When was it that I first sensed something was off?
If I tried to pin down the time, I couldn’t point to it exactly.
Rather than any particular trigger or moment, it was a discomfort that came solely from instinct.
‘They’re hiding something.’
Yeongryeong.
She was hiding something from me.
I could clearly feel that.
‘It hadn’t seemed like there was any problem with her explaining the situation, though.’
Their circumstances and the process they’d gone through—there was nothing wrong with telling me that and asking for help.
‘It feels off.’
An oddly persistent unease churned inside me.
‘What is it? What is she hiding?’
I could feel she was hiding something, but I didn’t know what it was. I wondered if it was just my imagination, but—
‘No.’
It wasn’t. I was sure.
‘There’s something.’
There was something about Yeongryeong, or about Maryeong-dong. Because I judged that, I behaved the way I did toward her.
No salvation without compensation. Honestly, even ordinarily I would have said as much.
‘Seeing something strange only…