Contract Marriage with Memory Loss on Top - Chapter 12
Sometimes Ki-won Kwon’s eyes seemed to have a strange power. It wouldn’t be surprising if they could pierce through someone’s inner thoughts in an instant. If he had asked the same question to Yeon-woo a few months ago, Yeon-woo might have been frightened and spilled everything. However, fortunately Yeon-woo seemed to have developed some immunity now and was able to hide his true feelings well.
“Ah, there is something.”
Yeon-woo, who cut through the long silence, clapped his hands.
“Have a good trip!”
The corners of Yeon-woo’s lips drew a pretty arc. Perhaps thanks to the bright greeting, a similar expression appeared on Ki-won’s face as well. Anyway, even now when he knew Ki-won was a kind and good person, it was difficult to remain expressionless. It was about time he got used to Ki-won’s face too. The awkward atmosphere that had been lingering faintly began to disappear little by little.
“Okay.”
Yeon-woo loosened his tense shoulders. As expected, it seemed his suspicion that his brother knew something was a misunderstanding. Yeon-woo secretly rebuked himself, saying that even jumping to conclusions was an illness if it was severe.
***
Yeon-woo, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV, glanced at the clock. An hour had passed since Ki-won left for work. He thought it was about time to go find the suitcase, so he got up carefully.
‘Those people… they will return the passport, right?’
Once the debt was fully paid off, Yeon-woo wanted to completely remove the loan sharks from his life. The worry that they might find fault with something else tormented Yeon-woo. The annoying thing was that he had to visit them again to get his passport back.
‘Should I report it as lost later?’
Rather than facing them again, reporting the passport as lost didn’t seem like a bad idea. Yeon-woo sighed deeply and brushed his goosebump-covered arms. It was advantageous to erase the disgusting loan sharks from his mind.
The first place Yeon-woo headed to find the location of the suitcase was the dressing room. Although Ki-won had bought Yeon-woo several clothes, it was not enough to fill the bedroom closet densely. Since the bedroom storage space was sufficient, he had never set foot in the dressing room. According to what he heard briefly from Ki-won, the dressing room was an area to store out-of-season clothes or other accessories.
‘It doesn’t seem to be here, but…’
Still, the dressing room that Yeon-woo opened just in case unfolded before his eyes. His softly floating eyes widened. Storage spaces were everywhere. It felt like looking into a small department store, so curiosity seeped into Yeon-woo’s eyes.
Among the storage spaces that he approached carefully, the most surprising area was the space where watches were displayed. Even to Yeon-woo, who was not familiar with luxury goods, they all looked expensive. Yeon-woo, who was admiring them only with his eyes without even touching them for fear of damaging them, suddenly grasped his reason.
‘Now is not the time to look around.’
He could look around later, but not the suitcase. He had to take the passport out of the bag before Ki-won got off work. If he visited the office empty-handed without finding the passport, the loan sharks would clearly get furious. It was a dreadful scene even in imagination.
Yeon-woo searched every corner and place where his eyes could not easily reach. As he guessed, there was no trace of the suitcase.
The next place he headed to was the room used as a storage room. Somehow, he was searching the surroundings more enthusiastically than when he first set foot in Ki-won’s house. The eyes that were carefully scanning the area were cautious.
‘Found it!’
Yeon-woo’s narrowed eyes opened wide. It seemed the bag had been sent to the storage room after not being used for a while. Yeon-woo stood in front of a shelf much taller than him.
“It’s too high…”
The suitcase was in a position where his fingertips could barely reach it even if he stood on his toes. It would be nice if there was something to step on and climb up, but there was nothing suitable.
‘Ugh, dust!’
As it was a storage room, it seemed the cleaning staff paid less attention to it. He thought about bringing a dining chair to step on and climb up, but he was reluctant because of the dust visible here and there. It would be a big problem if the chair legs turned black and couldn’t be erased.
Yeon-woo, who was racking his brain, made a determined face. Since his hand wasn’t completely out of reach, he decided to just try to take it out. If he kept jumping, he would be able to get it out. Yeon-woo immediately stretched out his arm and jumped up and down on the spot with his heels raised.
The handle of the suitcase, which seemed to be within reach but not quite, was finally caught in his hand. Before he could show his delight, surrounding objects fell with a thud. It seemed there were objects stuck around the suitcase that Yeon-woo pulled out.
“Ah…!”
The objects falling towards him seemed slow for a moment. If he got hit by those, he would definitely get hurt. Yeon-woo squeezed out his quick-wittedness and stepped back. The fallen objects rolled at Yeon-woo’s feet by a narrow margin. The startled Yeon-woo clutched his pounding chest.
“Ugh… the smell!”
