It was a peculiar atmosphere.

She still prepared breakfast and ate together, even chose his tie and arranged his shoes as before, but the woman seeing him off to work was strangely different.

“Did you have another fight with the lady of the house?”

Woo Seok asked, sensing the tense mood on the way to work.

“Does it look like we fought?”

“Yes.”

The nod of driver Park and Woo Seok’s answer were almost simultaneous.

“That’s what I think too.”

“Pardon?”

It was an ambiguous response.

“We didn’t fight, but it feels like we did, that’s what I mean.”

Among the three, the man with the sharpest intuition seemed to think so, so it seemed unlikely to get an accurate answer.

“Think carefully, perhaps there was something in what you said that might have upset the lady. For example, making a request sound like an order, or casually giving a rather difficult instruction…”

Woo Seok was bringing up things that had occasionally upset him, as if this was his chance, when driver Park elbowed him in the side.

He was a man of few words, but clearly more perceptive than Woo Seok.

“Ah, right. You heard that the lady is going out today, didn’t you?”

Woo Seok hastily changed the subject.

“Han manager will take her to the meeting place so she doesn’t have to take a bus or taxi. I’ll go to the executive dinner alone today.”

The man leaned back on the headrest as if tired, and soon closed his eyes.

*****

She wore high-waisted light blue jeans with a white t-shirt that rose slightly above the waistline.

Letting down her long wavy hair that was always neatly tied up, with rosy cheeks and sneakers, she looked like a lively college student.

Just thinking about chatting with her three business school friends who went on vacation together during breaks was delightful, and she planned to enjoy her rare outing to the fullest.

As she hummed a tune while stepping out onto the garden, Woo Seok’s car pulled up in front of Do Eum.

“You look happy, my lady.”

“Do I?”

Woo Seok nodded with kind eyes, as if looking at a much younger sister.

“Even if it looks that way, please tell the chairman that today’s outing seemed a bit bothersome to him.”

Poke.

Pfft.

They both laughed at the same time.

They both knew well that such a tactic wouldn’t work on someone like him, but also that he wasn’t the type to be particularly upset by it either.

“I’ll be on standby nearby, so please call when you’re done.”

“Is that also the chairman’s instruction?”

“Pardon? Ah, no. The chairman has always done it that way, so…”

“Then you don’t have to do it for me. I’ll have fun without any issues and come home safely. Oh, and Eun Hyeok’s house is in the same direction, so I might get a ride with him.”

“W-who?”

Woo Seok, who hadn’t heard anything about the woman’s outing today, asked again.

“I mentioned it once before, the business school trio. Eun Hyeok, Jae Han, and Min Seung. I’m meeting those friends today.”

“Ah, did you also tell the chairman who you’re meeting today?”

“No. Should I have?”

Woo Seok in the driver’s seat and Do Eum in the back seat rolled their eyes simultaneously.

Even if he knew who she was meeting and what they were doing, he wasn’t the type to forbid her from going, but he also wasn’t the type to be particularly pleased about finding out later.

“Ah, I’m over here!! Manager, please drop me off here.”

In the distance, three men could be seen standing.

Just standing there, an aura of youthful energy and spirit seemed to emanate from around the tall men.

“Then, if you could at least let us know your schedule from time to time…”

“Yes, yes!!”

Slam.

Before Woo Seok could finish speaking, the woman had already gotten out of the car and disappeared into the distance, her glossy hair fluttering.

‘Sigh, what to do about this.’

Woo Seok, who had always reported to his superior without exception regardless of the outcome, was now in the most agonizing dilemma of all.

Somehow, he had a feeling, no, a certainty, that this time he shouldn’t report where the woman went and who she met.

*****

Seo Hyeon’s family home in Munjeong-dong.

It was the first time in two years that she had been summoned to the family home by her father, Chairman Jin Tae Woon, except for visiting on her mother’s death anniversary.

The three-story red brick house was gloomy despite being located at the highest point in the neighborhood.

“I’m here.”

As soon as she set foot in Chairman Jin’s study, the innermost room on the first floor.

Slap!

A toad-like hand grazed her cheek, causing Seo Hyeon to stagger greatly.

“What on earth are you doing! How incompetent of a woman are you that you can’t bear your husband wanting to have some fun and accuse him of infidelity!”

It seemed Ki Hyeok had visited.

It was probably his own form of revenge for having his toy, which he had been playing with quite amusingly, taken away.

“Did he come by?”

Chairman Jin, with deeply furrowed brows and a body twice the size of Seo Hyeon’s, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

“In this day and age, is it such a big deal for a man to entertain multiple women?”

Seo Hyeon was about to ask what her father had gained from Chairman Jang of Anseo-dong for this not-so-significant matter in today’s world, but she just wiped the corner of her burst lip and kept her mouth shut.

It was ridiculous.

The father figure went to his in-laws to get what he wanted because of his son-in-law’s affair, and the cheating husband came to his wife’s parents’ home to report on the wife who had gotten rid of his mistress.

“A woman should act like a picture hanging on the wall.”

There it was again.

Pretend not to see what you see, pretend not to hear what you hear.

Just be pleasing to look at, like a picture in a frame, he said.

She had lived her whole life as her father’s puppet, trying to be that pleasing picture.

From her college major to her career path, even the volunteer work at the orphanage that was started for the company’s image – it was all her father’s will.

That’s where she realized it.

That she was living a worse life than the children abandoned by their parents.

“Teacher, you have lots of money and a dad, so why aren’t you happy?”

“Smile like me, teacher! Smile~”

The healing given by children who had nothing was beyond imagination.

