GMC 151

A biological father, now? He had heard stories several times about malicious parents who track down their adult children late in life just to bleed them dry. Was this another case of that? For now, he had pretended not to see the note, but a corner of his heart remained uneasy.

Of all times, he had no one he could properly consult with. If it were before he had read the diary, he might have just confessed while pretending not to know the truth. Yeon-rok felt disheartened.

That day, he intentionally ate dinner early to avoid crossing paths with the three of them. Choi Hwan was restless, putting in an immense effort to cheer Yeon-rok up. Moon Gyeon-woo also came by and asked to talk, but Yeon-rok ignored him by pretending to be asleep. Today, he needed time alone.

Torn between different impulses, Yeon-rok checked the clock with a hollow expression, only to find it was already past midnight. Just as he was about to head to the rooftop garden to clear his sunken mood, he paused. In the dark second-floor hallway, light was leaking from one of the doors. It seemed someone was inside.

What was this room used for? There were so many rooms in this house that Yeon-rok hadn’t memorized them all yet. As he approached without much thought, he suddenly realized.

‘Come to think of it, only this door is a different color.’

It was then. He heard a presence inside the room. While he hesitated over whether to knock or not, someone raised their voice.

“Can’t you stop doing this shit at home?”

It was Choi Hwan’s irritable voice. Without realizing it, Yeon-rok scanned his surroundings and swallowed hard. Then, he crept closer, muffling his footsteps. He carefully pressed his ear against the door to eavesdrop on the conversation. The following voice belonged to Yeom Cheon-ho.

“Not for the time being.”

“Yeon-rok doesn’t know anything right now! What are you going to do if [visit our site]he notices you’re doing this disgusting shit and runs away?”

“For once, this idiot is actually making sense. My head is killing me because of the smell of blood.”

Moon Gyeon-woo’s sarcastic voice could also be heard. It was clear that Yeon-rok’s three suspicious and strange name partners were all inside, plotting something.

“I told you to stop picking fights—”

A sharp silence followed, as if a psychological war was taking place. However, Choi Hwan soon broke it with a grumble.

“Ugh! Fuck, I stepped on some guts.”

Yeon-rok’s face turned pale as he swallowed hard. The content of the conversation was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

“I suggest you be careful, Mr. Hwan. Don’t leave bloodstains in the hallway with those shoes; wash them clean before you leave.”

He heard Choi Hwan’s disgusted reaction, the rustling of plastic, a metallic sound, and a squelching noise as if someone had stepped into a puddle. The scene his imagination painted was almost like a horror movie.

“And do we really have to hide this? If we just spoke honestly…”

“I said no! Yeon-rok’s state is already strange lately; what if he reports this to the police? And I really can’t afford any more scandals right now. I don’t want to ruin my career!”

“I agree that it’s better to hide it for now. He’s unauthorized visit our sitecopyalready struggling with memory loss and is only just adjusting…”

“We seem to have a difference of opinion. In my view…”

Suddenly, Yeom Cheon-ho stopped talking. Yeon-rok’s heart sank, and just as he turned to flee, the door swung open. Yeon-rok could hear Yeom Cheon-ho walking steadily toward his room and knocking.

Knock, knock.

“Yeon-rok-ssi? Are you awake by any chance?”

As he caught a faint scent of blood, goosebumps erupted all over his body. Hiding on the stair landing, Yeon-rok held his breath and tiptoed stealthily down to the first floor. He went straight to the gym and hid behind the exercise equipment for a long while.

After shivering for a long time, he finally went back up. The room where the three had been was silent, with no sign of anyone. However, Yeon-rok didn’t dare even try to open the door and hurried back into his own room. Then, he let out a silent scream.

Aaaagh! They really are serial killers!

All my name partners must be accomplices! Wait, what about me? Was I an accomplice too? What happened to my personality over the past year? Was I turning a blind eye just because they’re my name partners?! Is this why those three were so nice to me? Because they were afraid I’d report them to the police?

