DDB Ch 1

Seo Jiwoon, 27 years old.

A restorer affiliated with the Florence Art Restoration Association.

Specialty fields: oil paintings and frescoes.

Ishin’s eyes, reading the document in his hand, are subtly distorted.

Recently, the restoration license was suspended due to violation of international regulations.

Fired from the workshop (Giovanni).

Deported back to Korea three days ago due to cancellation of work visa.

Special notes: memory disorder, complex sleep disorder, slight sensory impairment also evident.

Ishin, lifting his gaze from the document, now looked at the woman before him. The moment their eyes met, Jiwoon licked her lower lip with the tip of her tongue and spoke.

“Please tell me what you want.”

The woman’s dark eyes flickered heavily, like peering into a dark, eerie forest.

“I can do anything for you.”

Her eyes momentarily shone like sunlight peeking through dense tree shadows, then faded again. It was quite unique.

Like,

“In return… you have to take me in.”

“…?”

“My restoration license is suspended, I was fired from the workshop. I have no family to rely on in Korea, the only person I know…”

Is there a madness in her eyes, like a wild beast on the verge of going berserk?

“Is you.”

Seo Jiwoon, 27 years old.

Ishin recalled the document he had just read.

It had been eight years since he last saw her, in the winter of the year she had just turned nineteen or twenty.

Yet, it felt like a hundred years had passed. She had changed so much from the image he remembered.

A restorer affiliated with the Florence Art Restoration Association.

Specialty fields: oil paintings and frescoes.

Following her father, she had painted day and night, and eventually became a restorer. This was within the realm of expectation. She had found her path with her genius talent.

But what?

Violation of international regulations, license suspension, dismissal, cancellation of work visa, and even deportation?

These were words that didn’t suit the high school girl who was quiet and mature like a still-life painting with the scent of spring eight years ago.

“The only person I know… is you.”

Ishin slowly repeated Jiwoon’s words, then looked back at the document.

[Family relationship: Single, no cohabitants. No boyfriend,

※The only personal relationship is with another Korean, Shin Myungja.]

After eight years, Jiwoon hadn’t even managed to get a boyfriend. She had no family left in Korea, truly making her adrift.

Ishin quietly observed Jiwoon, now a woman, not a girl, sitting upright on a mint-striped couch, her eyes oddly shining.

Not a girl but a woman.

As expected from her appearance eight years ago, Jiwoon had grown into quite a beautiful woman.

But…

Had she not slept? Her face was pale, with dark circles under her eyes.

Her bangs, reaching down to her eyebrows, created shadows, making her bloodless face look even more hollow.

Her long, disheveled hair over her thin shoulders, the thin pajamas with just a nightgown on top, nothing about her was normal.

But the most abnormal might be those amber eyes, slightly reddened.

Ishin furrowed his brow slightly, pulled out a cigarette from a silver cigarette case, and lit it.

“We…”

As he lit the cigarette, Jiwoon’s eyes slightly widened.

Meeting her gaze head-on, he took a drag and exhaled a long stream of smoke.

“How long have we known each other?”

Through the hazy smoke, Jiwoon’s face blurred momentarily, then cleared.

“Long enough. At least, by my standards?”

Her eyes sparkled through the smoke, reminding him of a young deer he encountered while hunting in a Bavarian hunting ground in Germany. The young deer, with its curious eyes shining, unaware of the danger posed by the hunter with a rifle right in front of it.

Would that young deer consider him an acquaintance?

One corner of Ishin’s mouth twisted into a sneer, and he took another drag from his cigarette.

“Your standards are too lax.”

With a cold gaze, he examined Jiwoon, then stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette. The red ember crushed into black, releasing a sharp scent.

“Seems you’ve forgotten how you ended up here…”

“Then how about… destiny tied by the medium of abduction?”

Jiwoon gestured to her hands and feet bound with cable ties.

“…That’s quite a strong bond, isn’t it?”

The slight smile that crept up her corner of her mouth was strange. Such a smile in this situation was not just peculiar but bizarre.

“Strong bond?”

Ishin slowly stood up.

Jiwoon’s gaze followed him from below.

“No sense of crisis at all? You’ve literally been abducted.”

At his words, her amber eyes tensed.

Opening a drawer slowly with his question, Ishin pulled out a hunting knife. Her eyes followed his hand, which drew the blade from its sheath. Then, in a dreamy voice, she continued.

“What does it matter? The important thing is that we’ve met again like this.”

Would it be an exaggeration to say he saw a feverish joy in her eyes as she looked at him?

“By now, isn’t this fate…?”

Ishin, standing in front of the couch, looked down at Jiwoon, who gazed up at him with an entranced expression.

He remembered the moment he encountered Jiwoon in a dilapidated warehouse on the Belvedere Hill in Florence two weeks ago, under the moonlight. Even then, she seemed a bit odd, but he didn’t realize she was this broken. The fact that she could look at a man approaching with a menacing hunting knife with such eyes indicated she wasn’t in her right mind.

Ishin, slowly extending his hand as he had done that day, placed his fingertips under Jiwoon’s chin. Her clear eyes shimmered with a hint of madness.

Despite her slender neck that could snap with one hand, her gaze was anything but ordinary.

“And…”

Jiwoon’s voice trembled at the end.

The black pupils in her amber eyes narrowed intensely, growing darker.

“That you have <Guinevere>… is very important.”

“<Guinevere>?”

A chuckle escaped him finally.

A bold woman who, like a thieving cat, had entered someone else’s territory and claimed ownership over others’ possessions with such audacity. Yes, that was Seo Jiwoon.

With a scoff, Ishin grasped her small chin more firmly.

“The thieving cat is still playing house, I see?”

He circled his thumb around her chin, then pressed down on her plump lower lip. Her thick eyelashes fluttered like reeds in the wind.

Looking at her innocent eyes, full of expectation, Ishin spoke with a sarcastic tone.

“Still so cute.”

“If I’m cute… then teach me.”

Her dreamy voice stretched intriguingly.

As the light cast shadows, her delicate features on her thin face became clearer, her face so provocative it made one crave a cigarette.

Meeting his gaze head-on, Jiwoon posed her question again.

“Where is my painting?”

My painting, she said.

“Such brazenness.”

Ishin released her chin as if discarding it and held out the hunting knife. Then, he roughly grabbed her slender wrist.

“It’s not your painting, it’s mine. And you were indeed abducted.”

He cut through the cable ties with the blade and let go of her wrist. The red marks on her thin wrists were an eyesore.

Kneeling on one knee, he also untied her ankles, still bound with her pajamas.

Her fragile ankles, almost breaking under the gray pajamas, briefly came into view before disappearing. Her small, bony feet rubbed together as if cold.

At this sight, Ishin let out a low scoff and slowly stood up.

“So, get a grip on reality and understand the situation.”

Huh?

With a smooth smile, he turned away. Now that he had secured Seo Jiwoon, he had to proceed to the next phase without delay.

There would be an endless series of complex steps involving commands, reports, surveillance, and protection. Given the state of the target, his head was already throbbing.

As he walked, he beckoned to Shanti, who was waiting by the door, and gave his instructions.

“Explain to the lady who enjoys playing house the house rules calmly…”

Ishin’s dark gaze lingered on Jiwoon for a moment.

“And let’s get some sleep for her, she’s lacking rest.”

So she could be in her right mind when he saw her next.

Ishin glanced at Jiwoon, patted Shanti on the shoulder, and then left.