“Will you eventually go to the place next door too?”
The place next door referred to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office right across the street.
“Who knows. Don’t hype me up too much. I just got lucky this time. Next time, I might get assigned straight down to Haenam Branch Office.”
“Come on, still, Taeryoung…”
Jaeha met his gaze and stared at him intently. Gu Daeyoung, who had let unnecessary talk slip out, quickly shut his loose lips.
As if to break the awkward atmosphere, Daeyoung suddenly made a fuss.
“The gopchang tastes killer.”
“I’m paying today, so eat a lot.”
“Oh, treating me for your success. Me getting treated by a prosecutor. I’ve made it too. Boss! Two more servings here! One more bottle of soju!”
“You’re really just ordering freely?”
“You have to seize opportunities. Is the person who gave you this opportunity doing well?”
“I don’t know who it is, but they’re probably doing fine on their own.”
Jaeha answered as he turned his soju glass and put a piece of gopchang in his mouth.
“Tsk, you’re not biting. Fine. I’ll be the desperate one and make the first move. That chairman’s son.”
“Hm?”
“There’s talk that he was a kidnapping victim when he was young. Securities market gossip. No evidence, no basis.”
“Does that make sense? Chaebols take care of their kids so thoroughly.”
“It was the old days. It wasn’t an era with lots of CCTVs. It was a time when there were many child kidnapping cases. If you’re curious, look into it yourself.”
Jaeha kept his mouth shut about Daeyoung’s bait.
‘Germaphobia. Panic attacks. Drug suspicions. Because of kidnapping trauma?’
It was more plausible than he’d thought.
Daeyoung gleefully ate the savory gopchang with soju while observing Jaeha’s reaction.
“Should I dig deeper?”
“Well, that’s your domain.”
Jaeha gave a fake smile once and ignored Daeyoung. That’s when it happened.
Ttiriririri.
Suddenly the phone rang. Since he never knew when, where, or how work-related calls might come, Jaeha reflexively checked the screen.
Huh.
He let out a low snort. The guy really knew how to make a dramatic entrance.
“Who is it?”
Daeyoung asked slyly after seeing Jaeha’s reaction.
“Someone I know.”
“You’re answering it?”
“Just a moment.”
It would be troublesome in front of this hyena full of curiosity. As Jaeha stood up from his seat, Daeyoung grumbled, “Seriously, no openings whatsoever.”
He left the gopchang restaurant and pressed the call button.
“Yes, go ahead.”
-You know who this is?
“Isn’t it Jung Kyungwoo-ssi?”
-How did you… know this number?
“Before, at the hotel…”
-Hotel?
Jung Kyungwoo didn’t know that Jaeha had separately saved his personal number at the hotel. So even though he cut himself off right away, Kyungwoo didn’t miss it.
“No. I just guessed. There’s not much reason for an unknown number to show up at this time.”
-…Let’s say that’s true. Anyway, will you come this way? Since you moved departments, let me treat you to a meal as a celebration.
With that, Kyungwoo said he would send the address. It was one-sided, as if Jaeha’s schedule or wishes didn’t matter at all.
“I’m drinking with a friend right now… May I call a driver?”
-…I’ll send a car. Send your location.
Was it his imagination that he heard a slight sigh before Kyungwoo answered?
After hanging up, he went back into the gopchang restaurant.
“Hey, sorry but I need to leave now.”
“We haven’t finished eating yet.”
“That’s how it is. I’ll pay before I go.”
“Is it urgent work?”
“No. The director gave me something to do.”
Daeyoung didn’t look like he believed Jaeha’s excuse.
“When you pay, order two more servings and two more bottles of soju. I was going to call a friend nearby urgently anyway. So we can eat together.”
“You’re really milking a poor civil servant dry.”
“Have a safe trip, Prosecutor Seo.”
Daeyoung shamelessly waved goodbye.
After paying the table in advance, he came out to the main road where he’d sent his location, and the car he’d seen once before approached. The passenger window opened.
“Get in the back.”
He’d expected Director Oh to come, but it was the woman he’d seen at the pension. When Jaeha got in the back, the woman started the car without delay.
The car carrying Jaeha arrived at a quiet suburb. No, it was a restaurant halfway up a mountain that was too ambiguous to even call a suburb. The road was so dark that if not for the distant city night view, he might have mistaken it for Gangwon Province.
‘Aren’t they worried about accidents late at night?’
These beings were so different that they were registered in the British Britannica as the proper noun ‘Chaebol’—they loved mountains too much. Even in one of the world’s leading metropolises, they deliberately crawled into mountains, carved out the mountainside, and built houses.
It was the result of exclusivity—not wanting to live mixed with others—and arrogance—wanting to look down from high places.
The mountain restaurant, which was nothing less than a model of twisted superiority complex, didn’t even have a sign. The only car in the parking lot covered with white pebbles was the black foreign car that had brought Jaeha.
“Let’s go in.”
Choi Dohyun pointed to the entrance for Jaeha. She didn’t leave the car’s side. She was like a loyal Doberman.
