The Empire's Servant - Chapter 41
Je Guk looked at Hyun Baek Hap’s misdeeds without wavering. His eyes were full of disillusionment.
“This is an abuse of authority! This is clearly under my authority! It’s my art gallery!”
It was typical of Hyun Baek Hap, who was used to ruling. That’s why Je Guk was disillusioned with her.
“Do you not know whose paintings these are, and that’s why you’re behaving this way?”
“Of course! They belonged to your dead mother. But she’s already dead, isn’t she?”
Hyun Baek Hap once again failed to understand her place and crossed the line.
“Ms. Hyun Baek Hap.”
At the sound of Je Guk calling her name, Hyun Baek Hap’s mouth fell half open and she made a rotten expression.
“What? Ms. Hyun Baek Hap?”
“How many times do I have to teach you your place? I’ll explain it in your terms. Your place is below these paintings.”
“What?! What do you mean?”
Shocked by Je Guk’s words, Hyun Baek Hap ran towards the painting like a madwoman, and Je Guk’s secretaries grabbed and stopped her.
“Let go of me! Compensation? Then compensate me! Let go! I feel like I need to tear all those paintings to shreds to relieve my anger, so let go! What are you all doing? Take them out and burn them right now!”
Hyun Baek Hap shouted at her secretaries who were holding the paintings.
“Go ahead and try, if you dare.”
He had explained enough about the value of these works so far. He didn’t want to say any more.
Je Guk turned his gaze to Hyun Baek Hap’s people who were holding the works, and they were standing in a very uncomfortable posture.
“What are you doing!”
Hyun Baek Hap shouted, but her people were frozen in place.
Rather, Je Guk’s people approached Lady Yoon Joo Hwa’s collection.
In the end, Hyun Baek Hap’s people, overwhelmed by Je Guk’s force, handed over the works.
“No…!”
Hyun Baek Hap tried to scream but couldn’t curse any more.
There was no one here who could break Je Guk’s momentum and damage the paintings.
“Do you think your father will leave this alone if he finds out you’re doing this to me?”
Hyun Baek Hap said in a trembling voice.
“He won’t say anything. I have no father.”
Je Guk’s trust in Chairman Lee had hit rock bottom.
“What…?!”
“Isn’t that what you wanted? To sever familial ties.”
Hyun Baek Hap clenched her fists and trembled. Her eyes were bloodshot.
Hyun Baek Hap looked like she was about to lunge at Je Guk in anger, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it and just stood there, breathing heavily.
Je Guk was staring intently at Hyun Baek Hap with an expression of admiration.
“If you challenge my mother’s authority one more time, I won’t stand by anymore. Hang the paintings back up.”
Hyun Baek Hap was startled by Je Guk’s words to hang the paintings again, and her eyes widened.
She wondered what he was thinking, hanging the paintings here again even after all this commotion.
“If you don’t like these paintings, then you can leave.”
Je Guk said, looking straight at Hyun Baek Hap.
Je Guk didn’t raise his voice or use force, but Hyun Baek Hap was overwhelmed by his dignity.
“From now on, this exhibition hall will be guarded 24 hours a day. If anyone lays a hand on the paintings, legal action will be taken against them, whoever they may be.”
Hyun Baek Hap could only glare at Je Guk with bloodshot eyes, unable to do anything.
“Did you hear me? Keep that in mind for preserving the paintings. Then, goodbye.”
Je Guk once again nailed into Hyun Baek Hap that she was just a guard protecting this place.
Removing his mother’s works from the Cheonha Art Gallery was something he could never allow.
It was also a matter of protecting his mother’s last shred of pride.
* * *
Je Guk was much later than Ha In expected.
Ha In suddenly worried that something had happened to Je Guk.
She alternated between looking out the window and checking her cell phone to see if there was any contact. Restless, Ha In put on her cardigan and walked out into the hallway.
Perhaps because of the cold wind, it felt desolate and eerie.
Ha In walked a little further, a little more, until she reached the entrance of the hospital, and waited for a long time until her fingertips and toes were frozen before turning back.
Perhaps there was an urgent matter at the company. As expected, it seemed she had taken up too much time from a busy person since being hospitalized.
At that moment, the sound of a car horn honking loudly came from behind Ha In. At the sound, Ha In turned around.
It was Je Guk.
Ha In’s face brightened without her realizing it.
It wasn’t a bright smile, as she wasn’t used to smiling, but she had a unique expression that appeared when she was happy.
Je Guk got out of the stopped car. But even at a glance, his complexion looked dark.
Ha In was concerned that something had happened to Je Guk.
“Why did you come all the way out here?”
“I just felt a little stuffy.”
Should she ask what happened? If it was a company matter, such a question would be uncomfortable. Ha In observed Je Guk’s mood even as she answered.
The words ‘Did something happen?’ lingered on her lips. But she couldn’t bring herself to say them out loud, afraid of revealing the concern she had been feeling all along.
