TEOTW - 7

It was a bright afternoon. The long rainy season had ended, and it was heading toward the peak of summer as if nothing had happened. Yiseo stared blankly out the window, which was hazy in the summer sun, like a heat shimmer.

The indoor lounge on the first floor of the main building, which was built with stacked stones with smoothly polished surfaces. Beyond that, a lush birch forest unfolded.

The temperature inside was low enough to be cool from the air conditioner, but the trembling birch forest, with only a pane of glass separating it, felt so hot that her eyes felt sharp. It was to the point where she could feel the leaves drying up and burning in the heat.

It was finally summer. It was a season that seemed to burn the world.

Since it was a weekday, there were few people, and the space, which was so large that even if a few people came and went, it would be unnoticeable, was quiet. In the tranquility of the silence, Yiseo stared at the lush forest with the pouring sunlight and habitually fiddled with the cell phone in her hand.

Since that day, there had been no contact from Ryu Tae-jo. Even right after she returned home exhausted and had a fever-like body ache for a few days, and even now, there was no record on her cell phone.

Yiseo, who had been staring down at her cell phone blankly, soon shook her head.

‘What am I expecting?’

They didn’t even know each other’s contact information, so how could he possibly contact her? They had agreed not to contact each other before it started, and they agreed to not contact each other when it ended.

It was just one day that, looking back, felt like a dream. Time had passed just fine, as if nothing had happened. So it was a relief. The memories of that day were only embarrassing to recall. It was an excessive memory to think about again. The things that occasionally came to her mind, ripping through that memory, were the heat that filled the space and the breathtaking kisses. Ryu Tae-jo’s pitch-black eyes suddenly came to mind.

The eyes that always looked at Yiseo as if they were cutting across her from above. A madness was gleaming in those eyes. So whenever their eyes met, every place he touched tingled as if an electric current was flowing through her body, and she couldn’t stand it. Her heart would throb painfully, and her breathing would become ragged from the tension. It was a gaze that seemed to confine a person with just his eyes and without saying a word.

Ryu Tae-jo would occasionally stare intently at Yiseo with those eyes. He couldn’t take his eyes off her even when their bodies were overlapping, when he was burying his face in her to savor her, or sometimes even when he was kissing her so hard that his nose was getting crushed. Every time he did, she felt her heart drop, and she was flustered.

Even now, as she recalled it, her heart was secretly pounding without anyone knowing just from the thought of it.

She hadn’t counted the days, but about a week and a few days had passed since her day with Ryu Tae-jo. Yiseo, who had been habitually looking at her phone as if she were waiting for some kind of contact, flipped her phone over to a place where her gaze couldn’t reach it, as if to erase her idle thoughts.

Just then, she heard chattering voices behind her.

“People don’t know anything. The best spot in the Art Center is here in the indoor lounge. I strangely like this place better than the cafeteria. Every time I come here, my heart just melts... Oh? Isn’t that Ms. Yiseo?”

Yiseo slowly turned her head at the careful voice.

“It is. Ms. Yiseo, you’re here.”

The first person to acknowledge Yiseo was Go Woo-yeon, a gallerist working at the Nason Gallery in Gahoe-dong. She was a kind and generous person with a bright smile, with her curly brown hair let down. She was a woman with a bright smile whose gentle face was reminiscent of a puppy.

Next to her was Park In-young, who was in charge of managing the collection. Yiseo quickly got up from her seat when she found the two of them.

“No, no. You don’t have to. Sit down.”

“No, I just stopped by for a moment.”

“We just stopped by for a moment, too. Right, In-young?”

Woo-yeon looked up at the tall and skinny Park In-young and smiled. While Yiseo hesitated, Woo-yeon pulled her and made her sit down. Unexpectedly, the three of them leaned against the couch and looked out the window side by side. There was silence, but it wasn’t that uncomfortable. Go Woo-yeon only came down to Wonju for business trips, but she was a person who was strangely not awkward to be with even though they didn’t see each other often.

“Oh, right. Ms. Yiseo, are you free the weekend after next?”

“The weekend?”

‘Why that all of a sudden?’ When she looked up with a puzzled look, Woo-yeon smiled.

“Our White Night Festival is coming up soon. If you’re free, come with Ms. In-young. We’re in the middle of making a list, so I’ll put you on the invitation list.”

“Ah.”

The White Night Festival was the most important annual event held by the Nason Gallery, which was owned by CEO Na Seon-hee, who was known as a big player in the art world. It was a special exhibition that showcased the works collected and owned by the Nason Gallery to a strictly selected group of customers only twice a year, in the summer and winter. It was an event held on the hottest day of summer to connect artists with sponsors, secure potential customers, and prove the gallery’s solid standing.

“Don’t feel pressured. Just think of it as coming to look at the gallery casually.”

“I heard the White Night Festival is a very important event...”

“Well, it’s a bit of an overreach, but I have that much authority.”

