Chapter 17
Warm me up
Unexpectedly, the owner of the voice was Lee Geun-hwa, a member who forcibly fired by Sang-yeon not long ago.
“Oh! There’s a great spot to hide here.”
Geun-hwa grinned as she watched the practice room from the musical instrument storage room.
“President, you don’t know my name, do you? I’m Lee Geun-hwa, the oboist.”
“Even if I can’t memorize the names, I know who you are. The second oboist.”
“That’s right, I was the second oboist.”
“But do you have anything to do with me?”
President Seo, who was interrupted during her own secret time, asked to hurry the conversation with Geun-hwa. Geun-hwa took out a USB from her pocket.
“This is the recording of the day I was fired.”
“So?”
It was an unexpected answer, but President Seo asked calmly as if it had nothing to do with her.
“If you’ve watched the practice here that day, you’d know. What a dangerous time bomb this is.”
Calling it a time bomb was not wrong. If it was the rehearsal file of that day, then it would surely contain a lot of insults and swear words from Sang-yeon against the members.
“Who bought it?”
President Seo, who had experienced many of these things in her life, immediately asked about the background. She knew that such matters would not be handled by a small person like Geun-hwa.
“Our conductor Park has so many enemies.”
However, the speech skills of Geun-hwa, who avoided the question like a sly snake, were also remarkable.
“I asked who bought it.”
“If you’re curious about that, let’s say there’s no deal.”
Geun-hwa shrugged with an attitude meaning that she would have no regret, while putting the USB back in her pocket.
“You must have already contacted several people besides me.”
“Not yet. But if the President doesn’t buy it, it’ll be like that soon, right?”
“No one will pay more than I do, you know better.”
“It’s not ‘you’, it’s Lee Geun-hwa. Oboist Lee Geun-hwa.”
“Yes, Lee Geun-hwa-ssi. Tell me what you want.”
“I’m curious to know to what extent the President’s abilities are. I think it’d be better if you made me an offer.”
“…You’re very funny, aren’t you?”
President Seo snorted. At that moment, Geun-hwa grabbed President Seo’s wrist, opened her palm, and put the USB on it calmly.
“It’s not ‘you’, it’s Lee Geun-hwa.”
“How can I believe that you gave it only to me?”
“Even if you don’t believe it, there’s nothing you can do. I’ll give you a week. Please make a good offer. Oh, and think of it as a contract for a transaction.”
If this file was released to the world, Sang-yeon’s future could no longer be guaranteed, right?
President Seo held the USB tightly in her hand as if she hated winning another card that could save or kill Sang-yeon.
Minju stopped the car in the parking lot of a large mart that was open until 12 p.m. She thought about keeping Hye-ryeong’s bag in a locker here and go grocery shopping.
It was the best place to be a plausible outing alibi that would not feel awkward for a housewife.
Before getting out of the car, she did not forget to erase the data containing today’s movement path from the black box.
Minju put Hye-ryeong’s bag and the sheet music found in the hospital in a locker installed in the mart and entered four digits for the password.
She just wished that everything she saw and heard today disappeared to the other side of her memory… She thought that it would be better like this.
‘Yeah, let’s buy some drinks. Drink a lot and sleep. Get a good night’s sleep and think about that tomorrow.’
She filled the cart with mango, shine muskets and wine, which she usually wanted to try but could not even think of because they were expensive, without looking at the price tags.
Minju returned home with both hands full of alcohol and side dishes. Fortunately, Sang-yeon had still not returned home.
Then it would be better to pretend that she did not go out at all. She was glad that she paid in cash at the mart, and not with Sang-yeon’s card.
Complimenting her own initiative, Minju parked the car in the same direction as when she left and brought the car key back to its original position.
She calmly returned everything back to how it was before she went out, but she could not deny that her mind had already turned into a mess.
“Jerry-ya~ I’m here.”
The house was very quiet. After moving to Sang-yeon’s house, it was not easy to find Jerry as he would hide in some corners of the big house, so she organized the things she had bought without much thought.
However, Jerry’s feed that she had prepared for him for lunch was still there. She had an ominous feeling.
“Jerry-ya, what are you doing without eating? Huh? Jerry, where are you hiding?”
Starting from under the dining table, she searched under the sofa in the living room, behind the curtains next to the garden, under the bed in the bedroom, above the shelf in the dressing room, inside the drum of the washing machine in the laundry room, and in the exercise room, but the Jerry cat was nowhere to be found.
Minju called the helper lady.
“It’s me, ma’am. I can’t find Jerry.”
“Well, it was definitely there until I came out.”
“What time did you leave?”
“Before dinner, I just did the laundry and came out at around 4:30.”
“So Jerry was at home until then, right? He didn’t eat his feed.”
“I didn’t worry much because I thought it may have eaten a lot in the morning. Did you take a look at the boxes in the veranda? Jerry seems to like them.”
“He’s not there. I can’t find him. All right, I’ll hang up now.”
‘I thought he was adapting well. Was he stressed because he didn’t get his neutered surgery on time? Oh, I shouldn’t have been away today…’
Minju was at a loss because she felt that Jerry’s disappearance was her own fault. If Jerry, who was curious, was really not inside the house, then she had to look outside as soon as possible. Before he could run further away.
