CHAPTER 67

She heard the sound of footsteps chasing behind her. A hesitant pause then quickly treading the ground so as not to be left behind. Leeseo continued walking without turning back.

Suddenly, the smell of stale cigarettes hit her nostrils. Even without seeing the face, it seemed like she knew who it was. Leeseo quickened her pace. Right now, she didn’t want to talk to anyone, especially with someone who might provoke an argument out of nowhere.

But before she could take more than a few steps, a strong hand grabbed her arm. The thick scent of cigarettes, intensified frighteningly, mixed with the smell of alcohol, struck her abruptly.

“Hey, Hyun…Lee…seo.”

There were bloodshot veins in Jingyeom’s eyes. He was a mess, to the extent that one could insist that he was the one who endured the terrible confrontation with Chairman Kwon a while ago, not her.

Disheveled hair, pale complexion, disheveled attire, wandering eyes that couldn’t settle in one place but roamed confusingly – at that moment, Leeseo realized.

It’s him. 

The one who snitched to the chairman.

On the tablet the chairman was looking at, she saw a picture of her and Taegyeom. It was out of focus and the composition was off, but anyone who lived in the mansion would recognize the form of the annex in the photo, and the backs of the man and woman as they merged into a single silhouette and headed toward the annex.

It was obviously Taegyeom’s back, as it’s not often you see a man as tall and strong as he is, but there was nothing about the woman’s figure that made it obvious that it was her.

She thought about denying it wasn’t her, but in the face of Chairman Kwon, who knew everything and had summoned her, a momentary excuse would be of no use. Instead, he might have ranted in anger more, accusing her of deceiving him.

Leeseo looked at Jin-gyeom with tired eyes. He seemed anxious and restless, like a puppy who had made a huge mistake and was afraid of the punishment that was about to befall him.

However, she didn’t feel any sense of remorse from any angle. Even this anger, like swallowing hot lava, wasn’t Jingyeom’s responsibility. She simply felt nothing.

Leeseo forcefully pulled her arm out of Jingyeom’s grip and said,

“Did you come to see what kind of face I’m making?”

Jingyeom bit his lips as if in agony. With a pained expression, he glanced at her.

“It’s not like that. I have something to tell you.”

“I don’t really want to hear anything. Since you don’t have any emotions, you don’t need to make excuses. I’m tired right now. I don’t have the energy to deal with you.”

As Jingyeom’s face contorted as if he had turned the insult of having no emotions into a twisted one, he grabbed Leeseo again, who was turning away listlessly, and growled as if to threaten her.

“Is that all you can say? Even though the situation is a bit difficult and painful right now, you’ll be grateful to me later for ending it like this. Kwon Taegyeom, that son of a b*tch, would just probably chew you up and spit you out like a piece of gum, dump you without any lingering attachment.”

“I didn’t realize you thought about me so much. I’m tearfully grateful. Did you rush to Daddy because you were afraid I would be quickly chewed up and discarded? I can’t follow the thought process of such a naive young master.”

“Don’t mock me. You just don’t know how despicable Kwon Taegyeom really is, that’s why. Until now, he might have been cooking you up with his charming face, but his true colors are that of trash with the stench of the gutters.”

“All the Kwons I know are so despicable that it’s almost unbearable, so he’s probably no different. I’ll take your advice.”

“Hyun Gyucheoll! Your dad!”

Unexpected words popped out. Lee Seo looked up in surprise. Seeing her showing interest in what I said, Jinkyum sneered as if saying, “Well, that’s how it is.”

“Kwon Taegyeom, that jerk, may pretend to roll and criticize my dad, pretending to be disgusting, but he hates my dad to the bone.”

She had learned about the deep-seated history that made Taegyeom hate his father. She didn’t want to hear it, but Chairman Kwon’s dreadful story slithered like a snake into her ears and it rattled around in her head. It was tormenting how it wouldn’t go away.

Frowning, Leeseo interrupted and interjected into Jingyeom’s words.

“What does my dad have to do with that…….”

“I’m still talking! Listen to me first!”

Jingyeom shouted, his voice rising to the point of almost breaking.

“He’s digging into your father’s background. To find weaknesses. To destroy my father, and our family. He wants to reverse the relationship because right now he’s just a cheap horse that my father will soon sell to the market for a high price.”

A cheap horse…….

The carefully crafted document that had been thrown to the floor by Chairman Kwon earlier came to mind. With the first deal falling through, a new negotiation was underway to buy and sell a new product with good blood and attractive looks.

