Chapter 8.1- Anxiety

Of course, Seo-jin didn’t intend to meet Eun-sol recklessly. He had prepared something to put Kwon Jeong-hyeok to sleep tonight.

According to the information Tae Mari had provided, there was an energy drink produced overseas that contained much higher caffeine levels than domestic products, and it was a drink Kwon Jeong-hyeok enjoyed during his late-night work sessions.

Tomorrow was a crucial day with official pre-coordination for the exchange ceremony of the merger and acquisition agreement, and there would be many things to meticulously review before then.

Since working late was inevitable for Kwon Jeong-hyeok, Seo-jin judged that the chances of him reaching for this drink were high. It was a brand he frequently consumed, so he wouldn’t suspect anything.

Thus, Seo-jin placed the energy drink in the basket of daily necessities delivered to the mansion. It was a drink with a tiny hole through which a small amount of sleeping medication had been injected using a syringe.

‘I’ve done everything I can, so now I just have to leave it to luck.’

If this operation failed, he would have to devise another plan.

His nervousness and anxiety reached their peak when, finally, the back door of the mansion opened!

‘Who’s that? Surely it’s not Kwon Jeong-hyeok, is it?’

Seo-jin focused all his senses to figure out who had come out.

He hoped it was Eun-sol, but it could also be the opposite.

Perhaps Eun-sol had told Kwon Jeong-hyeok the truth, or maybe Kwon Jeong-hyeok had sensed something was off.

Holding his breath, Seo-jin steadied himself as much as he could.

* * *

Ten minutes earlier, in the bedroom.

The sudden silence of his keyboard seemed unusual.

Rising from the bed, she saw him slumped over his desk.

“…Jeong-hyeok?!”

For a moment, she feared he might have died from overwork. It was an extreme thought, but not entirely impossible.

Frightened, she rushed over to him to check if he was still breathing.

He was breathing steadily, inhaling and exhaling rhythmically. With each breath, his long eyelashes fluttered slightly. His calm breathing was in stark contrast to Eun-sol’s startled heart—it was almost peaceful.

‘Phew, he’s just asleep.’

While it wasn’t strange for him to fall asleep like this, considering how alert he had been just moments ago, it felt sudden.

And of all times, it had to be tonight, when Chu Seo-jin said he would come to the backyard, that he fell into such a deep sleep at just the right moment.

‘Is this really just a coincidence?’

The caffeine drink left on his desk kept bothering her. After all, he had fallen asleep not long after drinking it.

‘If they slipped a note into the feminine hygiene product, who’s to say they didn’t do something to this drink as well?’

Eun-sol, who had been staring blankly at Jeong-hyeok’s face, debated whether she should go out to meet Chu Seo-jin or not.

Soon, she found a cardigan and draped it over her shoulders. To avoid waking Jeong-hyeok, she carefully opened the bedroom door and stepped out.

As she reached the backyard, she saw the silhouette of a person. Chu Seo-jin was indeed there.

Eun-sol cautiously walked toward him.

“Eun-sol!”

Seo-jin, unable to contain his joy, called out her name instinctively, only to immediately cover his mouth in regret.

Finally, the two stood face-to-face, separated only by a chest-high gate in the fence.

“I was worried you wouldn’t come out.”

Seo-jin’s voice trembled with relief.

“Eun-sol, can you open this gate?”

The gate, which stood like a dividing line between them, was an annoyance to Seo-jin.

“Oh, I don’t know how to open it. Since when has it been locked? It’s always been open before….”

It seemed Eun-sol had only just realized that the backyard gate was locked.

Seo-jin clenched his fist tightly. Anger surged within him. 

How was what Kwon Jeong-hyeok was doing any different from imprisonment…?

Still, he suppressed his fury. He had resolved not to show any emotional outbursts.

“Well, this is fine too. As long as I can see your face clearly, that’s enough.”

“Yes. But more importantly, how is your injured hand… is it okay?”

Though it was a brief inquiry, her concern stirred the emotions Seo-jin had been holding back.

