Chapter 18

Hyo-jeong ran excitedly. Her sister had come to the cafe next to the dormitory. It was so close, but for some reason, it felt hard to walk, so she kept running. Even though she was out of breath, she didn’t stop.

She had been thinking of going to Seoul to see her sister anyway, and now that her sister was here, it felt like some invisible connection had worked out.

The day before, her roommate had been mumbling while drinking a can of beer.

“I miss Mom now that I’m in the dorm.”

Hyo-jeong felt the same way. She missed her mom, of course, but she also missed her sister. She had two people she wanted to see, so she felt like complaining, but instead, she had quietly suppressed it, chewing on the squid legs her roommate had brought.

But now, her sister had come down just like that. Her sister really was the best.

When she entered the cafe, she saw Jae-hee sitting by the window. After adjusting her bag, Hyo-jeong ran over.

“Sister!”

“Is our Hyo-jeong here?”

“Yeah! Sister!”

Her cheeks flushed from running, and Hyo-jeong grinned.

“Take it easy. Aren’t you tired?”

“No! I’m fine!”

Hyo-jeong shook her head vigorously and sat down across from Jae-hee. She dumped her books on the table, and Jae-hee smiled softly as she picked them up and started organizing them.

Hyo-jeong rested her chin on her hand and watched her sister. Her movements seemed slower than usual, and her eyes and expression didn’t carry the usual energy. Hyo-jeong lowered her arm from her chin and asked her sister.

“Sister, is something wrong?”

For some reason, she felt uneasy. Especially because of what she had done. Just a few days ago, she had shown Kang-joo the video of Chairman Cha. Was that what was causing the problem?

But that matter had been settled in a warm way.

“Don’t ever do something so risky again, Hyo-jeong.”

Kang-joo had scolded her as if he were an older brother, and Hyo-jeong had simply nodded in response. He had reassured her, saying that her sister wouldn’t have to go through any trouble because of Chairman Cha.

So, Hyo-jeong had pushed it out of her mind.

Whether Jae-hee knew about Hyo-jeong’s anxiety or not, she calmly spoke, her expression slightly subdued.

“Hyo-jeong, I have something to show you.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t be surprised, okay? Just watch.”

“Okay.”

Hyo-jeong slowly nodded. She was confused about what could be so serious that her sister was acting like this. She blinked in surprise, and then, biting her lip, Jae-hee opened her laptop on the table. With a few clicks, she moved the mouse and looked at the screen.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I thought it might worry you, but if this becomes a bigger issue, you’ll find out eventually.”

“What’s going on? Why are you making me anxious?”

“First... watch. This is a video taken when Mom had the accident.”

Jae-hee said in a calm tone.

As soon as she finished speaking, the video started playing. Hyo-jeong quietly watched the screen. The kitchen appeared. Her mom appeared.

“Mom…”

Hyo-jeong felt a mix of surprise and sadness as she watched the video. Suddenly, she flinched and her eyes widened. The short video ended shortly after.

“You saw it, right? Now, let’s watch the next one.”

Jae-hee said briefly and started the second video.

Hyo-jeong stared blankly at the screen. The corners of her lips trembled, and a chill spread up from her fingertips. When she saw her mother hurriedly running up the stairs to escape, her whole body trembled.

Soon, the screen went black.

Neither of them said anything. There was no need for explanation; they both knew exactly what the video was and what it meant.

Hyo-jeong thought of Chairman Cha in her mind. Chairman Cha Byung-jun. He had shown a snake-like greed toward her. Given his disgusting nature, there was only one thing that the video could be showing.

Chairman Cha, that bastard, had tried to do the same thing to her mother.

“So, Mom... our mom... Mom was...”

Her sentence didn’t form properly. Hyo-jeong muttered “Mom” repeatedly, her mind still in disarray, and she chewed on her nails, unable to get her thoughts in order. Her eyes were red, as if tears would spill at any moment.

“Mom’s accident... I mean... Mom...”

“Yeah, it wasn’t just an accident. Our mom is innocent.”

Jae-hee’s voice was calm. She had already watched this video more than a hundred times. She had watched it over and over, looking for any clue, seeing her mother’s terrified face and tears, playing the video again and again, hoping to find something. So now, in this moment, she was able to be composed.

It was a relief. At least she could pretend to be calm and comfort Hyo-jeong.

“So, we’re going to bring this case back to the surface as Chairman Cha’s negligence. If we can’t legally punish him, we’ll at least ruin his reputation.”

