Yoon Taehee stopped by his apartment to prepare for work.
The first thing he did upon returning home was to plug in his dead phone. He had been too preoccupied all day yesterday to pay attention to any contacts. As soon as he checked his phone, dozens of missed call logs poured in. Among them, the names that appeared most frequently were Kang Yibin and Seok Juryeon.
Just as he was carefully examining the call list with indifferent eyes, the phone rang. The caller was Kang Yibin. Yoon Taehee brought the phone to his ear.
"Yes, Manager Kang."
"...Chief? Is that you?"
Kang Yibin, who had called without much expectation, drew in a breath. Perhaps because she had been unable to reach him for so long, she seemed not to have expected Yoon Taehee to actually answer the phone.
"Chief! What on earth happened? Are you alright?"
Kang Yibin blurted out urgently in a flustered voice.
"Yes, I'm fine. As you can see, l've survived and am answering the phone."
"Thank goodness, thank goodness..."
Her voice, repeating the same words over and over, was faintly trembling.
"Were you worried? I forgot to contact you because I was so busy all day. I'm really fine, so don't worry."
Yoon Taehee briefly explained to Kang Yibin what had happened yesterday. It was a selectively filtered account, stating that he had escaped the scene using a silver battery, the situation was resolved, and Jaegyeom was also safe.
"Chief, I'm sorry... Because of me..."
"How is this because of you, Manager Kang?"
Yoon Taehee said with a chuckle.
"B-but originally I was supposed to..."
"We'll talk about the details when we meet. I'm heading to office soon."
"Chief..."
"I'll see you at the office then."
***
Just before noon, Yoon Taehee entered the headquarters with a bare face marked with bruises and walked down the corridor with a brisk stride.
Before heading to the Team 1's office, he had somewhere else to visit first.
Standing in front of the door of the Exorcism Department Head's office, Yoon Taehee knocked and opened the door simultaneously.
"Oh, you're here. I was worried you might not be in yet."
Yoon Taehee entered the Department Head's office, speaking in his usual tone. Seok Juryeon, who had been sitting at her desk, froze as her gaze fell on the doorway. Despite the early hour, mountains of file folders were piled on her desk.
Her complexion had worsened considerably in just one day.
"Have you eaten?"
Yoon Taehee asked casually, as if nothing had happened. After staring at him silently for a while, Seok Juryeon lowered her gaze to her documents and replied curtly.
"Yes."
Yoon Taehee, who had entered the Department Head's office without permission as usual, went to the leather sofa and plopped down. However, the seat he took was usually Seok Juryeon's seat, the head seat with its back to the desk.
Sitting with his legs crossed, he opened the newspaper on the reception table and began reading as if the Exorcism Department Head's office were his own.
"..."
Seok Juryeon remained silent, and Yoon Taehee didn't speak either. Except for the rustling sound of turning newspaper pages, a heavy silence settled in the Department Head's office.
Yoon Taehee, who had been flipping through the newspaper, finally broke the silence.
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
At this subtle question, Seok Juryeon's hand, which had been scribbling a signature on a document, stopped mid-motion. She put down her fountain pen and raised her head. After silently staring at the back of Yoon Taehee's head for a while, she quietly spoke.
"Undercover Department's Choi, said he would formally apologize to you."
"Is that so?"
"Apparently, they had secretly formed a task force team for a mission, but it turned out that one of the Undercover Department exorcists on the team had a private connection with Kim Yekwon. In the process, they diverted a spray developed by the Ceremonial Instruments Department. Head Choi personally admitted that it was entirely the Undercover Department's responsibility."
Yoon Taehee nodded as he turned the newspaper pages. He knew Seok Juryeon well. She wasn't usually this talkative.
"And?"
"They say they'll expel that Undercover Department exorcist who caused trouble this time within this
week. It's a decision made internally by the Department due to the risk of identity exposure. The spray produced by the Ceremonial Instruments Department will be collected in full and disposed of."
"I see."
Yoon Taehee, who had been fiddling with the corner of the newspaper with his fingertips, laughed silently.
The excuse that the headquarters had come up with was nothing more than an unsophisticated 'cutting off the tail'. However, he nodded, pretending not to know anything.
"Is that all you have to say?"
Yoon Taehee asked, tilting his head back while looking at the newspaper. Like doing a handstand, Seok Juryeon's face appeared upside down in Yoon Taehee's view. As their eyes met, she averted her gaze at some point.
At this, Yoon Taehee's expression became slightly strange. For some reason, he felt that Seok Juryeon couldn't look him straight in the eye. Having avoided his gaze, she was staring at her documents with an unreadable expression.
"You don't seem surprised that I returned safely after being captured in a situation where I couldn't use spiritual energy."
Yoon Taehee said with a slight smile. He had no intention of revealing anything about the immortality pill or the 'teacher'. He needed to remain in a state of knowing nothing. It was enough to have been caught up in the Undercover Department's scheme due to bad luck, put in great danger, and then escaped.
"Ah, or perhaps... Did you think, Yoon Taehee would have found a way out somehow?"
