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Chapter 18
“Did you just say you want to use a honey trap on Yoo Hae-in?”
“That way he’ll guard her day and night without fail. He’ll be watching her perfectly, too.”
Attaching a man to Yoo Hae-in, huh.
Taejo thought it over briefly before nodding.
“Go ahead.”
“You, you little punk. Don’t you dare change your tune later.”
I won’t.
With a casual wave, Taejo slipped out the front door in a hurry.
I had secured her bankbook, card, and a six-month schedule of Yoo Hae-in’s engagements.
Sitting in the back seat of the car, I spread the documents open. From the passenger seat, Chief Lee turned around to glance at me.
“But… why the schedule?”
“I need to know what kind of life I lived—so I can decide whether to keep living that way, or to live differently.”
At that, Chief Lee nodded. Then, as if a thought struck him, he turned all the way around.
“Miss, don’t you want to recover your memories? I heard there’s a skilled hypnotist…”
Lifting my gaze from the papers, I stared straight at him.
“Are you serious?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, do you really want me to get my memories back?”
Chief Lee’s cheeks flushed red.
“W-well, yes.”
He swallowed hard before speaking again.
“Of course I do. I just imagine how frustrating it must be for you. I thought maybe you’d want that.”
They said both enemies and allies are closer than one thinks—so Chief Lee was among the candidates.
But if he truly wanted Yoo Hae-in to regain her memories… then at the very least, he wasn’t the mafia.
“…So I thought maybe that’s why you’re making those investigation boards—those relationship charts and all.”
His words tumbled out clumsily, his nerves obvious.
Was he afraid of Yoo Hae-in?
Probably not. If anything, he had stood on Yoo Dong-hyuk’s side, watching her.
“That’s right,” I said easily, humoring him.
“It’s frustrating not to remember. And it’s scary not knowing who’s who.”
Maybe it was time to test Chief Lee’s loyalties more openly.
“So I’ll be counting on you, Chief. And on you too, Driver Kim.”
I smiled sweetly, then lowered my gaze back to the schedule.
Not long after, the car carrying me stopped in front of an old electronics arcade in Yongsan. Chief Lee looked puzzled.
“Not a department store, but… an electronics market? What are you buying?”
“Why?”
“I thought you’d be shopping for clothes.”
“That’s for later. This is more urgent.”
When he looked baffled, I tapped at my phone and showed him a page.
“They say this game console is only available here. It’s directly imported from Japan.”
“…Excuse me? A game?”
His eyes went wide as he looked between my face and the phone. He clearly couldn’t imagine Yoo Hae-in playing something as frivolous as games.
Me neither, honestly. It didn’t suit her at all.
But this was the only way to get here. I had important business inside.
We stepped into the shabby building and narrow corridors. I walked with the ease of someone familiar with the place.
“Do you… know the way?” Chief Lee whispered.
“Nope.”
Of course I did. But if Yoo Hae-in knew her way through this maze, that would be suspicious. Better to feign ignorance.
“But shouldn’t you ask for directions?”
“I read that if you look lost and start asking around, they’ll jack up the prices. So walk confidently. What I need is on the second floor. A few laps around, and we’ll find it.”
“….”
At my answer, he closed his mouth again. Clearly uneasy in the unfamiliar space, he kept glancing around warily as he followed me. I, on the other hand, finally felt like I could breathe—my steps light, as though I’d come home.
Still, I couldn’t look too at ease. Pretending to wander, I circled the second floor once and a half before finally reaching my destination.
Then I whispered to him:
“Remember that page I showed you? I sent you a screenshot. Go ask that man for it.”
“…Me?”
“Well, am I supposed to?”
He blinked, then nodded reluctantly.
“T-then I’ll try.”
And with a grim face, he approached the burly man behind the counter.
While he was distracted, I turned my gaze slowly.
Inside the cramped shop, electronics were piled in chaotic stacks. In one corner, a scrawny man was bent over some kind of assembly.
I walked over.
When I stopped in front of his desk, the man lifted his head slightly. Behind thick horn-rimmed glasses, his eyes gleamed like polished glass.
Smiling at him, I asked,
“What are you making? Something like… a raccoon?”
It was clearly a laptop, not a raccoon. But the man nodded as if he understood.
“I’d like to try too,” I said, pulling a folded slip of paper from my jacket pocket and sliding it over.
His eyes widened as he read it.
Leaning closer, I whispered:
“The laptop now, the rest when it’s ready. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll transfer the payment to the usual account. Tell them the meet will be in the usual place, too.”
He bobbed his head quickly.
I flashed him a bright smile, then casually grabbed a dusty box from beside his workbench.
“This one’s on the house.”
Then I turned back.
Chief Lee was still struggling, sweat beading on his back as he argued with the burly shopkeeper.
Approaching him, I asked softly,
“Is there a problem?”
“He says it’s already reserved and won’t sell it. Even offered him triple, but he still refuses!”
Chief Lee’s voice shook with frustration as he glared at the man.
Patting his shoulder, I said,
“Then let’s just give up on the console.”
“What?”
Face flushed, he stared between me and the shopkeeper, breathing hard. Clearly flustered that money hadn’t solved things.
Sorry, but in this world, VIP trust comes before cash.
“Let’s go. I bought a laptop instead.”
“A… laptop?”
Behind us, the scrawny man appeared, holding a neatly plastic-wrapped laptop.
His sunken cheeks stretched wide in a smile—the perfect courtesy reserved for VIP clients.
I accepted the laptop, leaving the store with a spring in my step, while Chief Lee trailed behind me, still looking aggrieved.
As we left, someone else entered the shop.
He looked every inch the elite office worker. Tilting his head, he asked for the owner.
“…Boss.”
The scrawny man looked up and smiled at him.
“Il-du, you’re here?”
“Who was that just now? Why did she come here?”
“You know her?”
“Well, sort of.”
Not exactly know—more like he knew of her.
“She’s my boss’s fiancée.”
“Really?”
The man widened his eyes behind his glasses, then chuckled.
“Your boss has chosen a fine woman.”
“…A fine woman?”
Coming from this man, that phrase usually meant only one thing: she was a named hacker.
“You’re telling me she’s a hacker? A named one?”
Il-du’s eyes went round in disbelief.
Of course, maybe not. This guy tended to rate any stunning beauty as on par with a named hacker.
But his answer was evasive:
“Come on, you know I can’t reveal VIP info, not even to you, Il-du.”
VIP? So… she really is a hacker?
Still bewildered, Il-du whispered,
“I’ve never seen her in person before. Always just Telegram messages, and meetings through another channel.”
“With her?”
“Yeah.”
Even more confused, Il-du debated whether to report this to his boss. But knowing how his boss bristled at any mention of his fiancée, he decided to stay quiet.
“…Anyway, that keyboard I ordered last time—done yet?”
“Yep. I’ll bring it right out.”
And just like that, Il-du pushed Yoo Hae-in from his mind.
