Tonight, Danwoo thought that the beast inside him should be put to sleep, and he should become a trustworthy friend.

He cautiously changed Jian’s uncomfortable clothes into pajamas. Then, he brought a warm towel to wipe her hands and feet.

Lost in the wind of Jian’s lips fluttering in her sleep, he momentarily made those lips his own.

A week had passed since the prosecutor’s office visit by Sujeong and the urgent arrest of Wooseonho.

In the meantime, the Hae Song Bio incident entered a new phase. The investigation scope expanded from Hae Song Bio to the entire Hae Song Group. Public attention focused on the scale of the slush funds that Representative Wooseonho had stored up. On the other hand, Ji Hyeso’s existence was quickly forgotten in people’s minds.
[A while ago, following the arrest of Director Woo Jeonghyun, President Woo Seonho of Hae Song Group has also been arrested. The prosecution plans to secure the testimony of Lee Sujeong, who voluntarily attended, and based on the evidence that President Woo Seonho accumulated slush funds using Hae Song Bio, additional arrests of related personnel will soon be made.]

The shabby country rice soup restaurant buzzed as if it welcomed the market day.

Amidst the various comments added to the TV news report hanging on the wall, Hajun sat silently at a secluded table, eating lunch.

Sweeping back his hair that had grown longer beyond the time for a haircut, he stared at the TV with a calm expression.

The world seemed to be running well even without one less thing like that.

After quitting the prestigious law firm, Hajun left Seoul, pulling a bicycle.

Seeing Lawyer Choi, who was his colleague until recently, becoming the legal representative of Hae Song in an interview, he burst into a sardonic smile.

The interview being fluently recited seemed to be close to a forced scenario made after struggling for days.

I almost had to handle such a case.

For the past few years, who has he lived so diligently for?

Hajun sighed self-pityingly and put the remaining scraps in his mouth.

He rode his bicycle, not caring about the time since he left Seoul, not paying attention to what month or day it was today.

Calculating the distance to Gunsan, the next city, without caring, he rode his bicycle until his legs went weak, minute by minute.

As he calculated the rice soup price with a large backpack on him, breaking news was transmitted on the TV monitor.

[Hae Song Group’s founding chairman, Chairman Woo Suho, has passed away at his residence this morning. Chairman Woo Suho, who has been in a coma since a traffic accident ten years ago, happened to gain fame when Hae Song Group was in crisis.]

With subtitles, the announcer delivered the sad news of Chairman Woo Suho’s death in a regrettable voice.

Hajun glanced at the TV as if it were unrelated, then left the rice soup restaurant.

Looking up at the sky, which seemed to settle down as if to sit down soon, he had to decide whether to stay overnight here.

After opening his phone and checking the weather, he checked the distance to the next city, Gunsan. If he pedaled diligently, he seemed to be able to safely reach the campsite he had searched in advance.

However, three hours later, Hajun regretted his choice.

The drizzle, which had been falling drop by drop, gradually became thicker and eventually began to pour so much that it would block the view.

In the end, he started wandering around the sparsely passing roads to find a shelter from the rain.

After walking for a while, a pavilion used by the villagers as a rest area appeared in his wet field of vision.

Just as he put strength into the pedal and the moment the frame wobbled, the bicycle lost its balance, swayed to one side, and eventually could not withstand the slippery road and the weight of the large backpack, falling over.
Collapsed on the ground after falling off his bike, Hajun felt intense pain as he tried to pull his leg out from under the bicycle.

“Ugh.”

In the end, he couldn’t push the bicycle away and simply lay on the ground.

It seemed that today, the pavement should serve as a roof for the rain-soaked sky.

When he turned his head at the ringing bell, the bicycle fell over, and from the bag that had bounced off, his phone was fiercely ringing.

He covered his face with the hood of his raincoat, waiting for the bell sound to stop.

“Well, it’s better this way. At least I won’t think about Kim Jian tonight!”

Rather than thoughts about Jian that inevitably come up in a quiet night, Hajun hoped that his instinct to live would prevail.

The pouring rain had subsided, and the once heavy drops had become lighter.

Because it was a dark night with rain, there were no passing cars even though a considerable amount of time had passed.

Helplessly, Hajun gritted his teeth and pushed the bicycle to the other side before crawling to where his phone was.

Meanwhile, the pain from his leg intensified. He reluctantly requested rescue and lay down on the road again, waiting for an ambulance.

Hajun opened his phone and saw the three letters ‘Mother’ captured on the missed call. A few days ago, he told his mother, Yeonwoo, that he would stay in Busan for a few days due to the incident. At that time, he was at a camping site near Busan, so it was a half-truth.

She probably returned to Seoul first and would ask if he had returned. Then, she would probably ask about the fabricated girlfriend.

He sighed, not having the confidence to show his current state to his mother.

There was no immediately apparent place to seek help, which was also a dilemma.

In times like this, Hajun always used to turn to Jian. But now, not only was that impossible, but it also seemed absurd to contact the office manager after quitting the law firm.

Hajun’s finger, scrolling through the phone screen, stopped at a certain point. The name he fixed his gaze on was ‘Senior Park Hoon,’ who had become a lawyer after leaving the position of chief prosecutor and opening a law firm in an old building on the outskirts.

‘The deeds of the dog of power or the deeds of a money slave are the same.’

Hajun remembered Park’s words and chuckled weakly.

The day he heard that phrase, he impulsively went to Lake Tower and witnessed Jian running to embrace Duhan.

In shock, he went to Park’s office to clear his tangled thoughts, only to coincidentally find out about the heinous act committed by Woo Jeonghyun.

Although it was the first time they contacted each other since that day, there was no one else who came to mind.

Hajun pressed the call button firmly and heard the connecting tone. Despite not being a cold wind, his body felt a chill due to being soaked through by the rain.

After hanging up, not long after, the sound of an ambulance siren could be heard.