By Zephyria 
[It’s Min So-yul, are you free to talk now?]
After confirming that no one was around, Yeon-rok made a call. The other party answered the phone before the signal rang even twice. Leaning against the railing, Yeon-rok opened his mouth.
“It’s me.”
……Yeah. It’s been a while, hasn’t it, us.
Yeon-rok sighed. It’s not like he felt like crying or missed her. He just felt a little bitter. Since his Name Awakened, he had tried hard to abandon his feelings and thoughts about Min So-yul. Now, except for the embarrassment, he was okay.
“I didn’t expect to meet you there.”
Me neither. It’s a small world.
A long silence flowed. Yeon-rok didn’t have much to say. They had broken up with too much difficulty, and she was someone he had let go of a long time ago. It wasn’t a very welcome reunion, as they had suddenly run into each other. After a while, So-yul continued.
I’m calling to tell you that you won’t see me like that again in the future.
“If it’s because of me…”
It is because of you. But it’s actually for me. It’s really awkward that the CEO’s partner is my ex-boyfriend. I’m not trying to blame you, it’s just the situation. You understand? It’s even more so because I’m married.
“Yeah, well… I guess so.”
How much did Yeon-rok want to go home all day today? Not only is the Name partner’s subordinate his ex-lover, but the three of them have to go on a date together? It was really terrible… Just imagining that such a thing might happen again was already exhausting.
My husband was assigned to Busan, so I was thinking of going down with him. The company said they would support me a lot.
“Oh, I see. That’s good.”
Suddenly craving a cigarette, Yeon-rok rummaged through his pockets. After a moment of silence, Min So-yul said.
I was sorry before.
“It’s okay. About things in the past.”
Just thinking about it makes me embarrassed, so please don’t even mention it…
Okay. Anyway… I called to tell you that. …Live happily with the CEO. Let’s not see each other again in the future.
“You too.”
With that short conversation, the call soon ended. Yeon-rok lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke he had inhaled. Chewing on the filter, he tilted his head.
“Why does something feel so uneasy?”
He thought about it carefully. Was there something strange about the conversation just now? He felt like the other person was subtly lying.
‘Married and has a child? Husband’s story? It seemed real. The husband is being assigned to a distant place, and we shouldn’t see each other again.’
But why does he feel like something is bothering him? After thinking for a while, he shook his head. He must be feeling that way because he had such an unlucky day today. And it’s been so long since he’s seen her, so it’s understandable that it feels awkward.
‘But why was I so shocked by the story of her being married and having a child?’
Do I still have feelings left? He soon got the answer and smiled bitterly. He was just so envious of Min So-yul, who had formed a family so quickly, unlike him.
After thinking hard and smoking half of his cigarette, he soon put it out in a nearby ashtray. Rubbing his hands, which were stiff from the cold, he came down to the second floor and almost screamed. Yeom Cheon-ho was standing tall near the stairs, waiting for him.
“C, CEO. Why are you standing there…?”
Startled by the sight of the tall man standing there silently without making a sound, Yeon-rok asked, placing his hand on his chest. Yeom Cheon-ho smiled, arching his eyebrows downward.
“Ah. I’m sorry. Did I startle you? I had something to tell you, but I forgot.”
“Something to tell me…?”
Trying to calm his pounding heart, Yeon-rok asked. Yeom Cheon-ho cast his gaze somewhere and said.
“There’s a white door on the second floor.”
Yeon-rok frowned. Because this house was so wide and large, there were many rooms, so he couldn’t remember the color of the doors one by one, so he couldn’t recall it right away. Yeom Cheon-ho said with a smiling face to Yeon-rok, who was trying to recall.
“You can go anywhere else in this house, but don’t open the white door. I was waiting to tell you that.”
“Pencil-ah. Do you know the story of Bluebeard?”
Hugging his Cherished doll, Yeon-rok spoke to the Scindapsus. He had named this plant yesterday before going to bed. Pencil.
“Once upon a time, there was a nobleman called Bluebeard who married a bride…”
The nobleman had already been married several times, and he gave the young bride a key, saying, ‘You can go anywhere in this castle, but don’t go into the room in the basement.’ Of course, the curious bride opens the door while her husband is away. The secret room was full of the corpses of the nobleman’s previous brides.
