When The Phone Rings

The first time Heeju met Baek Sa-eon was not long after she had moved into Chairman Hong’s house.

“The daughter brought in by that club singer wife.”

She had heard whispers like that from day one.

The mother who would ignore her father, would rush barefoot to greet Chairman Hong with a smile.

Her beautiful older sister ignored her and her mother cared more about refilling Chairman Hong’s ashtray than feeding Heeju.

As a child, Heeju would wander aimlessly around the neighborhood, thinking of the father she had left behind.

“These houses are so huge…”

The affluent neighborhood was lined with walled mansions.

Walking through those high-walled alleys felt like being trapped in a maze. Whenever Heeju thought of her father, she instinctively sought out narrow, dark places.

That day was just one of those ordinary days.

“…!”

But someone was already standing there, motionless. He was neither a nine-year-old like her nor a full-grown adult, but somewhere in between.

The boy, wearing a school uniform, looked ghostly pale.

Despite his broad shoulders, his frame was gaunt, the white short-sleeved shirt billowing in the wind, revealing his thin torso.

His skin was so pallid it seemed like he hadn’t eaten properly in ages. Yet, what stood out most was the sharp bridge of his nose. His eyes, as sharp as daggers, exuded a prickly intensity.

Heeju found herself fascinated.

At the club, there were only old people. His youthful face, unmarred by age or blemish, was astonishing to her.

“Wow…”

As she had to look up to see his face, it caused her neck to ache.

That’s when their eyes met.

“…!”

The boy froze, and then, without warning, a tear rolled down his cheek.

The moment seemed to last forever.

The boy, realizing the person in front of him was just a child, rested his head against the wall and let out a sigh of relief.

“Are… Are you hurt?”
“…”

Without answering, he glared at her with bloodshot eyes. His flushed, tear-filled gaze was frightening.

As Heeju instinctively took a step back, a hand suddenly reached out.

“…!”

A large hand pressed firmly against her forehead, fingers digging into her temples and his palm blocking her view.

She was about to scream when the boy’s low sobs reached her ears first.

“…”
“D*mn it… Ugh…”

She could have easily pulled away or shouted for help. But the sound of his choking sobs froze her in place.

She couldn’t see a thing. Her blocked vision made it impossible to see his face.

‘I want to see his face…’

In that intense moment, her hearing sharpened. Suddenly, she recalled something people used to say to her.

“If you’re Yeon-hee Kim’s daughter, you must be a good singer.”

Why that thought came to her, she didn’t know. Customers at the club would always say that, fiddling with toothpicks as they sized her up.

She had stubbornly refused to sing even when teased to perform, but now…

“Little chipmunk can’t poop¹―”
“…”
“Acorns are yucky, grapes are yummy―”
“…”
“Grapes, oh grapes, green green grapes―!”

The boy’s sobs seemed to stop momentarily.

“Rub your tummy, rub, rub, rub―”
“… How old are you?”

The boy’s raspy, cracking voice interrupted her impromptu song.

“…N- Nine.”

He was silent for a while. Then the pressure on her forehead disappeared, and her vision cleared. She came face-to-face with a boy who had already erased all emotion from his expression.

“Don’t sing again.”

 

***

 

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The alarm blared noisily.

“Ah!”

Heeju was startled. The memory of her first encounter with Baek Sa-eon lingered longer than she had expected.

Even though it had been twenty years, it only grew sharper with time.

‘Just when I thought I had forgotten…’

The memory of being unable to see and only hearing his muffled sobs. Was it because of the intensity of the moment? Or the fear of his sudden, invasive action?

Heeju stared blankly as he walked away.

The next time she met the boy was at a garden party.

“After I grow up, he will be my husband.”

She vaguely recalled her sister whispering that as she passed. But instead of the anguished boy crying in the alley, the person she saw was the grandson of the Prime Minister.

He looked entirely different from the boy she had encountered back then.

Even with his still-developing frame, he wore his suit impeccably, taking the central spot in the garden. There was no sign of lurking in the shadows of an alley.

Heeju wanted to find that boy from before, but the person who approached her now extended a hand with a flawless poker face.

“You’re that ten? Eleven?”

