Chapter 29: Ghosts Follow in English
519 Words
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She didn’t want to open the file.
But she did.
Because curiosity was still her strongest weapon — and her greatest weakness.
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Dalen Geneva Satellite Proposal.
An official document, stamped with the Dalen Group crest. Detailed projections. A proposed partnership between the University of Geneva and Dalen’s European expansion wing.
And there, buried in the last few pages, underlined in red:
> Suggested Program Lead: Seo Jae-won (pending reactivation of inheritance contract)
Eun-ha stared at the screen.
The timing wasn’t a coincidence.
Neither was the name.
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She didn’t sleep that night.
She sat in bed with her laptop on her knees, heart pounding, as she scrolled through the fine print.
This wasn’t just a business deal.
It was a trap.
A shiny, well-dressed, international reel-in — designed to pull Jae-won back into the fold under the illusion of control.
And if he said yes?
It wouldn’t matter what he’d sacrificed in Korea.
He’d be theirs again.
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The next morning, she video-called him.
He looked half-asleep, hoodie wrinkled, voice groggy.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “I need you to listen.”
She turned the camera around and showed him the screen.
His face didn’t change. Not right away.
But his eyes did.
“You knew about this?” she asked.
“No.”
“They’re trying to bring you in through me.”
He rubbed his face. “I figured they’d try something. I didn’t think it’d be that bold.”
“Would you take it?” she asked. Quiet. Cold.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
He met her eyes through the screen. “I don’t want their power. I want mine. And I want you in it.”
She believed him.
But she still felt the distance between the words.
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Later, in the student policy lab, her advisor handed her a printout.
“Your name’s been flagged.”
“For what?”
“For affiliation with the Dalen proposal. Someone submitted your name as a student liaison. From their side.”
She blinked.
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“I know,” her advisor said. “But Geneva doesn’t play politics the way Korea does. Here, we vote on the truth. So you’ll have a chance to respond.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
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That night, Eun-ha reread the file.
And the email.
She stared at the name.
So-hee.
Had she sent it to hurt her?
Or to warn her?
She pulled up the email’s metadata. VPN. Masked headers. But the IP showed one thing clearly:
Not Korea.
It came from France.
So-hee was nearby.
But watching.
From the outside.
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In a handwritten note, tucked in the file metadata, Eun-ha found one more sentence. Invisible until highlighted:
> They’ll never stop using him unless one of you breaks the loop.
One of them.
Not both.
Just one.
Eun-ha closed the laptop.
And for the first time in months — maybe ever — she wondered:
What if it had to be her?
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End of Chapter 29
[To Be Continued...]
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