I never recovered my gayageum that I lost in the mansion. If I had to name the biggest casualty of this whole ordeal, it would undoubtedly be this instrument. I had been swinging this delicate instrument around like a shield.

In the end, it was even thrown into Lee Jae-kwang’s hands. To make matters worse, the mansion was declared a crime scene after a fire broke out and a body was discovered, and access to the grounds was strictly restricted.

I thought about asking Lee Seol-won about the whereabouts of the Gayageum, but I soon gave up. Even though I was deeply attached to it and had shared many memories with it over the years, I decided to consider it the price I had paid for my life.

At that time, I also began psychological counseling. It was a process of gradually dealing with the trauma left by Eun-sae’s death and the wounds inflicted by the crimes the brothers planned to commit against me.

And of my own free will, I visited Lee Jae-hyup, who had been imprisoned in a detention center.

That was the last time I saw him.

To be honest, I didn’t want to see him from the beginning. In any case, Lee Seol-won had gone to great lengths to hide and protect me throughout the incident, and whenever testimony or investigation related to the case was necessary, he made sure that it could be done quickly and comfortably in a safe environment.

So if I had wanted to, I could have avoided facing him altogether.

However, the reason I decided to meet with him at least once was because his lawyer tried to defend him by portraying his relationship with Eun-sae as a marriage.

In reality, it was always Lee Jae-kwang who took the lead in committing the crimes using the secret mansion.

He had long coveted his older brother’s mistress and tormented Eun-sae, eventually threatening me, her sister, as well. His lawyer absurdly argued that Lee Jae-hyup was only there to help me in that dangerous situation.

The so-called “evidence” that he presented to prove that he was Eun-sae’s lover were s*x videos that he claimed were made with her consent. I really never thought something like that would come up here.

He argued that if Eun-sae wasn’t his girlfriend, would she really have slept with him so often and so willingly?

Of course, Eun-sae had no choice but to do what he wanted since she had to hide me.

Then I suddenly wondered what happened to the videos he’d made of me. So I asked indirectly through our lawyer.

—”Were all the videos just with Eun-sae? Was there anything with anyone else or anything that looked like a fight or resistance… anything like that?”

—”No, there wasn’t. It’s just that the videos were, how shall I put it… The content was deemed potentially disturbing or traumatic to you and your family, so the CEO strongly requested that only female officers be allowed to view the material. Forgive me for saying this, but from what I’ve heard since, based on the footage alone, it would not have been unreasonable to assume that they were in a consensual relationship.”

That’s when it hit me – he must have secretly deleted the last video, the one he made while threatening me.

Of course, if I requested a forensic analysis of his phone, my video could probably be recovered. But after some thought, I decided to keep quiet.

Most of all, I didn’t want to cause any more pain to the man who was already tormented by guilt and constantly apologizing for not saving me sooner.

Since they had to minimize their crimes as much as possible, they would never admit on their own that such a video existed.

So as long as I remained silent, the video could disappear as if it had never existed.

Yes, some things are better left buried. I had to know when to let things go. Digging it up would only hurt me too.

To verify the content of the footage, it would have to be reviewed by those with investigative authority, and frankly, as the person being filmed, that idea was far more horrifying to me.

Even without my video, there was already more than enough evidence to prove their guilt.

—Of course, we can easily overturn it, so please don’t worry, Ms. Hyun Seo-hae.”

—I know. I’m not worried. It’s just… ridiculous, that’s all.”

The reason for such absurd, ridiculous lies was obvious. It was the second son’s family’s desperate attempt to save face – to save at least Lee Jae-hyup, who didn’t have a particularly bad public image, instead of losing both sons completely.

Lee Jae-kwang had been a troublemaker since his school days and was often involved in bullying. He was always the owner of the mansion and the host of the parties.

Lee Jae-hyup, on the other hand, rarely visited the mansion. I noticed this myself while watching the CCTV footage.

Lee Jae-kwang appeared in almost every footage, while Lee Jae-hyup was rarely seen.

Of course, Lee Jae-hyup was far from a decent person considering his violence against a vulnerable woman, but unlike Lee Jae-kwang, who openly indulged in orgies and drug-fueled parties, he usually left quickly after showing up.

Lee Seol-won tried for a long time to convince me that there was no need to confront him directly.

He said that it was a given that both brothers would be prosecuted and that the other side was only trying to reduce the sentence of one of them.

He assured me that we would also cooperate fully with the prosecution and prepare a thorough response – so there was no reason for me to confront an old nightmare again.

I gave him a small smile.

—”Lee Jae-hyup is no longer a nightmare for me. This time I’m the one giving him the nightmare.”

—”If you really want to go, I’ll go with you. I won’t let you go alone. I can’t.”

—”You said the visitation is limited to exactly ten minutes. You won’t even get a chance to say a word, Seol-won.”

—”Then I’ll just sit next to you and listen quietly.”

Although I promised him that I was sure he wouldn’t hurt me again, Lee Seol-won insisted on accompanying me on a visit.

When I saw Lee Jae-hyup in prison, he looked drastically different-his face was gaunt and unrecognizable. He had lost so much weight that his prison uniform hung loosely and his limbs were practically flapping. He looked awfully thin and frail.

