Thrilled by Madness - Chapter 35

As So Yeon entered the master room, Seo Jun moved with her towards the mini bar and sat on a standing chair.

“You were drinking whiskey?”

“A little.”

“Can I have some too?”

“Are you confident you won’t get drunk?”

“What if I do? It’s okay to enjoy ourselves a bit at times like this, isn’t it?”

“Go ahead then.”

Seo Jun raised the corner of his lips as he poured whiskey into a new glass.

“……”

So Yeon brought the glass he offered to her lips and gulped down all of the strong alcohol.

“Are you really trying to get drunk?”

“Is this all?”

Drinking a few glasses of alcohol doesn’t really do much.

It’s not like your throat actually turns to ash just because it feels like it’s burning, and even if you become unconscious for a while, you don’t permanently forget the memories etched in your head and heart.

At most, your throat stings and your stomach feels warm. That’s nothing compared to a scorched heart.

What So Yeon needed right now was alcohol to forget her complicated thoughts, even if just for a moment.

“Give me another glass.”

So Yeon lightly shook her empty glass, asking for more.

Seo Jun stared at So Yeon for a moment. Her small face with delicate features looked especially determined today.

“I won’t stop you.”

Seo Jun tilted the bottle into the crystal glass generously. There was a clear sound as the liquid fell. So Yeon took another sip when the glass was filled and began the conversation she had been internally concerned about.

“About this mansion. Isn’t it a vacation home that the Director’s family frequently visits? If a Korean person owns such a vast property and magnificent mansion in Spain, your parents must be incredibly wealthy.”

“I wonder how you knew that. Though I have enough wealth to own a mansion like this myself.”

It was an unexpected statement, but Seo Jun calmly asked back.

Though it was somewhat surprising that she had figured it out before being told, it wasn’t shocking. After all, bringing her to this mansion owned by his father meant he had no intention of hiding anything about himself.

“I knew from the portrait hanging on the stairs. It’s you when you were young, with this place as the background. I’ve known for a while that you’re cousins with CEO Gu Won Hoo, but I had no idea you were even more extraordinary than I thought.”

After arriving at the Malaga mansion, So Yeon had learned a little about the Tae Seo Jun she didn’t know well. Tae Seo Jun, who lacked nothing on his own, also had an incredible background behind him.

So Yeon could easily infer who the owner of this mansion was from the family portrait hanging on the main staircase.

If Tae Seo Jun had been coming here since he was very young, then naturally his parents’ wealth must be extraordinarily immense, and if so, he must be a member of a rare chaebol family.

However, she didn’t know that Tae Seo Jun’s family was the so-called number one chaebol.

Chairman Tae Seok Ho was a giant in the business world who often appeared on TV news. So it wasn’t unreasonable for So Yeon, who had occasionally watched economic news, to know Chairman Tae. However, that portrait was easily over 25 years old.

Therefore, while it looked familiar, she hadn’t realized the person in the painting was Chairman Tae Seok Ho due to his appearance having changed quite a bit from now.

However, So Yeon, who couldn’t help but feel the severe class difference with Tae Seo Jun in many ways, asked pointedly.

“By any chance, are your parents chaebols?”

“Well, more or less. So what?”

So it’s true.

Though she had vaguely expected it, hearing that he was really a chaebol made Tae Seo Jun feel even more distant.

Another reason why it would be difficult for them to be together was added to her already complicated thoughts.

“Just that fact alone makes it seem like we’d be difficult.”

“We haven’t even started yet.”

“Is it not impossible to start?”

“What exactly can’t be done? Because I’m Tae Seo Jun? Because my parents are chaebols?”

“Both.”

Isn’t she a really unusual woman? When people hear ‘chaebol’, they’re all desperate to get close. That’s why I thoroughly hid my background and family.

But Eom So Yeon shows excessive caution about being a chaebol. When something is excessive, there’s usually another reason. So what could that be?

Seo Jun felt somewhat suspicious for some reason.

“There’s nothing bad in it for you, so why?”

“There’s nothing good either.”

“So, because of that, you find it difficult to continue our relationship?”

“I suppose so.”

“Are you saying you’ll only see me for work, Eom So Yeon?”

