Test (7): The Message's Command
I eyed the message floating before me with caution and slowly backed away, widening the distance between us.
Make Min Soyeon the world's strongest.
└ Do not let Min Soyeon discover your true identity. *Failure results in 'Death'*
└ Reveal your identity to your beloved wife ★IMMEDIATELY★. Hurry up!
The message simply drifted closer, matching every step I took backward as though distance meant nothing. I swallowed hard, then cautiously reached out to touch it. My fingers cut through empty air.
…What the hell….
The message had suddenly been rewritten. First it warned me not to reveal my identity, now it was ordering me to do it right away. The tone itself had changed, as if someone had deliberately edited it.
At that exact moment—
└ Reveal your identity to Ju Yeonhee.
“Hah…”
My vision flashed white. The message had completely changed again, almost as if it were reading my thoughts.
…How the hell was I supposed to interpret this?
One thing was certain: the ‘message’ was guiding my actions. Not forcing them—guiding. Unlike the previous entries, there was no penalty attached this time. So did I really need to follow it?
It had started by saying it wasn’t recommended, then suddenly demanded I do it immediately. The whole thing felt far too suspicious. If there was no penalty, there was no reason to obey.
The abrupt situation left me strangely cold and rational. I slowly organized my thoughts.
First, revealing my identity to my wife wouldn’t cause any major problems. The only person I truly had to hide from was Min Soyeon—the one the message kept highlighting. So when would be the right time to tell Yeonhee?
I had never planned to hide it forever. There was no point in keeping secrets when I was standing right here, alive and breathing. The real issue was timing.
I wasn’t a psychiatrist, but even I could tell my wife’s condition was precarious. She was like a glass cup already covered in cracks. Leave her alone and she might shatter on her own; pour hot water into her and she could explode into pieces. In other words, the situation could easily get worse.
But there were hopeful signs too. She had shown interest in the meals I prepared. I’d need to confirm it with lunch and dinner, but her positive reaction to breakfast suggested it was okay to be optimistic. Even though I could only visit on weekends because of Soyeon, if I kept taking care of her consistently, she should recover someday.
When that day came, I could reveal the truth. The question was how. Should I buy her a pretty ring? Or maybe…
Knock, knock—
“Jihwan, the madam is looking for you?”
Startled by the sudden call, I jumped to my feet. When I opened the door, a housekeeper was standing there with a bright smile.
“…The madam wants to see me?”
When I asked, she gave my arm a playful smack and answered with clear admiration.
“She finished every last bite of breakfast! In all my years… Anyway, she’s asking for you, so hurry upstairs!”
She’d finished the entire breakfast! All that effort baking scones before dawn had been worth it. I practically flew up to the second floor, straightened my clothes in front of the door, and knocked carefully.
“Come in.”
…Hm? Was it my imagination, or did my wife’s voice carry a faint trace of life?
…Was it really the food?
I pressed down the fluttering in my chest with a silly grin and reached for the doorknob. The moment I opened it—
“Welcome.”
Instead of staring endlessly out the window, she was looking straight at the door. Our eyes met.
“…You called for me?”
My earlier impression had been right—her eyes were still dead. I closed the door softly and approached. With a completely emotionless gesture, she pointed to the chair across from her.
“…Sit.”
Her tone left no room for refusal, carrying a subtle pressure. The strange atmosphere in the room made me tense. I swallowed again and moved cautiously.
The chair creaked as I sat down. I stole a glance at her. For once, the glass bottle she always carried was nowhere to be seen. The only thing on her was a ring with a dark blue gem on her right pinky finger.
…Was that where it was supposed to be?
I didn’t think much of it and shifted my gaze, only to meet her eyes directly. Crimson irises like they held fresh blood, skin so pale it was almost translucent, and brown hair that had grown longer than before.
She’s beautiful. So beautiful.
Even in this broken state, even though we were meeting as strangers, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world to me.
“…Jihwan…?”
Ju Yeonhee’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I quickly looked away and answered carefully.
“You can call me comfortably.”
Just a few years ago we had spoken without any formalities. Hearing her use such a stiff title felt incredibly awkward. She stared at me blankly for a long moment before asking, as if it didn’t really matter.
“…How did you end up working here?”
“…Chairman Jeon Nando introduced me.”
It was the truth. Without him, I never would have found her.
“…And how does he know you?”
“…I was introduced through Soyeon. He found out my family was struggling and offered to help.”
Half true, half a lie.
“…Where did you learn to cook?”
“…From the internet.”
A complete lie. The only thing I’d learned to cook from the internet recently was rose tteokbokki.
“…Is that so?”
Was it my imagination, or did her gaze suddenly sharpen? Feeling unnecessarily guilty, I changed the subject by bringing up Min Soyeon.
“Soyeon likes my cooking too, so I’m glad it seems to suit your palate as well, madam.”
“…Soyeon?”
The moment I mentioned her name, my wife showed a slight flicker of emotion. Oh, was this it?
“Yes. Since I live alone, I thought eating together would be better than eating by myself, so I cook for her sometimes.”
“…That child….”
Maybe mothers really were mothers after all. It seemed her maternal instincts hadn’t completely died; she still worried about her daughter. In that case, talking about Soyeon might make her happy.
