Chapter 9

“Enough. That’s far enough.”

Jihoon raised his right hand.

Eum looked aggrieved.

“Why? Why won’t you let me finish?”

“Because everything you say with such a serious expression is completely ridiculous.”

“That’s not true.”

Even as Eum grumbled that he was being too harsh, she eventually said what she had wanted to ask.

“Why did you wait for me today?”

When Jihoon fell silent, an awkward stillness settled over the car.

In the dim interior, with the atmosphere so tense that they could almost hear each other breathing, Eum parted her lips again.

“Were you perhaps trying to take me ho—”

Tap.

But Eum had to stop when she felt a stinging sensation on her forehead. It didn’t really hurt, but she was so disappointed that she pouted and protested.

“Why did you hit me?”

“To make you come to your senses.”

“But I’m right, aren’t I? You came all the way to the study room instead of going home this late.”

“That was because I was filling in for the supervisor.”

But because Eum’s question had struck at the truth, Jihoon couldn’t continue.

Come to think of it, why did I go looking for you?

Even if he had been worried about a female student staying at school until so late, there had been no reason for him to actually go find her.

With his thoughts somewhat muddled, he arrived in front of her house.

“Go inside.”

“Okaaay.”

Seeing Eum looking somewhat dejected made Jihoon feel a little uncomfortable.

“Oh!”

But Eum had only just begun unfastening her seat belt when she turned toward him as though she’d forgotten something.

Her round, black eyes, like those of a little chick, were fixed on him. There was something about her utterly innocent gaze that made Jihoon uncomfortable, and he frowned slightly.

“What? Don’t just stare. Say it.”

“Thank you for taking me home.”

Yet, unexpectedly, what she had to say was nothing more than a polite word of thanks.

Jihoon remained there, watching as she bowed her head and got out of the car, staying until she had entered the building.

What is this feeling?

It was almost as though the scent of the lotion Eum used had lingered inside the car.

The strange sensation flustered him, and only belatedly did Jihoon roughly turn the steering wheel.

Chief Secretary Joo Minjae had recently found himself utterly unable to adjust to his employer, Seong Jihoon.

Something about him had been strangely different lately.

Jihoon had always been a man with very clear likes and dislikes, so he occasionally came back with some sort of trouble in tow. But never enough to go beyond what could be masked as charisma or decisiveness.

Yet these days…

“I’m not going on any more blind dates.”

Perhaps he was tired of enjoying idol-level popularity at school? He had suddenly canceled all his weekend blind dates, leaving Minjae scrambling to deal with the aftermath.

“Go home. I have things to do.”

During the day, he wandered around the school like an unemployed man with nothing to do, only to suddenly announce in the evening that he intended to work late and send Minjae home first.

There was definitely something different about him.

Minjae believed he had sufficient grounds for his suspicions. He had even considered secretly following Jihoon, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Just as my own private life is precious to me, my boss’s private life is precious too.

“Find out what that bastard is thinking.”

But when he was summoned to headquarters and given that order, Minjae genuinely wanted to hand in his resignation.

“Me?”

“Isn’t Chief Joo the person he’s most comfortable with?”

“Well, I don’t know if that’s necessarily—”

But Minjae had no choice but to quietly shut his mouth under the steady gaze of Vice Chairman Seong Giljun.

When you’re told to do something, you do it.

That was the fate Minjae had been given.

“Lately, I’ve been worried sick because of my one and only son.”

“I understand, Vice Chairman.”

“If I’d known things would turn out like this, I should’ve had two children. I stopped because I was worried about my wife’s health.”

Instead of answering, Minjae merely gave an awkward smile.

He knew that Seong Giljun’s marriage had caused quite a stir in society at the time. After all, he had married a woman who was only eighteen years old.

Even now, when he thought of his wife, who still wasn’t fifty, Minjae could imagine just how shocking the marriage must have been back then, even considering how little women’s rights were respected in that era.

“With Jihoon acting like this, I think Chairman Seong is going to make a move.”

“By ‘make a move,’ you mean…”

“Chairman still hasn’t given up on Ri-won.”

