Chapter  27 – Intersection

The day after Ryu-il finished a bottle of Bacchus and handed over fifty thousand won.

He really did come to the pharmacy again. Maybe he was tired of the old ladies’ chatter on the first day, because he always managed to show up when no one else was around. Whether that was lucky or unlucky, she couldn’t tell.

“Give me one of those, what I had yesterday.”

He spoke carelessly, lighting a cigarette. He’d never been someone who drank or smoked, so it was surprising. Instead of asking, “Why are you smoking?” she answered businesslikely.

“…No smoking in the building.”

“I’ll light up outside.”

Beyond the pharmacy was just empty fields—there was nothing she could do about that.

She stacked a box of Bacchus worth fifty thousand won and said,

“You don’t have to buy these here every day. Since it’s fifty thousand won’s worth, just take them and drink one a day.”

He, who had probably never bought something like this in a place like this, asked with amusement,

“Isn’t it usually more expensive to buy them individually?”

“Not here. It’s the same.”

“Whoever set the prices doesn’t understand basic marketing. Even if it’s not your pharmacy, you shouldn’t run a business like this.”

Ryu-il smirked teasingly. Then, almost sneering, he took a bottle from the box and drank it slowly.

“Ah. Is that how you treated me too—since I wasn’t your man? Looks like you’re at least consistent.”

Her heart ached as if squeezed. He didn’t even look at the boxes of Bacchus stacked in front of her, just tossed the empty bottle in the trash.

She listened to the sound of the bottle clinking and impulsively spoke.

“I’m sorry… Senior Executive Director.”

“For what?”

He looked up at her with amusement.

Autumn sunlight streamed through the pharmacy’s big windows, shining on his whole body. Unfazed by the bright light, he radiated a sharp presence, almost licking her from head to toe with his gaze. She shivered at the intensity of his stare.

“For running the business like this?”

“…You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Then?”

His lips twisted into a crooked smile. Even then, his eyes were fierce as he looked at her.

“What are you so sorry for?”

She couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly, she realized she’d been crazy.

‘Sorry’ wasn’t enough to end everything. In front of him, she was so guilty she couldn’t even say she was sorry.

With tears brimming in her eyes, she bowed her head deeply.  

He let out a familiar sigh and turned away.  

She watched him smoking outside the pharmacy and bit her lower lip.

Ryu-il came to the pharmacy the next day, and the day after that, drinking a bottle of Bacchus each time before leaving.  

She stopped talking about change, card payments, or buying in bulk. She just quietly handed him a bottle and endured the time as if receiving punishment.  

Ryu-il didn’t say much after that day either.  

He simply stretched out his hand, saying, “Give me that,” in a careless tone.  

With a clink, his veined hand would open the bottle, swallow it in one go, toy with the empty bottle while staring at her, then slowly toss the bottle away, light a cigarette, and leave.  

She couldn’t even bear to look at him, so she stared blankly at the smoke scattering in the air, thinking about things like the effects of smoking on cerebrovascular disease. Then she wondered if she was actually more harmful to him than cigarettes, and felt drained all over again.  

If he wanted to punish her like that, she had to accept it. If that was his way of passing judgment, she had to endure it.  

It was a very effective pressure, and she spent each day as if she didn’t know how to get through it.  

She even thought about running away, but her contract was for two years and there was no one else who could take over the pharmacy. Thinking of Pharmacist Grandma Kim, who kindly arranged everything for her, she couldn’t muster the courage to quit and send word all the way to America.  

It felt like something was stuck in her throat, she couldn’t eat properly, and at night she couldn’t sleep because of auditory hallucinations. Eventually, even other customers started saying things like, “Pharmacist Jung, you don’t look well these days.”

After exactly one month, the resolve she’d had—“If this is punishment from him, I must endure it”—became meaningless, and she ended up kneeling before the man who entered so indifferently.

“Senior Executive Director.”

He looked momentarily surprised, but soon crossed his arms with a face showing he was going to watch her all the way through.

She was used to that composure. Six months ago, when she’d clung to him as pathetically as she did now, he’d worn the same dominating expression.

“…I’m really, really sorry…”

She’d cried plenty in front of him, but she didn’t want to cry now. She desperately held back tears and continued.

“I may be worthless and have nothing to compensate with… but, still… if it would ease your anger, I’ll do anything…”

She’d practiced those words over and over, but saying them out loud felt utterly pathetic. She hated herself so much for it, tears welled up again and she felt she might go crazy. How small did she have to become before this man?

Only after a long, long silence did Ryu-il speak.

“…Interesting, Jung Hee-won.”

His voice was thick.

“I asked you last time too.”

Anger pressed down beneath his mocking laughter.

“What are you so sorry for?”

She trembled and gasped for breath, mumbling in the lowest posture before the man she’d always wanted to be proud in front of.

“The engagement… it broke because of me…”

“Oh, that engagement.”

Ryu-il looked down at her coldly. He seemed unmoved by the word ‘engagement’, but was clearly angry. She tried her hardest to hold back tears and continued.

“So… in the end, you lost out on Wigang Home Shopping… I’m really… sorry…”

“Wow, Jung Hee-won, you’re something.”