Even if he avoided getting hurt, he couldn’t avoid the dust. Yeon-woo, who covered his mouth and nose, frowned at the rising dust smell. White dust also stuck to his hair. If he knew this would happen, he should have used a chair even if it was troublesome. A chair to step on and climb became necessary even to put the fallen objects back in their place. Yeon-woo, who let out a deep sigh at the helplessness, unzipped the suitcase.
As expected, the passport was inside the bag. Yeon-woo, who gently tucked it into his pocket so it wouldn’t get crumpled, rolled up his sleeves. He would have to take a shower once he finished cleaning up. Yeon-woo thought, looking down at the dusty objects with a heavy heart.
While organizing for a long time, Yeon-woo discovered a peculiar object and raised his eyebrows. It was a wooden box the size of two palms put together. It could have been brushed off as just a storage box, but his captured gaze did not return right away. Strangely, only this box had no dust on it. The exterior was much more worn than other objects.
Strange. Did he take it out periodically to look at it? Yeon-woo quickly examined the front and back of the box. There was nothing special about it from the outside. When he shook it next to his ear, there was a sound of light objects mixed together.
“It’s locked.”
The box seemed to be the type that needed to be opened with a key, but it was so old that it would forcibly open if he put strength into it. Although he was curious about the contents, he wasn’t going to arbitrarily damage Ki-won’s belongings. Yeon-woo pushed the box deep inside so it wouldn’t fall being pushed by other objects.
“Hmm… but it looks familiar.”
It couldn’t be. Looking at it more, it seemed strangely familiar, but no specific memory came to mind. Yeon-woo, who shrugged his shoulders, lightly got off the chair.
***
After finishing an abruptly scheduled client meeting and coming back from an executive meeting, it was already lunchtime. Ki-won, who finally had a moment to rest, loosened the tie that was choking his neck. As soon as he could breathe, the first thought that came to mind was ‘I want to see Yeon-woo’. It was ridiculous that he only had to endure for a few hours.
Ki-won pressed his temple hard while drinking the coffee from the secretarial office. Recalling what happened this morning, the parts that he couldn’t understand bothered Ki-won. He definitely thought there was someone shaking up Yeon-woo, and that suspicion continued until now.
– Don’t you have anything to say to me?
Even when he intentionally gave an opportunity, Yeon-woo’s response was denial. Ki-won propped his chin and rubbed his jawline with his fingertips while deep in thought. How the hell do I get him to voluntarily confess? It was a headache trying to approach him without showing any signs that he had noticed something.
“What the hell is the secret he has to hide somehow?”
His voice was lower and more serious than ever. If it was simple harassment, Yeon-woo would have told him, but seeing him trying hard to hide it meant it wasn’t something to be taken lightly. The fact that he was deleting contacts one by one and the lies he spat out were gradually increasing. It was quite annoying.
‘It’s probably a secret that I shouldn’t know. Is the person who found out that weakness contacting him?’
The focus of all his reasoning was on “blackmail.” And quite vicious blackmail at that. Of course, he tried to look at it broadly without focusing only on blackmail and harassment, but there were no other convincing speculations. The best way was confession, but… it was expected to be not easy. Didn’t Yeon-woo go out of his way to lie even today?
Knock, knock-.
When he was organizing the suspicions filling his head one by one, there was a knock. When Ki-won briefly said to come in, an employee from the secretarial team showed his face.
“Executive Director, the data you mentioned has been sorted out.”
Ki-won, who realized it meant Yeon-woo’s background check data, stared at the envelope tucked under the secretary’s side.
“Bring it here. I’ll look at it now.”
The secretary, who carefully walked to where Ki-won was sitting, handed over the documents in his hand.
“Did the contact information results come out as well?”
The rustling sound filled the executive director’s office. Ki-won asked while flipping through the neatly written documents one by one.
“Well… there was a small problem in the process of communicating with the private detective agency. They said that due to the recently strengthened personal information protection laws, it would be difficult to deliver the results in the near future. I’m sorry.”
Ki-won’s face gradually hardened. It was quite nonsense for those private detective agency bastards to talk about laws. They happily took the money when receiving it, but they were useless bastards. Along with the thought that he would have to change the agency soon, Ki-won spoke in a low voice.
“Give them what they ask for.”
Perhaps Ki-won’s guess that there was a money issue was correct, as the secretary’s stiff face became much more relaxed. It seemed it was difficult to report that the agency was being stubborn. With a reply that he would do so, the secretary bowed deeply and turned to leave the executive director’s office.
Silence poured into the executive director’s office again. In the space where only the sound of flipping paper was heard, Ki-won calmly scanned the personal information. There was no significant difference from the information he already knew. Place of birth, date of birth, name, and resident registration card. In addition, there were detailed contents following.