TIN 124

The scenery rushing past the window felt unreal to me right then. Opening the emergency door and jumping out wouldn’t be difficult, but it would mean instant death. Unlike escaping from a building where I might just sprain an ankle, this was a different matter altogether.

The inspection was still ongoing beyond the door. The attendants made passengers remove not just sunglasses but regular glasses too, and women were no exception either. Damn, my mistake was letting them see that. Joo Do-hwa must have known I might disguise myself as a woman.

If they noticed my ID didn’t match my appearance…No, it wouldn’t even get to the ID. Once the attendant saw my bare face, and then my bruised ankle, revealing my identity would just be a matter of time.

“…”

Maybe I should try the luggage car? I shook my head at the thought. It wouldn’t connect to the passenger cars, and even if I somehow made it there, I’d be caught when getting off. It would only delay the inevitable, solving absolutely nothing.

“Excuse me?”

“…!”

While deep in thought, a polite call came from behind me. Startled, I turned around to see an attendant with a puzzled expression on his face. He tilted his head at me standing alone in front of the door.

“Is there a problem?”

“…”

I couldn’t answer him. Though I had changed my appearance, I hadn’t changed my voice. No matter how high-pitched I tried to speak, it would be obvious from the get-go, and they would notice something was wrong the moment my male voice came out.

“Please return to your seat for safety as the train may shake.”

The attendant pointed toward the door with one hand—the door to the car where ID checks were in progress, which I hadn’t managed to open. Going in there would mean no future for me. My throat went dry with anxiety.

“Would you like help finding your seat?”

Finding my behavior strange, the attendant spoke again. He stepped closer, asking to see my boarding pass. Taking out the ticket wouldn’t be hard, but that would mean walking into the tiger’s den on my own.

“…Excuse me?”

When I showed no reaction, the attendant’s expression subtly changed. If I didn’t answer now, he would certainly try to verify my identity.

Ah, is this how it all ends? Before even reaching the sea, trapped in a moving train.

My lips quivered. I clenched my fists and barely managed to swallow the overwhelming despair rising in my throat. While my mind went blank, my vision grew darker than ever before.

“Pardon me…”

Just as I was thinking I should at least try to make a run for it—maybe run to the end of this long train, and if that failed, perhaps try the emergency door.

Just as I was about to take a step with that thought…

The automatic door connecting to the opposite car opened with a ding. Both the attendant and I reflexively turned to look. A man walking out from inside the car lifted his head with a slight pause.

“…Hm?”

The thin-framed glasses under his neatly combed hair looked familiar. So did the dark circles under his eyes and the way he blinked tiredly.

The man looked at the attendant once, then at me, and after a slight pause, slowly opened his mouth.

“Ah, there you are.”

His grinning face couldn’t have been more brazen. He walked past the attendant toward me and gently put his arm around my shoulders. Then he spoke as if genuinely delighted to see me.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

It turned out to be none other than Kei.

***

The first-class compartment was structured for completely private use, like a personal room. A L-shaped sofa was placed against the wall connected to the door, and beyond the table were two wide windows. There was even wine prepared in a corner of the table—it seemed like a space designed for leisurely enjoying the scenery.

So there are even more levels of class within. Having been in regular class until just now, the difference felt stark. These seats, which cost an unimaginably large sum of money, were something I probably would never have even gotten to see normally.

Yes, unless I happened to follow someone here like this.

“…”

“…”

I sat on the innermost sofa, keeping quiet with my head slightly bowed. I could feel Kei staring intently at me from his diagonal position. His gaze as he sat with crossed legs seemed to hold many things he wanted to say.

I felt like we had been in this type of situation before. At the party hosted by Jaekyung Finance, he sat beside me and looked at me like this too. As if he was appreciating something, or thinking about something.

“About earlier…”

Kei spoke first. He uncrossed his legs and straightened his posture. His refreshing smile was similar to when he was greeting guests at the party.

“I stepped in because you looked troubled, but if I was out of line, I apologize for it ahead of time.”

‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’

After saying that earlier, Kei finished talking with the attendant and led me to the car he had come from. He said his companion seemed to have lost their way and asked if there was any problem. Saying he would take me with him if nothing was wrong seemed to be enough to get the attendant off my trail.

The attendant, seemingly recognizing Kei’s face, let me go without any suspicion. They even bowed in apology for any discourtesy.

And that was how I arrived at this first-class compartment following Kei. It was separated from the regular cars by two sections, a private room where the inside couldn’t be seen from the outside at all.

“I couldn’t ignore someone in trouble.”

“…”

At his kindly offered words, I looked up at Kei. Though my vision was dark because of the sunglasses, I could clearly see his expression. That face smiling gently as if dealing with a complete stranger.

