Siron jolted awake at the sound of someone knocking. The sky outside the window was a pale blue. He’d been waiting for Baekgyeong’s reply, and somewhere along the way, without realizing it, he had fallen into a deep sleep. Now that Baekgyeong was back on his mind, any lingering sleepiness vanished. Siron checked his phone to see if there were any new messages and called out toward the door.
“Come in.”
But the person outside didn’t seem to hear him—they knocked again. Still no message from Baekgyeong. Feeling anxious, Siron spoke again with more clarity.
“Come in.”
“The door’s locked!”
Realizing his mistake, Siron quickly jumped out of bed and opened the door. On the other side stood the towering figure of Lewis, looking down at him. His expression was tense—clearly still conscious of the barbed conversation they’d had the night before, like a thorn embedded in the skin.
“Were you sleeping?”
“Yeah. Slept pretty well.”
“Then come out here. There’s something we need to check right now.”
“What is it? Why do you look so serious? ...Is it something about Baekgyeong?”
“Baekgyeong? What about him?”
“N–nothing.”
With nothing confirmed yet, Siron didn’t want to mention Baekgyeong prematurely, so he held his tongue. He followed Lewis to the study. Anna was sitting in front of the computer, and beside her was a single Polaroid photo—taken from the urology clinic building owned by Isaac Bazelli.
It was one of the photos they'd separated from the rest because the subject couldn’t be identified. Stained with dirty water, the photo had shriveled from drying after being soaked. Though the person’s face wasn’t visible, one thing was certain—it was a photo of someone alive, not a corpse.
“What’s this photo?”
“Compare it to this.”
Anna turned the monitor toward Siron. On the screen, a man in his mid-forties stood in a garden lush with greenery and a fountain, smiling as he played a beige parlor guitar. A healthy, muscular Latin man.
Siron stared at the screen for a long moment, then carefully picked up the water-stained, half-burned Polaroid. He examined it longer than the photo on the monitor, as if disassembling and reconstructing it piece by piece. Then his face turned pale with shock. The man in the photo Anna showed him was the same man Isaac had tried to burn in the photo.
“Where did you get this picture?”
Siron asked. Anna replied with a hard expression.
“From the person we contacted through the DNA matching website.”
“You contacted them after all?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you reach out?”
Anna pulled up the website and showed Siron the web chat window. His expression twisted slightly as he read the exchange:
[Me]:
Hello, I’m Kate Kim with the Helsota State Homeless Support Center’s Identity Confirmation Program.
Based on recent DNA testing, we believe an unidentified individual may be a relative of yours.
Your assistance in confirming this could help us determine his identity more accurately.
With your help, we hope to get the proper support to this individual. Please contact us if you’re able.
“You lied?”
Anna answered without flinching.
“What, you think I should’ve told the truth? ‘Your relative was kidnapped, drugged, and forced into prostitution in a Hybris facility. If you want to help, please cooperate?’”
She said it calmly, without exaggeration, but to Siron, each word landed like a hammer driving nails into his skull.
“I don’t want to deceive families either, but we have no other way right now. And thanks to that, we now know the man’s identity and have a photo. V3011—his name is Paco Torres.”
Siron studied Paco Torres’s photo carefully, then turned back to the one Isaac had failed to destroy. The facial features were blurred, but the garden, shrubbery, and guitar Paco was holding matched exactly with the one in the computer image.
Lewis, standing beside Siron, spoke in a low voice.
“He’s the same man I saw in the Hybris building. He looks way more broken down than in the picture, but... yeah.”
Anna continued.
“He was a successful banker until the mid-2000s, but after the 2008 global financial crisis, he went bankrupt and ended up on the streets. I have no idea how a homeless man from Beljoras ended up in Baggers City.”
From the murky depths of Siron’s memory, conversations with Isaac resurfaced. Isaac had said he’d been on a “special mission” in Beljoras. But what kind of mission was it?
Suddenly dizzy, Siron grabbed the corner of the table for balance. Deep down, he had clung to the belief that Isaac wasn’t involved with Hybris—but that belief shattered. Isaac was deeply enmeshed in their filthy operations.
“Isaac said he served as a soldier in Beljoras.”
Both Anna and Lewis looked at him.
