Vanished
Her parents had vanished. It was as if they had simply evaporated from the face of the earth—nowhere to be found, no matter how hard she searched.
The room was steeped in silence. The only sound was the soft shhh of a brush gliding across canvas, a whisper that tickled her ears. It had always been the sound Ye-seo loved most, yet now it only made her dizzy.
Even the painting seemed to have lost its light. If it hadn’t been a commission she was obligated to finish, she wouldn’t have been able to pick up the brush at all.
It had already been two weeks since her father last came home. His phone had remained switched off the entire time.
What made it stranger still was that her mother—who was gravely ill—had disappeared on the exact same day. Ye-seo had spent the whole previous day at the hospital with her. Yet from the next morning onward, no one answered her calls. When she finally went to the hospital herself, all she was told was that her mother had suddenly been discharged.
“Haa…”
She let out a breath that nearly dissolved into nothing. That was when a noise shattered the stillness and drove straight into her ears. Startled, she smeared the brushstroke she had just laid down. The doorbell’s melody began to chime.
No one should have been coming. At the unexpected visitor, Ye-seo checked the monitor first. A middle-aged man in a suit stood at the common entrance.
He had an intellectual air about him. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked straight into the camera. When Ye-seo pressed the talk button, the man on the screen bowed his head toward the lens.
She felt as though she had seen him somewhere before, yet she could not place the face at all. Not someone she knew, then. Who was he?
“Who… is this?”
She asked carefully. The man answered in a courteous tone.
“Good afternoon. I’m Yoon Tae-seok, Deputy General Manager of the Executive Director’s secretariat at Museong Group. I’ve taken the liberty of calling regarding Chief of Staff Jin Jae-hwan.”
Ye-seo’s eyes flew wide. Someone from her father’s company. The face had seemed vaguely familiar; she must have glimpsed him once or twice with her father before.
“Ah… Yes. Just a moment.”
Unexpected as the visitor was, Ye-seo quickly pressed the door-release button. He, too, seemed to have come about her father—whether the man was missing or had run away, no one knew. Day after day of gnawing anxiety made her want to cling to even a single thread of hope that this man might bring some clue.
She could not know for certain, but something serious had clearly happened to her parents. There was no other reason they would vanish for so long.
Perhaps a situation had arisen that made contact impossible for the time being. Or if not that… She desperately hoped it wasn’t true, but if it wasn’t that, then something had happened to them personally.
When the front doorbell rang, Ye-seo opened the door at once, as though she had been waiting. Through the widening gap she saw Deputy General Manager Yoon Tae-seok standing in a neat, composed posture.
Then, the moment she opened the door fully, Ye-seo recoiled in shock. Behind the man who called himself Deputy Yoon stood two large men.
Dressed head to toe in black suits, they deliberately furrowed their faces into menacing scowls and glared at her, as if intent on advertising their menace.
A cold dread dropped through her chest; she wanted to slam the door shut again. But as if they had read her mind, one of the big men caught the door and held it fast.
Her already-sinking heartbeat began to race faster and faster. At a glance they looked like bodyguards, yet something about them felt distinctly wrong. The contrast only grew sharper because Deputy Yoon alone continued to speak with perfect politeness.
“You are Chief of Staff Jin Jae-hwan’s daughter, correct?”
“…Yes.”
“I apologize for arriving unannounced. I did try calling, but you didn’t answer.”
“A call…?”
Strange. He said he had called? That didn’t seem right.
Because she had been waiting with her whole throat for any word from her parents, she kept her phone’s ringer on even at night.
She couldn’t say exactly what it was, but her instincts told her she had walked into something very bad.
“Ah—are you here about my father?”
Burning with urgency, Ye-seo pressed him. Deputy Yoon took out a business card with unhurried hands and offered it to her.
“That is correct. Allow me to introduce myself once more. Yoon Tae-seok.”
“…Jin Ye-seo.”
The card she accepted bore the same familiar logo as her father’s.
“The reason I’ve come is this: our Executive Director, Do Kang-hyun, wishes to meet with you, Miss Jin Ye-seo.”
Executive Director Do Kang-hyun—that had to be the superior her father had worked under for the past several years. The second son of Museong Group’s chairman, she thought she remembered.
“The Executive Director? Me…?”
Completely unexpected, Ye-seo hesitated. Deputy Yoon explained calmly.
“Yes. The Executive Director says he has matters he wishes to discuss concerning Chief of Staff Jin Jae-hwan.”
For decades her father had poured his loyalty into the Museong owner family; in recent years he had worked himself ragged for Executive Director Do in particular.
Hearing Deputy Yoon’s words now, a sharp suspicion suddenly rose in her: was Executive Director Do involved this time as well?
Moreover, looking at those black-clad brutes behind him, she recalled something her father used to say like a habit.
He often told her that the people of the Museong family were truly terrifying. Not once had they ever been easy to deal with.
Among them, he had clicked his tongue hardest over the Executive Director he had served until recently.
When it came to securing profit, the man always looked much farther ahead than anyone else—and at times he was willing to use any means necessary.
Remembering those words sent a chill of dread through her: had something terrible already befallen her father?
Or had this Executive Director Do ordered something dangerous? She had always heard that her father would do every kind of dirty work for the Museong family.
“Just what… happened to my father?”
Her insides burning, she demanded an answer first. Deputy Yoon’s face clouded with difficulty.
“So you truly didn’t know. Has there been no contact at all from Chief of Staff Jin Jae-hwan?”
“Not for over two weeks.”
“I see. In that case, Miss Jin Ye-seo—would you be able to come meet the Executive Director right now? I’ll explain the details on the way.”
“Ah… Where… to?”
