The next morning, it was Woohak who was already in the archive room.
He had spread a sheet of paper out on the desk.
"…Take a look at this."
In one corner of the approval box, next to the English initial 'S' they’d seen before, a small employee code had been stamped.
"I found one more on another document yesterday. This time, it even showed the last digits of the employee code."
Yeoju held her breath and looked down at the code.
"…Can we look this up?"
"Not on our own. We’d need access to the HR system, and I don’t have it."
Dongmin took the document and read the code.
"…This prefix isn’t a BND code. It’s an external code. It’s different from our employee-number system. But at least that means they’re not a BND employee."
*
Two days later, while digging through old Sunil Capital documents, Yeoju found the same code format.
The board-observer list, in tiny print at the very bottom.
This time, a name was attached next to the employee code.
Lee Sanghyeok.
Her fingertips trembled. It was the first name she’d ever seen.
The real name of the person who was supposedly above Seongho.
She called Woohak right away.
"…Lee Sanghyeok. The person above Section Chief Seongho—his name is Lee Sanghyeok."
Woohak didn’t say a word for a moment on the other end of the line.
"…I think I saw that name once more on the approval list. I’ll look again."
*
Toward the end of the workday that day, her phone rang.
It was Woohak.
Dongmin, who happened to be walking beside her, heard the voice over the speaker too.
His voice was shaking badly.
"…I just ran into Section Chief Seongho. He suddenly called me over in the hallway, then smiled and asked if I was busy lately."
"…And?"
"He said he’d heard I keep looking through materials related to the approval line, and that going beyond our scope of work wouldn’t be good for either side. It felt like he was telling me to stop at an appropriate line."
"…That’s all?"
"Yeah. But the fact that he said it smiling like that was even scarier. He was acting like he knew everything."
"…Where are you now? Are you alone?"
"In front of the company."
"Don’t move. Stay there. Dongmin and I are coming right now."
Before ten minutes had passed, the two of them ran out to her.
Woohak’s face was deathly pale.
"…Are you okay?"
"I’m okay. He just gave me a warning and left."
Dongmin gave Woohak’s shoulder a brief squeeze.
"…You did well. From here on, Yeoju and I will handle that line. You’re completely off it now."
"Still, if it’s just the two of you left…"
"It’s okay. It’s better than making you any more exposed too."
Woohak seemed about to argue, then let out a still-unsettled breath and only nodded.
Only then did Dongmin suddenly speak up.
"…I remember the name Lee Sanghyeok. At the company year-end party before, I heard the department head answer the phone and call out that name. Very respectfully. Back then I just figured he was some outside business contact."
Piece by piece, the puzzle was coming together.
They’d known Seongho wasn’t acting alone, but only now did it truly sink in that the person above him was someone even the company couldn’t treat lightly.
*
On the way back after seeing Woohak home, Yeoju’s steps kept slowing.
"…What’s wrong."
"Now that line is ours to handle, right? Yeoju and I. Seongho showed up directly to you like that, so he’s probably going to come at us the same way, isn’t he."
Dongmin stopped walking and faced Yeoju.
"He might. But this time, you’re not alone."
"Still, I’m scared. Seeing Woohak like that made me think next time it could be me or you."
"…It makes sense to be scared. But now I’m more scared of leaving you alone there."
Dongmin took Yeoju’s hand and interlaced their fingers.
"…However it turns out, this time we’re together. Even if something goes wrong again, I’m not going to let you go through it alone."
"…Don’t say things like that. What if it happens again because of that."
"That’s not what I mean. I mean we’ll go together that much. No matter what happens, I won’t let you go ahead alone."
Yeoju stopped walking and looked up at Dongmin.
Her eyes grew hot.
Dongmin pulled Yeoju into his arms.
"…So even if you’re scared, don’t be scared alone."
At those words, the trembling gradually subsided.
*
A few days later, Yeoju and Dongmin stayed behind in the archive room and dug back into the name Lee Sanghyeok.
"…Dongmin, can’t you remember that year-end party in more detail?"
"I think I also heard the department head call him ‘Director’ while answering the phone. I’m not sure, though."
"You said he wasn’t a BND person. Then if someone would be called Director…"
"…He could be from our parent company. BND is under Sunil Holdings."
Dongmin opened his laptop and searched through the executive list for Sunil Holdings.
After a few searches, the name appeared on one line.
"…Here. He’s a director at Sunil Holdings."
Her fingertips went cold.
The man above Seongho wasn’t a BND employee; he was someone from the company that owned BND.
"So even if he wasn’t BND staff, he was someone Section Chief Seongho couldn’t just lay a hand on."
"…The question is how much further we can dig this up within a week."
Yeoju said firmly.
That day from the two lives she’d lived came back to her again.
"…Right. There’s nothing to do but move carefully."
Dongmin gently took Yeoju’s hand.
"Still, this time we’re not alone."
With those words, the tension slowly eased.
At night, back home, she looked at the calendar. One week. The number had dropped far more than it had just a few days ago.
As the numbers kept shrinking, one name was growing sharper and clearer.
