As soon as I step into the 7th floor, I start shivering due to the cold air that welcomes me. It feels like I've just entered a giant freezer. How can anyone endure such a cold environment?
"Hello dear." A young lady says as she walks out from one of the doors to my left, smiling warmly with her eyes radiating kindness. She suddenly reminds me of Mira, making my heart to feel saddened once again.
"I see you have the pass. You must be Hana, right? You can go in through the main door. The Master has been expecting you for a while now."
"Who are you Ma'am?" I ask, trying my best to be polite to the lady.
"I'm Master Luca's personal maid. You can call me Dabin."
"Ah, Dabin. . . what a beautiful name." I reply, smiling. "Nice to meet you and thank you for your kindness. I'll get going then." We both respectfully nod at each other before I leave for the main entrance. The door is a modern door with complicated buttons and security cams all over. It looks even more complicated than a money safe.
But surprisingly, it's left open.
I peep a little before taking off my slippers at the door. I enter Master Tae Ho's living room which is also very cold. The place looks rich with uniform brown couches, furnitures and unique paintings hanging on the walls. The tiles are transparent like ice blocks, I can clearly see my reflection through them.
"You're eleven minutes late." A voice says, and I look ahead to see Master Tae Ho coming out through an archway. "But it's fine. Lunch is ready. Follow me." He adds, leaving me confused. What does he mean by lunch is ready? Does it mean that he wants to eat together with me?
I shrug and just follow him into the interior archway where a yummy aroma welcomes me. The large dining table is decorated with so many dishes at Master Tae Ho's disposal.
"Sit and have lunch with me." He says.
"Eoh? M-me?" I look behind me just to make sure he's not talking to someone else. And by the time I turn around, Master Tae Ho is still smiling at me.
"Please sit. Eat first before we talk. I know you had to skip general lunch before you came here. It's only natural I take responsibility to feed you."
"T-thank you, Sir." I pull one of the chair and sit, composing myself like some classy lady about to eat at a five star restaurant.
I don't understand why I'm feeling so silly in front of him. I've been normal before I came in here, but now I'm seeing a radiant glow on Master Tae Ho's face. He looks like an angel with wings, making my heart to flutter.
Throughout the lunch period, my heart didn't stopped fluttering even for one second. And I couldn't eat much of the food because being alone with him felt quite uncomfortable even though he's so kind and different from his brother.
"You hardly ate." Says Master Tae Ho. "I'm concerned about your well-being. I know you lost a friend yesterday."
I nod. "It's hard but I'm going to get through it Sir."
"How close were you with her?" He ask, folding his arms together and leaning into his seat.
"She was my first friend. She was warm and kind to me ever since we met."
"I need your help, Hana."
I raise my head for the first time to look straight into his eyes. "How can I be of help, Sir?"
"Tell me what you know about your friend. If there's anything she might have told you before she died."
"I didn't get to talk to her. I worked for the whole of my first and second day which is yesterday — and Mira died yesterday evening."
I realize today is just my third day in this place, yet I'm already feeling suffocated with the fact that I can't go home or anywhere.
Master Tae Ho sigh and continue speaking, "I know you must think that we all are bad people here. However, just because one was born in a Mafia family doesn't mean they're automatically bad. Your friend was the sixth victim that died by a so called suicide in this estate."
"Sixth victim? Then. . . Are you perhaps thinking it might not be suicide?"
"I'm not 100% sure yet. It's just my suspicion. My brother has a lot of assholes working for him in the estate. Someone among them might be responsible for the girl's death."
Can I trust him? Can I tell him about Mira's letter and the fingerprints I saw in the bathroom? He seem like a descent person. "Uhm. Sir, I think we're both in the same boat. I'm very sure there's a foul play in Mira's death."
"You too, right? That's it. I have to get to the bottom of this problem. I don't think I can rest without investigating this matter."
"Actually, Sir. There's something I think you should know of." I look around the dining to make sure none of his staffs are around us.
I'm about to spill it out when Master Tae Ho signals me to keep silence. He raise his finger and point to the seat next to him and again, signals me to sit there.
Slowly, I push back my chair and move out. I walk to the chair and sit next to Master Tae Ho.
"You can go on." He whispers so close to my face that I begin to feel something in my stomach. "This way, no one can eavesdrop on our conversation."
I nod and try to focus. "This morning, I saw large fingerprints in our bathroom which seems very suspicious to me." I say, looking at Master Tae Ho's face going paler than he already is. "I also saw a drop of something like blood stain on the bathroom tiles very close to the door."
"What? Are you certain it was blood?" He ask, and I nod at him in reply. Who else knows about this?"
"Just me. I couldn't tell anyone else."
"Yes. Don't let anyone else to know about this. If the culprit is around us, he might try to get rid of the evidences to avoid getting caught. I'm sending a man from the forensics to take the samples. Hopefully, the blood hasn't washed away has it?"
"No. It's hardly noticeable due to its location."
"Now I need to have your word on this. You will not tell my brother anything about what we talked even it he tries to interrogate you. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sir. There's one more thing I haven't told you about."