the first floor, Eunho came running after her, panting.
“I took your money, so I’ll look into that person, but… what are you planning to do?”
Iyeon let out a hollow laugh.
“I guess I forgot for a moment. People called me a doctor, called me ‘teacher,’ so I forgot who I really am. An orphan people can treat however they want, use however they like. Going to prison snapped me awake. I ended up like this because I forgot that…”
“So what are you going to do?”
“If you’re stepped on, you bite back with everything you’ve got—at least sink your teeth into their heel. That way they won’t touch you again. A bite mark on the heel might mean nothing to people like them, but I’ll leave one for sure.”
“Tch, hell if I know. I’ll just do what you ask.”
“Thanks. And make sure you take Hyungnim to the hospital.”
“Stop calling him Hyungnim.”
Only then did Eunho relax her frown and smile.
A faint smile formed on Iyeon’s lips as well.
It was late evening by the time Iyeon returned to the Kwonseong Group’s main house.
As promised, the driver was waiting for her at the terminal, and they exchanged no words during the long drive.
After returning home, Iyeon greeted Oh Jinhwa from outside the door and then went back to her room.
A residence she was still not used to.
While she was gone, someone had thoroughly cleaned her room.
She grimaced when she saw that even her underwear had been washed and ironed.
I should’ve at least tidied things up a bit.
She resolved to ask the housekeeper not to touch her room or laundry from now on.
Just before midnight.
Iyeon took out the pin she’d received from Eunho.
Quietly opening the door and stepping out on tiptoe, she stopped in front of Woojin’s room.
Just as Eunho had said, there was a tiny hole next to the handle.
Quick learning had always been one of Iyeon’s strengths.
Holding her breath, she inserted the pin into the hole and turned the handle.
Click—
The door opened.
Thump, thump, thump—
Praying that the sound of her pounding heart wouldn’t carry beyond the door, she carefully stepped inside.
She turned on her phone’s flashlight, and in the middle of the spacious room stood an easel.
Art supplies were scattered around, and the thick smell of acrylic paint brushed her nose.
This was Kwon Woojin’s private space. It seemed he came here to paint in secret.
If so, she wanted to see what he had been painting.
Groping around carefully, she found a sketchbook on the table.
Iyeon slowly flipped through the pages.
“My god…”
Inside were roughly drawn faces of a man.
Each face bore a lump identical to the one on Oh Jinhwa’s.
Bringing the phone light closer, Iyeon nearly dropped the sketchbook.
The man in the drawings was Kwon Woojin.
