The Sun to my Moon

Chapter 23: Seals

At Go Hae-ri's insistence, the team reluctantly agreed to stop directing their primary focus on protecting her and returned to the tasks they had been working on prior to the delivery of Edward Park's lamb. Cha Dal-geon was the only one who was exempt – okay, he had just ignored her orders. Hae-ri was dividing her time between continuing her research on what Dal-geon had taken to calling the Steel Corporations trifecta and trying to track down Min Jae-sik's sister. The latter effort had her heading out of the office quite fairly often for interviews, which made Dal-geon nervous. The fate of Kwon So-wee fresh in his mind, Dal-geon decided to abandon all his earlier lines of inquiry in favor of accompanying Hae-ri on all her interviews for the time being.

On the fifth day after receiving the lamb, however, he arrived at the office to find she'd already left. Kong Hwa-sook informed him that she'd gone to visit a cousin of Min Jae-sik and Min Jae-na.

"By herself?" Dal-geon said, horrified.

"I think she took Tae-ung with her," Hwa-sook offered.

He breathed deeply. "Okay."

He called Gi Tae-ung and confirmed Hae-ri was safe and sound with the other agent. "I can't believe she left without me," Dal-geon fumed, once he had been assured of her safety.

"You're driving her crazy following her around all the time."

"Mwo? I go on interviews with her all the time!" Dal-geon protested. "Why should this be any different?"

"Because usually you're at least half paying attention to the interview and trying to come up with some scheme or another to catch the murderer. Lately you've just been staring at her like a hawk and assessing your surroundings for threats from Edward Park."

"I'm watching out for her."

"Go Hae-ri isn't used to being the center of your attention," Tae-ung told him. "It's unsettling for her."

This threw Dal-geon off. "Wae?"

"You're an intense guy, Cha Dal-geon. Timjangnim is used to being around you when that intensity is focused on Edward Park or another killer. The idea of being the primary object of your observation is a new concept for her. She's finding it a bit unnerving."

"But I…"

"… have been paying attention to her for nearly a year?" Tae-ung finished for him. "I know. Thing is, Timjangnim doesn't know that. You've done a pretty good job of hiding it from her."

"Is she there with you now?"

"She's inside, talking to the cousin."

"You left her alone in there?"

"I stepped out to take the call."

"You should go back in."

"I will, as soon as you stop freaking out about this."

"Look what happened with Ahn Minseok," Dal-geon said, undeterred. "What if the cousin is one of Edwaed Park's people? She could be planning to kidnap Hae-rissi the moment your back is turned."

"The cousin is over seventy years old. I think Timjangnim can take her."

"You can never be too careful."

Tae-ung hung up on him, rolling his eyes.

__________

Dal-geon was waiting on the couch in Hae-ri's office when she got back. "You ditched me," he said reproachfully when she came in.

She sighed. "Mianhae, Dal-geonssi. I just wasn't up to dealing with your manic obsession today."

"My manic obsession?"