CHAPTER 60

Siyeon disappeared without a trace, leaving only the hair comb on the desk. Her laptop, a few personal belongings she always carried with her, and the suitcase were nowhere to be found.

Ijun went downstairs and called Siyeon on his phone. As expected, her phone was turned off.

He thought about calling her father, but it was too late at night. Besides, it didn’t seem likely that she would have gone to her parents’ house at this late hour. Siyeon would never do anything to worry her parents.

Instead, for the same reason, she would have taken some safety measures to avoid causing worry to her parents. She would have known that if she disappeared, the first people to be contacted would be her parents.

Where did she go? No matter how much he thought about it, there was no clue, and even if there was, there was no way to contact her. Ijun bit on his lower lip and stared out into the darkened window.

* * *

Morning arrived, and Siyeon still hadn’t returned, and Ijun had breakfast alone. He had informed the housekeepers that Siyeon would be away for a while due to personal reasons. They understood without asking for reasons.

He tried calling Siyeon again, but she was still unreachable. While driving to work, Ijun told the driver to turn the car toward Siyeon’s parents’ house.

“You… What brings you here at this hour in the morning?”

His father-in-law was at the Yeongjin factory. He was working at the company when Ijun’s sudden appearance caused a great deal of confusion. The employees in the office murmured as they looked at him.

“I came to have lunch with you, dad.”

“At this hour… Is that so?”

Checking the time on his wristwatch, Ijun realized it was just before 9 a.m. He corrected himself.

“Before that, would you like a cup of tea?”

“Are you not going to work?”

“As you well know, there’s no one to criticize me for not going to work.”

Siyeon’s father, though wearing a bewildered expression at Ijun’s sudden appearance, didn’t seem upset.

“Excuse me, Director. How is Siyeon doing?”

“……”

Ijun turned his head towards the voice asking about Siyeon’s well-being. It was the woman who had assisted at the wedding, handling Siyeon’s bridal duties.

Her name was Yang, if he remembered correctly. Anyway, since she was asking about Siyeon, it seemed she wasn’t aware of Siyeon’s disappearance from last night. When Ijun didn’t respond, she asked again.

“We keep in touch, but I’m still curious.”

“Yes, she’s doing well.”

He said flatly. Of course, it was a lie. She didn’t seem convinced even after hearing his words. She didn’t believe Ijun’s answer.

“By the way, who are you to call our CEO ‘father’…?”

Someone asked with a curious tone. They asked despite already knowing. There was a strong determination in their eyes to hear it directly from Ijun’s mouth.

“I’m his son in law.”

She burst into laughter at his response.

“So, you’re Ijun Jeong, the Vice President of Baekya Foods?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Wow! Going from part-time worker to being a chaebol’s daughter-in-law overnight,. Siyeon really made a proper social climb!”

“Actually, it’s more like a social downgrade. From the CEO’s daughter to the Vice President’s wife.”

The person who had asked the question blushed at Ijun’s explanation. Ijun smiled and then turned to his father-in-law.

“If you’re busy, I can wait.”

“No, it’s okay. Director Park is here… It’s fine.”

Ijun nodded slightly to Yoonsoo, who had been looking at him since earlier. Yoonsoo also greeted him in the same manner.

Seeing the indifferent faces at his arrival, it was clear that they also didn’t know about Siyeon’s whereabouts. This thought brought a strange sense of relief.

The two of them went home instead of going to a cafe. It was more comfortable to talk at home. Siyeon’s mother was surprised to see the two of them come in, but she soon smiled.

Upon hearing Ijun’s explanation that he came for lunch, Siyeon’s mother said she was planning to make kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) for lunch and asked them to wait while she made it and served some tea.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

“Yes.”

Siyeon’s father left Ijun in a small room on the first floor and went outside. It was a room with a desk, bookshelves, and a computer.

Ijun habitually approached the bookshelf and stood in front of it. Most of the books were related to management, accounting, marketing, and so on. As he scanned the books with his eyes, his gaze stopped at a certain place.

“It looks like everyone in the family is a fan of this author.”

With a wry smile, Ijun took out a fantasy novel from the bookshelf. IIt was a book from the most famous series of works by the author Drumstick, and he owned a copy as well. Of course, the book he owned was unique because it was the only one with the author’s personal signature.

However, when he flipped through the pages, he faced an incomprehensible situation. On the left page, the author’s handwritten signature was prominently drawn. Not only that, the author’s message was also kindly written below.

“……”

Ijun remembered the same book on his bookshelf. It was a book he had obtained through difficult contact with the publisher’s CEO via an acquaintance, even going as far as to mumble about becoming a novelist. Suddenly, the value of that book plummeted.

