* * *

How much time had passed?

Checking his watch, Jungin was startled to realize 30 minutes had already flown by.

As he stumbled backward in surprise, he landed on the floor with a yelp.

“Ow…”

Rubbing his sore backside, he quickly got to his feet upon seeing the pile of clothes on the floor.

If he wanted to finish everything within the limited time, he had to work faster than yesterday.

“Where’s the packing tape—”

The old fluorescent light hanging from the ceiling flickered ominously, making Jungin uneasy.

Biting his lip, he glanced toward the entrance.

“What the…?”

The door, which had been open when he came in, was now shut tight.

Scattered around it were large bricks he vaguely remembered seeing yesterday.

“No… No way. It can’t be, right?”

Without his phone or any colleagues around, Jungin bit his tongue nervously and approached the door, eyeing the flickering light above.

“Why won’t it open? Ugh.”

No matter how much he pushed or pulled, the door wouldn’t budge.

Didn’t the team leader say something about this yesterday?

Was it really impossible to open it from the inside?

Zzzt. Zzzk.

The flickering light began emitting strange noises and dimming rapidly.

Jungin’s heart pounded, his breathing turning ragged as if someone were squeezing his throat.

“Ugh.”

In his attempt to force the door open, his hand slipped, and his finger was caught on a protruding nail, leaving a deep cut that bled profusely.

As the blood dripped, Jungin’s anxiety swelled uncontrollably.

Bang! Bang!

“Is anyone out there?!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Please, I’m in here! Team leader!”

His voice echoed desperately as the light above him finally gave out.

Plunged into complete darkness, Jungin sank to the floor, leaning against the door as tears welled in his eyes.

“It’s okay. It’ll be okay. Someone will come for me.”

His trembling voice echoed in the suffocating silence.

Though his rational mind clung to the belief that someone would eventually find him, his body betrayed him, shivering uncontrollably as fear gnawed at his resolve.

“Beomhyeon… Please…”

He had always disliked the dark, but this was different.

Trapped in an unfamiliar, stifling place, the terror clawed at his sanity.

“Hyung… Ugh.”

Memories from his childhood flashed vividly—being locked in a basement just as dark, pounding on the door until his hands bled as he cried and begged to be let out.

“Help me… Please… Someone, save me…”

Shaking violently, Jungin clutched himself tightly as his consciousness faded.

In the oppressive darkness, his small frame crumpled, and a faint, pure energy seemed to ripple outward.

---

Meanwhile, Beomhyeon parked his car near the building where Jungin was supposed to be.

The address had been sent by the team leader, and he confirmed it before starting the short walk to the location.

There were still two hours left before Jungin’s shift ended, but Beomhyeon found himself yearning to see him sooner.

“Haa…”

Even when Jungin was right in front of him, he always felt a persistent longing to hold him close, to comfort him.

But after a tense encounter with Lady Jang earlier, the desire to see Jungin had grown unbearable.

“I don’t want him to hate me…”

Beomhyeon sighed, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

He remembered Jungin’s displeased reaction when he’d offered to work alongside him before.

Despite his longing, Beomhyeon decided to tread carefully.

“Right. I’ll be good and follow the rules if it means he’ll smile at me.”

With heavy eyelids weighed down by fatigue, Beomhyeon slowly closed his eyes and pressed his protruding brow bone firmly.

As darkness spread before his vision, Madam Jang’s words resurfaced in his mind.

The way she spoke about Jungin, coupled with the expressions she wore whenever she mentioned him, revealed just how deeply she despised him.

Jungin must have spent his entire life in that household, walking on eggshells.

Imagining him enduring it all alone, with no one to look after him, even with his life constantly under threat, made Beomhyeon feel like the air had been sucked out of his lungs.

“Damn it.”

This wasn’t something he could just leave alone anymore.

Even if it wasn’t for Jungin’s sake, at that moment, he couldn’t help but want to see him.

Clutching Jungin’s abandoned phone in one hand, Beomhyeon opened the car door.

At least there was this excuse.

It was a relief to have any pretext at all.

