But how?

No matter how much of a pathetic human Kang Jinwoo is, in my current state I can’t even get close to him.

If Secretary Jo were by my side, I could try something again, but even that has become uncertain now. Because I don’t know whether Secretary Jo is alive or dead.

Even at her funeral hall, even at the crematorium, I couldn’t see Secretary Jo.

“If he were alive, he’s not someone who wouldn’t come…….”

Biting down hard on her lower lip, Eunjo’s nose stung and she sniffled for no reason. Then she focused on her objective again.

“To get that into my hands…… first I have to get into Troyple, and to get in…….”

It’s been the same question over and over since earlier.

How?

Exactly how?

By what means?

Can you do it?

That place is Troyple. The high-end apartment with the highest security rating in the Republic of Korea. For that reason they chose that home, so she could say with certainty.

“There’s no way if it’s just me.”

A sigh spilled out on its own.

Closing the laptop and leaning her head against the desk, Eunjo thought and thought again.

At that moment, the phone rang.

* * *

Arriving at the whiskey bar Lime in Sinsa-dong, Jooheon slowly climbed the stairs. Even though he said he was fine, Gyuo insisted on urging him to drink.

In truth, he did need alcohol. He just wanted to drink as quietly as possible, alone.

But if he did that, it was obvious as day that Kim Gyuo would make a huge fuss and turn even his home into a mess, so he came out as if he couldn’t win. Because Gyuo would think that today, he had to.

As he approached the entrance, a heavy iron door opened without a sound. Cool air from inside flowed out, carried on a melody of old-school classic jazz.

A staff member who recognized him approached, greeting him in a lively voice. Then, briskly, he guided him to the bar table.

Gyuo, who had arrived first and was drinking on the rocks, turned around.

“You’re here?”

Somehow, Gyuo’s eyes as he looked at him were mournful.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Undoing his jacket button and sitting down, Jooheon pulled a straight glass toward himself.

Not answering the question, Gyuo filled the glass and asked,

“You okay?”

A pointless laugh slipped out.

He didn’t know how many calls like this he’d gotten today. Most of them were from classmates who had worked as undergraduate research students in Chairman Lee Wongyu’s lab.

I heard about Eunjo noona. Are you okay?

‘What on earth did they think Lee Eunjo was to me?’

Tilting his lips crookedly, Jooheon downed the straight glass in one go and asked,

“Do I look not okay?”

“You’d have to be not okay for it to be normal.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

Jooheon’s eyes, looking at Gyuo, twisted crookedly.

Staring straight at him as he filled the glass again, Gyuo let out a sigh and continued.

“To you, Lee Eunjo isn’t just some ordinary person.”

He’d been hit right on the mark.

“What are you talking about.”

Smiling bitterly, Jooheon poured the second glass into his mouth.

“You’re even careful choosing a dating partner and a marriage partner, like you’re picking someone you’ll show to Lee Eunjo. You pick, and pick, and then you’re done with it.”

“Was I?”

Shrugging, Jooheon set the glass down.

“I don’t remember.”

“Are you kidding?”

From Gyuo’s perspective, he was burning up inside.

The fact that Park Jooheon—called ‘the legendary genius of Korea University’s computer engineering’—submitted a withdrawal form and left Korea overnight remains a mystery among their classmates even now.

At barely twenty years old, Jooheon created an incredible security program and raked in tens of billions of won, and love calls from major corporations poured in.

Chairman Lee Wongyu also, as far as he knew, had been keeping an eye on Jooheon.

He doted on him in particular, and even though it was obvious he and his daughter, Lee Eunjo, were getting along, he pretended not to know and let it be.

So everyone openly talked about Park Jooheon becoming CX Soft’s son-in-law.

Of course, it was also because of the subtle atmosphere that drifted between Park Jooheon and Lee Eunjo.

Anyway, those were days where it seemed like only a flower-strewn path lay ahead for Jooheon.

And then Jooheon suddenly disappeared, so in everyone’s minds it could only remain a mystery.

But Gyuo knew what others didn’t.

The reason Park Jooheon went out of his way to enter Korea University’s computer engineering department.

The reason he went out of his way to become Chairman Lee Wongyu’s undergraduate research student.

The reason he went out of his way to come and go from his house, steadily building a close relationship with him.

