Chapter 08
Lee Yeon’s eyes widened in shock, leaving her speechless. Behind her head, Woo-kyung’s fingertips slowly moved.
A warm, rough palm cupped the back of her head. As a slight pressure was applied, Yeon, unable even to catch her breath, was aimlessly drawn by his touch.
Her small head, so easily captured by Woo-kyung’s hand, was naturally lifted.
The first touch was cautious, surprisingly light.
But right in the next moment, he tilted his head slightly and smoothly changed the angle of their lips.
As if swallowed by Woo-kyung’s soft yet firm breath, Yeon was pulled in like someone who had forgotten how to breathe.
Soon, the initial anxiety washed away like a tide, replaced by an unfamiliar heat enveloping her heart.
Woo-kyung’s lips roughly delved into the tender flesh inside her mouth. It wasn’t a shallow graze, but an unwavering invasion.
His hand still cradling her head, he gently held it so she couldn’t escape.
Holding her firmly, he didn’t stop at just kissing. He persistently explored as if trying to swallow her whole.
When their joined lips parted, Yeon’s breath still trembled faintly.
Lee Yeon, her eyes round with surprise, looked up at Woo-kyung in fluster.
“How was it?”
Woo-kyung asked in a low, soft voice, grinning.
“I don’t know.”
She answered because she truly didn’t know.
Although she shook her head nonchalantly, her heart was pounding fiercely.
If this is a kiss, how does anyone endure it every time?
Moreover, since this feeling was new, maybe it was just awkwardness.
Why does it feel like my breath is caught in my throat?
“Was it your first time?”
Woo-kyung asked. His eyes were filled with playfulness.
Lee Yeon didn’t answer. Instead, her fine eyelashes trembled. That silence alone gave everything away.
A subtle smile touched Woo-kyung’s lips.
“Seeing your eyes, it seems like it would be okay to do it again sometime.”
Her first marriage. Her first husband. And now, even her first kiss.
Woo-kyung was always there for every first moment she experienced.
Just that fact alone made Lee Yeon’s heart waver for the very first time.
***
Crossing the elegantly soaring skyscraper lobby, Woo-kyung pushed open the conference room door with a cold face.
Behind him, Manager Byun followed, carrying a bag of documents.
A man who had been looking out the window rolled up his sleeve to check his wristwatch, then turned his back upon sensing the presence at the entrance.
The man was the director of the finance team at Sinyu Group.
“You are Attorney Cha from Jeongyul Law Firm, correct?”
“Yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Cha Woo-kyung.”
The man offered a handshake, but Woo-kyung, instead of reciprocating, sat down directly opposite him and opened his laptop.
The man looked down at his own hand, left hanging in the air, somewhat awkwardly, before finally withdrawing it.
Woo-kyung was attending this meeting as the attorney representing a whistleblower who exposed the irregularities of a large corporation, standing on his client’s side.
Since dealing with corporations involving massive capital often led to lawyers taking bribes and facing backlash or adverse winds, most had advised against Woo-kyung’s choice.
Or perhaps it was the whim of a man who had everything.
“According to the materials submitted by my client, the whistleblower formerly employed by your company, of the approximately 10 billion won executed under the promotional expenses category over the last two years, the actual costs didn’t even reach half.”
“Those are all false claims.”
Hearing this, Manager Byun, true to his role as a long-time partner, handed over a pre-prepared copy of the account books. Inside, the embezzlement records were faithfully documented.
The fingertips of the finance team director, who received it, trembled.
“As you can see, apart from the minimum amount used according to the budget, the rest shows traces of being funneled out externally, right?”
However, the finance team director scoffed and refuted.
“Isn’t that just your one-sided claim? Given the company’s large size, there might have been clerical errors in the entries. Nothing has been decided yet, so I’d appreciate it if you refrained from definitive statements.”
Woo-kyung scanned his laptop screen and quietly countered.
“The company deleted over 10 transaction records, and they were deleted right before the external audit. According to the accounting system, the log records still show the deletion time and the user account. And that account happened to match the ID you use, Director.”
