Chapter 19 – Forbidden  

“Um…”

Jung-hwa, who was about to leave the office after getting up from the sofa, stood still and looked at Won-hoo.

It had been four years.

Four years and thirteen seasons had passed, and she hoped that his disappointment, or perhaps his sense of betrayal, had diluted by now. With this hope, she had eagerly awaited Tae Seo-jun’s discharge from the military and casually inquired about him with her bright red lips.

“He’s been busy, hasn’t he? I heard he’s done a few ads since his discharge, and even dramas, which he didn’t use to do. Seo-jun must be incredibly busy these days, right?”

“…”

Won-hoo answered with a shrug, as if to ask why she was inquiring when she already knew.

“CEO, you know exactly why I’m doing this, yet you’re really going to act like this?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

The very fact that she came here had a suspicious smell, and as expected, it was that.

CEO Go’s bright expression, claiming not to know, was a business smile.

As soon as he sent Yoo Jung-hwa away, Won-hoo got on the elevator and used the opportunity to contact Manager Bong. It was much easier and more familiar to call someone who moved as one with Tae Seo-jun.

“Where is Director Tae?”

• He’s in the back seat of the car. Should I tell him to contact you, CEO?

“No. Please connect me now.”

• Yes

Soon, Seo-jun’s voice was heard, as if the speakerphone had been connected immediately.

• Hey, it’s me.

“Yoo Jung-hwa came to the company. She said she wanted to sign an exclusive contract with CN, so I turned her down.”

• So?

“Her behavior still seems to regard you as her man. You’re not, right?”

• …

Seo-jun remained silent, neither giving a short answer nor speaking.

“Anyway, just letting you know. I’ll hang up now.”

• Okay.

In the underground parking lot, a luxury sedan with the engine running was already waiting.

As soon as Won-hoo got off the elevator and hurried into the car, the secretary, who had instructed the driver to depart quickly, informed the CEO of the urgency that couldn’t be delayed even for a second.

“We might miss the flight boarding time, CEO.”

“That can’t happen.”

When Won-hoo replied, showing his neat teeth, the driver skillfully increased the car’s speed.

Time was tight.

But the experienced driver would complete the mission on time, no matter what.

Finally able to breathe, Won-hoo asked the secretary to read the world tour contract to be signed in Hong Kong. Even though it was a routine, being thorough was necessary to avoid mistakes.

“CN Entertainment, as ‘Party A’, entrusts all the schedule and event rights of the world tour to ‘Party B’, Future Dream. Should the event be canceled, compensation must be unconditionally provided by ‘Party A’…”

“Hold on. You say ‘Party A’ and then ‘unconditionally’? Change it to ‘the party responsible for the cancellation’ and proceed.”

“CEO, that applies to other agencies participating in the tour as well…”

“So we should be dragged along like them? Unfortunately, I can’t do that.”

“Then what will you do?”

“If we pull our artists from that concert, how will they fill half the seats in that big stadium?”

When Won-hoo hinted that if they didn’t correct the content, they’d hold a solo concert in the same region on the same day, the secretary’s face turned pale.

“But that’s against business ethics…”

Go Won-hoo, a businessman to the core, was not someone with a lenient nature.

He was the one who made the company grow rapidly in just five years by turning crises into opportunities, so much so that people in the industry would click their tongues at the mere mention of CEO Go.

A natural merchant or a beast specialized in business.

“Who presented the contract that goes against business ethics first? Let’s just say what we need to and watch quietly. Let’s see how they respond.”

In other words, it meant waiting until the other side begged and then signing the contract like giving alms.

The CN family wasn’t a small traveling troupe, and it was certainly a card with enough winning potential.

***

If CEO Go kicks away the luck that rolled in, I won’t regret it either.

If I just turn a blind eye and cater to their wishes, the chaebols will open their wallets wide. It’s no big deal.

However, what made Jung-hwa feel bitter was that part of her plan to win back Tae Seo-jun had gone awry. What was even more annoying was that that ridiculous girl was not only a CN-affiliated actress but also starring in the same work as Tae Seo-jun.

Dare to covet my man again?

Jung-hwa knew that the day at El Stella Hotel, over three years ago, was the last for the two of them.

Though she found out by following Eom So-yeon using improper means, the result was quite satisfying.

