Chapter 19

The car, with its incredibly smooth ride, left campus and entered downtown Seoul. She nervously fiddled with the corner of her old textbook, which didn’t fit in her bag so she held it in her arms.

“This way, please.”

He led her to a hotel lobby in a quiet part of Seoul she’d never seen before. Inside was dazzlingly opulent. The hotel where she’d stayed with Ryu-il had made her feel shabby, but this place was even grander and more luxurious. She bit her lower lip, embarrassed by her worn sneakers and frayed jeans, which had seemed fine on campus.

Following the attendant down the corridor, she entered a room with a stunning view of Seoul. Ryu Ga-yeon sat elegantly, sipping coffee and looking at her phone. When she saw Hee-won, she smiled slightly. Hee-won instinctively bowed her head in greeting.

“Sit down.”

“Thank you.”

When she sat across from Ryu Ga-yeon, the attendant who had guided her out left like a shadow, and a waitress brought her a drink and tea food. She felt she might get indigestion and couldn’t touch any of it, glancing at Ryu Ga-yeon.

She had seen Ryu Ga-yeon from afar at Ryu Gil-jae, but this was the first time seeing her up close.

She was probably around her mother’s age, but looked at least fifteen years younger. Hee-won knew nothing about fashion, but she could tell Ryu Ga-yeon’s clothes and jewelry sparkled.

“Hee-won, I’m glad to meet you.”

With a friendly and elegant smile, Ryu Ga-yeon began to speak.

“I’d like to treat you a bit better, but I have a meeting soon… so I can’t stay long.”

“Yes… That’s fine.”

Hee-won didn’t want to sit with Ga-yeon for long either. She rolled her eyes and asked carefully,

“But why did you… call me here…?”

“Ah.”

With a graceful gesture, Ga-yeon picked up a thick envelope and handed it to her.

“I wanted to give this to you myself.”

“…Pardon?”

She took the envelope and cautiously opened it. Her eyes widened as she checked the contents.

“Th-this is…”

“That’s right. The private loan debt in your and your mother’s name are all paid off. You don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Her hands trembled in disbelief. She couldn’t understand why Ga-yeon was giving her this document. Ga-yeon was just Ryu-il’s aunt, wasn’t she? As far as she knew, it was Lee Min-hee who had promised to pay off their debt.

“Jung Kyung-won, that person didn’t look trustworthy at all. People like him always play tricks in the middle. Clearly, you’re the one who suffered, so I decided to handle it myself. You did very well with Ryu-il. Honestly, I didn’t expect much, but you were excellent.”

Her heart dropped at the mention of Kyung-won.

Kyung-won had never mentioned Ga-yeon to her. He only said that Lee Min-hee… was curious about whether Ryu-il was sexually functional as a man, so she suggested he sleep with other women first… That’s what he’d said…

Suddenly, a new realization struck her like lightning.

…Was Jung Kyung-won even trustworthy?

“I-I…”

Hee-won mumbled, dazed.

“I had no idea… you were involved in this, President Ryu Ga-yeon…”

“Really?”

Ga-yeon sipped her coffee, looking indifferent.

“Then who did you think was involved?”

“Kyung-won oppa… said, Lee Min-hee was curious if Senior Executive Director Ryu-il could sleep with someone…”

“Hm? What does that mean? Then why did you sleep with him?”

Ga-yeon let out a short, incredulous laugh. Seeing Ga-yeon’s expression, Hee-won felt miserable that her relationship with Ryu-il was being discussed so trivially and answered,

“…He said… I was like a royal food taster…”

“Ahahahahahaha!”

It was crude, but Hee-won couldn’t think of any other way to explain, so she used that word. Ga-yeon burst into laughter. In front of Ga-yeon’s laughter, Hee-won felt herself shrinking even more.

“Ahahahaha! Ahahahaha! What an expression… Well, I guess there’s some amusement in dealing with people of poor character.”

Ga-yeon laughed for a while, and Hee-won could only catch her breath, feeling like a fool.

“Well, one thing is clear.”

Finally stopping her laughter, Ga-yeon smiled kindly at her.

“Jung Kyung-won must have thought you were so upright that he had to lie to get you to move.”

A lie… a lie.

