Chapter 3

Ieum finished her pre-meal tea and quietly set the cup down.

Representative Park, a year older than her father, Changshin, was sitting across from her with a greasy smile.

“Hello, Ieum. It’s nice to see you again.”

The glossy suit, shimmering under the lights, reminded her of a silver hairtail that had been caught and kept for far too long. The way his eyes subtly looked her up and down was just like those of a rotten fish.

She had never believed that she would only have to eat one meal, but Ieum had already figured out why Changshin had sent her here, and her stomach was beginning to feel heavy.

“You should have some nourishing food when the CSAT is just around the corner. That’s why I asked you out today—to buy you something delicious. By any chance, does our Ieum remember me?”

Ieum shook her head.

“You don’t remember me. Well, I suppose that’s understandable. It’s been so long since I saw our Ieum, and you were so young back then.”

Representative Park continued with a deliberately benevolent smile.

“I was so surprised. Our Ieum has grown up so much already. When you were little, you were just as cute as a fairy, but now…”

His aged voice trembled slightly, unable to conceal the filthy emotions behind it.

Ieum’s stomach churned, and just as she frowned and looked up—

“Representative, your meal is ready.”

There was a knock, and the waiters came in and began serving the food.

Should I run away now?

As Ieum considered the possibility, the man spoke.

“Our Ieum is almost twenty already. Time really flies, doesn’t it?”

Representative Park waited until the staff had finished serving and left, then leaned his upper body toward her.

“I’ll get straight to the point. I came here because I want to marry you, Ieum.”

Ieum was not surprised.

She knew that her grandfather, Yeon Honam, wanted not only his son Changshin but even his young granddaughters to become people he could use as leverage.

But as Ieum sat frozen in thought, Representative Park leisurely looked her over before curling up the corners of his mouth.

“I was too forward, wasn’t I? You already have enough on your mind with the CSAT coming up, and then I suddenly bring up marriage. I’m sorry if I startled you. I’m just a little pressed for time.”

As if he had expected Ieum to remain silent, he called a waiter and had something brought over.

A small glass was brought in as though it had been prepared in advance.

“Here, drink this. A drink like this helps you relax when you’re nervous.”

“You mean alcohol.”

The man smiled warmly, as though he found Ieum adorable now that she had finally spoken.

“Ieum is such a good girl. But it’s all right to drink when an adult offers you some. Come on, go ahead.”

His supposedly benevolent smile was disgusting.

Ieum knew that look in the eyes of a criminal consumed by lust. She could already tell what he intended to do after getting her drunk.

Ieum spoke expressionlessly.

“What am I supposed to trust?”

“Hm?”

“Who knows? You could have put something in it.”

Representative Park looked startled for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter.

“Hahaha! They say kids these days are brazen. I guess it’s true. Who would put something in it? Do I really look like that kind of person to you, Ieum?”

Just as Ieum was about to answer expressionlessly that he did—

“Sir, you cannot enter the reserved room…!”

BANG!

The door suddenly flew open.

Both Representative Park and Ieum, who turned at the sound, widened their eyes in surprise.

“Teach—”

Before Ieum could finish saying “Teacher,” Jihoon had already entered in the blink of an eye. He picked up the glass in front of her and brought it beneath his nose.

“W-What the hell are you doing?!”

Only after shouting did Representative Park seem to recognize Jihoon. His eyes suddenly widened, and his jaw began to tremble.

Jihoon slammed the glass down in front of the man.

“Drink.”

“Y-You…!”

“Drink it in front of me. Before I go to the press.”

At the mention of the press, the man flinched. His face quickly reddened, and he sprang to his feet.

“Driver Kim! Driver Kimmm!”

But Jihoon grabbed the back of the man’s neck as if there were no chance of that working, and at the same time spoke to Ieum.

“Kiddo. Close your eyes.”

The moment Ieum reflexively closed her eyes, she heard the loud sounds of things crashing and breaking, along with Representative Park’s desperate screams.

BANG, CRASH! SHATTER—!