As if playing out like the family conflicts seen in dramas and movies involving conglomerate households, the reality wasn’t much different. The crude term ‘cheap horse’ only covered the surface; in truth, it wasn’t surprising that those who had so much and feared losing it would consider marriage as a business transaction to generate more wealth.

A hint of boredom crossed Leeseo’s face as if saying that was all he wanted to talk about. Jingyeom took a nervous breath and hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Hyun Gyucheol made a contract with our father.  In exchange for him being the one serving time in prison, he’ll receive a huge sum of money that he’ll never touch in his lifetime.”

Leeseo’s brown pupils widened in shock. She couldn’t quite grasp the implications of what Jingyeom was saying.

“Father values honor more than anything else. And to protect the honor of the group, he won’t hesitate to use any means and methods, sparing no expense. Considering that, even including the trial period, spending just three to four years in prison is a generous offer compared to rotting away in a cell. Hyun Gyucheol probably accepted it willingly.”

It can’t be true. 

Leeseo found herself shaking her head involuntarily.

“His original life wasn’t much different from rotting in a lonely prison anyway. Living a life where no one comes to visit and dealing with meager assets at the gambling table. Our father is remarkably skilled at exploiting the shortcomings of such unfortunate people and using them to his advantage like a ghost.”

Throughout her time at university, Leeseo hadn’t sought out Gyucheol. She was immersed in the sadness of losing her mother. Whenever she met her father or visited the mansion filled with memories of her mother, she used the excuse that the sorrow left her life in disarray for days on end.

While she was neglecting Gyucheol, who was rotting away in loneliness, Chairman Kwon’s snake-like eyes caught him. Leeseo couldn’t bring herself to criticize Gyucheol’s foolishness in biting into the poisoned apple the chairman handed him 

“The severance pay, which you gave to the bereaved family out of guilt, was actually a down payment. What kind of foolish company would give over a billion won as retirement pay to an employee who got caught in an accident and was taken by the police, even providing a lawyer? No matter how generous our father is to the employees, he won’t waste money on useless leftovers.”

She thought it was excessive, but at that time, she didn’t want to delve too deeply into it. The only desire she had was for the sense of guilt she carried for the victims’ families to be lightened, even if just a little, by the large amount of money. Everything felt burdensome just knowing that Gyucheol had caused someone’s death.

“I don’t know how he found out, but Kwon Taegyeom saw through the contract between our father and Hyun Gyucheol and attempted to contact your father.” 

Leeseo thought of Yoo Jinwoo. The man’s words, which she couldn’t understand at the time, came to mind.

‘So, even though I want to welcome you with open arms when Taegyeom dates you, there’s a part of me that thinks it’s not the right time for that little punk. Therefore, I have mixed feelings about you, Leeseo, right now; I can’t quite figure out whether I dislike or like you.’

‘He’s goal-oriented, he’s patient, he attacks relentlessly when he has something he wants, and he doesn’t hesitate or regret using whatever means necessary to accomplish his goals, but there’s something off about him lately, and I can’t help but think it’s because of you, Hyun Leeseo.’

Jingyeom’s cold sarcasm led Leeseo away from her reverie.

“He was probably trying to get Hyun Gyucheol on his side and get a confession out of him, but when that didn’t work, he switched gears and came after you.”

Jingyeom gripped Leeseo’s shoulders tightly, shaking her with force as if to snap her out of it.

“He used you for his own purposes!”

The scent of cigarettes and the smell of alcohol mixed in his breath hit Leeseo’s face. As Jingyeom shook her, she wondered if Taegyeom really did approach her with the intention of using her.

From the beginning, Taegyeom always warned her, leaving an escape route for her as if to say that getting involved with trash like him would only mess up her life. But she always ignored that warning.

“You don’t even know about that, and how could you get involved with that bastard? Did you… Did you sleep with him?”

Leeseo looked up and stared at Jingyeom. His bloodshot eyes were unsettling with a sense of betrayal. It seemed like laughter was about to burst out.

“No, right? Not yet? You didn’t sleep with him, right?”

Denial after denial, Jingyeom persisted in seeking an answer.

“Curious?”

Leeseo responded calmly. Jingyeom’s eyes narrowed as if trying to glean some nuance from her calm voice.

“Uh, I’m curious. I’m so curious that it might drive me crazy. I haven’t slept a wink all night. What if that bastard… What if he touched you? Just the thought makes me uneasy. I’ve been nervously thinking about you all night. I couldn’t even sleep. I thought drinking would help me fall asleep, but f*ck, it only makes me think more clearly.”

Jingyeom rambled like a drunk person. Red veins pulsed in his bloodshot eyes.