“…I guess I should.”

“Hah……”

Who decides that?

Seo Jun laughed in a low voice. It meant he wouldn’t let that happen, if only because he found Eom So Yeon’s thoughts of distancing herself from him vexing.

“What should we do? I can’t see Eom So Yeon only for work.”

“Surely, you don’t mean you don’t care if there’s a scandal with me?”

“What if I do?”

“Sigh……”

He doesn’t seem like a reckless person, but he says such strange things. So Yeon widened her reddened eyes, which had become so without her realizing.

“Why are you acting so unlike the Eom So Yeon who fearlessly confessed about even a child?”

“I’m actually very scared. Sometimes I scream when fallen leaves on the ground look like something else, and there are times when I’m easily startled even by my own shadow.”

“I see……”

Is that so?

Seo Jun slowly opened and closed his eyes, staring intently at So Yeon’s flustered expression.

What are these emotions that alternate between cold and hot every time I see you? When I vaguely thought of Eom So Yeon from afar, my heart was strangely at ease. But since reuniting, my throbbing heart has been quite uncomfortable.

And the moment I learned about the unbelievable child, I even had to feel an absurd sense of betrayal. Because I thought there must be a man, since humans don’t reproduce asexually.

But then she said that wasn’t the case.

What’s funny in all this is myself. Because the moment Eom So Yeon said there was a child but no man, the unpleasantness that had risen to the top of my head disappeared without a trace. I think I even felt relieved.

I saw an angelic smile on that small beach I always visited alone when coming to Malaga. Should I say it was pure? I wonder why I want to see Eom So Yeon’s face again, which was sparkling innocently. If I honestly tell you my feelings, will you smile like that again?

Seo Jun spoke with a serious expression and voice.

“Eom So Yeon, you said before. That people forget people with people. So take responsibility for what you said.”

“What… do you mean?”

“You’ve entered my heart and gotten stuck there. I’ve tried everything, but you just won’t come out. It’s been like that for quite a while. Since the day I first met you.”

“…!”

Her startled gaze staggered as if falling.

So Yeon stared at Seo Jun with wide eyes, her brow furrowed. She couldn’t even blink. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart, which had been beating well, suddenly stopped. The tip of her nose stung. She couldn’t see clearly.

Why did you suddenly say such things……

Hot tears that couldn’t be held back fell like a sudden shower from her large eyes.

For the 10 months while the baby grew vigorously in her womb, every time she caressed and hugged her swollen belly, imagining what the unborn baby’s eyes, nose, and mouth would look like, that person, that face, unfailingly came to mind.

She tried hard to erase the fear and bad thoughts that kept creeping up, relying on the memory of one night.

She endured alone the days when she desperately longed for a warm, comforting touch, thinking of him. Because he had always been a light, brightly illuminating her dark heart like a beacon in the vast, dark sea.

And that was like the laws of nature, like an inevitable inertia, flowing in one direction.

This man who says I got stuck in his heart the day we first met.

That one statement was enough.

At this moment, she was simply grateful for all those past days when pain and happiness coexisted.

But nothing changes.

If his feelings were sincere, then she had thought there might be a little possibility. However, Tae Seo Jun was a person even further away than she had thought. The fact that he was from a chaebol family weighed heavily on her mind.

Though she already loves him, she must not love him again. Because she can’t hold back this man who lives in a different world just for her own sake.

Though someone like her surely wouldn’t be an obstacle in his solid life, there shouldn’t be anything that gets in the way, like gravel scattered on a smooth road.

Moreover, I vow that even if I fall into hell, I won’t make any pitiful excuses for my choices.

To become an adult who can take responsibility for my own life. To become a strong mother who doesn’t falter even in a typhoon. Above all, for my child whom I must protect to the end.

Those were the meanings of her tears.

‘My goodness, Miss Eom So Yeon is a mother. Work on that assumption for now. Keep the story the same. Just change the skinship back to how it was originally.’

On the day of the party at the El Stella Hotel, writer Kwon Eun Young called her assistant writer to instruct changes to the script.

