Chapter 3. Shield
His tone remained calm, but the words Taejun spoke carried an unmistakable indifference.
Haeyoung’s lips pressed tightly together. Without realizing it, she even clenched both of her hands.
Still, she continued speaking while forcing herself to keep a blank expression.
“Then why did you bring me all the way here? You could’ve just shown up at the funeral and left.”
Taejun’s eyebrow lifted lazily. A faint breath escaped him, almost like a scoff, and Haeyoung could feel it.
“That wasn’t my decision. It was cleanup work I took on because of the request your father left behind.”
Cleanup work.
He could have chosen a more refined word, yet he deliberately used one that would hurt. What was his intention?
“So… does that request end here?”
At her question, Taejun tilted his head slightly. Then he pulled the corner of his lips upward and stepped closer.
As he lowered his head slightly, he came so close that she could feel his slow breath. The way he looked down at her was cold and analytical, like someone examining a strange object.
“Do you think entering this house is your right? Just because someone provided you with a place to survive, do you think it’s something you’re entitled to?”
Haeyoung’s eyes went unfocused.
“I told you before.”
“……”
“That staying in this house is the safest thing for you.”
Haeyoung bit her lower lip so hard it nearly bled. Taejun gave her another warning.
“That still applies.”
His lips brushed against the rim of her ear and then pulled away. Before she could even flinch in surprise, Taejun’s body moved away from her.
Just as he slowly increased the distance and turned his body completely—
A pitiful voice came from behind him.
No… perhaps “pitiful” wasn’t the right word.
It sounded closer to desperation.
“…Please help me.”
A peaceful daily life. A life where each day was safe and secure.
There was no reason to leave such a place.
So was her desire to leave this warm nest simply rebellion?
Or just a trivial provocation?
“That woman your father brought into the house.”
Taejun silently listened as Haeyoung continued.
“She’s the woman who lived with us when I was twelve. She was my father’s one-year wife.”
“So?”
“The woman who used to be my mother is now living with your father. How do you expect me to stay here?”
Perhaps “endure” was a more accurate word than “stay.”
Though her voice was thick with resentment, Taejun abruptly cut her off as if he had already heard enough.
“If that’s the reason you want to run away from here, it’s a pretty convenient excuse.”
Every cold word Taejun spoke dug deeper into Haeyoung’s heart.
“The Chairman kindly took me in even though we’re not related by blood. I just don’t want him to feel uncomfortable because of me. If it weren’t for my father’s connection, I would never have even dreamed of living somewhere like this.”
Taejun had already roughly guessed that Haeyoung secretly felt uncomfortable around the members of this family who lived in such a dark world. But seeing how firmly she tried to seize the opportunity now made him look at her differently.
“If that’s the case, I really need your help, oppa.”
She didn’t back down.
But she didn’t avoid his gaze either.
There was a firm determination in her eyes that showed she had no intention of yielding even a little.
Her eyes were bloodshot as if tears might spill out at any moment, yet she desperately swallowed her emotions and spoke seriously.
“So what you’re saying is that you want to use me as your shield.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Haeyoung admitted it without hesitation—she needed him as a human shield.
Taejun was honestly stunned by her attitude.
Lowering his gaze, he quietly stared at her.
“I think an adult can help someone who’s immature.”
“You’re fearless.”
Taejun’s voice dropped threateningly low.
His words were so sharp that Haeyoung momentarily forgot everything she was going to say.
“Listen, Miss Ahn Haeyoung.”
Taejun raised his hand and grabbed her chin.
Her clear eyes trembled slightly.
Haeyoung couldn’t bring herself to open her stiff lips.
“I get that you’ve lived a comfortable life, and I know you intend to keep living that way. So stop clinging to me—”
The ferocious tone of the man finishing his sentence made Haeyoung’s eyes fill with tears.
Her trembling voice filled the room.
“You don’t know.”
The tip of Taejun’s eyebrow moved subtly.
“You don’t know what it feels like to lose your parents and be left alone in the world. What it feels like when everything ahead of you looks completely dark. What it feels like to live in someone else’s house whether you want to or not.”
The sorrow and anxiety that had been suppressed in Haeyoung’s heart burst out.
The misery that had been thrown at her against her will made Taejun deeply uncomfortable.
He quietly reconsidered the situation that had arisen under the excuse of protecting Haeyoung.
The reason she wanted to leave the house was simple.
The new woman who had taken the place beside his father.
Chairman Ki replacing the women he brought into the house was no less frequent than Haeyoung’s father, Ahn Daecheon.
In their world, it wasn’t unusual for men to share women among themselves.
Chairman Ki’s preferences were always obvious. He preferred vulgar women, and he was extremely fickle. Throwing out one “wife” and bringing in another new woman happened as often as changing toilet paper.
So it was only a matter of time before the woman Haeyoung wanted to avoid would be thrown out.
If she waited just a little, her peaceful daily life would naturally return.
That also meant Haeyoung didn’t need to leave this house for the problem to resolve itself.
Unlike the previous women, this one didn’t scream or slap people around. She didn’t try to throw Haeyoung out of the house out of resentment for raising someone else’s child either.
Instead, she simply kept a low profile so as not to upset Chairman Ki.
She had absolutely no interest in Haeyoung.
She only calmly smiled while slowly gnawing away at Haeyoung’s peace of mind.
Sometimes she would deliberately wrap her arm affectionately around Chairman Ki’s shoulder in front of Haeyoung, or carefully prepare food for her.
That was probably what bothered Haeyoung.
Taejun understood better than anyone why Ahn Haeyoung was so desperate to escape.
But just because Haeyoung wanted it didn’t mean he intended to let her go so easily.
Whether what she wanted was emotional protection or simple survival—
It didn’t matter.
A few days later, Haeyoung returned home late after drinking heavily with her friends near school.
Normally, she wasn’t someone who stayed out that late.
But ever since the argument with Taejun, she didn’t want to run into him if she could help it.
And once her heart had started drifting away from this house, she found it harder and harder to pull herself back together.
She simply didn’t want to come home.
If she followed her true feelings, she would have boldly said she was staying at a friend’s house to work on assignments and then hidden somewhere for the night.
But the only reason she couldn’t give in to that impulse was Chairman Ki.
If a girl who had always behaved obediently suddenly started acting differently, Chairman Ki—who was extremely sensitive—might start watching her every move to investigate the change.
So it was better not to attract attention.
She decided it would be best to live quietly like a mouse and wait for the right moment to move out.
Still, her disappointment toward Taejun hadn’t faded easily.
Over the past few days she had run into him several times, but he had never given her a clear answer about her request.
If time passed like this, even the courage she had barely gathered might disappear.
She wanted to do something, anything—but she was afraid that if she brought it up with Chairman Ki, she might end up getting scolded.
Chairman Ki was usually incredibly gentle.
But when Haeyoung had once mentioned wanting to live independently, he had become angry for the first time.