Instead of answering, Hyo-jeong lowered her head. A tear dropped onto the back of her hand. Jae-hee gently took her wet hand. Seeing Hyo-jeong’s tear-streaked cheek broke her heart, but she knew neither of them could afford to be weak, so she held her emotions in check.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I thought it would scare you, but sooner or later, you would find out.”

“…”

“I promise you, I’ll bring down Chairman Cha, trust me.”

Suppressing her own sorrow, Jae-hee softly embraced Hyo-jeong. Hyo-jeong looked up at her sister, as if held by her voice.

“Sister…”

“There’s nothing for you to worry about, Hyo-jeong. Got it?”

Hyo-jeong’s lips trembled. It felt like she would burst into tears at any moment, but she sniffled and barely held it back. Her tightly closed lips trembled, and her sister’s tender hand wiping her cheek with a tissue made Hyo-jeong feel even more pitiful.

If I cry, even my composed sister will start crying too. I can’t cry.

The two sisters held back their sadness and wept quietly.

One hour later, Hyo-jeong returned to her dorm room like a somnambulist. She thought the suppressed tears would burst out once she got back, but to her surprise, she felt calm.

Suddenly, her sister’s last image appeared in her mind. The kind face that had worriedly asked her, “Are you really okay staying in the dorm?” as she had dropped her off at the dorm.

Hyo-jeong, who had been standing still like a frozen image, slowly began to move. She lifted her heels, stretched out her hand, and fumbled through the drawer to retrieve a small box. When she opened the hard, square lid, a small USB drive was carelessly placed inside.

“…”

Hyo-jeong quietly grasped it.

The office was quiet. Friday morning. On a normal day, there would have been lively greetings to start the day and the sound of eager voices anticipating the upcoming weekend, but now, only a cold silence lingered.

Two employees from the Jaekyung team exchanged glances before getting up from their seats. After entering the break room side by side, they let out a deep sigh, releasing the breath they had been holding.

“Did you see that too?”

“Hoo, yeah, you too? It seems like everyone knows about it now.”

“Yeah, I was too scared to comment. My friends are sending messages, it’s a mess right now.”

Their hushed whispers echoed through the room. It was a topic they couldn’t even bring up on messenger. It was gossip that had been burning inside them since they arrived at work, and now they finally had a chance to talk about it.

The woman with short hair glanced around the break room door to make sure no one was around and then whispered.

“But is it real? Isn’t it a fake?”

“It’s real. You can see his face clearly. And what kind of crazy person would manipulate something like that and post it online? You’d have to be desperate to ruin your life…”

Both of them shuddered as if the mere thought was terrifying.

“I wonder if our stock is going to drop. I’ve got 20 million worth of it.”

“By the way, is it true that he really did that? The tall guy... it’s crazy…”

Even while talking, they chuckled in disbelief between sentences.

“Yeah. But who filmed that video?”

“I don’t know. The voice sounded young. She said she was a freshman, right? If she’s a high school freshman, we know what that means… if she’s a college student, she’s about twenty, so... the age difference… Let’s not talk about it.”

Last night, a post with the simple title “The Private Life of a CEO” had appeared on a major portal site. At first, it wasn’t an attention-grabbing post. There was just a video attached with no explanation.

But out of curiosity, a few people started to comment after watching the video:

[No way. Is this real?]

[Wow, this is crazy. I’m too scared to even comment…]

As a few comments like these were posted, the post began to gain attention.

It didn’t take long for the video link to spread like wildfire. By the time night fell, the post had become the center of attention, and even other posts with the same ID began appearing on other portals.

The video wasn’t obscene or sensational. It wasn’t provocative in any way. It simply showed a conversation between a CEO of a large corporation and someone else.

The man in the video was Cha Byung-jun, the chairman of Seon-Gang Group. His manner in the video was calm and polite. But the issue wasn’t his behavior; it was the identity of the person on the other end of the conversation.

A girl, whose identity wasn’t revealed. A young girl who had called herself a freshman.

And Cha’s voice, whispering to her that he could give her everything. The smile on his face when he asked if she had a boyfriend. That was the major problem.

The conclusion was simple.

Chairman Cha Byung-jun had reached out to an innocent young girl.

The video swept through the portals overnight, stirring up the online world. People mocked Chairman Cha for targeting a naive girl and pitied the voice of the girl who had hesitated in confusion.

By morning, the video was deleted, and many of the related posts were also removed. Seon-Gang made no official response. It seemed they decided to just ignore it.

There wasn’t even an official rebuttal article to deny the video, so everyone nodded in agreement.

“It must be true,” they thought.

The woman with the short hair chuckled.

“How embarrassed must our chairman be right now?”

“Seriously. The way he spoke, it didn’t seem like it was the first time he’d done something like that. The way he flirted seemed so natural.”

