Chapter 451: Saving Maid Eunbyul (2)

A certain mansion owned by the Geumhyang Group in Yecheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do.

It was a rather large mansion with many rooms, housing two sisters and over a dozen servants. However, in one particular room, painful groans had been echoing from someone’s lips for days.

“Kuhuk, khuk…!”

A black-haired woman, bound hand and foot with ropes, crawled on the floor, letting out painful groans. Her black and white maid uniform and headdress, which seemed to symbolize her position, were now tattered and ruined. Geum Nari, the owner of the clothes, was also crawling on the floor, groaning with a haggard appearance no less than her ruined outfit.

“Kuh, kuhup, kup….”

A perfectly sealed space, lacking even a single mirror, let alone a window. The narrow room, reminiscent of a prison solitary cell, was connected to the outside by only one small door facing outward. And since that door could only be opened or closed from the outside, it was, in many ways, no different from a prison. Furthermore, as if conscious of someone, not even a small blade was left among the items in the room. The door and lock, made of reinforced plastic, thoroughly sealed it to prevent Geum Nari from utilizing her awakened abilities.

“How was it this time? The ‘pain of suffocating underwater’.”

“Kuhuk, kuh, khuk….”

“Even knowing it’s phantom pain, it’s still hard to endure, isn’t it? If it were actual pain, your brain might have grown accustomed to it, but phantom pain always feels as vivid as the first time.”

“Haa, keup, kaa….”

“…So. Are you thinking of talking now?”

A woman, looking down at her on the floor with twinkling eyes and what seemed like a joyful smile. Towards the expression of her older sister, Geum Jangmi, Geum Nari still radiated eyes full of hatred.

“If you worked as Do Sihee’s servant for three years, you must have brought back at least five or six useful pieces of information from within the Dokyung Group, right?”

“…….”

“I thought my useless little sister might finally have some value, but if you act this uncooperatively, it truly saddens me.”

“Don’t talk to me like you’re my ‘Unnie’….”

“…….”

“Just a crazy bitch only trying to get in that old hag’s good graces…. Not even realizing they’re being used…. You fucking idiot… Kuaaaak…!!”

Her muttering towards Geum Jangmi with hateful eyes instantly turned into screams instead of accusations, thanks to the phantom pain. Feeling a tingling, burning sensation all over her body, Geum Nari writhed in pain, crawling on the floor again. She knew from long experience that moving her body to shake it off was meaningless against phantom pain directly affecting her head, but it was an instinctive movement to escape the pain, even slightly.

“Kkeuhuk, ha, haa, haa, haa….”

“How does the newly created ‘electric shock pain’ feel? I made it while our Nari was away running off.”

“…Haaaa, you crazy bitch….”

“Without you, I didn’t have anyone to practice on freely. Do you know how hard it was to create it?”

Geum Jangmi’s gaze treated her as less than a lab rat. Geum Nari, already sick of that gaze, had escaped the Geumhyang Group three years ago and sought refuge with Sihee. Ultimately, she had returned to Geumhyang, the place she wanted to escape from so badly. Brought back by Geum Dallae and Geum Jangmi, who had stormed into the Dokyung Group’s mansion while Sihee was away.

“If you keep being so uncooperative, I guess I have no choice.”

“…….”

“I’ll have to let you taste your favorite thing after a long time.”

“……?”

“‘Burning pain’. It’s time you experienced it again, isn’t it?”

“……!!”

Even though she hadn’t heard it in a while, Geum Nari felt a chilling sensation that made every hair on her body stand on end. The name of that unbearable pain was coming from Geum Jangmi’s lips. The moment she heard its name, she began to feel such fear that she instinctively pushed her body backward.

“…Ah, don’t….”

“If you experience the burning pain again after so long, I bet our Nari won’t be able to help but open her mouth. Don’t you think so too, Nari?”

“D-don’t come any closer…!”

“I’ll make sure to remind you properly after so long. I’ll engrave directly into your brain what happens when you dare to run away from Geumhyang….”

-Chulkeok.

Geum Jangmi approached Geum Nari, who was crawling away bound hand and foot, with a chilling smile. What stopped her actions was the sudden opening of the cell door from the outside.

“Unnie, come out for a second.”

“…Dallae-ya, I told you not to come in when Unnie is ‘interrogating’.”

“‘That woman’ is here. She said she has something to tell both of us. It’s related to Nari over there.”

