Translator: Nox

Chapter 62

62. November 2, 7 Years Ago 2021.12.01.

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“……What am I hiding from you, son? I’m hurt you’d say that.”

Ms. Jang glanced at Ji-heon and said, as if brushing off his question as a joke. His mother always added that she was hurt whenever something unfavorable was mentioned. Ji-heon decided there was no need to talk any further. The road back home from his parents' house felt endless. He parked his car in a dark place and fell into thought. When he was young, his mother had interfered in his friendships. After he made a fuss about it once, his mother contacted the other friend's mother and completely ruined the relationship. After that, Ji-heon was careful about his friendships. He tried not to make friends who wouldn't please his mother, and he kept a clear line between friends. That's why he doesn't have many friends. Since he didn't do anything that would displease his mother, her obsession naturally disappeared. Or so he thought. He hadn't considered that just as he could deceive his mother, she could deceive him just as easily. But even so, how could he find out? It had already been seven years. Even ordinary people would have a hard time remembering something from seven years ago. Ji-heon, who was idly tapping his phone screen, called Jeong-o.

[Hello.]

Jeong-o answered the phone right away. He could hear a whiny voice over the receiver. It sounded like Yena.

“Are you with Yena? Should I call later?”

[No. It's okay.]

He was about to hang up, feeling sorry, but Jeong-o stopped Ji-heon first, which was unusual. After a moment, Yena's voice faded away, and the surroundings became quiet. It seemed Jeong-o had gone into another room to avoid Yena.

[No. You know the koala doll the director gave her? Yena's being stubborn and wants me to make a baby carrier for it.]

“A baby carrier?”

[She says baby kangaroos are warm because they're in their mother's pouch, but baby koalas are cold because they're just carried on the back. So she wants me to make a baby carrier.]

Ji-heon smiled with his eyes closed at the child's sensitivity. He somehow imagined the scene of the child being stubborn with Jeong-o. The child was so cute and adorable even in his imagination. The thought that Lee Jung-o's childhood wouldn't have been much different made him want to rush over and see for himself.

[Yena's grandmother used to carry her around a lot in a baby carrier when she was little.]

Grandmother, mother, and child. A single-mother family spanning two generations. To others, it might seem like a lacking and unfortunate group, but when he thought about it, it wasn't any worse than his own family. He only talked about work with his father, and he barely saw his half-brother a few times a year. And with his mother... they hid bondage and suspicion in the word "love," only looking at the surface. His family, which seemed so affluent and perfect on the outside, was so flimsy and formal. Lee Jung-o had the family that Jeong Ji-heon didn't have.

[Oh, Director, why did you call?]

“No particular reason.”

[Seriously? Then why are you using that tone of voice? It makes me anxious.]

“Does my voice make you anxious?”

[Of course. I'm so worried that you're going to tell me to come to work right away.]

He felt a brief flutter of excitement, but it quickly faded. The desire to not be called "Director" by her clashed with the calculation that if he wasn't, she wouldn't take his call so seriously. Either way, he needed to become a more personal and important person to her.

“Oh, I do some cooking.”

Wanting to hold onto her voice a little longer, Ji-heon ended up blurting out whatever came to mind.

“Yesterday, I was cooking as a hobby and tried flipping a Pancake, and I was good at it.”

[Wow! Really?]

He thought she would dismiss it, but surprisingly, her voice sounded welcoming and sincere. Ji-heon felt a little smug.

“When are you going to show me?”

[Yes!]

“……”

[Please show me for sure.]

He thought she would refuse outright, but an unexpected answer came back.

“Then when are you coming to my place?”

[When Yena's asleep?]

Gasp. He felt like he'd been hit by her straightforwardness. He covered his mouth with his hand to hide his laughter.

“Are you saying it's possible even today?”

The world beyond the phone went silent.

[……Thinking about it, it doesn't seem like it'll work because our Yena wakes up in the middle of the night. Yena always wakes up once if I'm not there.]

……That's what I thought.

