“Hey, Shim Yeon-seo. You live at Hee-dae’s house, don’t you? Your mother is their maid.”

It was seven in the morning.

Trapped in her car in the mounting rush-hour traffic, Yeon-seo sank briefly into thought.

She was born the daughter of a live-in housekeeper employed by a chaebol family, and was raised in a basement room attached to their vast mansion. It was during her first year of high school that her cherished dreams were shattered.

“If your mother is his maid, then you must not be able to defy Hee-dae either. Do you wait on him when you get home? Just how far do you go for him? Do you do everything he asks?”

Her hands tightened around the steering wheel. With a sigh, she squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath, steadying her mind and body before opening her eyes again.

Although more than ten years had passed, everything about that day remained vividly etched in her memory: the way the second-year student had perched on the edge of a desk swinging his legs, the vulgar gleam in his eyes and the voice that had trampled all over her dignity.

“Then since I’m Hee-dae’s friend, you can do whatever I ask too, right? I’ll put in a good word for you with Hee-dae. What do you say?”

The smell of cigarettes was deeply embedded in his school jacket.

It was then that Yeon-seo first realized that labels clung to a person more relentlessly than shadows.

From that day on, her name, ‘Shim Yeon-seo’, disappeared, replaced by the label ‘Yoon Hee-dae’s maid’, which stuck to her like a name tag. And that was not all. She was forced to watch helplessly as the people she had believed were her friends — the ones she had shared small smiles with — were the first to distance themselves from her.

“Whew.”

Despite having barely slept the previous night, Yeon-seo pulled herself together and took a sip of coffee. After waiting a moment, the traffic lights changed and she gently pressed the accelerator.

Just then, her phone rang. Seeing the caller’s name appear on the navigation screen, she answered it via Bluetooth.

“Yes, this is Shim Yeon-seo.”

—”Attorney Shim, this is Assistant Manager Lee Seon-hyeok. You called me a little while ago.

“Yes, Mr. Lee. I’m almost at the office now, but I haven’t received my employee ID card yet. I was calling to ask how I should enter the building.”

“You’re already here? It’s only seven.”

Yeon-seo turned the steering wheel.

“I wanted to review the documents that were handed over to me. Before work officially begins.”

—”Ah, I see. You’re working hard from your very first day.”

She entered the underground parking garage of the building prominently displaying the “Baekmun Motors” logo.

—”Then I’ll speak to the lobby staff so they can issue you a visitor’s pass.”

“Yes, thank you. I’ll see you later, Mr. Lee.”

After ending the call, Yeon-seo parked the car. She picked up her bag and her half-finished coffee, then got out and headed to the lobby.

While waiting for her visitor pass to be issued, she looked around slowly. The space was far too lavish for a corporate lobby, resembling a performance hall at first glance.

A renowned artist’s installation hung from the ceiling, while media art incorporating Baekmun’s technology drew the eye across the floor. As she gazed at the enormous ‘Baekmun’ logo positioned above the turnstiles used by employees, Yeon-seo murmured without realizing it.

“Baekmun…….”

She had always wanted to forget about it. She had wanted to run away. And yet here she was, returning of her own accord to the embrace of the loathsome Baekmun Group.

Merely looking at the logo stirred something within her; she could not immediately tell whether her blood was boiling or freezing.

As Yeon-seo grappled with the myriad conflicts raging within her, the lobby attendant held out a visitor’s pass.

“It has been issued. You may enter.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Holding her newly issued visitor pass, Yeon-seo walked through the turnstiles. She got into the lift and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor, where the legal team at Baekmun Motors were based.

She wanted to forget, but what could she do? She had survived with the help of that family, so now it was time to return the favour.

Ah. Of course, there was also a debt she needed to settle.

***

“Executive Director, Madam is…….”

At seven ten in the morning, Hee-dae emerged from the bathroom after finishing his shower, rubbing his hair dry, when a live-in staff member hurriedly approached him.

Before the employee could finish speaking, however, Hee-dae’s mother, Mrs. Kim Jin-hwa, entered the bedroom.

“What is there to report when a mother has come to see her own son? You may leave.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Once the employee bowed, closed the door, and left, Jin-hwa sat down on the chair beside the nightstand. She placed her bag on the table, turned her gaze, and looked at her son.

“Did you only just finish showering?”

“Dropping by your grown son’s home unannounced first thing in the morning isn’t a good habit.”

“You’re busy working on weekdays. You’re busy with appointments on weekends. My son says he doesn’t even have time to visit his mother, so how long am I supposed to sit quietly and wait?”

Jin-hwa rose from her seat in the middle of speaking. Glaring at the conspicuous mound beneath the bedcovers, she approached and roughly pulled the covers back.

Only after confirming that a thick, plush pillow lay beneath them did she lower the covers again.

Still rubbing his hair with a towel, Hee-dae spoke up.

“My favorite pillow. It’s comfortable to hold while I sleep.”

“Are you sure a pillow is the only thing you’ve been holding in bed?”

“What would you do if it wasn’t? Was I supposed to be holding something else?”

Muttering that perhaps he should have hidden a woman beneath the covers, Hee-dae applied toner to his face. Jin-hwa silently watched his back before sitting down again on the chair beside the nightstand.

As he applied lotion next, Hee-dae spoke.

“Go ahead and tell me. You didn’t come here for no reason.”

“Your father has been arranging marriage meetings for that bastard.”

Hee-dae’s fingertips paused against his face. A moment later, he resumed patting his skin as though it were nothing important.

“So?”

“So? How can you say that right now? You need to get married immediately too. Don’t you understand what this means?”

