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Chapter – 19
“Did you sleep with him or not?”
Mijeong slowly approached Eun-hee, shooting her a cold, contemptuous glare—one meant only for a shameless liar.
Without permission, she grabbed Eun-hee’s wrist, twisted it, and inspected it. Her eyes darted to Eun-hee’s neck, then around her lips, examining every inch.
“You slept with him. Did you really think I wouldn’t know? I heard you were with him for five whole hours.”
Mijeong bristled like a provoked hedgehog, and Eun-hee finally had to face what she had vaguely sensed all along.
Seducing her boss’s fiancé—whether it succeeded or not—was bound to enrage her.
But it was odd that she acted possessive even over a fiancé who had physically hurt her.
“…I’m sorry. If anything comes up worth reporting, I’ll let you know immediately.”
Eun-hee’s eyelids fluttered as if trembling.
If the goal had truly been to obtain evidence, she would have—she should have—told her right away.
The man had thrown her into a vulgar, filthy performance and then stubbornly kept himself as the “supporting role.”
What he did to her on the bed was nothing short of degrading. All Eun-hee did was endure the scorching flood of his touches—nothing more.
In a way, getting as far as the brink of intercourse might be considered a half-success. If she told the truth, she might avoid reprimand.
But she had failed to secure any evidence in the end. Eun-hee had no desire to recall the night—much less say it out loud. The strange euphoria that followed that heart-pounding unfamiliar feeling was something she didn’t want to face again.
Even so, the man’s words from that night continued to torment her, floating stubbornly through her mind.
“Do you like it?”
His movements had been bold, yet his focus on her reactions was something she could not understand.
“Tell me what feels good.”
She remembered the faint tremor she had seen in his eyes as he spoke—tiny, but unmistakable.
“Here? Do you want me to touch you here?”
Or something else? he had asked.
Even between those crude words and lewd teasing, she remembered his gentle gaze.
His guarded, sharp demeanor looked as if it could cut, yet somehow it wasn’t cruel enough to truly wound her.
“Then… should I have you? Just for tonight.”
His soft, cynical voice slid through her memory like something sweet and dangerous.
Each time Younghoon unexpectedly softened toward her, Eun-hee’s thoughts returned to the same question like a looping refrain:
Could there be another side to Cha Younghoon—one different from the one Mijeong described?
She scolded herself for foolishly postponing judgment about him.
Just rewinding those memories made her breath hitch. Eun-hee tried desperately not to let Mijeong notice the strange heat rising inside her.
She forced herself to focus and recounted the night—carefully sanitized. She described how the man didn’t respond at all to her clumsy attempt to kiss him.
“So that’s what happened…”
Fortunately, Mijeong seemed satisfied.
“Well, even you wouldn’t get him to give in at the first try…”
It almost sounded like she was pleased with Eun-hee’s failure—but Eun-hee chose not to dwell on it.
“Want to see something?”
With a suddenly generous smile, Mijeong unwrapped the white scarf around her neck.
“This happened last night. After he saw you…”
Before she even finished speaking, the scarf slipped down like flowing water.
Eun-hee’s pupils widened. A deep, dark bruise marked Mijeong’s neck—too intense to look at directly.
But unlike Eun-hee’s horror, Mijeong tilted her head coyly, almost proud.
“He seemed… irritated. Showed up late at night out of nowhere and—well, you can guess the rest. In the end, he took everything out on me. He’s insane…”
Mijeong’s eyelashes trembled. Beneath the redness in her eyes—was that a twisted excitement?
Eun-hee couldn’t believe she was caught in the middle of this bizarre relationship. Disgust surged within her like a towering, black wave.
She forced down the nausea. Her face grew dark with fear and confusion.
“I’ve been on edge this whole time. He never questioned why you were showing up instead of me. Yet he kept texting me things like ‘I had a lovely dinner’ as if nothing was wrong… I have no idea what’s going on in his head.”
Mijeong lightly rubbed the bruised spot on her neck, wincing as she tilted her head.
“I thought using someone like you would finally lessen his obsession with me. Honestly… I’m disappointed in you.”
A humiliating silence fell between them. Eun-hee could not match Mijeong’s whiplash of delight and resentment. Her mouth felt glued shut, heavy like over-kneaded dough.
“You need to try harder. The longer this drags on, the more I’ll fall apart. Sending you to that monster makes me feel terrible, truly—but you were paid, weren’t you? More than enough to put some fire in you.”
She wasn’t wrong. Eun-hee severed the budding resentment toward Mijeong.
Yes. Her only job was to complete the mission.
The strange curiosity she felt toward the man—she would erase that too.
“I’ll do better. I won’t delay gathering evidence any longer.”
“I’ll be waiting. But what were you even doing for five hours?”
Suspicion shot out again like an arrow.
“You really don’t have any evidence? Not even… underwear or something?”
Eun-hee simply lowered her head. This was the best response she could give.
“Never forget this, Sa Eun-hee. He is a demon. Whatever happens, keep your head straight. Understand?”
Click, click. The sharp tips of Mijeong’s heels entered Eun-hee’s view. When she lifted her eyes, she saw Mijeong’s expression—harder than ever.
“Here. Take this.”
She placed a black pen in Eun-hee’s hand. Even at a glance, the glossy pen looked expensive. Eun-hee frowned slightly, unsure what it was for.
Mijeong leaned in and spoke quietly into her ear. As Eun-hee listened, her face slowly darkened—like a sky swallowed by storm clouds.
“Attention shoppers! Thirty-minute sale on marinated bulgogi starting now!”
A man’s voice boomed from the butcher section of the supermarket.
Eun-hee stopped in front of the gimbap ingredients.
Eunji’s school field trip was coming up.
Lunch would be provided by the school, so there was nothing she needed to prepare.
But Eun-hee thought making gimbap at home might be nice—a small mood booster. She remembered standing beside her mother the night before school picnics, receiving freshly rolled slices and feeling so happy.
Not that she wanted to create new memories for her half-sister.
Even as she denied it, she pictured Eunji’s delighted face.
She erased the smile that tried to form. She placed a gimbap kit for two to three servings into her cart—enough for Eunji and Ye-kyung to share.
She started to move on—but froze.
Slowly, she bent and added another gimbap kit.
Taking out her phone, she paused, exhaled, then typed:
Hello, Prosecutor Cha Younghoon. This is Sa Eun-hee.
