Masquerader Chapter 15

―Ding-dong

 

The doorbell rang in the officetel, and the wall pad screen lit up. Chi-wook’s now-familiar face appeared first. Unlike Seo Tae-shin, who would enter by entering the door lock password as he pleased, Chi-wook diligently rang the bell every time he visited.

 

Today, he was not alone. Over his shoulder, a middle-aged woman stood demurely. It was Seol-ah’s mother.

 

Her mother had been saying since the hospital that she wanted to come see Seol-ah. Seol-ah had put it off with the false excuse that visits were prohibited, but now that she had been discharged, she could no longer avoid it forever.

 

If she had a choice, she would not have wanted to tell her mother about what had happened that day. It was something she had to bear alone, and there was no reason for her mother to feel any guilt or responsibility over it.

 

If only she hadn’t forgotten to take her blood pressure medication that day, if only her daughter hadn’t caught Seo Gyo-jin’s attention—useless hypotheticals.

 

However, her mother seemed to have already heard about the situation from someone. Naturally, she had been worried since her daughter had been out of contact for days. Thinking of her mother running around everywhere trying to find her made Seol-ah feel uneasy.

 

“Well then, I’ll leave you two to talk.”

 

Having escorted her mother to the officetel, Chi-wook excused himself to give them privacy. Seol-ah opened the cupboard, searching for tea leaves and a teapot to brew some tea.

 

Since she rarely used the kitchen, she had no idea where anything was. After rummaging around for a while, she found some cookies to accompany the tea and set them out.

 

Her mother sat awkwardly at the dining table, glancing around at the luxurious interior of the officetel. As Seol-ah placed the hot teacup in front of her, her mother gazed at her with a look of concern.

 

“Why are you so thin? Seol-ah, you’re not eating properly again, are you?”

 

“No, it’s the same as always.”

 

“The same? Your face looks like you haven’t had a proper meal in weeks.”

 

Clicking her tongue, her mother cast a glance at the teacup Seol-ah had handed her. The brand-new cup gleamed as if it had just been taken off a department store shelf. Perhaps finding its pristine appearance too daunting, her mother clasped her hands together on the table and spoke.

 

“What is this place, anyway? When I came in, I saw multiple doors and tight security.”

 

“They said it’s a temporary residence provided by the prosecutor’s office.”

 

Seol-ah repeated what Chi-wook had told her. She, too, believed that giving her mother unnecessary details wouldn’t be beneficial.

 

“They don’t want me attracting attention by wandering around outside. Until the trial is over, they want me to stay quiet here.”

 

“I appreciate them helping you this much, but just come home with me today. You’re so skinny you look like you’ll collapse any second—I can’t leave you alone.”

 

“I told you, I’m fine.”

 

“Fine? How is this fine?!”

 

Her mother’s voice suddenly rose in frustration. Startled, Seol-ah stared at her in confusion.

 

“Your wrist is nothing but skin and bones! It looks like it’ll snap if I’m not careful. I need to take you home and feed you properly. That’s why I came today—to take you home.”

 

Was she really that thin? Since she saw her own wrists every day, they looked the same as usual to her. Forcing a smile, Seol-ah reassured her.

 

“I’ll eat well. You saw earlier—there’s someone making sure I do. And I have to go to the hospital for outpatient treatment. If I go home, reporters might be lurking around, so they told me to avoid going there if possible. That’s why I asked you to meet me here today—”

 

Her mother shook her head, cutting Seol-ah off.

 

“Who told you that? There are no reporters at the house.”

 

“…What?”

 

“I said, there are no reporters. I spoke with the company, and everything has been settled. No one’s going to be looking for you anymore.”

 

Seol-ah’s face went blank with confusion.

 

“…What? What do you mean by ‘settled’?”

 

“Madam from Seomyeong Group visited our house in person. She said the young master wants to apologize to you.”

 

Her vision blurred. Her mother’s stiff expression wavered, then contorted.

 

“…What do you mean by ‘everything has been settled’?”

 

“I heard everything about what happened that day. I was so shocked and furious…”

 

Her mother paused briefly, taking out a handkerchief to dab at her tears.

