"You failed abortion—what are you trying to say with that?"
The wife exploded in anger, having misunderstood his words as a comment on her lack of delicacy. Overwhelmed, she flung him away by the ankles she was holding. He rolled several times across the floor before finally stopping. When he looked up, he saw his wife kneeling nearby.
"A flower!"
he suddenly shouted.
He had finally thought of something that sounded like a plausible comparison.
She responded by throwing a cushion at him.
"That's right. I'm a flower—since I only attract insects."
With that, she left the room.
"Huh… how am I supposed to fix this…?"
As he tried to figure out how to make peace with his wife, his head began to throb—either from the fall, or from the constant barrage of objects being thrown at him. Possibly both.
While he wallowed in his misery, two maids passed by outside the room, talking quietly, unaware that the master himself was inside.
"Stop worrying so much…"
"But… you know how Master Eason will react if he ever finds out…"
At the sound of his name, his attention sharpened.
"Stop worrying."
"But… what if…?"
"Lady Nephthys did a great job taking control of the situation and extinguishing the fire before it spread. Not to mention, the young masters also did a great job cleaning up the mess."
"Fire…?"
Master Eason needed a moment to process what he had just heard.
Then it hit him.
"Fire? Young masters?"
"YOU BASTARDS! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!"
He jumped up in fury and slammed the door open, startling the poor maids. Without sparing them a glance, he stormed off—well… more accurately, he limped away, since his feet were still injured.
"H—hi… what are we going to do now?!"
One maid whispered in terror.
"Do you think the young masters will get angry at us if they find out?"
Unlike her panicking companion, the other maid remained calm. She smiled before replying.
"It's still not too late to become nuns."
At that response, her friend knew—
she had lost her mind.
"Come on, let's go find a church."
She grabbed her friend's hand and started dragging her away.
"Whoa—walk slowly!"
***
"Did you find anything yet?"
After greeting his aunt and uncle, Miyeon went straight to his office to continue his investigation into the serial killer known as the Ghost. Nephthys, the lead investigator, was there as well.
"No… it's strange. I've looked into so many things, tried finding similarities, but none. There's absolutely nothing that even comes close."
The last time they had discovered a hidden symbol carved into a victim's body, Miyeon—after learning how from Nephthys—checked every other victim. All of them bore the same mark. It was clear the killer was targeting people connected to that symbol.
"All the victims had one thing in common," Miyeon continued. "A criminal record. At first their backgrounds appeared clean—they covered it up—but I managed to dig it all out."
He reported to his superior.
"That's impressive," Nephthys said. "They were members of the elite. Digging through their past would've been far harder than with ordinary nobles. So what did you find?"
Miyeon handed her the documents and began explaining.
"At first glance, these crimes don't seem unusual—money laundering, assault, abuse of power… common among nobles. But what caught my attention was this."
He pointed at one of the pages.
"Every single one of them owned a hidden laboratory of some sort, where they conducted experiments on people."
"So what do you think that has to do with why they were killed?"
Nephthys already had her own answer. She wanted to hear his.
"I believe it's revenge," Miyeon said. "Someone the killer loved was likely one of the victims of those experiments."
Nephthys studied the documents in silence before asking,
"Not as an investigator—but as a human being—what do you think? If your theory is correct, who do you believe the real villain is?"
Miyeon hadn't expected that question.
"Well… there are always two sides to a story. That's why I refuse to judge before knowing the full truth. I still don't know what actually happened, so I can't say for certain. But there is one thing I am sure of."
He paused.
"These people were monsters. And I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't resort to drastic measures myself if someone I loved were taken hostage and tortured to death."
Nephthys said nothing.
So Miyeon asked instead,
"What about you? Would you go this far for someone you love?"
She hesitated, then replied quietly.
"I'm not sure… I don't really have someone I love."
"Well, that sounds depressing."
"And your comment was completely uncalled for."
Her immediate response almost made him burst out laughing.
"You know all the locations where human trafficking took place, right?"
Nephthys shifted back into work mode.
"Yes."
So did Detective Miyeon.
"Good. Get them checked. Look for anything suspicious."
"I'll need to request a warrant first," he said. "That may take some time."