CHAPTER 64

“Yes, thank you.”

“You have a lot to be thankful for.”

After returning Mrs. Seo’s smile, Leeseo picked out the mail that had come to her from the stack of mail for the employees residing in the staff’s quarters. Most of them were bills, but there was one letter in the mix with no sender’s name.

For a moment, Leeseo stared at the envelope. She quickly tore open the envelope, thinking it might be from her father, Gyucheol. Leeseo stiffened as she peered inside the envelope

Inside the envelope was a single photograph. A picture of her face.

Judging by her attire in the picture, it seemed to have been taken recently. Her face was slightly flushed from the heat, and she was frowning slightly, holding her hand to her forehead to shield it from the sun. The focus of the photo was on her, but in the background, she could see the billboard of a bus stop.

A shiver ran down her spine. She could feel an ominous sense of unease creeping up from her toes. Her heart began to pound.

She bit her quivering lips and looked down at the photo. At the bottom was the date it was taken. As expected, the photo was taken barely a week ago.

What could this mean?

The first thing that popped into her head was Taegyeom. There’s no way he’d take a picture like this and send it to her, but if it was sent by someone who found out about her relationship with him……. She realized that maybe it was some kind of warning.

She strengthened her trembling grip on the photo and turned it over. For a moment, her eyes widened.

There it was, scrawled across the back in jagged letters. It was an unlikely warning to her.

[From your love.]

The color drained from her stiffened cheeks. Her head spinning with confusion. She nervously turned the photo back around and looked at the image of herself. In the photo, she seemed oblivious to being photographed, her gaze directed into empty space.

Who the hell would do this to…….

“Did the photo come out nicely?” 

At that moment, Mrs. Seo leaned in close and said. Startled, Leeseo instinctively lowered her hand to hide the photo behind her.

“Huh? Is it something I shouldn’t see?”

Just as Mrs. Seo was asking her question and looked at her with a puzzled expression, a loud ringing of the cell phone interrupted them. Mrs. Seo glanced at Leeseo’s awkwardly stiffened face and shoved her hand into her apron to pull out her cell phone.

“Hello? Yes, Director Gong. You’re looking for Leeseo? Okay.”

After a short call, Mrs. Seo glanced toward the front door and said.

“Leeseo, Director Gong is looking for you. Go out to the front entrance.”

Director Gong?

Leeseo looked toward the front door with a puzzled expression. She had spoken to Mr. Gong briefly in the morning. Since she decided to return to school, she would work at the mansion only until the end of this month. When she told him that she was going to move to a dormitory near the school, he told her to do as she pleased.

“That man. He can come in and call you himself if needed. Why would he suddenly make a phone call to me out of the blue?”

Mrs. Seo slipped a pair of rubber gloves on her hands and grunted. Leeseo placed the photo back into the envelope, wedged it among the bills, and pushed it to one side of the table.

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Sure. When you come back, let’s have somyeon (buckwheat noodles) in the broth of young radish kimchi.”

As she walked out the front door, Director Gong, who had been standing and looking towards the garden, turned his head. When he saw her, he wrinkled his nose as if he were about to say something or inquire. A strange feeling of unease filled her stomach.

Leeseo clenched her fists to hide her anxiety and approached Director Gong. Sweat quickly pooled in her withered palms, leaving an unpleasant sticky feeling.

***

Leeseo found herself in the chairman’s study for the first time. She hadn’t seen anyone all the way from the private residence to this floor of the main building where the chairman’s study was located.

It was strange, considering the usual mansion, where you could see staff members here and there, each doing their own thing. The main house was locked in silence. The eerie silence made her feel a sticky tension gripping her ankles as she ascended the stairs.

Opening the large wooden door to the chairman’s study and ushering Leeseo inside, Director Gong closed the door quietly behind him without another word aside from,

“Wait inside. Someone will come to see you soon.”

Although she hadn’t heard any specific explanation from Director Gong, there was no need to ask who had summoned her to this room.

As an art enthusiast, the chairman’s study was adorned with luxurious furniture and profound-looking artworks. Paintings hung on the silk grey walls, showcasing Chairman Kwon’s sophistication, passion for art, and overflowing wealth.

The unlit corners of the study were plunged into somber darkness, but the area near the window was relatively bright, due to the half-open curtains letting in the warm afternoon sunlight. A large wooden desk occupied the spot where the sunlight poured in directly, and next to it stood a bronze-colored sculpture.

