“……”
The woman’s voice was faint, like a feather brushing air.
“Sir…”
It scraped irritably against the very edge of his nerves.
All the effort he had spent drenching himself in cold water shattered at that single call.The troublesome night, instead of receding, rushed back at once.
Oscar clicked his tongue under his breath. And, spat out a curse.
She didn’t have the courage to knock. Didn’t have the strength to call louder.
Oscar set down the glass. Eyes lowered, he stared at the door where she stood.
Silence stretched. A moment of it passed.
Fragile.
Then—
“Sir.”
But the precarious silence shattered like sugar frosting for a faint call. The small call broke it, thin as a pencil line.
Oscar, who had been standing still, took a step.
The first step was heavy.
The next lighter.
The one after that seemed impatient.
He crossed the distance as if he had never stopped and flung the door open.
Click.
Beyond it stood the woman.
As always, her face looked ready to flee at any moment.
—
Seo-ah’s time had stopped in that dim alley by the river.
“Do you know Traun?”
His voice. Cold as the river wind.
“It’s not a city. Forget department stores. It’s all mountains and lakes.”
Abel’s voice overlapped with Barbara’s.
“Traun is Reinhardt’s private property.”
“Private property…?”
“It isn’t a city. Not just anyone can enter.”
Traun.
Reinhardt’s private property.
A place where outside access was controlled.
“Go to Traun with me tomorrow, Abel.”
The cold voice reached her ears like frost in her lungs. She couldn’t breathe properly, even when she took a deep breath. Her heart pounded as if she had come face to face with a wild animal.
Her heartbeats and breathing fell out of rhythm. Her head spun.
She didn’t remember how she climbed the stairs. Or how she crossed the corridor. Only when she stood before the door leading to the study, a realization defined by a single a single thought form clearl,y etched itself into her confused mind.
Oscar had decided to confine her.
Under the guise of protection, she would be watched there. Surrounded by mountains and lakes. Cut off from the outside. She would only be able to leave when the day came to open the Felpe Bank vault.
If she had come for the money, perhaps it wasn’t the worst option.
Her lips trembled.
—
Seo-ah entered the study.
Dim lamps lit the room. She stood at the entrance for a moment, blankly.Then she walked quickly to the window overlooking the annex, as if she had never hesitated. She drew the curtains shut quickly with her hands. Blocked the view.
She removed the jacket from her shoulders and rolled up her sleeves.
She looked down at her arm.
“……”
It wasn’t the arm Oscar had grabbed. It was the arm seized in the crowd. By the figure dressed head to toe in black. Her forearm was red where she had been held. Even in the dim light, the mark was clear.
A chill crawled up her spine. A strange premonition had enveloped her entire body as she was dragged away in a daze.
Could it really have been that person…?
Of course, whether the one who left the mark was the person she sought was still uncertain.
But—
“I can’t go there.”
She couldn’t go to Reinhardt’s private property. Surrounded by mountains and lakes.
She must not.
Slowly, her gaze lifted from the red mark to the door leading to his space.
Her hands trembled. She clasped them tightly. Click. Her teeth clenched hard enough to collide. She forced her eyes open. Hard enough.
Don’t be afraid.
All you have to lose is this hateful life.
Do everything you can.
She lowered her rolled-up sleeves. Then, she brushed her disheveled hair and smoothed it with her hand. Straightened her wrinkled clothes as much as possible and pulled her back straight.
Her breathing stayed shallow. Her pulse raced. Moments crawled—cruelly slow passage of time.
Like a specter clinging to the edge of a grave, she endured it all.
The urge to run seeped between her breaths and her pounding pulse, and soon, with death—the vain wish that she had never been born, her chest shook with it.
Along with the familiar thought—
That it might have been better if she had never been born.
A heavy presence lingered beyond the door.
Seo-ah parted her lips. Despite her resolve to do anything, the words would not come easily. Her mouth moved for a long time before any sound escaped. Yet, it was an absurdly small voice that escaped.
“…Sir.”
Too soft.
Foolish.
How could he hear that?
“Sir…”
She had gathered her courage, yet her voice still faltered.
Impossible for him to hear.
Seo-ah squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists.
Snap out of it. She said to herself.
And, forced herself to breathe, slapping the cheek of her soul, and opened her eyes.
Scraped together the courage that felt stuck to the floor. Abandoning her shame, she called again.
“Sir.”
The man who seemed carved from darkness.
One of the people she feared most. Yet, the one she needed most. The one who could decide whether she remained or disappeared.
The call broke apart in her mouth.
Her heart pounded as if sinking. Instinctively, she stepped back.
But the approaching steps were faster than her retreat. The door opened.
A chilling coldness swept in.
Following the cold was a gaze even colder, and the courage she had gathered scattered like falling snow.
She couldn't control her head, which dropped to the floor.
The chill seeped into her bones.
The sharp silence and gaze, like shards of glass, pricked at her skin, shriveled by the cold.
When Oscar stood there, her already pale brain felt as if it had gone completely empty.
She felt as if she were walking along a path she couldn’t see. She was groping her way towards a destination close to her desire. Whether it was a road or a cliff, she wouldn’t know until she stepped forward.
All she could do was move. Gathered all her courage and take a step, and hope for a path instead of a cliff. A hope. This time, too.
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
“I’m sorry.”
She sensed him smiling.
“You’re very polite.”
“……”
“Did you commit some great offense?”
The languid question pierced like a needle.
“Because of me…”
Her voice trembled. She stopped in the middle of her words, gasping. But her breath trembled as she drew in, and as it out. It seemed she couldn't even calm the trembling in her voice.
“I’m sorry for pressing your head down.”
Her best effort was to finish the sentence without trailing off.
It sounded small.
Pathetic.
A quiet laugh drifted over her bowed head. A disbelief laughs.
Soft. Formless. Felt like a gentle breeze.
Yet it made her want to burst into tears.
“I didn’t know it was fireworks.”
She stammered.
“We don’t have those in my hometown. There were so many people… I thought they were screams…”
“Yes.”
And he seemed to have no intention of listening to her foolish ramblings and meaningless apologies any further.
“I understand. Then, go.”
Her vision blurred, filled with water, wavered. Seo-ah clasped her hands tightly and bowed her head deeper. Tears gathered and fell to the floor.
“Please forgive me.”
A sigh reached her. Irritated. Pity. Then harsh, crushed words struck her from above.
“I said go.”
"……."
Her reason screamed that it was time to retreat. It screamed that the place where she had taken led to a cliff. But there was nowhere to retreat to.
“Forgive me, Sir.”
Watched the woman apologize again and again, Oscar felt his patience thinning. It had already run out. That was the fact. Even the wolves were cautious around him. Barbara, who had raised him, watched his mood all day. She, too, had been wary and cautious.
Yet this stranger kept prodding at the very edge of his nerves.
“I… I don’t want to go to Traun.”
She didn’t retreat. Far from it.
“Please don’t send me away…”
It was a surprisingly fresh way to prod his nerves again. Oscar’s breathing slowed. He repeated her words under his breath, then covered his eyes with one hand.
A low laugh escaped him. Seo-ah also held her breath at Oscar's low, flowing laughter.
He felt her trying to suppress her emotions with laughter. He touched his face a few times with his hand, as if smoothing his hair, and then opened his mouth.
“You paid to enter a brothel and ask what a brothel is?”
—