Chapter 14 …
Manager Lee, who had come down to the underground level following Chae Do, hurriedly adjusted his pace, shortening his strides. Chae Do passed by him—the man who had barely managed to pull open the rear door handle to open it for him—and got into the car.
“We will depart now.”
Chae Do gave a slight nod and turned his gaze out the window. The heavy snow that had been falling for days had already quieted down at some point.
…’My name is Yoo Se-hee.’
The image of Yoo Se-hee, trembling as she answered like an animal about to be devoured, flashed in his mind. How she desperately clutched at her own clothes with her one functional hand. And how she looked at him with eyes that held something like foolish pity.
His father’s words—that he needed to work on hiding his emotions—weren’t wrong. What did she think she was making him feel, looking at him with such a stupid expression?
Just the thought of his hand touching the fabric of her clothes felt unclean. If he hadn’t been late for the meeting, he would have changed his clothes immediately.
Whenever she was in front of him, Yoo Se-hee always hunched her small body over, shrinking into herself like a frightened sparrow. As if flaunting that she’d been raised delicately, she’d startle at the smallest things and would readily shed tears at the drop of a hat.
Her eyes, devoid of any self-respect, and the way she would reach out and cling to him without hesitation whenever she felt discontented.
Even though there wasn’t a single resemblance, it was strange how the more he looked at Yoo Se-hee, the fading face of Lee Hae-soo became clearer.
He found it irritating, the way Yoo Se-hee fawned over him and clung to him. And of all things, with a face that resembled Lee Hae-soo’s.
If Lee Hae-soo had behaved even half as much as Yoo Se-hee did, she wouldn’t have died so meaninglessly. If only she had clung to someone, anyone, in such a wretched and vulgar way.
‘Ah. Prosecutor Yoo’s daughter.’
It wasn’t a new thing for his father to lose his head over any woman, indiscriminately.
The sight of his father, stroking Yoo Se-hee’s neck and constantly groping the woman in his embrace through her robe, had been a spectacle.
‘Our Vice President Chae, it seems you’re softer-hearted than you look. I didn’t know you had such a tender side.’
Although he wouldn’t know it, the one who should be most grateful for that was his father, Chae Jae-seok.
He had laid out the perfect platter for a man who couldn’t control himself around a new woman. He provided him with alcohol, drugs, and a fresh source of stimulation every day. So much so that Chae Jae-seok, driven insane by pleasure, couldn’t even focus on anything else.
In the end, Chae Jae-seok gradually let go of all his ongoing business ventures, one by one, and indulged in a debauched life. It had already been two years since he began focusing solely on his “treatment.”
Chae Jae-seok, who had built Haegang—once a small loan sharking operation—into a Great Wall by selling countless lives, was now incapable of doing anything without Chae Do.
What he ate, what he wore, even stepping out of the house—he relied on Chae Do for everything.
Unfortunately, the treatment Chae Jae-seok was receiving offered no satisfaction. There was only the addiction, gnawing away at his body and mind with each passing day.
By now, he probably realized the gravity of the situation, but it was already too late to quit and come out of it. Letting him waste away day by day like this was the highest form of respect Chae Do could afford to show him.
“I heard President Song Na-yeon has returned to the country. She’s on her way from the airport. Shall I contact her?”
Before he knew it, they had left the dark underground, and a massive grey building flashed past the window.
“She seems deeply shocked that the engagement was called off. She definitely won’t stay quiet…”
He could vividly picture Song Na-yeon throwing a fit, but wherever her arrows were aimed, it was no concern of his.
“Let’s go to the office.”
Chae Do cut off Manager Lee’s words and lowered his gaze dryly. It wouldn’t be so bad to provide a bit of entertainment for Yoo Se-hee, who was probably starting to get bored.
Before she knew it, Se-hee’s right arm had also regained its freedom. The doctor, who came to her room for the examination, emphasized absolute rest.
He said she had to be careful not to lift heavy objects or fall until she was fully recovered, but it didn’t seem like that would be well adhered to.
“Um…”
Se-hee, who had gone down to the first floor to do laundry, made eye contact with a girl opening the refrigerator door, who looked like she hadn’t fully woken up. It was the same girl she had seen in Chairman Chae’s arms before.
Upon noticing Se-hee, the girl gave a slight bow of her head. Seeing her youthful face, Se-hee felt a pang of pity, thinking she must have her own hidden story, just like her. It looked like her neck area was all bruised and discolored, as if she might have been choked during an encounter.
