Chapter 5 – That Bastard (Part 2)

“Are you a macho?”

Dowook, who was smoking by the window, looked at the woman curiously.

“You kept smoking even at the club.”

When their eyes met, the woman sitting on the bed smiled with her eyes. Dowook looked down at her face and then, ah, he said. He lit the cigarette in his mouth.

“More like a chain-smoker.”

It was a rather cynical answer.

“I’m an overseas student, so my Korean is still clumsy.”

The woman awkwardly lied and laughed sheepishly. Dowook also smiled back. Despite his cold impression, he smiled often. Yet, it didn’t come across as frivolous, which was intriguing.

Even if they hadn’t met in such a place, his appearance naturally made one wonder what it would be like to have s*x with him. Considering his looks and wealth as part of Taesan’s owner family, life must be easy for him.

How much would I get if I hooked such a big fish?

“Do you like s*x?”

“Pardon?”

The question was blunt. Dowook, waiting for an answer, exhaled smoke and stared at the woman.

For the past thirty minutes, he had been standing still, just looking outside the terrace, making her think he was a gentleman. Then again, with such a rebellious appearance, it wouldn’t be easy for him to be a gentleman.

The woman quickly erased her look of embarrassment and, while sitting, stretched out her leg to skillfully caress Dowook’s leg. The fabric of his pants felt unusually smooth, suggesting that the young master’s clothes were made of extraordinary material. She slid one foot deeply between Dowook’s legs.

“I do like it. I’m also good at it.”

“That’s great.”

Dowook tore a piece of paper from the notepad on the table in front of the bed. He adjusted the cigarette in his mouth and spoke as if giving an order.

“Give me your number.”

It was nothing unusual for her. Meeting at a club, having s*x, exchanging numbers, becoming a sponsor.

Of course, as the most popular ace in the club, she didn’t accept just any sponsor. She only maintained sponsor relationships with those she genuinely liked.

But this man was the most handsome and well-built among all the men she had ever seen. Perhaps because of the deep and sharp lines of his features, the man with a somewhat decadent impression sparked erotic imaginations just by smoking a cigarette.

She had heard he was very wealthy too. She had never encountered a client who possessed all three attributes. So, it made sense to write her number on that piece of paper without hesitation….

Yet, she was enveloped in a strange feeling.

The man had been consistently polite to her. He didn’t speak informally, didn’t touch her body indiscriminately, and didn’t make any crude jokes. He treated her with a smooth smile and good manners throughout.

Despite this, she felt an inexplicable sense of rudeness and intimidation from him.

When she looked up, puzzled by this feeling, the man smiled faintly again.

“Don’t you want to?”

His voice wrapped around her like a vine. Just facing his smile made her feel euphoric, as if she were on drugs.

So, she wrote her number. Because he was a big catch, and because he told her to. Such a handsome man was rare. Anyway, the man had been kind and polite to her, making her feel like she should follow his words.

Dowook glanced at the paper briefly before putting it in his wallet. The woman brushed off her discomfort and stretched her leg again. She smoothly slid her foot up from Dowook’s ankle. Suddenly, a check was placed between her toes.

Before she could even feel bewildered or humiliated, the first thing her mind registered was the number of zeros on the check.

Her eyes widened at the sheer number of zeros. She strained her toes to hold onto the check and tried to count the zeros accurately.

“Call your lover, buy a man, do whatever you like.”

Dowook stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray as he spoke.

“Leave plenty of traces while you’re at it.”

“What kind of traces… Ah!”

“So that anyone who sees will think you had a wild time.”

The woman let out a scream and curled her body forward.

She had strained her toes so much that her calf cramped. The check fluttered to the floor. Meanwhile, Dowook put away his cigarette pack and donned his coat.

“A fellow overseas student will call. It won’t be a loss, so take it when it comes.”

She couldn’t hear Dowook’s words. The pain in her muscles felt like they were tearing apart, causing her to grimace and groan in agony.

“Here, massage this…!”

Dowook walked past her without a care. As he walked by, he stepped on the check that had fallen to the floor. A black shoe print was left on the check. Seeing that, the words “that bastard” slipped out of her mouth.

***

The sound of footsteps echoed steadily in the basement.

