Chapter 8
“Prosecutor…! Please watch your language a little.”
Eun-jae’s jaw dropped slightly at the blunt phrasing.
The more she reacted, the closer Woo-kyung leaned in, lowering his stance.
“Why are you just taking it from those pathetic bastards? What are you so afraid of?”
“That’s… back then, anyone would… If just one person sacrifices for a moment, everyone else gets to be comfortable.”
“Sacrifice? Who told you to sacrifice yourself?”
Fuck. Woo-kyung’s throat bobbed threateningly as he swallowed down the curse.
“I’m your superior. Any sacrifice, any responsibility—I’ll take it.”
“…”
“All you have to do is your job. Your duties, your career. Take care of those properly.”
The venom that should have come earlier finally reached Eun-jae now.
And yet, for some reason… this time his anger didn’t scare her.
“Is an investigator the prosecutor’s servant?” “I was just asking because you were making my investigator do chores no one ever asked me to do.”
She had seen him openly take her side in front of everyone.
“Is picking up other people’s spit-out cigarette butts part of an investigator’s job?”
As he added those words, tightly suppressing his rage, an old memory suddenly flashed through Eun-jae’s mind.
Elementary school days. The daughter of the hired help living in the annex occasionally had to help with chores while cautiously watching the adults.
She mostly played in the garden, but whenever she saw something that needed cleaning, she would run over and tidy it up.
At a child’s level, the most she could do was pick up trash the masters had thrown away.
One day, while diligently looking around for anything to clean, Eun-jae found a cigarette butt someone had smoked and discarded.
Without much thought, she picked it up to throw it away.
“Hey.”
Woo-kyung, in his school uniform, happened to pass by and saw her.
The cool oppa who lived in the main house.
The moment her favorite oppa appeared, young Eun-jae’s cheeks flushed bright red.
To Eun-jae’s eyes, Baek Woo-kyung was far more impressive than any idol or celebrity her friends liked.
But the cool oppa suddenly got angry when he saw her picking up the cigarette butt.
“You little thing. Why are you touching that?”
“Um… I’m sorry…”
He walked over and took the butt from her hand.
“If you keep doing other people’s work one by one, eventually they’ll think it’s natural for you to do it.”
“…?”
“Stop doing pointless things. Take care of your own rice bowl. Leave that kind of stuff to the adults who are actually supposed to do it.”
It was strange. Other adults liked it when she helped clean.
Tilting her head in confusion, Eun-jae quickly waved her hands and added,
“But this isn’t something I smoked! Really! You’ll believe me, right?”
Just in case oppa misunderstood and thought badly of her.
He let out an incredulous snort, and a dimple appeared on his right cheek.
It was the first time she learned that boys could have dimples too.
Recalling that old memory, the tension around Eun-jae’s eyes suddenly melted away.
Her round eyes returned to their naturally gentle shape, and Woo-kyung’s brow furrowed slightly.
A brief silence passed. His gaze wandered over her full lips, small nose, and fair skin before finally settling on her soft dark-brown eyes.
“Take good care of your own rice bowl. Don’t let other people push you around.”
Opening his lips, he brought out a fragment of a memory they both knew all too well.
It seemed she wasn’t the only one who had recalled their past.
Eun-jae gave a faint smile and nodded.
“Yes. From now on, I won’t put up with that kind of unfair treatment.”
“…”
“As Baek Woo-kyung’s investigator, I’ll do my job properly and well from now on.”
In the sharp, elongated eyes filled with jet-black pupils, there was only Jung Eun-jae.
“And… thank you for what happened in the meeting room earlier.”
Honestly, she had been worried about him confronting the Deputy Chief, but at the same time, she felt glad—because it seemed like he understood her pain.
It had felt refreshing to see him say everything that needed to be said to someone who abused authority to oppress others.
“I really wanted to tell you that.”
Her eyes curved gently, and her lips lifted in a soft arc.
Fully aware that she was smiling brightly, Eun-jae let herself smile freely.
This was probably the first time she had smiled at him since their reunion.
…Even though she didn’t deserve to.
Still. Even so. No matter how shameless it was.
Just this once… wouldn’t it be okay?
Hiding the sediment of emotions she herself couldn’t name, Eun-jae smiled even more brightly.
“You’re getting cheeky.”
In the end, his reaction softened noticeably.
“Then… I’ll head out now.”
Eun-jae gave a calm greeting and left the room.
“Phew.”
The moment the door closed with a thud, the breath she had been holding burst out.
Her heart, which had been pounding hard and fast since the meeting, still wouldn’t calm down.
Her breathing was ragged, her solar plexus tickled, and that uncomfortable yet familiar ache returned.
