Chapter 6

Because something new had appeared

‘Bunch of vermin.’

Baek Seorin looked around the conference room from the chairperson’s seat.

A foundation bearing her own name.

Inside it, her family, relatives, and old acquaintances were all darting their eyes around, desperate to find some way to save themselves.

Some glanced toward the exit, while others watched the Association employee’s reaction.

The people who had been laughing and chatting with one another just moments ago were now only thinking about who they could dump the blame on so they could escape.

Of them all, her mother was the first to speak.

“Se-Seorin.”

Her mother was pressing both hands against the upper part of her brother’s severed arm, but blood continued seeping between her fingers.

“Let’s send your brother to the hospital first. Okay? We can talk after that.”

“Is there anything left to talk about?”

“M-Mom was wrong. I truly never imagined our daughter might still be alive...”

“Ahh. So that’s why you were so surprised when I came back earlier?”

“... N-No, that was just...”

Her mother closed her mouth.

Baek Seorin silently stared at her face.

It was a face she had thought of countless times while enduring each day inside the gate.

She had thought of it when the food ran out, and even on days when she felt like she might fall asleep and never open her eyes again.

Still, Mom must be waiting for me.

If I make it back alive, she’ll be happy just because of that.

Whenever things became so difficult and exhausting that she wanted to give up on everything, she had endured by telling herself that over and over again.

“Ughhh...”

“S-Son! I-It’s okay. Mom’s right here. J-Just hold on a little longer.”

Yet now that she had actually returned, her mother was holding onto her brother’s severed arm before the daughter who had returned alive after seven years.

That man who looked just like the bastard who had gambled away the family fortune, reduced the household to ruins, and eventually run away.

Thinking about it, there was nothing strange about it.

Mom had always been like that.

Every time that man caused trouble, the last person Mom came looking for was her.

He’s family, so you should try to understand.

Your brother is only doing this because he’s having a hard time too.

Can’t you just give in this once?

“Seorin. Mom really...”

“Enough.”

Baek Seorin cut her off.

Because she didn’t want to hear any more.

If she kept listening, it felt like this time it might not end with just her brother.

Meanwhile, the people sitting in the conference room were only watching one another’s reactions.

It was as though they were measuring who would speak first and draw Baek Seorin’s attention.

No one moved for a long while, until one of the relatives finally gathered the courage.

“Se-Seorin. I only put my name down because your mother asked me to. I barely had anything to do with the foundation’s work.”

Instead of answering, Baek Seorin stared at the man for a moment.

Then she simply looked away without saying anything.

Apparently taking that reaction some way, an executive sitting across from him cautiously opened his mouth.

“I-I was barely involved in the actual operations either.”

The person beside him immediately added.

“That’s right. All the important decisions were made by the chairwoman and the secretary-general. We only did what we were told.”

“Same for me, Seorin. I only did what I was ordered to do.”

Once one person spoke, excuses followed as though everyone had been waiting.

As they did, the people’s gazes naturally gathered on her mother and that man.

“Seorin.”

A familiar voice sounded.

Baek Seorin’s gaze moved toward the end of the table.

The woman sitting there slowly rose from her seat.

Kim Yuna.

A friend she had known since middle school.

They had been in the same class and stayed together all the way through high school, and she was one of the few people who had remained in contact even after Baek Seorin Awakened.

Even after she became an S-rank and strangers began flocking around her, Baek Seorin had thought Yuna, at least, had hardly changed from before.

She too had been one of the memories that had helped Baek Seorin endure.

The sight of them in school uniforms climbing over the school wall together.

The sight of them buying tteokbokki with the coins they had in their pockets.

The day after she Awakened, when reporters swarmed all the way to the front of the school.

Even then, Yuna had ignored them and linked arms with her as usual, urging her to hurry home.

And now, around that Kim Yuna’s neck hung a name tag that read External Cooperation Director, Baek Seorin Memorial Foundation.

“I really didn’t join because I wanted to do anything strange with your name.”

Kim Yuna hurriedly continued.

“Your mother said it was hard managing the foundation alone, so I helped. She said it would be good to have me there since I’d known you for so long...”

“Yuna.”

“Yeah?”

“The company that received the promotional expenses belongs to your family, right?”

Kim Yuna’s face stiffened.

Baek Seorin remembered the ledger she had seen earlier.

A company that had repeatedly received money under the pretext of foundation promotions and memorial events.

The name listed as the representative was familiar.

Because it belonged to someone she had met several times whenever she visited Kim Yuna’s house during their school days.

“We really did the work. We held events and made videos. It’s not like we just took the money—”

“Then the investigation will show that.”

“Seorin.”

Yuna’s voice grew quieter.

Even the way she called her was exactly the same as before. Afraid it would dredge up old memories for no reason, Baek Seorin turned her gaze away.

‘... It was a long time.’

The seven years she had been gone.