The enormous statue, almost touching the ceiling, depicted a n*de male figure holding a spear. The sharp tip of the sculpture, with lifelike textures in the tangled hair, was pointed toward the spot where Leeseo stood.

Whether it was intentionally designed to naturally awe those seeking the chairman’s library or simply placed as a renowned piece of art, Leeseo had no way of knowing. As she stood there, gazing blankly at the sculpture, the library door creaked open behind her.

Chairman Kwon walked in through the open door. Leeseo clasped her hands in front of her and bowed her head, but the chairman walked right past her without breaking his stern expression. Director Gong, who had opened the door for Chairman Kwon, silently closed it again from behind. Chairman Kwon turned on all the lights in the study and operated the remote control, causing the half-open curtains to close silently.

As the library door closed, only Chairman Kwon and Leeseo remained in the room. It was the first time she had ever been alone with the chairman.

In front of his employees, Chairman Kwon had always maintained an authoritative yet benevolent attitude, but now he wore a completely different expression. His trademark soft smile, featured in various media, had vanished without a trace, replaced by a sharp and stern demeanor.

Shedding the societal mask, he glared at Leeseo with a dark contempt in his eyes. Leeseo curled her trembling fingertips into a tight ball. 

Get a grip.

She was aware that a moment like this could come someday. What she hadn’t realized was that the real thing was far worse, much harsher than expected.

Chairman Kwon, still maintaining an intense gaze fixed on her, tapped the wooden surface of the desk without averting his eyes. His contemplative look at how to handle such seemingly trivial objects was unsettling.

“I heard some unfounded stories.”

Chairman Kwon Kyungrok cut to the chase without beating around the bush. Slowly moving his dry lips, he turned on the tablet lying on the desk. As the black screen lit up, a photo immediately appeared.

Kyungrok let out a cold sneer as he remembered how he felt last night when he sat in this very same seat and heard absurd remarks. It was all good until Jingyeom came to his study with a serious look on his face, saying he had something important to say.

His son, who had been busy avoiding his father’s eyes for fear of him, now requested to speak first. It seems he’s grown up, dreaming such futile dreams.

However, to come in with such a serious expression and boldly spill words in front of his busy father, only to criticize his brother’s fleeting affair. Kyungrok felt a deep sense of disapproval and a severe headache.

In the midst of the terrible weather with even a typhoon approaching, his son scurries around like a mouse, completely disregarding any sense of culture, and takes pictures without a care for manners.

Is this really my son? 

To think that he should inherit the GK Group, which he had devoted his life to, to such a pitiful individual. The desire to wield a golf club again against that utterly pathetic person surged like a tide.

From the moment he started babbling about wanting to hire the chauffeur’s daughter as a tutor or whatever nonsense it was, Kyungrok had a feeling the lad wasn’t in his right mind. 

Investigating discreetly afterward, he even found out that the girl, whom Jingyeom had a crush on and wanted to hire, was a woman his brother had already been involved with for quite some time.

Until then, Kyungrok had taken a lenient attitude toward his sons’ fleeting flirtations. The fact that they were involved with Hyun Gyucheol’s daughter did disturb him, but after all, such dalliances were only temporary.

There was no point in lecturing or giving warnings; it would only fuel their rebellious spirit and complicate matters. Igniting the flames of a young man’s desires was a hassle in itself. It was only natural that an attractive young lady, noticeable even to Chairman Kwon, would catch the eye of a man in his prime. He couldn’t help but feel a kind of vicarious satisfaction, thinking that it does run in the blood.

A woman, no matter how enchanting, tends to lose her allure once she’s thoroughly conquered. Even if she’s a beauty like a national treasure. That was an immutable law Kyungrok knew better than anyone.

Besides, the woman was dealing with someone who could easily change partners. It would be better to let him satisfy his desires reasonably and naturally move on. She should have never had any intention to interfere with Taegyeom’s love affairs. That much was certain.

At least, not until Taegyeom dared to spout nonsense about discussing marriage, right to Kyungrok’s face.

‘I have someone I’m meeting.’

You, how dare you.

For Kyungrok, who valued honor and dignity above all else, Taegyeom’s impoliteness was an unforgivable insult.

Once it reached that point, it was a situation that could no longer be overlooked. Amidst this, Jingyeom came running, whining, and making things even more tiresome, so there was no way he could afford to be kind to him.