Kwon Gi-jeong leaned his back lazily against the sofa.
Chairman Kwon maintained a composed expression, as though suppressing the urge to press for confirmation right away.
In any case, Kwon Gi-jeong — who had turned the Chairman’s insides upside down thousands of times over — had finally shown his willingness to comply with the Chairman’s wishes.
Naturally, Chairman Kwon’s demeanor softened.
“When did Ho-won come back to Korea? If he’s back this time, I assume there won’t be any more going abroad, right?”
“No.”
“You’re saying he came back only briefly? And that he’ll be leaving again? Either way, this is good. For now, go pay your respects to your mother first. This is the right time to make your intentions perfectly clear to her — that way she can let go of her worries and focus on her treatment. As for the ceremony, I’ll coordinate with that family to get things moving as quickly as possible.”
Kwon Gi-jeong pointed out the Chairman’s mistake in a low, measured tone.
“You’ve got the wrong person, so don’t go barking up the wrong tree.”
“If not Ho-won, then who are you saying you’re marrying?”
The Chairman asked with suspicion. The more he pressed, the more indifferent Gi-jeong’s reaction became.
“Chief Operations Manager Park, I said.”
“Chief Operations Manager Park? Give me the full name. Which family? Who exactly?”
The Chairman pushed in impatiently.
“Park Seo-in — are you going to do the marrying for me? Why are you digging into family backgrounds like that? I’m the one getting married. And even if I told you, you wouldn’t know who he is.”
“Even so, I need to know who he is——”
“I’ll arrange introductions in due time. Don’t rush things too much. What if he sees your face and runs away? Don’t make me into some shameless person chasing someone around again — …and more than that, it’s already gotten this late, so I’ll be heading out now.”
Kwon Gi-jeong rose to his feet.
He glanced at his wristwatch and turned as though gauging the time.
The man has high blood pressure, on top of everything.
“From now on, please keep the lectures a little shorter. It’s past time to get off work. If it goes on like this, my staff feel uncomfortable leaving for home.”
“Gi-jeong!”
“I’m going to get married just like you wanted, aren’t I.”
Gi-jeong cut the conversation short with those few words, then opened the door and walked out.
Chairman Kwon let out a sigh laced with deep regret.
Then, almost as if to himself, he muttered to Secretary General Kim, who was standing nearby.
“Find out who the hell that damned kid is actually marrying.”
“Understood.”
The moving vehicle came to a stop at a red light.
Seo-in lifted his gaze from the people crossing at the crosswalk.
His eyes lingered for a long moment on the figure smiling from an enormous billboard.
Lee Ho-won.
A pianist’s domestic concert schedule was displayed across the full expanse of the screen.
When the light changed, Seo-in turned the steering wheel.
But the image of Lee Ho-won playing the piano remained in his mind like an afterimage.
And the memory surfaced — of the time he had met him, as though by fate.
— Park Seo-in? That’s right.
Fingers that fluttered across the keys like the wingbeats of a butterfly.
The beautiful melody seemed to grip the hearts of everyone who heard it.
And more than that — the confident eyes that looked at people, and the composed expression that graced his face when he spoke…
Every detail flickered vividly before his eyes.
— But did you know? Gi-jeong originally wanted to marry me. I turned him down, though.
The ring tucked inside Seo-in’s inner pocket — the one that didn’t quite fit — had originally been made for Lee Ho-won.
But in his place, Park Seo-in had been put forward as the marriage partner.
So the reason Kwon Gi-jeong had set a two-year timeframe was likely, in all probability, for that person’s sake.
It was late.
Secretary Lee stepped out of the vehicle.
He had returned to Yeonbaek Group, only to be held up by Secretary General Kim, who had been sent by Chairman Kwon. He had barely managed to slip away just now.
He had been kept there as though being interrogated — and Lee Dae-hyeon had reported everything he knew about Park Seo-in in detail.
Except for the one most important fact.
The outer walls, built in the style of a traditional hanok, grew more atmospheric with each passing hour of the night.
A bridge arched over the pond at the center.