She had become so accustomed to the ugly, disgraceful, and unpleasant sights adults showed her that she was practically sick of them by now.

Even so, Ieum never opened her eyes.

Instead, she wanted to protect Jihoon’s feelings—the feelings of someone who cared enough about her innocence to worry about what she might see.

Because he was the only adult who had ever treated her like a child.

There was heavy rain on the way home.

Ieum stared absentmindedly at the streams of rain beating against the window, then shifted her eyes to the side.

Jihoon, whose hands were on the steering wheel, had been silent for a while.

She didn’t know what he had done to the middle-aged man earlier. By the time she heard him say that it was all right to open her eyes, everything had already been taken care of.

“I’ll take you home.”

The rain grew heavier, and there wasn’t a person in sight on the streets. The roadside trees swayed frighteningly in the wind and rain.

But Ieum’s heart was different.

It felt like a warm spring day.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m fine.”

“Still, cover yourself.”

A large jacket was tossed onto her lap.

Perhaps he was worried about her thighs being exposed. He said he wasn’t a teacher, but he was someone who guided and disciplined students even more than a teacher would. That was why Ieum called him “Teacher.”

She glanced at Jihoon again after he tossed the jacket over her, then asked while he continued to stare straight ahead.

“How did you know where I was?”

“Just a coincidence.”

“Why did you help me?”

Only then did Jihoon’s gaze fall on Ieum.

His eyes were still sharp, as though something about the situation displeased him, but every time their eyes met, Ieum’s heart fluttered so intensely that she couldn’t calm herself.

It was a feeling she had experienced for the first time in her life, and it was difficult even to put into words.

“Then was I supposed to just leave a suspicious situation like that alone?”

“Why was it suspicious? You could have thought he was my father.”

At her reply, Jihoon closed his mouth with an expression that suggested he had a lot to say.

If he tried to explain that the way she was dressed, the awkward way she walked, the anxious look in her eyes—none of it had seemed normal, then perhaps it would be better to say nothing at all.

He remembered Ieum confessing that she liked him.

Those sparkling eyes filled with countless colors.

So he had to choose his words carefully. If he said the wrong thing to that pure, tender heart, there was no telling what kind of aftermath it might cause.

“You don’t look anything like him. What are you talking about?”

He thought it would be better to leave it at that rather than give her any unnecessary hope.

“You hit that man earlier, didn’t you?”

“Don’t concern yourself with adults’ affairs.”

“I’m not far from being an adult myself.”

“That means you’re not an adult yet.”

Faced with Jihoon’s impenetrable wall, Ieum pouted but didn’t ask anything more.

The car was filled with nothing but the sound of rain. The atmosphere was so calm that simply listening to it made her feel drowsy.

But in truth, Jihoon’s circumstances were anything but peaceful.

His phone, which he had switched to silent mode, had been flashing nonstop.

**〈

Chief Secretary Joo Minjae

Are you out of your mind?

Have you lost it?

It was Minjae. Jihoon had blatantly stood up the blind date with Kang Ri-won, caused an incident on top of that, and then left, so this reaction was only natural.

Fortunately, by the time they arrived in front of Ieum’s house, the rain had weakened considerably.

“Go inside.”

But Ieum seemed to have something she wanted to say. Her lips moved slightly before she looked up at him and asked,

“Can I take your jacket inside, Teacher?”

“No.”

The firm refusal briefly showed a trace of disappointment on her face, but it seemed there was something else she really wanted to ask. Ieum cautiously gauged his reaction.

“Can I pretend I don’t know about what happened today?”

She had gone there at the request of her father, Yeon Changshin.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t worried about what would happen to her because of the incident today. It was the first time she had ever ruined an order from her absolute ruler of a grandfather.

“I mean, can I hide behind you, Teacher?”

Jihoon looked at Ieum with an unreadable expression.

After a silence that lasted for a while—

Just as Ieum waited anxiously, holding her breath for his answer, her lips trembling with nervousness—

“Unni?”

Knock, knock.

What reached Ieum’s ears was a voice other than his.