Chapter 18

After lunch, Ryu-il said he’d drive her to the KTX station. Honestly, she wanted to stay longer, but she had a postponed tutoring session that evening and a first period class on Monday.

The hotel staff would bring her bag from the room. Waiting in a quiet spot where few cars passed, a hotel employee delivered her bag and even a small, pretty lunchbox to eat on the train. She was surprised by the thoughtful gesture and the beauty of the lunchbox.

She blinked, holding the lunchbox in disbelief.

“Do hotels always do this?”

“When you’re with me.”

So, if it wasn’t for Ryu-il, she’d never dream of such service.

Really, everything was like that. She watched the hotel staff leave, then tucked the lunchbox carefully into her bag. She was full from lunch but wanted to give it to her mom, who’d never had anything so nice.

While Ryu-il set the navigation for the train station, she rolled down the window and gazed at the distant coastal road. The sea rolled indifferently. Seeing the ocean for the first time in ages felt like a dream. Actually, everything since yesterday evening felt that way.

“When’s your train?”

He checked the estimated time and asked, and she slowly turned to look at him.

“Oh my, we interrupted the lovers’ time.”

“Don’t be so silly in front of young people.”

“I just meant they look good together…”

Anyone would have thought they were a couple. Even she, watching from afar, would have thought they were young lovers on a trip.

The cold, calculating man who mocked her in bed overlapped with the ‘Ryu-il-oppa’ she’d always imagined. Seeing the sea together, climbing the lighthouse, reminiscing, riding in the car together…

Now, after returning to Seoul, they’d meet again at Ryu Gil-jae. Her mother would push her with another awkward excuse, and she’d beg Ryu-il to sleep with her. In his dark room, she’d become miserable again and cry all night.

“I have plenty of time.”

She rolled up the window and answered, then looked at his sharp profile.

“Is your work fun? I don’t know anything, but construction…”

She actually wanted to talk about things like this with him—normal, everyday conversations, not just begging to sleep together.

“It’s fun.”

Ryu-il replied in a flat voice.

“It was worth taking from Un-ho hyung. It’s a pain every time I run into him, though.”

“…Ah.”

She’d heard that construction was supposed to go to Ryu Won-jong’s grandson, Ryu Un-ho, but Ryu-il had fought his way up to Senior Executive Director. The invisible war among relatives made him seem even more distant.

“It must be awkward seeing him.”

“If he lost it, that’s as far as his ability went. If I’m not good enough, someone else will take it from me.”

“Ah… But sometimes it’s not just ability—luck or tricks could be involved…”

She’d heard there were many relatives aiming for his position, so she tried to comfort him, but Ryu-il chuckled.

“Not falling for that is part of ability. Only results matter; good and evil don’t mean anything.”

“…Ah…”

“So you have to do whatever it takes. If you want to keep and hold on to things.”

His tone was detached, fitting for someone at the top. He shrugged as if it was nothing, then asked again,

“So when’s your train?”

There was still plenty of time before her train. But once they reached the station, she’d have to part with Ryu-il. They could meet again in Seoul, but somehow, the Ryu-il she’d meet then wouldn’t be the same.

Maybe it was the distance from Seoul, or just the feeling of being on a trip. She felt they could never be like this again.

Maybe next time, Ryu-il really would be someone else’s fiancé. Then Lee Min-hee wouldn’t need her anymore. Going back to Seoul might just mean ‘debt repayment’ awaited her.

If so, she’d leave Ryu Gil-jae and never see Ryu-il again.

Even if that was true, she had no choice. She thought of the fountain pen box lying in the hotel room.

“So you have to do whatever it takes. If you want to keep and hold on to things.”

People who had things to keep and hold. People are fundamentally different from her. The ‘high people’ Kyung-won talked about, who thought in completely different ways. She knew she’d be the one discarded in the end.

“Ryu-il-oppa.”

She spoke quietly, as if saying goodbye. Ryu-il frowned and looked at her.

“Just once… just one more time, please.”

“What?”

“Please…”

It was a quiet place, and besides the hotel staff, no one came by. She unbuttoned her blouse herself and whispered to him.

“Just once more…”

“Jung Hee-won.”

“Please.”

This was the only way she could think of to hold onto Ryu-il, even a little. She cupped his cheek and kissed him, her blouse undone. She’d never imagined doing this in a car, but it wasn’t impossible. Ryu-il sighed softly, then slid his hand inside her blouse. Her n*pple hardened at his touch.

“…Uhh…”

His movements were as rough and deep as his kiss. He looked a little uncomfortable, but not overly so. She pressed her body against him like a lover at the sea, moaning. Their lips grew wet as skin brushed here and there. Handprints smeared the damp window. Their legs tangled, clothes half-off.

Even after the urgent, cramped, and extremely arousing s*x ended, she cried.

“…Why are you crying again?”

Ryu-il asked, and she answered through tears,

“My throat…… my throat hurts.”

“What?”

“And… I feel like I’m going blind…”

He didn’t seem to understand, but he sighed and stroked her back.

* * *

After returning to Seoul, she was sick for three days straight. Fever and chills, she kept taking medicine, tutoring, and attending classes. The rest of the time, she lay down, half-delirious from the medication.

Every dream, Ryu-il appeared.

The dreamy boy from her childhood, the teenager in a perfectly buttoned school uniform, the haughty Ryu-il looking down at her with contempt, and… Ryu-il urgently embracing her in the car.

Maybe it was because she was sick, but she felt miserable the whole time, though she didn’t know exactly why. She was just sad that she couldn’t reach him, who kept coming to mind. She didn’t even know his personal phone number. Thinking that made the brief 1-night-2-day trip with him seem like a fantasy that existed only in her imagination.

After three days in bed, she felt a little better one afternoon. After class, she was heading to the library, dazed.

“Jung Hee-won.”

A luxury sedan, out of place on campus, pulled up in front of her. Other students heading to the library murmured. A man in a black suit stepped out, speaking politely.

“May I escort you for a moment?”

It was an unfamiliar sight to most, but having lived at Ryu Gil-jae, she immediately knew he was an attendant for someone important. Clutching the strap of her worn backpack, she watched as he handed her a business card.

“President Ryu Ga-yeon is calling for you.”

She was startled and looked at the card: ‘President Ryu Ga-yeon.’

She knew who it was. Chairman Ryu Won-jong’s second daughter, who ran Wigang Department Store, the duty-free shop, and other businesses. One of the many relatives who kept Ryu-il in check, but she’d never paid much attention.

She’d always tried to feign ignorance about Wigang’s inner workings, but she knew Ryu-il’s biggest battle had been for the Senior Executive Director position against the eldest grandson, and he’d already won that. So the name Ryu Ga-yeon felt distant and unfamiliar. She had no idea why Ryu Ga-yeon would call for her.

But alarm bells kept flashing in her mind. If someone this important was calling her, it had to be related to Ryu-il.

“She’s a busy person. She waited until your class finished out of consideration.”

As she stood frozen, the man in the black suit urged her. He meant, ‘Don’t keep her waiting, just get in the car.’ She had no choice but to get in.