Lee Je Guk’s gaze fixed on Ha In.

Ha In stood facing him, not averting her eyes to gauge his reaction.

She wanted to look straight at him, but her eyes wavered countless times.

They were about five steps apart.

Ha In swallowed her saliva, fearing that the sound of her pounding heart might reach his ears, and tried to suppress her trembling heart.

The painful memories that had tormented Ha In might have been nothing to Lee Je Guk.

However, Ha In desperately hoped that Lee Je Guk would remember even a small piece of her miserable past.

She hoped that even powerless memories could become a thread connecting her to him.

Ha In believed that if Lee Je Guk helped her once again with the same heart as back then, she could steer this incident in the direction she wanted.

“Director, is there anything that displeases you?”

The chief secretary asked Lee Je Guk cautiously. Even at the chief secretary’s question, Lee Je Guk stared intently at Ha In.

Lee Je Guk’s gaze moved to the ID badge hanging around Ha In’s neck, and his eyes shook dully.

“Chief Secretary, please go ahead. I’ll follow shortly.”

Lee Je Guk dismissed the people.

Ha In felt herself trembling, but she tried her best to stand upright.

The muscles on his face moved subtly.

“Cheon Ha In.”

Lee Je Guk called out Ha In’s name. He hadn’t forgotten Ha In’s name, which was etched like a scarlet letter.

A whirlwind of emotions swirled within her.

The voice calling out ‘Cheon Ha In’ made even her dark intentions of using him waver.

“It’s been a while. Ah, it’s been a long time.”

Lee Je Guk’s voice echoed distantly in Ha In’s ears.

He quickly changed from informal speech to formal speech. Ha In faltered at the awkwardness of his formality.

“Have you been well?”

Ha In spoke in a trembling voice and watched his expression closely.

Ha In looked into his deep eyes, trying to read his thoughts.

Meeting Ha In’s eyes, Lee Je Guk slowly blinked his sharp eyes gently.

Lee Je Guk stopped walking, gave Ha In his attention, and spoke to her.

Ha In hoped that the tiny bit of interest he showed was a sign of fondness.

First, he had to open his heart to Ha In so that she could proceed to the next step.

However, as someone skilled at maintaining a poker face, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking just by looking at his face.

Lee Je Guk glanced at his wristwatch.

“The time……”

After being investigated all day, Lee Je Guk was pressed for time.

Meeting Ha In, whom he had buried in the past, was an unexpected occurrence.

Given Lee Je Guk’s cautious nature, he didn’t want to take any immediate action. It was also true that his schedule was tight.

“Let’s meet again when we have the chance.”

The moment Lee Je Guk was about to leave, Ha In’s shoulders heaved with the desire to hold him back.

She couldn’t let go of this hard-earned opportunity.

Ha In was afraid that without even being able to strike up a proper conversation with Lee Je Guk, the situation would crumble.

Ha In regained her composure and pulled herself together.

“Can you give me a business card?”

Lee Je Guk turned his head towards the chief secretary and then approached Ha In again.

The pleasant scent emanating from him was close enough to reach the tip of Ha In’s nose.

“I left my business cards behind.”

Lee Je Guk took out his cell phone and handed it to Ha In.

Ha In took the phone with trembling hands, entered her number, and handed it back to Lee Je Guk.

At that moment, the temperature difference between Lee Je Guk’s warm hand and Ha In’s cold fingertips was significant.

Ha In slightly flinched, fearing that the trembling would be conveyed through her fingertips, and pulled her hand back to the book she held in her arms.

When he pressed the call button, Ha In’s cell phone vibrated.

“Next time, let’s meet more leisurely. It was nice to see you.”

Ha In bowed her head in greeting and turned towards the stairs.

Her pounding heart urged her steps.

As she climbed the stairs, the sound of an iron door opening was heard from the upper floor. Ha In naturally slowed her pace.

“Oh, Sunbae.”

It was Gang Jun.

“Is something wrong?”

Gang Jun looked down the stairs.

Ha In looked at her hand tightly gripping the book. Not only were her hands tense, but her shoulders were also raised.

“No, I’m just a bit tired.”

Ha In climbed the stairs again, hiding her flustered appearance. Gang Jun followed behind her.

Upon arriving at the office, Ha In composed herself after the unsettling encounter with Lee Je Guk.

She took a deep breath inwardly, placed the tightly held book on the desk, and turned around.

“Sunbae, the interrogation report will be coming up soon. Director Lee Je Guk is quite a character. I was worried he would maintain his right to remain silent. Hah…”

Gang Jun, a prosecutor with a competitive spirit, was also frustrated by losing the battle of wits.

A prosecution office employee entered with the interrogation report.

Gang Jun took the documents and approached Ha In. Ha In received the report and carefully examined it.

Gang Jun had accurately thrown questions that would create a rift between Chairman Lee and Lee Je Guk.

However, in Lee Je Guk’s answers, there was a consistent nuance of trying to shift the arrow towards Hyun Baek Hap rather than Chairman Lee.