“Exactly.”

A brief, hushed laugh passed between them.

Hyojeong stretched out on the soft bed.

“Aggghhh...”

She had come here in a rush and only managed to sleep when morning came. To her surprise, she had slept soundly. When she finally woke up with the sun high in the sky, she got up from the bed, stumbled toward the window, and pulled back the blackout curtains. A blinding sunlight flooded in.

“The weather’s nice.”

She watched tiny cars, like miniature blocks, speeding down the long, winding road. For a moment, she lost touch with reality. Blinking rapidly, she closed and opened her eyes again, then returned to the bed and lay back down.

She had uploaded the video yesterday. The one where she had provoked Chairman Cha into making the statements she wanted, the entire conversation inside the car.

She hadn’t even tried to hide her ID. Even if they traced it, she didn’t care. After all, even if she tried to hide her identity, there was no way Chairman Cha wouldn’t know where the video came from.

“What, is he going to kill me or something?”

She didn’t think for a second that he would dare to touch her. If she were involved alone, maybe, but she had her sister Jae-hee, and next to Jae-hee was Senior Cha Kangjoo, who was none other than Chairman Cha’s son.

No matter how powerful Chairman Cha was, there was no way he could easily sever the web of relationships that surrounded her and get rid of her.

Lying face down on the bed, she ran her hand over the sheet. The luxurious fabric felt soft to the touch.

This was the place her sister had secretly taken her to. Just hours after she had uploaded the video, Jae-hee had come to find her. Her eyes were filled with a mix of impatience and confusion, but she tried to act calm when facing Hyojeong. Her pale lips could hardly hide her anxiety as she came straight to the dorm.

Yet, she didn’t scold Hyojeong. She didn’t ask why she did what she did. All she said was that she should take a few days off from school and stay here.

Thanks to that, Hyojeong had been able to rest peacefully. She buried her face in the pillow as she thought of her sister.

To be honest, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t scared. But even so, it was something she had to do.

Hyojeong was still young, but she knew all too well that the world wasn’t kind. No matter how much her sister had pampered and protected her, the world had always been harsh for a poor high school student.

She already understood the logic of money and the cruelty of a world ruled by material wealth.

“He probably won’t be punished,” she muttered, her voice heavy with resignation, as it sank into the pillow.

As long as Chairman Cha remained “Chairman,” the trial would likely drag on without any real outcome. It was obvious that she would be the egg thrown at the stone of his power and wealth. At first, maybe everyone would pay attention, but as time passed, interest would fade, and the case would be buried.

“That can’t happen.”

If that were the case, her mother would remain a thief, and Chairman Cha would continue to swagger around. It was only natural; that’s how it had always been.

That’s why she couldn’t forgive him. She needed to hurt Chairman Cha’s pride, stain his reputation, even if it was just a little. If she couldn’t win in a proper trial, she would make him suffer in some other way. That was Hyojeong’s sense of justice.

“He must be so embarrassed, right?”

She gritted her teeth and muttered under her breath.

“I hope Chairman Cha is so embarrassed that he just dies.”

And at that very moment, Chairman Cha was exactly as Hyojeong had predicted—immersed in anger and humiliation.

A video with uncertain authenticity had been posted last night. He quickly ordered it to be deleted, but by then, the video had already spread far and wide. Chairman Cha entered his office like usual, shrouded in intense silence. He was afraid that any reaction might reveal his inner turmoil.

There was no need to verify the authenticity of the video. He knew too well when and where it had been filmed—it was all too clear, and it made his teeth grind with rage.

“That little girl… How dare she…!”

Fuming, Chairman Cha threw his fountain pen across the room. Thud! The pen hit the cold floor and rolled, leaving a trail of black ink that spread out, as if representing the dark rumors that now clung to him.

Unable to contain his rage, Chairman Cha exhaled sharply and repeatedly. Though the video had been taken down, everyone would probably know about it by now.

“Should I claim it was a manipulated video?”

After a brief moment of contemplation, Chairman Cha shook his head. Gossip and rumors were like thin tin pots—bubbling up for a while, but eventually cooling down quickly with time.

Yeah, such rumors could be ignored. But the problem was Hyojeong’s identity. If the person he had been talking to were revealed...

Chairman Cha’s face immediately darkened, turning a shade of deep gray. The girl who was going to become his daughter-in-law’s sister—if it got out that he had reached out to a child who was going to be family, the damage would be immense.

Fortunately, there was no clue in the video that could identify Hyojeong... but still...

“What kind of hell is this?”

