Chapter 20

Kim Ju-shin. Jung Woojung. Jeon Ju-yeon.

The three sat in a row at the bus stop, waiting for Ju-yeon’s father. Frogs croaked all around them.

“I just fell, okay? Don’t tell my aunt. Seriously. It’s embarrassing.”

Woojung had told her it was okay to talk about it and asked whether those kids were really her friends, but Ju-yeon kept dodging the question. Her knees, exposed beneath her school uniform, were caked with blood that had run down and dried.

“Then let’s make a deal.”

Woojung clapped her hands together and fumbled for her phone. Only then did the bored black eyes turn toward the two of them.

“I’ll keep it a secret from your aunt, so if anything happens, you contact me.”

“Tch. And what, you’ll come play guardian or something if I call you?”

Exactly my thoughts. Ju-shin tilted his head at an angle. The righteous chihuahua paid no attention to either person’s reaction.

“Come on! Hurry up and put your number in. This isn’t a deal. It’s a threat.”

Her voice was gentle but firm as she urged the girl on.

Ju-yeon lowered her eyes and glanced at the phone being offered to her. Just as her hesitant hand twitched toward it—

A large hand reached in first and snatched the phone away. He waggled it, telling her to unlock it.

“Put it in here. This big sister doesn’t have a car.”

By the time she’d made it all the way here on public transportation, there’d be more than enough time for her to be buried in the hills. Even as he handed the phone back after entering the number, his gaze never left Woojung.

The light brown eyes looking up at Ju-shin held a jumble of emotions.

Guilt over dragging him into this for no reason. Gratitude for willingly stepping in to help. And even a thoroughly biased little thought that his quiet, effortless kindness was dangerously charming.

Her pursed lips silently formed three words: Thank you.

His expressionless face replied, With just words?

That made her laugh again, a ticklish little giggle escaping her.

She laughed so often when she was with Kim Ju-shin. So much so that she could hardly remember the uncomfortable tension between them just a few days ago.

“Can I really contact you anytime?”

Muttering to herself, “Holy crap. This is amazing,” as she saved his number, Ju-yeon asked with an excited look on her face. Woojung let her shoulders droop and chuckled awkwardly at the middle school girl’s simple, rapid mood swings. The handsome Seoul guy scratched the back of his neck.

“I don’t mind. But you probably won’t like it much.”

“……?”

What was that supposed to mean? He’d said it as if he were talking about someone else.

After she finished a call with Ju-yeon’s father, who said he’d arrive soon, silence settled over them. The chorus of crickets and frogs made even the quiet feel full.

With his hands lazily tucked into his pockets, Ju-shin stared at Jung Woojung, who was chatting cozily with the middle schooler. His gaze lingered briefly on her scraped knees before drifting up to the dark sky.

His black eyes deepened with the night, half-hidden beneath his lowered eyelids. His full lips slowly parted.

“You should get angry. Why do you just let them do that to you?”

His voice was dry, like someone reading from a script. It was neither a scolding nor an attempt to comfort her.

Woojung agreed that he was right.

“From now on, if someone hits you, hit them back.”

“Yeah!”

“It’s okay to do that.”

“Th-that’s right!”

Her second agreement came out more hesitantly than the first. His eyes, which had been on Ju-yeon, slowly lifted. The gaze that was already waiting for him met his as if it had been expecting him all along.

“Friends should get along with each other. But you don’t have to be friends with people who bully you.”

An inexplicable tenderness in his meaningful gaze stirred a strange, heavy ache in her chest, too.

“Right, Officer Jung?”

His eyes curved into a gentle smile as he raised the end of his sentence. Woojung deliberately limited herself to a nod. He gave a small snort of laughter, then turned his gaze toward some distant point in the air.

As she watched his back, a deep furrow formed between her brows. Someone suddenly came to mind—a child whose face had grown blurry in her memory.

‘Can’t I see them anymore? I want to say goodbye. They really like me, you know. It’d be a problem if they got upset.’

‘Oh, are they very sick? They can’t come out? If that’s the case, I guess it can’t be helped…… But what’s wrong with them?’

One day, her father had suddenly quit his job. And so, she’d parted ways without even saying goodbye to the quiet young master.

She had no idea why she’d thought of that boy. There was no way the frail, sickly young master from back then could be the same person as Kim Ju-shin. Their appearances and personalities were completely different.

Just as she scratched her head, tilted to one side by the inexplicable unease gnawing at her, two beams of yellow light approached along the dark road. A blue truck carried Ju-yeon away into the distance.

Jung Woojung’s doubts, which had been rippling across the surface of her memories, faded away with it.

Preparations for a barbecue were in full swing in the yard of Department Head Go’s house.

Officer Jung hurried to lend a hand, explaining why she’d returned so late. Her story was that she’d gotten lost while out for a walk—a rather flimsy excuse. Manager Kang wasn’t about to believe it so easily. “Oh, is that so?” she drawled with a knowing smile.

