“…I’m truly grateful……”

A faint voice seeped into the quiet surroundings. Whatever the reason for such delight, the high-pitched, lilting tone layered over the eerie, sobbing wail she had heard before, and it made her body shrink in on itself.

“……for your help……”

Beneath the coy laughter lay a warmth that felt almost tender. A soft voice that seemed to tickle at her chest. The moment her consciousness registered that unfamiliar, out-of-place sensation, the thunderous cry of cicadas slapped against her ears.

Her sunken consciousness was pulled to the surface at the same instant.

Yeon-ah’s eyes flew open.

The first thing that came into view was a row of long rafters. Wait, where was she again?

She stared blankly at the ceiling, then a memory flashed through her mind and she swept her gaze quickly around the room.

“It’s already… morning?”

Following the current of her thoughts, she looked at the clock on the wall. 11:35 a.m. Time already racing toward noon. Yeon-ah’s eyes went wide.

She had slept this deeply, in this house where a strange man lived, on that night when the downpour and lightning had been going wild?

“That can’t be right.”

She could remember finishing her conversation with Seo Hwido yesterday, pushing open the door to what looked like the largest room, and sinking down onto the floor, but after that everything went dark.

How did this happen? No matter how drained she had been, she had never once fallen asleep like she had blacked out.

And that wasn’t all. The presences that wailed beside her every night had not shown themselves, and the white-robed ghost that appeared without fail whenever she fell asleep had vanished without a trace. What did that mean? Was it just a coincidence?

She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so long and so dreamlessly. For a moment, a flicker of hope bloomed that her grandmother had done something to make it so.

“And somehow I still had the presence of mind to lay out the blanket.”

She let out a helpless laugh at the absurdity of it. Just then, a coy voice drifting in from beyond the latticed door made Yeon-ah go rigid.

“But why out of all those trees, why did only that one get struck by lightning? I guess the village elders really did have a reason for telling everyone to stay away from it! My goodness! You must have had such a hard time cleaning all that up, Hwido-ssi… Oh, right! More importantly, Hwido-ssi. Do you have time right now? If you’re free, would you like to go get lunch with me?”

“I don’t have time.”

“Then what about dinner?”

“Will I even be here for dinner?”

The response was crisp and cold, with a layer of irritation underneath.

Yeon-ah turned the familiar voice over in her mind, and when the image of that man and his insufferably arrogant attitude surfaced, she let out a long sigh.

“…He’s seriously a psychopath or something.”

It suddenly occurred to her to wonder how badly the woman on the other side of that door had been wounded by his refusal. She must have taken a hit to the heart. If she was a simple, gentle country girl, she might burst into tears and run off.

Yeon-ah leaned in closer, pressing her ear to the door the way one might lean in to catch the next line of an audio drama.

“Hmm, then what about tomorrow? If tomorrow morning doesn’t work, how about lunch? Hohoho!”

Wow…. a formidable opponent.

The woman who laughed after every other sentence clearly did not need Yeon-ah worrying about her.

Yeon-ah stifled a laugh, pulled her attention away from the two of them, and began looking around the room.

It was unmistakably an old house, and the wooden pillars throughout had a deep, worn sheen to them.

The wallpaper had yellowed, but there were signs it had been kept clean. A mother-of-pearl wardrobe, a low vanity table, and a chest of drawers taking up one wall. That was all.

From the look of it, this was clearly the room her grandmother had used. For a house that had supposedly changed owners, the old furniture was far too intact.

What on earth was going on?

Normally when someone moved in, wouldn’t they get rid of the previous occupant’s things?

Especially leaving the belongings of someone who had passed away untouched like this. That was something only family would do.

And yet he had the nerve to claim this was his house. One look and it was obvious he was nothing but a layabout squatting illegally in an empty house. Who did he think he was fooling?

Yeon-ah was fuming when the image of the tattoo on his back surfaced in her mind and she pulled up short.

“I’m pretty sure there was something written on it……”

Over the years on the job as a patrol officer, she had seen all manner of tattoo collections, but that one had seemed like a different thing entirely.

Not the kind meant to show off, but the kind that looked like it had been carved in by force. She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but the feeling that touching it would bring serious trouble was unmistakable.

“Wait, hold on… is that man actually a boss-level gangster?”

The thought sent a chill crawling across her skin.

If that was true, wasn’t it a miracle she was still breathing right now?

It was probably an overactive imagination, but that was exactly why she had to settle this today.

Who actually owned this house.

Yeon-ah quickly folded the blanket and pushed it into the mother-of-pearl wardrobe, then reached toward the chest of drawers.