A small curse slipped through the gaps in Chairman Cha’s teeth. After meeting with Hyojeong and convincing her, he had to make sure her identity remained hidden, but he couldn’t even meet her again. Her phone was turned off, and it seemed like she wasn’t checking the messages he sent.

Meeting Hyojeong had been a reckless act, and even Manager Kwon didn’t know about it. Therefore, if he wanted to meet Hyojeong, he would have to go to the dormitory himself, but he was too afraid that a paparazzi might be following her, so he hadn’t dared to try.

“Shit...!”

Chairman Cha crumpled up the papers he was holding. His fist trembled, revealing his anxiety. He struggled to control his anger and, in frustration, let out sharp breaths. Then, suddenly, the company phone started ringing loudly. Chairman Cha considered ignoring it, but eventually pressed the receiver to his ear.

“What is it?”

• Chairman, Director Yoo has arrived and is waiting for you—

The voice of Manager Kwon came through in a panic. There seemed to be some commotion behind the door.

“Sigh...”

Chairman Cha lowered his chin, looking bewildered. Director Yoo had come. It was something that was bound to happen eventually, but so suddenly.

Director Yoo had decided to stay in Korea for a while to help resolve Kangjoo’s marriage issue. She often stayed at the art gallery rather than at her home. Last night had been no different.

He had felt relieved when she wasn’t at home, but now, after seeing the video, she had come to find him. If she had been abroad as usual, he might have been able to smooth things over while she was on her way back, but the timing now was too early—too soon.

Should he make an excuse? Deny everything? While he was deliberating, the door suddenly flung open.

“Director Yoo!”

“Why are you blocking me from entering my husband’s office?”

Yeonghyeon’s icy voice rang coldly through the air. Chairman Cha stood up from his chair with a crumpled face. Director Yoo, followed by Manager Kwon, walked into the room, her steps firm.

Chairman Cha, seeing her approach, immediately started with an excuse rather than a greeting.

“Director Yoo, I don’t know what you saw, but—”

However, his words were never finished. Before he could speak, Yeonghyeon raised her hand first. Slap! The sharp sound of the slap filled the room. The end of Chairman Cha’s sentence was silenced as his cheek was struck hard.

“How dare you embarrass me...?”

Director Yoo’s voice, cold and deep, pierced Chairman Cha’s conscience.

Yeonghyeon, standing before Chairman Cha, spoke in a commanding tone.

“If you have an excuse, go ahead and make it.”

Usually, Yeonghyeon, the wife of a chaebol, was elegant and lively like a young girl, but occasionally, she became frighteningly cold. While it was rare for her to lose her temper, when she did, her words and actions left no room for mercy.

Chairman Cha, knowing this well, remained silent. Now was the time to hold his breath.

Manager Kwon, who had been watching them, quietly closed the door and left, making sure no noise from inside would leak out.

Yeonghyeon calmly sat on the sofa. After slapping Chairman Cha’s cheek, her expression seemed to soften as if the intense emotions had subsided. She smiled, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the Chairman holding his burning cheek.

“Will you make an excuse? If Si-eun’s father doesn’t make an excuse, I’ll think whatever I want. Is that okay?”

The mix of a smile and her voice made Chairman Cha feel as though his throat had been constricted. Coughing to forcefully clear his blocked breath, he lowered his chin with a gloomy expression. He seemed to be deep in thought, wondering how he could get out of this situation. His eyes were a blend of humiliation and helplessness.

After a struggle, he finally spoke.

“Director Yoo, it was a mistake. I was just trying to help because the kid’s family situation is tough.”

Chairman Cha knew that his excuse was absurd. But he squeezed out those words, trying anything to get a response. Yeonghyeon’s lips curled up in disbelief.

“When did you suddenly get so interested in other people’s business? When did you become so full of pity?”

“…”

“If you made a mistake, own it. If you can’t fix it, bow down and admit defeat. You want to keep your pride but can’t go too hard. How can a person be like this?”

Yeonghyeon, who usually didn’t mock others, was openly ridiculing Chairman Cha.

His face turned pale. Her words struck deep, and the more he tried to deny them, the more his anger simmered.

In his mind, numerous calculations ran through. The shares held by Yeonghyeon, the shares held by Kangjoo, and the shares of Yeonghyeon’s uncle and his faction.

It wasn’t the time yet. He couldn’t afford to get too bold now. The harsh reality made him feel the sting of humiliation even more deeply.

‘I’ll get through today, and when the time comes, I’ll take care of that brat, Kangjoo, too...’

As Chairman Cha silently stewed over his thoughts, Yeonghyeon adjusted her seating position. Crossing her legs, she asked again.

“Who is she, really? Hmm?”

