Chapter 34 ….
A short while later, Seonghun arrived at CS Department Store and immediately went up to Jooyoung’s office.
Secretary Shin, having already received word that Seonghun had come to the department store, was waiting for him in front of the elevator.
“Hello, Director Bae.”
“It’s been a while, Secretary Shin.”
Seonghun exchanged a brief greeting and moved forward.
He hadn’t come to the department store to see Secretary Shin—he had come to see Choi Jooyoung.
Yet, for some reason, Secretary Shin stood firmly in his way.
“I’m afraid it’s inconvenient for you to come without notice like this.”
“I apologize for causing any inconvenience.”
“Then today, perhaps you should—”
“We will compensate for the inconvenience caused today. Please bill it to the secretariat.”
“Eh? No, I mean… ah, uh, Director!”
As Secretary Shin fumbled in surprise, Seonghun pulled open the office door.
The office was empty.
No lights were on, as if the office hadn’t been used all day.
Moreover, the air inside the office was stifling.
It didn’t feel like someone had simply left the lights off for a short while; it felt as if the air conditioner hadn’t been turned on for days.
“Th-this is really inconvenient, Director!”
Secretary Shin hurriedly closed the door.
He held onto the doorknob behind him and blocked Seonghun from entering, declaring he wouldn’t let him in again.
But Seonghun had already gotten the information he needed.
He looked down at Secretary Shin.
“It seems like an explanation is necessary. Am I the only one who thinks so, Secretary Shin?”
He asked, yet it wasn’t really a question seeking an answer.
Polite in tone, but forceful in voice.
A unique form of intimidation only someone like Bae Seonghun, always in a position of dominance, could wield.
“…She’s on a short leave.”
“Leave? At a time when she should be busy with the Verdun project?”
“She’s been overexerting herself for a while, and her doctor recommended rest—”
“Don’t try to outsmart me, Secretary Shin.”
Seonghun continued with his cold, harsh tone.
“The overexertion was what Choi Jooyoung had always been doing. If she were really going to listen to her doctor’s advice to rest, she wouldn’t have pushed herself in the first place. Am I wrong?”
“…No.”
“Then let’s get back to the main point.”
Seonghun took out his phone and opened a map app.
He handed the phone to Secretary Shin.
“Where is our Jagi right now?”
He wanted to track Jooyoung’s location.
He found out she had gone to her villa in Oido.
He also confirmed that she had been staying there for the past week.
But that was all.
Bae Seonghun didn’t take any further action based on this new information.
He was curious why Choi Jooyoung hadn’t been reachable for a week—and now he knew the reason.
What more was there to do?
If a problem had arisen and the solution had been discovered, there was no need for further action. That was Seonghun’s judgment.
Yet, clearly…
“Bae Seonghun’s biological mother, Heo Sunyoung, was found in a state of severe malnutrition.”
Why did he think of her at this moment?
“Due to weakened heart function, she may have lost consciousness quickly, so the suffering may have been brief.”
Seonghun had been four years old when the incident occurred.
Too young to remember every detail.
Fortunately, Bae Sungwon and Min Yuyeong had kept the contact information of the police officer in charge, noting that Seonghun might be curious about the case when he became an adult.
As a result, once he was grown, Seonghun was able to meet the officer and hear about what had happened that day.
“There was a handwritten will from Heo Sunyoung. It wasn’t long. She asked Min Yuyeong to take care of her son, apologized, and said she loved him. Just three lines.”
It wasn’t funny.
Weak, with no intention to fight, and running away into death—how could she talk about leaving her son in someone’s care?
She left him behind to flee alone, yet wrote, “I’m sorry, I love you.”
No consideration, no trace of maternal instinct.
But I am different.
Unlike a woman who gave up on life just because the man she loved left her.
Love, what is it?
A lover, what is that?
“Then why…”
Why am I driving right now?
I clearly had no plan to act, and I had come home late at night.
So why, by the next morning, had I set Oido in the GPS and was driving there?
At that moment, the phone lying on the passenger seat vibrated, and a notification popped up on the car monitor.
A message from Secretary Yoon.
[All your schedules for today have been canceled.]
Canceling all his plans to head to Oido.
What does this mean?
What kind of feeling is this?
Choi Jooyoung, who barely ate like a woman who had faced death.
Choi Jooyoung, who seemed strong on the outside but fragile inside, like a woman who had fled into death.
It irritates him.
He can’t stop thinking about it.
He thought she had returned to her usual self—so what happened?
Has she returned to the Jooyoung who stared emptily, drinking like she was about to die?
The more he thought, the more his neck grew stiff.
Tap tap tap—
Seonghun habitually tapped the steering wheel with his nails, organizing his thoughts.
He didn’t love Jooyoung.
He didn’t even like her. They weren’t friends.
It had been a business relationship from the start.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Even now, they maintained a business relationship for mutual benefit.
But canceling his entire busy schedule just to see her—it was clearly more than just business.
“Damn it… I’m tangled up like a dog.”
A relationship he couldn’t name.
Tap. Tap tap, whoosh—!!
At this very moment, it started raining.
Jooyoung woke up today without an alarm and began her day as her eyes opened.
Even though she started her day, she didn’t do much.
Was it because she had always lived busily, or because she had grown too lazy to move?
She lay in bed, staring endlessly at the sea outside the window, wasting time.
Even though she hated wasting time the most.
“……”
Splash.
Splash—!!
The rain poured heavily today, as if the sky had broken open.
Sunlight was hidden behind clouds, and the glittering reflections on the water were gone.
Jooyoung, lying and staring at the sea, seemed to make a decision.
She got out of bed.
She didn’t bring an umbrella.
The rain hit her shoulders, and the slowly growing sting warned her:
Go back. Don’t do something foolish.
But she didn’t stop walking.
Let it wash away everything.
If it washes away as if she had never existed in this world, she could stop struggling through another day.
She walked along the road leading to the beach.
Because of the heavy rain, there was not a single car on the road.
…And just as she thought that, a black sedan appeared in front of her.
Its headlights gleamed.
But Jooyoung, lost in her daze, didn’t see the car or the driver.
The sedan passed her, and then—
Bang!!!
A sound so loud it could have been thunder snapped her out of her trance.
Startled, Jooyoung turned around and saw a familiar face.
Bae Seonghun.
He was slowly approaching, one step at a time, holding an umbrella.
“Hello, Jagiya.”
Smirking slightly on one side of his lips, Seonghun tilted the umbrella toward her.
The raindrops were completely blocked.
“I couldn’t reach you, so I came myself.”