Was he protecting his father even though he disliked him? Ha In pondered whether she needed to use stronger tactics to break the bond between the father and son.

Nevertheless, if there was anything gained, it became clearer that an investigation into Hyun Baek Hap was necessary.

“We can’t discuss this case without considering Hyun Baek Hap.”

“I also think an investigation into Director Hyun Baek Hap is necessary. However, based on my intuition, I don’t think Hyun Baek Hap will cooperate with the investigation as readily as Director Lee Je Guk.”

Considering the way Hyun Baek Hap had lived her life so far, it would be fortunate if she merely refused to cooperate with the investigation.

She would likely try to interfere using all sorts of tricks.

She might even play the victim and attempt to portray the prosecution as a nefarious organization.

Ha In unconsciously clenched her teeth.

Thinking of Hyun Baek Hap, the scar hidden behind her wristwatch throbbed.

To get Hyun Baek Hap out of the huge fortress that was Cheonha Group, Ha In desperately needed Lee Je Guk’s help.

* * *

Although it was time for the rush hour traffic to ease, the roads were still busy. The car Lee Je Guk was in was also stuck in the middle of the road.

Lee Je Guk leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

Normally, he would have been busy checking work on his tablet even while on the move, but today he needed a moment to catch his breath, even if only in the car.

“Director, there was a message that the Chairman is waiting without leaving work.”

The original plan was to return to the company and devise future strategies with the legal department head.

Upon hearing that Chairman Lee was waiting, the plan to hurry back to the company was abandoned.

Before coming to the prosecutor’s office, Lee Je Guk had a glimmer of hope in Chairman Lee’s words that the stories circulated by the prosecution and media were fabrications.

He thought that all the misunderstandings he had about Chairman Lee would be resolved after the investigation.

However, now he painfully realized that that small hope was a pitiful expectation.

All of Gang Jun’s questions had supporting evidence.

Although he answered Gang Jun’s questions without wavering, his face grew hot with embarrassment as he responded.

He had never felt so ashamed while running the company.

He knew who Hyun Baek Hap trusted to run amok, but it was shocking to learn that Chairman Lee was harboring her misdeeds despite being aware of them.

His trust in the chairman and his trust in his father had come to an end.

“Let’s go home. I want to rest a bit today.”

The chief secretary showed a troubled expression but didn’t question Lee Je Guk twice.

“Yes, I understand.”

The car that had been heading towards the company changed direction to head home.

As the car stopped in front of Lee Je Guk’s house, the chief secretary opened the door for Lee Je Guk to get out.

“Director, you’ve worked hard today.”

“No, it’s alright. I have a request for some documents. Please prepare them and place them on my desk before I arrive at work tomorrow.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Lee Je Guk left the bowing chief secretary behind and placed his fingerprint on the security device.

As Lee Je Guk’s hand touched it, the massive door opened heavily.

Lee Je Guk’s heart remained heavy even as he passed through the garden and entered the house.

There was no better refuge than the study when his mind was cluttered.

He took a bottle of wine and a glass and headed to the study.

Lee Je Guk set the wine glass down and sat on the edge of the study desk. Then he poured the wine generously.

As he tried to calm his mind and body with a full-bodied wine, a thought popped up.

“Cheon Ha In.”

The study was where he first met her. The study was also where he last met her.

So the place where he encountered Ha In today was truly unexpected. It wasn’t just because of the location.

He hadn’t thought he would meet her again, but human affairs were truly unpredictable.

As he greeted Ha In with a long time no see, he felt sorry thinking about how those greetings might have sounded to her ears.

He was worried that Ha In, looking at him, would be reminded of Cheonha Group and the hellish experiences she had gone through there.

Nevertheless, he was relieved that she hadn’t fallen into a bad path and was working at the prosecutor’s office.

If he had encountered her in a broken state, he would have been hurt even with his meddlesome nature.

Lee Je Guk had keenly felt how heartbreaking it was to lose family and how difficult it was to regain one’s balance.

That was why he was furious at Hyun Baek Hap for doing terrible things to Ha In.

He also felt a sense of responsibility for what had happened within the family.

He thought time would dull the feelings, but seeing Ha In now as a grown adult, that apologetic feeling resurfaced.

“Did she become a prosecutor?”

Lee Je Guk took out his cell phone that he had briefly handed to Ha In.

He was about to save her name as ‘Cheon Ha In,’ but even that name felt painful.

The name ‘Ha In’ was a name that Hyun Baek Hap had branded like a scarlet letter.

It was puzzling why she carried that painful name around her neck when she could have changed it.

Lee Je Guk touched the save button and recalled the image of Ha In looking at him.

She had an expression of wanting to say something. It looked quite desperate.

If she had recognized Lee Je Guk, she could have avoided him or pretended not to know him, but her gaze was unusual.

The more he thought about Ha In, the more question marks arose.

Realizing that it wasn’t a problem he could find answers to, Lee Je Guk set aside his complicated thoughts and pressed the save button.

At that moment, Lee Je Guk’s cell phone vibrated.

‘Cheon Ha In’

The name he had just saved was clearly displayed on the screen.