[Chapter 30 — Who Is Sola]
“I’ll take M-size for the panties, and this front part… how big is it?”
…She was asking about bra size.
Park Tarim, who looked completely normal, suddenly started spewing out nothing but fragmented sounds like “uh,” “ah,” “th-that,” “um,” and “n-no,” sounding completely not normal. Then he remembered “that night” and suddenly wanted to die.
“…I think it’s an A, but not that kind of… A…”
“Oh, come on. What the heck does that mean?”
“Aaaaaah, I mean—!”
And so, after a rough and awkward process, he bought her underwear and a dress and folded them neatly in front of the bathroom door.
“I left the clothes you can change into by the door!”
He shouted from a distance.
“Thanks!” she replied, and soon the sound of water stopped.
Although he had paid for a one-night stay at this place, he planned to head to Junsan after Muru finished showering.
When Muru came out of the bathroom in new clothes, she had a shy expression on her face. The plain white dress suited her very well.
“…You look pretty!”
“It even has a luxury print on the back. I think I’ll wear it often in Junsan.”
All the dresses in the market had flashy patterns, so he grabbed the plain white one in a hurry, and thankfully, it worked out.
Muru dried her hair with a towel while standing in front of the wall mirror. Goodness. Tarim’s Adam’s apple bobbed dramatically.
The print on the back of the dress was a knockoff of a luxury brand. The English letters were printed in the exact same color and font as the Italian high-end brand “Gucci,” but instead it read “AGUCCIM.” (Aguzzim — Korean for spicy braised monkfish.)
Oh Muru… you just read the English letters phonetically.
“That dress is, um, really cheap. Just wear it until we get to Junsan, then toss it.”
“Why? The fabric is nice and it’s comfy.”
“It’s just… I feel bad, that’s all.”
“You bought it for me with care. How could I throw it away? I’m gonna wear it all the time.”
No no, Muru… please don’t…
“Really? Well then. Can you promise me just one thing?”
“What is it?”
“Only wear it at home.”
“Why? I think it’s okay to wear to the grocery store.”
“Especially not the grocery store.”
If Aunt Gubaekmo saw it, she’d take a picture and send it to the neighborhood group chat.
Since there was no hair dryer, Muru took out another dry towel and kept drying her hair.
“I really don’t get it. What’s going on with Sola?”
“Have you tried contacting her?”
“She won’t answer my calls. I’ve sent her DMs on Twitter and a bunch of other messages, but she hasn’t replied.”
“Hm… in that case.”
Tarim made Muru sit facing him. Sitting on the floor across from her, he gently patted the back of her hand, the way he always did when calming her down, and began speaking.
“Try not to be too shocked. I talked with someone from the modeling agency earlier, and some things didn’t add up.”
“Like what?”
“She said your friend lives in the countryside, right?”
“Yeah, in Okcheon, Chungbuk.”
“Well, the model lives in Seoul.”
“…What?”
“She joined the agency in high school, and the staff member said they’ve known her for a long time. She’s not famous, but she’s a full-time model. She’s been attending acting classes to transition into acting, but hasn’t landed any major roles yet.”
“But… Sola works in an office at a logistics center in Okcheon…”
“Her real name is Bang Hyewon.”
She had heard her real name when they first met in college, but it was fuzzy in her memory. They’d always called her by her Twitter ID — “Sola” — and she’d never used her real name.
“The clincher is… she’s not the same age as us.”
“What?”
“She’s thirty-five. She looks young, so she still models, but apparently, she’s really stressed about her age.”
“That can’t be…”
Even if she had lied to the agency about her age, she would’ve lowered it, not raised it.
The Sola that Joo Muru knew and the Bang Hyewon they met today were two completely different people.
“Do you have any mutual acquaintances with Bang Hyewon?”
“…No.”
“Well, just in case, I…”
Tarim pulled out his smartphone and opened one of his social media accounts.
“I did a reverse image search using a picture of Bang Hyewon taken today. And this account popped up.”
He showed her an account that belonged to a couple. Judging by the recent posts, they had just gotten married — the feed was filled with wedding and honeymoon pictures.
One post had a two-shot selfie of the account owner with a friend at the wedding.