After putting in that much effort, he gave up the purpose he had held for a long time because of Lee Eunjo.

Gyuo found that nothing but regrettable.

“Now really let it go. Lee Eunjo is dead now.”

Of all people, to have kept Lee Eunjo in his heart.

“Not only did she get married, she even died.”

Once through marriage, and this time again through death.

In a way, Lee Eunjo hurt Park Jooheon twice.

“Stop.”

It seemed the words he spilled because he was bursting inside had touched Jooheon’s nerves.

Lowering his eyes coldly, Jooheon stared indifferently at the amber liquid sloshing in the small glass and spoke.

“I’m not some gloomy bastard who lives holding onto a dead woman.”

His voice is icy as he says it, lifting the glass.

“So don’t worry.”

Instinctively realizing it was time to shut his mouth, Gyuo hurriedly finished his drink.

“Then…….”

Carefully setting the glass down as if even the sound of ice clinking against glass might annoy him, Gyuo continued.

“Na Eunjo—aren’t you going to look into her?”

Jooheon, having downed four straight drinks in a row, tilted his eyebrow crookedly and looked at him.

“Why?”

“Why? You said you won’t hold onto a dead woman. That you’re not a gloomy bastard.”

“…….”

Maybe because of the lighting, Jooheon’s black pupils seemed to sink into even deeper darkness.

After drawing it out like that, Jooheon opened his mouth again.

“No, I’ll look into her.”

As if nothing had happened, shaking off the dark shadow from his expression, Jooheon continued with an indifferent gaze.

“Because I need to know whether she approached me knowing Lee Eunjo.”

* * *

CEO Jung Sohyun was the only person at Hera who was friendly to Na Eunjo.

“I know.”

That’s why she answered CEO Jung Sohyun’s call.

“And I haven’t had any work for almost three months, so if she suddenly says she’ll give me work, I have to do something.”

Besides, Na Eunjo’s bank balance number was a very modest 1.72 million won, so she needed money.

Having had no work for nearly three months, Na Eunjo fell into serious panic when even Jooheon stopped looking for her.

Of course, that wasn’t the direct cause of her suicide. It merely became a cause that added tragedy to her bleak life.

Eunjo, who could never be free from Na Eunjo’s tragedy, quickly tapped the calculator in her head.

Tomorrow is the day the rent goes out. The 60,000 won maintenance fee has to be sent too. And on top of that, basic living expenses.

Na Eunjo’s bank balance of 1.72 million won?

It was assets at the level of being out on the street by next month.

And then Hera Entertainment’s CEO Jung Sohyun called Eunjo and said she would give her work.

If she’d called a few days earlier, Na Eunjo might not have committed suicide. No—her suicide might have been delayed a little.

A few months. No, a few weeks. No, even a few days.

“Same for me. I have to at least eat and live, don’t I?”

As Lee Eunjo, and as Na Eunjo, there was no reason to refuse. No—because she was Lee Eunjo, there was even less reason to refuse.

Up until now, Eunjo had not once in her life been desperate for money.

Born into comfort, and with CX Soft’s rapid growth, she’d stepped into the ranks of the very wealthy at some point—so it was natural.

But even if that weren’t the case, she was confident she wouldn’t have lived in poverty. Whether it was painting, stocks, whatever—Eunjo had an uncanny knack for recognizing what would work.

So what she needed now was some kind of…… opportunity, or perhaps a trigger.

CEO Jung Sohyun wasn’t a cold person to the deceased Na Eunjo, so if she used it well, she thought she might be able to seize a pretty good opportunity.

“Instead of that, as a guide, tell me something like precautions.”

In truth, fear also rose.

Trying to enter Na Eunjo’s world while not being Na Eunjo made her shoulders stiffen on their own.

Surrounded by strangers in an unfamiliar place, could she really do well? She was worried too.

“People to avoid, and people I must not run into.”

Well, are those both the same thing?

“Anyway, what should I do so I take as little damage as possible in a place where the people who trampled Na Eunjo’s life are running rampant?”

Chae Junghye.

At the name that popped out, Eunjo’s face hardened solidly.

In Na Eunjo’s one year of memories, the most wicked figure.

Chae Junghye.

Just hearing the name made it feel like the hairs along her spine were standing up.

Be careful of Chae Junghye.

In the meantime, Eunjo had already arrived in front of Hera Entertainment.