Chapter 2.4

Early in the morning, the restaurant located in the heart of Hallstatt was surprisingly quiet. Just the day before, the village had been bustling with tourists, but it seemed that overnight, the crowds had thinned out considerably. 

In-wook glanced around the quiet restaurant before taking a seat by the window. Just as he was about to take a breather, he noticed a waiter approaching him. 

He ordered a cup of coffee. Though he had come here for a meal, his companion hadn’t arrived yet, and he wanted to enjoy a brief moment of solitude. 

It had been a week since he arrived on this business trip, and hadn’t he been unable to enjoy such leisure even once until now? 

The waiter who took his order flashed a polite smile before returning to the counter. Only then did In-wook turn his gaze outside the window. 

A familiar street came into view. His eyes, as if they had been waiting, darted toward a specific spot. 

It was a brunch café situated diagonally across. The reason he had been coming to this restaurant every morning for a week was precisely because of that place. 

Every morning at seven, Henry Price would come out to the terrace to drink coffee and read the newspaper, and by around nine, he would head to the nearby brunch café for a simple breakfast. 

Henry’s face filled In-wook’s eyes completely. 

“…….” 

In-wook quietly observed Henry from a distance. As he had for the past week, Henry was spending warm, family time without any difference. 

He pushed a plate of French toast toward his wife, who was enjoying her coffee, and carefully checked on the meal of his daughter seated beside him. 

He looked incredibly busy the entire time, yet the smile on his face never faded for even a moment. Especially when feeding scrambled eggs to his daughter, he seemed like a man who had everything in the world. 

Watching this scene quietly, In-wook felt a sense of wonder spreading deep within him, to the point that his mouth almost fell open in awe. 

From what he had observed so far, Henry Price didn’t waste even a single minute. No, not even a single second. It was hard to believe he had come here for a vacation. 

And yet, Henry always looked happy. 

“Does having a child make someone look like that?”

In-wook muttered to himself without realizing it. Objectively speaking, Henry’s daughter was incredibly adorable. But no matter how adorable she was, how could Henry wear such an expression while spending every day frantically taking care of his wife and child? A pointless curiosity arose in him. 

For In-wook, there was no way to find an answer. Let alone having a child, he wasn’t even married, and though he had a niece among his relatives who seemed to be around the same age as Henry’s daughter, all he did was give her a bit of pocket money when the occasion called for it. 

“……No point in wondering about it.” 

He let out a low chuckle and shifted into a more comfortable position. Just then, a waiter who had approached unnoticed served him his coffee. 

After a brief nod of acknowledgment, In-wook took a sip of the coffee. The flavor of the coffee beans seemed to richly coat not just his mouth but the tip of his nose as well. 

Savoring a leisure, he couldn’t have dreamed of at other times, he turned his gaze back out the window with a mouthful of calm. 

In the meantime, Henry’s daughter, who had finished her meal, had left her seat and was wandering around the table. There was an inexplicable rhythm to her steps, as if she were preparing to play a prank on Henry. 

Did Henry know this? He seemed engrossed in his meal, which he had started a bit late. 

Or so In-wook thought, at least until he saw Henry’s next action. 

“Daddy!” 

The child’s bright voice faintly carried over through the open window. Sneaking up behind Henry’s back, the child had crouched down and let out a shout to startle him. 

In response to the child’s cry, Henry pretended to be surprised, shrugging his shoulders dramatically. No matter how you looked at it, it was an exaggerated reaction. Even so, the child’s face lit up with excitement, a wide smile spreading across her lips. 

Truly, if there were a textbook example of a harmonious family, it would surely be the image of Henry’s family at this very moment. 

But why was it? The more In-wook watched Henry’s family, the more a certain someone’s face kept popping into his mind. 

“Do-Don’t laugh!!” 

The image of Hae-soo from early that morning, just before he headed here, kept flickering before his eyes. 

