The Mystery of Mr. Lee (True Beauty Vampire AU)

The Way to a Girl's Heart is through (Comic) Books

Jukyung nodded her head, thoughts spinning. "Ah, but... what exactly was the reason?"

"Reason?" the three of them asked together.

"Yes. Did he tell you why he didn't want you any longer?"

The women looked at each other.

Jungeun burst out, "Who knows?! That man needs to reason to mess with his staff. You should look at his gardener. Aigoo, the man always looked miserable every time I saw him. I bet Mr. Lee messes with him too."

Jungeun was so engrossed in her tirade that she did not notice the supervisor silently walking up to the doorway, leaning against the frame as Jungeun went on. Jukyung tried to warn Jungeun with her eyes but Jungeun didn't seem to notice.

"Ah-nee, us working class are always getting exploited. Why should Mr. Lee be any different?"

"Uh, Unnie," Jukyung tried to interrupt.

"I bet he just sits in his room entertained by the notion that we are just bugs that he can squish any time. I bet—"

"Yah, yah, yah," the supervisor came inside, eyes judging Jungeun who froze, brows shooting up in surprise. The supervisor scolded, "What nonsense are you filling Jukyung's head with?"

"Oh, Minji Unnie, you were here?" Jungeun said, sheepishly.

"What? Mr. Lee messes with his staff? I guess it was someone else who tried to go into his bedroom to take pictures of him in secret," the supervisor said, eyeing Myeong, "and it must be some ghost who brought he kids into his house thinking Mr. Lee didn't live there?", the supervisor flicked her brow towards Eunsook, "and you."

The supervisor tilted her head to meet eyes with Jungeun who had her gaze lowered, "You are the sole reason Mr. Lee slashed out the kitchen section in his instruction manual. Can you still shamelessly badmouth him to the one employee actually following his instructions?"

The other cleaners all buried their heads in their lockers while Jukyung only looked at Jungeun in wonderment.

The supervisor turned to her, "Don't listen to these crones. Just do your job how you're told to do and you should be fine."

"But... but... he's stopped leaving me any notes," Jukyung's lower lip puckered in despair.

"Notes? Oh, you mean those sticky notes he always uses?" The supervisor asked. "Don't worry about it. I bet he just doesn't have any feedback for you. Maybe he likes what you are doing."

Jukyung's shoulders relaxed, "Really?"

"Really. Don't listen to these fools, alright? Just focus on your work. Mr. Lee hasn't raised any complaints with me yet. Which means that he's satisfied."

Jukyung nodded her head, reassured by her supervisors words.

The words seemed less assuring now to Jukyung was leaving Mr. Lee's house for the fourteenth time with, yet again, no note. As the sun set behind her, Jukyung threw a glance at the second story window over her shoulder.

There was no one standing there.

Is he okay? Jukyung wondered. Then shook her head, A-ah! Who cares? It's not like he isn't rich enough to call for help if he needs it.

But the thought that something was wrong with Mr. Lee kept wiggling around in her mind like a parasite all night long.

No one knew how old Mr. Lee was but given his long history in the neighborhood, he had to be elderly. What if he had a fall and couldn't cry out for help? There was no electricity in his house which meant nothing digital—that would require charging—like a smart phone worked there. And there seemed to be no wiring to support a landline in the house.