She’d caught a good opportunity. Lee Misook smiled as she applied bright red lipstick to her lips, unlike the appearance Seo Eunho had grown accustomed to seeing.
When she’d first met Seo Gyeongjun, who despite having nothing was full of pretense and believed he was someone who would make it big, she hadn’t even imagined she’d face a situation like this.
Because he rushed in like a moth to a flame without any sense of judgment, she’d planned to extort money from him even if he had to make debt, then run away. She didn’t think that money would be very much. To Lee Misook, Seo Gyeongjun was a target to play with briefly for pocket money.
“Haha……”
But his son Seo Eunho was going to give her money. Meeting Seo Eunho and trying to take care of him was just a show. Seo Gyeongjun was someone who didn’t look after his son, but he welcomed Lee Misook who stepped forward to take care of him. Believing he was the one who’d brought Lee Misook, he’d probably act high and mighty as if he’d taken care of everything himself. It was obvious without even seeing it, but it wasn’t something Lee Misook needed to worry about. She’d have left this place by then anyway.
“What a waste of that face.”
Of course, Lee Misook’s thought to act moderately friendly changed the moment she faced Seo Eunho. His handsome face, which was hard to see ordinarily, and his solid body caught her gaze. For Lee Misook, who inevitably only dealt with old men, she couldn’t help but be tempted.
So she showed a bit more care. Even while calling him son, inwardly she was full of dark intentions. She’d shown it too obviously even by her own estimation, so Seo Eunho must have clearly known. That’s why he’d distanced himself from her even more.
At the time she’d thought it was a bit regrettable, but not now. Since she was going to get something better than amusement.
“Hmm hmm hmm……”
Lee Misook hummed as she looked at her phone. The brat who attended the same school as Seo Eunho was quite faithfully doing his part for the few coins she’d given him.
The phone was full of saved photos containing images of the extremely affectionate Tae Shinwoo and Seo Eunho. At a glance they looked like close friends, but if you shifted your perspective slightly, they looked excessively close for friends. At least Lee Misook, who’d directly witnessed how Tae Shinwoo looked at Seo Eunho, could be certain that the word “friends” didn’t suit the two of them.
‘What you need is money anyway.’
‘Stop this and get lost together. I’ll give you more than the money you fleeced from Seo Gyeongjun at least.’
The day Tae Shinwoo came to find her. Lee Misook was somewhat flustered. It was because he was uncomfortable, giving off an atmosphere that made him look nothing like a high school student.
Moreover, what he said was absurd. Tae Shinwoo demanded that Lee Misook leave together with Seo Gyeongjun. And while naming an amount that, as a student, he wouldn’t even dare think of coming up with.
When she heard Seo Eunho was staying at a friend’s house, Lee Misook naturally thought he’d return soon. Usually at that age, a friend’s house meant a house where they lived with their parents in most cases.
If he didn’t come in for too long, she was going to stir up that house a bit. Lee Misook needed amusement that much. It wasn’t a difficult thing.
Then she learned of Tae Shinwoo’s existence. And also the fact that he’d prepared a separate house for Seo Eunho. How well he’d made a rich kid his friend—at the time she’d only thought it was regrettable. Instead, thinking she could just call him more often, Tae Shinwoo was outside Lee Misook’s interest. Since Lee Misook’s specialty was clearly distinguishing between people she could treat as amusement and those she couldn’t, she didn’t even think of daring to covet Tae Shinwoo.
However, if Tae Shinwoo came out like that, she couldn’t help but be interested. How could she not be interested in someone who acted as if giving some money to make Seo Gyeongjun and herself leave Seo Eunho’s side was nothing?
Even for a rich kid, it was something that would ordinarily be impossible.
Lee Misook readily accepted the money from Tae Shinwoo and left with Seo Gyeongjun. However, she had no intention of being satisfied with that. After confirming just how great a household Tae Shinwoo was from, she became even more unable to do so.
The grandson of Taesung Group’s chairman. And the only son for three generations at that.
Taesung Group was a major corporation within the top five domestically. It was fair to say there was no one who didn’t know about Taesung Group. However, Taesung Group being on people’s lips wasn’t simply because it was a large company.
Taesung Group’s chairman, Tae Gwanghyun. The problem was the rumor that he, who now acted aloof, was actually from a gangster background. She didn’t know the detailed circumstances, but many people found the process of how he came to sit in Taesung Group’s chairman seat suspicious.
And for good reason—Tae Gwanghyun had been summoned to the prosecutors countless times, and thanks to that, showed his face quite a bit on the news. In the end, the prosecution side stated there were no problems, but people didn’t trust them. Well, either way, since it was unrelated to herself, Lee Misook didn’t pay much attention to it. Even so, his physique and vicious face that seemed like it would make one cower just standing before him remained clearly in her memory.
