Even If It’s Not Love - Chapter 53-2

There was no way that someone who felt awkward for being hated by others would be able to endure more than anyone else having a lot of enemies. After overcoming the office people, it would be family, friends, acquaintances, and so on. He had to overcome all that opposition, but Dong-min did not have the strength to do so. That man, who had no experience of that natural fact, was unaware of it.

He would just be overwhelmed by the emotions he would feel for the first time. When he eventually exhausted his emotions, he would just say, ‘I’m sorry.’

Above all, she didn’t feel anything for Dong-min. All she could think was that he was a good person.

Yoo-hwa’s dark eyes, without a single gleam, showed signs of exhaustion.

“You must be curious because I’m a human being you have never seen before.”

Still, Yoo-hwa spoke calmly.

That interest, which was considered a rational curiosity, was actually a curiosity about a human being that he had never seen before, and sloppy courage to save a woman who looked unhappy.

The kind of powerless courage that would quickly collapse at the opposition of someone.

“No. I…”

Then, when Dong-min tried to answer her,

“Hannam-dong basement murder. Kim Yoo-hwa. Search those two things. Then, you’ll change your mind about me.”

After leaving those words, Yoo-hwa walked past Dong-min. There was no noise behind her as she walked heavily down the stairs.

***

Rain suddenly started pouring from the sky that had been clear just a moment ago. The rain pouring down in a diagonal line obscured his vision. Woo-nam stood under the tent of a store that had long since closed its door and looked at the old three-story building. Not knowing whether he was keeping an eye on her or protecting her, he had been watching a woman for several weeks, under the instructions of Jun-kyung.

He knew a lot about the woman. He didn’t know what kind of relationship they had, but he noticed that there were complicated emotions between the woman and Woo-hyun.

The pattern of the woman he was watching was always consistent. She went to work at the appointed time, and left work. After work, she didn’t leave her home.

All she did was a 10-minute walk from her house to the mart about once or twice a week for grocery shopping, or going to the library to rent a book. It was such an uneventful life that it was boring.

There was one thing that was unusual about such a woman. Obviously, his people were standing in conspicuous places.

The woman acted like she didn’t know even though there was no way she could not feel the steps and gazes that followed her. Extremely slow-witted, or lacking something.

Woo-nam thought that she was either one of the two. It was only a few days ago that that thought changed.

It was a day when rain was pouring, like today. The woman was standing in front of the crosswalk, holding an umbrella, and he was standing behind her. The wind suddenly blew, and the umbrella leaned back. Reacting to it, the woman’s body swung back and turned halfway around. At that moment, their eyes met. Woo-nam thought about the reaction that the woman would show at a moment’s notice.

Would she be surprised, embarrassed, or scared?

But it went past all his expectations. The woman clearly saw Woo-nam. Their eyes met, and her gaze quickly scanned Woo-nam’s face.

However, she quickly turned her gaze forward, like she hadn’t seen anything. It was different from hurriedly pretending to not have seen him because she was surprised. She thought someone would be there, she confirmed it, but she didn’t care.

At that moment, the signal of the crosswalk changed, and the woman moved forward. It was an obvious disregard. It was revealed that the woman knew about his existence from the beginning, and even though she knew, she wasn’t afraid and pretended not to know. Woo-nam was perplexed by the woman’s reaction.

Woo-nam frowned as he quietly looked at the building. It was not time for work, but the woman was coming out of the building. Woo-nam’s gaze swiftly scanned the surroundings because it was different from her usual pattern. The people stationed around were ready to follow her in a hurry. Fortunately, except for themselves, there were no suspicious people around.

The woman walked down the road, not even holding an umbrella. When the woman passed him, Woo-nam would naturally follow her. However, the woman’s steps stopped right in front of him.

Woo-nam looked at the woman with a suspicious expression. It was only a short distance walk, but the woman was already quite wet. Rain flowed down her white face and dripped down from the tip of her chin. She was completely wet, but her eyes were dry and distant. Her red lips, wet with the rain, slowly opened.

“You know Sin Woo-hyun, right?”

“…”

“There’s no way you don’t know. Or do you not know the name of your boss? I don’t know what it’s called.”

“…”

“Anyway, take me to your boss.”

Woo-nam seemed to doubt his ears.

“Right now.”

However, as if saying that he had heard it correctly, the woman spoke with firm eyes.

“I’ll contact him and…”

“If it’s calling, I can do that too. I think I need to talk about this in person.”

“…”

Woo-nam was stunned.

“So tell him. Tell him to meet me as soon as possible, if he doesn’t want to see me poking around asking where Sin Woo-hyun is.”