Though his gesture was polite, his feigned ignorance was baffling. When Heeju reflexively took his hand as if to shake it, he squeezed firmly.

She immediately understood it as a silent warning. That day, she realized that what she had witnessed in the alley was the boy’s vulnerability.

***

 

“What kind of leverage could anyone possibly have on Sir?”

The assistant grumbled, exasperated at the notion of someone daring to threaten Baek Sa-eon.

Ignoring the complaint, Baek Sa-eon strode ahead through the halls of the Blue House.

He had just wrapped up the morning interview with reporters, fielding questions on issues ranging from a recent hostage crisis to the rise in dating violence incidents. After summarizing the president’s stance, he had gone straight into a senior communications meeting.

Walking briskly, he responded nonchalantly to the greetings of passing staff before asking, almost as if it were someone else’s problem: “Do we have a trace on the location yet?”

“Ah… That…”
“And the road CCTV?”
“We, c- checked it all, but…”

At the assistant’s hesitation, Baek Sa-eon raised an eyebrow.

“That’s enough. I’ve heard all I need to.”

The flustered assistant stammered a weak excuse.

“The thing is, the analyst said the blackmailer seems to have gone all out.”
“…”
“In less than ten minutes, the IP kept bouncing like crazy. It’s probably not an individual—it looks like an organized group. And every piece of CCTV footage from that time is conveniently wiped clean. It’s driving us nuts.”
“An organized group, you say…”
“But Sir, what exactly are they asking for?”
“Two billion won.”
“Excuse me?”

The assistant’s jaw dropped.

“For… for what, exactly?”
“They threatened to expose my private life.”
“W- What?”

This time, the assistant’s eyes widened to near cartoonish proportions.

“Private life? Sir, do you… I mean, could it be…?”

Though skeptical, the assistant glanced up at him with a dubious look.

‘Private life?’

Baek Sa-eon was someone who scheduled his life down to the minute.

The idea that there could be two billion won’s worth of dirt on him was incomprehensible.

Furrowing his brows in confusion, the assistant muttered to himself. If it had been related to his professional life, perhaps— but his personal life?

“Let’s discuss this later,” Sa-eon cut him off, pushing open the door to the meeting room.

“He’s truly an unpredictable man…” Park Do-jae, the assistant, exhaled quietly.

Some called Baek Sa-eon a ‘handsome prop with a microphone’, but that was a gross underestimation by those who didn’t know him.

His role was far more than symbolic.

The current president was a notoriously secretive leader who favored private meetings and small gatherings, sharing as little information as possible.

Yet, Baek Sa-eon never missed these meetings.

His unrestricted access granted him a front-row seat to policy-making and a comprehensive understanding of the power dynamics.

‘And then there was his true affiliation…’

The mere thought made Park pale.

‘Whoever this blackmailer is, they’ve seriously picked the wrong target.’

 

***

 

Blue House Communications Office:

“We can’t delay assigning sign language interpreters any longer.”

Baek Sa-eon’s expressionless gaze shifted to the speaker.

It was the final agenda item of the meeting, attended by the press secretaries for international media, national public relations, and new media.

“Sign language interpreters, huh…”

Something unreadable flickered in his eyes.

“While Parliament finalized their assignments last year, the Blue House keeps postponing. The National Human Rights Commission keeps sending us letters. Wouldn’t it be better to wrap this up neatly instead of leaving it to the next administration?”

The staff member hesitated, gauging the reactions of the other secretaries but pressed on.

“It doesn’t make sense that interpreters are stationed beside lawmakers and ministers, but not the president. Public opinion is also critical of the lack of sign language interpretation during Blue House briefings.”

Baek Sa-eon sat with his legs crossed, idly spinning a pen.

No one noticed the faint lift at the corner of his lips.

Casually glancing at his phone, he finally spoke.

“All right.”
“Pardon?”
“Then let’s make it a big announcement. Schedule the interviews right away.”

---

TL/N:

[1] Most likely FL is referencing this song- https://youtu.be/AIkAa0d_V6I?si=WWTRPl7KHC9Etp0v

Also sorry for the delay in updates. I’ll try to keep it consistent.  I am trying to do a speedrun so if you see any mistake feel free to correct me in the comments or drop a message on my discord id or our server. Thank you so much for reading!