Chapter 03
“Then why don’t you finish introducing yourselves? Assistant Manager Kang, later…”
“Yoon Taejo.”
Taejo supplied the answer as Executive Director Kim hesitated over how to address him.
“Right, Mr. Yoon Taejo. Show him around the office too.”
After reminding Sua, Executive Director Kim left the conference room.
The moment his footsteps faded away, Sua tried to pull her hand free.
It was useless.
Taejo only tightened his grip.
“Executive Director Kim’s got great instincts. No wonder he climbed the ladder so fast.”
He sounded completely at ease.
“What… exactly is going on here?”
Sua demanded in a hushed voice.
This man is the vice chairman’s son? Where did everything go wrong?
She had been certain he was just an ordinary man.
Well… perhaps not entirely ordinary in some respects, but still…
“You…”
“Are you an idiot, Kang Sua?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard my name.”
“…”
“Say it. ‘Mr. Yoon Taejo.’ Nice and pretty.”
“This isn’t the time to joke around.”
“I’m not joking.”
As he answered, he squeezed her hand harder.
The sudden tug nearly sent her stumbling into him, and she barely managed to hold her ground.
“I told you to come with me. Why do you keep running away? You’re making me waste my energy.”
His fingertips reached up and gently brushed her cheek.
Snapping back to her senses, Sua shoved his hand away.
“Why did you lie to me? You never told me.”
“You never asked.”
“Don’t tell me you approached me on purpose…”
“You mean, did I deliberately get close to you?”
Taejo let out a short laugh.
“That’s the kind of suspicion you should’ve had before you rolled around in bed with me.”
The fingers she’d pushed away drifted to rub softly across her lips.
“Seriously… You took my virginity, and now you’re going to pretend you don’t know me?”
“What?”
“Didn’t I tell you I was a virgin?”
“Are you seriously joking right now?”
“…Do I look like I’m joking?”
The smile disappeared from his face as he stepped closer.
Sua flinched and instinctively took a step back.
“You really don’t know me at all, Kang Sua.”
It felt as though she were being swallowed by the enormous shadow he cast.
“Then again, we never really had time to get to know each other, did we? We were always too busy rolling around in bed.”
“Would you stop talking like—”
Sua hurriedly cut him off.
She was terrified someone might overhear.
“It’s fine. We can get to know each other from now on.”
“…”
“Kang Sua.”
His fingers lazily stroked his chin before he leaned in until his face was only inches from hers.
“I’m the type of person who doesn’t rest until I’ve paid someone back for what they’ve done to me.”
He slowly withdrew a check card from his jacket pocket and waved it in front of her eyes.
“You treated me like a piece of gum you’d already chewed.”
“…What?”
“There’s still some flavor left, so keep chewing until it’s completely gone.”
Taking her hand, he unfolded her fingers, placed the card neatly into her palm, and gently closed her hand around it.
“No, I…”
“Ah, you’re thanking me? Why do you look so touched? You’re making my heart race.”
He straightened up with a broad grin.
“I almost got hard.”
Sua’s face instantly turned crimson.
Seeing her reaction, Taejo placed both hands on her shoulders and turned her around.
“Personally, I don’t really care about the location.”
His low, suggestive voice drifted beside her ear.
A chill shot down the back of her neck.
It sounded just like the breathless whispers he’d made in bed.
“You’re so sensitive.”
He chuckled after noticing her reaction.
“That’s why I like you, Kang Sua.”
His large hands slipped away from her shoulders before he threw open the conference room door.
Keeping Sua walking ahead of him, Taejo strolled down the empty hallway and pressed the elevator button.
“See you tomorrow… Senior.”
As the elevator doors opened, he added casually before giving her back a gentle push into the elevator.
The doors slid shut.
The last thing she saw was him waving cheerfully.
Left alone, Sua could only blink in stunned disbelief.
I can’t believe this.
What on earth just happened?
She’d been thrown out before she’d even had the chance to question him.
Frantically, she pressed the Open button and rushed back into the hallway.
He was already gone.
From beyond the nearby emergency stairwell door came the lively sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs.
Thump, thump, thump.
Sua instinctively checked the floor number.
The seventeenth floor.
Why would he take the stairs…? No, that’s not what’s important right now.
What in the world is going on?
The man she’d assumed was simply an unemployed rich guy…
…was actually the vice chairman’s son.
Completely bewildered, Sua buried her face in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut.
Then her first meeting with him resurfaced in her memory.
…Yoon Taejo?
She had met Yoon Taejo…
Three months earlier.
At a blind date she’d been forced into by her parents.
