episode_0585

585

“Looking at the fetus picture attached to the lease agreement, it seems that Teacher Yu Ye-na or the academy knew that the leased slaves had successfully given birth afterwards.”

“Well, up to this point, I was okay with it. I thought such things could happen in a place that does these kinds of things…”

“But after being there for a while, I suddenly had this thought?”

“Why, as if trying to make an issue now, did they send me these materials and ask me to monitor them? About…”

“If the purpose is to monitor the meeting, there’s no reason to tell me all this information, right? Don’t you think?”

“Maybe they just want to test whether they can trust me or not…”

“Why would they go to the trouble of testing me, who is practically an outsider, using such a cumbersome method?”

Cheol-jin says with a self-deprecating smile, slightly twisting his lips.

Then, as if organizing the words he has uttered and the thoughts in his head, he pauses for a moment before continuing the story.

“So, after that, I really thought about it carefully…”

“But no matter how much I think about it, it seems like I can’t come up with anything else besides that.”

A heavy and awkward tension flowed in Cheol-jin’s voice.

“What, what is it? What’s that conclusion?”

Si-woo asks Cheol-jin with a trembling voice, as if trying to relieve the heightened tension.

“That thing your dad had. And your deceased dad…”

Cheol-jin carefully opened his mouth, as if cautiously pulling out the conclusion he had reached with difficulty and deliberation.

“What?”

Si-woo reacts as if he is startled again when Cheol-jin mentions his dad again.

“It seems that what you inherited from your dad is not just a simple object or a light authority.”

Cheol-jin was conveying his conclusion to Si-woo, emphasizing it once again.

Si-woo was just listening to Cheol-jin’s story with a blank expression, as if he had no more energy to be surprised.

“That day, when I was about to leave that dark cafe, I suddenly had this thought?”

“I wondered if it might be possible to form relationships here without knowing who anyone is, without interfering in each other’s lives…”

“For example, coworkers, academy seniors and juniors, emotionless opposite-sex friends, teacher and student relationships…”

“Even relationships like mother and son, father and daughter, uncle and nephew, or older sister and younger brother.”

“Or maybe that place was created for that purpose in the first place…”

Cheol-jin stares at the floor as if pausing after spitting out those words…

“I thought those things were probably a list of slaves, an organizational chart of the group, or important data that could reveal the identities of the participants.”

“Sensitive and vast data related to their identities and relationships, which even the manager, Teacher Yu Ye-na, might not know.”

Cheol-jin was speaking without hesitation, as if releasing the thoughts that had come to his mind.

Si-woo recalls the other two binders that were in the desk along with the slave ledger on the day he found it.

He didn’t look at them properly because he was tired and confused…

Two binders full of slaves’ family photos and legal certificates or documents…

Si-woo’s heart was pounding, as if he had missed something important.

“And maybe your dad…”

Cheol-jin moves his mouth as if about to say something important, looking straight into Si-woo’s eyes.

But as he was about to say that, Cheol-jin swallows the words he was uttering, as if something was blocking him inside.

“No… I think it’s better to talk about this when it’s certain… I’ll tell you after I’ve checked it out a bit more…”

Cheol-jin was shaking his head from side to side, wearing a complicated expression.

**

After a moment of silence, Cheol-jin looks at Si-woo with his expression back to normal.

“After drinking all the drinks and calming things down, I left the cafe.”

Cheol-jin, starting to continue the story again, following the flow…

Cheol-jin’s story seemed to be flowing towards the final part.

“I passed through the long corridor decorated like a forest again and came to the place with the stairs.”

“I was climbing the stairs while continuing to think about what had happened in the cafe just now.”

“But I could see a girl I didn’t know standing on the upper part of the stairs, leaning against the stair railing?”

“No, to be honest, I knew her face. Because I had checked her out on social media several times while investigating the meeting.”

