when the phone rings novel
Baek Sa-eon allowed the lunging dog to bite onto the bag before stepping firmly on its neck to subdue it. Moments later, two burly men arrived, panting, and quickly secured a collar around the dog's neck.
One of the men, pale-faced, asked shakily, "Are... are you okay? Did the child get hurt anywhere?"
"She nearly lost her life."
Hearing his tense, almost neurotic voice, a sense of relief surged in Hee-joo's heart. Exhausted, she slumped limply against his shoulder. 'This might seem a little improper...' The thought crossed her mind for a fleeting moment, but she couldn't even move a finger.
Thankfully, Baek Sa-eon simply comforted her small frame silently.
"I didn't expect this filthy place to be so dangerous. Whose dog is it? Chairman Seo's? Or Minister Han's?"
"I'm sorry." The caretaker lowered his head, looking utterly humiliated.
"Haven't we met somewhere before?"
"What?"
"You look familiar... ah, so this dog belongs to Director Kang."
Baek Sa-eon gestured toward the dog with a slight tilt of his chin, but his eyes remained locked on the man in front of him.
The man's face flushed red, but he couldn't muster a single word.
"Director Kang isn't exactly a dog lover."
"P-please, I'm sorry," the caretaker stammered, bowing repeatedly.
Baek Sa-eon turned away coldly without another word.
Suddenly, a sharp sting radiated across his cheek.
"A dog couldn't have hit you with its front paw."
He gently touched her swollen cheek, red from her mother's slap. Hee-joo, utterly drained, breathed faintly, barely holding on. It was the same side of her face her mother had struck.
"You need to learn how to fight back."
"...!"
"Whether it's your sister or your mother, you have to prepare to fight back, no matter who it is."
He said these words—so defiant and unyielding—without hesitation.
"There will always be a chance for revenge."
Leaning against his shoulder, she felt the coldness in his voice seep through her, carried by his body's warmth.
"Someone with ambition wouldn't live quietly like you."
The warmth of his body made her drowsy, the exhaustion lulling her closer to sleep. Perhaps it was because of this warmth that, the closer they got to her house, the tighter she clung to his jacket.
'But I'll have to get down eventually...'
Swallowing a sigh, Hee-joo shifted her body, preparing to climb down.
Just as she was about to step out, the boy walking calmly beside her suddenly picked her up again.
"...!"
He walked straight past Chairman Hong's gates without hesitation.
Hee-joo, startled, turned her head, glancing back and forth between the gates and her brother.
"Happy birthday," he said.
"...!"
Before she realized it, the sun had already set. She stared at him as if rooted to the ground, but the boy stubbornly kept his eyes fixed ahead.
Baek Sa-eon looked up at the sunset-stained sky and said coldly, "Just like your bruised cheek."
"......"
"Red."
The setting sun illuminated one side of his face, making him appear a bit worn.
On an impulse, Hee-joo blew a puff of air toward him.
He frowned, turning his head in the direction of the tickling sensation.
This time, she blew into the air toward the sky. "Ah, ah."
Baek Sa-eon's lips twitched, lifting into a slight smirk on one side. For once, the face that always seemed so stern finally looked like that of an eighteen-year-old boy.
"Blowing out candles?"
As she gazed at the faint smile at the corner of his eyes, she thought it was beautiful—the sunset-painted sky, the solid embrace...
And the boy's smile.
This watercolor-like moment lingered on Hee-joo's retinas for a long time.
That night, Hee-joo was tormented by an inexplicable heat. A longing, admiration, and yearning for someone swirled emptily in her chest. It was on that night that her first period began.
"Ugh...!"
When she opened her eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling greeted her. Before she could process her surroundings, a groan escaped her lips. Her head throbbed terribly, and her limbs were tightly bound in bandages—it was a pitiful sight.
'What should I do...'
She suddenly remembered—she still had to prepare her presentation! That was the first thought that came to her.
As she groaned and tried to sit up, the door to the hospital room swung open. Baek Sa-eon walked in.
"......"
"......"
Their gazes met, and in that instant, the last of her memories surged back into her mind.
Even in such an extreme situation, she had held on to her identity as "Four-zero-six." She felt a small sense of pride in herself.
She wanted to laugh out loud but worked hard to keep her composure.
"How are you feeling?"
Hee-joo nodded slightly, signaling that she was alright.
"Is that so?" the man murmured in a subtle tone, suddenly locking the door to the hospital room with a soft click. His expression remained impassive as he strode over to the bedside, quickly closing the distance.
"Then, you should be able to handle this."
Before Hee-joo could process his words—
"...!"
He suddenly pressed his lips to hers.
The warmth of the contact was startling. The man gently cradled the back of Hee-joo's neck, his lips firmly capturing hers.
Reflexively, Hee-joo pushed against his shoulders, but he didn't budge, solid as stone. In the next moment, his heated tongue slipped between her slightly parted lips.
"Mm...!"
The moist tangling of tongues left no room for resistance. His lips pressed tightly against hers, seemingly intent on consuming her entirely. Teeth grazed against each other, and her slick mouth was filled with the intensity of his kiss.
Unfamiliar with such intimate contact, Hee-joo's breathing quickened, her hands repeatedly patting against him in protest. Yet, Baek Sa-eon only grew more forceful, delving deeper as his tongue explored her warm mouth, teasing the sensitive roof of her mouth.