 

“I yelled at them and let everything out. I kept thinking about how scared you must have been, how you ran for your life through the deep forest in the dead of night.”

 

“…”

 

“Just thinking about your injuries makes my heart ache, and I feel like I’m being torn apart inside. But, Seol-ah…”

 

Her mother’s voice became muffled. The air fractured. The blurred silhouette before her looked as if it had been thickly painted over with oil colors, smeared and broken apart.

 

Seol-ah forced herself to sit up straight. Through the dizziness and numbness, one sentence struck her ears clearly.

 

“But in the end, nothing really happened, right?”

 

Ah.

 

It felt as though a massive hammer had struck her head.

 

Some words are like sharpened blades that stab directly into a person. And when the person wielding that blade is someone you never suspected would harm you, the wound cuts even deeper.

 

With a calm voice, Seol-ah spoke.

 

“So, since I wasn’t ultimately raped, that’s what you’re trying to say?”

 

“How can you say something like that to your mother?”

 

Her mother looked more hurt than Seol-ah. Her furrowed brows twisted in anguish.

 

“Don’t you see I’m saying this for your own good? Don’t you know I’ve worked for that family for over ten years? I know better than anyone how powerful they are. If you want to go up against people like that, you need to be cold and rational.”

 

Seol-ah let her mother’s persuading words pass through one ear and out the other as she thought to herself.  

 

When will this wretched ringing in my ears finally disappear?  

 

“Even if you take this to trial, the best you can hope for is a suspended sentence if he’s not acquitted. And in the meantime, if people keep talking about whether or not you were raped, what will our family be left with? This will be nothing but a scarlet letter. It’s always the woman who suffers in these situations.”  

 

She was exhausted. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to disappear into a world where she could hear nothing.  

 

In front of Seol-ah, who sat there utterly dazed, her mother hesitantly pushed a document toward her.  

 

[Settlement Agreement.]

 

The neatly printed letters tumbled around chaotically before her eyes. Beyond them, the ringing in her ears scraped against her eardrums, swallowing all other sounds.  

 

Your brother’s business… Your sister-in-law is about to give birth… The building rent… The premium… We could even send you abroad…  

 

Every single word that occasionally reached her ears was a wound. Enduring the now all-too-familiar physical pain, Seol-ah blinked.  

 

Had her mother’s face always looked like that? The sheer greed smeared across her wrinkled face reeked of vulgar materialism. She felt nauseous. The stench, sickening on her empty stomach, was the worst possible combination.  

 

I want to disappear.  

I want to disappear.  

I want to disappear.  

I want to disappear.  

 

If only I had fallen off a cliff deeper than four meters that day—it would have been a much cleaner ending… If only that man hadn’t wrapped himself around me, absorbing all the impact… If only Seo Tae-shin hadn’t saved me…  

 

Wait, did Seo Tae-shin really save me?  

 

I was completely alone that day, wasn’t I?  

 

“…Miss Yoon Seol-ah!”  

 

At that moment, her ears suddenly popped open as if she had been yanked up from deep underwater.  

 

Chi-wook, who had rushed over without her noticing, was cupping her ears with his palms and shaking her back and forth like a pill bug.  

 

“Miss Yoon Seol-ah, are you okay? Are you with us?”  

 

It seemed that at some point, her mind had given out, and she had collapsed, suffering a seizure. Shocked by the sight of Seol-ah like this for the first time, her mother stood at a distance, too stunned to come closer, flustered and helpless.  

 

“…S-Secretary.”  

 

“What happened? We should go to the hospital first.”  

 

“No, I’m fine. I have medicine for times like this.”  

 

Sedatives, sleeping pills, antidepressants—she had so many that just taking them filled her up.  

 

“Still…”  

 

“More importantly, my mother is leaving now. Could you take her home?”  

 

“Ah, alright. That’s no problem…”  

 

As he nodded, Chi-wook’s expression hardened upon noticing the settlement agreement on the table.  

 

Even without looking at it, he seemed to understand. The brief flicker of disgust on his face vanished in an instant, but in that fleeting moment, Seol-ah’s heart lurched.  

 

How could my mother do this to me?  

 

Forcing down the resentment rising in her throat, she turned her head away.  

 

She had barely survived, yet she was still alone here.