Chapter 13 …
“It’s been a while since I had a good rest like that.”
A middle-aged man, wearing only a thin robe, walked out and plopped down on the chair opposite. He still had a woman, who had just barely shed her teenage years, tucked under his arm.
The woman, who seemed to have just woken up, was rubbing her sleepy eyes. Remembering the scene she had witnessed through the crack in the door moments earlier, Sehui barely managed to straighten her shoulders, which had been hunched.
“Who is this?”
The man, his eyes narrowed, looked Sehui up and down as he asked. He had thick eyebrows and distinct features. With an enigmatic air, the man possessed a looks that could overwhelmingly command attention, despite his mature age. Although his gaze was slightly unfocused, as if he was intoxicated by something.
“My name is Yoo Sehui.”
A voice smaller than she intended flowed from Sehui’s lips.
Just making eye contact with him gave her a sense of pressure that made her heart tighten. She felt she could guess from whom he had inherited that blood, even without an explicit explanation.
“Ah. Prosecutor Yoo’s daughter.”
The man narrowed his eyes further, as if trying to find any resemblance in Sehui.
Given the bias of being a blood relative, their facial structures were somewhat similar, so not many people seriously doubted her relationship with her father.
“My, my. I’ve made a mistake with a first-time guest.”
Even though his observation seemed complete, he continued to stare intently at various parts of Sehui for a long while.
Sehui glanced at the woman dozing off while sitting, then averted her gaze again.
It was a bizarre and disgusting scene.
As if reading her gaze, the man let out a short laugh and picked up the glass placed in front of him.
“Consider it a kind of treatment, so don’t think it’s too strange.”
“……”
“My body temperature runs a bit low. Heated floors aren’t to my taste.”
He sleeps holding a young woman, like a daughter, because of his body temperature. The explanation made it even more creepy.
She recalled a movie featuring an old man who stepped on slaves and used them as footstools during meals for his health.
It seemed everyone in this house was either a treatment, spoils of war, or took on the form of an object rather than a person.
“Yoo Sehui, you need to work harder on hiding your emotions.”
Sehui belatedly realized she had furrowed her brows without knowing it herself.
“Prosecutor Yoo was born with a talent for that face of his.”
“……”
“A face of loyalty, while thinking different thoughts behind one’s back. It seems you didn’t inherit that part.”
He filled his glass to the brim and downed it in one go. Compared to the man, Cha Do, at least, fell within a normal range. But that made him all the more inscrutable and frightening.
“I didn’t get a chance to introduce you. She’s been devoted to my treatment day and night.”
Cha Do, who had arrived by her side belatedly, cut off his father’s words and signaled a servant to refill the glass.
He showed not the slightest concern whether his father drank on an empty stomach or held a woman in his arms. No, it felt more like he was encouraging it.
“Chairman Cha, you should manage your expressions too. Who looks at their daughter-in-law with such eyes?”
Although his words were like a joke, there was no trace of laughter in Cha Do’s expression. Chairman Cha just shrugged and let out a hollow laugh instead.
“Our Director Cha has a softer heart than he looks. He even endured marriage to save one person. I didn’t know he had such a tender side.”
In reality, Cha Do had punished all those involved in this incident and confiscated their assets. All those implicated had either disappeared or gone to prison.
The only one taken in under his wing, whether as spoils of war or a toy, was Yoo Sehui.
Was it mercy?
No. It was a form of punishment on a larger scale.
Whether he knew this or not, Chairman Cha continued his sarcastic remarks, like drunken nonsense.
“What a pity. I was secretly hoping Na-yeon would be in that position. CEO Song, I mean. She was quite devoted to me. It’s like baking a cake and giving it to a dog.”
“……”
“I guess Yoo Sehui must be good at something else.”
Well, for a woman, that’s the best thing, isn’t it?
A wave of intense disgust washed over her under the man’s leering gaze. She didn’t know who CEO Song was, but it didn’t feel positive at all.
In fact, if she were to face Chairman Cha, she had planned to beg on her knees. To ask him to spare her father and sister in place of the cold-blooded Cha Do.
But through the strangely flowing atmosphere, Sehui knew for certain.