He stretched his long legs and was about to step out of the parking lot when—

“Babe, are we really okay to leave like this? You said we can’t open it from the inside unless someone unlocks it from outside.”

“Damn it, who told you to stay there in the first place? Whatever. I’m just a part-timer, and my dad owns the place. What’s the big deal?”

The word “part-timer” caught Beomhyeon’s attention, drawing his gaze to the couple standing close together.

Part-timer?

Jungin had been working a part-time job recently, and for some reason, the term grated on his nerves.

“That bastard isn’t talking about me, is he? Shit, if my dad finds out I skipped work at the factory today, I’m screwed.”

“But what if they figure out we were there?”

“There’s no CCTV. What are they gonna do? I’ll just say I was in the warehouse if I go to the factory now. That’ll give me an alibi. Damn, this is such a hassle.”

The man, grumbling while straightening his disheveled clothes, spat a thick glob of saliva on the ground before climbing into a sports car.

With a loud, obnoxious exhaust noise, the couple quickly sped out of the parking lot.

Beomhyeon’s eyes lingered on the spot where the man had stood moments before, a strange glint flashing in his gaze.

On the back of the man’s jacket, there had been a thin strand of thread, clinging as if by chance.

“It can’t be.”

It was the same color as the thread that had clung to the clothes Jungin wore yesterday.

Of course, it could just be a coincidence.

But for some reason, unease and anxiety clawed at Beomhyeon’s chest.

As he furrowed his brow and hastily moved to leave, a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Ki Beomhyeon, what are you doing at Jiyeon’s company?”

Damn it. Beomhyeon turned his head, his brows knitting tighter, and found Yeonseo standing there.

It dawned on him belatedly that her partner, Han Jiyeon, owned this building.

“What? Don’t tell me that part-time job Jungin mentioned was at Yeonseo’s company?”

Even from Beomhyeon’s scowling face, Yeonseo quickly deduced the truth, her expression brightening noticeably.

Clapping her hands together, she looked around, searching for Jungin.

“Where’s my baby?”

“Who’s ‘your baby’?”

“Hmm, aren’t you planning to marry him? Even your uncle seems smitten with Jungin. That makes him family, doesn’t it?”

Her half-serious, half-teasing remark was clearly meant to provoke him, but Beomhyeon didn’t have the time to spar with her.

“Enough. I’m busy, so I’m leaving.”

“Ah, but where’s Jungin? You big, dark brute!”

Stretching out her long arm, Yeonseo grabbed hold of Beomhyeon, refusing to let him go until she saw Jungin herself.

“Lunchtime is soon. Let’s have a meal with Jiyeon. I miss my baby—it’s been ages.”

Already in a hurry, the way Yeonseo kept holding him back only made Beomhyeon’s expression darken further.

“I don’t know. I need to find him. And why the hell does Han Jiyeon subcontract to a building like that?”

He let out his frustration, raking his fingers through his hair.

The subcontractor, SJ Building, was approved because it was part of Seonju Group.

He cursed his past self for letting it slide.

“What are you talking about? Subcontractor?”

“Jungin’s part-time job is with a subcontractor for Seonju Group.”

“Wait. I think you’ve got it wrong.”

“I said I don’t have time, Ki Yeonseo. Finding Jungin comes first. We’ll talk later.”

Shaking off Yeonseo’s hand, Beomhyeon checked his phone as he hurried off.

Despite the directions that claimed SJ Building was just behind this spot, he found himself going in circles.

“Damn it.”

Glowering at the unhelpful map on his phone, Beomhyeon clenched his teeth.

It had already been an hour.

He began to seriously consider calling his father to deploy the security team when his phone buzzed with a message from Yeonseo.

[Ki Yeonseo]

• Hey, Ki Beomhyeon. I asked Jiyeon, and Seonju Group doesn’t use subcontractors.

“What do you mean, no subcontractors?”

• Seonju Group absorbed all its subcontractors when they converted their temporary workers to full-time employees in February. You must be mistaken.

Impossible.

He’d done his homework on where Jungin was working.

Unless this was all Madam Jang’s doing.

If she’d set Jungin up…

* * *