When The Phone Rings

Baek Sa-eon subdued the attacking dog by letting it bite his bag and trapping its neck under his feet.

Two men arrived panting and belatedly tied the leash around the animal. One of them stammered out a question.

"Are... are you all right? Is the child hurt anywhere...?"
"She could've died."

The sharp, irritated tone of his voice only added to the relief that washed over her. Exhausted, Heeju slumped limply against his shoulder.

"Sa-eon's words may seem rude, but...

For a brief moment, the thought crossed her mind, but Heeju couldn't raise her eyes.

Fortunately, Baek Sa-eon didn't seem to mind. Without a word, he gently held her small frame against him.

"I had no idea that this ridiculously expensive neighbourhood was so dangerous. Whose dog is this? Chairman Seo's? Or perhaps Minister Han's?"
"I sincerely apologise."

The property manager bowed his head deeply, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

"We've met before, haven't we?"
"Pardon?"
"You look familiar... Ah, I see. That must be CEO Kang's dog."

As he gestured to the dog with his chin, Baek Sa-eon fixed his piercing gaze solely on the man in front of him.

The man was at a loss for words.

"CEO Kang isn't exactly known as a dog lover."
"I-I sincerely apologise. Please forgive me."

Without further comment, Baek Sa-eon turned away coldly. Suddenly Heeju felt a sharp sting on her cheek.

"The dog didn't hit you with its paw, did it?"

He lightly brushed the part of her cheek that was swollen from the earlier slap, where her lips were puffed against his shoulder.

Heeju, completely exhausted, could only take shallow breaths. The red and swollen cheek was the one her mother had slapped.

"Hit her back."
"...!"
"It doesn't matter if it's your sister or your mother. From now on, be ready to hit back - whoever it is."

He spoke with shocking ease, his words bold and unapologetic.

"The chance for revenge always comes."
 

She rested against his shoulder and the coldness of his voice reverberated through his body like a chilling echo.

"Someone with ambition shouldn't live quietly like you."

The warmth of Sa-eon's body was comforting. I felt like I was about to fall asleep. Maybe it was because of this warmth that she clung to his collar the closer they got to her house.

But I couldn't hold on to him forever...

Swallowing a sigh, Heeju prepared to get down. But the boy grabbed her hands just as she was about to turn away.

'......!'

He walked straight past Chairman Hong's gates without hesitation. A confused Heeju kept looking back and forth between the gates and the boy.

"Happy birthday."
'......!'

The sun was already setting, painting the sky in shades of amber and crimson.

As if pierced, Heeju stared blankly at him, but the boy stubbornly kept his eyes forward.

Baek Sa-eon looked up at the dusky sky and said flatly,
"Your cheek looks like this sunset."
'.......'
"Red."

Perhaps because of the sunset light on one side of his face, he looked almost festered. On impulse, Heeju gently blew a puff of air at him.

With a slight frown, he turned his gaze to where her ticklish breath had brushed.
This time, she blew into the sky.

Ahh... so even he can make that face.

At that, Baek Sa-eon pulled up one corner of his lips. For the first time, his always cold expression softened, making him look like the eighteen-year-old boy he was.

"Was that you blowing out the candles?"

Heeju thought the smile that broke the rigidity of his face was beautiful.

The sunset-painted sky,
his firm embrace,
and the smiling boy -

This watercolour moment remained vivid in her mind's eye for a long time.

That night, Heeju was feverish.

Her empty longing, admiration and desire for someone swirled incessantly in the hollow space of her chest.

That day, her first menstruation began.

***

Ugh...!

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. Before she had time to take in her surroundings, a groan escaped her lips.

My head was throbbing and my arms and legs were covered in bandages. The sight was unbelievable.

What am I going to do...?

Her first thought was of the briefing she had to deliver.

As she groaned and struggled to sit up, the door to the hospital room opened and Baek Sa-eon walked in.

"......"
"......"

As their eyes met, Heeju's last memory flooded back.

Even in the worst of circumstances, Heeju applauded herself for not losing her "406" persona. She wanted to burst out laughing, but instead she kept a calm face.

"How do you feel?"

She nodded, indicating that she was fine.

"Is that so?"

He murmured in a strange tone before turning to lock the door with a click. With an unreadable expression on his face, he walked over to stand by her bedside.

"Then I guess you can handle that much."

Before Heeju could even react -

"......!"

He suddenly leaned down and captured her lips.

The warmth of his touch was surprisingly intense. With one hand, he gently kneaded the nape of her neck while pressing gently against her lips.

She reflexively pushed his shoulder, but he remained as still as a stone. In an instant, hot flesh slipped through the crack of his parted lips.

'Hmph...!'

Before he could resist, their wetness tangled. The tightly pressed lips tried to devour the entire mucosa.

His teeth scraped hastily, pulling against the smooth insides of her mouth as his lips greedily drank them in. Unaccustomed to such intimacy, Heeju gasped for air, pounding her chest desperately.

