Ch.171Chapter 171. D-6

“What’s wrong with this one now……”

“What’s the matter, honey?”

“The landline is acting up.”

The landline was dead.

Picking up and putting down the receiver repeatedly didn’t help.

There wasn’t even a busy signal, suggesting the phone line itself was cut off somewhere.

All the connections inside the house seemed fine, though…..

Maybe there was a problem outside somewhere.

For now, I decided to just make a repair appointment and leave it at that.

It’s not like the landline needed urgent fixing anyway.

“Stop fiddling with the phone and look at this!”

“What is it?”

“Hehe. Pigtails!”

When I turned around, Juliane was already standing there, holding onto Cuss’s shoulders.

Cuss with pretty pigtails.

Combined with her displeased expression, she looked absolutely adorable.

“How about it, Cuss? Do you like it? Want to wear your hair like this for the wedding?”

“I already said I don’t want to.”

“Aww, whyyy? It looks so pretty. Don’t you think so, Jinsoo?”

“It really is super cute.”

“Jinsoo, I can see you trying not to laugh……”

I meant it sincerely.

She would look so cute running around the wedding venue with a basket, scattering flowers.

The problem was that Cuss hated looking childish.

“Then if I tie it with this hair tie like this…… Oh my! How cute! What if you end up prettier than the bride!”

“Urgh……”

Juliane kept bringing various hair ties, trying different styles on Cuss’s hair, and hugging her repeatedly.

Cuss shot me pleading looks several times, but I deliberately ignored them.

This was something she had to endure on her own.

“Let’s see. The wedding invitations……”

The living room table was covered with unfinished wedding invitations.

I sat on the sofa to check once more if I’d missed anything.

First, the invitations for my acquaintances included a few company people, including Darry.

Among my prison friends, there were Bob and Alejandro.

Except for those two, everyone else was still serving time, so it felt awkward to invite them.

I also invited Alexander and Sarah, Alice’s parents, along with Tom and Jake’s families.

Though the latter had a very low chance of attending.

That was it for my side, while the huge pile next to it contained invitations for Juliane’s acquaintances.

Just the ones for her workplace colleagues made a sizable stack, not to mention her high school friends, college friends…..

Whew. I’d have to ask Juliane to review these again later.

I got up and went to the bedroom to check my suit.

It was a new one I’d bought for the wedding.

I had planned to wear my old suit, but my future father-in-law threw such a fit that I had no choice but to buy a new one. Looking at it now, the expensive suit really did look elegant.

I thought my three-year-old suit was still fine, but comparing it side by side with the new one, I could see it had faded a bit.

“When did you say the dress would arrive?”

“Tomorrow, tomorrow.”

I see.

The ordered dress would arrive at the store tomorrow.

We’d go try it on then.

Just imagining Juliane in a splendid dress made my heart flutter with excitement.

“Cuss’s outfit…… Let’s see.”

I examined Cuss’s outfit, carefully stored in the closet with plastic covering.

It was a red dress resembling traditional European attire, like something a German country girl might wear.

Wearing this would definitely make her stand out.

Running around the venue in this outfit, no one would attract more attention than Cuss.

With the clothes mostly prepared, the next things to check were the rings and wedding gifts.

We also needed to book a studio for wedding photos to include with the invitations, arrange flights and accommodations for our Hawaii honeymoon, and coordinate the date with the wedding venue.

Since it had been a while since I’d planned a wedding, the days were truly flying by without a moment’s rest.

Even this was relatively relaxed because it was a small wedding and we didn’t need to prepare household items.

“Honey? You haven’t booked the honeymoon room yet, right?”

“No. It’s off-season so there are plenty of vacancies. I didn’t think we needed to rush.”

“Then, book two rooms……”

“Pardon?”

Two rooms?

What did she mean?

As I tilted my head in confusion, Juliane, who had been saying something to Cuss, approached me with a flushed face and whispered in my ear.

“Put Cuss to bed…… then come over and go back……”

“Ah, I see.”

I was thinking of leaving Cuss at my father-in-law’s place, but Juliane said we could bring her along, so I wondered if we weren’t planning to do anything during the honeymoon.

But there was such a brilliant solution.

People with brains really are something else.

I should have studied ThinkBig more diligently when I was young.

Buzz……

“What’s this?”

Just then, my wrist vibrated.

Wondering what notification it was, I checked and saw a message.

-Urgent attendance required at work.

That was all.

This number should be Tactum’s customer service, but why would they send this?

Did something happen to Darry’s phone?

Though puzzled, I put away my suit and Cuss’s clothes and started getting dressed.

“I need to go to the company, they’re calling me in.”

“Oh, you too, Jinsoo? My senior asked me to come in for a bit as well.”

Juliane has to go out too?

That’s unusual. I thought her workplace was a dream job that only worked you hard during weekdays and left you alone on weekends.

It seemed the Ministry of Justice was determined to squeeze every last bit of work out of her before she left for graduate school.

“Cuss. What should we do? Both of us need to go out for a bit.”

“Jinsoo will be back soon anyway, right?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Go ahead and come back quickly. I’ll be waiting.”

“Or you could call a friend and go out together.”

“Mmm, no. I’ll wait since you’ll be back within an hour anyway.”

Cuss hugged my waist and rubbed her face against my stomach.

I slowly knelt down on one knee to meet her eyes.

“Give Daddy a kiss.”

“Mmm……”

“That’s right. You’re so pretty.”

After receiving a deep kiss, I gave Cuss kisses all over her face.

