It was 9 PM when Tae Ha entered Itaewon-ro.

As he was climbing up the low hill with long fortress-like walls stretching out, his phone rang.

The number on the screen was from the home security guard who had secretly followed Eun Seo. Fortunately, even though he had been tailing her for more than half a day, Eun Seo hadn’t noticed his presence.

Of course. Her daily life is far removed from being followed, and his agent is the best of the best.

“Report.”

– Song Eun Seo has just arrived in front of her house. She visited three law offices, then looked at two shared houses and seven gosiwons.

“Gosiwon?”

– I’ll report the details when I see you in person.

“Alright. End the tracking and go home. I’ll receive the report tomorrow. Good work.”

Law offices, huh.

It was a predictable move. She must have inquired about marriage annulment lawsuits and how to finish the lawsuit safely without being labeled a fraudster.

However, the shared houses and gosiwons were unexpected. He thought she would at least look into officetels.

Does she not even have money for a studio apartment? What’s so lacking?

The car had almost reached the top of the hill. The entrance to the parking lot appears after passing through the main gate and turning a curve. But there was a person in front of the main gate.

An extremely unusual sight rarely seen in front of his house.

Hesitating in front of the intercom, raising and lowering her arms, unsure what to do. Standing on tiptoes, tilting her head this way and that.

As if she could see inside those high walls that way.

Unable to enter confidently like the owner, yet too much of an uninvited guest to be a visitor.

If someone were to ask who she was, she probably wouldn’t have a proper excuse. Since most employees don’t know of her existence yet, she couldn’t say she’s Song Eun Seo, nor could she say she’s a fraudster.

It was more than understandable.

“Pull over.”

Driver Kim stopped the car without a word.

“I’ll get off here. You can go home too, driver.”

“Yes, sir. Have a good night, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Tae Ha got out carrying four shopping bags.

Shopping bags containing four pairs of boots from sizes 225 to 240. The result of his conclusion after pondering, not knowing Eun Seo’s foot size.

Eun Seo turned around, shielding her eyes with the back of her hand from the bright light spreading behind her. A tall man was standing diagonally.

Though it was difficult to make out the man’s face due to the backlight, his aura revealed who he was.

Broad shoulders and a balanced physique. A posture straight enough to be a model for X-rays at a spine specialist hospital.

Above all, he had that certain something that was hard to approach.

“Ring the bell. I’ll let them know. But don’t draw too much attention.”

“Are you just getting home?”

“Yes. Work just finished. Let’s go in.”

Tae Ha passed by Eun Seo and opened the door.

The sound of the door closing behind him was heard, followed by the sound of irregular stepping stones being stepped on amidst the tranquil garden.

Trudge, trudge. The woman’s footsteps dragging on the ground were long. The sound of tired feet sticking heavily to the ground.

How many hours had she been walking?

Tae Ha slowed his pace to let her catch up. Then he looked back with a gaze that seemed to ask why she was staring.

Making people feel awkward.

Tae Ha turned to look ahead again as he walked.

Two shadows moved slowly towards one place at regular intervals, following the ground lights illuminating the dark garden.

Eun Seo followed him without time to look around the garden. Having entered the house differently from yesterday, she had no choice but to follow Tae Ha.

Her legs were aching and heavy as she walked slowly, but he turned around. His eyes seemed to say it was annoying and to hurry up.

I’m dying of exhaustion.

Crossing a low threshold and opening the door revealed a space different from the entrance she saw yesterday. It was clearly the same building, but if what she saw yesterday was the back door, this seemed to be the main entrance.

It was called an entrance, but it was no different from a spacious reception room or waiting room.

As Tae Ha took off his shoes, Eun Seo also removed hers. Tae Ha’s eyes slowly moved to Eun Seo’s shoes.

Unlike what he saw in the morning, they looked neat even though worn, perhaps because the dirt that had been scattered here and there was cleaned up. It seemed she had polished her shoes to go out.

Tae Ha leisurely crouched down and turned over the boots. The number written on the bottom, though faintly peeled off, was clearly 225.

225. Are her feet that small? Can she even walk with those feet?

A faint laugh escaped. Of course she can walk. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Tae Ha took out a box from the shopping bag containing size 225 boots.

It was awkward to forcibly give it as a ‘gift’, and the meaning of the word ‘gift’ was too grand.

Tae Ha took out black boots from the box and placed them neatly next to Eun Seo’s shoes.

Eun Seo, who had been staring blankly at the scene as if performing a ritual, could not dare to guess his intention.

Turning over her shoes to examine the bottom, taking out new shoes from several shopping bags and placing them next to the worn-out shoes.

The shoes were far too small and dainty for him to wear.

But suspecting that he bought shoes for herself seemed too absurd.

Tae Ha straightened his bent knees and stood up. He could feel Eun Seo’s strange gaze on him.

“They’re for you, Song Eun Seo. It seems not all your belongings have arrived yet. You can’t just wear those shoes.”

“They’re for me?”

They were visibly good shoes. To Eun Seo, who always consciously chose cheap things, those boots looked completely different from what she owned.

Above all, she could count on one hand the people who had bought things for her.

So he must be about the tenth person?

Eun Seo stared blankly at her worn-out shoes placed in the entrance. She could instantly imagine how she looked in his eyes.