It was usually writer Kwon’s belief that a strong love line was necessary to instantly captivate viewers’ eyes. However, she had worried and hesitated a lot, judging that Eom So Yeon, who looked as delicate and youthful as a flower in a greenhouse, couldn’t handle high levels of intensity.

But there’s a limit to deceiving people, being an unmarried mother? Moreover, all three men banding together to overrule my opinion? If you’re not all enchanted by her pretty appearance, then what is it? Fine, if you all want Eom So Yeon so badly, I have another way!

Thinking this, writer Kwon modified the script with the intention of at least securing ratings out of her resentful feelings.

However, there were many ears in the El Stella Hotel lobby to hear her words. And In Ha was there too.

In Ha was so flabbergasted that he might have strangled Eom So Yeon right then and there if she had been in front of him. The years he had let slip by waiting for her to see him as a man felt futile enough to drive him crazy.

But that was just Jo In Ha’s feelings alone. And the fact that he had been the only one clinging all along made him feel even more upset.

On the day he tried everything to meet Eom So Yeon, Jo In Ha went to Dogok-dong. However, unable to reach her by phone, he wandered around the apartment area for a while and ended up seeing Eom So Yeon getting into a car with Tae Seo Jun.

For several days after that, In Ha was so excited that he didn’t know how he managed to get through all those schedules.

And today again, he had an overseas photo shoot and needed to go to the airport quickly. But he stopped by the CN representative’s office without thinking, feeling he needed to at least hear the reason why Eom So Yeon went to Spain with Tae Seo Jun before he could leave.

“What do you plan to do?”

“Well. I know you care a lot about Miss Eom So Yeon as a junior, but do I have any reason to disclose those details to you, Mr. Jo In Ha? It’s clearly Miss Eom So Yeon’s personal matter. Haven’t you considered that excessive concern might actually make the junior you care about more difficult?”

“No matter what, can’t I even worry? And why did Director Tae take So Yeon to Spain?”

As In Ha questioned, Won Hoo became curious too.

“I thought your excessive behavior has been a bit strange all this time, but was that the core of it? Have you been liking her as a woman, not just a junior, all along? Is that why you’re so concerned about her going to Spain with Director Tae?”

“……”

In Ha stiffened his lips at the direct question.

It seems I guessed right since he’s not saying anything, but if that’s the case, there’s one more thing I need to ask.

“If Mr. Jo In Ha’s feelings were mutually agreed upon, I could gladly tell you about Miss Eom So Yeon’s future moves. But in my opinion, that doesn’t seem to be the case……”

Twenty-six. At twenty-four years old, it wouldn’t be strange to still just be playing the role of a lovely daughter under her parents’ care. The fact that she had a child was quite shocking to Gu Won Hoo as well.

But regardless of the reasons, Won Hoo was most worried about her. How much must she have suffered while keeping that tremendous secret, and wouldn’t she be struggling alone worrying about the situations that would unfold after finally confessing on her own?

But the Eom So Yeon he saw in Seo Jun’s room that he went back up to was unexpectedly calm. Even the sight of her wearing Seo Jun’s coat looked so natural that he briefly suspected if there was something between the two of them.

Seo Jun, who had only been lukewarm towards Eom So Yeon, volunteered to be her practice partner, and even gave dramatic help on the day of the party.

Seeing that they went to Spain together, it wasn’t unreasonable to feel suspicious. But isn’t he the guy who detests women after Yoo Jung Hwa?

I know better than anyone how clean-cut he is in that regard.

There’s no room for doubt.

Rather, the wild card was here.

“Then what is it? Are you worried about Miss Eom So Yeon’s future, or are you worried that the woman in your heart might be stolen by Director Tae?”

“That’s going too far, Representative! Do I look like someone who would lose to Tae Seo Jun? I think it would be better to talk calmly with So Yeon when she returns after all.”

He jumps up when his pride is hurt. They’re really not in any kind of relationship. Having confirmed this, Won Hoo smirked.

“Then is our conversation over?”

“……”

As In Ha frowned one eye as if asking why he was asking him that, Won Hoo also smiled amusedly and got up from his swivel chair.

“Let’s go out together. I have an appointment, and Mr. Jo In Ha should go to the airport according to your schedule.”