“I am Seo Ha~! The dreaming Seo Ha~!”

Kyung Jun looked at Yoon Seo Ha, who was singing enthusiastically with a spoon stuck in a soju bottle, with a disbelieving gaze. When did she claim to be good at drinking while mixing soju and beer? She’s only emptied three bottles of beer and two bottles of soju, so why is she acting like this?

“I am Seo Ha~!”

“Ah, it’s so noisy.”

As Seo Ha took position to sing the song she had just sung twice again, Kyung Jun couldn’t stand it anymore and stood up abruptly.

“We’ve finished eating the clams, so let’s go. I’ll take you outside for some fresh air and call a designated driver for you.”

“A phone number that’s the same front and back~ A phone number that’s the same front and back~.”

Although she was singing an unidentified CM song, fortunately, Seo Ha obediently got up and staggered after him.

“It’s the sea!”

Before he could stop her, Seo Ha jumped down onto the sandy beach and started running wildly. It was quite a sight to see her stumbling and then falling face-first onto the sand.

“Be careful.”

Kyung Jun sighed deeply as he grabbed Seo Ha’s arm to help her up. The grin on Seo Ha’s face suddenly disappeared.

“Let go of this.”

As she suddenly straightened her posture and shook off his hand, Kyung Jun thought Seo Ha had come to her senses.

“I’m a married woman. Don’t approach me. My husband is so…”

Well. That wasn’t likely.

“Where do you have a husband?”

Kyung Jun gave up on trying to help Seo Ha up and just sat down next to her, criticizing her. He felt a complex mix of emotions – contempt, frustration, and pity – towards Yoon Seo Ha, who was going on about her husband after coming out drinking and making such a spectacle of herself.

“If you can’t handle your alcohol, you should drink slowly. If you’re going to drink, at least be a pleasant drunk. You have no caution, no shame, what do you have?”

He thought she would make a fuss about him speaking informally again, but unexpectedly, Yoon Seo Ha just hugged her knees and rested her chin on them.

“You’re right. What do I have?”

“Well, you have the CEO. Your mother.”

Kyung Jun took off his coat and draped it over Yoon Seo Ha’s shoulders. It wasn’t because he was worried she might be cold. He just found her shoulders, much smaller than when he saw her at the company, very bothersome.

“Right. I have my mom.”

Seo Ha grinned again.

“Mr. Ryu, please take care of my mom. She’ll be so upset if I say I’m getting divorced. She never got to rest, raising the company and me without a father. Can you believe the company’s CEO hasn’t been able to take a single comfortable vacation?”

Tears glistening in her dark eyes sparkled like the night sea. Pitifully.

‘Pitiful?’

Kyung Jun was surprised at his own thoughts. It would be understandable if Yoon Seo Ha looked at him pitifully. He had no reason to feel pity for Yoon Seo Ha.

Instead of useless thoughts, let’s get some work done.

Kyung Jun tried hard to whip himself back into focus.

“It seems like you could just sell the company. There are some pretty good acquisition offers coming in, aren’t there?”

“Talk sense!”

Yoon Seo Ha jumped at the calmly asked question. She suddenly seemed completely sober.

“We’ve received dozens of offers. My mom rejected them all magnificently each time. How could we sell the company that she and dad built together, running around Dongdaemun?”

Kyung Jun knew the story well. It wasn’t that special in this industry, just a common startup story.

“That’s an emotional reason. Typical of a silver spoon.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you don’t have any realistic concerns. Don’t you consider things like money, time, leisure?”

“No, I don’t.”

Seo Ha lightly brushed off Kyung Jun’s clearly provocative words.

“Yes, I am a silver spoon. But not because I’m from a rich family. There are plenty of people worth hundreds of millions, billions, trillions of won, but what silver spoon is that about money?”

“Then?”

“I’m loved. I’m my parents’ pride and treasure. I don’t need a husband or anything. I’ll live happily with my mom again, grow our company, and show my brand to the whole world.”

Even while mumbling with a half-slurred pronunciation, Seo Ha’s eyes sparkled more clearly than the night sea. Kyung Jun was certain that his own eyes would never sparkle like that.

He was envious. Very much so.

“… Let’s go. It’s cold.”