That word was a final blow. Everything Kyung-won had told her had been a lie. She hadn’t known anything, but seeing Lee Min-hee’s SNS and all the other circumstances, she had foolishly believed it was all true.

“Actually, I’m the one who commissioned this, Hee-won.”

Ga-yeon spoke gently, never losing her smile. Facing her beautiful face, Hee-won trembled.

“I didn’t specifically pick you, but when I left it to people who handle dirty work, Jung Kyung-won contacted me. He said you work at Ryu Gil-jae, have no powerful backer, and have a lot of debt, so you seemed suitable. So I offered to pay off your debt if you slept with Ryu-il a few times.”

“Wh-why…”

“I’ll tell you since it’s all over. You feel like a daughter to me. I absolutely didn’t want Ryu-il to get Wigang Home Shopping.”

Hee-won stuttered, but Ga-yeon answered kindly.

“That home shopping business is perfect for my daughter. In Wigang terms, it’s not even a big deal. They gave me the department store just because I married out, so there’s no way my father would give something great to a daughter without the Ryu surname.”

She glanced at her watch, speaking faster.

“Still, realistically, I hoped for the home shopping business. My daughter’s managed it well. But suddenly, my father wanted to give it to Ryu-il, who’s totally unrelated. For no reason, except that Ryu Han-jo built it up a bit.”

Ryu Han-jo was Ryu-il’s father.

“But Ryu-il doesn’t know anything about distribution. So the condition was to marry Lee Min-hee… Of course, I wanted to break that. And Hanju Distribution’s president insists no man with a wandering eye, especially one who messes with the staff, should be allowed.”

She could guess what was coming, and her heart sank. Sadly, everything Ga-yeon said matched her anxious expectations.

“So I had him sleep with you a few times and sent some pictures. On this business trip, you did great—called to the hotel, did it in the car… The engagement fell apart immediately.”

“I… I…”

“Thanks to you, I got to keep the home shopping business. Honestly, even inside the company, they don’t welcome Senior Executive Director Ryu-il. Other than being Ryu Han-jo’s son, he has no industry experience. Ryu-il probably doesn’t even know what a show host is.”

She wanted to say something, but her throat was blocked and couldn’t make a sound. Seeing her shocked face, Ga-yeon spoke gently.

“But… hasn’t anything changed for you? You slept with Ryu-il a few times and got free from debt. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

At the same time, Ga-yeon’s phone started ringing. Seeing ‘Secretary Shin’ on the screen, Ga-yeon sighed lightly.

“I probably have to go. If you have more questions, ask Secretary Kim on your way out. Oh, and you asked for 200 million won to get a house, right? That’s already been deposited to Jo Mi-sook. Keep that in mind. Families like yours always try to squeeze their daughters for more.”

Having been fooled by Kyung-won, Ga-yeon clicked her tongue with a hint of sympathy. Then, without another word, she put on sunglasses and strode out, heels clicking.

So Hee-won was left alone in that beautiful room.

She couldn’t argue with Ga-yeon, because she knew them fairly well. Ga-yeon had been as kind to her as her standards allowed.

Honestly, Ga-yeon could have just had an underling toss her the documents or sent the money to Kyung-won.

But ‘somehow,’ she felt Hee-won wouldn’t know what was going on, so she explained it in person. For people like them, that was a huge favor. If she hadn’t been involved with Ga-yeon through all this, Hee-won felt she might have liked her.

That was the most miserable part.

In reality, Ga-yeon had used money to move her like a chess piece, and every time she slept with Ryu-il, there was a camera waiting somewhere.

For her, those moments were difficult, secret, and precious. She’d been pushed into it, but she’d taken those steps herself. Yet the final destination of those steps was nothing more than this document stating her debt was paid.

In the end, she couldn’t refuse it, claiming she didn’t want it. To be honest, amid all this misery, she couldn’t deny the faint sense of liberation.

Now she had no debt. She could leave Ryu Gil-jae. Graduation was approaching, and she could save money in her own name from her part-time jobs. Because of that small, involuntary sense of freedom, she felt embarrassed and still shabby in front of Kyung-won’s lies.

She felt so many complex emotions that she couldn’t even cry. In the end, she gave up trying to figure out what hurt the most.

She just sat blankly in that heavenly, beautiful room for a long time.