“Sit down. It’s distracting with a tall guy standing.”
The deputy manager, whether he originally lacked tact or his sense of tact had atrophied from not needing to develop it, offered him a seat.
“It’s because there’s no suitable seat.”
“There are two seats.”
“How can an ordinary prosecutor sit side by side with the deputy manager?”
“Then sit across from…”
The deputy manager, who had been talking nonsense, shut his mouth when Kyungrok smiled.
“Shouldn’t you be getting back? You must have postponed urgent work to suddenly come out and meet me.”
“Oh… right. I should get back.”
Only then understanding the situation, the deputy manager hastily stuffed the remaining sashimi into his mouth and stood up. While chewing, he tapped Jaeha’s arm. He even glanced at him with a sneer as if he’d gotten caught perfectly.
When only the two of them remained, an employee came over.
“You haven’t eaten yet, right?”
“We’re fine.”
With the person he currently wanted to kill most sitting in front of him, there was no way food would go down. However, Kyungrok completely ignored those words and told them to bring all the food again.
The table was quickly cleared and refilled. In the meantime, Kyungrok carefully observed Jaeha, who was glaring at her as if to kill. Her red lips were smiling, but her eyes were bright without any trace of laughter.
“I already know Kyungwoo has demanding tastes, but.”
It was blatant evaluation. It was as if she were grading meat hanging in a butcher shop. His already filthy mood plummeted vertically without end.
“I was curious what kind of amazing man he’d be for Kyungwoo to associate with him. You’re more sophisticated than you look. When I heard prosecutor, I naturally imagined tacky attire.”
Jaeha’s eyebrows twitched and a faint smile appeared around Kyungrok’s eyes.
“Does it bother you?”
“Put the bullshit aside and get to the point.”
“You even have a temper, how presumptuous? Do you talk to Kyungwoo like that too?”
“Is digging into other people’s private lives your hobby? How sordid.”
He poured out crude remarks in succession. Ten well-manicured fingers elegantly interlaced with each other. Kyungrok, who placed her elbows on the table and clasped her hands, smiled coldly.
“There are times when it’s necessary. But it’s somewhat refreshing to hear such words from a prosecutor?”
“You’ll be hearing it a lot from now on.”
The food no one had touched slowly dried out.
“What did he say?”
“I don’t disclose private conversations.”
“Then should I make it public? A romance between a leading chaebol heir and a current prosecutor. But they’re both men. How about it? Don’t you think the media would like it?”
“If you do that, I won’t be the only one hurt.”
“If Kyungwoo disappears, that’s good for me. An insider who trips me up at every turn is worse than an enemy.”
“I mean Taeryoung, not Executive Director Jung.”
“Do you call each other ‘Executive Director’ and ‘Prosecutor’ so stiffly? How boring.”
Like a loach, her speech pattern of twisting words this way and that made it hard for Jaeha to suppress his anger. But if he became emotional here, it would only make him look ridiculous.
“Thanks for your concern, but Taeryoung is fine. In fact, in the food and hotel sector, that kind of taste sometimes adds sophistication.”
“I didn’t know Taeryoung only had food and hotels.”
“The other side is a bit distant from me.”
“Then how about I put it this way?”
Jaeha raised his head and opened his mouth while looking straight at Kyungrok.
“Park Jungok, Director of Taeryoung Cultural Foundation.”
In an instant, Kyungrok’s expression hardened. Her red lips, which had been turned up at the ends, slowly came down.
“Watch your words. Seo Jaeha.”
“I’m not the one who mentioned the media.”
Jaeha, who likewise placed his arms on the table and clasped his hands just like Kyungrok, smiled pleasantly.
“If you start a dirty fight, I have to respond with my best dirty efforts too. For an ordinary prosecutor to deal with Taeryoung’s president, wouldn’t I be able to lose that much face? Even if I can’t cause trouble for Taeryoung right away, I can at least make it reach the director’s ears.”
“Aren’t you worried about your career? If that happens, your prosecutor life is over too. Isn’t your organization’s way of operating based on reputation?”
“Anyway, from the moment you put surveillance on me and took photos, my career was already shattered, wasn’t it, President Jung Kyungrok?”
“I think it should be corrected to the point when you became that kind of relationship with Kyungwoo.”
“There would have been no problem as long as you hadn’t played dirty.”
At Jaeha’s rebuttal, his opponent snorted.
“Is that really so?”
While saying this, Kyungrok tilted her head slightly and stared intently at Jaeha.
“Even if I hadn’t known about or intervened in your relationship, as long as you live in this Confucian country, the land of Eastern courtesy, it would have been a problem that surfaced eventually.”
Kyungrok, who paused for a beat, continued speaking.
“Your side, the parents who raised a prosecutor son. What do you think they’d think if they knew their son was sleeping with another man?”
Kyungrok unhesitatingly stabbed at his weakness.
“I’ll handle my family situation myself.”
“Say your family is like that, what about our family? Aren’t I effectively the first reaction from both families combined? So how about it? Can you persuade me?”
“…”
It seemed persuasion would be slower than threats or murder. When he fell silent, Kyungrok snorted again.