“Though it seems I was helpful, seeing as how you made it this far.”

Is he pretending not to know, or does he really not know?

Even with my disguise, it made no sense that he wouldn’t recognize me. Even with sunglasses, even with lipstick, even with a wig and hat. At such close distance too, and he wasn’t even drunk now.

Yet Kei continued to speak formally as if meeting me for the first time. The only time he acted familiar was earlier in front of the attendant, and since then, I could feel him being overtly cautious with me. Just as if he were dealing with a real woman.

“If you’d like, please stay for a while. I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems difficult for you to return to your seat.”

He didn’t even ask me for details as I remained silent. It was an incredibly generous gesture and excessive consideration for a stranger. Not stopping there, he even pointed to the wine on the table and asked.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“…”

After staring intently at Kei, I shook my head slightly. When he carefully asked if I’d like some food prepared instead, I declined that too. Normally I would have eaten something, but now even imagining food made me queasy. Just before leaving the hotel, I had failed to even eat the leftovers from yesterday.

“…”

“…”

And then came silence again. Me with my head bowed as Kei stared at me. The only thing mixing with the awkward stillness was the mechanical sound of the speeding train.

“Has anyone ever told you that you look like an actress?”

Kei spoke first. My brow furrowed involuntarily at his tone, which sounded like he was trying to pick up a woman. He pointed to his eyes with his index finger and winked.

“She’s doing lens commercials these days. She has such pretty eyes.”

I knew exactly who he was talking about. The woman I saw in the poster yesterday, the one he had kissed in the alleyway. He must be talking about the person who I thought looked like Yoon Ji-soo.

“I know her a bit.”

Kei shrugged his shoulders and added casually. Not just “a bit” but intimately, I’d say. The image of them entangled in that dark bar was still vivid in my head.

“If you don’t mind, would you take off your sunglasses just once?”

“…”

“You’re already so beautiful…I’m curious about your eyes too.”

By that point, I was incredulous. Did he really not know? His blatant flirting felt like genuine seduction. With his alpha-like neat appearance and gentle smile, anyone who showed their face might fall for it at once.

But instead of removing my sunglasses, I bowed my head deeply. Whatever he was thinking, showing my bare face here would be equivalent to revealing my identity.

“Never mind if you’re not comfortable.”

Fortunately, Kei withdrew his suggestion without further insistence. He softened his expression as if telling me not to be tense about it and tilted his head slightly to one side.

“I was quite surprised. You look so much like someone I know.”

“…”

“Well, there’s no way they could be here…”

The momentary bitterness that crossed his face was probably unintentional even for Kei. The ‘someone I know’ he’s talking about now probably wasn’t the actress he mentioned earlier. It was a moment of instinctive realization that hit me.

Knock knock.

A light knock came from the door. I started involuntarily as if cold water had been thrown on me and turned toward it. Unlike my tensed state, Kei answered leisurely without even looking back.

“Yes?”

“Excuse me, sir. Do you have a moment right now?”

The other person, presumably an attendant, politely asked for permission. When I looked at Kei with anxious eyes, he raised his eyebrows and asked back.

“What is it?”

“We’ll be conducting ID checks as per company policy. It won’t take long, so we ask for your cooperation.”

ID check. My heart sank again at those words from beyond the door. The sense of crisis I felt earlier began flooding right back. I felt like a cornered rat in a trap, unable to even move.

“ID checks…Is this really necessary?”

“Yes, we’re conducting them for all passengers.”

I was wrong to think I was safe just because I changed seats. The fact that this was still a train hadn’t changed matters even for a little bit, and Joo Do-hwa was that thorough of a person. After all, every passenger on this train was heading to the sea under Joo Do-hwa’s permission.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, but may I come in?”

The attendant asked again. Though their attitude was cautious given who they were dealing with, they didn’t seem likely to back down.

As I bowed my head, a scene flashed through my mind right then.

‘I’m fine, but it would be troublesome if rumors spread about the other person.’

The back view of a woman covering her face while turning away from me. Though I glanced reflexively, I felt too embarrassed to try to identify who it was. Even the act of hiding her face didn’t seem that suspicious.

“…”

There was no time to contemplate the method that crossed my mind. I immediately grabbed Kei’s arm and pulled him toward me. Kei, half-rising, placed one hand on the backrest and leaned forward.

“What are you…?”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Because of the word “you” that came from those very lips. I had suspected as much, but it seemed he was cleverly pretending not to know.

“…Sorry.”

Kei’s eyes opened widea at my quiet apology. As I wrapped my arms around his neck, I whispered in a very small voice.

“Help me just this once.”