The Shadow of Deception
I stepped out of the gallery and began to walk the street. The long avenue of plane trees stretched out behind Bukak Mountain. On the right, a narrow two-lane road curved along; on the left, small brick houses clustered together, forming a quiet village.
The gallery perched at the foot of Bukak Mountain was a place few could reach without a car. Yet the street was dotted with people. Even though it was not the weekend, the clear weather drew hikers and date-pairs, joggers and photographers—each wearing their own expression—standing beneath the plane trees, which had begun to glow golden in the late afternoon light.
I paused for a moment to take in the view. The breeze from the afternoon brushed across my face as I watched the low houses that filled the mountain slope. I also noticed the mountain’s silhouette wrapping the village. It was pleasant to admire the people’s brightly colored hiking outfits.
Only then did the feeling of being in Korea rise in me, belatedly. In the last month I had rushed through everything and missed this. Four years ago, when I had visited Korea, the stay had been too short, and I had not had time to do proper sightseeing.
“Aigo, miss, you’ll catch a cold. Dress warmly and go about your day.”
A voice called out to me from behind. It was a middle-aged woman in a red hiking outfit. The other middle-aged woman beside her tapped her on the arm.
“You young ones these days hate being bothered.”
“Ah, really? Did I butting in where I shouldn’t? Aigo, you see, I’m like this—how embarrassing, how embarrassing. I’m sorry, miss.”
The auntie apologized. Her naturally wrinkled face looked gentle.
“No, I’m fine…”
But the aunties did not hear my small answer. They laughed among themselves and passed me by. A group of middle-aged women who looked in their sixties. They all giggled like girls. I watched the crowd walking away, their colorful clothes more vivid than the autumn leaves, their chatter loud.
‘Mom always said she liked the mountains more than the sea. I’ll take my daughter hiking with me one day.’
The memory of an old voice floated away like an echo.
It was when I unconsciously followed their footsteps. A familiar car stopped beside me. The dark window of the driver’s seat lowered smoothly, and the sharp sound of someone chewing gum immediately followed.
“Get in.”
It was Ki Seok-ju.
Inside the returning car, I searched for information on Woo Tae-young. Precisely, I looked up his late wife.
When I had stared at the tablet for a long time until my eyes stung, I suddenly looked up. Outside the window, the evening had already settled into a bluish twilight. The sky was dark, but the street was bright with the signs of tall, colorful buildings.
Looking at the narrowed Gwanhwamun street that I remembered, I called Ki Seok-ju quietly.
“Make me a fake identity.”
A moment of chewing sounds passed. I was weak in the lungs from birth. After I arrived in Korea, Seok-ju had quit smoking and started chewing nicotine gum.
“A fake identity?”
“You’re good at those things.”
President Ki Young-bae of KY Capital operated loan-sharking in Myeongdong and had connections in the political world. Because of the masks they wore in public, they handled things they could not in the open underground. At the same time, they had accumulated piles of information that could become their weaknesses.
Ki Seok-ju was one of the adopted sons of Ki Young-bae.
“You’ve watched too many dramas.”
“Can’t I?”
I had seen Seok-ju on the phone with a professional identity forger more than once before.
“Yes. We even smuggle them in and out of the country like that.”
“My name is Shin Woo-yeon. My age…”
I briefly recalled Woo Je-hyeok’s age.
“Je-hyeok was thirty-one at the time.”
“Yes.”
“Then I am thirty-two.”
I was two years older than actual Woo-hee. For some reason, Seok-ju smiled. I did not particularly want to know why.
“I learned piano from a young age, but I lived poor and without parents—graduated high school.”
No answer came from Seok-ju for a moment. Instead, the car sharply turned left at a curve.
“I’ve been wondering about something.”
Ki Seok-ju’s unusually low and thick voice echoed darkly.
“Do you really have to do this yourself? If you don’t step forward, miss, there are plenty of people ready to attach themselves to that bastard.”
I asked, but I gave no answer. I glanced in the rearview mirror. She had lowered the window and was admiring the Gwanhwamun statue. She did not mind the cold wind tousling her hair and kept her eyes fixed on the square.
“If it’s that appealing to you, why not take a photo? I can slow down for you.”
“…No, it’s bothersome.”
“I’ll take it for you.”
“If I take it and it’s recorded, will I want to come back again?”
