A Villain's True Love - Chapter 1

The spring rain pattered on the dry ground.

At a time between Clear and Bright and the Beginning of Summer, Ji Yeon Woo left the police station with heavy steps.

Ji Yeon Woo had sought help from the police, suffering from her boss’s excessive obsession and gaslighting, but the result was devastating. She was no match for the five lawyers from a large law firm hired by her boss.

‘Ms. Ji Yeon Woo. If you’re not careful, you could be punished for false accusation. You should have a pure heart, you know. It seems Mr. Cha Yun Seok’s way of expressing affection was a bit excessive, but instead of coming to the police station like this, go and have a good talk with him. He’s not someone you can’t communicate with.’

Ji Yeon Woo just stared blankly at the heavy rain. As the air grew as gloomy as the overcast sky, a car soon pulled up in front of her.

It was her boss’s sedan.

As the window rolled down and her boss smiled, Ji Yeon Woo turned her head away. Though his face wore a kind smile, Ji Yeon Woo found his snake-like eyes terrifying.

“Yeon Woo. I told you repeatedly not to do anything foolish. Wasting money and time, there’s nothing you can gain from this, you know?”

Though his voice was filled with mockery, Ji Yeon Woo simply opened her umbrella without much reaction. She tried to distance herself from her boss as much as possible while descending the stairs diagonally.

At that, the car door opened and her boss got out. At the sound of the door closing, Ji Yeon Woo’s steps quickened, but she was soon caught up to.

Without warning, her boss pushed his way under her umbrella.

“After treating someone like trash, you should at least apologize before leaving. The lawyers wanted to put you away for false accusation, but I stopped them thinking of your flower-like future. You should be grateful. Don’t you think?”

When his snake-like eyes, filled with venom, scanned her face, she felt a chill as if filth was smearing her.

As if peering into Ji Yeon Woo’s dark expression was the joy of his life, her boss let out a victor’s laugh. Then he leaned his head forward and whispered in her ear.

“Yeon Woo. Stop trying and just give up. You can’t escape me.”

It was such a small voice that even a recorder left on would be useless.

“If you try to screw me over like this one more time, I really won’t let it slide. Just accept it when I treat you humanely. Ji Yeon Woo will only have Cha Yun Seok as her man as long as she lives, like this.”

“……”

“When you die, then I’ll let you go.”

Her boss straightened the umbrella Ji Yeon Woo was holding. Then as he stepped out from under it, he gave a small wave.

“I’ll mark yesterday and today as paid leave, so come to work from tomorrow. If you don’t come to work, you know?”

For a moment, madness flickered in her boss’s eyes.

“As I’ve said many times, finding you alone is no big deal. Don’t make me angrier and just come to work quietly. There’s a limit to how much I can overlook.”

Only after her boss had returned to his car with a swaggering gait and finished speaking did Ji Yeon Woo bite down hard on her lip. After his vehicle departed, the lawyers’ cars followed behind.

The pouring rain that had fallen all day long drummed on the top of her umbrella. After quietly watching the rainwater flowing underground for a while, Ji Yeon Woo slowly began to walk.

.

.

.

That night, at 3 AM, well past midnight.

Ji Yeon Woo left her home carrying a single suitcase. Though there was still time left on her lease and she hadn’t submitted her resignation to the company, she headed straight out of Seoul.

‘Don’t make me angrier and just come to work quietly. There’s a limit to how much I can overlook.’

Her boss’s voice clung to her skin as if it wouldn’t wash off, and her fear grew more and more as she got further from Seoul.

But no one would be able to help her. If she just trembled in fear, she would never be able to escape from her workplace superior.

So she had to run away. Because the only way left to escape was to vanish.

When you die, then I’ll let you go.

Or, as her boss said, she would end up dead.

*

It was just past the bluish twilight of dawn.

After driving for about three hours from Seoul, one could arrive at Yangto-myeon in Moksan-gun, nestled in the foothills of Yeosong Mountain.

Seeing that the rain that had been pouring since departure had now quieted, Nam Tae Jin, president of Seolyang Construction, groaned and turned his gaze to the car window.

“Looks like the rain has stopped now. That spring rain really came down hard.”

Sung Hun, who was sitting next to him looking over documents after giving up the seat of honor to his uncle Nam Tae Jin, raised his head. As he watched the thick valley fog rising around the mountains, he could feel the thin dawn air.

“That’s fortunate.”

“You can say that again. You have no idea how worried I was about rain for the event.”

Sung Hun just flipped through the documents without much response.

Nam Sung Hun, Executive Director of Seolyang Construction.

The reason for arriving so early in Moksan-gun was that today was the groundbreaking day for a large-scale resort project.

A few years ago, hot springs were discovered by chance in Moksan-gun. The temperature of the gushing hot spring water matched well with legal standards.

Seolyang Construction, which quickly got wind of the news, bought up the entire area including the site where a small motel was planned to be built. It was the start of a project that showed Seolyang Construction’s determination to create a hot spring destination in Korea.

It was a plan for a complex resort combining hot springs, an amusement park, ski slopes, and golf courses, and Nam Sung Hun had driven it from start to finish.

“In any case, Moksan-gun should be good to our Nam family. The Nam family has been feeding Moksan-gun, then and now, you know?”

Nam Tae Jin, who was born and raised in Moksan-gun, crossed one leg over his knee and wiggled his foot.

After the large-scale resort project was confirmed, good news continued to follow in the surrounding area. With the unexpected extension of train lines and highways confirmed, Nam Tae Jin couldn’t help but be in a good mood.

“Anyway, it’s good. Very good! Those Woongsu Construction bastards, I don’t know for sure but how much must their stomachs be hurting? Serves them right, those bastards.”

