DDOS 13

Chapter 13

His type.

At those unexpected words, all kinds of thoughts became tangled in Yeo-eun’s head.

At her words, the man slowly tilted his head and smiled.

“I’m Lee Ji-on’s older brother, and you’re his older sister.”

His voice was remarkably calm.

“Getting mixed up in strange feelings while pretending to be partners would be tiring. Since there’s absolutely no chance of that happening, Kang Yeo-eun is my type.”

Ah.

Yeo-eun’s lips parted slightly.

She had been tense until that moment, but his answer was so completely different from what she had expected that it actually put her at ease.

At the same time, the tension left her body.

“Ah!”

The teacup in her hand slipped to the floor, spilling tea across the carpet.

In a reflexive attempt to catch it clumsily, her fingertips caught the cup, sending the tea that had not yet fully cooled splashing in every direction.

What ended up thoroughly soaked was the back of Yeo-eun’s hand.

It was painfully hot.

“W-What should I do?”

But Yeo-eun paid no attention to her own hand and immediately stood up to inspect the carpet.

There wasn’t a single inexpensive thing in this house, after all.

But a scarred hand grabbed Yeo-eun’s arm.

“Fuck.”

Naturally, it was Ki Seung-do.

The man had hands covered in scars and looked like someone who could swear with ease, yet unlike his appearance, he rarely showed his emotions.

The smile he wore and the jokes he made all seemed fake.

But why?

Ki Seung-do, who had pulled Yeo-eun upright as she awkwardly bent over, now had an expression that was far too angry.

“It’s oka—”

“What do you mean, you’re okay?”

Ki Seung-do grabbed Kang Yeo-eun by the wrist and went straight into the bathroom inside the study.

He turned on the cold water at the sink and placed the hand he had been holding under it.

“Don’t move. Let it cool.”

Ki Seung-do pressed Yeo-eun’s hand beneath the faucet.

Then he went outside and returned carrying a plastic box.

It was a first-aid kit.

After a long while, when her right hand was finally taken out of the cold water, a red mark remained across the back of it.

Perhaps because everything in this house was perfectly equipped, there was even burn ointment.

Ki Seung-do said nothing, concentrating only on opening the paper box containing the burn ointment.

He squeezed some ointment onto a cotton swab and applied it to the red, swollen injury.

It was only when he placed a bandage over the back of Yeo-eun’s hand that Ki Seung-do spoke.

“Ji-on will be old enough to start school next year. You need to stay here until then.”

“……”

“I can’t sort out his family registry immediately. But if unnecessary attention starts gathering, it becomes a headache in all kinds of ways.”

His voice was quiet.

“If the people in my family find out that my illustrious father has a child he didn’t know about, more than a few of them will lose their minds. It’s better for other people to think I’m just fooling around with a woman who has a child.”

The fog in Yeo-eun’s mind seemed to clear somewhat.

She had already guessed as much to a certain degree.

Even at a glance, it was obvious that this was a powerful family, and the sudden appearance of a young illegitimate child would inevitably cause all kinds of turmoil.

So, Ki Seung-do had brought Kang Yeo-eun and Lee Ji-on into his house……

“From Kang Yeo-eun’s perspective, this must be awkward in many ways, but it would be better for you to look like my lover than to live alone with a child and end up in some terrible situation.”

The treatment was finished.

Yeo-eun looked down at her bandaged right hand, then raised her head.

“Please make me one promise.”

“A promise?”

The man repeated the unexpected word as though he hadn’t anticipated hearing it.

Then his expression became interested.

“What do you want to promise me?”

Yeo-eun swallowed.

She tried to appear calm, but her heart was beating rapidly.

“Whatever I ask you for, please do it just once without asking me why.”

Ki Seung-do let out a laugh at those words.

“That isn’t a promise. Isn’t it a wish?”

“Please think of it as…… compensation for all the difficulties I’ll have to deal with.”

The word compensation felt awkward on her tongue, but she couldn’t think of a more appropriate expression.

If she became entangled with this man, she felt that she might experience emotions that went beyond mere awkwardness.

She needed to prepare herself for that.

Even if it was a fragile promise that could be broken at any moment.

When accepting a job, make sure you receive your share first.

As a freelancer, Yeo-eun had always strictly followed those words.

Otherwise, complicated problems would arise later.

She was simply doing the same thing this time.

After thinking for a moment, the man spoke.

“Fine. Let’s do that. We’ll make that our promise. Should we even put it in the contract?”

Yeo-eun hesitated before meeting Ki Seung-do’s eyes.

“I know you’re someone who keeps his promises.”

Ki Seung-do burst out laughing.

“When you put it that way, I guess I really have to keep it.”

Then, looking directly into Yeo-eun’s eyes, he made his assurance.

“I’ll keep it. That promise.”

It was the first day the Ki family had gathered at the main house since the memorial period for Ki Tae-joo had ended.

The rain that had fallen all day had stopped.

Every time Ki Seung-do stepped onto the still-damp granite stairs, the fresh smell of wet grass swept over him.

There was a passage leading directly from the parking lot to the main house.

But Ki Seung-do deliberately headed toward the garden instead.

He wasn’t some adolescent boy, so choosing the longer route just to delay the time he entered the house by a few minutes was ridiculous.

But it was better to arrive a little late when he could already imagine what kind of nonsense the people sitting inside would spout once he crossed that threshold.

He also needed to sober up a little.

Ki Seung-do climbed all the stairs and stopped in front of a loquat tree at one side of the garden.

Then he looked around the garden, which had come alive with freshness after being washed by the early summer rain.

