A New Complication
The murky teal light seemed to drag her down into its depths. Mina shuddered before she could stop herself. It felt as if an invisible hand had closed around her throat, squeezing until her breath came in shallow, panicked threads. For reasons she couldn’t name, the thought of meeting his eyes filled her with dread. She was on the verge of bolting home to hide when Seok-jun caught her hand and pulled her forward.
“Eh?”
A sudden warmth enveloped her, carrying the faint, comforting scent of aged wood. She blinked, and her entire field of vision filled with rough beige fabric. Seok-jun had drawn her into his arms.
“S-S-Seok-jun?”
Her heart was hammering to an entirely different beat now. The words stumbled out of her as she called his name. He glanced down at her, eyes partially visible beneath the brim of his hat.
“Feeling calmer now?”
“Y-yes…”
In one sense she was anything but calm, yet compared to the suffocating dread of moments earlier, this was infinitely better. While she remained in his embrace, fingers fidgeting restlessly, Seok-jun spoke again.
“Just because you’ve received a lawsuit doesn’t mean you should shoulder guilt before you even understand the situation.”
Only then did Mina realize why his gaze had frightened her. He had run into her right after the legal team’s call, when she was still clutching the complaint in her hand. She had vaguely feared he might condemn her too.
“But this… this is the first time it’s ever happened to me…”
She had heard stories, of course—hunters being sued, the rumors that circulated through the industry. Yet she had never imagined the papers would one day land in her own hands.
“Let’s finish what you originally set out to do first, Mina.”
“But the complaint—”
“Law enforcement has a duty to protect the rights of the accused no matter who the complainant is. There’s time. Handle your own business first.”
Mina nodded absently, then suddenly realized she was still pressed against his chest. She sprang back, cheeks burning.
“I was planning to get my equipment repaired and maybe buy some new clothes… but I don’t think I can enjoy shopping right now. I’ll just drop the gear off for repairs.”
Even though Seok-jun had told her it was all right to relax, the anxiety gnawing at her chest made the idea of browsing stores feel impossible.
“Do you have a regular shop you usually use for repairs?”
“Ah, no.”
Her equipment had always been serviced free of charge by Hanshin.
“Then we’ll go to a place I know.”
Seok-jun guided her into the car and drove off. The vehicle moved so smoothly she could barely feel any vibration. She was quietly admiring how luxurious it was when he spoke again.
“We’re here.”
“Already?”
It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes. Looking around, she found they had stopped in a quiet alley a short distance from the city center. A narrow storefront, reminiscent of an old shoe repair shop, bore large lettering on its glass window.
Vrrrrrm.
They stepped out of the parked car, waited for traffic to pass, then crossed the street. The realization that such a place had been so close all along left her strangely deflated.
“I had no idea this was here.”
She rarely ventured into back alleys like this, but a quick glance around would have revealed it.
“Most people never notice it unless they already know where to look.”
“Welcome.”
A younger man’s voice greeted them as they opened the door. He glanced at Seok-jun and Mina, then returned to his sewing machine without another word.
“Um… I’d like to have the logo removed from my equipment.”
The man’s curt demeanor made Mina speak carefully. He simply nodded.
“Leave it here. It’ll be ready tomorrow.”
He immediately returned to his work. Once they stepped back outside, Seok-jun’s expression darkened.
“It looks like someone’s been pulling strings against you, Mina.”
“What?”
She lifted her head. He was stroking his chin, deep in thought.
“Is this about the lawsuit?”
“Not the lawsuit. Something aimed at you personally.”
“At me?”
“Yes. The owner of that shop isn’t usually so brusque. He’s actually quite friendly.”
Mina had assumed the man was simply having a bad day, but the way Seok-jun’s face hardened made her fall silent. Following his gaze, she turned to see several pedestrians on the sidewalk holding up their phones, snapping photos before they startled and ducked around the corner.
“This is more serious than I thought. We should head straight to my café.”
Before she could ask what was happening, he took her hand and led her back to the car. The place they soon reached was an unmanned café located beneath his office.
“May I see the complaint first?”
“Here…”
She handed over the document that had arrived by mail. Seok-jun read through it carefully, then set it on the table.
“You don’t need to worry too much about the lawsuit itself.”
“But—”
At that exact moment, her smartphone began to ring.
“…It’s the police station?”
The screen displayed 112.
“Ignore it for now.”
She did as he suggested. The call eventually ended, and a text message arrived in its place.
“Even after all this?”
Mina’s face crumpled as she showed him the message, but he shook his head.
“Yes. There are other factors at play, and Hanshin’s behavior has been far too inconsistent.”
“Inconsistent?”
“Complaints are never delivered so politely by mail. The accused is supposed to receive or confirm it in person.”
“Politely…?”
To Mina, the sight of that document had felt like her heart dropping into her stomach. Seok-jun continued, eyes still on the papers.
“The document usually contains enough information for the accused to guess the charges. From the plaintiff’s perspective, there’s no advantage in letting the defendant see it ahead of time. That’s why sending it like this is suspicious.”
“But the legal team mentioned Gu Gang-woo when they called me.”
“The complaint only lists embezzlement.”
The more she heard, the less any of it made sense. She had no connection to embezzlement whatsoever, and Gu Gang-woo’s name wasn’t even on the document.
“It appears factions have formed within Hanshin over how to handle you.”
“Factions?”
The word summoned unpleasant memories from her administrative days. She shivered.
“I don’t have fond memories of that.”
She had always been an outsider, never belonging to any clique. Manager Kim had been the closest thing, but their relationship had consisted mostly of him berating her.
“Not the office-level factions. This is at the board-member level.”
Mina suddenly recalled something.
“Now that you mention it, the person from the legal team who called me wasn’t anyone I recognized.”
“They were trying to provoke a slip of the tongue.”
People who received sudden lawsuits often became flustered and said too much without understanding the charges. The legal team had clearly counted on that. Otherwise there would have been no reason for such a pointed call.
“Seok-jun… do you do legal consulting as well?”
He shook his head.
“I’ve simply been involved in enough related matters to know how these things work. But the real problem right now isn’t that—get down!”
“Huh?!”
Seok-jun kicked the table over and yanked her to the floor. The half-finished iced coffee spilled across the surface as she wondered what on earth was happening. The answer came an instant later.
The sound of mana gathering violently outside the café was followed by a piercing scream that sounded almost like a woman in agony. The entire terrace shattered, shards of glass and wood embedding themselves in the tables with violent cracks.
The screaming stopped as abruptly as it had begun.
“What the…?”
“Heh… hehehe… f-finally. Hic… found you.”
A woman’s voice drifted in—unfamiliar, broken by wet hiccups and strange stuttering. It carried an eerie, skin-crawling quality that made the hair on Mina’s arms stand up.
“Lee Mina! Hic! I know you’re in there! Heek! Come out right now?!”
She knows my name?!
While Mina debated whether she should look, Seok-jun nudged her and held up a small shard of glass. The faint reflection showed the outside clearly enough for her to see the woman standing there.
“Do you know her?”
“N-no. Not at all.”
The woman’s hair hung in wild tangles all the way to her waist. She wore loose, childish animal-print pajamas and stood barefoot. The sight was so disturbingly memorable that it would be burned into Mina’s mind for a long time, yet she was certain she had never seen this person before.