“…”

“Bring her here. She seemed so nervous in front of you, let me at least comfort her by seeing her face.”

“…”

“Why aren’t you answering? She was good at talking there, wasn’t she? Hmm?”

Chairman Cha sighed inwardly. The biting words cut him mercilessly, but the one bit of relief was that Yeonghyeon still didn’t know Hyojeong’s identity. If that were to be revealed, things would escalate uncontrollably. The other party was the daughter of his in-laws.

It would be a source of disgust, not just anger. The temptation he had cast toward Hyojeong had once seemed proud, but Chairman Cha knew well that it wasn’t honorable.

He forced open his constricted throat and harshly spoke, his voice scraping.

“It was a mistake. That video was maliciously edited. Someone set me up to fall into a trap.”

“…”

Despite his explanation, Yeonghyeon’s gaze remained unchanged. She stared at him coldly, silently scrutinizing his every word.

“It could have been someone from the Yoo Sang Group. They’re in competition with us for the duty-free shop bid, so they must have plotted to bring me down.”

Spouting even more ridiculous claims, Chairman Cha avoided Yeonghyeon’s piercing eyes. She didn’t say anything for a long while, as if contemplating something. Rather than getting angry, her silence seemed more difficult to bear, and Chairman Cha nervously massaged his neck.

Finally, Yeonghyeon spoke.

“Malaysia UJC Corporation, Egypt Three Fly.”

Chairman Cha’s eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t want to react, but he instinctively took a step back, as if retreating from the implications. Yeonghyeon, as if expecting this reaction, smiled casually without concern.

“It seems there’s another one, but that’s still under investigation, so it’s on hold.”

“…”

“Si-eun’s dad, you’ve been doing a lot behind my back, haven’t you? You’ve set up a very nice paper company. Almost didn’t catch it, I almost didn’t know myself.”

Chairman Cha couldn’t even muster a brief denial. A conventional response like “It’s not true” was crushed in his throat, dead on arrival. He closed his mouth tightly like a clam, thinking that any attempt to deny it would only fuel Yunghyun’s anger.

The fact that she pinpointed it so specifically meant she had already done some investigation. Any excuse now would be meaningless.

“It’s not a lot of money, and you’re taking it on the side. I don’t care. It’s fine. That’s possible.”

“…”

“Who you meet behind my back doesn’t matter either. I don’t even want to know who you’re with or what you’re doing. I’m not interested.”

Yunghyun sat up straight, speaking indifferently. Chairman Cha could only mumble in response to her monologue. He had used a company account for his dealings, but how had she figured it out? His heart raced, and the back of his neck stiffened.

Yunghyun let out a hollow laugh.

“But you shouldn’t get caught. If you’re going to do something, at least do it properly. How can someone be so careless?”

“Director Yoo, that’s…”

At that moment, Yunghyun’s smile completely disappeared from her face.

“And. Even if I find out, the world can’t. Why should I bear the shame of your actions? Why should I?”

Her tone rose sharply, the heat of her fury becoming more evident as she continued. Clenching her teeth, she glared at Chairman Cha for a long while, then let out a deep breath, as if trying to collect her emotions. She chewed her lips, calming her breathing. Once more, her face returned to its usual impassive expression.

“Fix this situation. Clean it up. Make it spotless. I don’t want a single blemish left for me, the one who has you as a husband.”

It was a warning: don’t make a mess, just do your puppet role.

“...Okay.”

Chairman Cha barely suppressed his humiliation and answered obediently.

The moment he responded, Yunghyun stood up. She moved her long legs quickly and decisively, as though she couldn’t stand being in the same room with him anymore, heading for the door. Chairman Cha stood dazed, watching her walk past him.

Yunghyun paused at the doorknob, turning around. In the office, she saw her husband, small and pitiful, standing there, looking out over the world. She threw one last remark his way.

“You haven’t forgotten, have you? Who that position originally belonged to.”

“…”

Chairman Cha couldn’t reply. With that harsh final word, the door slammed shut. The office was left in silence, broken only by the simmering anger that boiled over inside him.

“Fucking hell!”

Gasping for air, Chairman Cha kicked his chair. The loud noise of the chair falling echoed in the room.

“Those damn women!”

The faces of Hyojeong, who had scorned him, and Yunghyun, who had mocked him, merged in his mind, blurring and distorting as they bled red into his thoughts.

Chairman Cha swept all the papers from his desk onto the floor.

“These fucking…!”

He then violently kicked the lamp that had fallen to the ground, the crash filling the space with a harsh sound. A flood of humiliation and disgust washed over him, drowning him in an overwhelming tide of shame.