Thinking of the woes of the competing company that had lost this opportunity, a dry laugh burst out. It was all thanks to Sung Hun’s achievements that the once high-flying Woongsu Construction had given up its first place position.

There probably wasn’t another villain like Sung Hun in the competing companies. That’s how outstanding his abilities were.

Nam Tae Jin laughed loudly until his body heated up, then breathed out evenly. Then he glanced at Sung Hun.

His nephew Sung Hun, sitting in the executive director position, had exceptional insight and skill, and a bulldozer-like personality that stopped at nothing to achieve his goals.

Seolyang Construction’s vertical rise in performance since Sung Hun joined management was explanation enough. Sung Hun had no plans he couldn’t realize and no goals he couldn’t achieve. At least not yet.

“……”

The conversation paused for a moment. As the monotonous road continued, Nam Tae Jin, who had been tapping his knee as if quite bored, glanced at Sung Hun again. He had ridden together hoping for some conversation on the way, but his nephew was too quiet, even for him.

It was a mistake to dream of small talk with this guy in the first place.

‘If I knew it would be like this, I should have just taken my own car.’

Nam Tae Jin raised his eyebrows and then spoke again.

“Sung Hun. So how long are you staying here?”

“Well. About a month according to the plan.”

“A month? Isn’t that too long? Is it okay to leave your headquarters position empty for so long?”

“With you there, sir, why worry about the executive director’s absence?”

“Hey, don’t trust me. I don’t know anything about what you do, man.”

Sung Hun put down the documents and turned on his tablet.

“The beginning is the most important after breaking ground. I’ll handle things so there’s no confusion with headquarters work. Don’t worry.”

After Sung Hun finished speaking and fixed his gaze on the tablet, silence fell again. Nam Tae Jin stretched his back and rolled his neck in a circle.

“Alright. If that’s how you’re doing it, that’s how it’s done. Anyway, am I keep interrupting your work? I should just go in my car.”

Sung Hun glanced forward.

“It’s too late now. We’re almost there anyway, so let’s just go.”

“No, no. I need to get some sleep, even for a moment. I’m still tired after playing golf for several days in a row.”

A short while later, the two vehicles stopped. Nam Tae Jin got into his own car that had been leading the way, and Sung Hun moved to the seat of honor and turned his attention back to the tablet PC.

「Domyeongjae in Yangto-myeon」

‘Domyeongjae’ on the occasional road signs was today’s tangible cultural property and the Nam family’s home base, where Sung Hun would stay for about a month.

They drove down the dawn road where nothing was moving. Towards that place lighting the way, Domyeongjae (道明齊).

*

The boring road ended and the real country road began.

Dawn had now broken, and Sung Hun’s vehicle followed behind Nam Tae Jin’s.

After the rain stopped, a thick fog as murky as rice water set in. The fog forming donut-like bands between the peaks of Yeosong Mountain created a mysterious atmosphere.

“Whoa!”

As the car suddenly came to an abrupt stop, Sung Hun’s body leaned forward slightly before straightening again. The startled driver looked back.

“Executive Director, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

Instead of saying he was fine, Sung Hun just raised his hand slightly. The problem didn’t seem to be the sudden stop.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, because the president’s car stopped suddenly. It looks like he splashed some water on a woman.”

“Water?”

Sung Hun tilted his head to the side to look ahead. Due to the fog crawling along the ground it wasn’t clear, but he could make out that where the car had stopped was a bus stop, and the woman standing there had been splashed with muddy water below her waist.

The bumpy country road and thick fog were the problem. The thick, heavy tires of the vehicle couldn’t pass smoothly over the pothole, and the muddy water that had collected there seemed to have splashed onto the woman.

Sung Hun lowered the window slightly. He could hear the driver, who had hurriedly gotten out so as not to wake the deeply sleeping Nam Tae Jin, standing in front of the woman and speaking.

“Hey. How can you stand so close when a car is coming? Oh geez, are you alright?”

Sung Hun tilted his head slightly and watched the situation.

Though she must have suddenly encountered an embarrassing situation, the woman said nothing and just brushed off her pants with her head lowered.

Even though she knew the stains wouldn’t come off just by doing that, she silently dusted off her clothes, which wasn’t a normal reaction. Wouldn’t it be common sense and normal to vent her frustration incoherently after being thoroughly doused while just standing still?

The driver took out his wallet and held out a 50,000 won bill to the woman. It was for dry cleaning expenses.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to delay right now. There’s an important person in the car. Take this money and get your clothes dry cleaned, okay?”

The woman glanced at the bill and then raised her head. At that moment, as if planned, the fog dispersed briefly and the woman’s appearance became clearly visible.

Sung Hun’s eyebrows twitched up and down as he watched the scene indifferently.

A calm gray tone shirt, light-colored jeans, sneakers revealing the Achilles tendon, and hair falling to the middle of her back.

It was an atmosphere that harmonized with the low-saturation space spread out around her. Amidst the outfit with nothing standing out, only her face shone unusually brightly.

Though her expression was blank as if her features had been erased, it wasn’t enough to hide the light. Even from the not-so-close distance, the harmony contained in her small face was considerable.

Sung Hun’s gaze, which had been fixed on the tablet PC all along, was now tied to the wet scenery and unfamiliar person for the first time.

“I said we don’t have time? There’s a very important person in the car right now. Didn’t you hear?”

She wasn’t a local. She couldn’t be a tourist either. Was she leaving, or returning?

Sung Hun briefly held more questions than necessary.

“If you’re not protesting for more money, hurry up and take it. From the looks of it, the dry cleaning won’t cost much altogether.”

Sung Hun, who had been watching the driver’s urging, opened the car door.

His long, slender shoe touched the ground, and the thick fog swirled around his feet.