Her pure, innocent eyes reminded Se-hee of her younger sister, Se-jin. It wasn’t her place to interfere, but she hoped this girl, still at a pretty young age, would find a new path and live a happy life.
“Do you want this? I don’t have a use for it anymore…”
She carefully held out a necklace she had taken off from around her neck. It was a gift she’d received long ago for her birthday; a red beryl necklace, small in size but quite valuable.
“Don’t just give it to anyone. Use it when you really need it.”
For things like a family member’s hospital bills, or the ever-increasing debt.
“You came down?”
The voice of a housemaid urging her on came from beyond the hallway. It meant that Chae Jae-seok’s meal had long been finished, and she needed to clean up and do the laundry for the bedding.
“I’m going. Just a moment.”
Se-hee answered loudly and held out the necklace once more.
The girl, smiling sweetly as if she couldn’t speak, took the necklace from Se-hee’s hand.
“Hurry up. His treatment ended ages ago.”
The housemaid, who had come to fetch Se-hee herself while grumbling, grabbed her by the arm. Now that the first floor was included in the range Se-hee was allowed to go to, the household chores she was responsible for had increased even more.
Wherever you are, Se-jin, I hope you meet someone like me, someone who can offer you help for no reason.
With a faint, barely visible smile, Se-hee hurriedly followed the housemaid out.
There wasn’t a single intact item—from the pillows to the sheets. Se-hee was squatting in the bathroom for a long time, scrubbing the stained bedding by hand.
Because Chae Jae-seok constantly soiled the bedding, the laundry room alone couldn’t handle it all.
If she wanted to preserve any spare time to gather information, she had to finish the assigned tasks quickly.
‘Sorry. I’m just not in the mood today.’
No trace of desire could be seen in Chae Do’s eyes as he said that. It was a clear confirmation that the person Chae Do had held that night wasn’t her, but his dead first love.
Chae Do, coaxing and pleading with her as if he were desperate.
Clearly, the way he looked at that woman was different somehow. That woman might be the only key to making him let his guard down.
She needed to find out what kind of person Chae Do’s dead lover was. It was to her advantage. Of all things, she even resembled his first love.
While she was focused on scrubbing a stubborn stain, the clacking sound of high heels noisily approached.
“Where did Oppa go? What about Vice President Chae?”
Preoccupied with thoughts of finishing as quickly as possible, Se-hee didn’t pay much mind and continued with her work.
“Is the President here?”
“Why aren’t you answering your phone? Is Oppa at home?”
“No, not right now…”
“Contact him quickly. Tell him I’ll wait at his house.”
Since the bathroom door was open, the woman found her immediately and yanked the door open. The suitcase she was holding fell to the floor with a thud.
“Ha.”
Se-hee looked up without much thought and met the gaze of the woman who was looking down at her with an incredulous expression.
She was a woman with wavy brown hair that suited her pure-looking dress well.
Is this woman… Chae Do’s first love?
She had a dazzling beauty that wouldn’t be strange as anyone’s first love, not just Chae Do’s.
She also felt a sense of familiarity, as if she’d briefly seen her somewhere before. President Song Na-yeon, the one in charge of running Sowon Resort at a young age.
Her expression was so different now that Se-hee hadn’t recognized her, but she was one of the figures who had previously bowed and scraped, asking her father for favors.
“Of course. I knew Oppa wouldn’t really get married.”
The woman, who spoke with a tone that didn’t match her appearance at all, let out a hollow laugh. Standing with her arms crossed as if to show off her curves, she seemed to have immediately grasped Se-hee’s situation.
Even without the woman explicitly listing off her disheveled state, Se-hee could guess. A woman squatting in the bathroom, washing bedding while wearing the saggy work clothes provided by the housemaid.
“I don’t know what scheme this is. Where did this sudden marriage come from?”
“……”
“You’ve obviously never even shared a room with Oppa, right?”
Se-hee wiped her soapy hands roughly and began to rise to greet her.
“Hello. We met before…”
“You’re not Oppa’s type either. You look like the kind even if he was offered, he wouldn’t take.”
The woman sharply cut off Se-hee’s greeting and poked the fallen suitcase with the tip of her pointed shoe. She looked as if her unnecessary outburst now felt futile.
“Wash what’s inside this too. The underwear separately. You know you have to do it all by hand so it doesn’t shrink, right?”
