Chapter 182:

The chauffeur wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, glancing at the rearview mirror.

“Well…”

“Why? Is he still chasing us?”

Lee-yeon, who had been huddled up, raised her head.

“It’s not that… He’s gone. He suddenly disappeared. It’s as if he took a different path…” said the chauffer.

“What?”

A moment of silence followed. The chauffeur, with an awkward smile, unexpectedly tried to lighten the mood.

“By the way, did you happen to find any nice trees in the garden?”

“…As you can see, it’s not exactly a tree.”

In that moment, screech― the brakes were applied, and the car came to a sudden stop without any warning.

Lee-yeon, instinctively wrapping her arms around herself, forcefully bumped her forehead against the front seat, while the chauffeur trembled, resting his head on the steering wheel.

Before the chauffeur could gather his wits, Lee-yeon regained consciousness first, breathing heavily as she looked through the window. Her vision was blurry, but she strained her eyes and focused, trying to adjust her gaze.

Just then, as if someone had collided with the car, a person rose from the ground.

“…!”

“….”

And in that moment of realization that it was Kwon Chae-woo intentionally colliding with the car, Lee-yeon couldn’t think of anything.

The chilling man locked his gaze directly on Lee-yeon and slowly approached, step by step.

He scratched the driver’s side window with a blade-like motion, and then repeatedly struck the edges with his fists and elbows until, as he had confidently predicted, the door shattered.

Despite the glass shards falling onto the driver’s back, Kwon Chae-woo didn’t even blink. He calmly reached inside and unlocked the backseat, slowly turning to approach Yeon.

Click—

A seemingly insignificant sound was now more terrifying than a bomb exploding.

In a daze, Lee-yeon had kept her arms folded and remained frozen in place.

Finally, the car door opened, and a voice mixed with a sigh spoke shakily.

“Come out, Lee-yeon.”

Lee-yeon’s head had turned blank, and she involuntarily gasped as Kwon Chae-woo leaned in, resting his arm on the door, his hand covered in blood. In the place where her beloved used to reside, an instinctual terror towards this irrational man arose.

With her mind gone blank, Lee-yeon found herself involuntarily stuttering with her mouth agape.

“Are you insane?!”

“Perhaps.”

Kwon Chae-woo remained expressionless as he extended his hand once again.

“You can’t… you can’t make me get out. I need to go see Gyu-baek… I need to go see Gyu-baek!”

“What does that little shit matter more than you, Lee-yeon?”

“……!”

Lee-yeon bit her lower lip as if acknowledging her defeat. She had momentarily forgotten what kind of person this man was. Even when he had lost his memory, he had an incredibly volatile personality.

“I can’t get out.” Nevertheless, Lee-yeon said firmly once again.

Kwon Chae-woo glanced briefly at her flushed forehead and swiftly closed the car door.

Then, the door on the opposite side opened.

* * *

“Director!”

“Gyu-baek!”

As soon as the car came to a stop, Gyu-baek came running from afar.

Lee-yeon quickly scanned the child from his hair to his face, arms, legs, and the glimpse of his skin beyond his short sleeves.

Except for his clothes being a little thin, there was nothing to complain about, from cleanliness to his expression. Surprisingly, he looked healthier and even seemed to have gained some weight compared to his time at the orphanage.

Lee-yeon extended her arms, intending to tightly embrace the child who had endured so much.

However, as Gyu-baek stood there, he nervously scraped the sole of his sneakers.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“What’s wrong, Gyu-baek?”

“…”

Something seemed off about the bewildered look on the child’s face. The two of them were silently observing each other.

“Uh… uh…”

Gyu-baek hesitated as if he were overwhelmed.

“Gyu-baek?”

“….”

“Why aren’t you coming here?”

Despite urging him, Gyu-baek remained frozen, his body trembling slightly.

Sensing that something was amiss, Lee-yeon, thinking it might not work out, approached first, extending her hand even up to her palm, only to see Gyu-baek taking steps back. Trying to read the child’s expression in any way possible, she found it difficult.

“Is there something uncomfortable? Are you hurt? You can tell director.”

“For a moment, I turned into a dog.”

“What?”

“For a moment, I turned into a chicken too.”

“…”

How should she interpret this? Lee-yeon was taken aback by the bewildering confession of the child. Meanwhile, Gyu-baek looked quickly at some spot on the teacher’s abdomen, blinking his black eyes rapidly. He tensed his eyebrows, pursed his lips into a round shape, displaying an intense reaction that was quite unlike his usual self.

Lost in her thoughts for a moment, Lee-yeon finally asked with a serious expression.

If he encountered a dog and a chicken…

“And now?”

In this case, mentioning an insect would provide reassurance.

“But now, I’m thinking of transforming completely into an owl monkey, not an insect.”

“What?”

Lee-yeon’s eyes shook slightly.

“Owl monkeys are the best fathers among primates. They provide food and play with their offspring. When a baby is born, the male takes care of almost all the parenting responsibilities. I may be young, but I’m a smart owl monkey.”

“…!”

“What is all this sudden talk?”

Lee-yeon belatedly turned her eyes towards Kwon Chae-woo, who had just come out of the car. He was the man who hadn’t uttered a single word throughout their journey and had only held onto Lee-yeon’s hand tightly.

When she asked him to let go because her blood wasn’t flowing properly, he stubbornly asked for her other hand instead. He was a persistent and unreasonable person.

Despite that, his angry face was so intimidating that she couldn’t even make a sound of protest.

“What are we going to do about this?”

Kwon Chae-woo, who was slowly walking out, twitched his eyebrows in response to Lee-yeon’s reproachful question.

“You said it’s not insects, so there must have been something undoubted

ly wrong here!”