Chapter 26
Villain’s
Pure Love
26.
No Place to Hide
After returning to Domyeongjae in Manager Hwang’s truck as Seongheon had instructed, Yeonwoo sat with a pale face, her fingertips trembling uncontrollably.
“Woooow, look at you. You were here all along, weren’t you? Yeonwoo.”
Terror bit into her, and her vision blurred. Cha Yunseok’s crazed face—the man who had tormented her with relentless threats—felt as vivid as if he were standing right in front of her.
Memories she thought she had managed to cut away now flooded her mind. That gaze, that expression, as if he were watching her every move through a locked glass box.
‘Yeonwoo. Wait for me. Understand? As you can see, I’m a bit busy. Wait. Be sure to wait.’
A phantom voice echoed in her ears. Covering her mouth, Yeonwoo let out a ragged, sobbing breath.
Her shoulders shook as tears and gasps intertwined. Barely managing to maintain her breath, which hitched as if she were hiccuping, Yeonwoo began to mutter to herself as she assessed the situation.
Realizing that Domyeongjae was no longer safe, she bolted upright.
Whether it was her belongings or her duty as her mother’s substitute, none of it mattered. The conviction that she would be dragged back into the glass box Cha Yunseok had built if she didn’t leave this instant made her body shudder.
She tried to take a step, but her legs were unsteady, her soul seemingly left behind. She stopped before she could get far. It felt as though the moment she opened the gates of Domyeongjae, Cha Yunseok would be waiting, ready to snatch her away.
“Hey, Newbie. What’re you doing?”
She was spinning in circles on the spot like someone who had lost their mind. She couldn’t stay still for a second, yet she was in a position where she could neither leave nor stay; the ground felt like it was undulating beneath her, pulling her down like a swamp.
It was then.
Yeonwoo slowly turned around. Eunja approached, raising her hand as if subtly showing off her bracelet, and struck up a conversation.
“I mean, everyone keeps asking me where I got this. It really suits me, doesn’t it?”
Eunja shook her arm, making a clattering sound.
“But well, it’s not just about the bracelet being pretty, right? People say it’s pretty because it found the right owner, don’t you think? How much is something like this? Is it expensive? I was so worried about getting water on it that I was even careful doing the dishes today………… What the?”
- 2 -
Eunja, who had been rambling on about her bracelet, suddenly stopped and peered at Yeonwoo. With a face ruined by streaming tears, Yeonwoo was trembling like a child.
“What’s wrong? Newbie, why are you like this?”
Startled, Eunja took a step back. Usually, when someone cries, people move closer, but she was so shocked she actually retreated.
“Why are you crying? What for? Is it because you can’t do the work anymore? Is it finally time for you to leave? Was the bracelet a parting gift?”
“It’s… not that….”
“Are you going to say you’re crying because of me again? I haven’t even bullied you that much, have I? Eh?”
“It’s not that either…….”
Yeonwoo burst into a wailing sob, using a voice and an expression Eunja had never seen before. Eunja could only stare, her face filled with bewilderment.
Yeonwoo cried for a long time, her tears so wretched they were painful to watch. Finally, she opened her lips. With her mouth sticky and parched, she whimpered like a child.
“Please save me….”
Eunja looked dazed at the unexpected plea.
“Please…… please save me….”
“Hey, hey, Newbie. Calm down. I don’t have a knife. I don’t have a criminal record.”
“Please save me…. Please…… please save me….”
Eunja wondered why she was making such a scene, but it was clear that Yeonwoo’s state was far from ordinary.
Eunja glanced left and right before grabbing Yeonwoo’s wrist and leading her away without a word. They arrived at a secluded lakeside.
Lacking the ability to offer deep comfort or handle the situation neatly, Eunja sat by the sobbing Yeonwoo for a while before quietly calling for Mun Siljang.
After being told to come quickly, Mun Siljang eventually approached the lakeside. He came to a halt when he saw Yeonwoo, whose eyes were so swollen she could barely open them, and Eunja, who was just fiddling with her bracelet.
“Oh, look, Brother Mun is here.”
Eunja, who had been enduring the suffocating time beside the incessantly weeping Yeonwoo, jumped up the moment she saw Mun Siljang. He was her savior.
When Mun Siljang asked with his eyes, ‘Why is she crying like that?’ Eunja shrugged as if to say, ‘How should I know?’
As Mun Siljang stepped closer, Eunja leaned in and whispered.
“Just to be clear, I didn’t bully her.”
“Confess now if you did.”
“I’m telling you, I didn’t! I didn’t even have time to bully her. I didn’t make her cry; I just found her crying. Don’t misunderstand.”
Even in this situation, Eunja was anxious that Mun Siljang might get the wrong idea.