His mother’s voice, quick to grow heated, was as noisy as a hundred sparrows chirping at once.

“It wasn’t enough for your father to bring the son he had with another woman into the company. Now he’s even searching for a marriage match for him.”

“…….”

“This is all because you keep saying you have no interest in marriage and no interest in the company. That’s why your father keeps dragging his mistress’s son around with him. Does this make any sense? Do you think I endured all these years just to live long enough to witness this humiliation?”

Hee-dae swept his hair back a few times before turning around.

“Our little chirping madam never changes her tune. It hasn’t even been a year since you said you’d leave me alone if I joined the company. You can’t overturn that promise as easily as flipping your hand.”

“The situation was different then! The situation has changed!”

Complaining that she was burning with rage, Jin-hwa shot to her feet.

“You’ve only just become an executive director. He’s already a division director. If something goes wrong, then—”

“If something goes wrong, what?”

“He’ll swallow the entire company! What kind of family would allow a mistress’s son to take control of the company? Your father has lost the plot completely! He can’t see reason anymore!”

“Exactly. So why are you taking out your anger over Father’s madness on me? Confront him instead. Not that you’d be able to string a sentence together in front of him.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

Jin-hwa’s eyes widened as though her eyelids had flipped inside out. Hee-dae raised her hands slightly. He had moved out because he was tired of witnessing all their ugliness. Yet his mother still visited his home whenever she could, venting her frustrations on him.

“Be careful. They say there’s no cure for menopause.”

“Is my menopause the problem? The problem is that you’re still going through puberty!”

“Oh, honestly. Honestly!”

As Jin-hwa started to fan herself to calm down, Hee-dae came over and joined in, fanning her as well. However, Jin-hwa recoiled in disgust, smacking his hand away.

“Stop it. Are you making your mother sick and then offering her medicine?”

“That’s why I’m asking why you came all the way here. Just call me. It’s not as though you had anything urgent to say.”

“Get married. It’s time for you to take a wife. You need to marry before that mistress’s son does!”

“Move. I need to get dressed and go to work.”

Hee-dae turned away as though she were getting on his nerves, but Jin-hwa followed close behind. Even while her son selected a shirt in the dressing room, she continued lamenting.

“When your father cheated on me less than a year after you were born, it was as if your mother had died that day. I have barely managed to survive all these years, living only for you, and now I’m supposed to receive a wedding invitation from his mistress’s son too? You should get married first! No matter what!”

“Ha, enough! Mom!”

When Hee-dae snapped irritably, Jin-hwa turned her son around to face her. Her face haggard and embittered from a sleepless night, she spoke forcefully.

“I refuse to watch any more of our group’s assets pass over to that side. Not a single won. Not one!”

“…….”

“So hurry up and get married, then secure shares in your wife’s name. If we leave things like this, there’s no telling what your father might do!”

Hee-dae furrowed his brow at the nagging he had already heard hundreds of times.

“Get out. I need to change. Am I supposed to show up late when even the concubine’s son never does?”

“No! Absolutely not!”

“Then get out. Before your adolescent son goes completely off the rails.”

“……Fine. I’m leaving. Make sure you take your deer antler tonic.”

“Just go already!”

He had only just gotten out of bed, yet he already wanted to lie down again.

It was an exhausting morning in every possible way.

***

“It’s too f*cking early to feel this drained.”

Ha…….

***

“It’s too f*cking early to feel this drained.”

Hee-dae muttered under his breath as he stopped his car outside the lobby of the company. After handing his keys to the valet, he strode across the lobby.

An employee opened the turnstile in time for him to pass through. He trudged over to the lifts, rolling his stiff neck as he acknowledged the greetings of the employees who were already waiting there.

“Why does she make me take deer antler tonic if she’s just going to drain every last drop of energy from me? Like hell I’m ever drinking it again.”

He refused to take it even if it killed him, but his mother wailed that she would die if he didn’t, so he has been drinking it for three months now. She hounded the live-in staff, ordering them not to leave him with even a drop in the bottle. They stood there and watched him until he swallowed the last drop.

There was no way he would ever take it again. Dreaming of this small act of revenge against his mother’s menopause, Hee-dae stepped into the lift.

He went straight to the executive director’s office, sat down and opened the documents he had failed to finish the previous day.

‘Get married. It’s time for you to take a wife. You need to marry before that mistress’s son does!’

He closed the documents again. His mother’s voice still echoed in his ears like a sparrow’s incessant chirping. He was rubbing his temples as his head began to throb when the intercom rang.

“Yes.”

—”Executive Director, Chief Attorney Kim Dae-hong from the Legal Department is waiting to see you.”

“Send him in.”

—”Yes, sir.”

After ending the call, Hee-dae rubbed his temple in slow circles before raising his head. The door opened, and Attorney Kim’s familiar voice reached him.

“Executive Director. I hope you’ve been well. It’s Chief Kim.”

“Chief Kim, come in. It’s been a while…….”

Hee-dae’s voice immediately trailed off when he noticed Yeon-seo entering behind Chief Kim.

With Yeon-seo walking before him, Chief Kim approached Hee-dae.

“Executive Director, this is Attorney Shim Yeon-seo, who joined our Legal Department today.”

He needed no time to recognize her.

“Attorney Shim, introduce yourself to the Executive Director.”

“Good morning, Executive Director Yoon Hee-dae.”

No—before his mind could even recall her, his body reacted first.

“I’m Attorney Shim Yeon-seo.”

The daughter from the single basement room. The first painful failure of his life.

The moment he saw Shim Yeon-seo, Hee-dae could not believe his eyes.