“This is the first time I’ve ever seen the Executive Director hold an individual meeting. I suppose he’s been concerned because we’ve had so many lawsuits lately.”

By the time she finished making the rounds and greeting the senior executives, it was already lunchtime. Yeon-seo went to the company cafeteria with her team, found a suitable seat among them, and began eating.

“Attorney Sim, did the Executive Director say anything in particular?”

When the department head who had assisted with the introductions asked, Yeon-seo raised her head. As everyone’s attention turned toward her, she smiled softly before answering.

“No. He didn’t say anything in particular. He only told me to deliver results.”

“Results. As if anyone doesn’t know that. I’m sure you’ll do well enough on your own.”

“I think he was trying to boost my morale.”

When Yeon-seo picked up her spoon again, the employee beside her joined the conversation.

“Executive Director Yoon is incredibly handsome. I haven’t seen him up close very often, but he practically shines even from a distance.”

“He has everything, really. He probably would’ve made it big even if he’d gone into broadcasting.”

“He doesn’t seem to resemble the Chairman, so he must take after his mother’s side, right? The second son is the spitting image of the Chairman.”

The “second son” referred to Hee-dae’s younger half brother, who had joined the company as a division director. The department head, who had been reaching for a side dish, abruptly raised his head.

“Watch what you say. Is there nothing you won’t discuss in the company cafeteria? What if someone hears you?”

“Who would hear us? We’re speaking this quietly.”

At the end of her sentence, the employee looked at Yeon-seo.

“Things are tense in the company right now. I don’t know whether you knew that before joining us, Attorney Sim, but the Sacred Bone and the True Bone are now under the same roof.”

The employee sitting across from her glanced around, then leaned forward and added in a low voice.

“Wasn’t the Executive Director merely the face of our company? A handsome figurehead brought out for new-car launch presentations.”

“I still like the Executive Director, though. He has this air of refinement and a rebellious edge at the same time. Sales have increased since he arrived, too.”

“There’s talk that the second son was brought in to keep the Executive Director in check. As you know, he doesn’t have any notable achievements to his name.”

“Even so, do you really think the second son could oust the first? Not a chance. Our country still isn’t free of that kind of prejudice.”

“Hey! I told you someone might hear. Eat your food. Come on.”

When the department head narrowed his eyes and warned the employees to watch their tongues, they exchanged furtive glances before returning to their meals. Yeon-seo continued eating quietly.

He was a silver-spoon heir who had nothing but his looks. A mere figurehead. Although he had a breathtaking face, he spoke in a disappointingly vulgar manner.

He was a privileged heir with no interest in the company’s future, merely dragging his soulless body to and from work each day. He was the notorious troublemaker of the Baekmun family. Although no one had ever seen him hit anyone, there were enough people who had crossed him and ended up in hospital to fill a truck.

This was Yoon Hee-dae’s current report card, Executive Director of Baekmun Motors.

None of this came as a surprise to Yeon-seo. He was destined to spend his entire life surrounded by people who whispered about him behind his back.

Some admired him. Others envied him.

He truly hadn’t changed at all.

“Attorney Sim, are you finished already?”

When Yeon-seo stood with her tray, the employee beside her widened her eyes. Yeon-seo smiled brightly.

“I thought I’d take a look around and familiarize myself with the locations of the other departments. Please excuse me.”

“I was actually planning to show you around.”

“That’s all right. There’s an office map, so I’ll look around by myself. Please enjoy your meal.”

As Yeon-seo abruptly left, the employees watched her retreating figure before resuming their conversation in hushed voices. This time, the subject shifted from Hee-dae to Yeon-seo.

“I don’t know Attorney Sim very well yet, but she doesn’t exactly seem easygoing. How should I put it? She seems like the type who lives as though she’s all alone in the world.”

“I know what you mean. One of my former classmates works at the law firm Attorney Sim was with before this, and apparently, she wasn’t the type to mingle with others there, either. She’s kind, but…… how should I put it? It feels as though she’s speaking from behind a mask.”

“She’s already reviewed all the materials handed over to her. That alone tells you what kind of person she is.”

She had a refined appearance and an impressive win rate. She spoke courteously, showing only as much kindness as was necessary. Her attitude was neither aggressive nor overly friendly, but guarded enough to protect herself.

This was Yeon-seo’s report on her first day at the company.

She was a results-driven attorney who neither sought nor offered help.

***

Referring to the office map on her phone, Yeon-seo slowly made her way through the building. She checked the location of each department, noting down the locations of the employee lounges, welfare facilities, and other amenities.