The day she encountered him at the hotel was just a month after she and Tae Seo-jun had broken up, so at best, So-yeon had been discarded like an old rag after a month of dating him. 

Just like me, struggling to survive and then abruptly cast aside.

But once something bothered her, Yoo Jung-hwa would pursue it to the end and crush it, which was one way she lived.

Perhaps she had hoped for a dramatic encounter. She chose the restaurant at the El Stella Hotel for their somewhat risky and secretive meeting, thinking she might run into Tae Seo-jun.

Wearing a wide-brimmed hat pushed down hard, and a hoodie pulled tight over it, Jung-hwa handed a cake box to the man sitting across from her.

“This…”

“I was itching to hear from you since the date passed by a day.”

The man, speaking in a drawling tone, took only an envelope out of the box and began to smirk. His lips, once raised, did not come down for a while because the amount inside the envelope was quite satisfactory.

Jung-hwa, rolling her eyes above her sunglasses, spoke quietly across the table.

“Have there been any unusual signs lately?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Reporter Choo, are you really going to act like this? There must be a reason I consistently add more to the money I give you monthly.”

“Oh, that?”

The man, blowing on the pinky he had been picking his ear with, tilted his head slightly forward.

“Tae Seo-jun changes cars frequently and is quick-witted, so it’s hard to tail him. And as for Eom So-yeon, didn’t I tell you three months ago? She’s either at the filming site or the company, so there’s nothing to dig up. Moreover, what nutritional value does the boring struggle of an unknown actress have for me? That’s why I said I’d drop it, don’t you remember?”

For someone claiming to be a reporter, his persistence was only this much. He knew how to blackmail with someone else’s past that he happened to learn about, but he couldn’t write a single article on his own. It was pathetic how he went around, copying and pasting, claiming to be a reporter.

“Of course I don’t remember. Reporter Choo, you never said that to me.”

“What are you talking about? I definitely said it.”

“Ha, now I get it. You were deceiving me to get more money! Anyway, give me that envelope back.”

“Why would I do that…”

“Just give me the originally agreed amount.”

“Haha, is it right for a great actress to be so petty!”

“Shut up and give it to me!”

It was when the infuriated Yoo Jung-hwa was wrestling with the reporter to snatch the paper envelope from his hand.

Two women who had come out of the restaurant room were having a small argument.

“What are you doing not going inside?”

“Ugh, I don’t want to.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if you were obedient like your sister? Who did you take after to be like this!”

“Mom, if you really think that, consider yourself without a daughter like Dad. I absolutely detest blind dates.”

“Just listen to me as your mother! It’s a family worth not missing out on!”

“Mom, just stop it. Stop calling me out with obvious lies.”

“If you keep going like this, I’ll take you off the family register, so be prepared!”

“Well, do as you please.”

Do-soon coldly shook off Ji Myung-sook’s hand as if she’d never see her again.

It wasn’t long after she started walking angrily through the restaurant hall. Do-soon’s body stumbled over someone’s foot sticking out from under the table.

“Oh!”

Barely regaining her balance, Do-soon looked at the two people sitting close by.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

The eyes of the three people who suddenly met grew wide, indicating that they knew each other well.

In the middle of the night, inside, wearing a hat and sunglasses was typical celebrity behavior. Upon closer inspection, it was the person she occasionally encountered on set, someone who made her uneasy just by looking.

“Yoo Jung-hwa?”

And the man was the sneaky reporter who had snuck into So-yeon’s hospital room when she was injured, had been snooping around Eom So-yeon, and got caught by her several times, and until three months ago, had been conspicuously persistent.

But, what are they doing here alone…

Do-soon, proud of her keen eye, could easily figure out who they were and what their relationship was.

Birds of a feather flock together, as they say, having a cozy meal and cake at a hotel restaurant, not letting go of each other’s hands tightly clasped, no matter who saw.

“Oh, so you two are dating!”

“!”

“!”

***

Compared to Tae Seo-jun, he’s still far behind, but Jo In-ha is well-known for his method acting. However, due to his high pride and hot-tempered attitude, there were quite a few directors who openly boycotted him.

Seo-jun also felt a rather unpleasant sense of déjà vu with Jo In-ha.

