Chapter 44

“I like you.”

The two eyes that were close widened as if surprised. Feeling a momentary delight in eliciting such an extreme expression from him, Hae-gang covered her mouth belatedly and wiggled her foot nervously.

“Oh, this was supposed to be a secret! I absolutely, absolutely didn’t plan on saying it… but I blurted it out.”

Not stopping there, she continued to fidget in her seat, her movements clearly showing her intoxicated state. Watching her closely, Woo-jin slowly parted his lips.

“I liked you more, and for much longer.”

His quiet voice didn’t reach Hae-gang, who was nervously fumbling with herself. Realizing she hadn’t heard, Woo-jin let out a slight sigh and stepped out of the car.

After Hae-gang’s voice asked where he was going, he turned back, opened the passenger seat door, and extended his hand.

“Let’s go inside now.”

Trying to hold the offered hand, she kept missing due to the effects of the alcohol. Woo-jin, who was not used to such a situation, attempted to hold her hand first, but even that was unsuccessful as Hae-gang’s hand kept slipping away.

After a few failed attempts, Hae-gang became frustrated.

“Ah! Why do you keep dodging?”

Seeing her annoyance, Woo-jin swallowed the words that had risen to his throat. Who was the person who couldn’t be caught even when they were left alone?

He recognized that it was quite a luxury to throw a tantrum at someone whose mind was clouded by alcohol. Without a word, he withdrew his hand and instead patted her on the back.

“Lean on me.”

“Who, me? Right here? Are you treating me like I’m drunk? No way. I’m completely sober, you know?”

Of course, she wasn’t entirely harmless either. She was protesting with a sulky attitude, but there was no way to win against her when she was like this.

He wondered if she would have been just as headstrong in the Maldives. A terrifying thought crossed his mind. He believed he remembered everything from back then, but looking at her now, he began to doubt that maybe what he remembered wasn’t everything.

“Oh, come on. Move aside. I need to get out!”

What snapped Woo-jin out of his thoughts was the real-time spectacle of Hae-gang stumbling around right in front of him due to her drunkenness. Without any care about possibly falling or bumping into things, she boldly tapped her feet on the ground.

“Whoa, it’s an earthquake! Mr. Min Woojin, bow down quickly!”

“Huh.”

Just watching without intervening wasn’t an option. It seemed as if she had turned the perfectly stable ground into a site of seismic activity. Bending over as if the earth were shaking, hitting her head on the car door, it was a classic display of the behavior of a drunk person.

Woo-jin once again patted Hae-gang on the back as she rubbed her head in pain from hitting it.

“Ms. Han Dawn, just lean on me.”

“I’m not drunk, you know? Why do you keep treating people like they’re drunk? It’s sad.”

He couldn’t quite understand what the problem was with treating a drunk person as if they were drunk. Resenting his lack of expertise in this area, Woojin tried to come up with something to get Hae-gang to move.

“It’s not like that. I just want to help you up.”

“Oh, what’s this? Just because I said I like you? Mr. Min Woojin, you’re not missing any chances, are you? So mischievous.”

Fortunately, it seemed like this response was well-received. Standing up and brushing off her rear, Hae-gang comfortably leaned against his back. The cold body temperature from the transitional season and the weight that was surprisingly light passed through his back.

He had thought he was taking care of her quite well since they came to this house, but apparently, he still had a long way to go.

Thinking he should tell the house owner to increase her meal portions a bit, Woo-jin climbed the stairs leading to the house.

“Here’s a gift!”

Suddenly, a moist sensation reached his ear, causing Woo-jin’s steps on the stairs to come to an abrupt halt. It was one of those rare moments when thoughts vanished from his mind. Hae-gang, who had turned his mind into a blank slate, laughed gleefully, not realizing what had just happened, and playfully shook her foot in the air.

“Equality is important, so this side is too.”

And then, without a doubt, her lips touched the other ear.

For a long time, Woo-jin, who couldn’t quite comprehend the situation unfolding before him, finally moved his legs after a while. Even this movement was motivated by the freezing cold sensation of Hae-gang’s body against his back—he was worried that he might catch a cold.

Thanks to Hae-gang’s inability to stay still, Woo-jin managed to guide her up to the bedroom with some difficulty and lay her down on the bed before he sighed.

“Feeling frustrated.”

Maybe due to the warmer air inside the room compared to outside, Hae-gang, who had been sprawling, suddenly sat up and began to remove her clothes one by one. A sigh escaped his lips involuntarily at her hands, which were so readily stripping away her clothes.

“This is one challenge after another.”

If she knew how much I’m restraining myself right now, she definitely wouldn’t do something like this.

As he helped her remove her clothes, he heard a small voice near his ear.