With that, I resumed leisurely admiring the square. Seok-ju quietly slowed the speed.
“So, about my question earlier—what was your answer?”
At that moment, I was listening to the song of a woman busking in the square.
Seok-ju patiently waited for my answer. Deeply absorbed in the street performance, my small head nearly shot out the window.
Her light brown hair danced as if in rhythm. Between the strands of hair, a glimpse of her lips appeared soft. That was why Seok-ju did not dare speak to her.
Only after the square had completely disappeared from view did an answer come from me. Seok-ju raised the rear window to keep the wind from coming in more.
“Jang Ha-rin… has no idea how vulgar Woo Je-hyeok’s behavior is. Yet she turns a blind eye and wants to marry him.”
“So she should have been scandalized for sleeping with the fiancée’s sister. Ha-rin is Ha-rin, but to stop the marriage at Wooshin, that kind of dirty scandal was necessary.”
“You don’t know how scary identity forgery is?”
I smiled faintly. I had done something even scarier and was threatening with that.
When the forgery of my identity had been discovered by Wooshin, the probability that they would not make the issue large was high.
Woo Je-hyeok was the most likely heir to Wooshin. Yet he had already been engaged twice and broken off. He was a man whose private life had poor rumors and image apart from ability. Wooshin would not let his image plunge into the abyss while he was about to start his formal employment.
The most beneficial choice for both Woo Je-hyeok and Wooshin was to minimize the scandal, keep it unknown to the public, and turn the engagement into a non-event.
Fortunately, he was not yet engaged to Ha-rin, and he did not have special affection for her. The arrangement had been briefly discussed but had not been finalized. Myeong Won-chul had also promised to prepare countermeasures against the possibility of Wooshin’s revenge.
If Wooshin’s retaliation was truly a concern, there was a way to inform only CK without letting the other side know.
Chairman Jang Dae-soo would not want the outside world to know he had a daughter committing such shameless acts in his family.
For Ha-rin’s other marriage as well, he would want to hide that she had such a sister. It would be best to propose the non-event first to Ha-rin and hide my involvement from her and her family.
Nevertheless, no matter whether Woo Je-hyeok or someone from Wooshin learned of the matter and eventually punished me, or whether the worst happened.
“…At worst, I’d die.”
Ki Seok-ju, who did not laugh often, let out a soft laugh. Whether he laughed or not, I had already become immersed once more in sightseeing Seoul. The face of the woman gazing up at the tall buildings of Gwanhwamun street looked innocent.
Ki Seok-ju watched the quiet woman in silence.
Seeing Sun Woo-hee again after so long, she remained terrifyingly beautiful and brutally indifferent.
‘Keep watching carefully. Make sure she is not harboring some other intention.’
Ki Young-bae had told Seok-ju to do so, but the miss was a woman with no intention of committing anything foolish.
Ki Young-bae, Myeong Won-chul—everyone treated this beautiful woman like the most precious princess in the world. At the same time, everyone was desperate to find out how to use and devour this indifferent woman.
Whether or not she knew that, it seemed I was particularly eager to lure Woo Je-hyeok. I had been like that from the beginning. When I had a target, no matter how large or small, I was a woman who moved toward it step by step like a machine.
I wondered whether I truly understood Myeong Won-chul’s real purpose in having me seduce Woo Je-hyeok.
If I did, of course I would not be able to seduce him.
If he knew the Sun Woo-hee I was, he might still let me use him even if I knew the purpose.
The mouth tasted bitter. The craving for cigarettes was intense, but I could not smoke them and stubbornly chewed gum instead.
“If I suddenly die, there are many people who will chase after you with fire in their eyes all the way to hell.”
“Not until then. If I mess up this job, they’ll come right away with clubs. So prepare the identity or whatever I mentioned earlier.”
No answer came from Seok-ju. But as always, I knew he would prepare everything I said thoroughly.
In truth, I had no certainty that Woo Je-hyeok would come over. He was a man who was more difficult and demanding than I had thought. I had agonized over how to seduce such a man, but nothing particularly came to mind.
“Put some food in the refrigerator. Eat.”
Seok-ju brought me to the front of the villa’s door. This was the accommodation Myeong Won-chul had prepared.
After Seok-ju left, the door closed, and I was left alone beneath the orange-lit porch light.