Starting from that, she established the Jin Han Welfare Foundation.

It was rewarding work.

Seeing an eighteen-year-old child leave the orphanage and settle into society as a member was the most fulfilling thing she had ever done.

“I fired Manager Shin.”

At the sudden mention of firing her executive assistant, Seo Hyeon’s jaw clenched fiercely.

He had been her only person, assisting her by her side since she was twenty-four.

“Why, why did you fire my person, Father!”

“Huh, your person? How foolish.”

Only then did she notice an unfamiliar man standing beside Chairman Jin, observing the entire situation.

“Before I went to Anseo-dong about Manager Seo, Chairman Jang already knew everything. Not only about the woman having an affair with his grandson but also your every move. Who do you think fed him that information?”

She had guessed that Chairman Jang of Anseo-dong would be monitoring her.

But she never imagined it would be Manager Shin, whom she had trusted as her own person for the past 5 years.

“From now on, try to tame this one as your person. He’s smart and quick.”

Smart and quick.

At those words implying he was good for her father to use, a clear sneer appeared at the corner of Seo Hyeon’s mouth.

This guy is probably just another one of the many thugs.

Or maybe a wannabe thug dreaming of being somewhat decent.

The tall man, standing over 180 cm, bowed deeply towards Seo Hyeon.

He looked to be about twenty-five at most.

“I’m Im San.”

The man who had lowered his gaze now looked straight at Seo Hyeon.

It was strange that he neither took an unnecessarily low posture nor avoided eye contact in front of her, unlike her father’s usual people.

Although she had looked at him as if he were less than a bug, Seo Hyeon was the first to turn her gaze away from her own weak and miserable image reflected in his deep eyes.

“If you can’t make this one your person this time, that’s your limit. Go back and apologize properly to Manager Seo, beg him sincerely.”

Her left chest hurt more than her injured lip.

The heartless father, who didn’t care at all about his daughter’s emotional pain, turned and left the study just like that.

The woman who needed several times more time and effort than others to gain a single person laughed bitterly at losing her only person in 10 minutes.

Like this again.

Inevitably, to her father again.

*****

At the dinner venue after finishing the Bando Construction executive meeting.

“To our pillar and lifeline of Bando Construction, Chairman Seo Ji Wan!! Come on, come on. Why aren’t you all raising your glasses?”

At the lead of Oh Jong Taek, the general affairs team manager, the others reluctantly raised their glasses.

Jong Taek, who had been appointed from Bando headquarters less than a year ago, was known as Ki Hyeok’s right-hand man along with Manager Kwak Sang Tae, and was undoubtedly one of Seo Ki Hyeok’s people.

When he was assigned to Construction instead of Electronics where Ki Hyeok was the CEO,

rumors spread that he was Ki Hyeok’s hunting dog sent to spy on Ji Wan, or that he had been discarded after serving his purpose.

“Come on, come on. Our chairman. You should accept a drink from me.”

Ji Wan frowned at Jong Taek, who had no real sense of authority and wasn’t the type to be flattered by such trivial words.

“Where did Team Leader Kong Ki Hoon go?”

As Ji Wan accepted Jong Taek’s drink while looking for someone else, everyone’s gaze turned to Ki Hoon’s empty seat.

“That inflexible Kong team leader, you know? Even though you always indulge him, right? Even today, when you said you’d attend, he stubbornly insisted on going to the site. Who isn’t busy? Anyone watching would think he’s doing all of Bando’s work alone.”

Known for being usually quiet and straightforward, Ki Hoon was one of Bando Construction’s founding members and was more meticulous than anyone when it came to work.

As his style wasn’t much different from Ji Wan’s, his decisions were often as good as Ji Wan’s, which led to rumors that Kong Ki Hoon was the only one in Seo Ji Wan’s faction.

Ji Wan emptied his glass and stood up at Jong Taek’s complaints disguised as drunken ramblings.

“I’ll be leaving first too. Please enjoy yourselves comfortably.”

Even without Jong Taek’s excessive banter, Ji Wan had a reason for wanting to leave early.

It was because there was no report of Do Eum returning from her outing even as it was approaching midnight.

He had expected her to at least tell him where she was going and who she was meeting, if not exactly when she would return.

Even at breakfast, the woman who seemed excited about going out hadn’t said a word about her plans. At least he thought he always made sure to let her know why he was late if he was going to be.

‘Sigh. So you’re going to be like this.’

He felt unnecessarily hurt.

Ji Wan, who had just left the restaurant, widened his eyes at the sight of Woo Seok waiting in front of the sedan.

“Why are you here?”

“The lady insisted so much that I should go…”

It was a sign that Do Eum had lightly bitten back at his instruction to wait and assist with her return.

He thought that while Woo Seok’s waiting might have been convenient for him, it could have been uncomfortable for the woman. After all, as long as he reported her every move to him, Woo Seok was nothing more than a walking CCTV to Do Eum.

“I received a message two hours ago that they were moving to a second location, and that one of the three male companions lived in the same direction, so she would be going home with him…”

Oops.

Woo Seok hastily closed his mouth after naturally revealing who Do Eum was meeting.

The day he went to the campus full of greenery with the contract,

Ji Wan recalled the three men he had met there.

Especially Eun Hyeok, who had glared at him as if he wanted to kill him.

Like a wild male that doesn’t share its prey, Ji Wan instinctively knew.

The look in Eun Hyeok’s eyes as he warily watched him was certainly not just loyalty or friendship towards a friend, nothing of that level of emotion.

Thump.

Opening the pile of documents in the seat next to him, Ji Wan quietly muttered.

“Lead the way, Manager Han. To wherever that is.”