It was the only place in this house that Ki Seung-do genuinely liked.

The neatly maintained garden had been cared for by Ryu Kyung-hee, the mistress of the main house.

It was also the first thing she had inherited from her father-in-law, Ki Dae-heung, after becoming Ki Tae-oh’s wife.

Ki Dae-heung had been deeply interested in landscaping and bonsai and had tended to this place throughout the seasons.

Several years before his death, he entrusted Ryu Kyung-hee with the landscaping of the main house’s garden.

Some people mocked him for dumping a troublesome job with little practical benefit onto his elderly eldest daughter-in-law simply because it looked impressive on the surface.

But Ryu Kyung-hee carefully tended the garden until the day Ki Dae-heung died.

Sometimes, she even did the work that should have been left to the gardeners herself.

All so that not a single branch of the trees Ki Dae-heung had planted would be damaged.

And before Ki Dae-heung died, he passed the main house not to Ki Tae-oh, but to Ryu Kyung-hee.

This house, which he had built himself and cherished more than anything.

The garden was still beautiful, unchanged.

Just as it had been on the day Seung-do first entered this house.

In front of the loquat tree—the tree Ki Dae-heung was said to have planted first—was the best place to see the main house.

Enough time passed for Ki Seung-do to finish an entire cigarette.

He finally withdrew his emotionless gaze from the main house and headed toward the entrance.

“Eat.”

As soon as Ki Tae-oh, seated at the head of the table, gave the order, the family began their meal.

Perhaps they had been instructed beforehand, because all the household staff who had been standing by immediately left the dining room at once.

A strange tension hung over the meal with only family members remaining.

Ki Tae-joo’s will had already been revealed, but its contents had been largely formal.

In the end, much would change according to the will and intentions of Chairman Ki Tae-oh.

Therefore, it was only natural that tension filled the air when Ki Tae-oh gathered the entire family together for the first time after the funeral.

The seating arrangement was a preview of what was to come today.

Perhaps fitting for a family obsessed with tradition despite having no real roots, they placed enormous importance on things such as the order of seats at the dining table.

The seats were always predetermined.

Chairman Ki Tae-oh sat alone at the head of the table, while Ki Tae-joo and Ryu Kyung-hee occupied the seats on either side of the next position.

It was practically a visual display of rank.

Therefore, the question today was who would sit in the seat that had belonged to the deceased Ki Tae-joo.

Today, that seat was occupied by Ki Tae-joo’s wife, Hwang Yi-sook.

In the seat where Hwang Yi-sook had normally sat was her son, Ki Ji-hwan, Ki Seung-do’s half-brother.

Ryu Kyung-hee’s seat remained unchanged.

Beside her sat the eldest son, Ki Ji-hyuk, and the second son, Ki Ji-tae, with their respective wives.

Ki Seung-do came next.

More precisely, he was in the last seat.

There was no one behind Ki Seung-do.

Amid the exceedingly refined and formal greetings and conversation, Seung-do simply ate without saying much.

“Ji-hwan, wrap up your life in America and come back.”

The verdict came without warning.

At Chairman Ki’s single remark, delivered almost like a casual greeting, Hwang Yi-sook, who had been counting the grains of rice on her spoon, raised her head.

Her expression had changed subtly.

“You’ve studied enough. Start working in Construction through the second-half open recruitment.”

“Open recruitment?”

Ki Ji-hwan asked.

His tendency to lack tact and blurt out whatever he wanted to say remained unchanged.

Seung-do knew that there were many words hidden behind Ki Ji-hwan’s short question.

Everyone present knew it.

Ki Seung-do is an executive director, though?

The son of a concubine was an executive director, while Ki Tae-joo’s son had to enter through open recruitment?

However, regardless of the reason, Ki Tae-oh’s expression hardened.

He particularly hated having his words questioned.

Realizing his mistake, Ki Ji-hwan finally looked to read his father’s mood.

Hwang Yi-sook secretly tapped the back of Ji-hwan’s hand.

Then she spoke in place of her son.

“There are a lot of eyes on things these days, so everyone does it that way. It’s better to start from the bottom and work your way up so no one can make foolish comments about favoritism or abuse of power. Thank you for looking out for him, Brother-in-law.”

“……Yes. I’ll do that.”

Following his mother, Ki Ji-hwan immediately became obedient and bowed his head.

Hwang Yi-sook, desperate to change the subject, inevitably directed her gaze toward Ki Seung-do.

“Seung-do, have you been drinking?”

At Hwang Yi-sook’s words, everyone’s eyes turned toward Seung-do.

Until then, Seung-do had said nothing except eat.

He gave a brief answer.

“I had a meeting at lunch.”

“Even so. How long has it been since the end of the mourning period? And you’re bringing the smell of alcohol to a gathering where the entire family is present.”

“I was thoughtless.”

The words were polite, but Seung-do’s attitude was anything but.

Several people sitting here knew that he had spent a few glasses of baijiu cleaning up the mess Ki Tae-joo had left behind.

He had met with people from the media who thought drinking liquor from the afternoon was the entirety of doing business, and had drunk several glasses of baijiu with them.

Thanks to that, he had prevented an article about shoddy construction at an apartment complex in the provinces from being published by placing a few more advertisements with the media company.

However, irritated by Ki Seung-do’s attitude, Hwang Yi-sook put down even her chopsticks and continued in earnest.

“I really feel embarrassed bringing this up when the whole family is gathered, but what is this I’m hearing about you bringing a woman into the house while we’re still in mourning?”