When Secretary Ju politely held the office door wide open for him, Haejeong didn’t snap back at her the way he usually would. It wasn’t quite banter, but the two of them would normally exchange a few pleasant words — yet today’s Haejeong was clearly not in the mood for any of it, and he simply fixed Secretary Ju with a cold stare before cutting her off sharply.
“I don’t need it. Get back to work.”
…Did he get dumped in that short amount of time?
The question crossed her mind, but Secretary Ju gave a respectful bow and disappeared promptly. Haejeong began making his way to the Vice Chairman’s office, yanking his necktie loose in irritation.
Since last night, Haejeong hadn’t slept a single wink. He hadn’t been able to break Munyeong’s stubbornness about checking out of the hospital, and had come home — but the entire way back, the two of them hadn’t exchanged a single word. No, “couldn’t” was more accurate. He hadn’t known where to even begin, so he hadn’t started at all. But the other had looked, if anything, refreshed. Like someone who’d said everything they needed to say and been set free. He’d gone and completely ruined Haejeong’s mood, yet there he was, looking unburdened and light.
But what could he say. In the end, it was all a grave he had dug himself. These were his own words, his own actions. Still — he had thought it would have been enough. That his feelings had come through. How much he had poured into him, how much he — for someone like you, how much I…
The thought stopped when he arrived in front of Juhyeok’s office.
Haejeong let out a tired sigh, his face worn to a pulp.
He shoved the door open with a bang, looking every bit as though he couldn’t be bothered, and the long guest table running across the center of the office came into view — and then, at its head, right at the seat of honor, his eyes locked directly with Rep. Chu’s. Haejeong felt his already foul mood sink into something even more wretched, and he screwed his face into something thoroughly unpleasant.
“What is this.”
So the Vice Chairman’s summons had in fact been Rep. Chu’s summons.
“What do you mean, what is this. Your mother came to see you. Sit down.”
Juhyeok, who had been perched on the edge of his desk making brief conversation with Rep. Chu, looked over at Haejeong and said it mildly.
“So it wasn’t you who called me — it was Rep. Chu?”
“Did you just say ‘you’ to your hyung?”
The question had been directed at Juhyeok, but it was Rep. Chu’s rebuke that came back instead. Haejeong didn’t seem to be in any mood to respond — he just stared at her with irritation.
“You don’t talk to your brother like that in front of company people too, do you?”
“He doesn’t, Mother. Please don’t get worked up. What are you doing — sit down already.”
Juhyeok deftly smoothed over his mother’s mood and beckoned Haejeong with a flick of his hand. He didn’t harbor any particular ill feelings toward his older brother Juhyeok, but seeing the two of them like that, side by side, instantly made irritation flare up in him. Even so, Haejeong, who couldn’t even muster the energy to be properly angry, didn’t bother to reply and dropped himself carelessly into a chair.
The slovenly posture, the disheveled appearance, the hostile air — not a single thing about Haejeong’s state was to Rep. Chu’s liking, and her face twisted sharply.
“…I hear you haven’t even been coming in to work properly.”
Rep. Chu rested both arms on the armrests and fixed Haejeong with a piercing look. Under that guarded, sharp gaze, Haejeong propped both legs up on the table. It was a posture utterly devoid of any manners or propriety.
“If that bothers you, come in every day and keep watch yourself.”
“Really……. Ha. I don’t even know what to do with you.”
Rep. Chu pressed two fingers to her furrowed brow, exasperated by Haejeong’s attitude of complete indifference to both company matters and the inner workings of the business.
“He hasn’t been back in Korea for very long. Give it a little more time.”
Juhyeok, concerned about Rep. Chu who seemed to take particular stress from everything involving Haejeong, offered words he didn’t entirely mean just to soothe her.
“That’s enough. You don’t need to cover for your brother.”
Rep. Chu pressed a hand against her throbbing head and began rummaging through the shoulder bag she had tucked at her side. From it, she pulled out several photographs and tossed them in front of Haejeong. The photos showed women, each neatly and prettily dressed. Haejeong immediately grasped the intent behind handing them over and let out a hollow exhale.
“Meet one of them.”
“…….”
“It seems like you act out more because you have nowhere to put your heart — so hurry up, find someone, and get married.”