Crossing the parking lot, Dowook checked his watch. It was 1:42 AM. Since it was early morning, there would be no traffic, allowing him enough time to return home and review the materials Yoon Ki-hong had brought in the afternoon. They were documents related to the selection of a site for a new electric car factory. It was one of the tasks he would handle immediately after joining Taesan next month.

As he walked, he mentally reviewed the locations of the potential sites. He drew a map in his mind and marked the factories for each part. He calculated the distances and routes between the factories for each candidate, weighing the advantages and disadvantages.

Dowook’s steps halted in front of a black sedan parked in a corner of the parking lot. The car windows were also tinted black. Ki-hong got out of the driver’s seat and immediately opened the rear door.

“I’ll take you home.”

It had been an unusually long day. It started with the wedding of a fifth cousin. Prominent figures from the political and business circles gathered, exchanging greetings and discussing domestic and international situations and investment statuses.

Then there was the reception at Heejeongwon, followed by the theatrical display of harmony and unity among relatives, Choi Seonwook’s clown show, and the woman’s strip show. All those moments piled up fatigue, and Dowook felt bored through it all.

“Pass the woman’s number to Prosecutor Joo.”

Choi Seonwook was a pawn to catch Choi Hyeonwook in the future. That woman earlier was a pawn to get Choi Seonwook in his hands.

‘There’s talk that Parra Holdings, a Singaporean fund company, is buying up shares of Taesan Trading. It might be your father’s company under a borrowed name. There’s someone suspicious among the executives. If he’s gathering shares without telling me, those shares are likely intended for your brother, not you….’

He knew his father was secretly preparing for Choi Hyeonwook’s succession. Even if Choi Hyeonwook and his father abandoned Seonwook, his father’s beloved mistress, who was also Seonwook’s soft-hearted biological mother, would never abandon him.

The previous drug-related s*x entertainment case was a kind of appetizer. To secure a sentence that would make a comeback impossible, a first offense wasn’t enough. At least a second or third offense was needed.

Seonwook, in that crisis, would do anything to survive, and his biological mother, to save Seonwook, would grant his earnest wishes.

Thus, Dowook planned to grasp Seonwook’s weaknesses, tame him, and extract information about Hyeonwook and his father through his biological mother. Previously, he had cleverly driven a wedge between Hyeonwook and Seonwook for this purpose. Seonwook still believed it was Hyeonwook who had reported him, but it was actually one of Dowook’s planted employees who had done it.

“We’ve arrived.”

Whether it’s a small business in a rural shop or a company responsible for half the country’s economy, ultimately, it’s all done by people. 

‘You must use people well, Dowook.’

Dowook was faithfully applying the lessons his grandfather had taught him when he was healthy.

Thus, Dowook intended to climb to the highest position he could.

“Tomorrow, you have a lunch meeting with Lawyer Jang from the law firm Joo & Lee. I’ll come to pick you up in time for the appointment. Please rest, Young Master.”

He thought Woo Junhee would want that too. She always preferred seeing him work diligently, getting recognized by his grandfather and mother, and achieving results rather than idling around or clinging to her.

He liked it when Junhee found him admirable and impressive.

‘If you get into trouble, I’ll defend you.’

‘I hope what I do will help you someday.’

He liked the future Woo Junhee envisioned for them.

‘Next time we move, let’s buy bright-colored bedding instead of dark ones.’

Even those trivial words made him feel assured that they would be together in the distant future.

But if she was going to abandon me like this, if she was going to grow cold, why did she say such things?

Those were words from just three or four months ago. Dowook still couldn’t understand Junhee.

With a sharp gaze, Dowook scanned the darkened house.

As his confusion accumulated, hatred sprouted. As small hatreds gathered, they became anger. No matter how much he loved Woo Junhee, he couldn’t forgive her for making him this angry. He wondered what punishment he should give Woo Junhee.

From the entrance to the living room, Dowook unbuttoned and threw off his constricting clothes one by one as if shedding a skin. By the time he sat on the sofa in the middle of the living room, he was only wearing pants with the belt buckle loosely undone.

He tried to lie down and sleep but couldn’t. It seemed like quite some time had passed, but it was still dark outside, and morning seemed far away.