In the early morning, Jae-hee, who had taken Hyojeong up to Seoul, dropped her off at a hotel in the heart of the city. Although she hadn’t imagined that Chairman Cha might send someone to harm Hyojeong, her anxiety was so overwhelming that she couldn’t calm down.

She thought that if she was going to hide her, it would be safer to keep her closer to home. Additionally, she figured it was better to choose a place near her since the saying “it’s darkest under the lamp” seemed to fit the situation.

“Sis, this place is really nice.”

Pretending to act casually, Hyojeong glanced around before finally falling asleep at dawn. Jae-hee, sitting next to her, gently stroked her hair and caressed her cheek. Hyojeong was so deeply asleep that even after a while, she didn’t stir.

She tried to act calm, but she must have been trembling.

Jae-hee stared at Hyojeong’s face, illuminated by the faint blue light of dawn, for a long time before drawing the curtains shut. After that, she left the hotel, the peaceful darkness of the room left behind.

“What should I do? I’m so late...”

She staggered slightly and boarded the bus to the company. She had to go to work, after all. Though anxious, it might be safer to continue with her daily life. Gazing out the bus window at the bright world that seemed like someone else’s, she got off at the familiar bus stop.

Worry about Hyojeong. A slight sense of unease about what might happen next. With these thoughts, Jae-hee started walking confidently.

The streets, past the usual morning rush, were quiet. As she walked through the temporarily peaceful street, Jae-hee focused on the building in front of her. The Seonggang Group building. The very building from which Chairman Cha would be looking down arrogantly from the top floor.

She slowly blinked, looked up, and then, after a moment, turned on her phone. It was unlikely, but she feared that if she had been at the same hotel as Hyojeong, there might be some kind of location tracking. That was why she had turned it off.

As soon as she powered it on, a missed message appeared.

[Where are you, Jae-hee?]
[Call me when you see this.]

It was a message from Kang-joo, sent after some time. And there, she saw a number of missed calls that exceeded the number of messages.

Six missed calls from Executive Kang Kang-joo.

“...”

Jae-hee’s expression grew serious. She hadn’t been able to tell Kang-joo about the situation with Hyojeong, so she had left the house. She had left his warm embrace and stepped out into the cold dawn air.

He might have been worried, so she should call him back soon. Jae-hee moved her finger to dial, but before she could, her phone buzzed with an incoming call. She pressed the call button before the second vibration even finished.

“Yes, Kang-joo.”

Before she could say hello, she began muttering in an almost apologetic tone.

“I see I missed a lot of calls. I had some things going on, so I couldn’t turn my phone on. I’m sorry.”

• ...

There was no response from the other side. Only the silence, stretching into the distance.

“Kang-joo?”

Thinking the call might have dropped, Jae-hee checked the screen and then spoke again.

“Hello?”

-…Where are you right now?

Kang-joo’s voice, deep and filled with tension, came through the phone like a scrape against the bottom of a well.

Jae-hee briefly glanced up at the building in front of her, then responded with an embarrassed expression.

“I just arrived at the office. I’m late.”

-...I see.

After a short silence, Kang-joo gave a brief reply and ended the call. There were no parting words or pleasantries. Jae-hee, still holding the phone, asked “Hello?” towards the now blackened screen, realizing belatedly that the call had ended. She tucked her phone into her pocket.

Is he angry? Maybe he’s scolding me for revealing Chairman Cha’s matter without permission. Jae-hee sighed as she entered the building.

“I’m sorry, I’m late.”

When Jae-hee arrived at her desk, she bowed slightly. Her teammates, who looked at her with awkward expressions, nodded, asking if she had just arrived. Given that they knew about her relationship with Executive Kang, even if she had missed work entirely, they wouldn’t have been in a position to scold her.

That was what Jae-hee hated. It felt strangely uncomfortable, like she was someone who could act out just because she had a powerful backer.

Jae-hee walked toward the team leader’s desk and bowed again.

“I had an urgent matter and was late without notifying you. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. It happens.”

The team leader, who hadn’t been able to make a single call during her absence, waved his hand dismissively. His gaze was full of sincerity, showing that he wasn’t being sarcastic. Jae-hee straightened up, letting out a quiet sigh.

I feel like a muddy fish disrupting the water.

She reminded herself to be more careful so that she wouldn’t be late again, and returned to her seat. She bent slightly at the waist, setting her phone down and preparing to organize her things, when suddenly the atmosphere grew tense.

This feeling... I’ve felt this before. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over her, and as she turned around, a deep voice called out to her first.

“Jae-hee.”

Jae-hee turned quietly. As expected. It was Kang-joo.

