Chapter 5 (Part 6)

After making a mess of the storage for quite some time, Hae-mi approached Seo-hye.

And she grabbed Seo-hye’s hair tightly and warned her.

“If you catch Won Do-jin’s eye one more time, know that you’re dead. It might sound like I’m just saying it, but no one in this house will care if someone like you disappears. If you don’t want a knife in your heart while you sleep, you better behave.”

Seo-hye nodded.

In fact, she didn’t really hear what Hae-mi was saying.

Her mind was filled only with thoughts of Hyo-young.

Hae-mi, seeing her unable to even focus her pupils properly, hurled curses at her, saying even her eyes were unlucky.

Then, she pulled Seo-hye’s hair so hard that she fell again, released her grip, and walked out.

Left behind, Seo-hye was a mess, with not a single part of her body or mind intact.

But without even having the time to tidy up the messy storage room, she barely managed to set up the fallen easel.

She was about to take out a clean palette and squeeze out the paint again.

The sound of thumping footsteps was heard once more.

“Ha… damn it. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t calm down.”

It was Hae-mi again.

“Acting like nothing in front of Mom and Grandpa! Look at this girl wagging her tail behind their backs?”

At the rapidly approaching sound, Seo-hye got up and turned around. And as soon as she made eye contact with Hae-mi, her hair was grabbed again.

“Ugh!”

Hae-mi, who was quite a bit taller than Seo-hye, threw her to the floor in one go.

She wasn’t completely unable to defend herself, but Seo-hye’s mind was completely elsewhere, making all her reactions significantly slower.

And Hae-mi stomped on Seo-hye’s left hand as she tried to support herself on the floor.

“Ah!”

“Come to think of it, if you don’t have this little talent, there’s no reason for you to stay in this house, right?”

As Seo-hye struggled to free her hand in surprise, Hae-mi stepped back for a moment.

“Oh, it’s your left hand here.”

Muttering to herself, she began to kick Seo-hye’s right hand with her foot clad in high heels.

“Do you think I didn’t bother you because I liked you? From the moment you set foot in our house, I’ve lived with the thought of tearing you apart!”

Hae-mi, with a force unimaginable from her slender body, mercilessly trampled Seo-hye.

The indiscriminate attack with the heel wasn’t enough to break bones, but it was severe enough to completely scrape the skin and cause Seo-hye’s delicate hand to swell purple.

Hae-mi pressed down hard on Seo-hye’s right hand as if extinguishing a cigarette butt.

Seo-hye pleaded with her not to do it, saying that painting wasn’t her own will.

“Frankly, I don’t need your so-called talent. Do I care? And what? The title of the granddaughter who inherited grandfather’s talent? Ha ha, don’t make me laugh. With your filthy blood. I’ll make sure you can’t even attend classes with this hand.”

Just as Hae-mi was about to raise her foot again to strike down forcefully, the storage room door opened, and Mr. Kim rushed in.

“Miss!!”

He grabbed Hae-mi’s arms tightly, trying to pull her away from Seo-hye.

“What will you do if the painter finds out about this…!”

Mr. Kim looked quite shocked.

Seo-hye’s face was smeared with blotchy paint, and her right hand, barely lifted, was heavily bruised.

The injury looked severe enough that she wouldn’t be able to paint for a while in that state.

Even though it must have been quite painful, Seo-hye didn’t shed a single tear and wrapped her hand with her left hand.

Then she picked up the fallen chair and tidied up the scattered tools.

Seeing this, Hae-mi hurled even more insults at her.

To Mr. Kim’s eyes, Seo-hye indeed seemed out of her mind.

Well, it was understandable. Her mother was gone.

For the first time, Mr. Kim felt sorry for Seo-hye.

As he forcefully took Hae-mi out of the storage room, he worried whether Seo-hye could endure in that state.

If left as is, Hae-mi, unable to control her anger again, might go and attack Seo-hye, and the dazed Seo-hye might not even resist.

Moreover, the injury to her hand seemed serious, and if she wasn’t taken to the hospital now, it could cause severe strain on her hand.

Even if he told Hwa-woong that he was taking Seo-hye to the hospital, such incidents would likely happen again.

Most importantly, with Hyo-young in poor condition, if anything happened to Seo-hye, the mother and daughter might be separated forever.

As Mr. Kim pondered what to do with Seo-hye while forcefully taking Hae-mi upstairs, he paused.