But the more she resisted, the rougher Baek Sa-eon became, forcing his tongue deeper. He explored the heated inside of her mouth, teasing the ridges of her palate.

"Mmnh... stop..."

The heat gathered around her eyes and her breath came out in broken gasps.
 

Every time she exhaled, Sa-eon's brow furrowed and his movements became more relentless. He intertwined their mouths with intense ferocity, sucking and pressing against her delicate skin.

The smooth sounds of their lips meeting and parting echoed through the otherwise silent hospital room.

When he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, Heeju used all her strength to push him away.

"Stop... I said stop...!"

Her voice rang out sharply, louder than she intended.

The sound of her own defiant outburst made her freeze, and she felt completely exposed.

And then their eyes met.

He wiped his glistening lower lip, a strange, contented smile spreading across his face. There was something unsettling about his expression.

"Ah."

A low murmur, almost like a revelation, escaped his lips.

"Heeju, was it fun?"
"......!"

Despite the curved smile on his lips, his gaze was anything but warm. It was cold, sharp enough to make her skin crawl.

His cold gaze sent an inexplicable shiver down her spine, and she found herself unable to decipher his thoughts.

"If someone speaks to you, you should answer."

He leaned down to meet her at eye level.

"After all, Heeju is very eloquent."
"......!"

Baek Sa-eon slowly reached out and gently brushed his fingers along the arch of her eyebrows.

Heeju's pulse raced wildly, echoing through every fibre of her being. She swallowed dryly.

"When did it start? How old were you?"

Although her lips moved, no sound escaped this time. Only cold sweat trickled down her temples.
He brushed his hand lightly across her warm forehead.

"Are you uncomfortable?"
"......!"
"You can't talk properly when you're uncomfortable, is that it?"

His thumb pressed firmly against the flesh near her wrist. Though he seemed to use minimal force, it left a deep indentation that hurt.

"Do you know who found you in the mountains?"

Baek Sa-eon's gaze was unyielding, fixed on her as if nothing else existed.

"406."
"......!"
"The same person who kept me awake at night with her harassing phone calls."

He raised a mocking eyebrow.

"If it wasn't for those calls, you wouldn't have been found. The climbing team didn't even know about the hidden cliff hollow. That stalker, 406, gave it away."

Heeju lowered her head, unwilling to meet his gaze. At that moment, it felt insurmountably difficult to look at him.

"So now I'm wondering... what should I do?"

Baek Sa-eon's piercing gaze lingered on her pale face.

"Should I turn the stalker over to the police, or..."
"......!"

Heeju jumped at his deliberate pause.

"Should I give 406 what she wants?"

Without blinking, his inky black pupils conveyed a strange sense of unease.

"What should I do with her?"

His grip on her wrist tightened, refusing to let go.

***

The check was complete. As Baek Sa-eon stepped outside, his expression was blank.

"Stop...!"

The sound of that voice sent a shiver down his spine. The voice sounded exactly like the files he had been listening to all night.

"Hey, were you waiting for me?"
"Just let me out! Please, just let me out!"

406 and Hong Heeju - the threats and pleas, they all belonged to the same person. Yes, it was unmistakably the same voice.

Unclear emotions then surged to the forefront of my mind, sending an almost uncontrollable wave of excitement through my veins. His entire body felt hot from the sensation.

Hong Heeju certainly knew how to talk.@@novelbin@@

No, more precisely - "Hong Heeju threatened me".

The same child who couldn't even do basic addition was now fearlessly threatening him.

Baek Sa-eon ran the tip of his tongue along the inside of his cheek, where the scent of his wife still lingered.

Then he hummed the melody from the police car radio.

"You can ring my be-e-ell..."

The black box had recorded everything up to the moment when Heeju began to unravel in panic. All analyses were complete - threats and coercion, somewhere between voluntary and forced.

Suddenly Sa-eon's face turned grim.

"What kind of deal did she make with that b*stard...?"

His hand clenched into a fist at the memory of the black box recording: the erratic radio, the jittery walkie-talkie, and Heeju struggling with hyperventilation.

At first, it must have been the work of the real blackmailer. But somewhere a deal had been struck. And now Heeju was working with the arsonist who was caught on the CCTV footage.

Even when the car overturned, her husband suffocated and her father was injured - she never called for help. Something held her back.

"To undo the arranged marriage... to make things the way they were before."

Baek Sa-eon's face darkened further.

He had a bad feeling. A sharp instinct, honed like a blade, warned him that this was no ordinary plan.

He could say with certainty that even he himself had orchestrated such plots in the underground bunkers of the Blue House.

This felt all wrong.

Heeju was trapped between layers of blackmail and manipulation. And she had to be saved.

Which meant only one thing to Sa-eon: "Fine. I'll play along for now.

But 406's wishes will never be fulfilled.

The key was to draw out the real blackmailer. Remembering the sequence of events leading up to the office fire, the solution was simple.

Whenever the blackmailer encountered a hurdle, he was forced to show himself.