[Oh, Director, how about you bring the Pancake and frying pan to the office? I won't tell anyone, and I'll quietly go to your office to watch. To see if you're good at flipping it.]

“Forget it.”

Forget it, Lee Jung-o.

*

[I'm not doing it.]

Jeong-o laughed at his disappointed and sulky voice. Her face flushed slightly. She genuinely, purely wanted to see him flipping a Pancake with her own eyes as soon as possible. But this sly man seemed to have misinterpreted her words. It's my fault. I showed an opening to this opportunist. Jeong-o internally reflected and ended the call.

“Yena's calling me, so I have to go. Have a happy Friday! And do a lot of hobby cooking.”

After leaving her encouragement, Jeong-o sighed deeply and went out to the living room. It was a pleasant call. It felt like she had returned to the time seven years ago when she would hang out with him all night without any particular reason.

“What's so fun that you're enjoying it all by yourself?”

Guk-soon, who was making a baby carrier because Yena was nagging her, asked as she saw Jeong-o smiling.

“No, I just remembered something funny. Oh, Mom, I have to go out for a bit.”

“Where are you going again?”

“I left something behind, so I'm going to the office. It'll take an hour or two. Go to sleep first.”

“Go tomorrow. It's late.”

“If I go tomorrow and get caught, there's no way out. It's better to go quickly today.”

“Be careful.”

Jeong-o waved to Guk-soon, who was worried, and left the house. She had received a call from the law firm. It seemed the lawyer was quite busy, so the consultation was scheduled late at night. Still, she was glad that she was able to get an appointment early without having to wait until next week. She went down to the first floor and found a familiar face when she opened the entrance door. It was Kwon Bae-il, the police officer from next door.

“Officer Kwon, hello!”

“Ah, yes. Hello.”

Jeong-o smiled slightly at his awkward greeting. Today, Bae-il was wearing a suit, not casual clothes or his police uniform, for some reason. He was dressed neatly, as if he were going on a blind date. Thanks to his handsome face and tall height, the outfit suited him well.

“Looks like you're going somewhere. I've never seen you in a suit before. You look great today too.”

“Thank you.”

However, there was a somewhat absurd flaw in his wonderful suit. There was a piece of yellow packing tape stuck to the back of his hand.

“But Officer Kwon, you have something on the back of your hand.”

“Ah, this.”

Bae-il didn't think about taking off the tape and shyly held it out to show her.

“The tape you put on my mosquito bite back then was effective…….”

“Ah, you put it on because of a mosquito bite?”

“Yes. This is the only tape I have.”

Hahaha. He's not using his warm appearance properly. The PT is over, so I don't carry tape around anymore, but I want to buy him some transparent tape…….

“I'm glad it was effective.”

Jeong-o couldn't bring herself to say that it wasn't a good look and smiled politely.

“Lee Jung-o, you look happier than before.”

“Do I?”

“You seem to. Is there any sign of the long-term unsolved case being resolved?”

“I don't know yet, but.”

“Anyway, you look much better. Keep up the good work. If you ever need help, contact the police at any time.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Jeong-o was able to gain a little more strength from Bae-il's encouragement. Jeong-o took a taxi and moved. The law firm was located about halfway between the company and her house. She was surprised that it was one of the top ten law firms in Korea and that it only did business with companies, but it also offered personal consultations. Jeong-o entered the company under the guidance of the office worker. It was 9 p.m. It was quite late, so the office worker looked tired.

“Please wait a moment. The lawyer will be out soon.”

“Yes.”

As she stood at the desk and waited for about three minutes, she heard footsteps.

“Lee Jung-o?”

A man called her name.

“Yes.”

“Hello. I'm Ha Jin-cheol, the lawyer in charge of today's consultation.”

Was it just my imagination, or did the office worker and the lawyer exchange a strange look? Jeong-o hesitated for a moment before greeting him. She had definitely checked Lawyer Ha Jin-cheol's face on the company website. He did wear glasses, but he looked very different from his picture.

