Chapter 24……………………………………
Thump. Thump. Thump.
At Dowoon’s words, Chohee’s heart began pounding loudly, completely betraying her. So she spoke even more curtly on purpose.
“I had no idea you needed me.”
“From the very beginning until now, there has never been a moment when I didn’t need you.”
Chohee hesitated.
To her, when he said he needed her, it was always in a professional sense—he needed her for work, for extracting information.
And yet… she didn’t know why those words kept making her skin tingle.
It was probably nothing. Something he said casually.
There was no need to assign meaning to it.
“First, it would be best if you leave early tomorrow morning. My mother wants to meet you.”
“But your mother doesn’t even know I can speak Korean.”
“She says she wants to learn English from you.”
“No way!”
“English is just an excuse. She wants to question you about various things. So it’s better if you avoid her.”
“What could she possibly want to ask me?”
Of course, she might be curious about her identity, but surely she didn’t need to be this persistent.
“My mother suspects who you really are.”
“But you said you covered it up by calling me a private tutor.”
“Not just a tutor. She seems to think you have… a relationship with me.”
“A relationship?”
Chohee tilted her head.
Was it strange for a man and woman to have a relationship?
When people work together, they naturally become entangled.
Was it because she was an unmarried woman spending time with an unmarried man?
This wasn’t exactly a society that encouraged closeness between men and women before marriage.
There was even that saying—boys and girls shouldn’t sit together after the age of seven.
But still…
In a rapidly changing world like this, what was so strange about unmarried men and women being together?
Chohee, suddenly feeling wronged, puffed up.
“Even if we’re not married, men and women can still have a relationship! You’re not married yet either, so it wouldn’t be inappropriate for you to have a relationship with me, right?”
Dowoon let out a short, incredulous laugh.
“Oh. So you think men and women can have that kind of relationship before marriage?”
“Of course! I mean, human to human—people can form relationships.”
“I see. I didn’t realize you were such an… open-minded person.”
“Open-minded? What era do you think this is? It’s not the late Joseon period!”
“Right. Not the late Joseon period. Of course it’s possible.”
Chohee frowned as she watched Dowoon smile with unusual amusement.
This wasn’t something worth reacting like that to…
Then she realized—
The “relationship” he meant wasn’t literal in the way she had interpreted it.
Her face flared bright red.
“N-no, I didn’t mean it like that—!”
“Hahaha.”
Dowoon suddenly burst into laughter, deep and warm, like something he’d tried to hold back but couldn’t.
“You’re laughing right now?”
“You started it first.”
“It—it was a misunderstanding.”
Chohee waved her hands frantically, her face red as a radish.
Why did she always end up saying the wrong thing in front of this man?
Clearing her throat, she continued.
“Then… what if we just act in front of your mother too? Like we did with the wives. We could pretend we’re married.”
“That won’t do.”
Dowoon cut her off instantly.
“This is a completely different matter from acting in front of them.”
“I see.”
She’d only suggested it, yet he rejected it so sharply.
Strangely, it stung.
It seemed Dowoon absolutely did not want to introduce her as his wife in front of his family.
Well… it made sense.
They came from completely different worlds.
This luxurious house, his business, his status…
He was someone far beyond her.
Still, refusing without even considering it hurt more than she expected.
“So now we have to act even at home. Feels like the work just keeps increasing.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll increase your pay so you won’t feel slighted.”
“As you should.”
Chohee lifted the corners of her lips, forcing a calm smile.
Dowoon lingered as if he still had something to say, but Chohee quickly turned the doorknob.
“Everything’s settled now, right? It’s late. I’m going to sleep.”
“Ah… I suppose it is already that late.”
“Goodnight.”
Bang—
Before Dowoon could even respond, Chohee shut the door right in front of his face.
***
Dowoon stopped in the hallway.
He had been about to head down to the first floor, but Madam Na was staying in the guest room there.
That meant he couldn’t go to the study.
If he slept there as usual, she would surely scold him again.
He had no strength left to argue with her anymore.
With a sigh, Dowoon headed toward the master bedroom at the end of the hall.
A room he hadn’t stayed in even once since coming to Gwanganga three years ago.
Creeeak—
When he opened the stiff door, a dusty room appeared, filled with books and clutter.
Instead of the bed or sofa, he roughly cleared space on the floor and lay down.
The hard floor would probably leave his body aching tomorrow…
But somehow, it felt more comfortable.
“Hoo…”
A deep sigh escaped him.
Up until the moment he’d been waiting for Chohee…
He never imagined things would turn out like this.
Closing his eyes, he replayed his conversation with Madam Na.
