The Empire's Servant - Chapter 9

Ha In grew more anxious as the appointed time approached.

She left work earlier than usual and headed to the Cheonha Art Museum. Even in the car, her mouth kept getting dry, so she moistened her throat with mineral water.

The pressure to move Je Guk’s heart today made her stomach burn.

It was her first time visiting the Cheonha Art Museum. It was a place she didn’t dare to visit.

To think the day would come when she would set foot in the art museum operated by Hyun Baek Hap.

The feeling was truly strange.

It would be an unpleasant affair for Je Guk, but it was also extremely uncomfortable for Ha In. Nevertheless, there was a reason she endured it and went.

There was hope that the space filled with Lady Yoon Joo Hwa’s cherished items could make Je Guk’s heart soften.

If she reminded Je Guk of his mother’s affection and Ha In’s past within the Cheonha Group, a gap would surely open.

Ha In gambled on that small possibility.

Standing in front of the Cheonha Art Museum, Ha In hesitated at the grand scale.

She straightened her shoulders that kept wanting to shrink and walked forward confidently.

A curator was standing at the front desk.

“Would you like me to guide you?”

“No, it’s alright.”

Ha In refused the curator’s kindness and picked up a leaflet. She looked at the map and grasped the location.

Lady Yoon Joo Hwa’s cherished items were exhibited in the innermost part of the Cheonha Art Museum. Ha In walked the maze-like museum path in search of those pieces.

The museum was so large that she had to walk for a long time.

Then, where she stopped, a black and white photograph of Lady Yoon Joo Hwa’s appearance during her lifetime was displayed. Looking again, she was truly a beautiful person.

Ha In entered with even heavier steps than when she first entered the museum.

She had no plans to look around the exhibited works, but each piece caught her eye.

The ‘Rock of Heaven’ she finally reached was a work with a truly mysterious power.

It was much more magnificent than what she had seen in the news or reference materials.

If only she could climb atop this rock, it felt like she could look down upon the whole world with a warm gaze.

Ha In blankly stared at the work. The more she looked, the more it was a masterpiece.

She almost blurted out the words ‘it’s beautiful.’

It was such a wonderful work that she momentarily forgot her anxious heart waiting for Je Guk.

There was also a warmth that somehow gave comfort from somewhere unknown.

Ha In leaned her heart against the work and waited for Je Guk.

* * *

Je Guk came to the Cheonha Art Museum alone without an attendant. He had a conversation he wanted to share with Ha In in private. He wanted to ask what kind of intentions she harbored in appearing.

When Je Guk appeared at the art museum, the front desk staff recognized him and tensed up.

“Director, you’ve come.”

“Ah, don’t mind me and go about your work.”

Je Guk walked towards where his mother’s cherished items were exhibited without even sparing them a glance.

Right now, his heart was in such turmoil that even someone’s attendance felt uncomfortable.

Although he had confronted Hyun Baek Hap to protect this space, it was a place he didn’t often visit.

Recalling his mother who passed away after a long battle with illness made him uneasy.

Ha In, who had asked to meet here of all places, was simply infuriating.

Arriving at the promised location, Je Guk discovered Ha In staring at the work in a daze.

Ha In was standing like a painting. Je Guk’s gaze naturally turned towards the work as well. It was the piece his mother had fallen in love with at first sight.

Je Guk steeled his heart, lest he be shaken.

“Excuse me.”

At Je Guk’s voice, Ha In came to her senses and looked at Je Guk. She bowed deeply towards him.

It was difficult for Je Guk to return her greeting with a smile.

He still didn’t know the reason she had asked to meet. And he didn’t know the truth she was hiding.

Je Guk couldn’t understand the meaning behind the pitiful gaze in her eyes as she looked at him.

“What did you ask to meet for, Prosecutor Cheon Ha In?”

She hesitated, not easily opening her mouth. Je Guk pressed her with a steady gaze, waiting for her to speak.

It was also Je Guk’s habit not to reveal his heart first to someone whose intentions were still unknown.

After a long silence, Ha In parted her lips.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Go ahead.”

Je Guk spoke in a cold voice, his heart not yet open to Ha In.

Even though he told her to speak, Ha In only moved her lips without saying a word. Je Guk waited for her.

“Actually…”

Je Guk grew anxious about what words would come out of her mouth, starting with ‘actually.’

“I am the prosecutor in charge of this Cheonha Group case.”

Ha In spoke honestly first. If she had hidden this fact until the end, no matter what conversation took place, Je Guk wouldn’t have been able to trust her.

Thanks to Ha In’s earlier confession, the reason to take her to task for hiding it until now disappeared.

“Yes, and?”

Je Guk, who had known Ha In was the prosecutor in charge of this case, answered without wavering. Instead, Ha In was taken aback.

“You already knew.”

“Did you call a busy person all the way here to say something that could be known even from my position?”

Je Guk guessed this wasn’t the end of it.