Woo-yeon shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

“Think about it and let me know. I’ll be waiting. The dress code is classic blue, by the way.”

________________________________________

The way back to the curatorial office felt far away today. She was on her way to Exhibition Hall 1, which housed modern art and special exhibitions, passing by Exhibition Hall 3 of the main building, which housed the children’s cultural center and ancient art exhibition hall. Her short chat with Woo-yeon was enjoyable.

She was vaguely thinking that it wasn’t a bad idea to occasionally mingle with good people like that. As she passed through the labyrinthine corridor connecting the two buildings and was about to step onto the stairs leading to the second floor, she felt a presence from above. It was Director Yiseo Jeong-joo. Yiseo subtly took a step back from the stairs.

“Ah, Ms. Yiseo.”

Yiseo Jeong-joo, who had found Yiseo, spoke in a soft, elegant voice. The corners of her lips were stretched into a thin, elegant smile, and the corners of her eyes were gently curved. However, her eyes could not hide their fierce and sharp energy. It was a kind of natural aura.

Her hair was in an updo, and her feminine suit was, as always, flawless and perfect. She was waiting carefully like a secretary escorting her superior who was going down, and then a large shadow suddenly appeared behind her. The face of the man who was coming down the stairs behind Yiseo Jeong-joo was familiar. It was Ryu Tae-jo.

“Hello, Director.”

Her cheeks stiffened for a moment at his unexpected presence, but Yiseo, who had been waiting for them to come down the stairs, finally bowed respectfully and stood up as soon as Yiseo Jeong-joo and Ryu Tae-jo reached the ground. A neat and polite smile was mixed with her gaze toward her superior. Yiseo Jeong-joo just nodded her head softly at the smile, and Ryu Tae-jo, who was standing next to Yiseo Jeong-joo, indifferently scanned Yiseo.

She hadn’t heard that he was coming. Her heart beat cautiously, as if her thoughts had been exposed by the chance meeting in an unexpected place.

Ryu Tae-jo had an indifferent face with no expression, as usual. As Yiseo Jeong-joo’s pride, he was dressed handsomely, and he briefly stopped the conversation he was having with Yiseo Jeong-joo and stared blankly at Yiseo, who was looking at him. Their eyes met. It was a gaze that was, as always, as if it were cutting across her in a straight line.

His uninhibited gaze took in the person in front of him and then passed by. When their eyes met, he gave a slight bow, a polite gesture. His attitude was so clean and neat that it was cold. And as if nothing had happened, he leaned his head toward Director Yiseo and whispered.

“Let’s go.”

“Take care.”

She smiled brightly, gave the order to leave, and the two of them passed by.

As if nothing had happened. Only Yiseo was left behind. Listening to the sound of their footsteps getting further away, Yiseo remained in that spot for a moment. Her heart was pounding loudly. The scent of the lush forest that she had smelled so much in his arms had faded.

Yiseo briefly turned her head to look at Ryu Tae-jo’s back as he was escorting Director Yiseo and then turned back.

‘I hope this emptiness isn’t just because of that cold look that just passed by.’

She took a deep breath, exhaled, and walked up the stairs with determination.

________________________________________

“Who was that?”

His pitch-black hair, which had fallen from his neat forehead, swayed softly. His face had clear masculine features. Below his thick eyebrows, his cool eyes were staring at the secluded view beyond the outdoor garden of the cafeteria. Yiseo Jeong-joo took a sip of the iced black tea on the table, put the glass down, and smiled.

“One of our employees. You’ll know her. She’s Congressman Yoon Dae-myeong’s daughter.”

“Ah.”

Tae-jo reacted indifferently even after asking, as if he had never heard of her before. Yiseo Jeong-joo looked at her son’s face and continued speaking.

“She has good taste and is quick-witted. Most of all, I like that she doesn’t overstep her bounds.”

“Mmm.”

Her gaze toward Tae-jo, who was nodding perfunctorily, grew subtly deeper.

“Why, are you interested?”

Yiseo Jeong-joo added, thinking of Yoon Yiseo, who had greeted her neatly and passed by. Yoon Yiseo was a considerable beauty among the employees. She knew that she had a pretty face that would make any man look at her at least once and a strange charm that would captivate people.

Of course, that charm was more pronounced when she talked about work than when she was just seen with the eyes.

“No.”

However, when a blunt answer came from Tae-jo, Director Yiseo smiled gently with a secretly satisfied face.

“You’re always like that. Whenever I talk about a woman, you act as if I’m saying something I shouldn’t. The Yoon family raised their children well. There are some rumors, but the child is decent. Unlike her mother.”

Tae-jo immediately understood his mother’s words, which had a hidden meaning. It was Yiseo Jeong-joo’s unique way of speaking, which was a kind tone with a hidden meaning, saying that Yoon Yiseo was not in a position to be next to him, so even if he was interested, he should cut it off.

“DK Group?”