In any case, at the point when Lee Misook realized Tae Shinwoo was Taesung Group chairman’s grandson, she could understand why he could spend money so freely. To the extent it was amazing she hadn’t expected it, Taesung Group’s chairman and Tae Shinwoo resembled each other very much in atmosphere. In any case, it wasn’t long before Lee Misook thought she might be able to earn more money thanks to Tae Shinwoo.
‘Even so, he’s your child. Wouldn’t it be hard to live your whole life without seeing him?’
After receiving the money and moving to another area with Seo Gyeongjun, Lee Misook sought out Tae Shinwoo again. Tae Shinwoo greeted Lee Misook with a smile. It was a composed attitude as if he hadn’t believed from the start that Lee Misook would be satisfied with that and leave.
‘Eunho also isn’t the type to live his whole life without seeing his father. You know that well too. The fact that every time you called, he came home because he was hoping.’
‘Just say your point briefly.’
Even though she was much older than him, Tae Shinwoo was looking down on Lee Misook. Lee Misook didn’t mind and smiled. She’d received such looks countless times, so it wasn’t something to hurt her pride over.
‘Eunho’s father is hard to handle. He’s stubborn, so he has to do everything his own way—’
‘You want more money?’
‘……Mm. Right. I have to keep creating corners to distract that person, don’t I?’
Lee Misook stood up from her seat and picked up her bag.
Could he have an innocent side? He was still a high school student after all.
It was ridiculous that she’d thought that even briefly.
‘Cut the bullshit.’
No matter how young, he was Tae Gwanghyun’s grandson. And one who looked exactly like him at that.
Lee Misook felt fear for a moment at Tae Shinwoo approaching her with large strides. It was because the thought suddenly came to her that he might twist her neck and kill her right there.
‘I only let it slide because Seo Eunho’s personality is like you said.’
‘……’
‘Because even that kind of person, if he died as his father, would make him sad.’
‘……’
‘You’re alive thanks to that.’
Tae Shinwoo really could have killed her right there. She had been foolish to expect innocence from a child raised in a household where killing one person was nothing.
“How scary……”
Lee Misook, who recalled Tae Shinwoo’s face from that time and muttered with a smile, put on appropriately heeled shoes at the entrance. Seo Gyeongjun was probably gambling right now without knowing what was what. Believing with certainty that part of the money Tae Shinwoo had handed over was a down payment received because his business had gone well.
People who’d gone blind with money were really easy to handle. It was pathetic how excited he was without knowing that the money received on the condition of taking her and leaving would eventually balloon into debt and strangle him.
No, pathetic indeed. Since she was earning a living thanks to it. At the idle thought, Lee Misook’s lips twisted. There was no guilt. Rather, she felt like praising her own eye for catching an unintentionally bigger deal.
The door opened and Lee Misook walked calmly. It would have been better if Tae Shinwoo had acted naively. Then she would have been satisfied with the money Tae Shinwoo gave and wouldn’t have caused any trouble. Then Tae Shinwoo could have kept Seo Eunho by his side a bit longer.
Soon Lee Misook, who’d gotten on the elevator, took out a printed photo and smiled broadly while looking at it.
“The lonelier the kids, the better they are to stir up……”
The photo with herself and Tae Shinwoo together would still be circling in Seo Eunho’s head. As Tae Shinwoo said, Seo Eunho considered even such a father as family and hoped every time even knowing he’d be disappointed.
Even though he acted like an adult, like nothing was wrong, the heart beneath that indifferent face was felt completely by Lee Misook. No matter how much he had the handsome face of a grown man, he was just an eighteen-year-old kid. One who ended up circling his father’s side even while trying to distance himself.
Then what about now that his father had completely left? His loneliness would have reached its peak and he’d unknowingly want to rely on Tae Shinwoo who was by his side.
Reliance was based on trust. When trust broke, one couldn’t help but question whether it was okay to rely on this person.
It didn’t matter if he didn’t have doubts right away. Seo Eunho would end up not trusting Tae Shinwoo anyway. As a result, the relationship would break.
That was the card Lee Misook held. Making it so Seo Eunho would leave Tae Shinwoo on his own. Rumors were rampant that Tae Gwanghyun cherished his grandson. Judging from the attitude Tae Shinwoo was taking now, it was certain he’d let him do as he pleased. So, even if he disliked Seo Eunho clinging to his precious grandson’s side, there was a high possibility he could only watch without being able to remove him.
She could do what Tae Gwanghyun wanted. Without any problems at that. As long as she could receive compensation commensurate with it.