“Hello, Executive,” she said, and her teammates greeted him in turn. At his gesture, everyone sat down in unison and placed their hands on their keyboards.

Everything was the same as usual. Everyone was pretending to go about their work normally, hiding their fears. They couldn’t act out in front of the son of Chairman Cha, who had become the center of attention.

The rhythmic sound of keyboards clicking filled the air when Kang-joo grabbed Jae-hee’s hand. Without a word, he started walking, pulling her along. Jae-hee, unable to ask where they were going, followed him as if being dragged.

The employees, who had their faces buried in their monitors, only followed them with their eyes. When the two of them finally disappeared, they let out a long, collective breath.

“Executive?”

Even as Jae-hee called out to him, Kang-joo remained silent. Jae-hee looked up at him with a worried expression. His face, so meticulously carved, showed no sign of emotion.

When they reached the end of the hallway, Kang-joo pressed the elevator button, and after a brief wait, the doors opened. Jae-hee, still gripped tightly by him, wobbled into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, he pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Ah-!”

Startled by the sudden movement, Jae-hee bumped her forehead against his chest. She tried to look up at him, but his strong arm wrapped around her again, preventing her from moving.

The tight embrace was overwhelming. She couldn’t bring herself to face him, and instead, she swallowed hard, her breath catching. Even though it was inside the elevator, he was still a colleague. There could be CCTV, and if anyone saw them...

“Kang-joo, this is the company elevator...”

He must have known, but she muttered anyway, trying to protest. When she cautiously raised her head again, she couldn’t face him as his cheek brushed against her crown.

“When I opened my eyes this morning...”

The shaky breath from above her head fell over her. His disordered voice echoed, as if carrying a deeper unease.

“The person who should have been there wasn’t.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to wake you...”

“When I came to my senses, the video was causing chaos, but you weren’t answering my calls.”

Kang-joo’s arm tightened around Jae-hee’s. The grip took her breath away, but Jae-hee couldn’t bring herself to push him away.

The elevator doors opened with a heavy thud, announcing their arrival. Kang-joo remained motionless, still holding her tightly. His voice, like a soliloquy, trailed off.

“I thought you wouldn’t come. I thought you’d just disappear, saying you didn’t need my help anymore...”

His small voice barely reached Jae-hee’s ears. It scattered alone, unheard.

The elevator doors closed again.

Kang-joo leaned heavily on Jae-hee’s shoulder, pressing his forehead against hers. After a moment of hesitation, Jae-hee carefully raised her hand and gently stroked his rigid, large frame.

He was clearly the one holding her, yet she strangely felt like she was the one embracing him. She could even sense a sense of anxiety from him as he clung to her. Perhaps that’s why she felt like she had returned to the past.

To Kang-joo oppa from their childhood, when they huddled together in the warehouse. To him from those times when they shared their warmth and embraced each other. This Managing Director Cha Kang-joo was nothing like the Kang-joo oppa from those days. Yet, his precarious state, like fragile glass, resembled the ‘Kang-joo oppa’ of the past.

Was he angry? Or was he anxious about something? Now that Chairman Cha was under attack, was he perhaps afraid that the company would falter?

“Are you perhaps angry...?”

She patted his back and asked very carefully. Afraid of making him uncomfortable, she didn’t dare place her palm on him, only lightly touching him with her fingertips.

After holding Jae-hee for a long time, Kang-joo finally pulled away. Then, instead of answering, he abruptly kissed her.

Startled by his sudden, entangled tongue, Jae-hee took a step back. As she moved away, Kang-joo moved closer. He roughly explored her mouth, pulling and sucking on her tongue. He swallowed her groans and even her breath.

The sound of Jae-hee’s heels echoed loudly as she stumbled backward. She hit the cold elevator wall with a thud. Jae-hee groaned, trapped between the metal wall and his hard chest. His heavy body pressed against her, making it hard to breathe.

Kang-joo parted Jae-hee’s panting breaths, sucking on the root of her tongue and exploring her moist inner mouth painfully. The violent kiss continued. When Jae-hee gasped and tried to escape, he pulled her back in.

Kang-joo’s urgent hands reached under her clothes. He kissed her as if starving, lunging fiercely. Startled, Jae-hee opened her closed eyes. She saw the round CCTV camera in the corner of the elevator. Though no one was likely watching, a sense of unease washed over her, and she pushed against his shoulder. His heavy body didn’t budge.

Jae-hee pushed him a couple more times before finally giving up. She knew his stubborn nature—once he was fixated on something, he never backed down. Instead of trying to push him away, she carefully wrapped her arms around his neck.

