Cinderella's Fate | 🤍 seongjoong 🤍

Chapter 53 part 2

Narrator's POV

Jongho shut the book with a soft snap.

"There might be others. We can ask the librarian for anything related to this book, including genre or cross-information."

Yeosang and Wooyoung nodded at the idea, and they headed for the front desk, where an elderly librarian sat surrounded by books to be returned to the shelves. She was currently typing the serial number of a book when Jongho approached her.

"Good morning. We're looking for additional volumes related to the Unverified Identity Registry. Handwritten, physical archives," he said.

The librarian blinked, surprised. "Those aren't often requested. One moment... let me finish this one."

She quickly logged the book she was scanning and placed it on the return trolley. When she came back, she began tapping on the keyboard, muttering under her breath. After a few moments, she looked up with a smile.

"You're in luck. The system says they're still available in this library, not locked away in the restricted archives. There are four in total. I'll say them out loud."

Jongho took a paper and pen from his pocket.

As she spoke, he scribbled the list:

Cross-Referenced Faces – Partial Matches (Vol. III)

Unconfirmed Registries: Civilian Classifications

Name-Image Discrepancy Records

Code Redacted Entries – Vault Pulls

Jongho took note of them, asking her to repeat if necessary. Yeosang leaned over the counter, whispering each title under his breath, committing them to memory. He was trying to shorten the amount of time it would take to find them all.

Wooyoung was already gone.

The moment he heard Cross-Referenced Faces, he vanished between the shelves.

Jongho pocketed the list. "Let's split up. Find them, fast. Then back to my office."

Ten minutes later, they regrouped.

Wooyoung returned first, waving Cross-Referenced Faces like a captured flag. Yeosang came next, two thick volumes in hand. Jongho brought up the rear, balancing another book and a folder stuffed with loose notes.

They laid everything before the librarian, who scanned each item for tracking and access. Once logged, she packed the materials into a secure cart.

"They're yours for the day," she said. "Just make sure to keep them within the building. They haven't been approved for off-site use."

"Understood," Jongho replied.

Back in his office, the door closed with a quiet click. They took their places on the couches and soft chairs, settling in. They read in near silence for what felt like hours. Dust clung to their fingers. The scent of old paper filled the air, heavy, and still. These books hadn't been touched in a long time, but they were still in excellent condition.

Wooyoung, unusually quiet, was flipping through the edges of a thick volume when Yeosang suddenly sat upright.

"I found something."

Without hesitation, he crossed the room to Jongho. In his rush, he slipped due to the tight spacing of one of the shelves, and stumbled straight into Jongho's lap. His hands were placed, randomly, one holding the book, the other gripping Jongho's shoulder for support. Jongho flinched but didn't move. He was trained for sudden contact and could tell it was clearly an accident.

Yeosang decided to ignore the awkward moment. He held the page in front of Jongho, finger tapping a line with urgency.

"Here. Read this."

Jongho narrowed his eyes and read aloud:

"The Refuge of Unnamed: Designation reserved for children classified under mass identity failure. Last documented survivors of Facility Code 3-A, unsanctioned orphanage decommissioned by royal directive following public scandal."

Yeosang's voice dropped, but his words carried weight. "That orphanage... it's the one listed on our adoption documents."

Jongho straightened, carefully taking the page. His eyes scanned Yeosang's face as a subtle signal for him to get off his lap. Yeosang stepped aside, gently setting the old book on the desk and straightening the cover with quiet reverence.

"Let me run a systems check. If there's a sealed investigation linked to this, I can trace it."

At the computer, Jongho's fingers flew.

Wooyoung remained in the background, arms crossed. His usual sarcasm was gone, replaced with something quieter, deeper. His eyes followed Jongho and Yeosang with unreadable intensity. There was something in the way Yeosang hovered near Jongho, in the way they worked in tandem, that gave Wooyoung pause.

It didn't unsettle him exactly. But it felt... new.

The keyboard clicks broke the silence. Jongho's voice followed.

"I found it."

Yeosang leaned in beside him. Wooyoung joined later on the other side.

The screen filled with fragmented files, old orphanage logs, adoption lists, sealed state documents. And then:

"Wait..." Jongho pointed at a name listed under Overseer.

Wooyoung's voice broke the silence. "Isn't that—?"

Yeosang nodded slowly, eyes wide. "That's our mother's longtime friend."

Yes, you remember her too. The woman from the market. The one who spoke to the stepmother.

Jongho scrolled further, his frown deepening.

"She's listed as having managed the orphanage for over seventy years... but her recorded birthdate is just forty years ago."

Yeosang leaned closer. "She ran the place thirty years before she was born?"

Jongho shook his head. "Something's wrong. Either the records are faked... or this woman isn't who she claims to be."

As they traced the orphanage's admissions over time, a disturbing pattern emerged.

"For decades," Jongho said, "they admitted mostly abandoned children. But here ..." he pointed to a sudden spike on a chart, "this specific year, the intake tripled."

"There was no crisis. No war. No reason," he continued. "It's not just one missing person. This is organized. Systemic. Identities erased. Funds redirected. It's an entire web of falsified records and black-market adoptions."

"She profited off them," Wooyoung said, voice grim. "And it seems like the children were from families... maybe they were kidnapped."

"Possibly worse," Jongho muttered. "We need to find the original founder files."

They did, hidden in a folder titled 'Orphanage's Ownership Rights'. Jongho double-clicked and opened the file on his laptop. A Word document popped up.

The first page held a black-and-white photo. Children lined up, stiff in old-fashioned uniforms. And at the centre stood the founder. Her eyes fixed directly on the camera.

Yeosang took a shaky step back, Wooyoung gasped.

Their mother.

She was standing in the middle, looking exactly as she did now. The same face. The same expression.

Even Jongho froze.

"That's impossible," he said. "This photo is a hundred years old."

Jongho stared at the photo.

This wasn't a missing person case any more.

This was something else.

If Yunho were here... maybe he'd know what the hell to call this.