"Mm... th-that...!"
Heat welled up in her eyes, tears forming at the corners as ragged breaths escaped her lips. Each time she exhaled the breath trapped in her throat, his expression grew more determined. Baek Sa-eon clung to her relentlessly, his lips pressing against hers, his hands imposing against her soft skin.
The dampness of their contact, meeting and parting, created soft, echoing sounds in the otherwise silent hospital room. When he leaned in even closer, lowering his head deeper, Hee-joo mustered all her strength and pushed him away.
"Stop...!"
The word escaped her in a sharp cry, startling even herself with the suddenness of her voice.
She froze, shocked by the sharpness of her own tone. The unyielding barrier that she had tried to maintain had been forcefully broken, leaving her with an overwhelming sense of shame, as though her most disgraceful secrets had been laid bare.
And the man before her...
He wiped his damp lower lip with the back of his hand, a faint, misplaced smile tugging at his mouth.
"Ah," he murmured, almost as if arriving at a revelation.
"Hee-joo, is this fun for you?"
"...!"
Despite the upward curve of his lips, his gaze was cold, chilling her to the bone. The frigid look in his eyes made her feel an inexplicable chill run down her spine, and she found herself unable to read his thoughts at all.
"When someone asks you a question, you should answer," he said, leaning down until their eyes were level.
"You're perfectly capable of speaking so well."
"...!"
Baek Sa-eon slowly reached out, gently brushing his fingers along the arch of her eyebrows.
Her pulse seemed to thrum throughout her entire body as she swallowed dryly.
"When did it start? How old were you?"
Her mouth opened, but just like before, no words came out. Instead, cold sweat trickled down her back.
The man gently wiped her warm forehead, his movements meticulous.
"You seem uncomfortable."
"...!"
"If you're uncomfortable, is that why you can't speak?"
He pressed his thumb lightly against the delicate skin near her wrist. Though it seemed like only a gentle touch, a dull ache spread across her smooth skin.
"Do you know who found you in the mountains?"
Baek Sa-eon's unblinking gaze pierced into her.
"Four-zero-six."
"...!"
"The same person who's been keeping me awake at night with their threats." He raised an eyebrow, his tone laden with implication.
"If it weren't for that call, I wouldn't have found you. That stalker—Four-zero-six—told me about the cliffside cave even the mountain rescue team didn't know about."
Hee-joo lowered her head, avoiding his gaze entirely. At this moment, she couldn't bear to look at him.
"So now, I'm in a dilemma. I'm not sure what to do," Baek Sa-eon said, his unwavering stare fixed on her pale face.
"Should I hand the blackmailer over to the police, or—"
"...!"
Hee-joo flinched visibly, her body trembling.
"Or should I grant Four-zero-six's demands?"
His eyes didn't blink, but the endless darkness within his pupils was profoundly unsettling.
"What should I do with that person?"
Baek Sa-eon gripped her wrist tightly, his hold unrelenting, leaving her unable to move or escape.
Baek Sa-eon stepped outside, his face completely devoid of emotion.
"Stop... please, I'm begging you...!"
The moment that distinct voice reached his ears, goosebumps spread from his ears down to his jawline. It was the exact same voice he had heard countless times on the recording files that had kept him up at night.
—Is it you, brother? Are you waiting for me?
—Please, I'm begging you, I'm pleading, sob—
—Let go, just let go, please.
Four-zero-six and Hong Hee-joo. The threats, the pleas, the rejection of an unfamiliar body—they all came from the same person. Yes, it was unmistakably the same voice.
A blurry wave of emotion surged through him, rising to his head. An uncontrollable excitement coursed roughly through his veins, leaving him feeling as though his entire body was engulfed in searing heat.
Hong Hee-joo could speak. No, more precisely—
"Hong Hee-joo was threatening me."
That same child who couldn't even do basic addition was now fearlessly threatening him.
Baek Sa-eon lightly ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, which still carried the faint taste of his wife. Then, in a low voice, he began to hum the tune from a police radio broadcast.
"You can ring my be-e-ell..."
The black box recorded everything, including the moment when Hee-joo began to panic. All the analyses were complete—threats and coercion, lingering somewhere between voluntary and forced.
Tilting his tired neck, his expression turned grim.
"What kind of deal did she make with that guy..."
The memory of Hee-joo hyperventilating into the radio and intercom in the black box recordings made him clench his fists.
In the beginning, this had been the behavior of a genuine blackmailer. However, something had shifted—a transaction had been made. Now, Hee-joo was standing on the same side as the arsonist captured on surveillance footage.
Even when the car flipped, her husband suffocated, and her father was injured, she hadn't asked for help. There was something on the other side that she couldn't give up.
That dangerous alliance.
"Revert to the state before the political marriage."
Shadows clouded Baek Sa-eon's face.
Something felt deeply wrong. His intuition cut like a knife—this was a cruel prank. Having once orchestrated such schemes himself in the underground bunkers of the Blue House, he could recognize the signs all too well.
Something felt very wrong.
He needed to extract Hee-joo from this web of threats and coercion.
Then—
"...Alright, I'll play along with you for now."
"But Four-zero-six's intentions will never succeed."
He had to draw out the real blackmailer. Recalling the sequence of the office fire, the solution was simple.
When the threatening calls faced a critical disruption, the true perpetrator would reveal themselves.