CHAPTER 9
Taeyoon turned his chair and reached toward the desk.
The moment he pressed the intercom, a voice answered immediately.
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell Manager Han to come in as soon as he finishes his work.”
Knock knock, a tapping sound came, and the door opened right away.
Tall and thin, Manager Han strode quickly over and stopped in front of Taeyoon.
“You called for me, sir?”
“Investigate Seo Jeongha.”
“Start with everything after her father died.”
“Her family, finances, weaknesses, whatever it is—bring me what I want.”
He had intended to let it go.
He had chosen not to question how the drunken Seo Jongjin ended up driving his daughter’s car, or why they pulled that bastard out of the hospital.
That was why he had told them to stay out of sight.
But then.
There was a thing called equivalent exchange.
His younger brother had lost his dream, had his engagement broken off, shut himself away, and hanged himself.
His younger brother hanging limp from the closet handle with his tongue out like butchered livestock.
Their mother, who found him, had even lost the ability to speak for years.
Even so, he had meant to let it go.
Because she had not run wild like Kim Piljong, he had forced himself to endure it.
No, he had even tried to bury it.
But then she dared appear before him with a child at her side, flaunting happiness with her whole body.
That was against all rules.
How dare she appear before his eyes, pour salt into wounds that had never healed, dig them open, and simply walk away?
“When you look at me, I know you feel unhappy.”
“I hope you become happy, sir.”
“I’m uncomfortable and disgusting to you, aren’t I?”
She had shamelessly spoken such ridiculous nonsense beyond her place.
It was absurd, but since he had ears, he merely listened.
“I mean it.”
Then she looked at him with nauseatingly clear eyes, as if pitying him.
She must have something she relied on.
A person with a child should naturally struggle desperately to earn a living, shouldn’t they?
But she gave up that position so easily?
You, who know perfectly well what influence the name Kang Taeyoon holds in the entertainment industry.
Fine.
It seemed her husband was her pillar of support.
Then all he had to do was kick that pillar away.
Break it, crush it, bring it down.
If he wanted to see that woman’s eyes soaked in misery, that was all he needed to do.
Soon enough, she would come crawling to him on her own knees.
And whenever he felt unhappy, he planned to laugh while watching her misery.
When she sank into the swamp of misfortune and thrashed helplessly, he would toss her a shriveled branch, pathetic enough to be laughable.
It would be the only rope available to her, though no message of help would ever reach her.
And he would gladly enjoy her pitiful struggle.
An alley lined with several villa buildings on every road.
And at the end of it stood an old apartment complex.
Jeongha passed the sign that read “Mirae Town” and entered Building 1.
She entered the door code, took off her shoes, and opened the mint-colored inner door.
Passing through the living room where sunlight seeped in warmly, she switched on the light.
With a click, the space she stepped into brightened.
Jeongha immediately washed her hands and neatly organized the groceries she had bought into the refrigerator.
Tofu, ham, sauce, eggs, fish.
Various foods settled efficiently into place under Jeongha’s hands.
Only after scanning the refrigerator did Jeongha head to the bedroom.
She opened the window for ventilation and took out clothes to change into, then her gaze fell on the bracelet still wrapped around her wrist.
Jingle.
A key swung lightly.
“It’s a gift.”
“I couldn’t propose with nothing.”
“Mine is the lock.”
“It can only be opened with the key on your bracelet.”
“I’m going to wear it until I die.”
Had that man seen it?
Even if he had, he did not remember it.
Taeyoon’s eyes were still frozen in the same gaze she had once seen in a café after the accident.
Hatred and rage were not new, yet she never grew used to them.
She rubbed the nape of her neck where he had grabbed her.
His gaze had been cold, yet hot.
His touch had been hot, yet cold.
Restrained anger and unrefined passion had crossed within his eyes.
“How does it feel to have a murderer for a father?”
“Do you tremble with anger?”
“Or do you feel relieved that it wasn’t your father who suffered?”
“I can’t kill that dead bastard again.”
“But maybe I’d feel better if I killed you instead.”
“Though then I’d worry about the mother who’d be left alone.”
“Look forward to what comes next.”
She had to remove the bracelet.
After staring silently for a long time, Jeongha opened the drawer.