Yoon Seo Ha held out one hand. Without thinking, Kyung Jun took it. Her hand was a little cold and soft.

The two slowly walked back to the car along the darkened beach. Kyung Jun called a designated driver and was about to go to a nearby hotel to sleep, but changed his mind and sat next to Seo Ha in the back seat.

Making an excuse that no one asked for, saying the world was too dangerous to send a drunk woman home alone.

“Get some sleep. You look tired.”

Kyung Jun started the engine and pressed the heating button. As the warmth slowly rose, an awkward silence fell over the car.

“Mr. Ryu.”

Has she sobered up a bit? Seo Ha spoke softly. Her uncharacteristically weak voice was bothersome again.

“Don’t thank me for agreeing to pay for the designated driver.”

“That’s not it.”

Seo Ha’s voice became a little clearer.

“Stop speaking informally. How many times do I have to tell you?”

“…”

Seo Ha dropped her head. Kyung Jun looked at Yoon Seo Ha’s face barely resting on his shoulder for a moment, then raised his finger.

“It’s killing me, it’s so heavy.”

Kyung Jun shoved Seo Ha away, propping her up against the window, and rubbed his left chest.

“… Am I drunk too?”

His heart was beating strangely under his fingers. His face felt a bit hot too. It seemed his alcohol tolerance had decreased considerably since he hadn’t been drinking for a while.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Ugh.”

Seo Ha barely opened her eyes in a hangover that felt like the moon rabbit was pounding her brain instead of rice cakes. The familiar ceiling and the blanket snugly wrapped around her body. It was home.

“Honey. I…”

Her mind, not yet fully returned to its place, habitually searched for Seung Oh. Seo Ha looked dejectedly at the bedroom, which contained only the clothes she had thrown off, and barely managed to sit up.

Sitting on the bed for a moment, her memories started to come back little by little.

She had drunk soju mixed with beer, something she usually only had a few sips of at company dinners. The grilled clams were delicious. She also remembered Ryu Kyung Jun’s hands, diligently grilling clams despite not being very good at it.

How did they leave from there?

After thinking for a long time, Seo Ha clutched her head at the flood of memories that came rushing in.

“I’ve gone crazy.”

She had babbled on and on in her drunken state. She clearly remembered Ryu Kyung Jun’s contemptuous gaze as he looked at her.

They rode in the car together. She had said her house was in Eulwang-ri. So did he deliberately drop her off and then go to his house in Seoul?

−’We’re here. Wake up.’

In her sleepy state, she thought the person waking her up was Seung Oh. Really. Truly. She had even forgotten that she had thrown divorce papers at Seung Oh and then drowned herself in alcohol.

−’Honey~ I’m dizzy~’

She seemed to have buried her face in Kyung Jun’s chest, using that damned aegyo she only did when drunk.

No. It wasn’t just that it seemed that way, it had happened.

“Kyaaaa!”

Seo Ha beat the innocent pillow furiously.

−’Who, who’s your honey? Let go of this!’

The voice of Kyung Jun, unfairly sober despite drinking together, echoed in her ears.

−’Why are you so careless? You have no caution.’

It was the first underestimation Seo Ha had encountered in her life.

−’Let’s go up. I’ll take you.’

She also remembered what she heard while riding the elevator, still leaning on Kyung Jun.

−’Get a grip, Ryu Kyung Jun. Pretend you don’t know from now on. If you get any closer here, you’re screwed.’

“Yoon Seo Ha. You’ve gone crazy.”

Seo Ha pulled the blanket over her head and curled up into a ball. She was too embarrassed to even feel sad. She felt like she wanted to disappear and become cosmic dust right then and there.

I should contact him first, I guess. If he’s human.

After a long while, Seo Ha finally crawled out from under the blanket, drank a glass of water, and looked around. But no matter how much she searched, the bag she had been carrying yesterday was nowhere to be seen, and only her car keys were lying next to the bed.

“Did I leave it in the car?”

Seo Ha staggered out and went down to the parking lot.

Fortunately, the bag was on the floor of the back seat. Along with an unfamiliar phone.

“Huh? This is…”

It was Kyung Jun’s phone.

“I’ll have to give it back tomorrow.”

Just as Seo Ha picked it up, it suddenly vibrated.