She had no desire to do it, but she needed to search for a deed that might be somewhere in there.

“This is just an investigation to determine whether someone is squatting illegally.”

She rationalized the act to herself and pulled open the first drawer. At that exact moment, her phone rang out noisily, right on cue.

Ring, ring!

Yeon-ah nearly jumped out of her skin and scrambled over to snatch the bag that lay sprawled by the door. She rummaged through it frantically and answered the call.

“Yeah, Sora.”

—Baek Yeon-ah! Why haven’t you been picking up? Do you know how many times I called? I thought something had happened to you!

“Oh… sorry! I was so exhausted yesterday I just crashed. I got here fine, so don’t worry.”

—Yesterday? What do you mean yesterday? You left the day before yesterday!

“What? What are you talking about? I got here yesterday.”

—Hey! Why are you being so scary? The day before yesterday was August 3rd! Yesterday was the 4th! Today is the 5th!

“…What?”

Yeon-ah pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen.

[11:50 a.m. Saturday, August 5th]

“Wha, what… so you’re saying I spent two whole days here just sleeping?”

—Hey, you’re not being held somewhere right now, are you? Why are you whispering like that? Is someone with you?

“Oh, that’s…”

Yeon-ah lowered her voice and explained the situation. Sora’s worried voice came through the receiver.

—Are you out of your mind? You slept there without even knowing who that man is? Do you know how many crazies are out there these days, and for two nights on top of that? You’ve seriously lost it! What does it matter that you’re a police officer! To a psycho you’re just one pretty girl. What’s the address there? Give me the address right now.

“The address? Why do you need the address?”

—We need to check whether he’s lying or not! Send it to me right now. I’ll look up the registry first! Do you know his name? If you do, send me the name and address both. Got it?

Click. The call ended.

The property registry. In the chaos of everything, she had completely forgotten about that.

“Actually, this works out better, doesn’t it?”

At least she wouldn’t have to go digging through things like a petty thief just to find the deed.

She was exhaling a sigh of relief when the coy voice drifted through the latticed door again and pulled her back to attention.

“I absolutely cannot stand easy men, you know? That’s probably why I keep finding myself drawn to you, Hwido-ssi. The fact that you don’t give just any woman the time of day is so reassuring, I have to say.”

It went beyond naivety, edging into something almost simple-minded. She had picked up on the woman’s mental fortitude earlier, but the sheer determination to keep talking even as the other person made his disinterest plain was no ordinary thing.

The woman started saying something again. But Seo Hwido said nothing.

Right, it must be maddening. He’s rejecting her outright and not even pretending to listen…

She found herself curious about his expression for a moment, but quickly let the thought go. Getting tangled up with either of those two, who were anything but ordinary, was the last thing she wanted.

Yeon-ah clicked her tongue and walked over to the mother-of-pearl vanity. She peered into the gleaming mirror, pulled her messy hair back into a tight knot, and decided she would wash her face once the visitor outside had left.

“Hohoho! Oh? Hwi, Hwido-ssi?”

Thud! A sudden bang rang out, followed by a series of heavy, rolling sounds. What was that? Yeon-ah moved to get up when the firmly shut latticed door flew open and the man in question appeared.

“Wha, what are you…”

She was too startled to get the words out. Despite knowing full well there was someone inside, he stepped over the threshold and closed the distance in long strides, moving through the room the way one would walk through their own bedroom.

Yeon-ah edged backward. The reason her survival instinct stirred was that she had just recently concluded he was a psychopathic gangster.

Thump. Her back hit the chest of drawers behind her and her retreat was cut off. She tensed her eyes and looked up, and Seo Hwido, now right in front of her, reached his hand out toward her.

What? Was he trying to drag her out by force? With a guest outside, and this suddenly?

Yeon-ah was about to raise her voice and demand to know what he thought he was doing, but she spotted the woman standing in the yard and dropped her voice instead.

She had absolutely no desire to get tangled up in whatever was going on between those two.

“Seo… sir! Is something the matter? It seems like the ghost is very upset right now, so once your guest leaves I can help you with…!”

Seo Hwido ignored her whispering entirely, grabbed her hand without hesitation, and broke into a bright smile.

“I said I was just changing, so why did it take you so long? Come on out. Let’s go eat together, Yeon-ah.”

His voice was sweet, like he had a piece of candy in his mouth rather than a blade.

Sweet enough that anyone watching from the outside would have taken him for a tender man making sure the woman he loved had a proper meal.

But wait. How does this man know my name?

“No… hold on a moment!”

What on earth. Who is this lunatic?