She pushed aside several winter knit sweaters and took out a small navy box made of paper, sturdier than it looked.
When she lifted the lid, an already expired passport and dozens of printed photos stabbed into her sight.
Jeongha held the photos in her hand and skillfully picked out the second one from the bottom, slightly worn and frayed.
It was a photo taken nine years ago with companions on the shore of Big Island.
She lightly moved the others aside and looked not at them, but farther behind them.
That was the one and only reason she neither deleted nor threw away a photo she did not need.
The man was only seen from the back.
Very small in the frame.
Wearing a black cap pulled low, he stood with his hands in the pockets of orange shorts, looking at the sky.
Or perhaps at the deep blue sea.
Kang Taeyoon.
He had introduced himself as Kang Taeyoon.
He said he had come to help with lighting staff work for a short while.
After hearing that name, had she said it suited his face?
Or that it suited his character?
Maybe both.
Even now, Jeongha could not remember exactly what she had said.
The Kang Taeyoon of Big Island no longer existed.
The skin darkened by the sun had turned distinctly pale.
The bangs that once moved naturally in the wind were now slicked back with pomade, giving him a cold and controlled impression.
He felt unfamiliar and awkward.
The memories of that time now belonged to only one person.
That was a little lonely.
No, very lonely.
Jeongha stopped thinking and took a deep breath.
She tried with all her strength to hold it back, but as bitter saliva slid down her throat, the tip of her nose stung sharply.
She had been okay for a while.
Only after tenderly stroking the quiet man in the photo did Jeongha return it to its place.
Then she removed the bracelet that had remained by her side in Taeyoon’s place all this time.
She placed it into a small sky-blue pouch and locked it inside the box.
Just as she was closing the drawer, noise erupted outside.
“Mom! Mom!”
“Where’s Mom?”
Jeongha quickly wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.
Before the child burst into the room, she erased every trace of emotion.
“Oh! Mom’s here!”
The door flew open.
“I bought bungeoppang with Auntie.”
“We only bought red bean ones.”
“You like red bean, right Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Red bean is delicious.”
“Hurry and come out, Mom.”
“Let’s eat quickly and go buy a bag.”
“They’ll sell out of all the ones I like.”
In that instant, Kang Taeyoon was buried away.
“Seduce Seo Jeongha for me.”
Ha, seriously.
What kind of complete lunatic was this?
Heejae turned on the TV screen, then watched So Yewon cheerfully drinking a shot of soju and shook his head.
She smiled sweetly with flushed cheeks, and the sight overlapped strangely with how she had looked recently.
Did people know?
Did they know how bizarrely twisted the hobbies of that innocent-looking woman were, a woman who looked like she would never utter a curse word?
What was it?
Not even a weird fetish.
What exactly was it?
Heejae took a can of beer from the refrigerator and dropped onto the sofa.
As he leaned back and pressed the remote, the curtains covering the windows slid apart, revealing similar-looking buildings of varying heights.
So Yewon clearly hated Seo Jeongha.
There was definitely something between them.
Had Seo Jeongha stolen a man from her in the past?
Would the great So Yewon lose a man?
That made no sense.
She had background.
She had looks.
She had talent.
What was lacking that she would hold such dark feelings toward a mere art team staff member?
“And dump her afterward.”
“As miserably as possible.”
The goosebumps on his arms were not from the winter wind.
They were because of her eyes.
It looked like she could kill someone.
It was not shallow emotion.
It was a gaze that could never be created through acting.
This was driving him crazy.
He could not even refuse.
“As for the signing bonus, let’s make a backroom contract saying it’s slightly higher than her previous agency.”
“She won’t actually receive that much.”
“But she needs a believable reason for leaving her former agency, doesn’t she?”
“Public image matters.”
Since the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, there was no money to give immediately, but Yewon said she could be paid later.
Business had been improving day by day.
So he thought he could finally escape that tiresome VIP.
Until the actress Go Jina scandal exploded.
Heejae set down the beer can and picked up the phone on the table.
When he unlocked it, the number he had left on screen appeared immediately.
Producer Kim.
He was someone Heejae had become close with two years ago while placing one of his agency actors into a drama.
Seo Jeongha had been on the art team at the time.
The one who reminded him of that memory was Yewon.