[Chairman Ryu]

Should I answer it or not? After hesitating, Seo Ha pressed the call button just before the vibration stopped. She intended to tell the owner that they had lost their phone.

“Hel…”

[What kind of guy are you?]

Before she could even say hello, an irritated shout burst from the phone.

[I heard the report. You rode in a car with the daughter of Kangyun Company? Is this the time for you to be leisurely dating women?]

What is this about? Seo Ha turned up the call volume and held the phone closer to her ear.

[Even if you went there with some purpose, you should report. How many months has it been since you were supposed to bring an analysis of Kangyun? No progress, no reports! What? You’ll take responsibility and make sure we acquire Kangyun? Just like you to say that. You useless bastard! Don’t even think about showing your face at home before you bring a proper report. You’re not even worth the toenail clippings of your brothers!]

After unilaterally spewing out his words and insults, ‘Chairman Ryu’ hung up.

Seo Ha tightly gripped the now-silent phone. She knew who this ‘Chairman Ryu’ who had just called was. There was only one person in South Korea with the surname Ryu and the title of chairman.

“Taeyang Group…”

A place that expands its business like an octopus by acquiring promising small companies instead of direct development in new fields. A place infamous for restructuring existing executives on any pretext and giving positions to relatives.

The group whose acquisition merger proposal and hundreds of billions of won in compensation, directly proposed by Chairman Ryu, was flatly rejected by her mother.

In her throbbing head, the puzzle pieces fit together one by one.

On the day they first met, why did Kyung Jun come out alone from the empty CEO’s office? Why did he stop Seo Ha when she said she would go in and wait?

Why did Chief Secretary Choi, who had assisted CEO Kang for a lifetime, suddenly resign citing the reason “I just want to rest” and introduce a successor?

Seo Ha hurriedly went up to her house with the phone and bag. She opened her laptop and thoroughly searched Chairman Ryu’s family relationships. Among the three sons who were said to each be in charge of one business, there was no Ryu Kyung Jun. He didn’t look like them and was much older.

Wait. Much older?

“He said ‘not even worth the toenail clippings of your brothers’…”

Seo Ha, who had been staring at the monitor with narrowed eyes, changed her search term.

[Taeyang Group illegitimate child]

A few useless stock market gossip articles popped up. Cheap internet articles that were hard to read properly due to being plastered with advertisements when clicked.

[There are rumors that Taeyang Group Chairman Ryu Myung Jin has an illegitimate child. There are even quite specific circumstances saying that actress A, who is said to be Chairman Ryu’s mistress, secretly gave birth overseas and registered the child in the family register…]

But Seo Ha knew. When it came to the private lives of celebrities, the accuracy of those stock market gossip articles was on par with South Korean archers.

“He was a spy. Ryu Kyung Jun!”

It was an outrageous thing. With a perfectly normal face, he had infiltrated all the way to the CEO’s office, undoubtedly trying to find a weakness to sell Kangyun to Taeyang Group.

Seo Ha hurriedly called her mother. The dial tone was going, but it wasn’t connecting.

I need to go home.

Seo Ha closed her laptop and rushed out, started the engine, and hurriedly left the underground parking lot.

That’s when it happened.

“Kyaa!”

Just as she was about to speed up, a woman suddenly jumped in front of the car. Seo Ha reflexively slammed on the brakes, her body lurching forward and her head hitting the steering wheel.

“What, what is this…?”

As Seo Ha raised her head, she unconsciously held her breath with a gasp.

The woman was staring intently through the heavily tinted windshield, adjusting her grip on the brick in her hand.

Yes. That was a brick. A pointed brick with three holes, in a dark red color like dried blood stains.

Her long hair fluttered in the wind, covering her pale face. Seo Ha could feel the woman’s pupils, dark like broken streetlights, staring directly at her. A fear that the brick might fly through the glass at any moment engulfed Seo Ha.

“What, what, what is this? Why is she like that?”

I shouldn’t get out of the car. Seo Ha honked the horn with all her might, hoping that the woman would move aside or a security guard would come running.

At that moment.

−Vroom vroom vroom!

Along with a tremendous engine sound, a flash of light blinked from the side window.

−Crash!

There was no time to dodge. The car, hit with tremendous impact, crumpled like cooking foil and bounced away.

It was Yoon Seo Ha’s last memory.