The Tyrant Husband - Chapter 2.2

Chapter 2.2

10 minutes earlier.

Outside the bus window, the towering cityscape unfolded before Eun-sol’s eyes.  

– Uh, our bus has arrived at the Seoul Express Bus Terminal. Please ensure you don’t leave any belongings behind….”  

The driver’s announcement played over the speakers. Passengers began retrieving their luggage from the storage compartment and preparing to disembark with their bags.  

Eun-sol had no luggage to gather. She only checked to make sure her medal necklace was still secure. That necklace was essentially her entire fortune.  

Now that she thought about it, the medal on the necklace bore an unfamiliar engraving. It seemed to symbolize something, but she hadn’t had the time to investigate it further.  

“Phew, at least I made it to Seoul safely.”  

Following the bustling crowd, Eun-sol entered the shopping arcade inside the express terminal.  

She didn’t have a specific destination in mind, but blending into the crowd seemed like the safest option.  

‘First, I need to get some cash. I should look for a jewelry shop.’  

The shopping arcade in the terminal was a maze-like hive. Particularly, the wholesale flower market was filled with vibrant blossoms.  

‘Ah, those tulips are so beautiful.’  

Her gaze kept drifting toward the lush, captivating tulips.  

‘No, this isn’t the time for that.’  

Navigating through the relatively crowded underground mall, she asked around and eventually found a jewelry shop. It was a small shop run by a middle-aged, short-statured man.  

“I’m here to sell this gold necklace. How much can I get for it?”  

“Well, that depends on how many don it weighs.”  

The jewelry shop owner, wearing his glasses sloppily, indifferently took the necklace from her.  

As he measured the weight of the gold, the shop owner flinched. He adjusted his slipping glasses and began to inspect the necklace closely.  

“Why… what’s wrong?”  

Eun-sol asked nervously.  

Without responding, the shop owner spent a long time examining the engraving on the medal. He seemed to be debating whether or not to purchase it.  

“If you don’t want it, just give it back. I’ll go somewhere else.”  

“No! No, it’s not that, ma’am! How about this amount for the purchase price?”  

The shop owner hurriedly handed her the money. The way he emptied out all the cash from his safe didn’t seem like he was just paying for the necklace’s weight in gold.  

The thick wad of crisp cash he placed on the counter was clearly worth several million won at a glance.  

‘It seems this necklace holds value beyond just its weight in gold.’  

Fortunately, the shop owner didn’t ask too many questions about the necklace. In fact, he seemed eager for her to take the money and leave as quickly as possible.  

“Have a nice day.”  

With more money than she had expected, Eun-sol left the jewelry shop with a spring in her step. This amount would easily last her for a few months.  

Of course, whether she could actually avoid Kwon Jeong-hyeok’s watchful eyes for that long was another matter entirely.  

Leaving the jewelry shop, she headed to a PC café.  

‘I should find a place to stay first.’  

Since she had handed her smartphone to a high school boy earlier, she now needed a computer to gather information.  

By the time she reached the PC café, four hours had already passed since she had left home.  

By now, Kwon Jeong-hyeok would have been informed of her escape. She couldn’t quite predict what might be happening on his end.  

“How much is it per hour? I’ll pay in cash. Also, please give me one cup of instant noodles.”  

As she prepaid for the PC café fee at the counter, a printer on the desk suddenly began printing a document.  

It was someone’s résumé. Her eyes unintentionally glanced at it, but before she could see much, the owner of the document quickly approached and snatched it away.  

It was a bit awkward. She hadn’t meant to look at it.  

‘Well, it’s a document full of personal information, so I suppose they might feel uncomfortable.’  

Pouring water into the cup noodles and sitting at the designated spot, a sudden idea came to Eun-sol’s mind.  

‘Don’t I have an account on a job search site? What if there’s a résumé registered under my name?’  

If she could find information about her previous workplace or school, she might be able to track down friends or acquaintances. Meeting them could help her uncover her lost past.  

‘Why didn’t I think of this until now!’  

Forgetting about her noodles getting soggy, she feverishly typed on the keyboard as if possessed.  

However, she couldn’t recall her username, password, or even the email account she had used to sign up. Without a phone registered in her name, retrieving her account details was nearly impossible.  

Frustrated, she let out a deep sigh and decided to visit an international search engine, typing in “Kim Eun-sol.”  

She didn’t have high expectations. She had already tried searching multiple times on domestic search engines. What difference would an international site make?  