Cha Jae-seok. He was now just a relic, a figurehead.
He was only the chairman in name, with no real power. Not even enough power to decide on a daughter-in-law for the household.
His deliberately crude jokes were to hide his fear. He was provocatively challenging Cha Do, yet his hands were trembling.
Cha Do willingly filled that hand with more drink. As if telling him to talk his fill while he still could.
Sehui abandoned her plan to cling to Chairman Cha and reached under the table, grabbing Cha Do’s arm. She wanted to leave now.
The meal setting with an outsider present was uncomfortable. She’d rather eat alone with Cha Do; that seemed far more comfortable, even ten times over.
“Does Yoo Sehui know what her so-called husband did before she married him? Ah. Or was it not marriage but begging? No matter how much you try to flirt…”
Finally, Cha Do, who had been moving his fork and knife leisurely, put them down and picked up his glass.
That small action alone was enough to stop Chairman Cha’s words. After slowly sipping the wine and wiping his mouth with a napkin, he rose from his seat.
“I’ll excuse myself now. It seems your treatment isn’t quite finished yet.”
Cha Do called a servant and unilaterally ended the meal. Chairman Cha’s grip on his glass tightened.
“Have them give him a stronger dose of medicine.”
Sehui, forcing a smile, bowed slightly and quickly followed Cha Do out of the dining room.
As he passed by, ignoring his father, Cha Do’s face showed not a hint of sympathy nor contempt.
“Didn’t we agree you’d be good at everything?”
Cha Do, having exited the corridor, lit a cigarette without even looking her way.
Click. The metallic sound of the lighter faded. His eyes, now even more sunken, still revealed no emotion.
“What…?”
Lost in other thoughts, Sehui recalled her own flustered and restless self from moments ago in front of Chairman Cha.
It certainly wasn’t a skillful handling of the situation.
A father-in-law openly making passes at his daughter-in-law in front of his son, and a fake husband who acted indifferent, whether he knew or not. She hadn’t known how to conduct herself between them.
She felt as if she had glimpsed a secret of Cha Do’s that she shouldn’t have known.
Did he also have family affairs he couldn’t speak of? The fact that he, with his cold eyes, might have had a cherished first love felt just as incongruous.
Cha Do hadn’t shown any emotion, but the fact that he was a human being like her, with wounds and pain, felt newly surprising.
She had thought he was a perfect human being, born without ever having known a single moment of deficiency.
She hadn’t found a clue about her father, but it wasn’t a complete failure. Perhaps Cha Do’s father could also become his weakness.
“I endured the insult for your sake, Cha Do…”
“That’s not what I want.”
“Then how…?”
“At the very least, not a wife who smiles while being treated like a bar hostess.”
Sehui, who had been chewing on her lip, stopped abruptly.
She met Cha Do’s eyes as he turned to look at her. A shame even greater than when she was sitting in front of Chairman Cha washed over her.
For a moment, she had felt a sense of kinship.
Whether it was because they had shared a night, because she had nowhere else to lean, or because she felt a thread of pity for his life with a wretched father.
“…If it seemed that way, I apologize.”
She replied, struggling to hide her emotions. Instead of softening at her reaction, Cha Do’s brow furrowed even more.
He averted his gaze and lowered the lighter, its flame now dead. Then, as if conscious of Sehui, he put the cigarette, which he hadn’t even taken a puff from, back into its case.
“Are you going to your room?”
Cha Do let out a short laugh and ran a hand over his handsome face. He never got angry at anything. That very point made Sehui more anxious.
“Why, planning to properly act the part of a wife?”
His gaze, which seemed to ponder for a moment, briefly swept over the area below Sehui’s neck before returning. Understanding his meaning, Sehui’s face flushed bright red.
“Sorry. I’m just not in the mood today.”
It was an insult, disguised as politeness.
He told her not to smile if treated like a lowly woman, yet he was the one treating her like a bar hostess.
“Get some rest.”
Watching Cha Do’s retreating back, Sehui belatedly felt a pain in her finger, where the skin had peeled off and a scab had formed from frantically peeling onions earlier.