“They say it’s a minor functional impairment, but there will be permanent damage. The doctor said that not only the bones but also the muscles and nerves were damaged, so I won’t be able to do any precise work with my hands in the future.”

“Oh no! I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I can ever apologize….”

Seo-jin’s heart sank. Though it was a simple apology, it was a stark reminder that Kim Eun-sol belonged to someone else.

“…Eun-sol, you don’t need to apologize. Why are you apologizing for something Kwon Jeong-hyeok did wrong?”

* * *

A wave of drowsiness pressed down on his skull like a flood.

Jeong-hyeok opened a drawer and took out a Zippo lighter. His blurred vision made the lighter’s wheel appear as if there were two or three of them.

‘That bastard. Just how much sleeping medication did he put in?’

Click. The lighter wheel turned. The lack of control caused the skin on the tip of his finger to scrape harshly. The faint pain at his fingertip felt distant, as though it belonged to someone else.

He stared at the tall flame of the lighter, almost entranced, before finally lighting the cigarette held between his lips.

Then, he glanced around the empty bedroom. The bed was still empty, no matter how many times he looked.

“She really left….”

He recalled the faint sound of her slipping out of the bedroom, careful not to wake him, like a stray cat.

He took a drag from his cigarette to shake off his sleepiness. The smoke that trailed down his throat tasted bitter.

At the same time, Eun-sol’s earlier question echoed in his mind.

“Why do you do this to me?”

Even though it was a fragmented question, he knew exactly what she meant. That made it even more absurd. Did she really not know? Did it really need to be put into words for her to understand?

“Because I love you.”

It wasn’t until after he said it that he realized it was the first time he had ever said those words. It was such a natural truth that he had never thought to articulate it.

But even that confession seemed to have been useless. In the end, Kim Eun-sol had left him.

“Sigh….”

The cigarette smoke burned acridly.

Was being left behind always this filthy of a feeling? 

The hollow silence filled his chest like a rising tide.

Even the energy drink bottle sitting on the desk seemed to mock him.

He had suspected the drink from the beginning. Sure, it was one he liked, but it wasn’t something that should have been in this house.

The staff didn’t know anything about it. While he often drank it during late nights at work, he had never once brought it up or consumed it at home.

It wasn’t the kind of product a staff member would have randomly thrown into a shopping cart and sent to the house. After all, it wasn’t a drink you could find at a regular supermarket.

So its presence in this house was strange.

Naturally, he immediately suspected Chu Seo-jin.

In fact, ever since running into Chu Seo-jin at the Tae-pyeong Group’s founding anniversary party, he had placed a tail on him.

But Chu Seo-jin, having already been caught once in China, was cautious. Perhaps expecting to be followed, he moved sensitively and eventually shook off his pursuers.

Jeong-hyeok hadn’t been too concerned. Even if Chu Seo-jin disappeared from his radar, the only person he would ultimately seek out was Eun-sol.

In the end, he would walk straight into this townhouse himself.

For this reason, he had instructed the townhouse security team to report anything even slightly out of the ordinary immediately. It was during this time that a report came in about suspicious bathroom renovations at Tae Mari’s residence.

At Tae Mari’s house, five workers were coming and going alternately under the pretense of bathroom remodeling, creating confusion in the visitor logs. However, compared to the number of workers entering and leaving, the amount of construction waste being removed was suspiciously minimal.

Upon reviewing the recorded CCTV footage, one of the workers appeared to be Chu Seo-jin.

‘Why is Chu Seo-jin, who had already been dealt with before, suddenly going to such extremes?’

There was the incident in China where he was detained, as well as the one at the Tae-pyeong Group’s banquet, where a single blow had crushed the back of his hand.

By now, those should have been sufficient warnings. For Chu Seo-jin to continue with such actions, he must have had something to rely on.

While he was curious about Chu Seo-jin’s intentions, his attention was drawn to the suspicious caffeinated drink. It was undoubtedly a trap set by Chu Seo-jin.

He decided to step into the trap. He drank a small amount of the caffeinated beverage. While there was some risk involved, it was the fastest and most certain way to uncover Chu Seo-jin’s intentions.

And now, he waited.