Three Months Earlier
“Well now, you’re even more beautiful than I expected.”
Sua stared expressionlessly at the greasy sheen glistening across the bridge of the man’s nose.
Byeon Ginam.
Today’s blind date.
Her seventh one, to be exact.
“He’s the eldest son of Byungjin Distribution. Your father personally arranged this meeting, so make sure it goes well. Understood?”
Her mother’s anxious reminder echoed in her ears.
For days she’d been nagged nonstop.
She had refused again and again, but in the end she couldn’t ignore Miyang when the woman practically begged her with tears in her eyes.
“Assemblyman Kang wasn’t exaggerating when he bragged about his daughter. He had every reason to be confident.”
Ginam openly looked her up and down.
After making a show of waving his hand through the air, he dropped it onto the table with a thud.
As his sleeve slid back, the watch on his wrist flashed beneath the lights.
“Ah, this? Limited edition. Took a lot of effort to get.”
He smiled smugly while stroking the watch, answering a question she’d never asked.
“One hundred million won.”
The added remark dripped with tacky pride.
It wasn’t hard to tell he’d shown it off on purpose.
After all, he’d been waving his hand around so much she had briefly wondered if he was wearing a fitness tracker.
“I bought the women’s version too. Interested?”
Sua swallowed a mocking laugh.
The meeting was taking place in the lounge of the T Hotel.
A Taesan Group affiliate and the country’s only six-star hotel.
To think she had to waste a perfectly good weekend dealing with a man like this in a place like this.
“…No. I’m not really interested in watches.”
“Then what are you interested in, Miss Sua?”
Ginam leaned forward with a sleazy grin.
She could feel his gaze sliding down from her neck to her chest.
“Who knows.”
“Ah, Assemblyman Kang seems eager to get you married as soon as possible.”
“…”
“Oh, wait. With the by-election coming up, he’s technically not an assemblyman at the moment, is he? Campaigns sure require a lot of money.”
It was a warning.
Know your place.
This was a marriage arranged as a business transaction.
She was the merchandise on display.
The man sitting across from her was merely deciding how much she was worth.
“Miss Kang Sua, what do you think is the most important thing in a marriage?”
Byeon Ginam continued as though assessing a product.
“Who knows.”
She saw no reason to answer.
She had absolutely no intention of marrying this pathetic excuse for a man.
“I think there’s only one thing that really matters.”
His rough fist smacked loudly into his open palm.
Smack!
“Sexual compatibility.”
He laughed to himself, his face practically radiating filth.
“Your father told me you vowed to stay a virgin until marriage?”
Sua’s lips twisted.
He even told him that?
She’d never said any such thing.
Coming from a man who treated his daughter like merchandise, it wasn’t surprising.
“So you don’t know anything, huh? That’s okay. That’s okay. As for me…” He grinned obscenely. “Let’s just say I’m exceptionally gifted down there.”
Should she throw her coffee in his face?
Or simply end the date quietly?
She was still deciding when—
“You’re impotent.”
A man’s voice suddenly interrupted.
“Yeah. Totally impotent.”
An awkward silence fell.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
“No, that’s not what I—”
Only then realizing what he’d blurted out, Ginam frowned deeply and turned toward the source of the interruption.
Sua’s lowered gaze followed his.
The culprit sat at the table directly beside theirs, separated only by the aisle.
Both hands tucked into the pockets of his beige slacks, the man lounged across the sofa as if he owned the place.
His legs were spread with shameless confidence, so long that they extended all the way past the opposite sofa.
“Come on, don’t play hard to get. What’s your name? How old are you? I seriously want you.”
The woman across from him spoke in a sweet, coaxing voice.
She perched on the very edge of her seat, looking ready to fall off.
“An aspiring actress? I’ll make you a star. I’ll buy you an officetel, get you a car. What else do you want?”
Her body leaned so far across the table that desperation practically poured from her.
“What’s with that loser? How did someone that cheap get into a place like this? Looks like some gigolo.”
Ginam clicked his tongue in disgust.
Considering what she’d overheard, it was an understandable misunderstanding.
But Sua couldn’t agree.
There was an unmistakable air of nobility about the man.
His slightly messy hair and long, narrow eyes gave him a dangerously seductive look, but nothing about him seemed cheap.
Just then, he turned his head toward her.
Their eyes met in midair.
His gaze was sharp enough to cut.
It felt as though invisible hooks had scraped across her face.
He stared at her for a long moment.
Then one eyebrow arched.
A crooked smile slowly spread across his lips—a smile filled with unmistakable mockery.
