Chapter 25

Won-jong was Wigang’s dictator. He knew this was a very lenient treatment. At least he hadn’t been penalized in Wigang Construction, which would have angered his uncle’s side.

Of course, as someone indispensable to Wigang Construction, he wouldn’t be cast out completely, but the overseas assignment might actually help his career in the long run. Ryu-il had vaguely planned to go in three or four years anyway.

But there was one thing—just one—that bothered him…

“Why?” 

Won-jong asked, smirking. 

“You don’t like it?”

“…Not exactly…”

Won-jong lit another cigarette and laughed.

“Is it because of that girl, Jung Hee-won?”

Ryu-il started to answer, but Won-jong cut him off.

“I never believed your mother loved Han-jo. I didn’t hate her just because she was a housekeeper; I hated her more because she didn’t seem sincere. I always thought she used Han-jo because she hated being poor.”

“I’m not my father…”

“Right, you’re not Han-jo, and that girl isn’t your mother.”

Still calling his daughter-in-law “your mother,” Won-jong threw down his challenge.

“I’ll go up to Seoul and meet that girl.”

At those words, Ryu-il’s eyes flashed.

He showed the face of a wild beast and asked defiantly,

“Why do you want to meet her, Grandfather? You mustn’t—”

He couldn’t finish. Won-jong cut him off.

“And I’ll ask her. What did she want with you? Why did she come into your room?”

The old chairman looked Ryu-il straight in the eye and laughed fiercely.

“Thirty years ago, I asked your mother the same thing. How much would it take for her to break up with Han-jo? She immediately said five hundred million. It was pocket change to me, but it was a fortune to her, which made it worse. If you hadn’t been born, she probably would have earned that money.”

“…”

“I’ll ask that girl the same question. How much would it take for her to break up with you? If she gives a different answer than your mother—if she chooses you over money…”

Ryu-il froze. He’d never imagined having this kind of conversation with Won-jong. The unexpected topic made him feel chased. Won-jong looked at the confused Ryu-il, raised his chin, and said,

“I’ll approve your relationship.”

The weight of those words was immense. Among Wigang’s people, the only one who hadn’t married for business was Han-jo. But to approve a relationship with Hee-won—that was permission to marry.

Because of Han-jo’s precedent, everyone in Wigang thought love marriages were impossible. Especially since Ryu-il was already coveted as a son-in-law by other conglomerates.

“She was close to you as a child, right? Her life’s been tough, but she’s smart and clever.”

Won-jong tossed out the enormous prize of Wigang as if it were a bet.

So, if she liked him even a little—

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

If any of those false words held even a bit of future—

“I’ll tell you this: you’re leaving tonight. There’s only one flight to Dubai tonight. If that girl can’t let you go, if she wants to put all the lies behind and truly connect with you, she’ll chase you all the way to the airport.”

Ryu-il stared at the plane ticket. In the chaos of the unexpected, the word “sincerity” circled his mind like a temptation.

What is your sincerity, Jung Hee-won?

Will you come to me even after your debts are paid and you’re free?

“The bet should be fair.”

Won-jong read the answer in Ryu-il’s heavy eyes and slowly blew out smoke.

“If you contact her, I’ll put all the loan shark debt back to the beginning, so keep that in mind.”

Ryu-il silently looked at Won-jong, then turned off his phone and handed it to Won-jong’s secretary. Won-jong laughed and stubbed out his cigarette.

“Get ready to leave. I’ll go see that girl.”

The mountain-like old man stood up, trailing a sharp cigarette smell.

***

Waiting at the airport, every minute felt like a year.

He didn’t think Hee-won would come because she liked him. He’d been too cruel for that. He’d made her miserable steps even more pathetic.

But he knew Jung Hee-won. Once her loan shark debt was gone, whether she liked him or not, she’d at least come to say goodbye. Whether it was thank you, sorry, or just wishing him well.

Every time someone passed by, he saw Hee-won in them, but her image quickly became another face and moved on.

“Senior Executive Director.”

He was standing at the entrance, not even going to the lounge, when Sungjun spoke.

“It’s about time to start check-in.”

Ryu-il stayed silent. With heavy steps, he thought,

‘What do I want with you?’

Won-jong hadn’t even asked about his feelings, just offered approval. Ryu-il hadn’t said a word about Hee-won.

If Won-jong had asked him if he wanted to marry Hee-won like his father, he couldn’t have answered. Because to Ryu-il, Hee-won was always confusion and the sum of all negative emotions.

But the reason he accepted Won-jong’s challenge was… he just wanted to see her come to him one more time.

He wanted to hear what she’d say, now that she was debt-free. Not that he knew what he wanted to say himself.

He thought if he could just escape the fog and see her face again, he might understand something—something he couldn’t yet name.

“Senior Executive Director.”

Sungjun urged him again.

“Enough time has passed.”

It was a hint that if Hee-won was going to come, she would have by now. Ryu-il, unusually, made excuses.

Maybe she was caught in a traffic accident on the way, or maybe the conversation took longer than expected, or maybe she forgot her phone or wallet and was delayed, or maybe…

Then,

“Senior Executive Director.”

A woman rushed up to him. It wasn’t Hee-won. It was one of Won-jong’s secretaries. She was holding Ryu-il’s phone.

“Here… the Chairman asked me to deliver this.”

She spoke politely.

“The Chairman sent you a recorded message of his conversation with Miss Hee-won. Please check it.”

Ryu-il took the phone with a blank face. He turned it on and checked the recording. The timestamp was two and a half hours ago.

—Ryu-il is leaving the country tonight. I told him to go to the Dubai site for a while, because I don’t want to see his face. How much do you want? How much to settle things, I mean.

Won-jong’s sharp voice. Just as he’d warned Ryu-il. Listening, Ryu-il felt like he was checking the answers on an exam that had left him anxious and uncertain. He knew Hee-won wasn’t the type to just blurt out a number now that her debt was gone. But… had he ever predicted she’d come to his bed so many times just to pay off her loan shark debt?

—You don’t need to give me anything.

Hee-won’s calm voice.

—We’re not a relationship that needs to be settled.

Ryu-il stood silently, listening to her clear voice. It sounded unfamiliar, but also like the Jung Hee-won he’d always known.

—I sincerely apologize to Senior Executive Director Ryu-il.

She spoke of “sincerity.” She said she was sorry…

—A clever girl who’d liked Ryu-il from the start would have joined Wigang and at least become his secretary, but you didn’t even do that… Be clear. What do you want?

Through the short silence that followed, for the first time, Ryu-il wanted to run away. But before he could do anything, Hee-won’s words continued.

—I… from the beginning… wanted to live a life unrelated to all this.

His head rang.

—With Wigang, with Senior Executive Director Ryu-il… I wanted a life completely unrelated…

—Leave.

The recording ended there. Ryu-il lowered the phone. With a blank face, he turned away from the entrance. He’d guessed, ever since Won-jong’s secretary ran up, that Hee-won wouldn’t come.

She had always wanted a life unrelated to him. She wanted to leave as firmly as her decisive steps, without hesitation. She wished she could abandon every useless hope she’d had, waiting at the airport for a woman who never wanted him, who never intended to see him one last time.

If you stripped away the feelings, everything was clear and simple.

There hadn’t been any car accident, no long conversation, no missed paths. She simply hadn’t come because she didn’t want to.

Watching her misery and humiliation before and after every encounter, he’d always suspected her steps were reluctant. Even as he accepted her, it felt as if he were always forcing himself on her, and it left him feeling filthy.

He never tried to analyze why. Looking back, it was simple: she didn’t want him, and he did want her.

So now that everything was over, there was no reason she would come to him.