Ironically, it was Lee Jae-kwang – the one even his own family had abandoned as the ultimate scapegoat – who was said to be eating well and holding up well, even causing trouble occasionally. Somehow their positions seemed to be reversed now.

I had thought that Jae-hyup had accepted the visit just to show that he was doing well despite his imprisonment, but in truth, it took me by surprise.

To be honest, he had every right to refuse my request to see him. But surprisingly, he accepted.

Even when he saw that I had brought Lee Seol-won with me, he didn’t try to pick a fight – he just pressed his lips together and didn’t say anything.

“It looks like life in prison doesn’t suit you. Good.”

That was the first thing I said to him as soon as I sat down.

“Seeing you like this… you really are a pitiful person.”

If the accusations had been minor, people might have dismissed it as the bored shenanigans of the rich. But with actual corpses involved, they had nothing to say in their defense-even if they had ten mouths.

Those who used to flaunt their connections with them were being hauled in for questioning, one by one, on suspicion of aiding and abetting their crimes. Former classmates and even people who had casually taken a photo with SW were now scrambling to distance themselves, claiming they had no personal relationship with them.

“For someone who bragged so much about your connections, funny how not a single friend came to your defense when things got tough.”

He fell overnight.

He lost his reputation, his people, and his status. Regardless of his parents’ desperate efforts to save at least one of their sons, SW Company was busy scrubbing their names from everything.

He would probably be treated as a permanent stain on the family name. A comeback was out of the question.

“That’s why I came, It wouldn’t be fair if my sister and I only remembered you as a monster. We should also see you in your final state – miserable and pathetic.

It would have been better if Eun-sae could have seen it herself, but since she can’t, I will see it for her and tell her about it.”

Time moves differently depending on the situation.

Back at the mansion, every second had dragged on like an eternity, but now even the time to gather my thoughts and calm my emotions felt too precious to waste.

I spoke without thinking, letting the words flow as they came. Whatever humiliation he felt was none of my business.

Barely a second after my harsh words stopped, Lee Jae-hyup raised his head.

“You, ah… Seo-hae. Ms. Hyun Seo-hae.”

He was about to call me one of his usual vulgar names, but a single cold look from Lee Seol-won made him change his tone immediately.

“Are you going back to US?”

“Why?”

“I don’t have time to explain, but please give this to Hyun Eun-sae. I wanted to give it to her earlier, but things got complicated. Just tell her that’s why it’s been delayed – she’ll understand.”

With that, he took a ring off his little finger and held it out to me.

“What’s that…?”

I started to ask, but then stopped and took a breath.

It was a ring with a large diamond in the center.

“What does that mean?”

I stared at the ring for a moment in silence.

Now that I thought about it, the ring looked strangely familiar.

I tried to figure out where I’d seen it before – and then it hit me.

Lee Jae-hyup had once opened a box of rings and shown it to Lee Jae-kwang. Then I remembered a woman who had taken the same ring, put it on her finger, and ended up on the floor being brutally beaten.

It had made no sense to me at the time – but now I could finally read between the lines.

He must have bought the ring to propose to Eun-sae, and when another woman tried it on first, it made him furious beyond control.

“So that’s what your lawyer was talking about… As if. Do you think Eun-sae is crazy? To marry someone like you? You know it yourself – Eun-sae never had any feelings for you. Not even from the beginning.”

“There’s no tree that won’t fall if you hit it ten times. She nearly fell in love with me. I wanted to surprise her with a proposal, but some girl contaminated the ring with bad energy – no, it’s a bit complicated to explain. Anyway, the timing was off and Eun-sae misunderstood and got really upset. Just give her this. Once she comes back to Korea and I explain everything, there won’t be any problem between us.”

“There’s no tree that won’t fall if you hit it ten times? So what, you hit her ten times too?”

I was speechless.

Swallowing a bitter laugh, I looked at the clock on the wall.

Our ten-minute visit had already passed the nine-minute mark.

“Mr. Lee Jae-hyup. The tree that falls after being beaten ten times is a dead tree.

That’s not love. It’s m*rder.

Eun-sae collapsed under the weight of his relentless axe blows. And she never got up again.

Even after hearing what I said, Lee Jae-hyup just stared at me with his eyes wide open.

“Don’t you understand what I’m saying?”

“What gives you, Ms. Hyun Seo-hae, the right to speak as if you know everything about us? No one can understand what goes on between a man and a woman except…”

I cut him off before he could say any more nonsense.

“Eun-sae took her own life. She’s dead.”

A heavy silence fell over the room.

Lee Jae-hyup stared at me, his face frozen in disbelief.

The secret that she was carrying his child – I had decided to take it to my grave. If I told him that a part of him lived on in her, it would only make Eun-sae’s death even more heartbreaking. And maybe, just maybe, it would give him some kind of twisted comfort.

“Your ten minutes are up.”

And just like that, it was over.

The visit. His sick obsession with Eun-sae. It was finally over.

I left the visiting room, not daring to look back.

A short time later, I heard him crying.

It was a sound like an animal’s howl – raw, agonized, filled with torment.