Only Bad for Me (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5

The police station parking lot at dawn.

The sparse parked cars loom indistinctly in the dim light.

One of the young men who had just stepped out of the station and entered the lot gaped wide-eyed—he’d spotted a luxury sedan he’d only ever seen in photos.

A glossy black sedan gleamed conspicuously in the darkness. The man edged closer to its imposing presence.

“Wow, dude! It’s a Mercedes-Benz S 800L! Damn! Who the hell brings a car like this here? Seriously, is this real life?”

“Nice to see it. Is it really that expensive? Looks sleek.”

“Expensive? It’s a freakin’ masterpiece! The S-Class launched domestically was a limited run of only thirty units to commemorate the full model change! You clueless idiot. Holy crap… chills.”

“You’re such a know-it-all. Then why are you hanging around police stations? Hey! Don’t touch it, you moron! Wanna go back inside two days after getting out?”

“Someone seems to be inside… right?”

One friend reached toward the dreamlike car; the other tried to stop him, their voices rising as they argued back and forth.

Inside the dark-tinted vehicle, Manager Park, seated in the driver’s seat, turned toward the rear.

“Shall I draw their attention?”

Kwon Jae Ha, whose gaze had been fixed on his tablet, shifted his eyes out the window—utterly indifferent.

“Leave them be.”

Manager Park, his ever-faithful executive secretary, let out an awkward chuckle.

“They’re just leaving. Probably looked pretty impressive to those young guys.”

Jae Ha massaged his stiff neck and turned off the tablet.

“Director, you’ve got cigarettes, right?”

“You’d like to smoke? I thought you didn’t, so I didn’t prepare any—here, take this, though it’s not a good brand.”

Jae Ha took the cigarette pack Manager Park offered and stepped out of the car, immediately lighting one.

A red ember glowed in the darkness, hollowing his cheeks.

Kwon Jae Ha, you damn freak. Came running all the way here just to see her pale, terrified face.

Anyway, their reunion was certain to be dramatic and thrilling—beyond all expectation or anticipation.

Exhaling a long, hazy plume of smoke into the air, Jae Ha let out a quiet laugh.

He’d just remembered his private investigator, who’d carried out his assignment flawlessly and thoroughly.

But then again…

It was he himself who’d assigned someone to watch over Yoon Eun Jo.

And yes, he’d told them to contact him immediately if anything happened.

Yet the thought that some stranger had been glued to her side twenty-four hours a day, scrutinizing every tiny detail of her life, stirred an unpleasant, creeping resentment within him.

Damn it. What the hell was he even trying to do?

He swallowed a scoffing laugh—when suddenly, the driver’s door clicked open.

“It’s Assemblyman Lee.”

Kwon Jae Ha, still staring blankly at Manager Park’s phone, spoke in that same detached tone.

“Tell them it’s already been handled.”

They’d surely heard. And even if they had, so what?

As he lazily exhaled a white plume of smoke into the air, he spotted her.

A slender silhouette had just appeared at the police station’s entrance.

After glancing around for a moment, the woman froze, stiffening as she recognized the unwelcome presence standing far off in the shadows.

Jae Ha, too, clenched his molars tightly as he sensed her reaction.

Yoon Eun Jo.

She was now running toward him, fluttering like a leaf caught in the wind.

Her delicate frame looked dangerously unsteady—as if she might collapse at any second.

.

.

Ha— ha—.

He simply looked down at the breathless woman, at the real Yoon Eun Jo now standing before him, with calm, unhurried eyes.

“Ha… how… ha…”

Kwon Jae Ha gave a faint nod—no joy, no surprise on his face.

The cigarette pinched between his masculine fingers was being crushed under his shoe.

“Korea really is… still a lovely place to live.”

“…”

She must be overwhelmed. Jae Ha gently narrowed his eyes toward the woman, still catching her breath.

“Long time no see.”

He whispered, as if worried someone might overhear—his voice deeper and richer than she remembered.

Eun Jo’s large, round eyes wandered lost—from the hair falling across his forehead to his eyes, nose, lips, then back to his eyes.

It really was him.

Kwon Jae Ha.

What should she say? Where should she even begin? Swallowing hard, Eun Jo stared blankly at the crushed cigarette butt on the ground.

“This is… right in front of a police station…”

You really are still that same Kwon Jae Ha.

“Long… time indeed. But how did you end up here? And so late at night…”

“Yeah. It is pretty late.”

A gentle voice. Relaxed, languid eyes.

Kwon Jae Ha, impeccably dressed in a sharp suit, leaned against the luxury sedan and cast a sidelong glance her way.

The absurdity of this scene—something she’d never even imagined—nearly made Eun Jo burst out laughing.

Of all places. At this hour. In this… god-awful situation.

Blink. Blink. The flickering streetlight jabbed sharply at her dazed mind.

Her lips began moving on their own.

“…I think there might be a misunderstanding. My Min Ah—ah, Min Ah’s my younger sister. She was driving at night, and… um—of all cars, that one apparently isn’t insured. And… Min Ah just passed the civil service exam not long ago…”

“Too bad.”