“My friend Hyewon! Thanks for coming^0^” — the friend in the picture was unmistakably Sola.
Muru checked and rechecked the various snapshots from the wedding.
Sola had lied about her age, name, job, and where she lived. And when she met Muru in a context related to her real work, she ran away.
But why? For what reason? Muru dropped the phone she had been clutching to the floor.
“Tori, no!”
Kwon Hoyeon dashed over and scooped up the dog in a flash.
He hadn’t visited his sister’s place in three months, and the dog was so excited to see “Uncle Hosik” that it had started dancing and licking his toes.
“Oh no, poor Tori’s mouth is ruined now.”
His sister, Hoyeon, pulled out a wet wipe and vigorously scrubbed Tori’s snout. The power of blood ties… ten minutes into the visit and she already managed to ruin his mood.
“I washed my feet, okay?”
“That’s even worse.”
“Ugh! What do you want from me?!”
Seven years older, his sister now lived near Junsan after getting married.
When she heard he had a day off tomorrow, she ordered him to come straight over after work. Said the ceiling air conditioner needed cleaning before summer hit.
“Call a technician!”
“Why would I call a technician when I have a little brother?!”
He grumbled all the way but still took the intercity bus right after work.
As a kid, Hosik had always been small and skinny, constantly getting bullied by neighborhood kids.
Every time he came home beaten up, his sister would immediately charge out — if the bully was in elementary school, she’d beat them up just as much; if they were in middle or high school, boy or girl, she’d bite their ears off.
Thanks to his mongoose-like sister, Kwon Hosik had a safe school life.
But home life wasn’t safe. In return for her “protection,” he had to live as her personal servant.
His sister had never once cooked ramen herself in her 35 years. If she craved Haribo gummies at 2 a.m., she’d kick him awake to go buy them.
And she’d threatened to kill him in secret if he ever told their parents about his slavery.
It was no wonder elementary-schooler Hosik had joined the shooting team.
When asked by the coach why he joined, he answered, “I want to bring glory to Korean shooting.” But the truth was, he just wanted to stop his sister with a gun if she ever decided to actually kill someone.
Thanks to that, he got into a sports university and even won medals.
But now, at 28, Hosik still got heart palpitations whenever his sister called.
Hence the hour-and-a-half trip to clean her A/C.
Hoyeon took strawberries out of the fridge and washed them.
Lying on the living room sofa, Hosik was nearly moved to tears. The greatness of marriage overwhelmed him.
His sister was washing strawberries.
This woman used to start everything by kicking him first.
When she brought them over in a nice dish with a fork, he said:
“…Holy shit.”
“Shocking, right? I can do stuff like this now.”
The fact that she instantly understood “holy shit” showed they really were blood.
“Marriage… what is it, exactly?”
“Marriage didn’t change me.”
“Then what did?”
“Our Jinseong is hot.”
Jinseong was his brother-in-law.
Choi Jinseong was hot — tall, handsome, small face…
His sister had said she heard angels singing the moment she met him at work.
“Hotness changes people? Not love?”
“Love fades. Hotness doesn’t.”
Even nonsense sounded convincing coming from this family tyrant.
Lying on the sofa, eating strawberries from his sister, Hosik watched TV.
His brother-in-law wasn’t home — he was a weekend commuter.
It was late, so he decided to stay the night and clean everything tomorrow.
On TV, a drama showed a mother and daughter reunited in tears after years apart.
He turned to his sister, who was lounging next to him doing yoga or something.
“My friend’s trying to find their mom who left when they were a kid. But it’s not easy.”
“Can’t you just pull up the family register?”
“They did. But when they went to the address, the house was empty. They heard she’s in a hospital somewhere, but my friend feels weird about it. If they had more info, maybe they’d feel better approaching her.”
“Are they from Junsan?”
“Yeah. Used to live in Bongnim-dong. Don’t know where now, but her mom’s a native there.”
“Bongnim-dong? That’s right next to where we used to live. All the elders there know each other.”
“There was… some incident when my friend was a kid…”
“Muru? You mean the kid who was kidnapped in Bongnim-dong back then?”
“How do you know about that??!!”
Hosik, who had been lying down, shot up in shock.