“Yes, she’s the eldest daughter there. Choi Sung-hee. The marriage of the political and business circles was quite a talk when she had a marriage of convenience with Congressman Yoon. It was a long time ago.”

Yiseo Jeong-joo let out a small laugh as she looked at Tae-jo, who was nodding perfunctorily as if he wasn’t curious about other people’s family history.

“She’s a woman trapped in a birdcage. She’s different from me.”

Choi Sung-hee and Yiseo Jeong-joo had been meeting at gatherings for a long time, but she was a woman who subtly got on her nerves every time they met. As if there was a twisted side to her, no matter how friendly she tried to be. Her formal behavior was dignified and perfect, but perhaps because her life was not perfect, she always clashed with Yiseo Jeong-joo despite having many points of contact.

“By the way, are you preparing well for your grandfather’s 80th birthday party?”

“Yes.”

Just as she said, the entire family was nervously preparing for Chairman Ryu Joong-hwan’s 80th birthday party, which was coming up soon. It was a celebration of his 80th birthday, hoping that he would live a long life and that he would remain a pillar of Haeshin Group’s history. It was a place for the family to celebrate, but it was also a place for someone to find an opportunity.

“I know you’re busy, but sometimes show your face and try to please your grandfather a little. You’re not the only one working, you know.”

“I’m too busy to make time.”

“I know. Still, I raised you, and you’re so praiseworthy that you came to see me on your own.”

This was the first time her son, who had been silent even after she told him so many times to show his face after he returned to Korea, had come down to Wonju to greet her. ‘Has he finally grown up a little?’ That’s why Yiseo Jeong-joo was in a better mood today than usual.

“I gave birth to them both, but how can my brothers be so different?”

Tae-jo, who had never been in her grasp, and Tae-han, who had called Tae-jo into the company to train him, were both her children. So she had already expected what would happen between the two of them.

She had called Tae-han and talked to him nicely, telling him not to push his younger brother too hard, who had returned after a long time, but was he the kind of person to listen easily?

She already knew from reports that Tae-jo, who was diligently carrying out his duties while enduring a bulldozer-like personality that would never compromise with anyone when it came to work, was truly busy.

“Still, it always bothers me that Jeong-heon is more devoted to the chairman than you are.”

“Brother Jeong-heon is just like that by nature. He was saved by my grandfather, so it’s understandable for him to be like that.”

Tae-jo added, thinking of Kwon Jeong-heon, the COO of M Holdings and the upright man whom Ryu Joong-hwan cherished like his own son.

Kwon Jeong-heon was a man who had lived a life that could be said to have been born at Haeshin. He was a man of will who never lost the top spot throughout his school years with the support of Chairman Ryu, under Ryu Joong-hwan, who had found and raised him at the Okcheon orphanage supported by the Haeshin Foundation.

He was extraordinarily smart, diligent, and deeply loyal, so Chairman Ryu cherished him. As soon as he graduated from college, he was brought into the Haeshin Group’s strategic planning office and raised, and he stepped down from his position as an aide to start his own business at the same time as Chairman Ryu’s retirement. Although she didn’t know the details, there was no doubt that Ryu Joong-hwan’s help had reached him in every way.

He was good at business, with a sharp and intelligent mind, and he firmly established himself in just five years after starting M Holdings with a longtime friend.

“Don’t worry about him. My brother is a Haeshin person to the bone.”

“You’re always so naive about certain things. No matter what, he’s not even related by blood, and yet he’s so adored, so how can you only see the world so beautifully? If a person wants to do something big, they have to carefully look around them first.”

“How long have I known my brother? You were the one who put him with me, Mother.”

The year Kwon Jeong-heon was accepted as the top student at Hanguk University, Yiseo Jeong-joo was the one who assigned him as a tutor for Tae-jo, who was seventeen. She had said that she liked how he knew his place and was smart enough to maintain it, even though he was an orphan.

However, it was necessary to watch over such a person so that he wouldn’t have other thoughts. She had been watching him closely as he gained the trust of Chairman Ryu from the bottom and devoted himself to Haeshin, and she had been managing him for a long time as if she were monitoring Tae-jo, who was so obedient to him even though he never opened his heart to anyone. It was what Yiseo Jeong-joo, the mistress of the Haeshin family, had to do.

“It was for your sake.”

“I know. And I also know that it was a series of steps for the sake of Haeshin, to which you have devoted your entire life.”

As if he knew what kind of mindset he should have and how he should live from now on, Tae-jo answered in a rather mature manner. As if he understood how hard he had to work to live a life that would befit his mother’s desired life and expectations.

“It’s about time for you to settle down, too.”

“I’m always grateful for your consideration, Mother, but...”

Tae-jo looked up. Yiseo Jeong-joo, who was sitting across from him, stared at his firm, straight gaze.

“I’ll take care of my own business.”

“You only pretend to be an obedient son when it suits you.”

Yiseo Jeong-joo shook her head as if she couldn’t deal with him and laughed.

“Stop doing the calculations that give you a headache.”

