“Of course.”

“If we turn him over to the police, it will be hard to get the punishment we want – especially if you plan to involve Lee Jae-hyup. Guys like that are just errand boys. They are paid to take the fall when things go wrong and the job fails. Cleaning up the mess is part of the deal.”

I know that too. Haven’t we seen countless proxy convicts in the news – people who went to jail instead of powerful political or business figures, only to be cut loose like a tail? No one says it openly, but everyone knows it’s true.

And the evidence was weak. Sure, I managed to record the moment of my abduction, but the footage only shows what they did to me. Not once did any of them mention Lee Jae-hyup’s name, not even a single syllable.

It would be hard to prove that the person I talked to on the phone was him, and the content of the call wasn’t even recorded.

I nodded in agreement.

“Yes, it seemed that way. I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Most likely, there will be all kinds of pressure – subtle or otherwise – to keep the investigation from even getting started. And even if it does go to trial, they’ll hire top lawyers to make it as favorable as possible.

In a country where even a two- or three-year sentence is considered severe, it’s hard to expect a fair punishment.

The system is stacked against the perpetrators from the start, and once all the mitigating circumstances are brought up and they appeal the verdict, things will only get more favorable for them.

Sure, they’ll have to go through the hassle of showing up at police stations, prosecutors’ offices, and courtrooms for a while, but in the end they’ll be compensated well enough to make it worth their while.

Some of them will probably end up moving abroad and living comfortably.

“The police aren’t always the only answer.”

Coming from a man who knows this world far better than I do, his words made the suspicion all the more convincing.

“Just like Lee Jae-hyup, we could show them that we’re ready to react without holding back, using any means necessary. That might be the easiest way to get them to back off from Hyun Eun-sae as well.”

I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but of course it did.

This man wants to help me fight Lee Jae-hyup, but he prefers to operate behind the scenes, just like now. A t*t-for-tat exchange, anticipating Lee Jae-hyup’s moves and striking back accordingly. Going public and airing the family’s dirty laundry would cause too much trouble, especially with the issue of his birth and all the complications that come with it.

Come to think of it, if his adoptive parents had truly cherished him as their own flesh and blood, his older cousins wouldn’t have dared to taunt him about his origins. I can’t say for sure, but he probably didn’t have an easy childhood.

Now that I think about it, Lee Seol-won was often in the news for his outstanding achievements, almost as if he had to constantly prove his worth.

“No, Lee Jae-hyup cannot leave Eun-sae. You can’t just erase the past as if it never happened.”

But I had no intention of agreeing with him.

“Eun-sae… is dead. If she were still alive, maybe like you said, it would’ve been enough to make him back off. But she’s not in this world anymore. That’s why… he has to pay.”

I looked sideways at Lee Seol-won.

He was silent for a moment.

“…I wasn’t sure, but I had my suspicions.”

But he didn’t look visibly shaken, like someone might be when they hear unexpected news. It was more like… finally, or something.

“So she finally made that choice.”

Everyone else had seen the signs – everyone but me.

It felt like I was the only outsider here, a stranger in my own story.

“I guess… I was the only one taken by surprise. You don’t seem so surprised, Mr. Lee Seol-won. Even you felt it somehow – so why was I, her own family, the only one who couldn’t even imagine it…”

My regret was overwhelming, but there was nothing I could do about it. No way to ease it.

“There was no other way.”

Lee Seol-won, who had been watching me silently for a while, finally spoke.

His deep voice echoed in the living room.

“Eun-sae tried so hard to keep it from you. Knowing must have been even more painful, especially with you around and everything going on with the preparations for the National Music Festival. She was really worried about you. She didn’t want her sister to know about her mistakes. I couldn’t really understand it myself, but maybe that’s what love between sisters looks like. Still… it was heartbreaking news. I’m sorry.”

His voice was deep and deliberate, carrying a weight of sympathy. It was the first time anyone in this country – anyone who really knew Eun-sae – had expressed sincere condolences for her tragedy.