“One of the academy friends that Se-hee and Shin-bi hang out with, who seemed to be participating in the meeting…”

“Kang Semi…”

“Because of the secret things that happened in the cafe just now, I was standing there for a moment, embarrassed to see that face that was more familiar on the screen…”

“I didn’t even have time to think about why Se-hee and Shin-bi’s academy friend was standing there…”

“When I saw her in person, she definitely seemed prettier than on the screen, and her body, atmosphere, smell, and feeling were all good?”

“But as soon as Semi saw me, she got angry and started nagging me, asking why I was so late?”

“It was as if she was a girlfriend nagging her boyfriend for being late for a date…”

“I was surprised to hear Semi’s voice. Her voice was as friendly as her face…”

“That voice was the voice of the girl who guided me in the dark cafe earlier… no doubt…”

“I immediately reached out and grabbed Semi’s wrist… so she couldn’t go anywhere…”

“It was definitely a familiar feeling of her wrist… soft and elastic skin…”

Cheol-jin was telling Si-woo about his first meeting with his older sister Semi, as if he was very pleased.

“After meeting Semi again like that, I went to a nearby dessert cafe and had a brief conversation.”

“I guess Teacher Yu Ye-na ordered her to, but it seems that Semi was waiting there to tell me more details about the meeting situation and information.”

“So-ra and Sae-rom know about the academy and the meeting, but they don’t seem to know that Semi and I will be secretly monitoring this meeting.”

Cheol-jin was explaining to Si-woo the reason why his older sister Semi was waiting for him, as well as additional background, information, and circumstances about the meeting.

“And I also heard roughly about the story about the parents of the older brothers who came out this time…”

Then, Cheol-jin starts talking about the parents of the older brothers…

“As expected, it seemed certain that the parents were slaves and owners belonging to the meeting.”

“But there seems to be some difference from general participants?”

“It’s called ‘sponsor’ that I mentioned earlier, and it seems that the route to participate is a bit different.”

Cheol-jin was trying to carefully talk about the situation related to the parents of the older brothers and the circumstances of their participation in the meeting.

“Different?”

When the word ‘sponsor’ came out again, Si-woo raised his eyebrows and asked strongly as if reacting to Cheol-jin’s story.

“Yes… Not a couple or couple in a master-servant relationship who participated in the meeting together from the beginning for the play,”

“A case where one of the husband or wife first participates in the meeting, then separately requests to bring in a partner, and then creates a master-servant relationship.”

“Most of them seem to reach the meeting through hospitals or clinics…”

Cheol-jin explains to Si-woo as if he is slightly excited.

“Hospitals or clinics?”

Si-woo was asking with a sharp voice as if he was concerned about the word hospital again.

Si-woo seems to be reminded of the incident where Se-young was introduced to a magic academy for treatment purposes after receiving hospital treatment with her mother.

“Yes… hospitals or counseling clinics! There were several other routes, but what was it? There seemed to be places like model agencies or yoga centers as well.”

Cheol-jin was telling Si-woo the information he had heard from his older sister Semi that day, as if recalling his memories.

“Did you know that before the meeting? But at the police station, you said those women were the slaves we had to get back? What did that mean?”

Si-woo asks, recalling Cheol-jin’s mysterious words left at the police station.

“Yes. I knew about those parents before the meeting, as I just said… And if what I’m thinking is correct, it should be so… Anyway, all three of them broke the rules.”

Cheol-jin answers Si-woo in a firm tone, shining his eyes coldly.

Si-woo seemed to be repeating Cheol-jin’s words inwardly with an expression that seemed to know and not know.

Then, he slowly calms the breath he had taken deeply, as if trying to calm down.

“Then… when the older brothers and we went to the police station? Was that also planned from the beginning with Semi? To show me those mothers?”

Si-woo asks, pressing Cheol-jin as if trying to shake off the emotions left like suspicion for the last time.

“Ah~ Semi and Teacher Yu Ye-na must have been a little surprised by that. The police station was not originally planned.”

Cheol-jin was answering Si-woo’s question with a playful smile.