“Yeah… So, if this somehow affects her appointment…”

“Not gonna happen.”

After six years, this was what she said to him first. Her fingers gripping her clothes had turned bone-white.

“But from what you’ve told me… it sounds like she didn’t do anything wrong. Well, of course, someone got hurt…”

She was mortified. Her breath came as heavily as a stone, and her words choked in her throat.

Eun Jo bit her lip so hard it nearly bled.

“Eun Jo.”

“…Huh?”

“One word is enough. Just say ‘help me.’”

“…He… help me.”

Jae Ha’s pitch-black eyes darkened further.

Lowering his gaze like someone looking at a pitiful creature, he tilted his head slightly toward her as if he hadn’t heard.

“What?”

“Please help me. I’ll… do anything.”

“Sounds nice.”

“…Huh?”

“I like hearing you beg.”

The moment the lighter snapped shut with a crisp click, Eun Jo understood—why he’d come.

Beyond the blue haze, the look in his eyes was unmistakably laced with faint, simmering hatred.

“You know I don’t play games. Not with you, Yoon Eun Jo.”

“…”

“But still… you said ‘anything.’ That’s tempting.”

Under the cold moonlight, Kwon Jae Ha watched her face flush deep red—his voice surprisingly tender beneath his icy gaze.

“Are you being naive… or pretending? Even after having a child.”

“A child? Oh, our…?”

“Our?” Jae Ha’s brows shot up instantly before knitting together in a frown.

At first—back then, long ago—he’d briefly mistaken that child for possibly being “ours.”

After all, it was that very word “ours” that had stained their car seats with tangled love and hate on the dawn before their breakup.

“Yes. Your child.”

Tsk. Jae Ha clicked his tongue lightly and even shook his head dismissively.

Eun Jo watched him mutely, then bit down on her parched lips.

“Don’t worry. Go ahead.”

“…”

Their gazes tangled. The ripple in his deep, dark eyes held her frozen in place.

There—Jae Ha nodded toward somewhere.

It was Min Ah. Leaning against a pillar near the station entrance, she was watching them.

“Oh…”

Eun Jo exhaled deeply, hesitating.

“She’s waiting.”

“Right, then I’ll…”

“You.”

His eyes clearly said, “What else can you even do?”

“Anyway… thank you for coming. And for the lawyer, too…”

“Go. We’ll talk about that ‘anything’ later.”

Yoon Eun Jo nodded like a child and turned away, drifting off again like a petal carried by the wind—just as she’d arrived.

Kwon Jae Ha watched until she disappeared completely.

Anything… Right. I’ll take it all.

I’ll swallow every single breath you exhale.

***

Though the lawyer claimed he’d handle everything himself, Eun Jo and Min Ah naturally went to the hospital anyway.

On the afternoon of the second day, while standing like penitents in the hospital room, they ran into the victim’s two glowering sons again.

Their beady eyes darted around, yet for some reason, their mouths stayed tightly shut.

[Korea really is… still a lovely place to live.]

That’s right—if you’ve got money. Only now could she read the unspoken words that followed.

There must be a way. Eun Jo tightly squeezed Min Ah’s hand, her head bowed.

The elderly woman, who’d insisted on the ER claiming she was dying, still refused to open her eyes—even after being moved to a VIP room.

It was just bad luck.

That they’d hit a thug who drove recklessly. That the old woman happened to be picking up recyclables at dawn right there. That she had two utterly rotten sons.

“…”

“We ran all the tests. Results came back clean, but since the patient insists she’s in pain, we’ve no choice but to keep observing her.”

The attending physician explained thoroughly but carefully avoided saying outright that the patient was exaggerating.

Yet the old woman, who’d been wailing about her broken back, seemed to have quite the appetite.

Her VIP room meals—special dietary trays—were cleaned completely every time.

Eun Jo resolved not to visit the hospital again.

***

Two days later.

She received the call from an unknown number in the late afternoon, just as the sun dipped between the buildings.

The man who introduced himself as Edward Kang greeted her kindly—

and delivered an unkind message: the CEO—Kwon Jae Ha—had summoned her.

[I’ll send a car if you’re free after work.]

“Please tell me the exact time and place. I’ll come by myself.”

[No need to trouble yourself. How about 6:30 p.m. at the company’s main gate?]

“Oh…? …Alright. I understand.”

For the next two hours, her pounding heart made even breathing uncomfortable.

Work slipped from her grasp, and even her usual outfit suddenly felt strangely awkward.

Her blouse seemed too white and sheer, as if transparent, and her skirt clung to her hips more snugly than ever.

.

.

6:20 p.m.

Before heading downstairs, Eun Jo stopped by the restroom and neatly tied back her luxuriant hair into a single ponytail.

She blotted her plump lips—once tinted pink with lipstick—with a tissue.

Now, the woman in the mirror looked bland and pale.

[It’s just bad luck. It’s absolutely not your fault.]

She remembered the words she’d kept repeating to Min Ah.

Maybe…

Maybe it was he who was truly trapped in an unlucky situation after all.