“Nari is already in our hands, is there really a need to hear what ‘that woman’ has to say?”

“You know her personality. She said if we don’t come out, she’ll take it as us rejecting the effort she made to come all the way to Yecheon.”

“…Haa, what a pain. Of all people, she’s involved with us so much….”

Instead of approaching her to use the burning pain, Geum Jangmi stood up and headed towards the door. Nari couldn’t quite comprehend the sudden turn of events, but she felt a deep sense of relief at having escaped the burning pain, even if only temporarily.

“Just wait, Nari. I’ll finish this quickly and be right back.”

“…Just… disappear forever….”

“…I’ll be back soon.”

As soon as the two sisters disappeared outside, closing the reinforced plastic door, Nari quietly held her breath and rested. She needed to replenish her mental strength as much as possible to endure the pain that would return in an hour.

“…….”

She wanted to endure it somehow. Because she absolutely did not want to betray Sihee, who had saved her and helped her until the very end, with her own mouth. Therefore, no matter how unbearable the pain, Geum Nari had to endure it. Even if it only meant buying a day or two in this inescapable place.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

As we neared our destination, Do Yehee began to explain in detail what would happen inside the mansion.

“Once we enter the mansion, Rose and Dallae will likely come out to talk to us. It’ll probably be sensitive information, so they’ll send all the servants outside. That’s when you’ll have time to move freely.”

“I see.”

“Normally, external staff wait outside the door until the conversation is over, but there are plenty of excuses to move. Pretending to go to the restroom, or pretending to take a phone call, won’t draw much attention.”

“If needed, I can call Sungchul-ssi from outside at the right time.”

“Plus, you have an artifact that blurs your appearance, so you can probably walk around the mansion confidently, and they’ll likely mistake you for one of the mansion’s own servants.”

Originally, it was just an unidentified mask obtained to avoid revealing I was a male hunter. You really never know what life will throw at you.

“Move around inside the mansion and locate and secure Eunbyul as quickly as possible. Once the job is done, send two blank text messages to the number I gave you earlier to let me know.”

“Understood, Do Yehee-nim.”

“Yes, that’s the spirit, Alfred.”

……Alfred?

“It’s standard practice for Dokyung Group servants to use aliases. Get used to it.”

“…Understood, Do Yehee-nim.”

“Looks like we’re almost there.”

The sedan carrying the three of us traveled south for nearly an hour before arriving at a mansion in Yecheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do. As soon as we entered the mansion gates, I got out of the front passenger seat, opened the rear door, and let Do Yehee out of the car.

“We’ve arrived, Do Yehee-nim.”

“Yes, Alfred.”

“…….”

“Please come inside, Do Yehee-nim. The Master is waiting.”

Mulling over the unfamiliar, awkward title, I led Do Yehee by the hand into the Geumhyang Group’s mansion. As soon as we entered the mansion’s main entrance, I encountered the faces of two women whose impressions felt strangely familiar.

“You’re here, Yehee-ssi?”

“It’s been a while.”

“Oh my, you didn’t have to come out to greet me like this instead of waiting in the room.”

“Since Yehee-ssi took the trouble to visit all the way here, it wouldn’t be polite not to.”

“I just came out because I was happy to see you, so don’t worry about it.”

Listening to their conversation, which felt like a subtle power struggle, I thought quietly to myself. That woman speaking informally to Do Yehee with a strangely creepy smile must be Geum Jangmi. Conversely, the one speaking respectfully with a relatively gentle impression must be Geum Dallae. My gut reaction was to knock them both out right now, but doing so would cause a huge scene. To secure Eunbyul safely, I had to avoid any rash physical confrontations. There’s no stupider move than revealing yourself as a spy and fighting head-on in the enemy’s lair. Since I was infiltrating anyway, it was best to proceed safely until the very end.

‘Judging by the direction of the arrows, Eunbyul seems to be upstairs.’

As I pondered where to start searching, Do Yehee called out my alias, drawing my attention.

“Alfred.”

“…Yes, Do Yehee-nim.”

“I need to have an important conversation with these two for a while, so wait nearby.”

“Understood, Do Yehee-nim.”

Do Yehee calmly gave the order as if I were her regular butler, then walked towards what looked like a reception room. After confirming that Geum Jangmi and Geum Dallae also entered the reception room, I casually pretended to take a phone call and subtly distanced myself from the other servants nearby. To begin searching for Eunbyul’s location.