The red lanterns hanging from the ends of the roof tiles swayed gently in the late-night spring breeze, stirring a certain restlessness in the heart.
“Secretary Lee, you’ve arrived.”
Secretary Lee, who had been climbing the stone steps, stepped up onto the wooden veranda.
The rich scent of wood mingled thickly with a faint trace of cigarette smoke.
A bright red ember stood out in the darkness — and then Moon Tae-gyeong stepped slowly into the light and asked.
“Gi-jeong’s inside. Did you come to take him away?”
Cigarette smoke drifted out from between Moon Tae-gyeong’s teeth.
He lowered the phone he had just finished a call on.
It seemed he had been speaking with someone here.
“Nothing like that.”
Tae-gyeong, who had been about to take another drag, paused with the filter just at the corner of his lips, then checked as if something had come to mind.
“Actually, it seems like Gi-jeong’s in a pretty bad mood right now. You know why, don’t you, Secretary Lee?”
“I don’t.”
“There’s no way you don’t know…”
Moon Tae-gyeong tilted his head with a questioning look.
Then he laughed out loud.
He was an extreme dominant alpha, the youngest of the Seong-woo group.
He seemed like a man of leisure, but he was not without perception.
He was certain there was no way Secretary Lee didn’t know.
He could even guess that he simply wasn’t saying it.
This was someone who had spent his childhood alongside Kwon Gi-jeong.
In a word, the problem was that he knew him far too well.
Tae-gyeong lowered the cigarette between his fingers and moved closer to Secretary Lee.
“I’ll keep it a secret from Gi-jeong, so just tell me. Chairman Kwon was pressuring Gi-jeong about marriage again, wasn’t he?”
“…That’s not it.”
“Your answer came three seconds too late.”
Hehe. Tae-gyeong said with a laugh mixed into his words and leaned his upper body back.
Before Secretary Lee could say anything, Moon Tae-gyeong made a show of pressing his lips tightly shut.
“It’s not like this is a new thing — you think I’d say I heard it from you? We’ll keep it between us.”
The more Moon Tae-gyeong continued, the more uneasy Secretary Lee became.
The unease turned to certainty.
Tae-gyeong stubbed out the cigarette he’d been smoking and turned around.
He flung the sliding door open and stepped inside.
Kwon Gi-jeong was not alone.
Whether because the drinks had already gone around several times, the inside was lively and noisy.
Kwon Gi-jeong was seated at the head of the table.
Tae-gyeong returned to the empty seat beside him.
“I was wondering why you showed up with such a sour mood and immediately started downing drink after drink — why don’t you just say something to Ho-won.”
Gi-jeong, who had been raising a thimble-sized cup to his lips, narrowed his eyes.
He looked at Secretary Lee, who was still standing there unable to cross the threshold of the open sliding door.
Secretary Lee’s face had gone close to ashen.
That alone was enough to tell him — Secretary Lee hadn’t said anything foolish.
He wasn’t someone who had the guts to, anyway.
“Did it already happen? Is he saying he won’t marry? Did you get rejected?”
Left unchecked, Tae-gyeong was pouring out words while watching Gi-jeong’s subtle reactions.
Gi-jeong’s pressed-together lips slowly parted.
Give it a rest with the nonsense.
“Just drink.”
“I knew it! I knew it. I kept reaching out and you barely ever came, but there was a reason you suddenly showed up here tonight!”
Moon Tae-gyeong went on interpreting Kwon Gi-jeong’s actions entirely on his own terms.
He couldn’t help it.
Moon Tae-gyeong was the type who was always lingering here — drinking, fooling around with omegas, letting time slip past like water — but Kwon Gi-jeong was not.
There was no one in that room who could truly guess what was going on inside Kwon Gi-jeong’s head.
Still, everyone was sharing drinks with Gi-jeong, who had come after a long while, and talking amongst themselves.
Even though Gi-jeong wasn’t listening to a single word they said.
But the important thing was that Gi-jeong was there.
“Gi-jeong, are you getting married?”