“Oh my, what are you talking about? I don’t use my children for business.”

“Of course not. Whose mother are you, after all?”

Yiseo Jeong-joo narrowed her eyes and smiled at the flattery. Among the three brothers of the Haeshin family, the first and second had all made marital ties that were to Yiseo Jeong-joo’s liking. Of course, she would give the most affectionate youngest son the best of the best she could find, but it was too early to talk about marriage to Tae-jo, who had no thoughts about it.

“I’m sure your grandfather will say something at the 80th birthday party.”

“We’ll think about that when the time comes.”

“I hope so.”

Yiseo Jeong-joo smiled faintly and thought of the faces she had to pay attention to in her mind. Among them, the one she was most concerned about was her nephew, Ryu Jin-han. He was the managing director of the Haeshin Hotel and the head of the business planning division of HSDC, Haeshin Industrial Development. Currently, only Jin-han and Tae-jo were left unmarried in the Haeshin family.

Moreover, this time, Jin-han had thrown down the gauntlet, saying that he would single-handedly proceed with the duty-free shop business with the Haeshin Hotel at the core, and since then, a subtle rivalry had formed between the cousins. Apart from Tae-han’s worries, now that they had met as rivals on the front lines, Chairman Ryu Joong-hwan’s remaining worries and interests, who valued a harmonious family above all else, were only about that.

The pressure would surely reach Tae-jo as well. Seeing her son’s attitude of consistently acting as if it had nothing to do with him, she couldn’t help but worry.

“You should pay a little more attention. Of course, I know you’ll do a good job without me even having to say anything.”

After nodding at Yiseo Jeong-joo, who was smiling with a carrot in her hand at the end, Tae-jo turned his gaze to the distant mountains again. Summer. His meaningless gaze scattered along the ridge, where the burning sunlight poured down.

She didn’t know what he was thinking as he took a quiet breath.

He thought without caring about such a gaze. Just the face that had been burned several times under the brilliantly shattering sunlight. He thought of Yoon Yiseo’s face, which had suddenly come to mind, and then secretly erased it.

________________________________________

As the quitting time approached, the loose indoor air began to flow with elasticity. 5 p.m. Coming to work on time was a given, and leaving work on time was even more so. The Art Center employees, who believed that leaving work on time was a human right, left the curatorial office one by one.

Yiseo finished her last task of sending an email to an artist and got up from her seat. By the time she finished everything, it was 20 minutes past the hour.

She packed her bag, said goodbye to the two remaining employees, and left the building. Her steps toward the outdoor parking lot were hurried. The thought of the drive back to Seoul was tedious, but leaving work was leaving work.

The moment she entered the sparsely empty employee-only parking lot, a car she had never seen before caught her eye. It was a sleek, bright red sports car that would steal her gaze even from a distance. An unexpected person was standing in front of it.

It was Ryu Tae-jo again.

Yiseo stopped for a moment. This was the third time she had seen him, and all three times, the cars were different. It was a completely different feeling from the magnificent SUV he had driven when he saw her off at this very spot before and the polite sedan he had driven at the concert.

It might be a matter of course for him to consider the vehicle for the TPO, but she had witnessed three supercars in just a few weeks. The sight of him standing in front of it with a cup of coffee was a little more unfamiliar. He looked a little flashy and a little casual, as if he were on a picnic.

‘Why does it have to be next to my car?’ Even though there were many empty spaces, he had deliberately parked next to Yiseo’s car.

“Do you do all the work here by yourself?”

She was about to get into her car without a word when Tae-jo, who was leaning against his car parked right next to hers, spoke to her. His indifferent gaze, which came across her, was entangled in the air.

He had passed by with a silent nod a long time ago, as if he had no prior acquaintance with her, when they met on the stairs leading to the curatorial office. As if he had been waiting since then, all the ice in the coffee cup in his hand had melted. But his tone was still the same, as if he were trying to pick a fight, and she couldn’t suppress the urge to ignore him, so words came out first.

“You don’t seem to have a job.”

‘How much time has passed since then?’ In response to her professional tone, as if she couldn’t understand why he was still there, he said.

“I came here to work. Family business, which is more important than my own business.”

She had just responded as if he were unemployed because he looked so idle, but he smiled with the corners of his mouth and walked over to her, stopping abruptly right in front of her.

“Are you doing well? How’s your body?”

His gaze, which was right in front of her, scoured her unwavering eyes. The intention behind his question of ‘how are you doing well’ was obvious. Yiseo hid her rising annoyance in her gaze. Regardless, Tae-jo’s gaze quickly scanned Yiseo down to her toes. When their eyes met again, she felt her heart, which she had been holding back, drop.

It was a matter beyond her will. Even though she knew that, her anxious impatience burned in her heart. The task of having to be careful and read the other person. The task of having to be careful not to offend him. Even though she had lived her whole life that way and was used to it, she couldn’t figure out what the spark-like feeling was that was fluttering inside her right now.

