Chapter 4.8

Not long after, Hae-seong returned to the house. What he brought with him included whiskey, lemon juice, a few unidentified liquor bottles, and a bucket of ice.

It seemed his dream of opening the best bar in Korea was genuine, as his expression while preparing the drinks was serious.

Watching the process unfold piqued her curiosity about the taste. Soon, Hae-seong garnished the rim of the glass with a slice of lemon. It was an unnecessarily elaborate detail.

“I’m not going to drink. Noona, you just need to evaluate the taste.”

“Alright, then… just a small sip.”

Eun-sol brought the glass close to her nose. She had expected a strong alcoholic smell, but instead, a sweet aroma wafted up. When she lightly touched her tongue to the liquid, it didn’t even feel much like alcohol.

“Huh? This is good.”

“Right? The alcohol content is low too.”

There was almost no bitterness, and it went down her throat smoothly. After a few sips, the glass was empty before she realized it.

“This is tasty. Give me another glass.”

Eun-sol accepted another glass and drank it. She began to understand why people drank alcohol.

Tonight + the tiny bed + Kwon Jeong-hyeok.

The combination that had been triggering her anxiety and nervousness began to blur in her mind. Alcohol might not be a solution, but it seemed to serve as a temporary escape.

Before she knew it, Eun-sol was holding her fourth glass. She hoped this fourth glass would also take Kwon Jeong-hyeok away with it.

However, as if someone had applied super glue, Kwon Jeong-hyeok only became hazier in her mind but refused to disappear. Instead, he clung more stubbornly, as if to mock her.

“Ha, this is relentless. Just get out of my head already.”

She muttered to herself.

“What is? What’s relentless?”

“…It’s nothing.”

“Is it perhaps your husband?”

“It’s not!”

The sharp-eyed Hae-seong smirked.

“Got it. Noona, you’re drinking because of your husband.”

Having her thoughts exposed, Eun-sol clamped her mouth shut. The fact that even this kid could see through her feelings meant there was no way Kwon Jeong-hyeok hadn’t noticed.

Feeling pathetic, she drank a few more glasses, her emotional curve once again shaken.

It was because of what Hae-seong said.

“I like Tae Mari, and since you are Kwon Jeong-hyeok’s wife, doesn’t that make us comrades? We should join forces.”

His strange yet somewhat convincing logic.

“After all, Sowon Construction and Tae Mari’s Taepyeong Group are practically inseparable. They’re hard to separate even business-wise.”

The story of Tae Mari’s insurmountable background further grated on her nerves.

“You… you’re so young, and yet… how do you know so much?”

Her tongue felt heavy, as if weighed down by sandbags, and her speech became sluggish. Her breathing was interspersed between her words.

“I was born here. I’ve overheard a lot of what my parents talk about. Only six households live here, so even though everyone pretends not to care much in front of each other, they know everything behind each other’s backs.”

“……”

“But Noona, are you okay? How much can you drink?”

Hae-seong asked with concern.

“My drinking capacity? I don’t really know…”

With her memory loss, there was no way for her to know such a thing.

“I really don’t know anything about myself. I have nothing, and I know nothing.”

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but a fresh wave of sorrow surged within her.

“Fine. I’ll figure out how much I can drink today.”

Eun-sol picked up her glass again and drank the whiskey that Hae-seong had left unfinished in one big gulp.

* * *

The atmosphere in the Sowon Construction conference room was intense.

“…We can turn this crisis into an opportunity. By merging with Shinhwa Construction, we can expand our distribution channels and use this momentum to solidify our position as the industry leader.”

It was an endless relay of long discussions.

Recently, the real estate market had frozen, causing construction business profits to deteriorate and leading to a large-scale unsold housing crisis.

Furthermore, frequent strikes by the cargo workers’ union had created a significant internal and external crisis for the construction industry.

Even so, the sudden bankruptcy filing by Shinhwa Construction, which had been ranked among the top 50 in construction capacity, had sent shockwaves through the industry.

Jeong-hyeok used this moment to tighten internal discipline. He was also deeply contemplating the merger with Shinhwa Construction. This was why he had been working overtime every night recently.

Everyone was convinced that tonight would involve another marathon meeting and overtime work.

“Let’s end it here for today.”

Jeong-hyeok concluded the meeting.

The attendees checked their laptops and phones as if they had just heard something in a foreign language. The time was only 5 PM. There were still 30 minutes left until the official end of the workday.

“Everyone, go home.”

The attendees hesitated, busy gauging the situation. It was unusual for Kwon Jeong-hyeok, who treated overnight work as regular hours, to say something like that.

Because of this, they couldn’t determine whether this sudden suggestion was a gesture of encouragement or some kind of test.

Furthermore, Kwon Jeong-hyeok often turned jokes into serious remarks and serious remarks into jokes.

When no one moved, Jeong-hyeok stood up first.

“Did you all hear something you weren’t supposed to? I’m saying, go home immediately and spend some quality time with your families. My wife is waiting for me too.”

The word “wife” rolled off Jeong-hyeok’s tongue with ease as he disappeared out of the conference room.

The remaining attendees exchanged glances and hesitantly rose from their seats.

“What a windfall this is. Surely, this isn’t some kind of trap, right? Like, letting us go now only to hunt down whoever left early tomorrow….”

“No, I think he’s serious. The CEO really looked like someone who desperately wanted to go home. Isn’t there a reason they call it the honeymoon phase? Haha.”

* * *

Jeong-hyeok’s sedan glided smoothly into the townhouse. The early departure was evident in the fact that the mansion’s surroundings were still bathed in daylight.

Since he hadn’t informed Housekeeper Woo, the butler, about his early return, the mansion doors remained quietly shut.

‘I wonder what Eun-sol is doing right now.’

A single bed in a spacious bedroom. What kind of expression would she have, sitting in that empty room?

‘Would she be scared? Or maybe angry?’

Whatever it was, it seemed like it would be fun. After all, he held the reins of emotional control in this situation.