Inside the restaurant, gentle classical music flowed. He stepped up the indoor stairs right in front of the entrance. The interior, sporadically lit with warm-colored lighting, was decorated with neat furniture and exotic flowers like a spread from an interior design magazine. One entire wall was a window, showing the Han River’s night view and part of the city.
“This way.”
While he was momentarily distracted by the view outside the window, an employee in a suit with a gold name tag had approached and spoke to him.
When he followed, there was a moderately sized table set up in a spot with a good view. On it were crystal glasses that sparkled even in the dim indirect lighting, along with simple but seemingly not-so-simple-in-price luxuriously glossy plates and utensils arranged well.
“You arrived faster than I expected, Prosecutor Seo Jaeha.”
At the guided seat across from him was Jung Kyungwoo. He looked straight at Jaeha. Judging by the sharpness flowing in his eyes, he seemed to be without the effects of drugs.
“The person you have with you has good driving skills.”
“Executive secretary Choi Dohyun. She always accompanies me in Korea. Very capable.”
“So it seems.”
When he sat down, an employee showed him the wine bottle for confirmation. He didn’t know much about it, so he nodded appropriately. Purple liquor with a reddish tint was poured to cover the bottom of the large glass.
“The beginning was a bit rough, but now that we’re in the same boat, it would be awkward to keep being prickly, wouldn’t it? Let’s take today’s occasion to mutually adjust our negative first impressions a bit.”
“To summarize kidnapping me by sending your shoulders and threatening to bury me as a ‘negative first impression’—your eloquence is remarkable. Why don’t you become a lawyer instead of working at a company? I think psychopaths wanting to be defended by you would pay a lot of money.”
“You’re the one who must be having a hard time hiding your pitch-black greed and guarding a boring office. If you ever want to change to an active job that suits your temperament, contact me. Director Oh would be very pleased.”
At the immediate counterattack, the corners of Jaeha’s mouth curved slightly.
“Director Oh is your person too. So ultimately you’re saying Executive Director Jung has the intention to employ me. Am I wrong?”
“I’m using you even now. It’s not something to ask anew. Honestly, money is easier. Rather than presumptuous position requests.”
“I thought it was mutual use.”
“For someone who studied well, you’re slower at reading situations than I expected.”
Jung Kyungwoo didn’t seem to have any intention of backing down to the end. His relaxed manner and monotone speech might appear to others as a winner’s composure, but not to Jaeha.
Jung Kyungwoo wearing only briefs had sobbed like a child in Jaeha’s arms. When that image overlapped with the arrogant figure sitting in front of him, Jaeha couldn’t hold back his laughter.
“We’ll see.”
Jaeha raised his glass first. Jung Kyungwoo stared intently at Jaeha’s face spreading with a smile.
He seemed curious about what Jaeha was thinking. But soon he too raised the glass filled with wine.
Clink.
A clear sound rang out as the glass collided.
Jung Kyungwoo emptied quite a lot of wine at once. But Jaeha only touched it to his lips to taste it lightly.
“No poison in it.”
“I already drank some before coming. I’ll stop appropriately before making a fool of myself.”
“From just one glass of wine? Are you weak with alcohol?”
“In college, I prided myself on being strong, but when I actually became a working adult, I realized I wasn’t that strong. It would be troublesome if drinking until drunk interfered with work the next day.”
“We have one thing in common. Not particularly liking alcohol.”
“You must have had a hard time in social life too. Ah, but you’re a born superior, so it’s different.”
“Sometimes for the atmosphere, the superior has to push themselves harder.”
“I don’t relate to that at all.”
“You’ll never need to know in your lifetime, so you don’t need to worry about relating.”
Jung Kyungwoo laughed cynically. When his expression relaxed even with a fake smile, he looked younger than his age.
When an employee came and asked if they’d like to order, Kyungwoo ordered simple dishes without asking. Despite being a large establishment, it was quiet all around.
“It’s quiet.”
“It’s completely reservation-based and only accepts one table. The chef’s skills are hard to call absolutely top-tier, but the atmosphere is nice, so I use it often.”
“Not asking about the cost would be better for mental health.”
He was curious why such a wealthy person who frequently used expensive-looking restaurants like this would use that kind of hotel. Was it simply an accessibility issue? Actually, if it was to secretly enjoy personal indulgence, wouldn’t it be better to rent suitable real estate under a borrowed name? His gaze naturally turned to Kyungwoo’s arms resting on the table.
Inside the suit, which was certainly hand-stitched stitch by stitch by a European artisan that most ordinary people had never even heard of, were arms that must be tattered with needle marks.
Humans were essentially different on the outside and inside. People whose two domains were the same were either young children, fools, or saints.
Jaeha, who had conditions above the domestic average in both appearance and intelligence, was also ordinary in the large domain of being human. Meaning his outside and inside were different. However, it wasn’t to the degree that would be praised as reverse charm.
But Jung Kyungwoo felt a bit different.
On the outside, he wore a cold mask and acted arrogant, but inside he was weak and vulnerable. Combined with an appearance that looked more decadent for being upright, he created a unique charm.
Why would a fourth-generation chaebol lacking nothing have to show such pitiful tears?
