Chapter 1
His wife was a lovely woman.
She was like a flower bud just beginning to bloom, or like a faint mirage spreading in the air.
When she smiled with her eyes gently curved, it felt as bright as looking straight into the summer sun.
When he kissed her lips, it was like tasting sweet, juicy grapes.
Whenever he looked at her face, it was like autumn leaves coloring the whole world. She brought color into his once colorless life.
And when he thought that he was the first man for all her “first times,” it made his heart dizzy.
He couldn’t help but love her. He fell helplessly, completely.
Kang Chi-kyung’s life had been dull and gray. But for exactly one year, he was happy. Truly happy.
That wife—
One day—
Disappeared.
Without a single trace. As if she vanished into thin air.
“Your wife ran away.”
Inside the consultation office of the company , a woman said this as she scribbled in her notes with a pencil.
“We usually call that the end of a relationship—or a breakup.”
She wrote the word “breakup” and circled it three times. The way she circled it over and over annoyed him.
Chi-kyung glared at her, and the woman slowly lifted her head to meet his eyes. Her sharp black pupils gleamed coldly.
“…Your wife,” she said with her soft but sharp voice.
“She ran away from you. She wanted to end things.”
She emphasized the words ran away and end like she was declaring judgment.
“Ran away… and ended things,” Chi-kyung repeated.
Holding his teacup, he spoke slowly.
“When people start love, there’s no order or rule. But when people separate—especially a married couple—it should be mutual, agreed upon.”
That’s what’s fair. That’s the right thing.
The woman frowned slightly and started writing again.
“You did have a wedding eight years ago, but since there was no official marriage registration, you’re not legally married.”
“We did register.”
The pencil stopped.
“You registered?” she asked sharply, as if scolding him for it.
“Why not? We were both adults. I proposed properly, we had a beautiful wedding. Of course I registered. Isn’t that normal?”
“…Then why does the record say you’re single?”
“My wife’s identity was fake. Later, the registration was canceled.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. She wrote “canceled” and circled it darkly. Her eyes gleamed strangely as she looked at him.
“See? If the marriage was canceled, then there was no need for divorce. She ended things very cleanly.”
Her words came out like cold knives.
“She even faked her identity. That means from the start, she had no plan to stay. It was a relationship with an ending already set. From your side, you didn’t really lose much—”
“So what?”
“…What do you mean?”
Chi-kyung glanced at her name card on the table.
“Ban Sa-hee… Are you saying, since the marriage was void, she’s no longer my wife, and I don’t need to find her?”
The woman blinked fast. Her pale face looked even paler against her black turtleneck and tied hair.
He leaned forward and said firmly, “She’s still my wife. We didn’t divorce. So we’re still married.”
The woman’s big eyes trembled faintly. Her pupils swelled as if about to burst.
“Do you… still love her? The same as before?” she asked, voice trembling slightly.
“No.”
He smiled coldly at the woman—who had the same face as his wife.
“Back then, I loved her to death.”
He gave her everything, loved her so much he couldn’t stop himself.
“But now… I love her so much, I could kill her.”
Silence fell.
Finally, the woman forced herself to speak.
“I understand how you feel. But at Vanishing, we don’t take cases that involve emotions. Feelings make the work unstable.”
Chi-kyung sneered and tapped the company slogan written on the table flyer:
“You advertise this way, but you won’t find my wife?”
She pointed lower on the flyer.
<We do not take cases about runaway spouses, pets, or missing teenagers.>
“We usually work with employees who ran away with company money, or government officials who stole secrets. Or with valuable stolen items.”
Her tone was proud, like she had the upper hand.
“So sadly, finding your wife is—”
“That’s exactly why I came to the right place.”
He raised his teacup again. His voice turned colder.
“I’m not trying to find her because of love or some silly family matter.”
“Then… why?”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“Fraud. And theft.”
“…What?”
“She lied about her name, age, nationality—everything. That’s fraud.”
He slapped a photo on the table.
“And this.”
The woman’s eyes widened at the object in the photo.
“This is the necklace my wife ran away with seven years ago.”
“…What?” Her voice shook.
“At that time, it was valued at 4 billion won. Now it’s worth over 9 billion. It’s in textbooks, and important for France’s diplomacy.”
She whispered, “But… isn’t that necklace kept in the Myeongseong Museum?”
“That’s a fake.”
Her pupils shook violently.
“The real one? My lovely wife took it with her. Seven years ago.”
The woman shut her eyes for a moment in shock.
Chi-kyung stood slowly.
“My runaway wife—or the necklace she ran away with. One of them will come back.”
There was no way she could refuse. She must not refuse.
“An advance of 1 billion won. If you succeed, 5 billion more. Plus 1 billion for each team member. Total, 6.3 billion won.”
“…”
“Report to me every two days. Directly, Miss Ban Sa-hee.”
He placed his name card on the table.
“Call me when you’re ready. We’ll make a pretty contract.”
He tapped the card with his finger, looked her in the eyes one last time, and walked out of the small room.
Behind him, the woman—his missing wife, now living under the name Ban Sa-hee—couldn’t take her eyes off him.