Kim Ju-shin hadn’t even stepped through the gate yet. He was on the phone with someone.

“Who is Jeon Ju-yeon?”

The caller had abruptly asked about Department Head Go’s niece. The recipient of the question merely blinked blankly, trying to remember who that was.

“She asked if you got home safely.”

Only then did Ju-shin connect the name to the girl. “Ah.” He chuckled. Apparently, she’d already contacted Kwon Seon-o using the number he’d given her earlier.

“You’re getting called Oppa by a middle schooler now. You’ve gotten younger, Chief?”

“……A middle schooler?”

Tension crept into Seon-o’s voice as he repeated the words. The harsh screech of tires braking came through the phone.

Kwon Seon-o, who always prepared for the worst, turned visibly pale. If there was a reason to give his number to a middle schooler, it had to be a major disaster, no matter what the circumstances. His hands tightened around the steering wheel. He was just about to change his destination when—

“Oh, Chief. How much settlement money can we afford?”

“……”

“I guess we can’t go as far as making a fortune, huh?”

Did he need to bring a lawyer? He couldn’t even begin to guess what the crazy young master had been getting up to anymore.

Oblivious to Kwon Seon-o’s complicated feelings, the indifferent young master kept his eyes fixed relentlessly on one particular spot.

Ha Yun-sang was hovering around Jung Woojung as if he’d made a point of staying by her side. Perhaps he’d sensed Ju-shin’s obvious stare, because he casually glanced over and sent a silent message: You’re no match for me.

Ju-shin let out a low, disbelieving chuckle and tilted his head.

“What am I supposed to do with that ignorant fisherman?”

It was obvious he’d keep pulling that shit tomorrow, too. Ju-shin wasn’t about to put up with it.

His unusual eyes shifted toward the rose vines climbing over the neighboring house’s wall. Just then, a soccer ball rolled out, followed by a little kid running out of the house after it.

“What kind of fisherman are you talking about? Wait, I’m coming over now.”

“Let’s talk when you get back to Seoul, brother. Ju-shin is busy.”

“Kim……”

Kwon Seon-o’s voice trailed off helplessly before he could finish. Perhaps annoyed by the vibration that immediately followed, Ju-shin turned off his phone. Then he beckoned warmly to the little kid standing there with the ball, looking his way.

“Hey, little one. Come here.”

He rested his hands on his knees and bent down to the child’s eye level. His eyes curved into a gentle smile.

The wooden veranda connecting the rooms to the living room.

After finishing a hearty meal, the members of the Hurrah, Farming Volunteer Corps gathered around a low table laden with dessert.

“Whoa…… No way.”

Woojung, still wearing Ju-shin’s sweatshirt, let her jaw drop. She’d just learned Manager Kang’s secret.

“You didn’t know all this time? Honestly, Officer Jung, you’re quick with your hands but incredibly slow on the uptake.”

“Excuse me? You all knew?”

Her eyes widened as she studied her coworkers’ expressions. Even the intern seemed to know about the relationship between Kang Jin-sung and Yang Soyoung.

Kang Jin-sung looked unusually bashful. He credited it all to the intern, praising Kim Ju-shin for his contribution. Something must have happened at the company dinner. After all, Kang Jin-sung had started treating Ju-shin with a sunny smile only after that night.

“Okay, now it’s your turn. Come on, confess honestly.”

The fork Kang Jin-sung had been using to poke at a Korean melon suddenly pointed toward the two people sitting across from him.

Woojung shook her head, muttering, “Here she goes again,” and idly picked at some popped corn snacks. Ju-shin sat with one knee raised and his arm braced behind him, merely shrugging.

There was a reason for Kang Jin-sung’s obsession with the pair. She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward as if trying to see right through them.

One day, while having dinner with Yang Soyoung, she’d mentioned that something seemed off between the intern and the officer. Yang Soyoung had confidently insisted that was absolutely not the case. She couldn’t explain why, she’d said, but she’d seen something.

After a heated argument, they’d finally made a bet.

Kang Jin-sung’s bet: “They’re dating.”

Yang Soyoung’s bet: “Absolutely not.”

As with any couple, the prize for the winner was a magic lamp from Aladdin. But to win it, suspicion alone wouldn’t be enough. They needed proof. A confession would be even better.

“Manager Kang. Keeping this up is harassment, too.”

Once again, Ha Yun-sang stepped in to mediate.

“What was that?”

He’d suddenly cut in, smiling pleasantly as he threatened to file a complaint with Human Resources.

When Manager Kang snapped back, asking if he thought he was Jung Woojung’s guardian or something, Yun-sang answered breezily, “You only figured that out now?” Then he speared a neatly cut piece of Korean melon with his fork.

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he offered it to Woojung.

“……”

But Kim Ju-shin suddenly leaned in and snatched the piece of melon right out of the air with his mouth.

“Ah…… haha.”

An odd silence settled over the veranda.