A relationship built on a contract.
A marriage put on display for Go Eun-ju’s sake.
And yet — Kwon Gi-jeong had kept it strictly between the two of them.
What was shown to the outside world was a married couple.
It had even come to be that Park Seo-in was seen as the person who had captured the notoriously difficult Kwon Gi-jeong.
Because Kwon Gi-jeong never denied it, things had drifted in a direction Seo-in had never intended.
There was no way to correct it, and since Kwon Gi-jeong made no move to step in, there was nothing Seo-in could do either.
A couple with an expiration date, like a terminal sentence.
A relationship no one else could even begin to imagine.
Even so, Kwon Gi-jeong had been faithful to his role.
On the outside, no one could deny that Seo-in was married to Kwon Gi-jeong.
— The Chairman does not care for things like this.
— Young master Gi-jeong is sensitive, I tell you. Ha…… I mentioned it before as well.
As Seo-in stood listening to those words at the estate, a long shadow stretched ahead of him — and the one who appeared was Kwon Gi-jeong.
— Young master Gi-jeong, you’re here? This person hasn’t been in the household very long. It seemed like he wasn’t quite aware of things, so I was just explaining.
He came to stand beside a deflated Seo-in and didn’t even bother listening to the explanation of the situation.
His expression carried the air of someone who found the whole thing too much trouble.
He simply opened his mouth, cutting and direct.
— Don’t go offering unsolicited advice. And stay out of my sight.
With that settled, Kwon Gi-jeong gave some instruction to Butler Yang, who was standing at a distance, and left.
That too must have been related to Chairman Kwon.
Which was likely why he had shown up there at that time in the first place.
“We’ve arrived.”
The thoughts Seo-in had been lost in broke apart.
He stepped outside, looking up at Horim Tower.
Crumpled envelope in hand, he started walking.
Seo-in hadn’t changed Kwon Gi-jeong.
Kwon Gi-jeong was not someone who could be changed by another person — if anything, it was that Kwon Gi-jeong had been the one to make Seo-in change.
Kwon Gi-jeong, with his impossibly exacting and meticulous demands, could not be called a good person.
His personality leaned cold as well.
And yet, after spending just over two years with someone like that and returning to the past, Seo-in had accepted Kwon Gi-jeong’s proposal once more.
Because in all that time, amid Kwon Gi-jeong’s self-centered behavior, there had been very rare moments when Seo-in had found comfort……
The next day.
Click! Click!
Jang Yu-hwan’s gaze drifted to one spot.
The top of Seo-in’s head, bent over his desk, was moving busily.
He had been taking photos of something with his phone nonstop since a while ago.
Click, click, click.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s not coming out well.”
“Shall I help?”
Jang Yu-hwan rose from his seat and approached the desk where Seo-in was sitting.
Seo-in held out the phone he’d been holding.
Then he undid the cuff button of his dress shirt sleeve and pushed it up, pointing to the inside of his arm.
“Can you take a photo of this?”
“Your wrist?”
“If you look closely, there’s a small bruise here. I need to get a photo of it, but I can’t quite manage it myself.”
On Seo-in’s pale white skin, a faint bluish bruise had appeared.
No bigger than the knuckle of a thumb.
And even that was so faint it could only be seen if you looked carefully.
He had been photographing it repeatedly, but because the bruise wasn’t showing up well, he’d been retaking it again and again.
Click.
Jang Yu-hwan photographed the spot Seo-in indicated and held out the screen.
Seo-in looked at it, his eyes darkening with dissatisfaction.
“Could you grab my wrist tightly?”
“Pardon?”
“So it bruises more. Squeeze hard.”
“I — I can’t do that!”
Jang Yu-hwan even stumbled over his words.
Of all things — that was something he couldn’t do.
“Then there’s nothing for it.”
At that, Seo-in glanced down at the corner of his desk, then looked at the wall.
Hmm, where would give the best bruise if I knocked it.
But he quickly reconsidered.
If he did it wrong, the shape of the injury would look different.
“Can you take it one more time? So just the bruise shows.”
It was very small, but Jang Yu-hwan gave it serious thought from every angle as Seo-in had asked, and at last managed to capture the tiny bruise.
“How does this look?”
“That’ll do. Good work.”
Seo-in took the phone back and, with one sleeve still rolled up, hurriedly sent the photo off somewhere.
Yeonbaek Group, Executive Office.
People were seated along the long sofa, a meeting in full swing inside.
Kwon Gi-jeong, seated at the head, was listening to their reports with half his attention.
“If construction begins on the new pharmaceutical plant……”
Bzz—
The person giving the report and the men beside him flinched.
But it was Kwon Gi-jeong who checked the vibrating phone.
He picked up the phone he’d set on the side table next to the sofa.
“Continue.”
“Yes. Ahem! Once construction begins, it is expected that the facility will be completed and ready for a test run two years later.”
Kwon Gi-jeong looked at his phone without any particular expression.
[(Photo)]
Right after, a message appeared.
[Did you see it? I bruised. It needs urgent treatment — can you contact Yeonbaek Hospital?]
It was a message from Park Seo-in.
“How did he get my number……”
Kwon Gi-jeong murmured as though to himself.
It was clearly audible to those beside him, but they kept their eyes fixed on the phone Kwon Gi-jeong was looking at.
His eyes had narrowed slightly.
Kwon Gi-jeong turned his head, dry and unhurried.
His gaze met Secretary Lee’s beside him.
But rather than issuing an instruction, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the photo Seo-in had sent.
Just the inside of a wrist, plainly photographed.
Perhaps because of the fair skin, the bluish bruise stood out against it.
But it was a mark that stirred no particular feeling in Kwon Gi-jeong.
And yet Seo-in was saying he needed to go to the hospital and get it treated over something like this.
Unbelievable.
Likewise holding his phone, Seo-in deliberated.
“Hmm……”
Is this not enough?
It would have been better if the bruise from where Kwon Gi-jeong had grabbed his wrist was darker and larger — but when he woke up, it had turned out smaller than expected.
Still, Jang Yu-hwan’s photography skills were far superior to Seo-in’s.
The bruise could clearly be confirmed with the naked eye.
“You need to go give your report now.”
Jang Yu-hwan, who had been watching Seo-in’s every move while gathering his laptop, murmured.
Seo-in looked up.
“It’s already that time?”
Seo-in quickly rolled his sleeve down and buttoned the cuff, then picked up his suit jacket.
He slipped both arms in, settled it on his shoulders, and put his phone in his inner pocket.
Perhaps Kwon Gi-jeong was in a situation where he couldn’t reply right away. He would be in the middle of work by now — Seo-in let himself think that, and moved his feet quickly.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
It was routine every year at the start of the year to report on performance.
And to add a better investment plan and report on the prospects of recovery going forward — that was the approach Seo-in had chosen.
But Seo-in walked out carrying nothing but results that were entirely in the negatives.
Against people who wouldn’t give a second glance to whatever he put together anyway — why had he once shouldered everything alone and struggled so desperately……