“I made the entrance dirty, didn’t I?”

That expression was somehow mixed with apology and shame. And that gaze severely scratched something deep down in Tae Ha.

It’s a face showing shame, a face that can’t bear it, yet she expresses it in words? What a strange woman.

“Why do you always say the wrong answer as if it’s correct? Is it some kind of defense?”

“If not that… then why? …Do you pity me?”

“Pardon?”

“Are you sympathizing with me?”

It wasn’t an accusatory tone, but a genuinely questioning expression.

“Sympathy? I don’t have such a thing. ‘Sympathy’ isn’t such a good virtue for a businessperson.”

Tae Ha answered with a decidedly businesslike expression.

“Then why are you doing this?”

“So you can wear them when you run away. Even if I catch you later, I’d feel better this way. It wouldn’t be fair if I’m running while you’re crawling.”

“It is sympathy.”

He doesn’t seem to know that’s just another expression for ‘sympathy’.

“I don’t get upset by sympathy. I’m very used to such gazes. I respect that emotion. It sometimes saves me.”

“I told you it’s not sympathy. Why do you arbitrarily judge others’ hearts?”

“I’ve rarely received gifts, so I don’t know how to refuse well. I want to decline, but I’m not in a position to. It’s shameless, but thank you.”

If he shows such consideration to someone he’s certain is a fraudster, he must be an angel whose wings God plucked off. Or just very stupid.

Eun Seo put on the boots as a way of repaying his consideration. She should wear them and show how much she likes them in front of him, as that would make him very pleased.

Being new shoes, they didn’t fit dramatically like Cinderella’s, but they fit perfectly.

Must be God-given eye for size. She could feel the warmth of the soft fur wrapping around her ankles.

“I like them. They’re pretty.”

Eun Seo smiled brightly, her lips curling up.

No, it seemed to happen naturally. Then, dimples appeared clearly at both ends of her lips, as if pricked with an awl.

“You have dimples.”

At the low voice that touched her forehead, Eun Seo blinked, raising her round eyes.

“You didn’t know?”

“I’ve only seen you for three days.”

“Ah, right. That’s true.”

Eun Seo smiled awkwardly with a blush.

It’s not a face he looks at with interest, and there’s no way dimples of a woman he met just three days ago would catch his eye.

“It’s the first time seeing you smile.”

Eun Seo dazedly watched the solid back disappearing before her without hesitation.

Somehow, it seemed like wings were attached.

* * *

A high-rise apartment located on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York.

Jung Woo closed his laptop, then looked down at the seemingly never-fading brilliant street while holding a beer can.

At times like this, he always feels like a successful businessman. And the fact that reality is not so makes his aspirations even fiercer.

He looked at the watch on his wrist and called Chairman Kwon, who must have just finished his round.

“Uncle, it’s Jung Woo. How was your round today?”

– It’s not much fun anymore. Just so-so.

“Why?”

– It feels like everyone’s just letting me win. It gets boring when I keep winning every time. You only try hard and get competitive when you’re really fired up.

“That sounds like a subtle brag.”

– You rascal.

“Shall I give you the report?”

– I didn’t ask you to contact me today to receive a report, but since you must have waited without sleep because of me, let’s hear it.

“Yes. Not much has changed from what I emailed you before. This person named Yoo Ha Eun, she doesn’t particularly stand out at work, but she’s not lacking either. Oh, I saw her at a party recently, and several men were making moves on her.”

– And?

“She danced with them, but she was alone when she left. It was too much for me to follow her, so I’m just telling you what I saw.”

Jung Woo quit his mother’s stagnant company and came to GK Hotel’s U.S. branch a few months ago on Chairman Kwon’s orders to observe Ha Eun. And he reported her activities once a month.

The fact that Chairman Kwon gave orders to Jung Woo meant that the matter was that private and confidential.

Jung Woo followed Chairman Kwon well and always imagined that he was his father.

When he was young, he naively thought he was on the same level as Tae Ha, who was the same age, but as he grew older, he realized painfully that they were different.

The way people treated the two of them.

If Tae Ha was the crown prince, Jung Woo was a fallen nobleman.

Tae Ha’s father was the chairman commanding the group, Jung Woo’s father was ousted early from the company for embezzling company funds and plunging the company into ruin.

When someone who’s not even of GK blood is ousted, that’s the end of it. And his mother, who is of GK blood, never particularly stood out in company affairs nor gained trust.

Rather, she married against the advice of the previous chairman, and her husband even ruined an affiliate company, so she completely withdrew from GK management, settled her shares, and started a new business. Even divorce couldn’t dispel the previous chairman’s anger.

It was only after the previous chairman died that she received quite valuable real estate through Chairman Kwon’s consideration, making her life affluent.

That’s why Jung Woo followed Chairman Kwon well, and Tae Ha was always an object of admiration as well as jealousy.

“But why did you tell me to watch Yoo Ha Eun?”

– Hmm.

Chairman Kwon exhaled deeply.

“If you’re planning to put her in the cultural foundation, I don’t think you’d ask me to investigate this much. You said you’d tell me the reason when I quit this job.”

– I’m thinking she might be a good match for Tae Ha.

“What?!”

Jung Woo almost spilled his beer.