MHD - 13

[Hey, sis?] 

The sound of Yoon-seok’s voice came through the phone. Jae-hyuk snatched the phone out of Hee-soo’s hand and said, 

“It seems Seo Hee-soo dialed the wrong number.” 

[Hello? Hey, can I speak to my sister…?] 

Jae-hyuk abruptly ended the call. His eyes lingered for a moment on the name and number displayed on the screen. 

“Park Yoon-seok?” 

“He’s my road manager. Give me back the phone.” 

Hee-soo reached out to grab the phone, but Jae-hyuk lightly stopped her by grabbing her wrist. 

His cold gaze rested briefly on Hee-soo’s face before turning dark and emotionless. With an impassive expression, Jae-hyuk slowly opened his mouth. 

“My father told me several times while he was alive.” 

His dry voice carried no trace of emotion. Hee-soo stared up at him in disbelief, her heart sinking. 

“That you demanded money in exchange for not seeing me.” 

“What?” 

Surely, he didn’t still believe that, did he? No, that couldn’t be. No matter how long I avoided your calls, our relationship wasn’t so fragile that it could crumble from such petty scheming. 

She had to deny it, but her panicked mind couldn’t form coherent words. She wanted to speak, but no sound came out. 

“No…” 

She tried to force the words out, but they scattered like sand slipping through her fingers. 

“It’s fine.” 

Jae-hyuk cut her off. His dry, unfeeling face confronted hers. His eyes, refusing to listen to anything she might say, bore into her. 

“I hoped you’d explain this yourself instead of forcing me to say it aloud.” 

His biting tone dripped with bitter sarcasm, followed by a faint, mocking smile. His icy gaze glared down at her over a sneering mouth. 

It’s not true. It’s not true. A desperate urge to clear up the misunderstanding welled up inside her. 

But how? 

There were too many things left unsaid, and she didn’t know where to begin untangling them all. 

And most importantly— 

Jae-hyuk’s words weren’t entirely wrong. 

“…Back then, I had no choice.” 

Her voice trembled as she finally managed to squeeze out the words, but her heart clenched painfully. Hee-soo bit down hard on her quivering lips. Her throat tightened. 

“Heh. Finally.” 

With a hollow laugh, Jae-hyuk shoved a thick wad of yellow bills into Hee-soo’s hand. 

“There. Take all the money you need. How’s that? Is this enough?” 

“…What is this? Are you serious?” 

Hee-soo tried to shake off the money forced into her hand, but Jae-hyuk’s grip around her wrist didn’t budge an inch. 

“Is this not enough? Well, considering you’ve been out of touch for ten years, you must have gotten quite a lot. How much is one night with you worth? Still not enough?” 

“No! Stop it!” 

Though the man holding her wrist didn’t move, Hee-soo resisted with all her strength. The harder she struggled, the tighter his grip became, leaving white imprints blooming across her wrist.

“Why? Don’t you want my money?” 

“Please, don’t do this.” 

Her trembling plea only fueled Jae-hyuk’s sarcasm. 

“Right, it’s not like there weren’t plenty of other men willing to give you money. The place where we reunited—it was one of those kinds of gatherings, wasn’t it?” 

Thud. 

Suddenly releasing Hee-soo, Jae-hyuk let her body collapse limply onto the floor. Around her hands, which were braced against the ground, the crumpled bills he had forced into her grasp scattered everywhere. 

“You’re no different from them. Pathetic.” 

The cutting words fell over her like a blade. Like a soldier pierced through by an arrow, Hee-soo froze in place, staring down at the floor. 

“All the time I spent remembering you, cherishing those memories—it’s all regret now.” 

“Please… stop…” 

Tears pooled behind her knuckles, dripping steadily onto the floor. 

But cruelly— 

“Fine. Let’s stop.” 

His cold, indifferent words struck her like a knife. 

“…From now on, whatever happens to you, I don’t care.” 

Through her blurred vision, Hee-soo watched as Jae-hyuk turned his back and walked away. 

Thump, thump. 

Without hesitation, his footsteps headed toward the door and disappeared from sight. 

Click. 

The door closed behind him, and soon even the sound of his retreating footsteps faded into silence. 

Still, Hee-soo couldn’t bring herself to stand up. 

The tears she had swallowed back choked her throat, spilling endlessly from her chin onto the back of her hand. Through her tear-streaked vision, she saw the scattered bills smeared with her sorrow. 

“Why, is this not enough? Considering you’ve been out of touch for ten years, you must have gotten quite a lot. How much is one night with you worth? Still not enough?” 

Jae-hyuk’s parting words stabbed deep into her chest, drawing blood. No, every single word he’d thrown at her cut into her flesh like a frostbitten blade. 

Hee-soo raised her head to look at the door through which Jae-hyuk had vanished. She stared blankly, frozen like a statue, for what felt like an eternity. 

She couldn’t stop thinking about the sound of his unrelenting footsteps as he walked away, or the words she never imagined hearing from him, still echoing in her ears. 

Her eyes lingered on the afterimage of Jae-hyuk, refusing to let go. 