Until there wasn’t a spot my lips hadn’t touched.

I showered her with love as if it were the last time.

Because I’d learned that otherwise, I would regret it.

“Mmm. Jinsoo, your stubble is scratchy.”

“Hmm. I definitely shaved yesterday.”

I touched my chin and it really was prickly.

This is what happens when I skip my morning shave on weekends.

“How would I look with a beard?”

“Terrible.”

“Hehehe…… Is that so.”

I had thought about growing one, but decided against it.

Even imagining myself with a beard, all I could picture was a curly, shifty-looking magistrate’s beard, not something cool like Western actors have.

“I’ll be back then.”

“Cuss, don’t open the door to strangers, okay?”

“I know.”

As Juliane finished getting ready and we headed to the front door, Cuss came to see us off with her hands behind her back.

The moment Juliane flung the door open, something suddenly welled up inside me for no reason.

Again. This keeps happening.

Lately, I’d been experiencing these sudden emotional surges frequently.

“Jinsoo?”

“……”

I shuddered and turned back to rush to Cuss.

Though momentarily surprised, Cuss quickly extended her arms to embrace me.

“Take deep breaths, Jinsoo. Slowly.”

“Haaah…… Haaah……”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll always be by your side. You don’t need to worry so much.”

Cuss patted my pathetic back and spoke kindly.

I already knew all this.

I knew, but…

Just hearing it in Cuss’s voice gave me great strength.

My pounding heartbeat seemed to be calming down.

It was synchronizing with Cuss’s slow rhythm.

As my breathing normalized, I roughly ruffled Cuss’s hair and stood up.

“I overreacted. I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay.”

I turned away.

Because it felt like this would never end otherwise.

As the front door closed with a thud, I felt Juliane’s hand touch mine.

“Do you think it will take long?”

“I’m not sure. It depends on what kind of case it is……”

“I hope we can have dinner together.”

“Me too…… mmm……”

Juliane naturally pressed close and offered her lips.

After kissing for a while while touching her chest, Juliane suddenly pushed me away.

“J-just a moment. I only brought one extra pair of panties today……”

“Can’t you just stay wet?”

“No way. If my stockings get wet too, it’ll show……”

Oh dear.

That was the problem with being easily aroused.

But suddenly feeling someone’s gaze, I turned around sharply and saw the curtain being quickly drawn.

It was really time to part ways now.

“See you later.”

“Yes.”

We each got into our cars and headed in opposite directions.

Juliane toward the center of the station, me toward the outskirts.

After parting at the intersection and gradually moving apart, Juliane’s car disappeared from view.

“Traffic’s heavy today.”

There were unusually many cars on the road today.

Worried that they might get angry about me delaying the meeting again, I decided to call Darry in advance.

“Darry. It’s Jinsoo.”

“Oh, what? What’s up?”

Darry’s voice sounded very hoarse.

Exactly like someone who just woke up.

“I think I’ll be a bit late.”

“Late? What do you mean?”

“Huh? Didn’t you call me to come to the company?”

“Not me. What are you talking about? Are you coming to work?”

“Yes…… I got a text message telling me to come in.”

“Really? I didn’t get anything.”

So it wasn’t a meeting.

Then what could it be?

Maybe they called just me in for a performance review issue.

But would they suddenly call me in on a holiday to discuss that?

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense.

“What could it be?”

“I don’t know either. But you might as well go check it out.”

“Yes, understood. Enjoy your weekend, Darry.”

“Yeah. Hope it’s nothing serious.”

“Thanks.”

As soon as I hung up, I immediately called Cuss.

Cuss thought I was in a meeting and would be back within an hour, but I needed to let her know it might take longer.

If neither of us returned by dinner time, I wanted to tell her to heat up some ready-made meals from the refrigerator.

-The number you have dialed is not available…

“What the?”

Maybe she put it on silent and is taking a shower.

She’s not answering.

I tried calling the landline right away, but…

-The number you have dialed is not available…

“Oh right.”

The guidance message played immediately without even a dial tone.

The landline was dead.

Screech!

I immediately swerved across the center line.

I felt I needed to go tell her in person.

I was feeling uneasy too.

The company would surely understand if I was late for this reason.

“What’s going on?”

I noticed a patrol car with police officers standing near my house.

Did something happen?

I drove past them, parked in front of my house, and got out.

Thud……

The surroundings were quiet.

Too quiet.

Eerily so.

“Yeki! Yeki! Yeki you rascal! Yeki!”

“Um, ma’am?”

Just then, an old woman burst out from the neighboring house, shouting wildly.

Trying to talk to her was useless.

She just kept repeating “Yeki” over and over.

She must have finally lost her mind……

Deciding to check on Cuss first and then call her daughter later, I opened the front door.

Creeeeak……

The house was dark.

Not a single light was on……

What was going on?

“Cuss!”

“……”

There was no response to my loud call.

As I wondered if she had gone out, a chilling breeze tickled my ankles.

That was strange.

If a window was open, the wind would blow higher toward the upper body, not downward.

Unless the lower part of the veranda window was broken……

Crunch……

“Huh?”

Something made a spine-chilling sound under my foot.

When I moved my foot, there was a piece of broken glass.

One. Just one piece.

Not multiple fragments, just one.

As if someone had cleaned up but accidentally dropped one piece……

Looking up, I saw a shattered bulb in the light fixture.

“Shit.”

BANG!

At that moment, black figures lunged at me from all directions.