“Why would she try so hard to hide this from me? If something had happened to Eun-sae, wouldn’t I have been the first to know?”

“She probably knew you would react that way.”

Following his gaze, I looked down at myself. My clothes were torn and stained – a pathetic attempt at imitating Eun-sae – and the bandages on my hands and feet clearly showed my injuries.

“What do you mean she was so worried about me?”

“There was a day when Eun-sae and I ran into each other. I suggested that I help you get a plane ticket, and while I distracted Lee Jae-hyup, you could quietly return to the U.S.”

I froze. This was the first time I’d heard about it. Eun-sae had never said a word about it to me. Not once had she hinted at such a plan. Even when she left to apply for a visa, she’d returned to Korea almost immediately. She hadn’t even bothered to unpack the things she had left at our house.

“So what happened?”

“She turned it down.”

He explained that Eun-sae had taken her time to think about it before answering him with quiet determination:

“No, I can’t. If I disappear, he’ll start digging into my past – and that will lead him to my sister, Seo-hae. If anyone asks where I’ve gone, her name will come up sooner or later. We may not look exactly alike, but we’re identical twins. There’s no way to hide that. What if something happens to her because of me? I don’t have many reasons to stay in Korea, so I wouldn’t mind leaving. But Seo-hae is different. She came here when she was young because she dreamed of playing the gayageum. Korea is more of a home to her than the US. She’s put everything into rehearsing and performing – trying to make a name for herself as a musician. I can’t be the reason that all her hard work is ruined.”

My throat tightened. After all she’d been through – after all the humiliation she’d suffered at Lee Jae-hyup’s hands – she’d stayed. Not for herself, but to protect me… to protect me from a danger I hadn’t even seen coming.

“Actually, Eun-sae and I had different opinions. I thought that your face should be seen by the public. If the public knows you, they’ll protect you. On the other hand, Eun-sae thought that you should be hidden as much as possible.”

“Is that why you wanted to put me on stage at the National Music Festival?”

He didn’t deny it. Lee Seol-won had tried to make me famous for my own safety.”

“Eun-sae tried her best not to give Lee Jae-hyup the slightest opportunity to criticize her. She was meek and submissive.”

If that was the case, was it because of me that Eun-sae always responded with “Yes, I understand”? She must have been afraid that if she said something wrong, it would *rouse suspicion, and with her every move being watched, I might end up in Lee Jae-hyup’s information network.”

The truth – things I should have known long ago – finally reached my ears.

“Eun-sae never mentioned you. Not even once. She kept you completely hidden. She even used her foreigner status to her advantage when she could. Even when she hid where she lived or who she was related to, her U.S. citizenship acted as a shield. Lee Jae-hyup probably didn’t question it too much and just let it go. Moreover, he was never interested in the fine or traditional arts. Korean classical music meant nothing to him, so it probably never occurred to him to delve into that world.”

A hollow breath escaped my lips.

“I didn’t know.”

I hadn’t realized that Eun-sae had gone through so much trouble. And to think that despite all her efforts, Lee Jae-hyup, the bastard who finally killed her, was just… despicable.

“How did Eun-sae meet Lee Jae-hyup?”

“Probably when she kept going to the Songun Art Hall. He must have noticed her there.”

In fact, if Eun-sae wanted to catch a glimpse of Lee Seol-won from afar, the only way to do so was to diligently attend the events at the Songun Art Hall. She was just hanging out with the person she had a one-sided love for, but instead she ended up facing a catastrophe of catastrophic proportions. That girl really had the worst luck.

“Such bad luck, really.”

“Yes, it was bad luck.”

He agreed.

“One day, out of the blue, Lee Jae-hyup showed up at a small meeting with Eun-sae as his partner. That’s when I found out that their paths had crossed.”

“But Eun-sae never told me that she had another partner. She always said that she wanted to meet you, Mr. Lee Seol-won. Of course, I thought you were Eun-sae’s partner.”

“That makes sense. Lee Jae-hyup must have used that excuse to get close to her.”