IDTE

Prologue

The feel of silk clinging unpleasantly to my skin. The tight waistband made it hard to breathe.

“Uncomfortable?”

The man who had been firmly gripping my arm with his linked hand turned his head toward me.

The shadow cast by his high nose bridge made it seem like his eyes were always hiding something.

“No, I’m fine.”

One of his hands approached the stray strand of hair that had fallen from my styled lock.

“Is my hair weird?”

“A little.”

The touch of his hand near my face made me clear my throat for no reason.

“We will now invite today’s main event.”

The booming voice of the emcee came from beyond the closed door.

“Are we really going in there?”

The door opened. In the distance, countless men in black suits filled the room.

This is wrong after all, I tried to pull my arm from his, but his grip showed no sign of releasing me.

“The more I think about it, this doesn’t feel right.”

His face drew close to my ear, and I felt his cool breath right beside me.

“And here I thought it was good.”

A chill ran down my spine at his low voice, so close to my ear.

“Please give a big round of applause for the new couple!”

I never knew until now that the sound of large hands clapping could be so fierce, like a heavy downpour.

Through the sound of rain crashing down, I could see my friend Minjeong’s expression in the distance—she looked terribly worried.

“Control your expression.”

How could I possibly control my expression? Today is my engagement ceremony. And with this man, of all people.

I looked at the emcee in the distance, who was frozen stiff. Surprisingly, he was a clean-cut young man around my age.

Seeing his expression, about to cry despite his spirited voice, I felt a strange sense of sympathy.

‘Guess life hasn’t been kind to him either.’

Drumroll—

The silence of the office, which had been still a moment ago, shattered. It was the relentless vibration of my phone.

Checking the time, it was already past 11 PM. I cautiously pressed the call button for the unknown number.

“Yes, this is attorney Yoo Min-ha.”

[……It’s Kim Hyung-man!]

“Mr. Kim Hyung-man?”

It was Kim Hyung-man, the client everyone at the firm was watching. Not that it was for good reasons.

He was the whistle blower from the infamous Sungjin Capital—a legally registered lender, but one that was notoriously entangled with gangsters who didn’t hesitate to use illegal debt collection methods. That alone said everything.

That was also why I, a junior associate, ended up being assigned to review his documents and conduct interviews.

His consultation request, which everyone avoided, had started with rejections from major law firms, gone around for a long time, and eventually landed on my desk.

[Huck…. Attorney, those Sungjin bastards came for me today.]

“What do you mean? Where are you right now?”

[I knew it. I had a bad feeling about today.]

Through the phone, I could hear his ragged breathing mixed with the fierce sound of rain pouring down.

“First, please tell me where you are so I can—”

[I’m done for. Hoo… At least you be careful, Attorney… Huh…]

His sharp gasp, and then the call ended. I tried calling back the number, but it wouldn’t even connect.

In the sudden silence that returned, the cool sound of rain seeped in. Goosebumps rose all over my body. Something was going terribly wrong.

“Attorney Yoo, are you sure about taking on Kim Hyung-man’s case?”
“Of course. An attorney can’t work while constantly reading the room, can they?”
“Still, always be careful. It’s Sungjin Capital. If you fall out of their favor, you could be in danger too.”

The day my own firm tried to reject Kim Hyung-man’s case, I had convinced the CEO and Senior Attorney Choi.

Senior Choi’s eyes—proud of me yet worried—and my words thrown at him like a promise replayed in my mind like a flashback.

“Senior, we agreed to fight on the side of people like Kim Hyung-man who found the courage, didn’t we? Don’t worry.”

The rain, now heavier, began to violently pelt the window. The sound was like someone’s crying.

I forcibly suppressed the persistent sense of dread and gathered my things.

I decided to go to Kim Hyung-man’s residence.

Miyang-dong 27-13.

The place I got out of the taxi at was a multi-household residential area with narrow, winding streets.

“Mr. Kim Hyung-man? Are you there? It’s Attorney Yoo!”