He noticed Do-jin’s car parked outside the gate, and Do-jin was on the phone in front of it.

“…!”

How long had he been there?

In his rush to run down to the storage room earlier, he hadn’t realized Do-jin had arrived.

Was he here to see Hwa-woong? Or Seo-hye?

“Damn it!!”

Hae-mi cursed at Mr. Kim to let her go. However, he pushed her completely inside the house and warned her in a low voice.

“Please stop causing a commotion, Miss. When the artist sobers up tomorrow, there will be quite an uproar.”

She fumed.

“If you quietly go to the second floor now, I will overlook what you did to Miss Seo-hye. You know he never lets anything slide when it comes to issues related to his paintings. Even if you are the eldest daughter, if he finds out you crushed Miss Seo-hye’s hand, affecting his work…”

Hae-mi showed a moment of fear, but quickly changed her expression to a cold one and turned towards the stairs to the second floor.

She didn’t forget to mutter how unlucky it was.

Mr. Kim only went outside after confirming she had completely gone upstairs.

***

Even after Seo-hye went inside the house, Do-jin couldn’t bring himself to leave in front of it.

He thought she would be shocked to learn that her mother had disappeared, but he didn’t expect her to fall into such a panic.

He couldn’t forget the expression on her face, filled with tears and reproach towards him.

And what? She felt like throwing up because of the time they spent together?

When she was clinging to him so eagerly.

No, more importantly, what would have changed even if he had told her earlier?

Would she have done anything other than cry?

It was obvious that it would only have given her more time to worry, so why was she so angry that he told her late?

Grinding his teeth, Do-jin stared ahead.

Unable to bear it, he repeatedly pestered Seok-young.

He asked to be kept informed of the situation and added some unreasonable demands.

Eventually, about 30 minutes passed.

The moment he stepped out of the car, frustrated and considering a cigarette, a call came from Seok-young.

“Yes, Secretary Yoo.”

• Managing Director, we’ve checked all the major hospitals in Seoul, but there’s no sign of her. It seems she might have been taken to another region.

“Then let’s do this. Check if any of Lee Hwa-woong’s acquaintances, whether in Seoul or elsewhere, are in the medical field.”

• Yes, understood. I’ll look into that and also check hospitals around the Gyeonggi-do Province. Oh, and Managing Director.

“Yes, go ahead.”

• The Chairman met with Lee Hwa-woong today.

Seo-hye’s words from the morning flashed through his mind.

“My grandfather… he said he was meeting the Chairman today. He might suggest moving the wedding up a bit.”

Do-jin spoke in a slightly colder voice.

“Yes, I am aware. For now, let’s focus on finding Ms. Seo-hye’s mother.”

“Yes, Managing Director.”

After asking for the favor, Do-jin reached for the cigarette pack in his jacket pocket.

But he soon realized he wasn’t wearing his jacket.

Moreover, he almost left the jacket at Seo-hye’s mother’s house.

Recalling Seo-hye clutching it tightly to her chest made a part of his heart feel heavy.

And at that moment, the gate suddenly opened.

Do-jin’s gaze naturally shifted in that direction.

It was Hwa-woong’s driver and the head butler of the house. Hwa-woong’s right-hand man.

Mr. Kim hesitated for a moment under Do-jin’s sharp gaze but then approached to greet him.

“Hello, Young Master.”

“What brings you here?”

“…Were you perhaps here to see the artist?”

Do-jin’s gaze briefly turned to the main house with its lights on.

“No. I’m here because of Ms. Seo-hye.”

He openly stated that he was there because of Seo-hye, but Mr. Kim did not show any signs of surprise.

He simply looked at Do-jin with confused eyes, as if he had something on his mind.

“Do you have something to say?”

When Do-jin asked in a low voice, Mr. Kim’s lips parted quite slowly.

“The young lady seems to be in a bad state.”

Do-jin’s eyes immediately twisted in concern.

He raised his hand for a moment to check the time.

It had only been about thirty minutes since Seo-hye went inside the house.

Could she have collapsed from the shock?

“I’ll go in.”

When Do-jin said he wanted to see Seo-hye, Mr. Kim silently opened the gate. Instead of heading towards the stairs leading to the main house, he led the way to the backyard.

Without asking further, Do-jin stopped, watched him for a moment, and then followed.