He hadn’t expected to encounter her in such a way at all. He had merely wondered if she might have woken up by now, nothing more. 

Moreover, he hadn’t anticipated in the slightest that she would blush furiously and hide beneath the window the moment their eyes met. 

“Come to think of it……” 

In-wook cast his gaze beyond the window once more. Henry’s daughter came into clear view immediately. The little lady was still enjoying a game of hide-and-seek with her father. 

He looked at that scene for a moment, then recalled the image etched in his mind. After that, he found it impossible to hold back his laughter. 

Wasn’t the sight of Hae-soo from that morning not so different from Henry’s daughter playing happily at the café across the street? 

“This is driving me crazy, really.” 

In-wook shook his head repeatedly while rubbing his forehead. His tone and gestures carried a sense of exasperation, but the smile on his lips remained unchanged. 

“I’m not going to say you have to take responsibility for my life just because we spent one night together.” 

“Instead, while I’m staying here, don’t think about running away. Stay in front of me. That’s the punishment I’m giving you.” 

Though he had expressed it grandly, the reasons behind those words were simple. 

First, it was because there were unresolved issues with Yoon Hae-soo, and second, if he were to send Hae-soo off to a strange country and an unfamiliar lodging with no connections, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about her. 

That said, giving up his second home to Hae-soo would clearly interfere with the work he had come all the way to this distant country to do. 

From every angle, keeping Yoon Hae-soo by his side made the most sense. Yet somehow, it felt as though he had gained an unexpected benefit as well. 

“She’s something else, really.” 

In-wook muttered quietly to himself. He had done this for his own peace of mind, but it seemed he had gained an unexpected joy as well. Otherwise, how could he keep chuckling like a fool every time he thought of Yoon Hae-soo? 

“What’s on the schedule for today?” 

In-wook’s fingers, resting on the table, tapped rhythmically. He recalled the briefing he had received from Chief Kim during a call just before leaving the house. 

According to the report, another hectic day was in store for him. Even so, for some reason, he felt an urge to rush back home, even if it meant overexerting himself. 

He tapped his fingers in a steady rhythm once more. Though he couldn’t afford to waste even a minute or a second to resolve the issue with Henry, whom he had been circling for a week without exchanging a single word, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to take it easy for just one day. 

As he quickly sorted through the schedule to see what could be skipped, a belated presence interrupted him. 

“CEO.” 

Lifting his head, In-wook saw Chief Kim, breathing heavily. 

“Ah, you’re here?” 

“I’m sorry for being late. I got delayed because of an urgent call from headquarters.” 

“An urgent call from headquarters? Has something gone wrong?” 

“No, it’s nothing like that. It seems there was a minor communication error within the secretarial team. It’s not something for you to worry about, CEO.”

Chief Kim’s expression was quite stiff as he spoke. Though it wasn’t a disruption to work, it seemed certain that there had been some commotion within the secretarial team. 

Under normal circumstances, In-wook would have dug deeper to understand the issue precisely, but for some reason, today he didn’t feel like pressing Chief Kim and taking on a headache-inducing problem. 

“You must be going through a lot, Chief Kim, coming all the way to a foreign country for this business trip.” 

In-wook offered some kind words to encourage Chief Kim and handed him the menu. Judging by his expression, Chief Kim didn’t seem in the mood for breakfast, but In-wook had no intention of accommodating that. 

He planned to declare to the already on-edge Chief Kim that the carefully arranged schedule for today would be postponed to tomorrow. 

So, before that, it was essential to placate him with an expensive and delicious breakfast. 

“How about steak? I’m craving meat this morning, and it just so happens that this place is known for its steak.” 

In-wook shamelessly recommended the most expensive item listed at the very end of the menu. Steak for breakfast—Chief Kim didn’t seem too keen on the idea, but once again, In-wook had no intention of respecting his preference. 

Without even waiting for a response, In-wook gestured toward the waiter at the counter. A smile, even more pronounced than before, curled at the corners of his mouth.