Soon, numerous profiles of people named Kim Eun-sol appeared. There were announcers, musical actors, soccer players, and more—Kim Eun-sols with a variety of professions. These were profiles she had already come across in the past.  

Countless social media accounts under the name Kim Eun-sol also popped up. She had already conducted her own investigation into those accounts in the past.  

Adjusting the keywords a few more times, she added the word “employment” next to the name Kim Eun-sol and searched again.  

“What…?!”  

This time, something appeared that she had never seen before on any Korean search engine.  

* * *  

Jeong-hyeok’s car soon entered the Gyeongbu Expressway. The GPS showed that it would take another two hours and thirty minutes to reach Seoul.  

“Sir, Mrs. Boryeong confirmed again. She said the medal necklace you mentioned isn’t just missing from the jewelry box—it’s nowhere to be found in the house.”  

Chief Cheon handed over a photo of the jewelry box, now missing the medal necklace, as he reported.  

Jeong-hyeok tilted his chin slightly—a habit he had when he felt uncertain. It was something he had only recently become aware of. In his daily life, the only person who could stir such complex emotions in him, beyond a few simple words, was Kim Eun-sol.  

‘So, she’s really determined to go this far.’  

If the medal necklace was missing, this wasn’t just an impulsive outing. It had to be seen as a deliberate runaway by Eun-sol.  

Still, it was fortunate that she took the medal necklace with her.  

That medal necklace had been intentionally placed in Eun-sol’s jewelry box, precisely for situations like this.  

Without much cash on hand, Eun-sol would need something valuable to convert into money, and gold would likely be the first thing that came to her mind.  

The other expensive jewels in the jewelry box could have posed problems. Jewelry buyers might require identification, or they could be mistaken as stolen goods and reported to the police. In such cases, it would eventually lead back to him.  

However, the medal necklace appeared, at first glance, to be nothing more than a heavy gold necklace.  

Yet, that necklace wasn’t ordinary. It was one of only two symbolic necklaces in the world. If it were to circulate in the market, its path could definitely be traced.  

“Send a cooperation request to the Korea Jewelry Association. Tell them that Sowon Construction’s medal necklace has been stolen, and announce that anyone who helps locate the necklace will be rewarded with a large sum of money.”  

* * *  

Eun-sol stared wide-eyed at the monitor screen. The article title that had appeared in the search results was clearly something she hadn’t come across before.  

[2020 Taepyeong Department Store Gangnam Branch Top Employees: The Handsome and Beautiful Trio – Jeong Ju-hee, Cha Eun-seok, Kim Eun-sol]  

In the preview snippet, the name “Kim Eun-sol” was visible.  

She clicked on the headline, but it didn’t lead to the page with the content. Perhaps the article had been deleted, or it was archived in the department store’s internal magazine.  

‘The name Kim Eun-sol isn’t that uncommon, and the chances that this Kim Eun-sol in the article is me are pretty slim, right?’  

Still, her heart raced at the newly discovered information. Even if there was only a 1% chance, she couldn’t just ignore it.  

With trembling hands, she searched for “Taepyeong Department Store Gangnam Branch.”  

‘Maybe seeing a picture of the place will trigger some memory.’  

Hundreds of blog posts about visits to the Taepyeong Department Store appeared. She clicked through all of them but couldn’t find the information she was looking for.  

Eventually, she followed related search terms and ended up looking at posts tagged with “#Taepyeong_Department_Store_Food.”  

One ramen shop’s name appeared unusually often.  

‘Cheol-hee’s Fusion Ramen Shop?’  

It seemed to be a hidden gem in the alley behind the Taepyeong Department Store—a fusion ramen restaurant with reviews praising its affordable and unique tomato curry ramen.  

The moment Eun-sol read the reviews, the tangy and spicy flavor of the ramen lingered on her tongue, as if she were someone who had eaten it often.  

It wasn’t a common ramen, so it would be hard for someone who hadn’t tried it to imagine the taste.  

‘Maybe I just thought of it because I was about to eat cup noodles earlier.’  

But the more she thought about it, the more vivid the taste became on her tongue.  

It felt strange. That peculiar feeling one gets when intuition kicks in.  

‘There was definitely an employee named Kim Eun-sol working at Taepyeong Department Store, and I feel like I know the taste of a unique restaurant near there?!’  

Eun-sol suddenly stood up from her seat. It was worth visiting in person.  

‘It’s dangerous to stay here any longer anyway.’  

By now, Kwon Jeong-hyeok might have already figured out that she got off at Seoul Express Bus Terminal Station. It was the right time to move to another location.