“Fine. Let’s stop.” 

Over and over again, the phantom Jae-hyuk appeared before her, closing the door and disappearing into the hallway beyond. Her gaze remained fixed, unable to look away. 

She had thought burying everything in her heart would make her forget. 

But it seemed she hadn’t truly forgotten—she had only convinced herself that she had. For both Jae-hyuk and Hee-soo, time had stood still since that day ten years ago, as if it had never moved forward. 

Now, she regretted the foolishness of believing that as long as she was okay, everything could be forgotten and left behind. 

Burying something didn’t erase its existence. 

“The condition for not seeing me was money, right?” 

With just those words from Jae-hyuk, the events of that day ten years ago came rushing back vividly. 

She remembered walking down the dark alleyway, clutching her shattered heart, endlessly regretting ever giving her heart to Jae-hyuk. 

That night felt as fresh in her mind as if it had happened yesterday. 

* * *

The reception room was filled with decorative pieces that looked like they belonged in an art gallery.

Even the smallest trinkets hanging casually around were said to be worth more than an average office worker’s monthly salary, according to the housekeeper who was called “Gimpo’s wife.” 

Though Hee-soo had lived in this house for nearly ten years, she could count on one hand the number of times she’d sat on the reception room sofa. Her living space had always been confined to a tiny corner room in the annex where the live-in employees stayed. 

The plush sofa felt as uncomfortable as sitting on thorns. She felt awkward and out of place, sitting on the pristine white sofa that didn’t have a speck of dust. 

It was probably close to midnight. 

By this late hour, all the live-in staff would have gone to bed, but the vast reception room was lit up as brightly as day. Under the excessively harsh lighting, the marks on her wrist looked even redder. 

Hee-soo continued to press down hard on her throbbing right wrist with her other hand. The marks were from when she had resisted being dragged here without understanding why. 

On her way home after parting ways with Jae-hyuk, who was on leave, Hee-soo had been forcibly bundled into a car by a group of men in suits waiting outside her house. 

After being roughly manhandled, she ended up at Jae-hyuk’s house—the same house she had fled from after her high school graduation ceremony. In other words, it was the house where Jae-hyuk and his parents lived: the home of Lee Jung-chul, the chairman of Gangrim Group. 

“Hee-soo, you know how much I cherished you, right?” 

The man seated across from her slowly opened his mouth. 

When Hee-soo glanced up at Lee Jung-chul’s words, their eyes met, and she quickly lowered her gaze again. 

There wasn’t a hint of sleepiness in Lee Jung-chul’s expression. His narrowly slit eyes resembled those of a venomous snake. 

Despite being just over 50, his face was smooth and wrinkle-free, making him look youthful yet somehow artificial. 

His well-maintained appearance was a testament to his wealth, but it exuded a mechanical coldness that seemed incapable of showing any vulnerability. 

“Is this how you repay my kindness?” 

Every time he spoke, the pain in her wrist seemed to double. 

In front of her sore wrist sat a glass of water placed for her. Even the water glass was an expensive-looking crystal tumbler, delicately engraved with intricate designs. 

It felt grotesque—a lavish gesture prepared as though she were a guest, despite the fact that she had been dragged here against her will. 

The person who likely arranged this was probably Jae-hyuk’s mother, Yoon Ji-sun. 

With a slight lift of her gaze, Hee-soo caught a glimpse of Lee Jung-chul seated across from her and Yoon Ji-sun sitting beside him. 

Please, help me. 

Hee-soo raised her eyes slightly, desperately pleading with Ji-sun, but Ji-sun had been avoiding her gaze ever since they entered the room. 

Though their last encounter hadn’t left a good impression on Hee-soo… 

Still, the two of them had shared ten years together. If there was anyone who could save her from this situation, it was Yoon Ji-sun. But to Hee-soo’s despair, Ji-sun completely ignored her, deliberately averting her eyes. 

“Hee-soo, what more do I need to take away for you to understand me properly?” 

As if demanding her attention, Lee Jung-chul raised his voice slightly and asked. 

“What should I do? I can make you live your entire life hiding in the shadows, like a rat, barely breathing.” 

Though his tone was flat and devoid of inflection, his words carried the chilling implication that he could discard someone’s life as easily as tossing trash into a bin. 

“…” 

Hee-soo swallowed hard, biting her trembling lips. 

A few months ago, when she had been chased out of this house, Hee-soo had already lost the ten years she spent here. It was when she was forced to abandon her path as a ballerina. 

Jae-hyuk, unaware of the truth, had thought she was declaring independence and tried to stop her, but in reality, it was a choice made under duress. 

Yes, you said you bought my talent. And now that you no longer need it, you’re taking it away. 

Her heart swelled with injustice. She had been powerless to resist and was driven away, and even the emotions needed to express her grievances had been stripped from her. 

Having lived in this house for over a decade, acutely aware of its immense power, Hee-soo had already lost the will to fight back against Lee Jung-chul’s threats.

A poor, twenty-year-old girl with no background, no reputation, and no resources...

……Because she had nothing.