When Juwon woke up, his phone was on fire. It took some time to go through dozens of messages from contacts in Hong Kong and Korea.

Juwon first called Hyeju.

[Dash] Oppa! Are you okay?

Before the call connection sound rang three times, Hyeju, who answered the phone, didn’t give Juwon a chance to say anything.

[Dash] Why weren’t you answering your calls? Do you know how worried I was?

“Hyeju, actually…”

[Dash] First, take off your underwear right now!

Suddenly, take off what?

Doubting if he heard correctly, Juwon rubbed his ear with his finger. There seemed to be nothing wrong, seeing that there was no abnormality.

Glancing at his wristwatch, it was almost midnight in Korean time.

‘It seems like I’m half-asleep after waking up.’

Juwon dryly laughed, thinking that the woman who talked in her sleep must be quite vocal.

“You’re not here anyway.”

He deliberately responded lightly, afraid it might be embarrassing once he fully woke up. However, Hyeju’s voice was too serious for it to be a joke.

[Dash] I’m not joking right now. Don’t be surprised; just listen. There seems to have been a problem with those panties.

“Problem?”

[Dash] Are you wearing them now? Check the band seam area right away. If you touch it, you should feel something rough.

Juwon, about to answer that there was nothing strange, suddenly felt a rough texture in the band seam area that Hyeju mentioned.

“Huh?”

“What’s this?”

[Dash] Got it? Do you know what it is?

Beyond the handset, Hyeju’s voice was greatly agitated.

Juwon, who thought it was an unusual event, took out a few underwear pieces from the suitcase placed in the corner of the hospital room. Small letters were engraved on each seam that were not noticeable at first glance.

“First time seeing this. What is it?”

[Dash] I don’t know what happened exactly. You didn’t know about this until now, right?

“I didn’t.”

It was always Mrs. Sunwoo Yeon who sent him underwear. Laundry was taken care of by the housekeeper who visited the house twice a week, and Juwon just had to pick and wear the neatly arranged underwear from the closet.

He was so used to wearing the same underwear every day that he paid no attention, and there was no reason to be concerned about the letters that were visible only when you looked closely.

The letters embroidered so small that they were barely visible felt strangely ominous.

“Why there’s something like this on underwear, I don’t understand. Do you have any idea?”

[Dash] I’m not sure. But maybe because of that, you started having nightmares.

“What?”
Hyeju explained to Sujeol what had happened. The meaning of the letters engraved on the underwear and the fact that she didn’t have nightmares on the days without them.

Just to be sure, when they went to the officetel to check, Juwon suppressed a groan upon confirming that every set of underwear had the same letters engraved.

“How could this happen…”

[Dash] Is there anyone suspicious around who could do such a thing?

Juwon momentarily thought of Ms. Do. She was warm and kind, but sometimes gave off a vaguely unsettling vibe. She seemed too interested in Juwon in various ways. She was also the person with the most accessibility to Juwon’s wardrobe.

‘Come to think of it, Ms. Do came to the main house as a helper in the year Hyerim died.’

Coincidentally, the nightmares also started around that time.

“There’s one person.”

[Dash] Who is it? Is it someone who works at your place?

“I’m not sure. Just that there’s something unsettling about her.”

Juwon mentioned Ms. Do to Hyeju.

Ms. Do, a housemaid who came to the main house as a helper in the year Hyerim died, was suspicious enough just by that fact alone.

“I should contact Mother for now.”

[Dash] Yes, we must find out who did this. But if my guess is wrong…

“Don’t worry. I’ll just ask if she knew about this on the underwear.”

Hyeju, who seemed lost in thought for a moment, snapped her fingers.

[Dash] Oppa, I have a good idea. Let’s set a trap!

“A trap?”

Hyeju explained her thoughts that came to mind to Juwon. It was a scheme to confirm whether the person who did this to the underwear was really Ms. Do.

“Ah, so to catch a raccoon, you have to light a fire in its burrow, right?”

“Exactly! If she gets wind of something over here through Mother, maybe she’ll come out on her own? Thieves get nervous about their actions when they think they’ve been found out.”

Listening, it sounded like a plausible method, and Juwon nodded in agreement.

“All right. I’ll mention it when I talk to Mother.”

[Dash] Since nothing is certain yet, let’s not make any suspicions too clear.

“That’s my specialty.”

Once his thoughts were organized, a sense of calm came over him.

To confirm whether the cause of the nightmares was really because of the underwear, they had to go to bed, but Juwon didn’t want to. The impact of the nightmares he had on the plane was still vivid.

‘Looks like it’s the perfect timing for Oh Hyeju’s power.’

Lying lazily with his face on the pillow, Juwon recalled Hyeju’s face.

“What time is it in Korea now?”

[Dash] It’s a little past twelve.