The way he sharpened his words at the company cafeteria and the way he looked at Eom So-yeon as if she were his woman, with such dark and sticky eyes.

And last night.

He had simply let that guy escape through the emergency exit. Just by the tall figure’s back, he could definitely tell who it was.

But why did Jo In-ha run away like someone who didn’t want to be caught?

Why is he hovering around Eom So-yeon?

Such an annoying guy.

Yet, Eom So-yeon was quick to defend Jo In-ha, suggesting there must have been some other issue. What was more frustrating was that this triggered an obsession that might have led her to call him.

Even if they couldn’t meet because he visited without an appointment. No, he wanted to see her face, which kept flickering before his eyes, even if just for a moment.

Due to the upcoming overseas location shoot, the drama filming, which had been a forced march until today, had entered a lull.

Returning from the filming site, Seo-jun left his house in a light and sophisticated outfit and with unstyled hair.

It’s 6 PM now, on the way to pick up So-yeon from Dogok-dong and head to the Yangpyeong villa.

• I’m in front of the house. Director Tae is waiting for you, Eom So-yeon.

The message from Manager Bong, borrowed from Seo-jun’s voice, was unilateral and unexpected.

But So-yeon, who cherished every moment with him as if it were the last, couldn’t refuse.

Even if his purpose for having dinner together in a remote place, not at the company, not in Seoul, was temporary and mundane.

Seated side by side, the two looked out the window in the quiet silence. In Seo-jun’s view, overlapping with So-yeon, the orange sunset painted a fairly decent spectacle in the sky.

• Her behavior still seems to regard you as her man. You’re not, right?

Being in the same space with Seo-jun, So-yeon inadvertently overheard the conversation between the two men.

The main topic of the conversation was related to Yoo Jung-hwa. The thought that his relationship with her, Tae Seo-jun’s former lover, might still be ongoing suddenly crossed her mind because Seo-jun neither denied nor affirmed CEO Go’s question with his tightly closed lips.

Seeing his once soft expression gradually harden, So-yeon’s heart painfully collapsed. Her heart, suddenly hitting the reef called Yoo Jung-hwa, was helplessly swept away.

They weren’t lovers from the start.

Knowing this, she had still made a reckless choice once.

A decision made alone.

So-yeon knew that the secret and responsibility that arose from that process weren’t Tae Seo-jun’s. She also knew she shouldn’t keep wanting something from a man she couldn’t dare to desire.

However, like a sunflower looking at the sun, her clear eyes naturally turned to one place.

Though it was forbidden and scary, she couldn’t help but yearn for Tae Seo-jun even more.

“Um…”

“…”

As So-yeon opened her mouth slightly, Seo-jun raised his eyes diagonally as if telling her to speak.

“You haven’t told me the reason you suddenly wanted to meet. And why are we going to the villa?”

“It’s just to have a meal. Does there have to be a special reason?”

“Oh…”

Simply.

Just to have a meal.

That’s what it was.

And yet, she was thrillingly excited by such a meaningless call.

What is this disappointment? 

So-yeon’s lips closed tightly, feeling like she shouldn’t have asked.

“…”

Seo-jun’s lips also pressed into a straight line. Realizing from her expression that his answer had been a conversation-stopper, but it was too awkward to recover belatedly.

The silence in the car, once resumed, was suffocating.

Until they reached their destination, So-yeon had to repeatedly calm her heart, which felt like a ticking time bomb about to explode.

Finally arriving at the villa, Seo-jun sent Manager Bong and Park Seong-ho to the annex first and walked around the bonnet to open the car door.

“Let’s get out, Eom So-yeon.”

“…”

Lightly holding Seo-jun’s outstretched hand, So-yeon stepped onto the ground and looked around, seeing nothing but forest.

As Seo-jun led the way, as if telling her to follow, So-yeon asked while following him.

“Is this villa yours, Director?”

“Do you think I borrowed it?”

“This place seems so quiet and secluded.”

“Are you scared? Afraid I might have kidnapped you?”

“Heh, not that.”

Stopping in front of the entrance, So-yeon burst into a clear laugh and looked up at the distant forest and sky simultaneously. Standing beside her, Seo-jun also looked at the same place with a natural gaze.

Darkness was slowly creeping into the eyes of the two people.