If this ever reached his father, Lee Kangwon…
“So you thought I would just leave those rebellious Joseon people at your side alone?”
“Father! How can you do this?”
“I simply cleaned up. Filthy Joseon scum.”
Damn it.
Dowoon’s clenched fist trembled.
If Kangwon learned about Chohee…
Or about her brother…
He would surely commit something horrific again.
And Chohee would be the one to suffer.
The moment that thought struck him, Dowoon denied their relationship.
It was instinct.
Pretending to be married would have been the easier path—
But he couldn’t push her into danger.
“Ha…”
To think he was even having thoughts like this.
Why was it that whenever she was in danger…
Anger rose inside him?
He felt like he knew the answer—
But he deliberately emptied his mind.
Only one thing mattered.
The independence of his homeland.
And anything that interfered with that…
Had to be cut away.
That was the reason he had survived until now.
The reason he continued living, carrying the weight of so many lives.
***
The next morning.
Warm autumn sunlight poured down.
As promised, Chohee headed outside as soon as morning came.
By the wall, Dowoon stood with his eyes closed, stretching his neck from side to side.
Unlike when they were alone, he wore his glasses again, dressed in a perfectly proper suit.
A dark gray three-piece, tailored flawlessly to his body—
The muscle beneath it impossible to hide.
He looks like a sculpted statue.
She’d thought it from the first moment she saw him.
His looks were almost suffocatingly perfect.
With that face, honestly…
He could probably seduce Madam Minamoto himself to get information.
“Ah, you’re out.”
Chohee snapped her head away, suddenly worried her thoughts might show.
“I mean, I came out… but where exactly am I supposed to go?”
“I have somewhere to go. But it wouldn’t be appropriate to bring you with me.”
“Then what do I do?”
“…The weather is nice.”
Chohee blinked at the sudden comment.
“So?”
“Would you… take a walk with me?”
She nodded.
It wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go.
Walking with him didn’t sound so bad.
Side by side, they headed toward the city.
He always walks with his hands behind his back.
Chohee glanced at him.
Even though he was a full head taller, their walking pace matched.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll know when we get there.”
“So mysterious.”
She muttered under her breath.
Was that quiet chuckle she heard beside her just her imagination?
She kept walking, until Dowoon suddenly stopped, his voice careful.
“About that day… I’m sorry.”
Chohee turned sharply.
She hadn’t expected those words. Not from him.
“I was angry, and you kept talking to me, so without realizing… I spoke harshly.”
Harshly?
The emotion from that day surged back.
“Why were you so angry at me?”
“Wasn’t it obviously because of Madam Minamoto?”
Madam Minamoto?
That answer was unexpected.
“But she said she didn’t need an apology.”
“You believed her at face value.”
“…Are you saying she meant something else?”
Chohee’s face went pale.
Dowoon finally met her eyes.
“She is a typical Kyoto woman—different on the outside and inside. She believed Minamoto trying to hold you was already humiliating for her. When she said she didn’t need an apology… it meant she would not forgive you.”
Chohee replayed Minamoto’s words in her head.
Slowly, realization dawned.
“…So that’s why you were angry. If I had just admitted I threw myself at him first, it would’ve saved her pride…”
Now she understood perfectly.
And it was embarrassing.
She’d believed Minamoto’s words so simply.
She knew people could be two-faced…
Yet she still fell for it.
“You kept denying it because you knew she would be angry.”
“Yes. I thought if I admitted it, she’d be disgusted. I was trying to calm her down somehow.”
“So you must’ve felt hurt when I kept telling you to stay quiet.”
“I did… but now I understand why.”
“I didn’t know either. I didn’t realize what you were thinking.”
Chohee hadn’t expected Dowoon to have been thinking that deeply.
If she’d understood his intention…
She wouldn’t have acted the way she did.
She still felt a little wronged.
But guilt also crept in.
Her attempt to fix things had turned into a mistake for him.
In the end, everything had been caused by misunderstanding.
If they’d known each other’s thoughts…
None of this would’ve happened.
“Aren’t we both idiots?”
“I agree.”
Dowoon let out an incredulous chuckle.
“Then will you eat three meals a day now?”
“You’re still saying that?”
Their mood lighter, the two bickered as they walked again.
Before long, the city drew near.
Once they entered, the once-quiet streets became noisy.
With more people around, Chohee instinctively moved closer to Dowoon.
Only about a hand’s width separated them now.
Dowoon, walking slightly ahead, stopped in front of a shop.
Following his gaze upward—
Chohee let out a small gasp of surprise.