Seven years was more than long enough.

More than enough time to give up waiting for someone.

That was why she had no intention of resenting them even if they had thought she was dead.

Right.

If they had only thought that.

“Ha... Hey.”

“Yes. Hunter Baek Seorin.”

Baek Seorin pushed the tablet on the table toward the Association employee.

“Have you confirmed everyone whose name is on here?”

“Other than two borrowed-name accounts, the cross-check is complete. We’ve secured the original ledgers and electronic records, and requests to freeze the accounts have been submitted.”

“What about the borrowed-name accounts?”

“We’ll summon the registered account holders for questioning today.”

Baek Seorin nodded.

“Then deal with everyone whose name appears in the ledger.”

“Yes. We’ll hand the confirmed records over to the investigative authorities first. We’ll make sure they never breathe outside air again.”

Sharp breaths sounded from all around the conference room.

“W-Wait.”

“Everyone?”

“We only did what we were told!”

The moment those words fell, the conference room erupted into noise.

Some people half-rose from their seats, while others raised their voices and protested that it was unfair.

The people who had only been watching one another moments before all began talking at once.

“I really only did what I was told!”

“This is too much!”

“Seorin, listen to me!”

Even amid all that, Kim Yuna said nothing.

She only stared at Baek Seorin with a pale, stiff face.

If anything, that silence irritated her more than the people making excuses.

“What would you like to do with the foundation?”

The dissolution agreement they had been reviewing until moments ago was still lying on the table.

“What do you mean, what should I do? You already prepared everything this nicely.”

Baek Seorin pushed the dissolution agreement toward the Association employee.

“Proceed with the dissolution as planned. Have the Association take custody of the remaining assets and projects for now.”

“Understood.”

“We can discuss where to transfer them later.”

“Se-Seorin!”

Seeing that, her mother hurriedly raised her head.

“Y-You can’t do that. There’s already somewhere we agreed would take over. There are ongoing projects too, and if the Association suddenly takes everything, what are we supposed to do about everything we’ve prepared so far?”

“... Somewhere that agreed to take over? Where is that? Go ahead and tell me.”

“Th-That’s... there is such a place. Anyway, if you suddenly overturn everything, there will be contractual problems too, so the dissolution should go ahead the way we already decided...”

“Who decided?”

Baek Seorin gave a faint laugh.

“The people here?”

“Seorin. It’s not that simple...”

“Then that’s even better. You heard her, right? Handle that together with the other thing.”

The Association employee immediately picked up the tablet.

“Yes. We’ll proceed with everything at once.”

“Keep any legitimate projects running for the time being. We can decide where to transfer them later.”

“Understood.”

“Ah...”

Hearing that, her mother seemed to lose all strength and collapsed into her seat.

A little while later, Association investigators who had been waiting outside the conference room entered.

As evidence bags and equipment were placed on the table, the people who had been making a commotion moments earlier began falling silent one by one.

“Please submit all phones and laptops as they are. If you delete any data or leave your seat, additional measures will be taken.”

One relative quietly slipped his phone deeper into his pocket.

The investigator, who did not miss it, held out a hand.

“Let’s start with what you just put away.”

The man hesitated before taking out his phone.

The others could no longer resist either and began placing their belongings on the table one by one.

“Ugh...”

“S-Son!!”

A low groan came from the side.

The compression bandage hastily wrapped around him had long since turned red, and his face had grown much paler.

“The ambulance? How far away is it?”

“It just entered the underground parking garage. It should arrive shortly.”

“S-Son. You heard that, right? Just hold on a little longer. Mom’s right here.”

Baek Seorin watched the scene for a moment before looking away.

At this point, she truly didn’t care anymore.

If that man survived, he would be thrown into prison as soon as the investigation ended, and if he didn’t survive and died, that wasn’t bad either.

Mom... No. That woman was the same.

If her son was that precious to her, then she could spend the rest of her life embracing him to her heart’s content.

There was nothing left for Baek Seorin to expect from them anymore.

Baek Seorin’s gaze slowly shifted toward Yoon Jaemin standing by the door.

‘... Yoon Jaemin.’

He had been standing a step back and watching from there all this time.

Even while people cried and shouted, he had stayed where he was without needlessly interfering.

Thinking about it, even after bringing her out of the gate, he had never asked her for anything.

He couldn’t even hide how much he liked money, yet whenever there was the slightest opening, his first thought seemed to be whether his job was finished and how he could slip away.

He knew she was an S-rank. Yoon Jaemin must have known that simply sticking close to her would let him gain something.

And yet nothing had changed.

Among all the people clinging to her and trying to take even one more thing, Yoon Jaemin alone had been looking for chances to get away from her instead.

Only now did that difference stand out clearly.

The corners of Baek Seorin’s lips slowly rose.

‘Right.’

She was done with that side now.

Because something new had appeared.