The finance team director’s face hardened instantly. Yet, the director asked nonchalantly.
“Attorney Cha, are you threatening me now?”
Without batting an eye, Woo-kyung signaled to Manager Byun, who then spilled documents from an envelope onto the table.
“This is a list of managers who recently left the company. They say even a raised dog will bite its owner if it gets careless. It seems there’s been a lot built up over time.”
“Hey, Attorney Cha!”
“We have plenty of evidence not yet disclosed. If you intend to cooperate, say so now. Otherwise, we will formally request cooperation from the prosecution.”
The finance team director, with a clearly troubled expression, furrowed his brow and uttered a calculated remark.
“Attorney Cha, your grandfather is Chairman Cha of Jeongyul Law Firm, correct?”
“So?”
“Do you intend to destroy the trust our CEO has built with Chairman Cha like this?”
“So, it sounds like you’re asking me to cover up the entire case.”
“Well. Wouldn’t you know that best, Attorney Cha?”
The finance team director, with a relaxed smile, believed Woo-kyung wouldn’t go against his grandfather’s wishes and push them into a corner.
Relying on that conviction, he instead confidently raised his voice.
But Woo-kyung quietly closed his laptop and stood up.
Woo-kyung leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed on the finance team director, and said to Manager Byun.
“Manager Byun, please note this part down as a threatening statement. Add it to the complaint if necessary.”
Woo-kyung gave a sly smile towards the finance team director, who flinched and roughly loosened his perfectly knotted tie.
The air in the conference room turned chilly in that instant. But Woo-kyung, effortlessly cutting through even the chilled air, left the conference room.
***
Passing through the first-floor lobby and pushing through the automatic doors, the humid air brushed against their faces under a grey sky threatening to pour down rain.
“How was the lecture?”
“Uh. It was okay.”
She answered evasively, but that day, Woo-kyung had been swept up by an impulse for the first time in his life.
It wasn’t something he did because he wanted it, nor was it calculated.
He was just curious, so he acted on it.
So their lips touched, Yeon was surprised, and he himself was bewildered.
But the problem was what came next.
Before, she was just a bothersome presence, a woman he was occasionally curious about.
But now, he started noticing every little thing: why she smiled, why she turned her head, why she avoided his eyes.
‘This is strange.’
Woo-kyung let out a sigh, seeming confused.
“You’re going to the office, right?”
“I have to.”
“Oh, right. The client from last time said thank you…”
“Wait.”
Woo-kyung stopped, cutting off Manager Byun’s words. At the end of his gaze stood a man wearing old, worn-out clothes, staring straight ahead.
In the man’s left hand was a weathered, shabby picket.
[Sinyu Construction Wage Theft: 120 days passed and still unpaid. We expose this fact.]
The middle-aged man looked exhausted at a glance, and his knees were slightly bent as if he had been standing for a long time.
Woo-kyung’s steps halted for a moment.
His gaze moved from the picket to the man’s face, then to his sleeve, stained and caked with dried cement.
“I knew it. How much resentment must have built up for him to protest like this.”
To Manager Byun, who was clucking his tongue sympathetically at the situation, Woo-kyung asked absently.
“How long has he been doing that?”
“Well, we’ve been on this case for almost a month now, so it must have been several weeks at least.”
Woo-kyung nodded quietly, then his dress shoes moved towards the man.
Bending at the waist to meet the man’s eye level, Woo-kyung pulled a business card from his suit jacket’s inner pocket and handed it to the man.
“Have you filed a complaint?”
The man looked at the card for a moment, then accepted it and bowed his head.
“I’m Cha Woo-kyung from Jeongyul Law Firm. We’re currently investigating this company for another matter. Please contact me if you need any help.”
“…Thank you.”
Woo-kyung started walking again. Manager Byun, following behind, looked at him with a curious gaze.
“Does it bother you?”
“No. Let’s go.”
Although he answered that way, the afterimage of the man in worn-out sneakers holding the picket stubbornly lingered in Woo-kyung’s mind.