She accepted his pleading kisses and carefully sucked on his lips. As she, who had been trying to escape, moved closer, Kang-joo finally changed. Following her slowly moving tongue, his movements gradually softened.

Jae-hee closed her eyes again. Though she didn’t want to admit it, her body melted with just the sweeter kiss. Every time the moist flesh brushed and rubbed against her, a groan escaped her lips. But as she responded and accepted him, she opened her eyes again. She had just realized where they were.

Jae-hee cupped Kang-joo’s cheeks and slowly pulled her tongue back. The entangled tongues gradually separated.

“...Kang-joo-ssi.”

Jae-hee called him, her lips still lightly touching his. Their breaths mingled between their lips. His darkly subdued eyes scrutinized Jae-hee.

“I also like this with you, Kang-joo-ssi... but wouldn’t it be better to do this in your office rather than here?”

Kang-joo slowly closed and then opened his eyes. He finally looked like he had returned to reality. His gaze, now quite composed, though still hiding a hint of anxiety, scanned her. He only looked at Jae-hee for a long time, as if trying to figure out who was in front of him, before slowly distorting his eyes.

“Nothing has been resolved yet.”

Words of unknown meaning flowed from him. Jae-hee blinked and waited for him to continue. Even though she was close to him, it was difficult to read the emotions contained within him.

Kang-joo’s arms pulled Jae-hee tightly again.

“Our contract is still valid. So, until the contract ends. Jae-hee-ssi, you must not turn away first. Never.”

Kang-joo’s strong will was contained in each word. Jae-hee nodded as if hypnotized by his words, spoken almost like a command.

“Yes, I will.”

Only then did Kang-joo’s hardened face soften.

Back in his office, Kang-joo was once again his usual self. The agitation from before was nowhere to be found; he had returned to being the impeccably calm Managing Director. He sat Jae-hee on the sofa and even brought her coffee.

The sudden familiarity of Kang-joo felt strange. Wasn’t it like this when they were young? When she met the boy, soaked in darkness in the storage room, and then saw him in the sunlight, he only appeared as a delicate and flawless young heir to a wealthy family. The calm, serene smile hiding the depths, the time when she thought only she knew.

While lost in thought, Kang-joo sat across from her.

“Did you know?”

“......”

The heavy main topic came in without warning. Jae-hee hid her uneasy gaze. She quickly lifted her coffee cup to cover her expression.

His words were ambiguous, but she could immediately tell what he was asking. It must be about the video Hyojung posted. The video that had turned everything upside down the night before.

Jae-hee casually took a sip of her coffee and then looked up. The tension flowed through her chest, carrying the heat of anxiety. Hyojung’s video upload. She hadn’t known about it. She truly hadn’t. Of course, even if she had known, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference...

What kind of reaction would Kang-joo show now? Would he get angry? Would he scold her? Or perhaps something else?

With a slight fear, Jae-hee opened her mouth, trying to sound calm.

“I didn’t know.”

The gaze of Kang-joo on her face stung. When she lowered her eyes and then looked up again, she saw his gaze fixed on her, unreadable. His deep, calm eyes seemed to harbor no emotion at all.

Kang-joo, holding his cup, paused for a moment in thought. Then, he put the cup down and spoke lightly.

“It actually worked out well.”

“…Pardon?”

“I was planning to start things from my side slowly, but now it’s all been set in motion, so it’s for the best.”

Kang-joo made eye contact steadily as he asked.

“Did you make sure Hyojung is safely somewhere?”

“Ah… yes…”

“I don’t think my father would go so far as to hire someone to cause trouble, but you never know.”

Jae-hee’s fingertips went cold. He was someone with sharp intuition, and it seemed he had quickly figured out the reason for her sudden disappearance. It was only natural. What could she have been doing sneaking out in the early hours, especially on the day the video was uploaded?

Though she trusted Kang-joo, Jae-hee didn’t feel the need to confess Hyojung’s whereabouts. This was a matter separate from her trust in him and the love she kept in her heart.

It was about something far more precious—her dear younger sister’s safety.

After a period of silence, Kang-joo casually spoke to her.

“There’s no need to explain or tell me Hyojung’s location.”

“…Yes.”

“But, if you ever need help, feel free to ask.”

For a moment, a bitter smile appeared at the corner of his lips. However, the fleeting emotion evaporated like the wind.

“Yes, Kang-joo. Thank you for your concern.”

Jae-hee’s tightly sealed lips parted easily when responding.

The deed had already been done. Now, she had no choice but to be swept away by the current. Holding tightly to the lifeline Kang-joo had thrown her, she would slice through the water with all her might to avoid sinking.