As the elevator ascended two floors, she finally introduced herself.
“I’m Yang Ye-ri. While you are here, I’ll take care of overall life convenience, including mansion security and management for all three of you.”
The elevator came to a stop.
“Since it’s late at night, I’ll give you a brief tour for now.”
The colonial-style mansion, constructed in the shape of the letter ‘ㄷ’, was clean and quiet. Inside the mansion, there was a pleasant scent of aged wood and melted wax, characteristic of old buildings. Yang Ye-ri showed them the spacious reception room, three bedrooms connected by internal passages and secret doors, and the dining room in order. Then, with a very poker face, she continued speaking.
“I’ve been informed that you have a meeting at midnight. It will take about thirty minutes to get to the meeting place from here. Do you want to have your meal before going or shall I prepare something for you here?”
“Just me and Young-hee will go there, so let’s start with a meal first,” Seo Seung-hyun replied leisurely. “We can’t let our valuable employees go hungry.”
“Alright, I’ll prepare the meal. Please wait in the dining room. Shall I bring the drinks first?”
“Sparkling water, plenty of ice, no need for lime.”
“Any specific brand?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“What about the others?”
Jang Young-hee requested black coffee with four cubes of sugar, while Lee Young-jin asked for warm water.
Yang Ye-ri swiftly and accurately fulfilled everyone’s requests. In just ten minutes, she had set up a simple meal for them.
With an assortment of vegetables, pickled tomatoes, succulent pink slices of salmon belly, peeled plump prawns, all generously topped with thinly sliced Grana Padano cheese, the salad was placed on the table. Thickly-sliced baguettes and two types of jam, four kinds of butter, eggs cooked to perfection in sunny-side-up style, green apples, large-grained grapes, and long slices of papaya were all arranged one after another on the dining table.
In just ten minutes, the meal that took ten minutes to prepare was also finished in the same amount of time. Lee Young-jin, who had slept throughout the entire flight and missed the in-flight meal, along with the others, effortlessly cleared his plate.
After the short meal, Seo Seung-hyun and Jang Young-hee prepared to leave.
“Stay put,” Seo Seung-hyun said.
“All the necessary items, including the computer, have been prepared, so I’ll leave you with the remaining investigative tasks,” Jang Young-hee added.
Yang Ye-ri led them back to the underground parking lot.
Lee Young-jin was left alone in the mansion. He stood in front of the elevator leading to the underground parking lot, gazing at the closed doors for a moment before slowly turning back towards his bedroom. Jang Young-hee had left him with specific instructions regarding the tasks he needed to complete.
The spacious bedroom, which seemed to be at least fifteen pyeong in size, had a large window on the eastern wall. A double bed was placed facing the window, and to the right of the bed, there was a long desk with a chair tucked under it. On the desk, a modern laptop and monitor, contrasting with the vintage colonial-style room, were already set up.
Lee Young-jin approached the creaky chair and sat down.
The laptop was the same one he had used in Toronto, so there was no need for additional preparations, and the work continued seamlessly.
Time passed quickly.
In the early dawn, Lee Young-jin briefly opened the window. The misty water vapor blanketed the serene garden, and the damp, cold air seeped in through the window crack, gently brushing against his neck and the back of his hand. He closed the window and made his way to the bathroom. The marble bathtub tempted him. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to draw hot water into the tub and indulged in a long, relaxing bath. Following the extended soak, a four-hour slumber, neither too long nor too short, followed.
At exactly nine o’clock, Yang Ye-ri informed him that breakfast was ready.
Lee Young-jin was the only one who came down to the dining room.
He enjoyed an omelette with finely chopped chorizo, creamy rice soup with buttered rice, bean dishes, cornbread, and roasted plantains. Afterward, he returned to his room and the rhythmic sound of typing on the keyboard and the clicking of the mouse button continued.
When he had repeated the meal six more times, it was late morning when Yang Ye-ri knocked on his door.
It was the first time she had come to see Lee Young-jin, aside from meal times.
“A call from CEO Seo,” Yang Ye-ri said, handing him the mobile phone. Lee Young-jin cautiously accepted the smartphone, gazing at it for a moment before holding it carefully with both hands.
He had a smartphone that Jang Young-hee had brought him from Toronto, but it was an air-gapped device with the SIM card removed, so it had no phone number. The reason Seo Seung-hyun chose to contact him through Yang Ye-ri must have been due to this.
[Have you been behaving yourself?]
A cheerful voice, no different from two days ago.
For some reason, Lee Young-jin’s shoulders tensed. “Uh… yeah,” he replied softly. It was a response as small as the sound of an ant, so it was uncertain whether the Alpha on the other end of the line could even hear it.
And then came the question Seo Seung-hyun had been wanting to ask.
[The list, is it ready?]
“It’s almost complete.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Seo Seung-hyun let out a low, satisfied chuckle.
[Is that so?]
“Yeah.”
[Then wait for a moment.]
With that, the call ended. Only silence remained beyond the disconnected signal. Lee Young-jin held the bewildering expression as he continued to hold the phone against his face. As he noticed Yang Ye-ri still standing in the doorway like a shadow, he startled and quickly returned the phone to her.
Wait for what?
What was he supposed to wait for?
The answer to that question came thirty minutes later.
Now, both the hour and minute hands of the clock were close to the number 12. Lee Young-jin was sitting in front of his laptop at that time. Ironically, a polite knock brought him back from the vast world of binary code to reality. He calmly closed all the software he was running, saved his documents, and closed the internet browser. At the same time, he got up from his chair and walked towards the door.
He opened the door.
And there stood Seo Seung-hyun.
Lee Young-jin hadn’t expected his return, so he froze with the door handle in his hand. Furthermore, the knock; it was a rare occurrence for someone to enter his (of course, not as a possessive, but simply indicating the location) space and knock. Yang Ye-ri was a separate individual, so it made sense for her to knock. But Seo Seung-hyun was the man who had agreed to pay a substantial sum of money to Lee Young-jin in exchange for a vague contract. If he wanted to meet Lee Young-jin, he didn’t need his permission.
Seo Seung-hyun tilted his head slightly and offered a sly smile. His squinting eyes and the corners of his eyes turned up.
There, Lee Young-jin’s confusion reached its peak.
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