“Yes, hello. I almost thought you were someone else. You look very different from your picture.”

“I hear that a lot. I think the company retouched the photo a lot. This way, please.”

The lawyer turned and walked down the long corridor. He was walking quite fast. Jeong-o hurried to catch up, passing several private offices. The lawyers' names were posted in front of the rooms: Kim Jin-wook, Hong Da-kyung, Lee Min-hyuk, Ha Chin-cheol, Chae Eun-yeop... The name 'Chae Eun-yeop' caught Jeong-o's eye. A very old memory flashed through her mind.

‘Chae Eun-bi said her family was in the legal profession.’

Jeong-o kept her distance from the man ahead and carefully took out her phone. She typed 'Lawyer Chae Eun-yeop' into the search bar of a portal site. The face of the man walking ahead filled the image search window. It wasn't Ha Jin-cheol, it was Chae Eun-yeop.

“Come in this way, Lee Jung-o.”

The man said, opening the door to a room in the corner. This man is deceiving me. * Even after finishing the call with Jeong-o, Ji-heon lingered in the same spot. He wanted to bring her to his room quickly. He wanted to mark her as his.

‘Should I give her a ring?’

He remembered Chae Eun-bi wearing a ring that looked like a couple ring a long time ago. He had heard that it only made the employees misunderstand the relationship between him and Ji-heon even more. Should he trust in the binding power of a ring? Would she wear it if he gave it to her? After many thoughts, he returned to his initial concern. The memory from seven years ago. He had to solve that problem first. Ji-heon thought about how to restore the old memory, assuming that his mother might have hidden something. The phone call records would have already exceeded the telecommunications company's retention period, so there would be no possibility of restoring them. What about credit card usage records? Could he find out about the past with those? Assuming that his mother had arbitrarily canceled the card that Ji-heon had been using, it would not be left until now either. Seven years is quite a long time. It was such a distant time that the already deleted information could not be revived. Ji-heon sighed and started the car, intending to go home, but stopped by a jewelry store. It was the most famous jewelry store in Gangnam.

“Welcome.”

“I'm here to look at women's rings.”

“Are you looking for a proposal ring, sir?”

“Something like that.”

The employee who greeted him happily took out pretty rings in front of Ji-heon. It shouldn't be too flashy because it could be burdensome, and it shouldn't be sharp because there is a child. Or not. Still, wouldn't it be better to have something flashy since he's doing it anyway? After much deliberation, he chose a ring with delicate diamond cutting and a simple design. In fact, he knew very well that anything would look pretty on her hand, so there was no need to worry about the design. Putting it on her hand would be a major mission, though.

“How about the size? It might not fit her hand.”

“You can fill out a customer card and bring it in later for adjustments. Would you like me to help you fill out the card?”

“Yes, please.”

“Could you leave your contact number and name?”

Ji-heon wrote his contact number and name on the card according to the employee's instructions. The employee stopped while trying to enter Ji-heon's record into the computer and asked.

“Sir, has your phone number changed?”

“It has, but why do you ask?”

“Do you happen to know the number ending in ○○○○?”

“Yes, that's the phone number I used to use.”

“Could I ask for the entire number?”

Ji-heon recited the phone number he used to use to the employee. The employee smiled.

“Your name is still in our shop's records, sir. You visited us seven years ago.”

Ji-heon also paused and looked at the employee.

“Don't you remember? You bought a ring back then too.”

“...What date exactly was it, seven years ago?”

“It says November 2nd, seven years ago.”

November 2nd, seven years ago. The day before I had the car accident. The inside of his throat felt hot, as if he remembered the pain from then. Ji-heon hid his trembling voice and requested.

“Could I see the records from then?”

“You bought a beautiful proposal ring. You really don't remember? It was our shop's top-of-the-line product at the time.”

The employee turned the monitor towards Ji-heon and showed him the records. Purchased item, date, credit card company. Short, half-hidden information was on the monitor. November 2nd, seven years ago. I was. Going to propose to someone.