He slowly bent down, grabbed her chin, and forced her to meet his eyes. Her head was lifted so she was face to face with his dark eyes.

“So from what I hear, you were pulling Wigang’s strings, huh?”

“S-sorry…”

She looked at his elegant nose and deep eyes with tearful eyes. He smiled cruelly, whispering as if amused.

“You, of all people. Hm?”

“I… I…”

It would only sound like an excuse, but she looked at him desperately.

“I didn’t think it was… such a big deal… Please believe me. I really didn’t know the engagement had anything to do with Wigang Home Shopping. I didn’t know it would break because of someone like me… You know, Senior Executive Director, you and I live in different worlds… I just…”

“Just.”

Ryu-il cut her off coldly.

“Just what?”

“…”

“Just did it because someone offered money, is that what you want to say?”

At last, the tears that had pooled in her eyes fell.

“Just did what you were told?”

“T-that… I didn’t know it would be a problem for you…”

“A problem…”

Ryu-il laughed in disbelief.

“How do you manage to twist my insides with every word?”

His gaze was so chilling it felt like he might devour her.

Unable to speak, trembling, he traced her tear-soaked lips with his thumb.

“If it would ease my anger, you’ll do anything…”

That was the apology she’d desperately offered earlier.

When she saw the familiar desire flicker in his eyes, she was startled. She’d thought that if she were him, she’d never want a woman like herself again.

Even six months ago, unless she hesitated and lingered near his bedroom, he hadn’t even looked at her.

“Is there really anything else you can give me?”

She couldn’t refute it.

What could she possibly offer to the grandson of Wigang’s Chairman and Executive Director of Wigang Construction? In his world, succession and branch management were complicated, but for ordinary people like her, it was a completely different universe.

“…If you want…”

Finally, she spoke, and tears fell in a torrent. She collapsed in misery and humiliation.

“Of course…”

Before his beast-like eyes, she felt so wretched. In the sweet heaven where the man she wanted wanted her, she felt herself endlessly falling into the abyss.

“I’ll do my best…”

She sobbed, her voice growing more desperate as she tried to show she was sincere, that she really wanted to apologize.

“If you have any complaints, I’ll fix them…”

“Complaints.”

Ryu-il gripped her chin harder.

“Complaints, yes.”

His eyes burned with anger as he stared at her tear-stained face.

“Crying like this.”

“Sniff…”

“After you beg me to sleep with you, you cry so miserably afterward.”

“Hic…”

“Watching that is just wretched.”

She couldn’t even say she wouldn’t cry anymore. She squeezed her eyes shut and brought her wet lips to him frantically. Right now, she felt she had to do that. The sunlight coming into the pharmacy made her too ashamed to open her eyes.

She shredded every precious thing she’d tried to protect, letting all of herself be swallowed up by darkness.

***

When he met Hee-won again after several months, she seemed peaceful. The one who broke that peace was Ryu-il himself.

He tried to approach her slowly. Just as she’d come every day before, now he intended to come every day. But every time she saw him, her face was filled with fear, like a rabbit before a tiger.

Just his presence made her lose weight day by day. That sight made him angry again.

Nothing changed. In the end, after a few days, Hee-won knelt and begged him again.

“Senior Executive Director. I’m really, really sorry… I may be worthless and have nothing to compensate with… but, still… if it would ease your anger, I’ll do anything…”

Tears welled in her eyes again.

“The engagement… it broke because of me… so… in the end, you lost out on Wigang Home Shopping… I’m really… sorry…”

Seeing those tears, misery surged deep in his chest. The confusion he’d felt for so long turned to rage. Did she really wish he’d kept the engagement, and after all those nights together, was ‘sorry’ all she had to say…

“If it would ease my anger, you’ll do anything…Is there really anything else you can give me?”

Were all those times together just payment for something…

“…If you want…”

Her submissive words and falling tears were not what Ryu-il wanted.

“Of course… I’ll do my best…”

Pathetically, Ryu-il was aroused. Even surrounded by anger and frustration, he wanted her. Just being with her in that small, closed space made him feel crazy with desire. In truth, he’d felt that way since coming to this damned town. The long-held desire surged out of control, and meanwhile Hee-won trembled and cried.

“If you have any complaints, I’ll fix them…”

“Complaints. Complaints, yes.”

‘That you don’t want to sleep with me. That you’re so miserable after. That you never come to me of your own will.’

‘That you don’t… want me as much as I want you.’

“Crying like this.”

“Sniff…”

“After you beg me to sleep with you, you cry so miserably afterward.”

“Hic…”

“Watching that is just wretched.”

Hee-won desperately wiped her tears and tried to kiss him clumsily. Even knowing it was just to calm his anger, Ryu-il took her lips. It was another encounter with hopeless seduction.

He forgot all thoughts and greedily explored her soft mouth. As she accepted him, she whispered desperately,

“N-not here… Let’s go upstairs…”

He picked her up and strode up to the small house above, the one she’d lived in for months. He wanted to erase the rage and misery in his head, to quench his thirst. Even in hell, memories spun around him.

Just as always.