“…This time, Soyeon—”
“What is your relationship with that child?”
She cut me off mid-sentence and asked a completely unexpected question. Her unfocused eyes bored into me.
…Crap.
I realized my mistake too late. Right now I wasn’t Min Sungjae—I was Yu Jihwan. Min Soyeon’s partner and the housekeeper sent by Jeon Nando. Of course Ju Yeonhee would see me as some random man who kept visiting her daughter’s house.
“…I’m sorry. I should have explained first…. We’re simply partners. I already have someone I like, so I have no feelings for Soyeon whatsoever.”
Even though that person is sitting right in front of me.
She stared at me for a while before her eyes softened slightly. She spoke slowly.
“…My husband once said he could never accept a son-in-law weaker than the Sword Empress. So please watch over her closely, won’t you?”
‘No man weaker than the Sword Empress can take Soyeon away.’
Those were my own words from when I was alive. So she still cared about her daughter this much…!
I felt pathetic for ever thinking my wife had completely abandoned our child. Almost one-sided, we continued our conversation until I left the room to prepare lunch. I brought up lunch, talked with her some more, then served dinner. Most of it had been her asking questions or us talking about Soyeon, but looking back, we had shared quite a lot.
I saw real hope from our meeting. I had thought her heart was completely dead, but deep inside her chest, love for her husband and guilt toward the daughter she had left behind were still fully intact.
…Even so, keeping my severed body parts was still hard to understand, but if I took it as proof of how much she had loved me, it somehow made a twisted kind of sense….
Anyway, I felt she would recover faster than I had expected. Time passed, and soon it was time for me to head home.
“Thanks to Jihwan today, everything was so comfortable!”
“The madam actually finished all her meals…. The chairman really knows how to pick people, doesn’t he?”
“…I was able to work comfortably thanks to all of you.”
While I waited for my ride, surrounded by the housekeepers’ farewells—
Creak— Creak—
The sound of wood groaning came from inside the house.
“Huh?”
We all turned at the same time and froze in shock.
“Madam?”
“Oh my goodness!”
Ju Yeonhee had appeared at the entrance. Ignoring the flustered housekeepers, she approached me and spoke in a low voice.
“…Come again.”
‘Come again.’
Her indifferent words seeped gently into my chest. If I wasn’t misunderstanding, she was clearly telling me to visit again.
The person who had been waiting for death just yesterday was now making plans for the future with me.
“…Yes. I will definitely come next week as well.”
There was no greater joy for me right now.
*
“Chairman, the person sent by the government has vanished without a trace.”
“Ugh…. It’s obviously those cult bastards, but without solid evidence…. Chairman, shouldn’t we do something—”
Ring ring— Ring ring—
A sudden unfamiliar ringtone made everyone hold their breath. This ringtone….
I shot up from my seat and addressed the room.
“Ah, that’s my phone. Please continue the discussion.”
Leaving the meeting behind, I took the phone my secretary handed me and headed into the inner room of the chairman’s office.
“Director Gong! Are you just going to sit there? We need to crush those cultists…!”
The moment I closed the door with a heavy thud, the voices from the conference room were cut off. Only the persistent ringtone remained.
“…Hoo….”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I picked up the constantly ringing phone. There was only one person who would call this number. The fact that she was calling meant my sharp-witted disciple had noticed something.
I took a deep breath, cleared my throat, and answered.
"It's me."
The voice coming through the speaker stirred a storm of emotions.
“…Yes, what brings you to call me all of a sudden—”
"I'll give you one week."
A sudden demand mixed with a threat. Not something a disciple should say to her master.
“…I-I don’t quite understand what you mean…. By the way, how have you been—”
"Yu Jihwan."
I flinched at the name that came through the speaker.
“…Yeonhee, I take it the child I sent was quite satisfactory?”
"Before he comes next week, bring me the information."
So she had figured it out after all…. I knew she would find out eventually, but I hadn’t expected it to be this fast. The man wasn’t the type to run his mouth, though he could be a bit pathetic. She must have caught some unconscious habit of his.
In that case, giving him some time wasn’t a bad idea.
“…I’m sorry. Next week is a little difficult—”
"Master. One week."
Her voice was already pulling away as if she were about to hang up. I spoke in a hurry.
“W-wait! That child is Soyeon’s partner, so I brought him—”
"As expected, it was a lie you ordered, Master."
Damn it…. Now that she knew everything, there was no excuse I could make.
“…I-I’ll send it as quickly as possible.”
"I'll look forward to it."
The call ended abruptly the moment I agreed to send it. I wiped away the cold sweat that had formed on my brow.
…Heartless girl. Not even a word of thanks.
I slipped the phone into my pocket and let out a deep sigh. I felt a little sorry for Yu Jihwan, but it was an unavoidable choice on my part. With the scent of war in the air, the return of the Sword Empress took priority above all else.
…I suppose I’ll have to stall as much as I can. Still, it won’t be too late even if she returns once the Gujae Church begins to move in earnest. The Ju Yeonhee I know is a meticulous hunter. The fact that she hasn’t moved yet means she needs concrete evidence.
I don’t know how she’ll use that evidence, but… with Yu Jihwan now the cult’s target, she needs to remain as free as possible.