“You weren’t thinking about anything, were you? Both of you.”
“Do you necessarily think about the future when dating?”
“Not necessarily. But if the future isn’t bright, it’s better to break up quickly.”
“That’s for the parties involved to judge.”
When he fully displayed his displeasure, Kyungrok fell silent for a moment to organize her thoughts.
“Prosecutor Seo Jaeha. You chose the wrong person.”
“No matter how great you are, President…”
“I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about Kyungwoo.”
Kyungrok cut him off.
“If Kyungwoo were an ordinary kid, even if I was shocked, I might not have stepped in directly like this. Every family has one or two secrets, doesn’t it? But Kyungwoo is special. He himself is special and his position in our family is special.”
“If you’re talking about the disappearance incident, I know about it too.”
At those words, Kyungrok’s eyes widened. She stared intently at Jaeha as if slightly surprised, then soon sighed.
“I don’t know how you found out, but then this will be quick. Kyungwoo is different. Understand?”
“He’s not different to me. I don’t know what kind of existence he is in that family, but to me he’s just ordinary Jung Kyungwoo.”
Of course, he was a bastard without manners or sense. On the other hand, he was also a cute and sexy guy.
“Is Prosecutor Seo like that to Kyungwoo too?”
“He will be.”
Kyungrok, who had been leaning loosely against the table, straightened her back. Then she declared with a cold expression devoid of any emotion.
“No. He’s not. You’re special.”
“Because it’s his first time with a man. It’s mutual.”
“You don’t understand what I’m saying.”
Kyungrok lightly struck the table with her fingertips.
“Kyungwoo hates contact. He can’t even be in the same space with men. Women are somewhat okay, but even then he only allows the space. Physical contact is impossible.”
“What?”
Jaeha was dumbfounded. What was Kyungrok saying right now?
“You’ve met him like that and still don’t know? To Kyungwoo, you’re the first. Completely first in every aspect.”
An invisible large bat struck the back of his head. With the feeling of his brain buzzing, Jaeha could only react with “What?”
“Our Kyungwoo is a child who knows nothing in that area despite being that age.”
“That’s impossible.”
Even as he said that, all the strange behaviors Kyungwoo had shown flowed through Jaeha’s mind like a movie. He wanted to say it was a lie, but the time with him proved that Kyungrok’s words were true.
“They say young ducklings imprint on the first object they see.”
“So what are you trying to say?”
“Is Kyungwoo really serious? Isn’t there a possibility that a kid who knows nothing got swept up in it somehow?”
Apart from family and career, Kyungrok cleverly stabbed at the fundamental vulnerability.
It had been a relationship Jaeha had pushed from the start. Kyungwoo had been the first to say they should date, but that was only because Kyungwoo had made the final move following the stage Jaeha had set.
—Let’s have a cooling-off period for a while.
The temperature difference was also present in the argument between the two earlier. When a problem arose, Kyungwoo easily brought up a cooling-off period.
Severe thirst arose. He picked up the water glass on the table and emptied it in one gulp. One glass wasn’t enough, so he tilted the water pitcher.
The tense fight now slowly began to show a winner and loser. As if forgetting the hostile atmosphere here and there, Kyungrok had a rather gentle attitude.
“Don’t take today’s events only in a bad way. Maybe it could be a good turning point for Prosecutor Seo too. Something like being able to think seriously about the relationship.”
While saying this, as if her business was finished, Kyungrok picked up the bag she had placed beside her.
“You’ll be getting a provincial assignment soon. Cool your head at a branch office for a while. Think about your parents too.”
At the same time, a thick envelope was held out in front of Jaeha.
“Use this to supplement your moving costs.”
“I’m fine.”
“A prosecutor’s salary isn’t much. I hear Prosecutor Seo doesn’t accept money slipped to you from other places either. Don’t be unnecessarily prideful, I’ll leave it so take it.”
Kyungrok, whose business was finished, stood up from her seat. She patted her skirt, which had become slightly disheveled from sitting for a long time, with her hand, then looked down at Jaeha, who remained seated.
“I don’t want to make your family noisy by stripping your well-raised son of his honor in disgrace, so think carefully. Still, you were close with Kyungwoo, so if you become too miserable, I’ll look like a bad person.”
With those words as the last, Kyungrok left.
Click-clack. Click-clack.
Until the continuing sound of high heels completely disappeared, Jaeha had to taste bitter defeat.
“Damn it.”
Like a twenty-year-old kid, to abandon career and family and dedicate his entire life for just one person. He couldn’t dare say such words.
He had become an adult with many things to calculate now.
Even if just for a moment, he wanted to put emotions first like an immature and childish kid. Together with Kyungwoo.
Even if it was a fight he’d lose anyway, he wanted to properly clash once.
But that was purely Jaeha’s wish alone.
—Accept Noona’s proposal.
To the shock and anger he felt when hearing words tantamount to a breakup declaration, now even a sense of betrayal was added.
“Did you have any sincerity until now, Jung Kyungwoo?”
Jaeha glared at the white envelope. It was consolation money offered not by Kyungrok, but by Kyungwoo.