His heart was racing so fast he couldn’t even sleep. Eventually, tormented by the confusion, Yeon-rok gave in to an impulse to escape reality and logged onto social media to reply to the message.

[If he really is my father, I would like to meet him once.]

Despite the late hour, the reply came immediately, as if they had been waiting.

[Thank you for your careful decision, Mr. Lee Yeon-rok. I will contact the client immediately.]

Yeon-rok sat on his bed, shaking his legs. Was it too hasty a decision? He regretted replying, then shook his head.

No. Regardless, isn’t he someone I must meet at least once? Since he was a child, he had always been curious. What kind of people were his parents? What circumstances led them to leave him at an orphanage? Had they never once missed him or wondered about him in their lives?

Now, he would soon get the answer to those questions…

To avoid agonizing over whether Yeom Cheon-ho was truly a serial killer, Yeon-rok spent a long time thinking about his biological father before finally falling asleep. As soon as he woke up the next day, he checked his phone.

[The client was very pleased. When will you be available? He wishes to meet you in person and talk.]

Thus, an appointment was set for a few days later. Yeon-rok’s heart pounded. A small amount of resentment coexisted with a hopeful feeling that there might have been some unavoidable circumstance. While rummaging through his closet, wondering what to wear, he suddenly muttered, “Ah.”

“He told me to let them know the purpose of my outing in advance.”

Recalling Secretary Kim Jeong-seong’s request, Yeon-rok went to find his bodyguards. Jeong Bo Eun and Park Chung-seong—bodyguards with somewhat unusual names—were quite friendly. He heard they were actually quite close. When Yeon-rok arrived, the bodyguards, who had been boredly playing mobile games, greeted him warmly.

“Our young master, what brings you here?”

“I have an appointment this Saturday, so I’m planning to go out.”

“An appointment on the weekend?”

Jeong Bo Eun asked back in a puzzled voice and pulled out a scheduler to check the dates. He tilted his head and asked.

“The other three didn’t mention anything… Who are you going out with? Is it Young Master Choi Hwan, after all?”

What? Why does he assume it’s naturally one of those three? As if I have no one else to go out with besides them? Yeon-rok answered with a slightly bitter feeling.

“No, I’m just going to meet someone I know.”

This time, Park Chung-seong pulled out a notebook, skimmed through some information, and asked cautiously, though still bewildered.

“I apologize, but what is your relationship with this person?”

Yeon-rok didn’t particularly want to say he was going to meet his father.

Everyone in this house treated him kindly. However, separate from his gratitude, his trust had plummeted to rock bottom after hearing that conversation yesterday. Wondering if the bodyguards also knew what Yeom Cheon-ho did, Yeon-rok glossed over it.

“Just a friend I used to know.”

Park Chung-seong asked in an even more cautious voice.

“I am truly sorry, but did the young master have a friend he knew…”

Seeing Yeon-rok’s expression, Jeong Bo Eun jabbed Park Chung-seong hard in the ribs with his elbow to make him stop talking. Then, he hurriedly tried to fix the situation.

“What he means is, since you have no memory, you haven’t had any friends you’ve contacted recently!”

Even before losing his memory, Yeon-rok had suffered greatly for a long time due to his name manifestation, and on top of that, he had worked without time to play, leading to severed ties with his former friends. Still, it was a bit shocking that he hadn’t had a single friend even after meeting his name partners. He replied somewhat gloomily.

“It’s someone I met on the internet.”

“Ah, I see. Do you happen to know their personal details? Where is the meeting place?”

Jeong Bo Eun and Park Chung-seong, who always smiled kindly, now had sharp glints in their eyes. They questioned him so persistently that Yeon-rok almost confessed the truth. Furthermore, upon learning that the meeting place was an officetel located in a secluded area, the bodyguards adamantly opposed the outing.

“An officetel? Absolutely not. What do you trust about a stranger met on the internet to step into such a place? Especially someone who has lost their memory…”

As they spoke, the way they looked at Yeon-rok was akin to how one looks at a child walking defenselessly along a waterfront.