Wherever she went, she noticed the Baekmun Motors logo, displayed prominently throughout the building. Nearly everyone in South Korea would recognize it, but to Yeon-seo, it was far more than that.

She had often seen the logo on faded company event T-shirts that her mother wore as pyjamas and on old promotional towels that had grown stiff with age and were fraying at the edges.

Yeon-seo paused, her gaze lingering on the logo. Before she even realized it, a long breath slipped from her lips.

Yeon-seo first met Hee-dae when she was around five years old. As children, they played together freely and without hesitation. However, once they started primary school, they began to look around warily whenever they were together.

How had they known? They both knew perfectly well that the adults must never catch them together. Escaping reality, they would hide away in their secret place and share smiles meant only for each other.

But time passed, and they could no longer remain just a little boy and girl.

Something happened.

“Isn’t that Hee-dae’s umbrella?”

It happened during the summer of their first year of high school, on a day when the monsoon rain fell relentlessly.

A fellow student named Hee-dae lent Yeon-seo his umbrella and told her to keep it. He offered it so casually that she accepted without a second thought.

However, on her way home, she crossed paths with Hee-dae’s mother, who immediately recognized her son’s umbrella.

That evening, Yeon-seo was summoned to the drawing room of the mansion for the first time.

“You wouldn’t want your mother to lose both her job and the roof over her head because of you, would you? You’re a clever girl, so I trust you’ll know how to conduct yourself.”

She shivered at the chill of the marble floor beneath her bare feet, having been forbidden to wear slippers. The refined fury of the mansion’s mistress was even colder than the marble floor.

Yeon-seo had always been aware that wealth and social standing determined a person’s place in society, creating divisions between people.

But in that room, the vague truth she had sensed all her life was driven mercilessly into her heart.

When she returned to her family’s small home, she broke down in tears. With Hee-dae’s expensive designer umbrella spread open in front of her to dry, she cried as though her entire world had fallen apart.

For the next several days, she deliberately avoided Hee-dae. Around that time, growing anxious over the sudden change in her behavior, Hee-dae confessed his feelings to her. Yeon-seo rejected him without hesitation.

Even though she knew he was not the one who had hurt her. She knew perfectly well that her pain had nothing to do with him.

The wound that had burrowed deep into her young, fragile heart left her unwilling to endure anything more.

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

When Hee-dae’s friend came to her classroom and mocked her, Yeon-seo assumed that Hee-dae had spread the rumor in retaliation for her rejecting his confession.

When she was given the cruel nickname ‘Yoon Hee-dae’s servant’ and it followed her everywhere, Yeon-seo ultimately decided to drop out of school.

After staring at the logo for a long time, Yeon-seo suddenly let out a deep breath.

“Why did you choose Baekmun specifically? Out of all the companies you could have joined. And Baekmun Motors, at that.”

They say that time heals all wounds.

It’s a lie. This only applies to people whose lives continue to move forward, not to those whose lives have come to a standstill.

When Baekmun Motors offered her a job, Yeon-seo immediately realized that she was still wounded by the past.

That was why she had come: To confront it head-on. To stop looking away and overcome her wounds with her own strength.

“Where exactly am I?”

Realizing that she had been walking without paying attention to where she was going, Yeon-seo stopped abruptly and glanced down at the office map. Just as she enlarged it to check her location, Hee-dae appeared from the opposite direction.

Startled by his sudden appearance, she quickly slipped around a corner and hid. Fortunately, he did not seem to have noticed her.

Hunching her shoulders, Yeon-seo bit down hard on her lip. So much for facing the past head-on. She still had a long way to go if the mere sight of his shadow was enough to make her heart plummet.

***

“How is it? Does the Chairman still rarely come home these days?”

“More or less. I don’t live there anymore, so I can’t say for certain, but judging by my mother’s hysterics……”

Having finished lunch, Hee-dae replied as he walked down the corridor beside Senior Managing Director Kim. Kim Ki-chan was the only person in the company with whom Hee-dae could speak freely.

“Good grief.”

Senior Managing Director Kim let out a sigh. Chairman Yoon Guk-seong of Baekmun Group—Hee-dae’s father—had long been notorious for maintaining two separate households.

“They say husbands are infuriating when they’re around and even more infuriating when they’re not. Just imagine how your mother must feel. She has spent all these years watching her husband openly carry on an affair right before her eyes.”

Hee-dae continued walking in silence.

“Everyone assumed it was merely a passing affair. Who could have imagined he would maintain a second household for so many years? What on earth was the Chairman thinking, bringing his illegitimate son into the company?”

“It must be because I’m inadequate. Who else is there to blame?”

