Chapter 109
Knock, knock.
At the sound of the knock, Gyeonhee lifted his head with effort.
“I’m here.”
Secretary Kwon entered through the door.
Gyeonhee quickly wiped away his tears and stood up.
“Please keep watch over Seon. I’ll be back soon.”
With his head bowed, he hurried out of the ICU. Once outside, he leaned against the wall and struggled to hold back the tears rising within him.
“A man who doesn’t even deserve to cry… and yet these tears.”
But once they started, he couldn’t stop them.
Arriving at the ConcenCio lobby, Gyeonhee stepped into the elevator.
A short while later, he got off and walked slowly. The “KidsFan” nameplate caught his eye. He stopped and opened the office door.
The office was empty except for the desk that had originally been there. It seemed hastily vacated, not properly organized.
Gazing at the spot where Seon had sat, he remembered her bright smile. But it vanished, leaving only the empty office before him.
His own chest felt equally hollow.
Feeling hollow, he turned and walked to his own office.
As he packed items into a small box, a text message arrived on his phone.
“I heard the CEO got fired? Congratulations. You’re finally off my radar.”
It was typical Chaekyung-style consolation.
Gyeonhee smiled bitterly and turned to look out the window.
The coffee tree outside had already lost its blossoms. The white petals that had once shone so beautifully had fallen to the soil, now decaying into a dark brown.
He reached out and picked up a fallen petal.
The petals in his heart, the petals on the tree—both had disappeared. There were no coffee blossoms left anywhere.
Gyeonhee placed the wilted flower in a book as a bookmark. Though it had already begun to discolor, even that was precious to him.
At that moment, the door opened, and the bodyguards rushed in.
“What’s this?”
“The Vice Chairman is calling you.”
“…Tell him I don’t want to see him.”
“I’m sorry. He insisted you come.”
The bodyguards grabbed his arms and dragged him along.
“Let go! I said let go!”
He struggled, but there was no way to overpower so many men.
The doctor on the rounds checked Seon’s pupils.
“Why hasn’t she woken up?”
Secretary Kwon asked.
“Well… her vitals have improved significantly. Let’s just keep monitoring.”
With that, the doctor left the room.
“‘Keep monitoring,’ huh? I can say that too,” Kwon muttered, pouting and sighing. Seon still hadn’t regained consciousness.
“I’m really sorry, Seon… I’m so sorry.”
She closed her eyes tightly, apologizing again and again.
“I know you can’t hear me, but I’m still sorry. Really sorry.”
Kwon clenched her fists and apologized once more. At that moment, her hand trembled slightly.
The stone resting in her palm fell to the floor with a clink.
“Ah! You scared me!”
Startled by the sound, Kwon shouted.
“Don’t scare me like that!”
She casually picked up the stone to place it back in Seon’s hand, but paused, puzzled.
“Why did the stone… fall by itself?”
She was certain she hadn’t touched Seon or moved the stone. Her eyes, slightly open, now drifted toward Seon’s hand.
She saw her hand trembling ever so slightly.
“D-Doctor!”
Wide-eyed, Kwon ran out of the room in a panic.
In Chairman Woo’s hospital room, Mrs. Seo silently watched her unconscious husband.
At that moment, the door opened with a knock. Gyeonhee was pushed in by the bodyguards.
“He’s ridiculous, obsessed over one woman,” Mrs. Seo said, furrowing her brows.
“Then that must mean she’s truly precious to him,” Gyeonhee countered calmly.
“You say that even after losing everything?”
“As long as she exists, I haven’t lost everything.”
Mrs. Seo gave him a frustrated look.
“You’re just like your father.”
Hearing something about his father, Gyeonhee frowned.
“Exactly like him. He threw everything away for one woman. And that’s why he died. No one looked for him, he wasted away sickly.”
Her eyes were sharp with poison.
“You don’t know how miserable that life was. That’s why you act foolish now.”
“The woman my father chose… was she my mother?”
“….”
Mrs. Seo remained silent.
“Did you regret it?”
“I did. I gritted my teeth as I watched her die. That’s when I decided—to take everything away.”
She turned to gaze at Chairman Woo.
“To show how empty it is to take what one values more than children.”
“I did the same.”
Gyeonhee paused, then spoke calmly.
“I wanted to take everything from my mother to show her how futile it is. But what did it gain me? Mother lost Father… and I lost everything too.”
Mrs. Seo’s brow twitched.
“I was going to give you Laseong.”
“Is that supposed to be compensation?”
“That’s all I could give.”