Mun Siljang approached Yeonwoo. Unlike Eunja, who had been flustered, he didn’t even blink as he asked.
“Why are you crying so much? Is there a funeral?”
- 3 -
“Hey, Brother. I already asked her, and she said it’s not that.”
When Eunja chimed in pointlessly, Mun Siljang gave her a sharp nudge on the arm. Only then did Eunja shut her mouth, and Mun Siljang moved a little closer to Yeonwoo.
“I asked why you’re crying. How am I supposed to know if you don’t say anything?”
Mun Siljang stared down at her hands, which were trembling as they clutched a tissue, and then adjusted the frames of his glasses.
He simply watched Yeonwoo, who did nothing but cry without saying a word. It was only after a long time had passed that Yeonwoo’s sobbing gradually subsided, as if she had finally let out everything she had been holding inside.
“You, go back to work!”
Once Yeonwoo stopped crying, Mun Siljang told Eunja to leave. Eunja, who had hoped to finally hear the reason, looked utterly aggrieved at being sent away, but eventually turned back with reluctant steps.
Only then did Mun Siljang sit down beside Yeonwoo.
“Good. I actually had something to tell you today anyway.”
Taking shallow, shaky breaths, Yeonwoo listened in silence.
“Are you perhaps being chased by some nasty people?”
As soon as Mun Siljang broached the subject, Yeonwoo burst into tears again. At that, Mun Siljang’s expression grew even more stern, and he spoke as if scolding her.
“You have to speak for me to know. If you’re being chased, say you’re being chased. Say you’re being chased for this or that reason. If someone is looking for you because you did something wrong, then we need to settle the rights and wrongs now. How small do you think South Korea is that you can just hide? Tell me. Is it fraud? An affair?
What is it? If you lie, I’ll kick you out, so tell me the truth.”
“…….”
“And what do you think this place is, sneaking in here? Do you think Domyeongjae is a hideout for criminals? Wake up. This isn’t that kind of place. Do you have any idea how sacred and holy this place is? For a criminal like you to come in and muddy the waters….”
“I am being chased, but…….”
When Yeonwoo finally spoke, Mun Siljang watched her.
Tears dripped onto the back of her clenched hands. Staring at them as if watching raindrops, Yeonwoo continued.
“I was being tormented by a superior at my old company…… so I ran away….”
“Tormented? For what?”
“Because I was being stalked…….”
She uttered the word she never wanted to say out loud again. Yeonwoo’s voice trailed off, as if thorns were growing on the tip of her tongue.
At the word ‘stalking,’ Mun Siljang slowly closed and opened his eyes. He paused to process the weight of the word, recalling a news report he’d seen a couple of days ago about ‘the reality of stalking.’
The woman in the news had eventually taken her own life, unable to bear the pain, leaving behind a suicide note. He remembered clicking his tongue at the state of the world while looking closely at the woman’s handwriting.
The memory of that resentful and sorrowful note flashed through his mind, and he forced his eyelids open as if snapping out of a trance.
Mun Siljang shifted his posture to face Yeonwoo directly. He looked at the girl who had started weeping again just when he thought she’d stopped, and raised his voice as if reprimanding her.
“Why are you crying? What are you crying for? Is crying going to solve this?”
He spoke sharply, telling her to get a grip.
“Why cry over this? Stop it this instant. It’s a waste of tears, so why are you trying so hard to cry? Stop it. Stop!”
As his command fell like a thunderbolt, Yeonwoo did her best to wipe away her tears. Mun Siljang squared his aging shoulders and put on a deliberately fierce expression.
“As long as you are in Domyeongjae, this is not just your problem; it is Domyeongjae’s problem.”
“And Domyeongjae’s business is my business. So speak clearly. From one to ten, from start to finish. Tell me everything without leaving a single thing out.”
Yeonwoo gathered her courage and lifted her head. Perhaps it was because her heart was so fragile, but Mun Siljang’s stern, imposing face looked unusually kind today.
With a face drained of energy from so much crying, Yeonwoo slowly opened her lips. In a dry, cracking voice—slowly and hesitantly, but with a growing spark of courage—she began to speak.
“It was a superior I met at my previous job….”
She didn’t know how Mun Siljang would take it. Whether he would believe her, or brand her a liar and say her words couldn’t be trusted.
Or if he would tell her to leave immediately, regardless of her circumstances, because the noble and solemn Domyeongjae had no reason to take on such trouble.
She had wanted to keep it hidden forever, but there was no other choice.
With a face of total resignation, Yeonwoo laid out the details of the events, and Mun Siljang listened in silence without interrupting once.
The hotel, that walking path—
Just two days ago, the colorless, odorless air surrounding the earth had seemed to make breathing sweet, but today’s air felt as if it had grown thorns, piercing her chest.
It was a grueling time.