“If you know that, then start doing better, you brat. Stop letting people dismiss you as nothing more than the face of the company.”

Senior Managing Director Kim looked at Hee-dae.

“If you weren’t so intelligent, I wouldn’t expect anything from you. Why do you insist on wasting that brilliant mind of yours? How long are you going to keep pretending to be the Fool Ondal?”

“Who knows? Until Princess Pyeonggang appears?”

“This isn’t the time for jokes, you brat. Division Director Yoon may have been born out of wedlock, but he is still undeniably the Chairman’s son. No one can predict what will happen in the fut—”

“Brother Hee-dae!”

It was then.

At the voice coming from across the corridor, Hee-dae turned his gaze. Senior Managing Director Kim trailed off and raised his chin slightly.

“Speak of the rat, and he appears.”

“He’s not a rat. He’s a tiger.”

“How generous of you. Does he look like a tiger to you? He’s a rat who came to raid someone else’s home.”

“Just a moment ago, you said he was undeniably the Chairman’s son.”

“I’m allowed to have personal preferences. Anyway, you’re still my number one.”

“What a devoted fan. Don’t go changing your allegiance.”

Hee-dae stopped with his hands shoved into his pockets.

The man approaching him while calling him “Brother” was Yoon Seong-jo, who had recently joined the company as a division director.

He was Hee-dae’s younger half brother.

“Brother, have you eaten? I was on my way because Father—no, the Chairman—summoned me.”

Hee-dae silently regarded Seong-jo as he approached with an amiable expression, then let out a scoffing laugh. A vertical crease formed between his brows as his eyes hardened.

“That’s f*cking strange. I don’t have a younger brother.”

“…….”

“If you call me your brother, what am I supposed to do? Our realities would collide.”

Senior Managing Director Kim patted Hee-dae’s shoulder before walking away. Left alone with Hee-dae, Seong-jo maintained his smile.

“My apologies, Executive Director. I should have addressed you by your position at the company, but I was so pleased to see you that I made a mistake. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

“What are you so pleased about, and what exactly will you be careful of?”

Hee-dae swept his gaze over Seong-jo from head to toe as though inspecting an object, then tilted his head. Looking down at the shorter man, who had inherited their father’s height, as though he were about to crush him, Hee-dae muttered,

“No matter how beneficial you claim to be, I have no intention of ripping out your liver and gallbladder, steaming them, and eating them. So stop talking and stay out of my sight.”

“Executive Director, I truly intend to devote all my loyalty to you. That is my only wish, so please believe me.”

“Loyalty?”

Hee-dae scoffed. It seemed that the tendency to say absurd things just to infuriate people ran in that family.

Now he understood why his mother always clutched the back of her neck when she came back from seeing her.

“For f*ck’s sake! You’re putting an impressive amount of effort into spouting such shameless b*llshit that not even a dog would touch it. What the hell am I supposed to do with your loyalty? Dream about it? Date it?”

Hee-dae repeatedly jabbed Seong-jo’s shoulder with his fingertips.

“Let’s leave the misery of choosing the wrong father to our respective mothers. They probably wouldn’t be satisfied even if they tore every hair from each other’s heads, but we can at least behave like gentlemen and ignore each other. Don’t you agree, Division Director Yoon Seong-jo?”

As he finished speaking, Hee-dae’s gaze shifted. He could just make out someone hiding behind a sculpture in the corner. From that fleeting glimpse of her hair alone, he knew it was Sim Yeon-seo, the woman he had seen that morning.

‘Why is she here again?’

Hee-dae sighed quietly and turned to face Seong-jo.

With a pointed look, he silently told him to leave with him. Hee-dae watched Seong-jo clench his jaw and walk away.

Once he had disappeared, he exhaled several times in quick succession before silently approaching the sculpture. A moment later, Yeon-seo cautiously peeked out from behind it. When she saw Hee-dae standing nearby, she flinched.

Hee-dae furrowed his brow as he stared at her.

“Maybe we need to change pest-control companies. Why are there so many rats in this place?”

“…….”

“I thought we’d hired a person, but now that I look at you, it seems we hired a rat who’s f*cking pretty.”

Hee-dae stepped closer to Yeon-seo. Seeing her standing there in a position that made it clear she had been eavesdropping, the anger he had suppressed all morning seemed to erupt suddenly and violently.

“Tell me the truth. Why did you join this company? Do you want to watch someone slowly wither away and die?”

“…….”

“If so, congratulations in advance. It looks like you’re going to succeed.”

Their gazes met, devoid of warmth.

Despite having lived through the same period and experienced the same moments, their memories were entirely different.