Even at this playful, nonchalant remark, Seok Juryeon showed no particular reaction. She just kept silent, her gaze fixed on her documents.
"If you trust me that much, I'm grateful. But aren't you curious about how I escaped?"
Finally, Seok Juryeon raised her head with a stiff face.
"Sure, how did you escape?"
It was a conversation no different from begging for forgiveness. To this, Yoon Taehee shrugged and replied.
"I used the silver battery."
"...I see, so that's what you did."
Yoon Taehee, who had been staring at Seok Juryeon with his head tilted, rested his arm on the back of the sofa and appeared lost in thought for a moment. Then he suddenly spoke.
"Department Head, do you feel sorry for me?"
At this sudden question, Seok Juryeon's eyes wavered briefly.
"Why? Don't feel sorry."
Yoon Taehee said with a faint smile.
"Do you remember what I said the day we first met?"
At these words, Seok Juryeon hesitated and raised her head.
I'm Yoon Taehee. I don't know my age, and I have no parents. So put a leash on me and use me as a hunting dog. If I ever become useless, you can just throw me away.'
"It's okay if you discard me. If you judge that I've outlived my usefulness, throw me away anytime. If it weren't for you, I would have died a long time ago"
Yoon Taehee said slowly, smiling.
"I've come this far all thanks to you..."
Trailing off, he slowly erased his smile. Finally, with an expressionless face like no other, he spoke in a voice tinged with coldness.
"So don't feel sorry."
Having finished speaking, Yoon Taehee stood up with a light expression. Seok Juryeon blankly watched his retreating figure as he left the Exorcism Department Head's office.
"..."
Left alone in the Exorcism Department Head's office, Seok Juryeon finally closed her eyes tightly and bowed her head. In fact, she had known all along that Yoon Taehee would return safely. It was because she had gone against the wishes of the Naryecheong Commisioner for the first time in her life-
Seok Juryeon had gone to rescue Yoon Taehee yesterday.
***
When Yoon Taehee entered the office after leaving the Exorcism Department Head's office, the team members rose from their seats to greet him as usual.
However, the atmosphere in the office was slightly different from usual. It felt somewhat subdued. Soon, Yoon Taehee quickly realized the reason.
"Chief, are you alright?"
Seeing Yoon Taehee's bruised face, the team members had a solemn look in their eyes. Judging by their reactions, they seemed to have received some information about yesterday's events from Kang Yibin.
After exchanging a few words with the team members, Yoon Taehee glanced at Kang Yibin. Her complexion was visibly poor. The area under her eyes was dark and lifeless. She looked so fragile that she might collapse at the slightest touch.
"Jaegyeom won't be coming in today. It seems he's feeling under the weather after being out in the field yesterday. I told him to rest for the day."
Saying this, Yoon Taehee gave a subtle signal to Kang Yibin.
"Manager Kang."
Yoon Taehee nodded slightly towards the direction of the Chief's office.
"Can I see you for a moment?"
Rising from her seat, Kang Yibin followed him to the Chief's office.
"You look quite unwell... Are you okay?"
Kang Yibin just nodded silently.
"Did you say anything to the team members?"
After a moment of silence, she asked with a clouded face.
"Aren't you affected at all, Chief?"
"By what?"
"You almost had a terrible incident yesterday."
Yoon Taehee, rubbing his chin, replied nonchalantly.
"Well... It was almost terrible, but it didn't actually happen. And the Department Head told me that this incident was due to one Undercover Department exorcist acting independently..."
At that moment, Kang Yibin's face hardened as she cut off Yoon Taehee's words.
"Do you really believe that?"
She bit her lip and spoke as if grinding her words.
"Naryecheong betrayed you, Chief."
Yoon Taehee, who had been hanging his suit jacket on the chair, paused and turned to look at Kang Yibin.
She stood there for a long time with her face buried in her hands. Yoon Taehee, who had been sitting loosely on the desk, approached Kang Yibin. Leaning slightly towards her with his hands behind his back, Yoon Taehee asked.
"Are you crying?"
At this teasing tone that seemed to break the serious atmosphere, Kang Yibin, irritated, lowered her hands abruptly and glared at Yoon Taehee.
"I'm not crying!"
Thanks to this, a faint smile seemed to appear on Kang Yibin's face, which had been gloomy all along, but soon she lowered her gaze and muttered softly.
"I just... can't forgive them..."
She shook her head, her shoulders drooping.
"The headquarters did nothing even though they knew you were in danger, Chief. Isn't this betrayal? No matter how I think about it, I can't forgive them."
And what she couldn't forgive the most was herself.
Although she said the headquarters did nothing knowing Chief Yoon was in danger, in fact, Kang Yibin herself had done nothing either. She hadn't gone to rescue him like Jaegyeom, nor had she defied Seok Juryeon's orders. She hadn't slept a wink last night, tormented by guilt.
"I already died once yesterday..."
Kang Yibin took a deep breath and made a bitter face.
It was the look of someone gazing at a crumbled sand castle.