But this was the limit. This much was probably the most she could do while still keeping her dignity.
Anything more would just be greed.
Stroking her chest to calm herself, Eun-jae returned to her seat.
Since she had finally finished the awkward homework that had been hanging over her all afternoon, it was time to do her job properly from now on.
“Eun-jae! Coming for coffee?”
On her way to work, while grabbing coffee to shake off lingering sleepiness, she ran into her同期 (same-class colleague) Park Mi-jeong.
“Our同期 whose handsome oppa openly shielded her—surely you’re getting an iced latte, right?”
“Stop teasing.”
The incident where Woo-kyung had openly confronted the Deputy Chief over Eun-jae had caused a huge stir throughout the prosecutors’ office.
Ever since that day, Mi-jeong teased her every time they met.
“Honestly, it was total cider (refreshing as hell). Calling out the Deputy Chief for smoking right to his face? Absolute legend.”
While waiting for Eun-jae’s order, Mi-jeong kept chattering.
“And you know what? In all my time in this industry, I’ve never—seen—even—one—prosecutor—take the investigator’s side?”
“It wasn’t really taking my side, it was just—”
“This is basically a love confession! Saying ‘my investigator’ in front of the Deputy Chief and all those old fogeys is the same as saying ‘my woman’!”
“You’re insane.”
By the time Eun-jae managed to calm her overly excited同期, the coffee was ready. Hiding her embarrassment, she quickly grabbed it and left the shop.
Listening to Mi-jeong’s endless praise of Baek Woo-kyung, she soon found herself at the main gate of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
…Today, she absolutely had to meet with the personnel manager and ask how her departmental transfer request was going.
With that small determination in mind, she was walking when—vrrr—her phone buzzed.
Seeing the caller, Eun-jae gestured for Mi-jeong to go in first.
“Is it your oppa calling? Asking if his investigator got to work safely?”
“No. Stop joking around.”
Dodging her friend who wouldn’t stop teasing, Eun-jae looked around and slipped into a quiet corner of the parking lot.
—Eun-jae-ya. How have you been?
A warm, clear voice pressed down on her conscience.
“…It’s been a while. Hello, Madam Chairwoman.”
—Exactly. Why has it been so long?
The Chairwoman of the Do-young Welfare Foundation and Baek Woo-kyung’s stepmother.
Oh Hye-joo’s lively voice felt like a heavy stone sitting on Eun-jae’s chest.
—Are you on your way to work? Where are you right now?
“I’m almost at the office.”
—Really? Do you have time? I had a breakfast meeting nearby, and since I’m here, I thought I’d see our pretty Eun-jae’s face.
Suddenly nearby? Eun-jae unconsciously looked around.
—Call me when you get to the main gate. Okay? I won’t take much of your time.
She was flustered. But the other woman hung up without giving her a chance to refuse.
Ever since becoming independent from the Do-young family, meeting Oh Hye-joo had felt extremely awkward.
And now, with her reunion with Woo-kyung, it stirred up even more inexplicable guilt.
Still, she had no justifiable reason to refuse.
Swallowing her complicated feelings, Eun-jae turned her steps toward the main gate.
“Here—this is the Yun Kwang essence. And this is hyaluronic acid cream. I packed some mask sheets too.”
Oh Hye-joo had come fully prepared, as if a mother from her natal family had come to visit her daughter, carrying bags full of things.
“Is it really okay to give me all this?”
Cosmetics, fruit, clothes… These weren’t the kinds of things someone who just stopped by would bring.
“Of course. How could I come see our Eun-jae empty-handed?”
Dressed in a bright sky-blue pantsuit, Oh Hye-joo wore her signature wrinkle-free smile. Her already beautiful face looked especially radiant today.
“How’s being an investigator? Must be hard getting pushed around by all those prosecutors.”
“It’s still fun. Thanks to you.”
“How is it? Being at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office—that’s the core of the prosecution. Does it help your career?”
Oh Hye-joo showed great interest in Eun-jae’s current life and well-being. Yet she never once asked about her mother.
…Thankfully, Oh Hye-joo had even overlooked the terrible thing her mother had done.
Perhaps because it was too insignificant to bother with. Or maybe it was pity and compassion.
Either way, Oh Hye-joo had generously covered up her mother’s crime.
She didn’t lump Eun-jae together with her mother’s wrongdoing and continued to maintain a good relationship—an incredibly mature attitude.
For that alone, Eun-jae felt she should be grateful to her for the rest of her life and treat her as a benefactor.
“Eun-jae-ya… Um… Actually, I came because I heard the news and got worried.”
A shadow fell over her elegant face.
“I heard Woo-kyung became your direct superior?”