“Mr. Min Woojin.”

“Yes?”

Aside from taking off her clothes, Hae-gang twiddled her fingers nervously. Woojin reached out her hand without hesitation, aware that this was one of her personal nervous habits. As his hand met hers, she gently held his untangled fingers.

With Woo-jin’s hands holding hers, Hae-gang spoke softly, her gaze fixed.

“I really didn’t intend to say this, but I’m afraid it might seem like I don’t trust you, Mr. Min Woo-jin. So, please, from now on, just consider anything I say under the influence of alcohol and forget about it.”

****

Seon-woo signed the approval documents and then massaged his wrist, which was aching. It was just a wrist that got hurt, but what Yun Geon-ho had shattered that day was his own pride.

Moon Ik was originally Chairman Yun’s company. We might have inherited the same blood, but how could he become so arrogant just because he was born into a different background?

Seon-woo’s anger radiated in all directions.

Chairman Yun, ultimately discarded his mother. My own mother, who bore his children, couldn’t take the place of Yun’s First Lady.

And above all, Yun Geon-ho. If left unchecked, he would ruthlessly dismantle everything I’ve built up and achieved.

Remembering the cold gaze that looked down on him a few days ago, Seon-woo clenched his fists and suppressed his anger. “You damn bastard,” was the only curse that he could spit out so that no one could hear. The habit of maintaining composure and thinking rationally was ingrained in him precisely because there were always people watching and waiting for him to make a mistake.

Only once, when he killed Seo Young, did he not think rationally. That gave Yoon Geon-ho an opening. If only the subsequent Aeria Airlines accident hadn’t happened and Yun Geon-ho’s obsession with Seo Hae-gang, awakened by that accident, hadn’t occurred, maybe he should have stepped back from this position long ago.

“I need to find a way to outwit Yun Geonho.”

No solution was in sight. Geon Ho’s minor scandals might make Chairman Yun perceive him more pessimistically, but they wouldn’t affect his influence over the succession position. What really needed to be exposed was the fact of Seohaegang’s survival and how she managed to stay hidden from everyone. But revealing that would essentially mean exposing both of them to danger.

“When will Min Woo-jin be kept waiting?”

Seon-woo, with a displeased expression, licked his cold lips and gripped the pen again, averting his gaze from his desk.

“Sir!”

At that moment, a secretary rushed in, causing a commotion. Seon-woo’s brows furrowed at the behavior that lacked any sense of dignity.

“Without knocking, what is this?”

“Sir, it might be a good idea to check the news right now! An article about the late Madam’s death has come out, and it’s…”

Unable to finish his sentence, the secretary glanced around, and Seon-woo quickly grabbed the mouse. As he opened a web browser, the first headline that caught his eye was:

[“The Tragedy of Moon Ik,” Im Seo Young, Murdered? Bizarre Rumors Surrounding Moon Ik’s Heiress.]

With trembling hands, Seon Woo clicked on the article and stared at the words before him, as if he couldn’t believe them.

The content was nothing more than the rumor itself, lacking any evidence. However, the rumor itself bore an uncanny resemblance to the situation stored in his memory.

At that time, he was thinking about divorce. Seo Young is demanding absurd alimony. Other events of that day were also described in detail.

Seon Woo gestured to dismiss the secretary, who didn’t know what to do, clenched his fist tightly, forgetting about the pain in his wrist.

“Yoon Geon ho, Yoon Geon ho!”

This must be his doing.

With trembling hands, Seonwo picked up his cell phone. Suppressing the urge to throw it away immediately, he pressed each number firmly.

After more than ten repetitive signals, a steady tone finally stopped, and a calm voice came from the other end.

[ What’s going on? ]

“Exposing this article without any evidence? Isn’t preemptively smearing someone’s name like this too low?”

[ I don’t know what you’re talking about. Oh, is this about the article that came out today? ]

“Don’t play dumb when you know exactly what I mean!”

As Seonwoo couldn’t hold back his rising anger and vented, a burst of hollow laughter echoed back.

[ Play dumb? To you? You still don’t understand the situation.]

“Why are you scared now? Worried that I might not die alone and reveal all your secrets?”

[ Don’t waste your time on meaningless threats, just hang up. ]

“Meaningless threats?! Someone else knows about you, Seo Hae-gang, and that woman…!”

Seonwoo’s voice, which had been expressing anger as if Geon Ho were right in front of him, gradually faded. A phrase he had heard somewhere rushed through his mind at the speed of light.

“Someone else would expose that secret. Should I try?”

Surely not.

The absurd assumption drained his strength. With a sense of emptiness, Seonwoo’s hand holding the cell phone trembled weakly.

“That secret wasn’t Yun Geonho’s.”

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