“No. What I wanted wasn’t Laseong. It was Mother.”
Her eyes trembled violently at his unexpected words.
“You’re just like your grandfather,” she muttered.
“What did you say?”
“The difference between a chairman who values money over children and a mother who values Laseong over herself—what is it?”
A small spasm flickered at the corner of her eyes.
“Let me ask again. Did you regret it? Not your mother, your father.”
Gyeonhee’s question transported her thirty years back.
She remembered him smiling brightly even in poverty and sickness, seeing her and Gyeonhee.
“You wouldn’t have regretted it. If your heart was like that, you wouldn’t have even been able to choose in the first place,” he said confidently.
“You speak as if you know everything. Do you even remember back then?”
“No. But last time, you told me: your mother did nothing wrong. It was all my fault. So don’t hate her.”
“…Nonsense.”
She said, incredulous.
Gyeonhee spoke again.
“I didn’t understand it then, but now I do. You knew everything, her thoughts, her heart. And yet you gave me that position. Because you wanted to take responsibility for your mistakes and be forgiven.”
She slowly turned her gaze to Chairman Woo.
“I just want to take responsibility for my mistakes and be forgiven. That’s why I have to go now.”
With a firm expression, Gyeonhee turned to leave.
Mrs. Seo, dumbfounded, could only stare at Chairman Woo.
Gyeonhee paused at the door and looked back at her.
“She may not be conscious, but she can still hear you. Miracles always happen when they’re meant to.”
Click.
With the door closing behind him, Gyeonhee left.
Mrs. Seo quietly watched Chairman Woo.
“You knew everything? Then what have I been doing all this time?”
She closed her eyes, unable to continue, though the corners of her eyes trembled violently.
Sigh.
Outside, Gyeonhee exhaled deeply. His mother, who had lived her life for revenge, seemed tragically futile. Likewise, his life, once shattered by resentment toward her, felt meaningless.
“If only I had realized sooner…”
If he had abandoned revenge, he wouldn’t have risked his life for DNBM.
Then Seon wouldn’t have been left alone, and no harm would have come to her.
Regret gnawed at him relentlessly.
“Is it too late even now?”
Gyeonhee opened his eyes with effort.
He had lost the company, lost the CEO position, but as long as she was there, it was okay.
Yet her last words kept echoing in his mind:
“I really thought you would change. But…”
Her sorrowful eyes flashed before him.
He felt anxious, tormented.
At that moment, his phone rang.
It was Secretary Kwon.
“What’s wrong?”
Suppressing his emotions, he answered.
Seon woke up!
Gyeonhee’s eyes widened.
Stunned, he ran off without responding.
“Do you feel anything?”
The doctor pressed her right big toe.
“Yes.”
“And here?”
“It hurts.”
“Hmm.”
The doctor sighed in relief and nodded.
“Is it… okay?”
“Yes. Thankfully, sensation is intact. But…”
“But what?”
“Can you lift your right hand?”
Seon raised her right hand with difficulty. But her trembling, seizure-like fingers barely had any strength.
“Rehabilitation may be necessary.”
Kwon bit her lower lip at the doctor’s words. Eunyoung, observing, looked at her sadly.
“If the patient has the will, she can recover 80–90%. It’s not too late to give up.”
“…Thank you,” Seon said.
The doctor nodded once more and left.
“Seon…”
Eunyoung called after her, unable to continue.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Seon comforted her instead.
“I want to be alone for a while.”
“Oh… okay.”
Eunyoung hurriedly left the room with Secretary Kwon.
Alone, Seon gazed out the window, lost in thought.
Through Eunyoung and Kwon, she had roughly learned what had happened over the past week.
She heard that the criminals had been caught, but her heart remained unsettled.
Hmm…
A throbbing headache hit intermittently.
She bit her lips to the point of breaking them. The pain was almost unbearable.
The pain you feel, that same pain is felt by Woo Gyeonhee. That’s why he hits. If you hurt, he hurts, and if he hurts, he’ll come for the money.
Those words she had spoken lingered in her mind.
Cheon-seon… don’t hurt. If you hurt, I hurt too.
His drunken words when he had come to her house flashed before her.
I didn’t even realize…
Her own thought that it might have been sincere made her feel utterly miserable.
At that moment, the door burst open, and Gyeonhee ran in.
“Seon!”
He hurried over and embraced her.
“Thank you… for waking up. I’m so relieved.”
Tears welled in his eyes as he spoke. But she gently pushed him away.
“What’s there to be relieved about?”
Her voice was low and calm. Startled, he looked at her.
“…Seon?”