Forgetting to even put on a coat, Minju walked out through the gate.
She began to run aimlessly through the alleys of the residential area in Pyeongchang, where only the lights of the street lamps were quietly shining. The fierce winter wind shook Minju, but it was unable to stop her.
“Jerry-ya, Jerry-ya!”
Minju’s desperate voice woke up the quiet alley. Certainly, there was no sound of the night commonly heard in the neighborhood where Minju used to live.
This was a rich neighborhood were all secrets were kept silent.
The night went deep, and the sweat on Minju’s forehead cooled down quickly. She called Jerry at the top of her voice, but now she could not even hear her voice well.
Sang-yeon, who was exhausted from practice until late, barely drove into the alley in front of his house.
In front of the car window, he saw a woman running around in thin clothes without a coat.
Up until he passed by the woman, Sang-yeon did not recognize her. Then, when he saw the woman’s bare feet reflected in the side mirror that he glanced at, he stepped on the brake.
Sang-yeon drove backwards at an insane speed, holding the wheel with one hand and the passenger seat with the other. He stopped his car exactly next to Minju. Sang-yeon got out of the car.
“What are you doing here?”
“Sang-yeon-ssi…”
Minju’s face was covered in tears. Sang-yeon quickly pulled Minju into his coat. Minju’s body, which temperature had sharply dropped, was trembling like a leaf.
“Your body is frozen. What happened? Why are you crying?”
“Jerry… Jerry disappeared. I can’t find him no matter how hard I search. What should I do?”
“Let’s go home first.”
“No!”
Minju pushed Sang-yeon’s body as hard as she could.
“Jerry is gone. Aren’t you worried about where and what he’s doing alone in this cold weather?”
“Lower your voice. Other people will hear.”
“It doesn’t matter if they hear or not!”
“I think you’re too agitated right now. Let’s go home and…”
“You’re so cold-blooded! You wouldn’t blink even if I disappeared.”
At that moment, Sang-yeon doubted his ears.
It was a completely different situation, but he had already heard these words over and over from another woman’s mouth.
‘You’re so cold-blooded… You wouldn’t blink even if I disappeared. Right?’
Hye-ryeong often pushed Sang-yeon with a mocking tone. Whenever that happened, she really considered Sang-yeon a psychopath who could not feel anything, so he did not know what expression to make.
Because humans were vulnerable beings that could never ignore how other people saw them.
Hye-ryeong often disappeared as if testing Sang-yeon’s feelings toward her, and every time, Sang-yeon wandered all over the country to find her. That was why Sang-yeon became a player who could look for anything.
After letting Minju, who reminded him of this hide-and-seek play, Sang-yeon entered the house. It was the first official fight between the two.
‘You’re really going alone like that after what I said?!’
Minju was also confused.
Normally, she would have yielded to Sang-yeon unconditionally, but this time she could not. She did not want to forgive Sang-yeon for deceiving her and pretending to be single.
‘You think I don’t know anything, right? Your real, legal wife, Seo Hye-ryeong, where and what is she doing on this cold day? Is she even alive? Or is she really dead?’
Minju’s mind was unclear as she was worrying about the life and death of Hye-ryeong, but at the same time hoping that she would never return.
‘Where did Hye-ryeong and Jerry disappear?’
After thirty minutes of squatting in front of the gate and repeating only unanswered questions, she saw Sang-yeon finally opening and coming out. He was holding a white flag.
Minju wanted to walk on her own pretending not to have won, but her body did not listened.
“…Carry me. I can’t move because my body is frozen.”
She felt like her mouth was frozen and she had difficulties pronouncing the words. As Sang-yeon sat down, he took Minju’s stiff body in his arms.
“Were you going to freeze? Jerry is important to me, but you’re much more…”
Minju blocked Sang-yeon’s words with her lips.
“I know, I’m sorry for being stubborn. It’s my fault.”
“I’ll look for Jerry when it’s bright tomorrow. Don’t worry too much.”
After putting Minju, whose body had cooled down like a corpse, on the bed, Sang-yeon rushed into the bathroom. He put hot water in a basin, came out with a towel, and began to wipe Minju’s hands and feet with the warm wet towel.
“You could have been in big trouble.”
“I know. Why didn’t you come out a little earlier?”
Minju said with a faint smile in a blurry voice.
“Don’t fall asleep. If you sleep now, your body temperature will drop even more. First, let’s warm up your body a little. Okay? You can hold on, right?”
Sang-yeon began to massage Minju’s frozen arms and legs. However, the temperature of the body exposed to the cold for a long time did not return very quickly.
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“It’s not working. You should drink something warm. Wait a minute.”
Minju grabbed Sang-yeon’s hand as he was trying to stand up. For some reason, Minju could not let go of his hand because she did not want to be left alone as she thought he would leave her if she did not hold him now.
She barely held onto her consciousness that was gradually sinking into the darkness and said as if begging.
“You do it. You… warm me up.”
Led by Minju’s hand, Sang-yeon slowly laid down on the bed.