TDRCB 01

Chapter 01 …

A black limousine came to a stop in front of a shabby studio apartment building.

The expressionless face of the man who stepped out of the back seat developed the faintest crack as he surveyed the building.

“To think she’s living in such a run-down place. I need to get a black card made for our baby girl immediately.”

Our baby girl?

Secretary Park suppressed a shudder and lowered his head.

“Yes, sir. I’ll arrange it.”

Kang Tae-jun clicked his tongue and smoothed his perfectly unwrinkled suit once more.

“Do I look a little more like a dad now?”

“Pardon? Yes, sir.”

Secretary Park answered reflexively, then found himself thoroughly confused.

Had Kang Tae-jun, a man who never lost his composure during any negotiation, really just asked whether he looked like a dad? What exactly was a dad supposed to look like?

Regardless of Secretary Park’s confusion, Kang Tae-jun smiled with satisfaction. Just as he was about to enter the building, the loud roar of an engine rang out.

Screeech!

A red sports car shot out of its parking space and came to an abrupt stop at the entrance to the alley.

Kang Tae-jun raised an eyebrow when he saw the man stepping out of the car and removing his black sunglasses.

The strikingly handsome man was Lee Hyun-woo, the CEO of South Korea’s largest entertainment company. Kang Tae-jun clicked his tongue when he noticed the numerous piercings dangling from the man’s ears.

“Go park that properly.”

Ignoring Kang Tae-jun’s remark, Lee Hyun-woo pointed an accusing finger at him and shouted.

“What are you doing here?”

“That’s what I should be asking you.”

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to claim that our Haru is your child?”

Kang Tae-jun’s brow furrowed.

“Haru is my daughter. If you’re the one planning to spout nonsense, get lost.”

“Jangmi explicitly told me I was her dad!”

“She told me the same thing.”

“You’re even engaged! Don’t tell me you’re planning to leave Haru in that woman’s care?”

“I’m going to break off the engagement.”

“Do you think that’s so easy?”

Lee Hyun-woo glared at Kang Tae-jun before abruptly turning his head toward the building. Brushing his bangs back irritably, he spoke.

“She raised a child in a dump like this?”

As Lee Hyun-woo instinctively rummaged through his pockets for a cigarette, Kang Tae-jun scoffed.

“Don’t tell me you’re looking for a cigarette. And you think you’re qualified to be a father?”

“I’m quitting.”

He angrily shoved the cigarette he had taken out back into his pocket.

When he looked up, Kang Tae-jun was already striding toward the building entrance.

“Hey! Where are you going? I’m her dad!”

Lee Hyun-woo hurried after him, but just then, a silent electric car approached and lingered in front of the sports car blocking the entrance to the alley.

The car had such a powerful presence that both men turned their attention toward it.

They both recognized the vehicle. It was the car that T Company, a global tech giant, had proudly announced would be produced in only three units worldwide.

A man got out of the electric car and came running toward them, his checkered shirt flapping in the wind. When he spotted the two men blocking the building entrance, he abruptly stopped.

At the same time, a voice came from the tablet tucked under his arm.

“Gentle yet firm discipline is important. Through a consistent approach to education…”

The man adjusted his crooked horn-rimmed glasses, opened the tablet, and pressed the stop button before speaking.

“Please move aside.”

“Where are you going?”

At Lee Hyun-woo’s suspicious question, the man answered.

“…To see my daughter.”

Just as the man with the horn-rimmed glasses was about to walk past them, two hands reached out from either side and grabbed his shoulders.

“Wait a second. Is your daughter’s name Haru, by any chance…?”

The three men stared at one another in silence.

“Did Jangmi contact you too, by any chance?”

The man with the horn-rimmed glasses, Gong Dae-in, adjusted his glasses before slowly opening his mouth.

“If you know Ms. Jangmi, who disappeared five years ago, there is a high probability that you were someone close to her. However, I have no desire to learn who you are. If I indulge my curiosity, I estimate that I will end up wasting even more time. So, would you please move aside now?”

They looked at one another with strange expressions.

The moment they realized they were all competing to be Haru’s father, the three men began scrambling up the stairs, each trying to get ahead of the others.

“Mommy! There are dumplings over there! Can Haru go eat some too?”

Excited by the smell of freshly fried dumplings, the little girl bounced up and down. Her chubby, rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes were brimming with anticipation.