I knocked on the door of the semi-basement unit, but there was no answer, not even a sign of life.

The pouring rain had already formed a murky puddle in front of the basement door.

It was clear waiting here was pointless. I turned back, calling Mr. Kim Hyung-man again, but the call still wouldn’t go through.

I stopped my hurried steps in front of a railroad crossing barrier I’d reached.

A man standing beyond it caught my eye.

His face was hidden under a large black umbrella, but what was visible was strikingly handsome, with quite a sharp aura.

Even in this situation, I thought his fairly tall height and neatly fitted suit looked stylish. He was a man who felt out of place in this neighborhood, exuding a sense of dissonance.

Soon, the barrier lifted.

In that brief moment as I passed the man in front of me, I caught a scent—blood mixed with rain-soaked grass.

I couldn’t help but turn around to look at him as he passed. That man. Doihyun , the in-house director of Sungjin Capital.

“Who’s that? A celebrity?”
“Come on, Senior! Not a celebrity, he’s the in-house director of Sungjin Capital.”
“Really? Just looking at his face, he could be an actor. What a waste of a face.”

Among the profiles of Sungjin Capital’s high-ranking officials obtained through my client, he was the very first one.

Anyone seeing his photo for the first time, like Senior Choi, would probably react the same way. He was strikingly handsome.

That’s why I, too, could recognize him without much difficulty.

However, the reason I didn’t recognize him instantly might be because he was far more overwhelming in person.

My eyes followed his back as he strode further away.

The cold aura and metallic scent he exuded made a primal fear creep up on me. After a moment’s hesitation, I tightened my grip on the thin handle of my umbrella.

Follow him. Trail him, even if secretly. His presence here meant my client could be somewhere nearby.

I quickened my pace, chasing the path Doihyun  had taken.

Puddles on the ground pulled at my feet, but I couldn’t stop.

Forcing myself to find his already fading figure, just as I reached somewhere in the dark alley, a faint groan echoed from a distance.

Hesitantly, I peered into the alley.

Inside, I saw Doihyun  and someone kneeling, crumpled before him. My hands began to tremble.

It was my client, Kim Hyung-man.

“Ugh. I’m sorry.Lee Hyun-ah… I…”

The nauseating smell of blood wasn’t diluted even by the flowing rain.

What do I do? I tried my best to steady my hands, which were shaking like aspen leaves.

Realistically, the chance of me storming in there and saving Kim Hyung-man was nearly zero.

Suppressing my trembling as much as possible, I raised my phone and began filming them from a distance. Whatever the situation, I needed to collect evidence, just in case.

“Just this once… spare me. Please… Okay?”

Kim Hyung-man’s words were growing slower and slower. Doihyun’s, without a word, pushed him away, crushing him under his dress shoe.

With a loud sound, Kim Hyung-man collapsed into the puddle on the ground.

“…Huck!”

A thin, involuntary whimper escaped my lips. And then, in an instant.

I met Doihyun’s eyes directly.

On his prominent nose bridge sat fierce, predatory eyes. Only the silence, filled with the indifferent sound of rain, remained.

Instinctively, I knew. I had to run from this place.

“Who’s there?”

My thin courage faded, and my thoughts slowly began to stop.

Doihyun’s had closed the distance between us in just a few strides, now standing right in front of me.

“…From Myeongcheon?”

“No… I am Mr. Kim Hyung-man’s—”

My teeth chattered uncontrollably, clacking against each other. Faced with unexpected terror, my physical reactions were beyond my control.

“Director!”

“We’ve finished processing the rest.”

Men in black suits began to fill the alleyway.

“What about that woman?”

In the grip of extreme fear, my body wouldn’t stop trembling.

The man in front of me gestured somewhere, and soon, a thug with a fierce impression, a long knife scar running down the right side of his face, approached.

“Take care of it.”

At that word, the strength left my legs, and darkness descended upon my world.

Overwhelming chaos and fear swallowed me whole in an instant.