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Chapter : 07
“Just in case I don’t get the chance to say goodbye, I’ll do it now. Travel safely. Don’t get caught.”
“You sound like we’ll never see each other again.”
“Isn’t that likely?”
“You never know how things will turn out.”
Iseol couldn’t move, her gaze trapped by the man’s eyes, as if she were being pulled into them.
Time and space seemed to stop, as though only the two of them existed in this world.
From head to toe, the man radiated danger.
The scars embedded all over his body, his excessively hardened physique, and the intense gaze that held people immobile—none of it was ordinary.
If anything, he was closer to dangerous.
Someone you’d gain nothing good from getting involved with.
And yet, why wasn’t she afraid at all?
It was strange.
They couldn’t look away from each other, and the moment stretched on.
The door suddenly burst open, and Junpil, who had been about to enter, froze in place.
“Why is the treatment taking so lo—?”
Only then did Iseol break free from the spell, tearing her gaze away from the man.
“It’s finished.”
After finishing his shower, Taesin came out of the bathroom and into the room, his face pale.
Junpil, who had been eating the strawberries Director Jang had brought, glanced at Taesin’s back and asked,
“So how exactly did that guy help you? Did loan sharks come looking for you or something?”
Junpil knew Iseol’s family situation well.
On weekends, he often drove her from the terminal to her house and had grown close to her grandmother. He’d even run into loan sharks who’d come to the shop before.
“Loan sharks?” Taesin echoed.
At Director Jang’s question, Iseol shot Junpil a warning look and shook her head.
“No, nothing like that.”
“He doesn’t look much different from those kinds of guys anyway. His face, his eyes—he’s not a normal person. You’d be better off not getting close to him.”
“He’s leaving soon anyway, and we won’t meet again. You don’t need to worry.”
“Well, that’s a relief then.”
“Shouldn’t you be heading out now?”
When Iseol glanced at her watch pointedly, Junpil reluctantly got to his feet.
“Don’t worry about anything, Teacher Park. He may look dangerous, but he’s not the type to harm someone who saved his life.”
With Director Jang backing her up, they finally managed to send Junpil off.
Iseol opened the door, planning to shower after grabbing some clean clothes, and saw Taesin standing by the window, looking outside.
He turned to her.
He looked neater and more put together, but his complexion was still poor.
“Does no one live in that house? The lights are always off.”
He pointed to the house behind theirs.
“No. An old man lived there alone, but he passed away last year. It’s empty now.”
In the countryside, there were many abandoned houses like that.
“It’s pretty big and looks solid. Seems like a waste to leave it empty.”
Drawn to him, Iseol stepped closer.
“I heard he built it carefully when he was young, planning to live there with his children, so it’s large and sturdy. But now all his children have moved to the city, and not many people want to move onto the island.”
Under the streetlight, the empty house looked even more eerie in the darkness.
Once the sun set, the island became far darker than the city at the same hour.
That was why, on clear nights like this, the stars seemed to pour down from the sky.
The two of them stood side by side for a moment, gazing up at the stars.
Then, at some point, the man’s gaze shifted to Iseol.
Sensing his steady stare, she turned her head toward him.
She was captured by his dense, intense gaze, unable to move.
His face—masculine yet beautifully sculpted—felt unreal, as though she were dreaming.
It felt like time had stopped.
Suddenly, she wished he wouldn’t return to his own world.
Even though she knew it was a ridiculous thought.
Just then, her phone rang.
Breaking free from his gaze with difficulty, she answered the call, and a deep male voice came through.
—I’d like to speak with Mr. Lee Taesin.
It sounded like it was his younger brother.
“Yes, just a moment. I’ll hand the phone to him.”
Iseol passed the phone to Taesin, then pressed a hand lightly against her chest to calm her unsettled heart as she left the room.
The next day, when she came home from school, the man was gone—without a word.
Even though she knew she couldn’t send him a message without a phone, she still felt oddly disappointed.
According to Director Jang, his brothers had come by boat to pick him up.
“He said he was fine, but still left this much money.”
Inside the envelope Director Jang handed her was a thick stack of large bills.
“Just how much money does he have, handing over such a huge sum without blinking? I knew it—he looked incredibly wealthy. Here, Teacher Yoon, you take it. I’m a public servant, so I can’t accept even ten won carelessly.”
“I’m a public servant too.”
“Oh, right. I forgot. This is awkward.”
“Why don’t we donate it somewhere?”
“That might be best.”
Back in her room, Iseol searched for any note or item Taesin might have left behind, but there was no trace of him anywhere.
Even the call record from his phone call had been deleted.
He had erased every trace of himself perfectly.
They say you don’t notice the place someone filled, but you do notice the emptiness they leave behind—and the space he left felt hollow.
Friday afternoon.
After work, Iseol rode in Junpil’s car to the passenger terminal.
“Why do you look so drained?”
She turned her head away from the scenery drifting past the window.
“I’m just a little tired.”
“You’re not just ‘a little tired.’ You’ve been like this ever since that guy disappeared.”
“That’s not it.”
“Oh, come on. It’s for the best. Having someone that dangerous around would make anyone anxious.”
Junpil felt relieved that the man was gone.
Looking back, it all felt like a dream.
Everything about him had been unreal.
So now, she should just forget him and keep living the way she always had.
As they arrived at the terminal and were about to board the ferry, the employee who had helped Taesin board last time waved her over.
“That man you brought aboard before—what kind of guy is he?”
“Why do you ask?”
The employee glanced around cautiously and lowered his voice.
“A few days ago, some loan sharks—Future Credit or something—came looking for him. They asked if a stabbed man had boarded the ferry.”
Suppressing her unease, Iseol asked,
“What did you tell them?”
“Of course I said I didn’t know. If he fell into their hands, he wouldn’t even leave bones behind. How could I tell them anything? If I said I’d seen him, they’d tear the whole island apart.”
“You did the right thing. Thank you.”
“Is he still on the island? If he plans to leave again, tell him to be careful. Those guys have been scouring around the terminal like hawks these past few days.”
“He already left. You don’t need to worry.”
“Really? Must’ve found another boat. Since he wasn’t on the passenger list, that means he wasn’t here that day, got it?”
“Yes.”
Why were people from Future Credit looking for Taesin?
The people who had done that to him didn’t seem like locals.
Did they know that the man who helped out at her grandmother’s shop was Taesin?
Or were the people chasing him also employees of Future Credit?
The Seoul branch?
While she was lost in thought, the ferry arrived, and Junpil drove Iseol all the way to her grandmother’s snack shop.
Every time she saw Junpil, her grandmother apologized for him always driving her granddaughter home and insisted he stay for dinner.
Easygoing and friendly, Junpil readily sat down.
The table was soon filled with gimbap, tteokbokki, fish cakes, and sundae.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Several rolls of gimbap disappeared into Junpil’s mouth at once.
“Oh my, our teacher is here again. At this rate, I’ll forget what your face looks like.”
At that moment, a voice sent a chill down the back of her neck.
Slowly, Iseol turned her head.
It was Choi Mugwang, head of the Jeonnam branch of Future Credit.