This much could have been said when they ran into each other at the prosecutor’s office that day.

Ha In clenched her trembling fists tightly, then bowed her head deeply. Then she looked at Je Guk again.

“Director, is Je Ni doing well?”

She suddenly asked about Je Ni’s well-being.

Although he knew Je Ni had tormented Ha In when she stayed at the Cheonha Group mansion, it was strange for her to bring up Je Ni now.

“Who knows.”

Je Guk didn’t have a close enough relationship with Je Ni to ask about her well-being either.

“Do you happen to know Je Ni’s birth year?”

Ha In kept throwing questions that were sinking deeper into a maze.

Je Guk’s patience was slowly reaching its limit, wondering what on earth she was trying to get at with such a long prelude.

“Get to the point simply.”

He was in no mood to have a leisurely question and answer session. Once again, Je Guk spoke coldly.

“Director, you have to take my side in this investigation.”

“Why? Because Hyun Baek Hap embezzled our Cheonha Group subsidiary shares under the pretext of passing them on to Je Ni?”

Did she think Je Guk would turn his back on Cheonha Group and side with the prosecutors for that level of a reason?

“Did you think I’d abandon our Cheonha Group and my father for such a reason?”

At those words, Ha In’s gaze pierced straight into Je Guk. It was as if she was about to make a tremendous declaration of war.

He could have taken that on any time.

But if she had called him here to say something pointless, there was no need for a second meeting.

“Looking at Je Ni’s birth registration year, the time of Lady Yoon Joo Hwa’s death, and the time of Chairman Lee and Hyun Baek Hap’s marriage registration…”

As Ha In went through the details, Je Guk’s brow furrowed more and more.

“Chairman Lee and Hyun Baek Hap were having an affair, and Je Ni was a child born out of wedlock.”

Having said that, Ha In dropped her gaze to the floor as if she felt sorry for clawing at Je Guk’s heart.

She seemed to know how much of a shock and wound that fact would be to Je Guk.

It was truly shocking. It was incomparably more confusing than when he heard the news of a legal risk arising for Cheonha Group.

Je Guk just felt miserable.

“Ha…”

Je Guk’s head turned towards the Rock of Heaven.

His father had clearly stated it wasn’t an affair.

He said such a thing would never happen even with a knife to his throat. But Je Guk couldn’t believe that his father, who had said that, had actually committed an affair and lied about it.

His father had Hyun Baek Hap and Je Ni stay abroad out of consideration for Je Guk’s state of mind, and only brought them to Korea after Je Ni had grown up.

To think even that wasn’t for Je Guk’s sake, but with the intention to deceive him. Je Guk felt an immense sense of betrayal.

Je Guk looked at Ha In again. He wanted to sternly accuse her of lying.

But his pride wouldn’t allow him to act according to the emotions he felt at this moment.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Perhaps it’s an impudent intention.”

“What intention?”

“I want to make you take my side, Director. I… need you.”

Needing him could mean wanting to use him, but Je Guk felt her sincerity.

“If you’re playing word games with me…”

“I’ll pay with my life.”

Ha In spoke in a clear voice, though trembling.

Je Guk glared at the trembling Ha In persistently, as if pulling her taut.

He resented the Pandora’s box Ha In had opened.

‘Ha In, if you’re risking your life to say it’s the truth, what am I supposed to do?’

Je Guk swallowed a deep sigh inwardly.

He hadn’t directly seen and confirmed anything with his own eyes except what he had heard.

Je Guk turned his head back to the Rock of Heaven.

If everything was true, just how lonely of a death had his mother faced? Je Guk’s heart ached, so he closed his eyes tightly.

Je Guk’s heart hurt so much with guilt for not being able to protect his mother using the excuse of being young and not knowing.

That’s when it happened.

The sound of people could be heard from far away. Hyun Baek Hap’s voice particularly stood out among them.

Je Guk looked that way with sharp eyes. Ha In’s gaze also followed in that direction.

Je Guk looked at Ha In again. Ha In also bit her lower lip, at a loss.

It seemed the front desk had informed them that Je Guk was at the museum.

“Go out that way.”

Je Guk looked at the path leading out the opposite side of the entrance.

“Pardon?”

Ha In asked back, her body stiff.

“Ha…”

Je Guk wondered why he kept ending up protecting Ha In.

He let out the deep sigh he had been holding back. Ha In tensed up at that.

“If you think there’s something to gain from facing Hyun Baek Hap now, then do so.”

Hyun Baek Hap’s voice gradually got closer to where Je Guk and Ha In were.

“Oh my, who is this? Je Guk, what brings you here?”

Hyun Baek Hap’s masked voice rang in Je Guk’s ears.

He stood with his back to Ha In, as if hiding her.

“Je Guk, you came alone at this hour?”

Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me

One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.

Synopsis:

Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.

But this is still far from enough.

He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.

_____

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