SIRINOVA ㅡ chapter 17

"KYUNGHO, MR. KIM WANTS TO HAVE A WORD WITH YOU." a low tiered butler told the newly recruited yet the only one talented enough to help the head commissioner recover from his sickness when the dotors' medicine didn't. "oh and give this letter to him."

"okay." he replied shortly, making his way to the third floor where his excellency is located. he opened the door to the big marble room. "sir?"

"ah! kim kyungho! my favourite butler!" the boss genuinely cheered, smiling brightly at the brilliant newbie who has cured him from being ill.

"master." the butler greeted back accordingly. "how may i help you?"

the older man near the tall butler with an open vibe. "i am extremely thankful of what you've done to me. curing me when no one else could. i am very impressed of your hidden talents! i just want you to know, that you've earn my trust."

the butler mentally smiled.

check.

"i am honored, sire." kyungho bowed. "eventhough i was just an amateur, i grabbed the opportunity to save you."

"and i will always be grateful." the head commissioner smiled genuinely.

too bad this was all a game.

"kyungho, what do think about a promotion?" the older man asked, raising an eyebrow in anticipation.

totally did not see that coming.

but kyungho squinted in eyes, feigning confusion. "p-pardon? a promotion? for me?"

the commissioner chuckled in amusement, thinking that it was quite silly of this talented butler to be surprised.

"yes. to show you my trust, i will entrust you to someone important to me." the man said, taking kyungho aback.

"someone?" the butler pressed on the word. truly confused and puzzled.

the head commissioner lived alone in a big mansion. wife left him and his son has been in moscow for more than half a year now. he has parents who are laying in the hospital under life support. he had siblings, but they died at an accident. one of his siblings has children. one is missing for 4 years now, but the police already closed the case in a hurry. the last child is inseong - also missing.

so who is that someone?

"yes. but this is very private kyungho. everyone in the mansion knows this person, but you're the only one i can entrust her to while i'm away to find my missing nephew."

her?

ah! her.

ofcourse.

the main topic of every butlers and maids in their quarters.

'the locked lady'

the maids said that there's a whole floor for this locked person up at the toppest floor of this villa. only one maid is allowed to give her service, but they've never ever seen her face.

they only know that she's a lady.

and that she's been her even before they were all recruited. which was around - 2 years ago.

"ah yes. but- if i'm not mistaken, mrs. kyu was in charge of her?" kyungho asked.

"mrs. kyu has retired due to terrible back conditions and was recommended to get treatment. so from now on, i entrust you with this person while i find someone who could possibly take your place."

"i understand, master."

the head commissioner heave out a sigh of relief. "good. very good. you may go now." he excused and kyungho left shortly.

but before he did, he handed his master a letter that he meant to give from the start.

"a letter from the post, master."

the older man took the letter in his hands, staring at it while the butler left his office in the background.

it says that it was sent from seochu-gu, seoul. the owner is unknown. the head commissioner narrows his eyes at the enveloped letter before opening it.

it was a an old styled parchment letter. handwritten and all.

❝ 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒊𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒌,

𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏? 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒃? 𝒐𝒐𝒑𝒔, 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆? 𝒏𝒂𝒉.

𝒊 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒍𝒚 12, 2009. 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒐 𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚.

𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍?

𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎. 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚, 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐-𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆.

𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕.

𝒊 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓.... 𝒚𝒆𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒘. 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕.

𝒊 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝒕𝒐. 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒅𝒐𝒚𝒖𝒎, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?

𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒔𝒉 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎?

𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅? 𝒉𝒎𝒎.... 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝒊 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅.

𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 (𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈'𝒔 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆), 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒚.

𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕? 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒔? 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆? 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆? 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉?

𝒐𝒇𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒊'𝒎 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒌. 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚. 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐? 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒂𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆 ㅡ 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 '𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒎' 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒂 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒕.

𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒉... 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉? 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒌?

𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆? 𝒊 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅, 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉. 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔.

𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏, 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝒊 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆.

𝒑𝒔: 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

𝒇𝒂𝒄 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒖𝒎.

𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔,
𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒐𝒗/𝒂 ❞

the head commissioner's eyes shake as he read through the letter and reading every sentence twice. his breath shake at every syllable. his mind flashing at every event mentioned.

is he guilty?

yes.

but he felt less guilty than he really should be.

he clenched his jaw, about to tear the letter apart - but the letter burned itself before his eyes. he let go in shock and he watch as it disappeared into ashes.

the letter is now gone.

but every word was stuck in his head now.

he knows one thing.

he didn't get to kill them all.

EDITED.

[ GLOSSARY ]

THE LOCKED LADY ㅡ a mysterious woman who has been in private care of trusted assets for almost two years.
JULY 12, 2009 ㅡ the doom.

[ A/N: ]

i finally updated. ghad.
it's almost christmas!
i've revamped the
book so it looks like
this now. i find it more
organized.

please tell me if you
can't read the letter.