I kept in touch with Junsu and Woojin even after going to Belgium. Then when I said I was returning to Korea, they even came to pick me up at the airport, and in the time we hadn’t seen each other, Junsu had become a blonde. When I made a surprised face, the two laughed, saying that I’d grown taller too so they couldn’t recognize me either, but that wasn’t something Woojin, who had kept growing and exceeded 190cm by the time he was nineteen, should say.
Junsu, who loved cameras, entered the arts department of a community college in Seoul as a photography major. Woojin got into a quite famous music college, and he made a rare embarrassed face, saying he barely got in by being selected through practical skills only.
The two didn’t ask anything. When the Haebam incident broke out, after that, and even now when I’d suddenly returned, they didn’t even ask for a reason. I was at least relieved by the fact that there were at least two people who were still there for me.
Whether he heard the news that I’d returned, before long I also got contact from Hyeonho. Since Chiwon was the only connection between Hyeonho and me, I didn’t keep in touch well when Chiwon disappeared and I was in Belgium. Junsu and Woojin seemed to meet with Hyeonho often, so he probably heard about it there. Since he exchanged trivial greetings three times, I knew Hyeonho was holding back what he wanted to ask. When I pretended not to notice until the end, Hyeonho eventually let it go too.
That’s how occasionally there were days when the four of us gathered to drink. We never talked about Chiwon, but the time spent with people who remembered Chiwon was my only comfort.
Even though I stayed busy by taking classes as early as possible, the emptiness wasn’t filled. Let’s find Chiwon as soon as I quickly establish myself and stabilize. It was the spring of my twenty-fourth year when I was thinking that.
A person who said he was Grandfather’s friend contacted me. He was the chairman of Woosung Corporation and said he had worked with Grandfather when they were young. Even before, Grandfather’s old colleagues had occasionally contacted me and said they would help if I was going to start work, so I prepared to decline as usual. However, what he brought up was a completely different story from what I thought.
He said that, like a joke with our grandfather, he had once talked about how nice it would be to marry their grandson and granddaughter to each other. But seeing that I was living alone in Korea reminded him of that thought, so how about actually meeting once? I immediately refused. The chairman, who was regretful for a long time, eventually said he understood and hung up the phone.
Right after that, I forgot about that matter and lived on. It was because of Chiwon.
One night, I suddenly woke up from sleep. With a chilling feeling, my hands and feet went cold and numb. Insomnia occasionally acted up, but this was the first time for something like this. As I struggled to massage my unmoving hands, I suddenly thought of Chiwon. And the moment I thought of Chiwon, my heart dropped with a thud.
It was a strange sensation. It was so clear that it was hard to mistake it. I knew something had happened to Chiwon.
Was he hurt? Where was he injured? Anxiety rose up from my toes. Even after changing phones, I always slept with my old phone that still had Chiwon’s text at my bedside. That was the only connection. I gripped the phone tightly and lowered my head.
I just hoped Chiwon was safe. I could do anything for that. Helplessness pounded my body earnestly.
Worry for Chiwon consumed me. Even when Junsu and Woojin worried seeing me wasting away, I only became more and more impatient. When graduation was approaching and I was running around here and there preparing for business, I got contact from my parents.
-Eorin-ah, you know Woosung Corporation, right?
It was a familiar name.
-The chairman there is Father’s friend, and he keeps asking if you and his granddaughter could meet for an arranged marriage……
“I was contacted about it before, but I refused.”
It seemed he still had a lot of lingering attachment. I didn’t have the luxury to care about that. At my sigh, Mother said firmly.
-Got it. I’ll refuse clearly for you.
“Thank you.”
I said that and hung up, but it seemed Mother’s firmness didn’t get through. Somehow finding out, there was someone waiting for me on the way out after class ended.
“Kim Eorin-ssi?”
“……”
“It is you. Could you spare me some time?”
A faint cinnamon-scented pheromone. The smiling woman with short hair that touched her chin seemed more like an office worker than a college student. She introduced herself as Jeong Dawon, but when I showed no particular reaction even after hearing her name, she made a quite surprised face.
“You didn’t even know my name when talk of an arranged marriage was going around?”
“An arranged marriage?”
“You know Woosung Group, right? The chairman there is my grandfather.”
“……!”
“Now we can start talking.”
“I definitely refused.”
“I know. But I’m quite desperate.”
Saying she was desperate, Jeong Dawon smiled. It seemed less like she was in a good mood and more like a habit.
“I really, really, really need an escape route. And that’s you, Kim Eorin-ssi.”
“This has nothing to do with me.”
Saying that, I tried to get up. But my feet stopped at the name Jeong Dawon blurted out.
“Yoo Chiwon-ssi.”