Ha In was still embarrassed to show such emotions.
Je Guk took Ha In’s hand. Her hand was as cold as ice.
“How long were you standing out here? Your hands are way too cold.”
“My hands are always cold. I wasn’t out here that long.”
“You were waiting for me.”
Ha In looked up at Je Guk with a fresh expression. Then she turned her gaze somewhere else.
“Let’s go inside.”
Je Guk put Ha In in the car and headed towards the building where her hospital room was.
Back in the hospital room, Je Guk had Ha In sit on the warm bed right away.
“You must be cold.”
“No. I really wasn’t standing out there long.”
She had stood there for a good hour. It was true that she had been waiting for Je Guk.
But why did it feel so awkward and embarrassing to say such things? She only thought about it inwardly.
“What about dinner?”
Je Guk looked at the table and saw that dinner was already laid out. Thanks to that, all of Ha In’s lies were exposed.
“You keep telling lies you’re not even good at.”
Je Guk stared intently at Ha In. Ha In approached Je Guk.
“I thought something had happened to you…”
Ha In finally slightly revealed the concern she had been feeling.
“What happened, what happened. The biggest issue right now is you keep lying. Either commit the perfect crime or don’t.”
Je Guk wanted to pinch the tip of Ha In’s nose.
But she was so cute for trying to wait for him that he let it slide.
“It’s all cold. I’ll ask them to bring it again.”
Ha In moved closer to Je Guk. And she gazed into his eyes.
“Something happened, didn’t it?”
“Prosecutor Cheon Ha In, I didn’t know you were a profiler. Why are you being like this?”
Je Guk acted as if nothing had happened because he didn’t want to worry Ha In for no reason.
But Ha In felt that he had become tense after going out and coming back.
Ha In hugged Je Guk’s waist. And she pushed her head up towards him.
“Oh my, why are you doing this?”
It wasn’t that he disliked it. Je Guk said in wonder at Ha In’s unusual behavior.
“I don’t know how to comfort you.”
Je Guk looked at Ha In’s face and tidied her hair.
“Your gaze, expression, gestures – everything about you is a comfort, Ha In.”
Je Guk kissed Ha In’s forehead and looked at her again.
Then Ha In raised her heels, hugged his neck, and kissed his lips.
Je Guk furrowed his brow and opened his eyes wide, looking around.
“When did you take out the IV?”
“Mm, about two hours ago.”
“Then the nurse won’t be coming in.”
Saying that, he picked Ha In up. Then he carried her to the bed, wrapped her in the blanket, and sat her on his lap.
He was secretly worried that Ha In might be cold.
“What did you do while I was gone?”
Je Guk kissed Ha In’s cheek and asked.
“I thought you wouldn’t think of me at all while working.”
Ha In stared at Je Guk for a moment and then kissed him again.
“Oh, what are you doing?”
“Shutting you up.”
Je Guk burst out laughing.
Being with Ha In like this, the events from earlier flew out of his mind.
“Ha In, thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being by my side. I feel grateful for your very existence. Especially today.”
Ha In, who had always denied her own existence, felt her heart sink at those words.
He stroked Ha In with warm eyes.
Ha In tightened her arms around his neck and hugged him even closer.
Je Guk nuzzled Ha In’s neck, savoring the nice scent coming from her.
He wished time would stop like this.
Although he had a burning desire for Ha In to recover quickly and be discharged, he could clearly see the events that would unfold once they left this hospital room.
* * *
Hyun Baek Hap, who had been harshly dealt with by Je Guk, collapsed in bed. Eventually, Hyun Baek Hap was admitted to the Cheonha Medical Foundation.
Chairman Lee, upon hearing that Hyun Baek Hap was ill, ran over in bare feet, worn out with worry.
“Honey, you need to get a strong grip on yourself. How can you be so fragile? Sit up. I brought you the abalone porridge you like.”
At Chairman Lee’s soothing words, Hyun Baek Hap sat up from her spot.
“That’s right, that’s right.”
Hyun Baek Hap looked at Chairman Lee with a half-dead face.
“I think this is all because of that Cheon Ha In.”
Hyun Baek Hap changed her point of attack.
Even Chairman Lee was watching Je Guk, and in this situation, she calculated that a rift in the relationship between Chairman Lee and Je Guk would not be very helpful.
“You think so too? I think the same. How upright our Je Guk is.”
“With Je Guk defending her like that, isn’t she challenging the Cheonha Group without knowing her place? The audacity.”
Hyun Baek Hap once again fanned the flames, inciting Chairman Lee’s emotions.
At that moment, the director of the Cheonha Medical Foundation entered.
“Chairman, is Madam here?”
He had rushed over upon hearing the news that Hyun Baek Hap had been hospitalized.
He was Hyun Baek Hap’s loyal subordinate.
It was none other than Hyun Baek Hap who had raised him to the position of director.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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