Clara Astley stared out of the taxi as she made her way to Seoul. She bit her lip- being back in Korea was nerve-wracking. It had only been about two hours since she arrived in South Korea, and already, she was feeling exhausted. Much had changed since the last time she had arrived at Incheon International Airport—which was 20 years ago. At the age of 26, she was now back to her motherland. She rested her head on the headrest as she ignored the taxi driver’s pressing questions about why she was in Korea, pretending to be a foreigner. She found it uncomfortable how he kept asking her personal questions—it was annoying and very rude.

After a 90-minute drive, Clara finally arrived at her destination, her new home for the next few years. Clara thanked the driver and stared at the tall apartment complex, taking in the sight of her new home. With a tired groan, Clara walked inside the building only to be met with an extravagant lobby. The lobby was adorned with an information desk, a security booth, white marble floors, gold chandeliers, series of sofas and coffee tables, and a coffee shop to the left. It reminded her of a 5-star hotel lobby. She shook her head in disbelief as she made her way to the elevator only to be stopped by a security guard. Clara tilted her head and looked at the young man with a questioning expression.

“I apologize, but I will need to confirm your identity. We do not allow visitors to enter the elevators without confirming—*” he was interrupted with Clara’s sharp response.

“I’m a new resident here. This is my id and key card… Is there anything else you need?” she replied as she stared at the man with a blank face.

“Ah, no. Welcome to your new home, Miss… Astley. If you need anything, please let our staff know. I apologize for not recognizing you sooner.” he said apologetically, returning her cards to her, with a confused expression.

“Thank you.” she said curtly, before she walked into the elevator, tapping the key card on the sensor.

Clara finally reached her floor—the 50th floor, to be exact—and opened the door to her unit. She sighed as she left her suitcases deserted near the front entrance, plopping down onto the white leather sofa. She shook her head in disbelief at the extravagance of this building before she took out her phone and video-called her mother, Anna Astley.

“Hey mom. I just wanted to let you and dad know that I arrived safely to Korea**.” she said in perfect German as she smiled at her mother.

“Oh, my baby! You look exhausted! Make sure you rest up, pumpkin***!” her father interjected in English as he stared at her worriedly.

“Wow, dad… You can try to practice your German once in a while, can’t you?” Clara asked with a chuckle.

“Oh, please! You and your mother are going to make fun of me, so why bother? Anyway, how’s your new apartment? Did everything get there okay?” he asked, not allowing her mother to have a chance to talk.

“Mm, not sure, I haven’t checked yet.” she said with a smile.

“Well, what are you waiting for—" her father started before her mother snatched her phone away from her father.

“I’m so glad you arrived safely! Good luck with your first day at work tomorrow, sweetie! Here, you can talk to her now.” her mother said, annoyed, as she handed her phone back to her husband.

“I will, mum! So, how are you dad?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m fine! I miss you already, pumpkin! I still don’t understand why you quit your job at the law firm to become an ordinary office worker…” he said with a frown.

“Daad… We talked about this, remember?” Clara responded with a sigh.

“I know, but I wish you were here… Call your brother later, he wanted to talk to you, but he got called into the hospital for a surgery.”

“I will, don’t worry! I need to go now, I have to unpack.” she said sweetly, waving at her parents goodbye as she hung up the phone.

Clara sighed as she set her phone down on the sofa next to her. She looked around her apartment, checking it out. Walking up to the large window of the living room, she stared out at the Han River, it was a beautiful view. Clara smiled as she turned to look at the kitchen across the living room. It was spacious, with a large island that looked like it could be used as a dining table as well. Moving towards the long corridor, she saw the two rooms she had seen online while researching for her new home. She had asked the interior designer to make one her master bedroom and the other a guest room. Clara excitedly walked down the corridor; she was curious to see how they executed her plans for the two rooms.

After inspecting each room, she smiled, satisfied that her requests were met. Clara hummed as she walked back to the spacious living room and dragged the two suitcases to her bedroom, the only room on the right side. The room was very spacious—enough to fit in at least two rooms. On the far-left side of the room, was a small area that was covered in bookshelves, making it a small study area for her to work. On the other side, was her vanity, dressers, a walk-in closet and a door that led to the bathroom. The middle portion was her bed, two nightstands, and windows flanking each side of her bed. She smiled— it was exactly how she wanted it to be.

“All right let’s start unpacking now.” she muttered, reaching for her suitcase.