“As you can see.”

She had been sick for a few days but had recovered, but it was not something Ryu Tae-jo needed to know. At her nonchalant answer, he gave a small nod.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“I have plans.”

It was also a lie. She had no scheduled plans. Still, she deliberately drew a line. She desperately wanted him to understand that she had no time to give him, and that she refused his advances.

However, his gaze, which was carefully scanning her cold attitude, gradually grew darker. He had the face of someone who already knew a lot. For example, her appearance when she had lost her reason and collapsed in bed, or all the fire-like moments that had finally devoured her.

The look in his eyes, which also knew how innocent her expression was when she had lost consciousness and was soundly asleep, had a strange gleam. He pulled the corners of his sleek lips as if her current defiant attitude was not even funny.

“Drink this.”

When she just stared at the coffee he held out without taking it, he forced the coffee into her hand.

“Cancel your plans.”

The coffee she received was lukewarm and sloshing around with all the melted ice. ‘Did he really wait for me?’ A questioning thought was directed at Tae-jo. ‘He’s not the kind of person to do that. There’s no way he would have waited.’ It was around the time when a little confusion was mixed in with her gaze, which was alternating between the diluted coffee and Ryu Tae-jo.

“There’s somewhere we need to go.”

Tae-jo pushed Yiseo’s back and put her in his car.

________________________________________

The place they arrived at was a restaurant a little far from the Art Center. She had thought she would never have a reason to see him again, but here she was, sitting across from him leisurely in a restaurant. You never know what life will bring. Just a few hours ago, she hadn’t even imagined this scene.

Yiseo looked down at the neatly arranged food on the table. The unexpected dinner, prepared in an unexpected place she was dragged to, was ridiculously appetizing. She hadn’t been thinking about anything until she saw the food, but her stomach rumbled at the appetizing smell. Her most basic desires were waking up.

“What is this?”

“I’m asking you to have a meal. I just realized that I was the only one who had a feast that day.”

Laughter was laced in his words, which were aimed at that day. But his shamelessness was such that his expression didn’t change at all. Just as she was thinking he was being mean, a waiter brought in a wonderful dish and added an explanation as he served the food one by one.

He arranged all the courses, which were not really courses, on the table and began to eat without hesitation, as if he were enjoying the Last Supper.

He unfolded a napkin and expertly sliced the steak with the hand holding the knife. The rare-cooked piece of meat was sliced, and red juices seeped out. He cut it into a good size, put it in his mouth, and chewed and swallowed it carefully, as if savoring it. Every single clear movement of eating a piece of meat was neat and tidy.

“They say you shouldn’t live in debt. I’m also the type of person who thinks about it for a long time if I leave something like that behind.”

“What debt?”

‘Does he really think of that day as a debt?’ The feeling was strange. Despite her bewildered gaze, he laughed instead of answering and expertly moved his hand.

“Just think of it as me paying you back, and you just have to eat.”

‘My turn to pay it back.’ What could that possibly mean? While Yiseo quietly rummaged through her mind for clues, he motioned for her to eat.

He was the one who threw out the ambiguous words like a quiz, but his attitude didn’t take into account Yiseo’s position, who was engrossed in the ripple effect of a single word. Everything was like that. Even something that was nothing would become an incident when she met Ryu Tae-jo. A pebble that creates a ripple in a calm lake. Ryu Tae-jo was that kind of man.

Most of what he did with a face that she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking, no matter how much she watched him, was driven by impulse. Did he even know that someone was being hit by a bomb from his attitude of acting as if it had nothing to do with him even after he had created a ripple?

“If you don’t like it, order something else.”

He saw Yiseo sitting silently in the quietness, and perhaps thinking that she didn’t like the menu, he quickly looked through the menu. Yiseo picked up her utensils.

“No, it’s fine.”

What was already set was enough. So let’s eat first. It was something she could think about after she ate. After all, Ryu Tae-jo didn’t seem to have any meaning in the past time, so Yiseo might as well do the same.

Tae-jo, who had briefly stopped eating, went back to focusing on his meal only after he saw the small piece of meat go into Yiseo’s mouth.

“How is it?”

“It’s good.”

Once she started eating, the food, surprisingly, suited her taste. The first one was difficult, but after she tasted the meat, her stomach rumbled.

She ate the food, drank the wine, and filled her stomach. When she was full, she felt a little more generous. Come to think of it, this was the first proper meal she had today. She had skipped breakfast out of habit and had a quick sandwich for lunch because she didn’t have time. The only other thing she had consumed was a few cups of coffee.

The beginning was clearly just a small gesture of his meal, but when she came to her senses, most of the plates were almost empty.

“Do you like wine?”

“Not really.”

‘Hmm,’ Yiseo thought, looking at Tae-jo’s gaze on the empty glass, and she remembered the fact that she had finished a few glasses of wine by herself. Her cheeks were flushed, perhaps from the slight buzz. She didn’t know exactly how much she had drunk, but the sommelier’s face, who had carefully come over and refilled her glass whenever it was empty, was familiar to her.