A happy author every day, Drumstick

He stared intently at the author’s message. His own book only had a signature, so he didn’t know much about it, but looking at the handwriting,the round and gentle strokes seemed like a woman’s handwriting. However, the handwriting was very familiar.

“…Where have I seen this handwriting before?”

Ijun’s brow furrowed.

***

Siyeon spent a whole week in the hotel.

She didn’t take a single step outside the room, and meals were ordered through room service. Aside from a short nap after eating, she spent the entire day writing.

Feeling completely disconnected from the world wasn’t so bad. No one could hurt her, and nothing could drag her into a new pain.

On the day marking a week of her stay at the hotel, she received an email from a heavy reader she had forgotten about.

Casually checking her mailbox while biting into a bread, Siyeon was startled as she found the email and unintentionally dropped the bread.

“…What the.”

Siyeon froze in place. Goosebumps ran across her body. She looked around nervously, but aside from the cleaning staff and room service personnel she’d interacted with for a week, there was no one else.

Even her parents didn’t know where she was, and yet this self-proclaimed heavy reader, this stalker, knew about her whereabouts. Knowing her location also implied that this person already knew who she was. Her heart began to beat rapidly and fearfully.

Trembling with fear, Siyeon turned on her phone. After a week of keeping it off, dozens of missed calls and messages flooded her screen. She frantically found the publisher’s CEO’s name in her contacts and immediately called him.

[Author! Are you doing well with your work these days? I’m so happy…”]

“CEO. Have you ever given out my personal information to anyone?”

[What? No. What are you talking about all of a sudden?]

“I just received a strange email… This person knows where I am, even though my family doesn’t. They’re threatening me. How did they know where I am and that I am the author?… Wait, only you and the editor know my email address, so how did they know and send me an email?”

Her voice trembled. She felt terrified.

[Author, please calm down and tell me slowly. Who threatened you through your email?]

Sensing the gravity of the situation, his voice became more serious.

“They knew where I was. They want to meet me, and they’re telling me to decide the time and place. I absolutely don’t want to meet this person.”

[That’s absolutely not allowed. First, contact your family and request police protection. Better yet, please let us know where you are, and the editor and I will come to your location.]

“No, it’s okay. I’ll contact my family. Please keep this between us for now.”

Siyeon quickly hung up the phone and paced nervously around the room. She had told the publisher’s CEO that she would contact her family, but she didn’t want to cause unnecessary worry to her parents.

After much deliberation, Siyeon decided to call her friend Eun-kyung and explained the situation. Eun-kyung, upon receiving the call, appeared in Siyeon’s room within an hour.

“Siyeon!”

“Eun-kyung.”

Siyeon hugged her friend with a distressed expression. Seeing Eun-kyung brought her relief. Siyeon, who had already packed her belongings and prepared for checkout, went down to the hotel lobby with Eun-kyung. Eun-kyung handled the checkout process and once the payment was settled, the two of them headed straight to the parking lot.

“Let’s go to my place. It might be a bit cramped since I live alone, but it’s better than staying at the hotel.”

“Thank you. I’ll stay for a few days and then leave.”

“You can stay as long as you need. Also, don’t use your car, use mine. If that stalker knows your car’s license plate, it could be dangerous.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“Do you need to let Ijun know? He might be able to help with this kind of situation.”

“……”

With no response from Siyeon, Eun-kyung decided not to press further. She already knew about the fact that Ijun had been caught after fleeing on the day of the wedding. Even without Siyeon explaining, she could well imagine the dynamics between the two.

“Being a famous author isn’t all good, huh?”

“I have no idea how they found out about me and where I am.”

“Just to be clear, it’s not me.”

“I know.”

“What does the publishing house say? Any leads?”

“None. They claim innocence.”

It was truly a ghostly turn of events. When Siyeon received such emails from a heavy reader in the past, she should have been more careful and tried to find them. But she completely forgot and lived in blissful ignorance, only to have the person appear in front of her like this, causing a sense of terror.

“So they suggested meeting at a place of your choosing?”

“Yes.”

“Then how about meeting at an open public place? Knowing the enemy’s identity is crucial for you to avoid danger. It would also make it easier to report to the police. If you can’t find a suitable meeting place, our cafe is also fine.”

Eun-kyung generously offered to provide a meeting place. Her suggestion made sense. Knowing the enemy’s face would make it easier to report and avoid them.

“Should I suggest meeting at the cafe during a busy time?”

“Sure. It would be more reassuring and okay if it’s a busy time. Knowing that jerk’s face will make you less scared, and besides, our store has high-quality CCTV.”

“Yeah.”

With determination, Siyeon opened her email inbox on her phone and began to compose a reply to the self-proclaimed heavy reader and stalker.