SLMT 3

Chapter 3.

“Agh, here we go again. This elevator is always acting up.”

As even the elevator’s floor indicator flickered out, Mi-jung grumbled.

“Let’s try to contact the maintenance office.”

Eun-jae calmly pressed the emergency call button.

However, only the signal tone echoed; no one answered.

“Wait. If you hit this a few times, it opens.”

Mi-jung pounded the ‘Open’ button with her fist—thump, thump.

“Wait, is it okay to hit it like that?”

“Yeah. It usually opens if you give it a good smack.”

Mi-jung delivered a rapid succession of punches as if she were used to this.

After a couple more hits, the door miraculously opened.

—Is there a problem?

A delayed response finally crackled through the speaker.

“Ah, it’s okay! It’s fixed now.”

Mi-jung shouted back coolly and pulled Eun-jae out.

“I’m busy enough as it is, and now even this is acting out.”

“Shouldn’t we report the malfunction?”

“I’ve tried. I reported it several times, but they never fix it properly.”

Mi-jung shared her “pro-tip” that she avoids this elevator whenever possible.

“Did you see my skills? I’m great at fixing machines.”

“I think I know why it breaks down so often now.”

“Machines only listen when you give them a little tough love.”

Eun-jae let out a hollow laugh at her friend’s banter as they turned the corner.

“Hey. Over there, your Oppa is there.”

“…!”

She saw U-gyeong standing in front of the evidence storage room.

Standing a head taller than everyone else, his handsome face was striking even from a distance.

Dressed like he was in armor, from his black suit down to the vest, he exuded a dominant presence that was impossible to ignore.

“Go on in first. I’m going to the restroom.”

She didn’t want to run into him outside the office. Eun-jae instinctively turned away.

“Huh? I wanted to go with you so I could at least say hello. What a shame.”

Leaving her disappointed colleague behind, Eun-jae walked in the opposite direction of her destination.

Fortunately, U-gyeong was nowhere to be seen when she came out of the restroom.

Eun-jae let out a sigh of relief and entered the evidence storage room.

She hadn’t realized that running into an ex-boyfriend at work would be this uncomfortable. Even though she had done nothing wrong, her entire shift felt like walking on thin ice.

“How on earth do people stay friends with their exes?”

Just encountering him like this felt like her heart was being sliced away by a blade.

She pondered the useless question while searching for the necessary evidence. It was already time to head back to her desk.

“I don’t want to go back.”

It was hard to believe it hadn’t even been a week since Prosecutor Baek U-gyeong’s appointment.

“When will my transfer request finally be processed?”

She wondered if there had been any news. It hadn’t even been half a day since she applied, but she was already anxious.

As she walked down the hall, she habitually reached for her phone, only to remember she had left it on her office desk. She had stepped out for a moment and hadn’t brought it with her.

“I’m losing my mind.”

One way or another, she had to return to the desk that sat right within Baek U-gyeong’s line of sight.

Whew. Letting out a heavy breath, she pressed the elevator button.

She unconsciously stepped toward the opening doors—

“…!”

The familiar citrus scent pervading the narrow space stimulated her senses. Polished black dress shoes and black suit pants came into view in succession.

U-gyeong, who had disappeared earlier, was right there.

“……”

He had been leaning against the wall looking at some documents, and his sharp eyes flickered up toward her.

His gaze locked with Eun-jae’s as she hesitated to step inside.

What?

As if asking that with his eyes, one corner of his mouth quirked up. It was a clear smirk of ridicule.

‘Why am I the only one avoiding him?’

A strange sense of defiance rose within her. Eun-jae shot him a glance and stepped into the elevator, and the doors slammed shut with a thud.

One second, then another.

In the time that seemed to flow at an excruciatingly slow pace, Eun-jae stared intently at the changing numbers on the display.

Whirrr. She was grateful for the mechanical hum that filled the awkward silence. She leaned on that sound, hoping to reach her floor quickly, when—

Clunk. Thud.

An ominous sound echoed. It was distinctly different from the normal mechanical hum.

No way…

She remembered what happened with Park Mi-jung earlier. Of all things, she had stepped into that same elevator again.

“…!”

Simultaneously with her ominous premonition, there was a loud bang and a grinding noise.

The elevator ground to a halt.

Eun-jae and U-gyeong’s gazes met in mid-air.

U-gyeong swept his hair back as if annoyed and pressed the emergency call button.

As expected, this time too, the maintenance office didn’t connect.

“I-I’ll try.”