“Paco Torres—the man in the photo—he might’ve been kidnapped by Isaac and sold to Hybris.”
Siron thought of the uncertain fate of Joan Welch, then spoke heavily.
“Will Joan end up like Paco Torres?”
Anna paused. She was quiet for a long time before answering in a hesitant voice.
“I can’t say for sure. It’s possible he was kidnapped, but we don’t know who took him. And we can’t completely rule out that he left voluntarily. But if he was abducted... shouldn’t we at least know where he is? That’s why—”
She glanced at Lewis. Before he could read too much into it, Anna quickly said:
“I’ll give you $3,000 if you go undercover as a homeless person.”
“Are you insane?! Anna!”
“Just one sting operation, please!”
“Absolutely not! Bebe! I’ll give you ten grand! No—$100,000!”
“Shut the hell up, you!”
Siron sighed as the siblings yelled and jabbed fingers at each other. He didn’t want Lewis’s money—it felt like a sugar daddy handout. And Anna’s offer felt far too little for the risk... but ironically, it was just enough. He needed minimum funds to go find Baekgyeong—whether in New York or Korea.
But what truly moved Siron was the thought of Joan Welch. That tacky, careless smile on CCTV, completely unaware of the future waiting for him—it reminded Siron too much of himself to turn away.
“Anna, I’ll do it.”
Both Anna and Lewis stared at him in shock.
“No way!”
“Really?!”
Siron nodded firmly.
“Yeah. I’ll do the homeless impersonation.”
Thus, their ragtag crew gathered for an emergency meeting to uncover the secret—or corruption—within the Homeless Support Center. Siron, Lewis, and Anna were a clumsy bunch in their own ways, but they were serious about their makeshift mission.
Their common target: Joseph Miller, the relocation officer at the support center. Anna cracked her knuckles like Joseph Miller was already in front of her.
“Lewis. When I’m out on patrol near that area, you call 911. Say there’s a homeless person loitering near the Palette Atelier lot. Be aggressive.”
She continued.
“A patrol car will be dispatched for a field check. I’ll be nearby, get the report, and pick up the ‘homeless person’ to bring them to the support center.”
The homeless person she meant was, of course, Yoon Siron. Lewis still looked unhappy about it.
“What happens next?”
“We need to see if Miller calls the family. Siron, you say you want to go to LA where your family lives. Give Lewis’s number as your ‘relative’s’ contact. Legally, the caseworker has to confirm the relocation address exists. Oh, and you have to act like you don’t own a phone. Make it seem like you trust Miller completely. That way, he’ll feel safe lying to you.”
Siron replied in a tense voice:
“If Miller doesn’t call Lewis, that’s pretty much proof he’s planning to abduct me.”
“If Joseph Miller lies and says he contacted your family, secretly text me. I’ll confront him.”
“But that’s flimsy evidence. Just because he didn’t call a relative doesn’t prove he’s connected to Joan Welch’s disappearance.”
Siron doubted Miller would be rattled by Anna’s moral appeal. If he was an active participant in human trafficking, he’d likely treat Anna like an annoying fly.
“Do you think Miller’s going to confess? What if you’re the one who ends up in danger—”
“Who said I’d be the one confronting him?”
“...Huh?”
“...What?”
Anna looked between Siron and Lewis, then locked eyes with Lewis.
“You remember the part you played in School Tide?”
“The quarterback? Yeah, of course.”
School Tide was a teen drama set in California about friendship, love, rebellion, sex, drugs, and crime. It was often compared to Skins—a less-polished, downmarket version. It ended after season 1 and was quickly forgotten.
Lewis played a supporting role introduced late in the series, a character set up for a twist in season 2. A transfer student forced to move in with his abusive father after a divorce, constantly clashing with the male lead for the quarterback position.
He was violent, cruel, and bigoted. The character drew massive hate even with limited screen time. But since the show was canceled early, it never had the chance to redeem him.
Flooded with grim memories, Lewis looked at Anna warily.
“I don’t even want to think about that show. Why are you bringing it up now...?”
His brow furrowed in suspicion.
“You’re not saying I should be the one interrogating Miller, are you?”
Anna barely held back a laugh and pressed her lips together. With a mix of mischief and hope, she said:
“You can do it, right? That psycho maniac act.”
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter