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Chapter 24
“It’s fine.”
Answering like that, Juhong sneaked a glance at Seo Taejo.
He was still standing there, looking this way.
Forcing herself to tear away the gaze that just wouldn’t let go, Juhong finally realized that earlier, when she had bumped shoulders, she had dropped her bag. The man she had run into had picked it up for her.
“Thank you.”
After saying her thanks, Juhong took the bag from him and hurried out of the library.
The gaze following her back made her neck and shoulders burn with heat.
Taejo frowned as he watched Yoo Haein retreat as if running away.
“Why’s she running off like that? It’s not like someone’s going to eat her.”
Then he turned his eyes to the man who, like him, was standing still, staring after Yoo Haein.
Tall, broad-shouldered, built like a fighter, but with a friendly, attractive face.
That bastard…
He was an NIS agent.
So it had finally begun—honey trap tactics.
Taejo clenched his jaw lightly. Oddly enough, it irritated him.
Just earlier, when he had arrived at the library to meet Yoo Haein—
“Yoo Haein in a library? Doesn’t suit her at all.”
That was what he had thought stepping inside.
He’d even felt a twinge of displeasure. To him, the library had always been Juhong’s exclusive space.
A place just for him and Juhong.
Their sanctuary.
No matter how packed it was, no matter how crowded the seats, Taejo only ever saw Juhong there.
Scratch-scratch—the sound of countless pens scribbling across paper, yet only Juhong’s pencil could reach his ears.
It wasn’t the same place, and yet being here in this library brought the memories back as if it were yesterday.
Nine years ago, when he was twenty-three and Juhong was twenty-one.
The first day of the semester after returning to university from military service.
Caught in a sudden downpour, he had rushed inside the library for shelter—and that was where he had seen her.
Even from a distance, he had recognized her instantly. She was the same girl who had once painted a corner of his memory with the fragrance of orange blossoms.
At that time, he had just stepped into the NIS, assigned his first mission, and sent into the field.
Not as Seo Taejo of Korea University’s Business Department, but as Kang Shinju, a returning student in the Department of Russian Language and Culture.
Overgrown hair, slouched shoulders, thick black-rimmed glasses, and a dental prosthetic that subtly altered the shape of his mouth.
Taejo had crafted Kang Shinju’s persona to be that of a nerd. And what better place for a nerd than the library? From then on, he had gone every day, because Juhong was always there.
Thus, he became a sunflower turning only toward her.
Aside from attending the Russian professor’s lectures—who was under NIS surveillance—and reporting on him, he spent all his time in the library, rooting himself quietly beside Juhong.
So now, coming here to meet Yoo Haein, it was inevitable that she would make him think of Juhong. He swallowed a bitter smile and walked into the periodicals room.
But the moment he stepped in, he froze.
Because there—there was Juhong.
No, not really. Just for an instant, Yoo Haein had looked exactly like her.
Sitting at the newspaper desk, completely absorbed, her posture and habits were identical to Juhong’s.
Having watched Juhong for so long, Taejo knew her little quirks by heart.
Tilting her head slightly left, biting down lightly on one corner of her lip, brows faintly furrowed—and when concentrating harder, leaning forward as if sucked into the page.
Worried about developing a hunched neck, she’d sometimes stretch her head back, tugging it alternately with left and right hand, then lace her fingers together and push her arms straight out.
…And Yoo Haein did all of that.
Even gnawing on the joint of her right index finger when stuck on a problem.
Ah, and one more—letting her tied-up hair down and gathering it back up again. Exactly the same.
It was enough to make him feel as if Juhong was sitting there wearing Yoo Haein’s shell.
Taejo had watched her like that for a long time.
“Could it be… she’s actually Juhong?”
It sounded insane, but from his perspective, he couldn’t help but wonder.
Yoo Haein, Juhong.
Juhong, Yoo Haein.
Again, the two women overlapped inside his head.
The only connection: Juhong had been investigating Yoo Haein, and both had suffered accidents on the same day.
There was no way Haein could have spent long enough with Juhong to mimic her mannerisms so perfectly. Which left only one absurd possibility—Juhong disguised as Yoo Haein…
“Not… possible, right?”
Again.
Once again, he caught himself unconsciously hoping Haein was Juhong.
Ever since the accident, he’d kept sensing traces of Juhong in Yoo Haein, secretly wishing his first love had survived, in any form at all.
That hope had swelled until it consumed him, leaving him unable to let go.
If he kept watching her, he felt like he might lose his mind, so Taejo finally closed his eyes tightly and approached her.
But then—those eyes looking up at him.
This is Yoo Haein?
Have you ever seen Haein look like this?
Never. Not once.
Whether it was from her memory loss or because she truly had become someone else, her eyes now reflected pure, unfiltered emotions as they came: fear, sorrow, excitement, surprise, anger, grief.
And yet, none of it was excessive.
Mostly calm and tranquil, her emotions were even more vivid for their clarity.
That was why she reminded him so much of Juhong. Because that girl had been exactly like this.
And so, seeing that NIS bastard approaching Haein under the guise of a honey trap irritated him to no end.
The man had even deliberately bumped her, spilling her bag just to snatch her phone—planning to plant a chip inside for tracking and eavesdropping, then use it as bait to arrange another meeting.
Suddenly, Taejo recalled what Director Yeom had once said:
“So you’re fine with another guy climbing into bed with your fiancée?”
If it was with the real Yoo Haein, then fine—none of his business.
But if it was Yoo Haein carrying Juhong’s soul… that was intolerable.
Taejo moved.
Step. Step.
Striding straight up to the man, Taejo snatched Haein’s phone out of his hand. The man’s thick eyes darted sharply as he protested.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m her fiancé.”
Stuffing the phone inside his jacket pocket, Taejo said flatly,
“I’ll deliver it myself.”
And then he walked out of the library.
A damp spring breeze brushed him coldly. Maybe there’d be a snowfall, just like the day of the training center explosion.
Glancing up briefly at the sky, Taejo headed toward his parked car.
Damn it. He’d have to postpone his leave. He needed to check this out himself.
That evening, Juhong saw Seo Taejo again.
Leaning against the headboard of her bed, she sat with her laptop on her knees, organizing data.
From the 34 suspects, she had eliminated those who had no connection whatsoever with Yoo Haein, leaving 26.
She then divided those 26 into two groups based on likelihood—danger group and suspicion group.
At the top of the mafia danger group was…
“Yoo Donghyuk in the danger group? What a tragedy.”
He wasn’t related to Juhong at all, but to Yoo Haein, he was an older brother.
For one’s own blood brother to be labeled the top mafia danger suspect—if that wasn’t tragedy, what was? That was the thought running through her head when—
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang heavily.
Juhong lifted her eyes from the laptop for a moment but soon went back to work. Whoever it was, it wouldn’t be for her. She had no reason to expect visitors.
But as if mocking her assumption, Chief Lee knocked on her door.
Normally, he would have barged right in, but since she had scolded him a bit that morning, he was politely waiting for permission.
“Young lady, it’s Chief Lee.”
“Come in.”
Even the way he carefully entered after her permission was almost endearing.
That was why, among the 26 suspects, Chief Lee was not in the danger group but only in the suspicion group. He might ignore her, but he had no motive to want Yoo Haein dead.
Switching her laptop screen to game mode, Juhong asked without looking up,
“What is it?”
“…You have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
She lifted her gaze slightly, tilting her head.
“Who?”
No one was supposed to come looking for her.
“Mr. Seo Taejo.”
Seo Taejo? Why on earth was he here?