It was a name that neither Woojin nor Junsu called in front of me. Hearing Chiwon’s name in someone else’s voice for the first time in 8 years, my breath caught.
“You came to Korea to find Yoo Chiwon-ssi, right?”
“……”
“I know you were in Belgium. I also know why you went. Well, you can find that out just by going to one party. But no one knew why you came back. Everyone was saying you must have come to take back Haebam. But I know. You have no intention of taking back Haebam.”
“……How did you know about Chiwon?”
“I did some investigating. You might not believe it, but an acquaintance of an acquaintance was at Haebam Orphanage. Even after going to Belgium, you kept sending money to the orphanage, right? Hoping it would be used as support funds for children who came of age and had to leave the orphanage. You probably wanted anonymity, but where are there secrets in the world? Especially for someone like you even more so.”
“……”
“I also heard about Yoo Chiwon-ssi from there. Stories from when you were around seventeen, and around when the incident broke out at Haebam.”
As the story went on, the smile disappeared from Jeong Dawon’s face. Only then did I see her real face. It was an empty expression.
“You came to find Yoo Chiwon-ssi. You could easily find him if you just tried, but you’re not doing that because you’re trying to find him after you’ve fully stood up. Because you don’t want to collapse with the person you love by your side.”
“That’s right. Then you understand even more why we shouldn’t be connected.”
“I don’t care that you have someone you love. I have someone too. No, that’s exactly why I need you more. You who have no greed for Woosung’s money, have a clear purpose, have someone you love, and who absolutely won’t touch me for the sake of that person. It’s enough if you divorce me a few years after marriage.”
At my expression that I didn’t understand, Jeong Dawon made a self-deprecating smile.
“It’s funny, isn’t it? That I can only love my lover if I have a marriage partner.”
“……Let me say it once more, but this is not a problem I should be involved in.”
I was sufficiently exhausted. Since I didn’t want to share in someone else’s pain, I cut off Jeong Dawon’s story about her circumstances. But Jeong Dawon clenched her fist and said while glaring somewhere above my head. It was quite a resolute air.
“You will be involved. Because I’m going to obstruct you.”
“……What did you say?”
“I know you’re in the middle of preparing to start a business. If you refuse my proposal, I will obstruct you without regard for means or methods. Calling it obstruction might sound a bit cute, but if Woosung’s name is attached, it won’t be so cute.”
For a moment, I couldn’t understand Jeong Dawon’s words. Next, I was so angry that my vision went dark. Not wanting to burst out in anger, I was choosing what to say, when Jeong Dawon continued.
“I told you, I’m desperate. I’m prepared to willingly use another person’s life. I feel the most sorry for myself in the world. So choose. Ten years to rise up while breaking through Woosung’s obstruction, or five years to rise up with Woosung’s help after a short married life with me.”
When you can meet Yoo Chiwon-ssi depends on your choice. Jeong Dawon left me a note and stood up.
I didn’t remember well how I got home. Without even turning on the lights, I just sat dazedly in a chair. When I came to my senses, five hours had passed since I met Jeong Dawon.
“Ten years……”
It was called ten years. Woosung was a well-known group and could easily crush someone like me. I wondered if the chairman on that side, who was said to be Grandfather’s friend, would really do that, but Jeong Dawon’s eyes were very sincere. If Woosung seriously tried to crush me…… even if another ten years were added to ten years, I might not be able to rise up.
The anger that had welled up while listening to Jeong Dawon’s story was nowhere to be found. Helplessness covered me again.
I knew that if I wavered, Chiwon would waver too. But I was too shallow. I was just endlessly swayed and shaken. When I was rubbing my chest because I couldn’t breathe well, my phone rang.
[Within a week. I’m in a bit of a hurry.]
It was an unknown number, but I thought I knew who sent it. I turned my phone over and lowered my head.
Four days later, I sent a time and place to the number Jeong Dawon had given me. However, what appeared there wasn’t Jeong Dawon but a man who resembled Jeong Dawon a lot.
“I’m Dawon’s older brother.”
“……”
I didn’t answer, and the man didn’t rush me either. Time passed like that. Minutes of silence, or perhaps tens of minutes. I, who had been caressing the rim of the completely cooled coffee cup, took out my phone from my pocket.
It was an old phone. The one with Chiwon’s text remaining. While staring at Chiwon’s text calling my name saying he really liked me, I opened my mouth.
“Let’s do it.”
Chiwon’s text blurred and then became clear repeatedly. There was no sound of breathing from the man sitting across from me. However, around the time my crying stopped, I heard a murmur saying he was really sorry.
Several days after that, news of my and Jeong Dawon’s engagement hit the news. And half a year later, in the spring of my twenty-fifth year when I graduated from college, I got married.
