TCBW C95

Chapter 95

“CEO, earlier… just who was that person?”

Haeeon, who had hurried after him, asked in a flustered voice.

But before Haeeon could even finish his question, Dowoon had already passed through the hotel’s revolving doors and entered the lobby, roughly yanking at the tie that had been choking his throat.

This was not the usual motion of loosening a knot.

Ignoring the sound of fabric tearing as if someone were being strangled, he tried to rip it off entirely.

Once inside the room at last, Dowoon immediately tore off his suit jacket and flung it aside.

The sharply tailored, high-quality fabric lay helplessly sprawled across the marble floor.

That was when Dowoon brought a hand to his chest and folded in on himself.

“Ugh.”

“C–CEO!”

Haeeon, who had followed him in, jumped in alarm and rushed toward him.

“W-What is this…?”

Between the open collar of his shirt, harsh, dark crimson handprints were visible, stamped fiercely across his collarbone and shoulders.

“Step back!”

Dowoon waved Haeeon away and straightened his clothes. After forcing his disheveled appearance into some semblance of order, he braced himself against the table and barely managed to stand upright.

From a few steps away, Haeeon—his fingertips trembling—stared at Dowoon’s shoulder area and spoke. His eyes shook violently, as if he had seen something he could not bear.

“Don’t tell me… you’ve been like this the entire time?”

“Get out.”

“Wh–Who should I contact? The hospital? Or… Madam? Should we notify Unbangsan?”

“Didn’t you hear me say get out!”

Startled beyond composure by the marks on Dowoon’s shoulders, Haeeon finally retreated from the room.

Only after he was gone did Dowoon strip off the rest of his clothes, drawing in ragged breaths as he examined his body.

Large and small handprints—dozens of them.

They formed a grotesque pattern, like dark crimson flowers blooming outward from his heart. Some were clearly those of a child, others of a woman or a man.

And all of them were warning him that there was no time left.

“Kh….”

Though it was the first time such physical evidence had appeared so clearly, Dowoon instinctively understood that this was a kind of warning from his body.

Yet even in that moment, it was not the curse consuming his flesh that caused him the greatest agony, but the thought of Suhoe—who had become the center of all his senses.

It had grown to a point that could no longer be denied.

Rubbing his face roughly, Dowoon pulled out his phone from the inner pocket of his suit and called the estate where Suhoe was staying.

The ringing tone flowed briefly, then stopped.

—Hello? Dowoon?

At that single line, at the gentle sound of his voice, Dowoon felt his mood soften against his will—and realized that this, too, was proof of his longing for Suhoe.

—You’re calling at an unusual time, so I was surprised!

The ache he’d felt all throughout the business trip, the torment of being unable to hear even his voice, the way Suhoe kept resurfacing in his thoughts—

Only now did he understand that it had all been clumsy longing directed at Suhoe.

—Dowoon….

“I’ve been busy. That’s why I couldn’t contact you.”

And he admitted it—to himself. That he had become a completely different person than before.

Where once he had worked solely for ambition, now he worked as a means of forcibly tearing his attention away, even for a moment, from Suhoe—who had ensnared him beyond resistance.

Not long after, late that evening.

Dowoon boarded his private jet to return to Korea. Unaccustomed to closing his eyes in front of others, he began receiving a report on Suhoe from Haeeon the moment he sat down.

“He returned to the Balhwadong residence earlier today.”

“Earlier?”

“Yes. We were told he arrived somewhat ahead of schedule.”

Haeeon continued the report smoothly, then hesitated briefly before adding,

“Unbangsan remains sealed. All personnel we dispatched were blocked by dense fog and failed to enter. We also confirmed with Professor Shim—your grandfather does not currently exhibit the same symptoms as you.”

“Why did you bother contacting Chairman Lee’s lackeys?”

Dowoon’s voice turned cold.

“I thought he might know something, just in case. I apologize.”

Haeeon bowed deeply. His gaze lingered for a moment on the spot along Dowoon’s left arm and shoulder where the mysterious handprints had been.

Unlike Dowoon, who assumed these marks would soon disappear like the black blotches before them, Haeeon was growing more uneasy by the day.

“I will look into ways to access Unbangsan as soon as possible. And… there is new information.”

“……”

“There have been sightings of someone entering and leaving the shrine, despite it being restricted. We couldn’t identify their face, but our attendants witnessed an outsider going in and out.”

“A shrine no one can approach without permission?”

“Yes. We’ll identify them and report back soon. Ah, and—”

“I’m returning after finishing all pending business, yet there’s far too much to report. Will I even be able to go straight to Balhwadong once I land?”

“Well… Chairman Saeman Han is waiting to see you.”

Chairman Saeman Han.

Dowoon clicked his tongue at the tiresome name.

An appointment set over a month ago—one he could not avoid.

Han would undoubtedly be waiting on the day of Dowoon’s arrival, accompanied by a renowned lawyer, ready to leverage the group’s image and succession issues against him.

Dowoon, too, needed to extract compensation from them for Suhoe’s accident. There was no reason to postpone the meeting any longer.

Dowoon spent his time reviewing documents and related materials, working continuously until the early dawn when the cabin lights dimmed.

Which was why he knew all too well that it was around then when the aircraft jolted violently with a deafening crash.

With the roar and sudden impact, water glasses and snacks flew from the table and scattered across the floor.

Haeeon, who had been dozing lightly in the seat beside him, jolted awake with a terrified expression.

“We are passing through an area of unstable air currents. The aircraft may experience turbulence.”

An urgent announcement echoed through the violently shaking cabin. Combined with the rattling seats, it felt anything but ordinary.

Outside the window, lightning flashed wildly.

Dowoon had ample flight experience and had endured turbulence before, but this was the first time it felt so threatening.

What unsettled him even more than the fear, however, was the realization that this situation was dredging up some hidden memory buried deep within him.

Even without fierce winds, it felt as though something was wrapping around his entire body.

Even without his body spinning, he felt as though he were tumbling uncontrollably.

Before long, Dowoon’s consciousness was drawn into a faint, distant memory.

“Dowoon.”

He opened his eyes upon hearing someone—whom he could not identify—clearly call his name.

Instead of the plane that had been shaking moments before, an unfamiliar room filled his vision. There was also a young man whose identity he could not discern.

When Dowoon frowned in confusion, the scene shifted in an instant.

The man who had been standing upright was now lying blood-soaked amid shattered debris and a mangled car.

That horrific sight, layered with the flashing light outside, instilled a primal fear in Dowoon as he lowered his head.

The sensation of death closing in drenched his spine in cold sweat, and though he was seated, his entire body felt as though it were being torn apart.

He could hear his own heartbeat pounding loudly in his ears, his breathing growing shallow and frantic.

At this rate, it wasn’t the curse that would kill him—he would suffocate first. Yet everyone around him was consumed by their own fear; no one noticed his agony.

“Dowoon.”

Even as the suffocating terror refused to relent, what kept resurfacing was the memory of someone calling his name long ago.

Beset by merciless turbulence and inexplicable memories alike, Dowoon felt he might rather lose consciousness altogether.

He had never imagined it would end like this….

Each flash of light outside alternately flooded his vision with brilliance and darkness, forcing him to watch as past and present intertwined chaotically before his eyes.

“Dowoon.”

And when only complete darkness remained at last, Dowoon was able to unearth a forgotten past with startling clarity.

Carried along the voice of a young man calling his name, he was swept back in an instant to another time entirely.

notes

1. Unbangsan: A sacred mountain region associated with spiritual phenomena and restricted access.