At the expected yet most worrying words, Minjae remained silent for a moment.

“If that bastard doesn’t choose a bride himself, I think Chairman will force him to marry Ri-won. That’s probably why he met Ri-won separately yesterday.”

“Would Executive Director Seong just sit back and let that happen?”

“He won’t. But at this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if Chairman cut off one of that bastard’s fingers and made him stamp the marriage registration form in blood. You know what Chairman is like, Chief Joo.”

Minjae lowered his head solemnly.

Chairman Seong Hyeon.

He was the original version of Seong Jihoon. No—the original was several levels above Jihoon.

He had particularly favored Jihoon because of how sharp and capable he had been from a young age, and it was true that he had always favored him over his other grandchildren.

The fact that he had even given Jihoon the opportunity to choose his own bride was proof of that.

But for some reason, after seeming to follow his grandfather’s orders without much resistance all this time, Jihoon had now declared that he wouldn’t even do that anymore.

It was understandable that the Chairman’s patience was running thin.

Minjae’s own heart felt as though it were burning away like dry autumn leaves.

He was heading toward the school with a heavy heart when, just as he was almost there, his phone rang.

[Source of All My Troubles]

It was Jihoon.

Minjae swallowed a sigh and answered.

“Yes, Executive Director.”

Meanwhile, Jihoon stood at an angle with one hand resting on his waist, the other holding his phone.

“Chief Joo Minjae.”

He was on his way back after discussing things with the principal. The eerie atmosphere around the study room at night had been bothering him, so he had gone to discuss measures to deal with it.

“What is this?”

But Jihoon’s gaze suddenly sharpened.

“Was there a visitor scheduled for today?”

—Excuse me? No, there wasn’t—

“How long are you planning to make her stand there?”

The woman in front of him smiled with her eyes.

Jihoon frowned.

After confirming with Minjae that this visit had not been scheduled, he hung up and turned toward the woman.

“How did you get in here?”

“I heard you’d been kicked out of headquarters, so I came to see what you looked like. But you’re doing better than I expected.”

It was Kang Ri-won.

Behind her stood two employees, as though acting as her guards. They were carrying an unidentified object covered by a protective sheet.

“So you’ve been enjoying yourself so much that you couldn’t even show up for our appointment?”

“I have nothing to say to you. Leave.”

“Chairman sent me.”

Ri-won crossed her arms and lifted her chin arrogantly.

Instead of responding, Jihoon quietly looked at her elaborately decorated fingernails.

The image of the short, clean nails he’d seen in the study room not long ago overlapped in his mind.

“So what?”

“You have to open the door. It’s not like we can take your measurements out here in the hallway, is it?”

“What is that?”

Jihoon asked the employee standing behind Ri-won.

The employee looked startled for a moment and glanced at Ri-won before cautiously answering.

“Samples of formal wedding attire.”

Just as he’d thought.

Jihoon shifted his cold gaze toward Ri-won.

“Hey. Kang Ri-won.”

His voice was so cold that Ri-won’s confident demeanor faltered for an instant.

“I knew you had a thick face, but even this is too much.”

“Oppa.”

“Oppa, my ass.”

At the sudden profanity, Ri-won’s eyes widened in disbelief.

She had known Jihoon for a long time. Not long ago, he’d even caused a major scene in front of both families’ grandparents and parents.

“I’m a human being, so I can’t marry garbage.”

But even then, he hadn’t uttered a single swear word.

“You pull something like this one more time, and I won’t let it slide.”

As Ri-won clenched her molars at the genuine warning in his voice, Jihoon pulled his phone from his jacket and called someone.

“We have some trespassers here. Get them out immediately. Since this is directly related to the students’ safety, I will make sure someone is held responsible for this.”

After ending the call, Jihoon simply opened the door to the chairman’s office and went inside.

“Hey! Seong Jihoon!”

Ri-won shouted furiously, but the door slammed shut as though deliberately ignoring her.

And someone was quietly watching Ri-won stomp her feet in frustration from the far end of the hallway.