“Looks like you like that one.”

“Huh?”

“Chateau Margaux.”

It was a wine loved by artists, including Ernest Hemingway, and was called the queen of wines, Chateau Margaux. It was a wine with many stories, along with the name “Jewel of Bordeaux.”

“The more you drink it, the more the floral scent fills your mouth. It’s splendid and complex, and the body is also excellent.”

Following his words, Yiseo took another sip of wine and rolled it in her mouth. In addition to the rich floral scent, it was a tasteful wine with a rich flavor of dark chocolate and cigar.

“It’s a wine that goes well with the Last Supper. If you had to pick one wine to drink right before you die, would you gladly choose this one?”

“Why right before you die?”

Her puzzled gaze fell on Tae-jo. Curiosity was growing in her eyes, which were a little more relaxed than before. The tense atmosphere between the two of them had subsided a little. Tae-jo looked at Yiseo, whose cheeks were flushed, and continued the conversation.

“It has the symbolism of the last thing. Didn’t you read ‘Paradise Lost’ by a Japanese author?”

“I did.”

She had seen the old book on her bookshelf a long time ago. It was a book by the Japanese author Junichi Watanabe. The content of the book was vague. It was an unlucky love story of a man and a woman who met through an affair and couldn’t abandon their physical aestheticism. She remembered being a little shocked that someone could love someone so much that they would destroy their dignity.

“The main characters in that book drank Chateau Margaux as their last supper before they committed double suicide.”

“Let’s fall into hell together.”

The forgotten page that described the people who dreamed of eternal immortality after death was opened in her mind.

“What is love anyway? ...I can’t understand it.”

‘Was it the only hope left in a hollow life?’ She didn’t know that kind of fierceness. She looked at him as if it was difficult for her to understand because she had never been in love enough to want to go to hell with someone. However, Tae-jo’s gaze lingered on her expression as she was thinking deeply about the emotion beyond the dimension.

She was a woman who, when she was deep in thought, would lower her eyes about 45 degrees, stare blankly into the air, and bite her lips. Yiseo didn’t move an inch and only blinked her eyelids slowly, to the point where he couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not.

A face that didn’t know love. The image of her, who had been chaotically disheveled, was superimposed on her face, which had never loved anyone. That face, which had been trembling and shattering, yet was craving the end more than anything, and was hoping for salvation in the lust that had thrown everything away.

With his firm gaze fixed, he looked at her pale eyes, where her eyelashes cast a shadow. She might not know love, but she must have come to know thirst and hunger. Then, her gaze suddenly returned. When their eyes met, her fingertips tingled.

“Have you ever done that?”

“What, an affair?”

Yiseo’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at his nonchalant, misguided words.

“Did you do that too?”

“Of course not.”

“I hope you’re not that kind of trash.”

Tae-jo let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded at her advice, which contained both worry and a sneer. ‘It’s just a hypothetical situation, do you have to be so serious?’ As if she had hit a nerve, a crack appeared on his face, which had been so clean just a moment ago. Tae-jo asked Yiseo, who he assumed had lived a life as straight as a textbook.

“You talk as if you’ve never done anything bad before.”

“Yeah, I haven’t.”

The firm answer cut off any room for a continuation like a knife.

“Why?”

It was the answer he had expected, so it wasn’t surprising. The question followed again after her brief answer, which was short enough to be asked again. But Yiseo was confused. ‘Why?’ Her eyebrows rose slightly at the question, as if doing something bad was a given for being human.

“There’s no reason to. It’s hard enough just living a normal life.”

Not to be noticed by others, and to stay quiet. It was a face that was used to the burden that had become the foundation of her life.

“You have a lot to struggle with.”

“That’s why I’m saying I didn’t have the energy to do anything bad.”

“If you had, would you have?”

‘Not a chance.’ At his gaze, which contained that kind of momentum, Yiseo shook her head and answered.

“Why would I do something immoral? There’s no reason to be consumed by a single emotion, and there’s no reason to eat away at my value with such things.”

Just as Choi Sung-hee was obsessed with her honor, it was important for Yiseo to protect that honorable value. Unlike Yiheon’s thoughts, who thought it didn’t matter what others thought, the opinions of others were important to her and her mother. To seem like a moderately happy family to others, and to be a member of the impeccable Yoon Dae-myeong family.

Above all, considering the immorality that falls into the category of “bad things” and the flaws that come from it, it was a problem that could be easily concluded even when thinking rationally and excluding emotions. That she should never start anything that could be a weakness in the first place.

“For someone’s prank, someone else lives a lifetime in pain. Someone might have to live a lifetime atoning for their sins.”

“Is that your story?”

The table instantly became quiet. Yiseo stopped talking and looked up at Tae-jo. Even after asking a rude question without any awareness of it being a slip of the tongue or a mistake, his gaze was still direct. Just as Yiseo’s wavering eyes seemed to have calmed down, she opened her mouth again.