Rep. Chu fixed Haejeong with a fierce, unrelenting gaze. She looked like she had come with her mind made up — a look that said she would not back down under any circumstances. Under that gaze, Haejeong met it and let out a derisive laugh.
“…Mother, this is…….”
Even Juhyeok seemed to not have expected this — a look of discomfort crept onto his usually composed face.
“If you can’t manage company affairs, at least get married.”
“…….”
“You need to be of some use, one way or another.”
Haejeong’s smile deepened. The sight of Rep. Chu pulling this, fully knowing her own son slept with men, was laughable and pathetic. Her intention — to bring him to his knees through something like this — was so transparent it was almost funny. The determination to play a card she intended to use and discard regardless was remarkable.
Haejeong picked up the photos from the table and flipped through them one by one with disinterested eyes. He skimmed past two or three, then slid one photo — a woman with a bob cut, photographed in a neat white suit — across the table toward Rep. Chu.
“Her.”
“…….”
Rep. Chu narrowed her eyes, suspicious of Haejeong going along with it so readily.
“…You’re actually going to go through with it?”
“You told me to. So I will.”
“……For once in your life you’re actually behaving in a way I approve of. Fine, once the date and venue are set—”
“On one condition.”
Haejeong cut off Rep. Chu as she moved to get things underway immediately, and leaned back in his chair with an expressionless face.
“Ask whoever I’m going to marry whether she’s alright with her husband sleeping around with men.”
“……What?”
“Whether she’s fine with me having a male partner. Tell her that if she has someone on the side too, I don’t mind — pass that along.”
“…You think that’s something to say in front of your mother?”
Rep. Chu’s face contorted mercilessly. Heat began rising to the surface of that deeply twisted expression.
“If you’re going to make me marry someone I don’t even want, there had better be a corresponding price for it.”
“Can’t you think about how much that marriage itself would be a backing for you? Is now the time to be throwing a childish tantrum because you’re caught up in that filthy sex life of yours?”
With sparks flying in the exchange, Juhyeok pressed a hand to his temple and interjected in an attempt to stop his mother’s escalating emotions.
“…Mother. Haejeong’s marriage isn’t urgent yet. Please don’t get so worked up — for now, slowly….”
“I’ve had enough of watching him do whatever he pleases! Think about what that boy got up to in America. God knows when he fell into that filthy degenerate lifestyle……. Why on earth would he—! Ha…. Honestly.”
Rep. Chu still hadn’t accepted the fact that Haejeong was bisexual. The string of gay scandals that had surfaced while he was in America still made her shudder every time they crossed her mind. As if that weren’t enough, the fact that even after coming to Korea all the people he associated with were men had been what prompted her to start rushing the marriage plans. Rep. Chu hadn’t imagined, even now, more than ten years later, that her youngest son would still be this defiant. She had thought that by now, after this much time, he would have accepted what needed to be accepted and settled into living quietly, the way his siblings had, for the sake of his own position. He had wanted to come back to Korea, so she had even harbored a half-expectation that he would act more maturely for it….
“Haejeong, you too — watch your words in front of your mother. She’s not entirely wrong. You may have lived that way in America, but this is Korea. I won’t say anything about your sexual preferences, but you know full well how much each scandal like that damages the company’s image here. From now on, rein in that kind of talk — and if there’s anyone you’re seeing or spending time with, cut it off. We may dote on you and overlook a lot of what you do, but not that. That’s the one thing we can’t allow.”
Seeing how severely stressed his mother was, Juhyeok added his own words. Haejeong looked utterly unfazed as both of them pressed in on him. He simply regarded the two of them coldly, and then suddenly let out a short, dry laugh.
“…Look who’s talking.”
Haejeong scoffed and tilted his chin toward Juhyeok.
“You got caught sponsoring a celebrity and got divorced for it…….”
“…You—!”
“And Rep. Chu…….”
Then Haejeong’s gaze shifted — and stopped on Rep. Chu. The fierce look in Rep. Chu’s eyes faltered, and in an instant, an uneasy flicker began to swirl in its place. As if she had immediately grasped what that loaded statement was pointing at, Rep. Chu’s jaw quivered and she pressed her lips together. Those sharp, venomous eyes widened and began to visibly waver.
“…Should I keep going?”