Nevertheless, Jangmi didn’t even bat an eye as she firmly replied.

“Haru, you mustn’t run around in the supermarket.”

Jangmi had been putting groceries into the cart when she turned around and suddenly froze. The little girl’s soft, bare hand was pointing straight at the food sampling counter.

“Haru, where did your gloves go?”

“Huh? I dunno. I lost them.”

Haru clasped her hands together and fidgeted innocently, pretending not to know anything as she sneakily checked her mother’s expression.

Then, her gaze slowly drifted toward the trash can behind her mother.

It had been so hot and stuffy that she’d taken her gloves off for just a moment when Mommy wasn’t looking. Somehow, they had ended up in the trash can.

It wasn’t as if Haru had thrown them away on purpose!

“Mommy told you to keep your gloves on even when you feel hot.”

Seeing her mother’s expression grow frightening, Haru flinched and trembled.

“Haru has a special ability. She can learn many things just by touching them. But Mommy wants Haru to be ordinary. So you must always wear your gloves, understand?”

Mommy had said that no one must find out Haru was a genius, which was why she always had to wear her gloves. But…

The ability Mommy had talked about had never appeared, not even once.

Haru was now a proper five-year-old who understood how the world worked!

A little while ago, she had heard a woman on TV say something.

“When their children are little, every parent thinks their kid is a genius.”

According to that lady, Mommy had a case of ‘My Child Is a Genius Syndrome’!

“This won’t do. We’re going home to put your gloves on, and then we’ll come back.”

Haru’s face crumpled into a miserable pout.

“But if Haru doesn’t touch anything, it’ll be okay, right? Haru will be really, really careful. Please?”

Haru tugged at the hem of her mother’s clothes. As she gazed up with her big, pleading eyes, Jangmi’s heart began to soften for a moment…

Then one of Jangmi’s eyebrows twitched as she spotted something.

“Oh Haru. What’s this?”

Haru quietly averted her gaze. The Choco Song Song snack she had sneakily hidden in the corner of the shopping cart was now in her mother’s hand.

“Haru doesn’t know anything about it. I guess someone gave it to Haru as a present so she could eat Choco Song Song!”

Her ability to play innocent was truly remarkable. Jangmi flicked Haru on the forehead, making sure not to hurt her.

“You ate some yesterday, too.”

“Eeeh…”

Haru let out a little groan and rubbed her forehead with both hands. Then she glanced at the corners of Jangmi’s mouth.

When Mommy’s lips turned into a straight line like that, no amount of pleading would work. Not even if Haru asked a hundred times.

Taking the Choco Song Song snack, Haru pattered toward the snack aisle and shouted,

“I’ll put it back!”

Just as she rounded the corner—

Crash!

Her foot caught on something, and she tumbled to the floor.

As she dropped the Choco Song Song snack, her bare hand touched a soft, furry little ball.

Sparkle!

With a flash of light, a huge magnifying glass suddenly appeared above a scruffy puppy with a little pop!

Isn’t that the magnifying glass Detective Dodo always carries around?

Startled, Haru quickly pulled her hand away and opened her mouth into a perfect little circle.

At the same time, transparent letters came pouring down from above her head.

Whoosh!

[Haru’s Case Notebook]

A case has occurred♪

A puppy who has become separated from its older sister is frightened.

☞ Help the puppy

☞ Just walk past

As if entranced, Haru reached out her hand.

Ding!♪

☞ Help the puppy

At the same time, the magnifying glass doubled in size.

Gathering additional information…

Suddenly, a sharp tingle shot through her head, and her vision spun.

In an instant, her field of vision dropped lower.

A warm hand stroked her head.

“Choco. Wait here for a little while. Your big sister will go buy you your favorite treats.”

The beige skirt of her big sister disappeared beyond the supermarket doors. The puppy’s tail trembled anxiously amid the unfamiliar smells and the people bustling around it.

At that moment—

Vroooom!

The shadow of a huge truck approached.

Scary!

“Oh! That puppy is running away!”

“Shouldn’t someone catch it?”

Desperately struggling, the puppy managed to slip out of its leash and ran into the supermarket.

The lights were bright, and the place was full of people, but no matter where it went, it couldn’t smell its big sister anywhere.

Where is she?

The puppy’s memories flashed through Haru’s mind in an instant, making her heart pound.

This must be the special ability Mommy was talking about!

Haru really was a genius after all!