“Yes. It’s my story.”

She admitted with a straight face how unpleasantly her existence as Yoon Yiseo had sprouted, and how the sprout that had grown from someone’s reckless act was living, trapped in a greenhouse, even after dozens of years.

“You must have been in a lot of pain. But isn’t that a bit of a loss?”

However, the answer she heard was unexpected. Tae-jo continued.

“People do bad things a little bit at a time, in places you can’t see. They deceive their conscience, and they deceive others. Why do they do that? Because a guilty conscience can’t beat desire. That’s why they do things they shouldn’t.”

‘Because of desire.’ His languidly intertwined gaze subtly scraped against Yiseo’s gaze.

Yiseo’s expression, with her lips tightly pressed together, deepened.

“Sometimes there are moments when you can’t suppress that impulse. When that time comes, you’ll understand, too.”

“What?”

“Why a person, when they’re obsessed with something, goes to the very end.”

‘No. That’s not going to happen.’ Yiseo shook her head. Her heart throbbed at his gaze, which seemed to scratch at her insides.

His tone was as if he were saying it was okay to do something bad, as if he were tempting her to cross the line. Even while she was confused and didn’t know what was happening, Tae-jo remained calm. She understood the context of what he was saying, but she didn’t want to.

A space that has passed is bound to be empty. Just as the end of a withered flower is empty, and just as it is after all the fire has been burned. All places with an end were like that. So she didn’t want to condone breaking the things she had to protect and not being able to control the things she had to restrain, and eventually damaging them. That was the ideology that Yiseo had protected.

“Why do people hang themselves only when they reach the climax?”

“...”

“Because it’s a dramatic moment where hope and despair coexist. It’s anything. The more you indulge in it, the more it gets destroyed. Nothing lasts forever. The moment you realize that is the beginning of a tragedy, but people sometimes mistake that for something else. They call it love.”

“You?”

Tae-jo’s voice, which had been lecturing as if he didn’t need love, subsided at Yiseo’s low voice.

“Have you ever experienced that kind of love?”

‘Why did that curiosity arise?’ Yiseo stared intently at him with a face that didn’t even know what she was asking.

A love that is destructive the more you indulge in it, and a tragedy the moment you realize it. Even if Yiseo’s inherent nature of distrusting love was like a trauma that had taken hold throughout her life, he was different from Yiseo. He was someone who was raised with a lot of love and lacked nothing.

“Usually, desire manifests itself the moment reason becomes weak.”

Therefore, as if he would not be weak in front of love, a pitch-black dot gleamed resolutely in his firm eyes. He would never get sick from being obsessed with love in his life, or in his partner’s life. As if to say, “Do you understand?” he smiled slightly at the end of his gaze and then soon removed the emotion. Like the darkness of a blue-tinged dawn, a deep dawn filled his eyes.

With his dawn-like eyes, Tae-jo just continued to watch Yiseo without a word. When the end of the sky was burning red at sunset, the same red light was flickering in Yoon Yiseo’s calm eyes.

It was a betting-like gaze. A gaze that was neither probing nor interested, but as if to compete to see who would look away first, was clashing. Just like that, without a word. They were slowly scrutinizing each other.

“What about you?”

At the end of the silence, Tae-jo still had his eyes on Yiseo and began to speak.

“What would you do if a moment like that came?”

‘No, a moment like that won’t come to me.’

A moment where a thing like love would dare to eat away at me.

Yiseo, who was also looking at Tae-jo’s smooth face, opened her mouth, keeping her gaze straight across from his.

“That’s why I’m going on blind dates.”

Her insides were subtly heating up as she tried to take out the taboo she had been hiding. It wasn’t just because of the alcohol. Her throat tingled as she tried to pour out the truth she had never told anyone.

“I want to live a life by the book. Not a life that rides on someone else’s coattails, but a life that is properly prepared from beginning to end.”

So she was planning to meet a prepared partner and start a family, and if she were to have a child in the future, she would create a perfect life for that child. A life where everything they experience after being born is not something that deserves to be pointed at as a sin, but a life filled only with righteous things. She wanted to give them a life different from her own.

“You’re no fun, Yoon Yiseo.”

“If what you expect from me is fun, then stopping here is a way to save time.”

So her reaction, which implied that it didn’t matter at all if this dinner was the last one, subtly irritated Tae-jo.

“In that case, it’s fun again.”

His lips were pulled into a sharp line. ‘He’s like this and then like that.’ ‘I get it now. His way of speaking is to repeat his words according to his mood.’

“Alright.”

Tae-jo looked at Yiseo, who was prickly like a hedgehog, and stroked his chin with his finger.

“There are people who love wine so much that they name their granddaughter Margaux. There has to be people like you, too.”

In his arrogant eyes, which seemed to respect the diversity of humanity, there was only interest in Yiseo. She was no longer confused by his contradictory attitude. Because Ryu Tae-jo was always so self-willed.