The startled new bride dropped the key and stained it with blood, but the stain on the key couldn’t be removed, and she was eventually caught entering the secret room. Before being killed by her angry husband, she sends a signal to her brother, who kills Bluebeard and takes over his fortune, or something like that.
The reason why the story I read in the school library a long time ago comes to mind now is, of course, because of the conversation I had with Yeom Cheon-ho a few days ago.
‘What’s in that room?’ ‘I can only say that there are things that would be difficult for Yeon-rok to see.’
After finishing that conversation and returning to his room, Yeon-rok belatedly became indignant. If there’s something that would be difficult for me to see, he shouldn’t have said anything! Or he should have locked the door so I couldn’t enter! The distance in my heart, which had shrunk a lot because he bought me clothes and delicious food, became distant again.
The next day, Yeon-rok thoroughly searched from the first floor to the second floor. As a result, he realized that there was only one white door in this house, on the second floor.
‘I’m sure I’ve opened that room before.’
Yeon-rok, an unemployed person with nothing to do, naturally spent his time exploring the house. The structure of this house was roughly as follows.
On the first floor, there was an indoor garden, living room, kitchen, reception room, and the room of the homeowner, Yeom Cheon-ho.
On the second floor, there were the rooms of Yeon-rok, Choi Hwan, and Moon Kyeon-woo, the Bluebeard’s Room, and the terrace.
In addition, there were a swimming pool, a home theater, a study, a sauna, an exercise room, a swimming pool, and a room full of board games and arcade machines, etc.
It was his pleasure to enter each room and spend time there, as there were many things to see and do. But because there were so many rooms, he couldn’t remember what was behind that white door on the second floor. In other words, it couldn’t have been a particularly special room.
‘What did he do in that room recently?’
Or is this some kind of trust test?
Bluebeard, now that I think about it, was clearly testing the bride. He gave her the key to the room where he had killed and piled up his previous brides, and even hinted at it, so what else could it be if not to tell her to look? He just gave her an excuse because he wanted to kill her in an interesting way.
So Yeon-rok vowed not to go near the location of the white door on the second floor. He didn’t want to make trouble unnecessarily, and he felt like he sensed an impure intention like Bluebeard from Yeom Cheon-ho.
‘I don’t have any family to come and save me…’
So, let’s not go near it, whether it’s a trust test or whatever. Having thoroughly resolved that, he got up from his seat. He was starting to get hungry.
“Come to think of it, it seems like it’s about a week.”
After checking through contact with Yeom Cheon-ho, he found that he had to hold hands once a week to maintain a normal condition. After a week, he would start to feel tired, sleep a lot, and have nosebleeds. It had been a few days over a week, and even though he had slept well, his body felt sluggish.
“Park Yeo-sa~. What’s for breakfast today?”
When Yeon-rok called out in a cute voice, Kim Jeong-seong happened to be there. Yeon-rok greeted him happily.
“Good morning, Secretary Hyung!”
“Good morning, Lee Yeon-rok-nim.”
As he took his seat, Park Yeo-sa scooped a bowl full of hot kimchi stew and brought out a heaping bowl of fluffy mixed grain rice. In addition, there were plenty of delicious side dishes.
“Doryeonnim, eat a lot. Eat more whenever you’re not full.”
“Yes! I’ll enjoy the meal!”
Yeon-rok replied cheerfully and took a large spoonful of rice. While eating the delicious kimchi and pork, he glanced at Park Yeo-sa and Kim Jeong-seong.
As a result of secretly watching the white door for the past few days, he learned that Yeom Cheon-ho, Secretary Kim Jeong-seong, and even Park Yeo-sa were going in and out of that room just fine. In other words, what’s in the room is nothing special, or the two of them are thoroughly Yeom Cheon-ho’s people.
He also thought about asking the two of them what was in that room, but he didn’t even open his mouth because he was worried that it might be a kind of test. Instead, he decided to completely ignore it as if it were a non-existent room, as he had done until now. Apart from that resolution, the White Door Room was always a nuisance in his head, like a stone in his shoe.