An unnameable wariness made her hang back.
“Ah, fuck, enough with the talking!”
One of the black-suited men behind him suddenly snarled a curse and barked at her.
Startled, Ye-seo flinched; the man only glared harder. In that instant she understood exactly what role these suspicious “bodyguards” were meant to play.
“Let’s go while I’m still asking nicely, yeah?”
Frozen, Ye-seo could not form another word.
“That’s the only way that pretty face and body of yours stay unharmed.”
In her twenty-four years of life, Jin Ye-seo had never once faced a threat so extreme.
When they went downstairs, a car with a driver already waiting stood ready. As Ye-seo followed Deputy Yoon to see the Executive Director, the suspicious bodyguards’ car trailed behind them as well.
After more than thirty minutes of driving, the scenery suggested they had left Seoul far behind. Green mountains appeared; a quiet lake came into view.
In a secluded, almost lonely-feeling neighborhood, luxury villas stood scattered here and there. Before long the car slowed in front of a large house with a meticulously kept, spacious garden.
The garage door opened. As they rolled into the dark interior, Ye-seo felt a surge of terror—as if she were being sucked into some sinister place.
If she went in like this, something irreversible would be waiting for her; she was certain of it.
Once inside the house, a hallway appeared. A woman in a suit approached Ye-seo. She looked like a secretary.
“Good afternoon.”
The woman wore a smile far too friendly for the situation.
“Do you have a cell phone with you?”
“Pardon? Yes.”
Still dazed, Ye-seo pulled her phone from her pocket at the woman’s question.
“We’ll hold onto it for you until you come back out.”
“Ah…”
The woman took the phone as if it were the most natural thing in the world and set it aside somewhere. Then, with a smile that almost looked solemn, she stepped closer again.
“I apologize. I’ll need to trouble you for a moment.”
Her two hands suddenly swept over Ye-seo’s body, as if searching for anything she might be hiding.
Checking whether I hid a recorder or something?
It was extremely unsettling, yet because the woman kept her smiling face and polite speech firmly in place, Ye-seo stayed still even while being subjected to this strange treatment. She also feared that resisting would only make her look more suspicious.
“Thank you.”
Finished with the search, the woman beamed and bowed her head.
The bodyguards had already startled her, but these people were strange as well. Or perhaps it was Executive Director Do himself who was strange.
“I’ll show you to the Executive Director now.”
Ye-seo followed Deputy Yoon as he led the way. Crossing the luxurious living room, she glanced around with careful eyes.
The entire house was immaculately clean, and it seemed no one else was present—eerily quiet. So quiet it felt almost haunted.
Deputy Yoon stopped in front of a tall, dark-brown door. Knock, knock, knock—he rapped exactly three times.
“Come in.”
From beyond the door came a low, blunt male voice. Flat in tone. Not a kindly sound at all; even before seeing the man’s face, Ye-seo felt cold sweat threaten to break out.
With a refined motion, Deputy Yoon pushed the handle. The door opened onto an extremely spacious study.
In front of the window stood a large desk. A young man sat there, looking down at a tablet PC with an indifferent expression.
So that is Executive Director Do Kang-hyun…
The man her father had called terrifying truly possessed an exterior heavy enough to match the description.
His hair was set without a single strand out of place, and the clearly expensive navy suit wrapped snugly around his broad upper body. He looked almost severely neat.
Her father had never mentioned his appearance, yet he was startlingly handsome as well. In looks and in presence alike, he was someone who seized attention at once.
When Executive Director Do Kang-hyun still did not move, Deputy Yoon announced crisply toward him.
“Executive Director. Miss Jin Ye-seo has arrived.”
Only then did the man who had been looking at the tablet lift his gaze first—eyes alone—toward Ye-seo, still holding the same posture. After fixing those wide-open eyes on her, he finally raised his chin.
The arrogant lift of his jaw revealed the bold lines of his face all the more clearly. His large eyes tilted slightly upward at the outer corners, giving him a sharp impression.
His hair was black as jet, yet strangely his irises held a light brown tint. His high, straight nose looked as if it had been drawn with a ruler, and the lips he held closed in arrogance were elegant.
Handsome, yet so fierce and overpowering that somehow it was hard to look at him straight on.
The expressionless man’s unwavering gaze rested on Ye-seo’s face for a long while. Not a short moment.
When their eyes met, she felt as though she were already being subdued by the silence alone—before he had even spoken a word.
And she hadn’t come here of her own free will; she had been dragged.
His stare clung to her face far longer than a mere appraisal would warrant. Not understanding why he looked at her so long, Ye-seo swallowed dryly.
Just as a chill crawled over her skin, the man finally spoke in a heavy voice.
“Miss Jin Ye-seo.”
She was startled all over again. Startled simply that a man like this had spoken her name so precisely. It felt almost natural, as if he were calling a familiar name.
“…Yes.”
“Do you know why you’re here?”
Even the question alone carried pressure. Neither the firm voice nor the cold expression held the slightest mercy.
“More or less.”
Just forcing the answer out made her throat feel crushed. Standing before Executive Director Do Kang-hyun, Ye-seo had already become more deferential than even Deputy Yoon.
Was she supposed to take the punishment in her father’s place? Brought here half by force, phone confiscated, body-searched, and now standing here—she looked for all the world like a criminal.
“I only heard about my father… for the first time today, from Deputy Yoon.”
She had been frightened even before coming, but being summoned before the master of this place made the fear grow worse.
Deputy Yoon, who had brought her this far, and even the secretary who had searched her body had been more or less kind—yet the master of the house was different.
Seated with the stern face of a judge, the man spoke to her.
“Then you must also know what a fucking bastard your father is.”