CHAPTER 67………………………………….

“Ah! Let go! I said let go!”

As the man screamed while his arm was twisted behind him, the hotel security guards quickly approached, their faces full of surprise.

One of the two men restrained the struggling man tightly, while pulling out a phone to call 112, then made another call elsewhere.

“We’ve caught him… Yes, understood.”

What’s going on?

Seoyoung tilted her head in curiosity just as Director Oh’s voice came to her ear.

“We’ll find out what happened later. For now, let’s have lunch, Director.”

“Yes. Right.”

Feeling that they might even miss the employees’ lunch break at this rate, Seoyoung nodded and turned to follow.

As she walked, the secretarial staff trailing behind each added a remark.

“What could it be?”
“I wonder. Causing a ruckus in broad daylight… It’s probably not some random act of violence, right?”

Hearing this, Seoyoung furrowed her brows slightly.

She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but she thought the hotel security needed to be strengthened further.

The Japanese restaurant chosen for lunch wasn’t far from the hotel, but since time had already been lost, she quickened her pace.

Not long after, her phone buzzed.

-Where are you now?

Hyeokjin’s urgent voice made Seoyoung frown. She gestured to the staff ahead to go on without her.

“I’m heading to lunch with the staff.”

-Is anyone hurt?

“No. But why are you asking that all of a sudden…?”

The unexpected question made Seoyoung’s eyes widen.

-I heard there was a disturbance at the hotel.

“How did you know that, Hyeokjin?”

It had happened only a few minutes ago. Was he nearby?

Before Seoyoung could ponder further, Hyeokjin said something had come up and that they could talk later, then hung up.

“Director, please come quickly!”

Tilting her head in slight confusion, Seoyoung snapped out of it at the call from the staff and quickly walked toward them.

As she entered the Japanese restaurant, she saw people getting into police cars.

After enjoying lunch with the staff, Seoyoung only then learned the details of the hotel disturbance.

“Thanks to the police arriving and immediately taking the culprit away, the situation was quickly resolved. We’ve also told the hotel to inform us once the investigation results come out.”

Jinho had returned, assessed the situation, and filed his report.

“I don’t know what exactly happened, but with all the recent bad news, we should pay closer attention to hotel security.”

“Yes. I’ve already emphasized this to the security team.”

“Good. Now, go handle your work, Director Oh.”

Shortly after Jinho left, Seoyoung received a text from Hyeokjin.

[Leave work early and come. I’ll wait.]

Given that he had called soon after the hotel incident, and now suddenly asked her to come home early, Hyeokjin seemed unusual today.

[Got it. I’ll come straight after finishing up.]

After replying, Seoyoung busied herself with remaining work.

When the clock struck six, she stopped working and shut down her computer.

“I’m leaving first. Thank you everyone for your hard work today.”

After greeting the secretaries, she headed straight to the parking lot.

As the elevator doors opened and she stepped out, she received a message from an unknown number.

[This is Yera. I’m going to the U.S. soon, but I want to meet once before I leave. Are you free today?]

Seoyoung placed her bag in the passenger seat and read the message again.

She had considered meeting her at some point but hadn’t expected Yera to contact her first.

“Is she trying to apologize?”

Furrowing her brows in doubt, Seoyoung hesitated.

Yera had a history of strange behavior, making her cautious.

Reflecting on her own naivety, Seoyoung shook her head and started typing a reply.

Yera wasn’t likely to apologize—expectations had to be kept low.

[What do you want to meet for?]

The reply came almost immediately.

[I need to talk to you urgently before I leave. Aren’t you curious about the hotel bidding leak?]

Seoyoung read Yera’s message over and over.

“Could she really be trying to confess before leaving?”

Thinking about everything Yera had done so far, Seoyoung doubted it—but her curiosity won.

She texted Hyeokjin to tell him she’d be slightly late, then called Yera.

“I just left work. When shall we meet?”

Choosing a crowded, non-dangerous location as the meeting spot, Seoyoung started the car and drove smoothly out of the parking lot.

A car began following her.

As she drove for some time, she slowed at a traffic light.

But the car tailing her from the hotel didn’t slow—instead, it sped up.

Inside, Yera was pressing the accelerator with a panicked look in her eyes.

“This is all your fault, Hyun Seoyoung!”

BANG!

The cars collided with a loud crash. Shaken, Yera quickly swerved and fled the scene.

Seoyoung’s car was hit hard on the left side, and though she couldn’t be sure, she must have felt the impact sharply.

Yera’s car scraped past, her eyes flashing with fury.

After failing earlier, Yera decided to take matters into her own hands.

She had waited at the hotel parking lot until Seoyoung left work, still not fully sober.

Unexpectedly pregnant, Yera was now stuck, forced to marry Minhyung because he reported everything to Chairman Kang.

After making Seoyoung divorce Hyeokjin to marry him, her ambitions had disappeared.

Unwillingly pregnant, forced to marry a man she didn’t love, Yera’s mood was deeply depressed.

Even though a marriage announcement had been made under her grandfather’s pressure, she had no desire to marry Minhyung.

After drinking heavily and confronting Chairman Kang, she had been ordered to leave for the U.S. immediately.

“If you want to live as you please, go back to the U.S.! Don’t cause trouble here.”

The protective Chairman Kang was no longer shielding her actions.

The angered image of him was still vivid in her mind.

“This is all Hyun Seoyoung’s fault.”

Ever since Seoyoung appeared in front of Hyeokjin, things had gone awry.

“If she weren’t here, Hyeokjin would have been mine.”

She had tried to arrange a meeting with Hyeokjin via Chairman Kang.

But the man she wanted so badly ended up marrying an unexpected woman after just one meeting.

Seeing the announcement, Yera had drunk heavily and endured hardships the next day, memories she could not forget.

Then, getting entangled with Minhyung and accidentally becoming pregnant, Yera’s emotions were unbearable without alcohol.

Her pregnancy did not stop her reckless behavior.

This morning, she drank again and impulsively tried to harm someone.

After failing to hurt Seoyoung remotely, she decided to act herself.

She didn’t intend to kill—she only wanted to scare the woman who ruined her future.

She wanted to ruin Seoyoung as much as Seoyoung had ruined her.

When she saw Seoyoung slow down, she impulsively rammed into her car.

With a thud, Seoyoung was thrown forward.

Her chest slammed roughly against the steering wheel.

“Ugh.”

Seoyoung, her face contorted, let out a stifled groan as her head banged against the headrest and steering wheel.

Despite the daze, she quickly pressed the brake, grabbed her head, and looked back.

The car that had hit her screeched and moved aside.

Even with her vision shaking, Seoyoung frowned and tracked the hit-and-run vehicle.

The car swerved to the left lane and made a sharp turn.