Eun-jae slightly pushed past U-gyeong, who was blocking the panel, and struck the ‘Open’ button with her small fist—bang!

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“If you do… this… it starts moving again.”

Bang, bang, bang. As the sounds continued, U-gyeong’s brow furrowed.

“You’re trying to fix an elevator by hitting it?”

“It came back to life after a few hits earlier.”

“Ha. This is ridiculous.”

Leaving him to look at her with pathetic eyes, Eun-jae continued to strike the elevator—thud, thud.

However, the elevator remained silent.

“That’s strange. It worked just a moment ago.”

“Stop being ignorant. Move.”

Slightly cowed, Eun-jae stepped back. Rubbing her reddened palm, she watched him press the emergency button.

Ring… ring… The endless connection tone suddenly cut off. Simultaneously, the lights flickered out with a pop.

“…!”

Total darkness arrived.

My phone. I need to turn on the flashlight.

Eun-jae fumbled through her pockets, only to remember she had left her phone at her desk.

“I… I left my phone behind. What should we do?”

But he didn’t answer.

“Prosecutor? Do you have your phone?”

Eun-jae turned her body, guessing the direction where he had been standing in the darkness.

Suddenly, a fragment of a memory flashed through her mind.

His claustrophobia.

U-gyeong couldn’t stand dark, enclosed spaces.

It was a trauma from his childhood, after being kidnapped by thugs targeting his family’s wealth.

‘U-gyeong! Hey, U-gyeong. Wake up! Baek U-gyeong!’

‘Doctor! Hurry, call Professor Kang!’

Back when he was in elementary school and Eun-jae was just a little girl, there had been a serious incident at the Doyoung family mansion.

The elevator inside the main building had suddenly malfunctioned, trapping U-gyeong inside.

Because the accident happened late at night, no one in the mansion realized he was missing until morning. By the time they finally pulled him out of the elevator, he was unconscious and on the verge of respiratory failure.

‘If it had been even a little later… he would have died. It’s a miracle.’

Wondering if U-gyeong was okay, she had snuck into the main building and overheard the family doctor’s briefing.

‘Claustrophobia is something he has to overcome himself, but since young U-gyeong is still a child, the best course of action is to prevent such incidents from happening.’

The entire household was turned upside down because of the eldest grandson who had nearly died.

Enraged, Chairman Baek had the elevator removed immediately.

All employees, including Eun-jae’s mother, had to undergo rigorous safety and first-aid training.

CCTVs were installed throughout the house. She even remembered her mother’s complaints about the lack of privacy.

But… right now, this was the exact same situation.

Trapped in a narrow, enclosed elevator with nothing but darkness.

“Prosecutor?”

She was worried by U-gyeong’s lack of response. Eun-jae reached out her arms and waved them around blindly.

“Prosecutor! Oppa. Oppa? U-gyeong Oppa!”

Finally, her hand caught his body. His solid frame felt somehow stiff.

Eun-jae frantically felt over his body.

“Oppa, are you okay? Are you?”

Anxiety dominated her empty mind. She remembered the tightly buttoned suit he was wearing earlier.

“F-first, let’s take your clothes off.”

An emergency measure she had learned as general knowledge came to mind—that for a patient having trouble breathing, you should remove their clothes first to secure the airway as much as possible.

With trembling hands, Eun-jae unbuttoned his suit and pulled off his jacket.

“I’m sorry. I’m going to take this off.”

As she pulled his heavy, muscular arms out of the jacket, she heard a snick as a button tore, perhaps because it wasn’t fully unfastened.

Even so, Eun-jae steadfastly moved on from the jacket to take off his vest.

Oh, right. The necktie.

Her small hands fumbled over his broad chest until she grabbed the end of the tie and pulled it down.

Her hands were relentless as she immediately began unbuttoning his shirt. It was out of the single-minded thought that she had to secure his breathing.

“Jeong Eun-jae.”

Finally, a husky bass voice escaped through his teeth. What a relief. He hadn’t lost consciousness.

“Stop.”

“Almost done! Just one more, Oppa.”

To check how far she had unbuttoned, Eun-jae pressed down on his firm, hot chest.

Since she had unbuttoned it enough to reveal his chest, it should be sufficient.

“Hey.”

“What about your phone? Do you have your phone?”

Eun-jae moved her hand down to search what she assumed was his jacket pocket. But she felt nothing.

“I want to turn on the flashlight. Having some light will make it a little better.”

Her hand moved past the jacket to search his pants pocket, finally touching a blunt shape.

“This is your phone, right?”