As if they had finally figured each other out, the two of them took a step back.

After that, the conversation returned to the wine they had been drinking, and it was a wide-ranging conversation that jumped from culture and current events to the economy, from the French people’s pride to the fact that Germany’s apology after World War II was made at Margaux, and to the fact that the duty-free business he was preparing was more complicated and dirtily intertwined than he had thought.

He, who had an indifferent face but was constantly leading the conversation, looked different. He was smarter than she had thought and knew how to clearly convey what he wanted to say.

Her ears naturally opened when he made a sound. She thought that the reason she could focus on his words was because of the way he looked directly into the other person’s eyes. Not once did his gaze stray during the entire conversation. So she couldn’t take her eyes off him. They shared two hours like that.

“You’re, surprisingly, very smart.”

Of course, the conversation was enjoyable because Ryu Tae-jo was unexpectedly eloquent. The way she looked at him changed, similar to when she first met him at the art museum and he was showing off his knowledge about azulejos.

“I’m a little different from what I look like on the outside.”

“I wish you were like this all the time.”

He subtly frowned at her muttering, which was like a thought to herself.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Yiseo waved her hand at his gaze, which had clearly misunderstood.

“It’s just that you’re definitely different from the image I had of you, so it was a bit refreshing.”

A sound of laughter, as if the air was being let out, grazed Yiseo’s ears. His creased eyes narrowed and then aimed at Yiseo, as if to target her with a mischievous light.

“What was the image you had of me?”

“Hanseong High’s Prince.”

A genuine laugh immediately burst out. He bit his lips tightly, as if he was tickled just by hearing it, and then said.

“And?”

“Haeshin’s Young Master.”

He must have heard it a lot, but even so, his chest rose and fell slightly at the embarrassing title.

“Arrogant and ill-mannered prodigal.”

Finally, a ridiculous laugh, ‘ha,’ followed Yiseo’s answer.

“Want me to go on?”

“Do you like to eat well and then insult people?”

“You asked, so I just answered.”

“But it seems you were interested in me. Seeing as you picked up every rumor you heard.”

“This much is common knowledge to other people, too, isn’t it?”

‘It’s common knowledge, not interest.’ She knew that the terrible rumor had been attached to him like a nickname among her friends at some point, but still.

He let out a low breath with his lips, which had stopped smiling.

“So.”

This time, his gaze, which was cutting straight across, sank low. His eyes, which contained the coldness of dawn, gathered on Yiseo again. When their eyes met, for some reason, a tingling pain ran through her fingertips.

“What do you think after experiencing me yourself? Am I really like that?”

His face, which was not swayed by what others said, was smooth. He was not hurt. Unlike Yiseo, who would flinch at a single word, he would just snort at such words.

“You’re not bad. Of course, I also know that the rumors weren’t just groundless.”

But it was also true that he was much better than she had thought. However, his face, which was not pleased with her positive answer, remained the same. ‘Is he insulted?’ No, he was a man who had lived his life without knowing such a thing. He was not a target to be insulted just because someone insulted him. That’s why he was so relaxed even when she was insulting him to his face. No matter what anyone said or what kind of scandal was going around, he would just laugh it off lightly like this.

“It was an impressive day.”

“What was?”

“Just this.”

‘Just the fact that I’m sitting across from you and eating.’ Yiseo also laughed in bewilderment, realizing that the food, which she had been trying so hard to swallow, had disappeared down her throat like a flash.

“I’m glad you had fun.”

He just lightly nodded his head as if that was all there was to it.

While he was paying the bill, Yiseo stood outside the restaurant and stared blankly at the setting sun. The sun was going down along the ridge, as usual. It was the sky and the colors she had always seen on her way home at this time every day.

But today was a different, more impressive day than usual. It was also a strange day. She deliberately pretended not to notice the very faint ripple that was forming in her quiet heart.

“Here.”

While she was lost in thought, he came over to her side and handed her a bottle of wine in a wooden case.

“What is it?”

Yiseo’s eyes widened in confusion.

“Since you said you don’t really like wine, it’s just one bottle.”

What he handed her as a gift was the Chateau Margaux she had been so absorbed in throughout the meal. In fact, he had added a premium and brought it to her, even though it was the last bottle in the cellar. He also didn’t forget to say that he would fill it with a better wine next time. It was only possible for him to get the wine almost by force because he had known the restaurant owner for a long time. Of course, Yoon Yiseo had no way of knowing that.

“Can I accept this?”

“Take it. That’s why I brought it.”

He said it nonchalantly and then took out a cigarette and lit it. The pungent smoke rose. The expressionless eyes, which were without any ulterior motive, met Yiseo’s obliquely.

“What would you have done if I had said I loved wine?”

“Then I would have flown to Margaux.”

He made a joke without a change in expression in the scattered smoke. She couldn’t help but laugh in bewilderment at his nonsensical joke.