Unzipping her larger suitcase, Clara placed her clothes in the walk-in closet, color-coordinating them. She moved on to organize her bags, accessories, and shoes, taking a good 30 minutes to arrange everything from the suitcase. Feeling stuffy, she opened her bedroom window before turning her attention to the stacked cardboard boxes she had shipped from Germany. With a huff, she walked over to organize the contents inside the boxes as well. 

Another two-hours later, she was able to place everything in its place. Clara breathed a sigh of relief as she plopped onto her bed, exhausted. She had one more thing to unpack, but she was too tired to do anything. The former lawyer stared up at the ceiling, dazed. She turned to her side and sighed. She didn’t even know if she made the right decision to come back.

Clara was a renowned international lawyer who had worked with the UN, as soon as she graduated from law school. She was then scouted to work at the biggest private law firm in Cologne, Germany, while still working with the UN periodically. When Clara had informed her family of her plans to go to South Korea to work for HANSUNG group’s subsidiary company, SONGHWA Hotel, her parents couldn’t understand why she would leave everything behind to become a low-ranking office worker. Clara had to come with an excuse of wanting to understand her heritage in order to convince her folks to let her go to Korea. 

She suddenly sat up, and grabbed her laptop from the table next to her bed, opening it to the search engine. She typed in 'GK Group', looking at the articles that congratulated the newly appointed Chairman, Cha Min-woo, her biological father. Clara gripped her laptop tightly, rage building up inside her.

“Ha… I see your living a happy life after…” she trailed off as tears rolled down her cheeks as the image of her mother bleeding on the marble floor of their vacation villa flooded her mind.

Clara couldn’t help but sob as she set her laptop next to her. It was so unfair. After those atrocious crimes he committed 20 years ago, he and his mistress were living in pure bliss. While she, on the other hand, had lived her entire life planning her revenge.

The South Korean media, as well as the police, could not trace back the culprit- as her mother’s body was found a week later after the incident. Her father had called the authorities to file a missing persons’ report after his supposed 'conference abroad', when police found the corpse of Lee Jae-kyung (Clara's mother). With no security cameras around the villa, where the mother-daughter duo had stayed in, the police could not find anyone related to the crime. They ruled out her father as a potential suspect as he had a strong alibi of being at a business meeting in Incheon, accompanied by his ‘secretary’, that day. As for Cha Soo-hyun’s (Clara) missing persons case, after six months of searching for her across the country, they could not find the young child. However, by then, she had a new identity as Clara Astley, and was living in the UK with her adoptive parents.

Clara’s adoptive parents had no clue as to who she was or why she was found washed up on the beach. Clara had refused to disclose to her parents of what she remembered that night. What if her father realized she was alive? He would surely come after not only her, but also her new family.

Closing her laptop, Clara quickly got up and walked over to the small suitcase she had yet to open. Grabbing it, she walked over to the left side of her room, and slid open one of the oak bookcases, revealing a secret office room with glass whiteboards, corkboards dotting the walls, file cabinets, and a long table with several leather chairs.

She switched on the lights and opened her suitcase that was filled with newspaper clippings, cutouts from magazines, maps of the Sokcho area, and other important documents she had collected over the years about GK Group and her and her mother’s cold cases. And, of course, the most crucial evidence of that night, the emerald ring Clara had picked up when she was a child. She had brought it with her for her acquaintance, a respected jeweler, to find out information about the ring—like, where it was made and who had bought the jewelry. Clara gently placed the jewelry box inside the safe which was located in the corner of the room.

Taking everything out of the suitcase, Clara started to organize the papers onto the corkboards, while connecting each one with a red string. She taped the pictures of everyone who had been involved with her family (including HANSUNG Group), as well as her half-siblings onto the glass whiteboards. Opening one of the drawers of the file cabinets, she took out a dry erase marker and started jotting down their connection with one another. By the time she was done, it was already 10pm.

Clara stepped back and stared at the new maps she had made. Her first step was to befriend her half-sibling, Cha Jung-hyun. She needed to gradually make her way into the conglomerate family, so she could take them down without any suspicion. Clara had no idea how she would manage such a thing, but she decided that she’ll figure it out sooner or later. She stared at her father’s picture spitefully before she let out a sigh.

“Just watch… Now that I’m back, you’ll suffer ten, no, a hundred times more than what you did to me and eomma…” she mumbled as she swiftly turned away and walked out of the secret room, shutting the door with a loud clack.

SIDE NOTES:

*= Any dialogue NOT bolded or italicized indicates that the conversation is in Korean

**= Any dialogue that is ONLY bolded indicates that the conversation is in German

***= Any dialogue that is BOTH bolded and italicized indicates that the conversation is in English

**NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.**