Chapter 8

The Secret of the Mad Dog

He was a person who had always been a topic of conversation, whether people liked him or not, wherever he went.

The fact that even a gag order had been issued and the matter had been classified as confidential made Sena even more curious about what kind of serious trouble he must have gotten into.

But knowing Prosecutor Park’s personality, he would never tell her.

—“Still, Prosecutor Ryu was actually someone the juniors secretly wanted as their senior. He’s tough, but that’s why.”

“You succeeded in becoming the mad dog I wanted to avoid.”

—“What?? What dog? What are you talking about?”

“You don’t need to know. This is confidential on my side too. Anyway, thanks. I’ll hang up.”

Sena brushed off her sudden mutter with a laugh as if it were nothing and ended the call.

Then she scratched between her eyebrows and repeated Prosecutor Park’s words in her mind once more.

They say even mountains and rivers change after ten years……

‘Maybe he’s especially good at working within an organization? His juniors seem to respect him a lot. Well, I heard he even served in some kind of special forces unit in the military. Did he finally grow up after getting older??’

He was a senior whom it was difficult to see smile.

A senior who had never been late even once.

Although he lived alone near the school, he had no close friends among his classmates or seniors and juniors, and he was even famous for never letting anyone into his apartment.

And somehow, whenever they took the same major classes, there had never been a single time when the two of them didn’t clash over something.

‘What a joke. When we were in college, he acted like he couldn’t stand me.’

There had been one time when they were assigned to the same group project.

That man, who normally did not even blink when group members abandoned their teams, had relentlessly hounded Sena.

He nagged her for three straight days and nights until they finally completed the assignment.

They received the highest score in the end, but it became the incident where he completely erased the names of the group members who had abandoned them.

He had even told the professor who assigned the group project,

‘Even freeloading is a minor offense punishable by a fine. As future legal professionals, it is unacceptable for law students to tolerate dishonesty.’

The professor praised him highly for having such an upright attitude as a future legal professional and punished the students who had freeloaded by giving them the ambiguous grade of D instead of F.

Of course, at the time, Sena had felt relieved.

But the fact that the group members who had abandoned the project came to complain to and yell at the easy target, Gi Sena, instead of Ryu Kang-hyun was another matter entirely.

Remembering how she had been forced to take responsibility for what he had done and how she had been cursed at by every senior because of that incident, Sena shuddered.

If she were to write down how much effort she had made afterward to restore her image, it would be long enough to become a full-length novel.

She had thought her connection with Ryu Kang-hyun would end with that group project.

But their relationship took an unexpected turn.

Whenever there was an event in the department, the seniors who held a grudge against him began pairing Ryu Kang-hyun and Sena together.

The problem was that Ryu Kang-hyun never participated in anything unless it was related to class.

Naturally, Sena ended up doing all the work that the two of them were supposed to do.

Eventually, unable to endure it any longer, Sena went to Ryu Kang-hyun and begged him to please come with her.

But with an emotionless expression, he asked her a question instead.

“Is it worth doing something even though you’re being treated unfairly?”

“If a senior asks me to do it, I have to. I’m your junior. So please don’t do this and help me.”

“It’s obvious they’re doing this on purpose just to mess with you. Why bother?”

“I’ll use this chance to make up for everything. Once we enter society and start working, we’ll have to deal with all kinds of people anyway. I can just think of it as making the best of things and building connections, right?”

“That’s what I call a pointless waste of time. Gi Sena. Use that time to memorize a few more legal provisions.”

“Senior!”

“I guarantee that none of the idiots who joined in on that nonsense will still be willing to face you after graduation.”

She had wondered what kind of grudge this man had against her to treat her like that.

Gi Sena’s peaceful and beautiful campus life had never been as difficult as it was during that period.

Still, whether he had noticed her efforts or not, the seniors’ bullying gradually died down afterward.

“Surely he didn’t deliberately treat only me like that because of that incident?”

As she quietly traced back the time when she had first become entangled with him, it seemed to have started at the year-end party.

“Wow, what did I even do? He couldn’t possibly still be doing this just because he misunderstood my drunken confession, right? Is he really that petty? Did I steal his money or hurt him somehow? I just…….”

She had only wiped her runny nose with his jacket sleeve and gotten a little dirt on it.

No, hadn’t she even had it dry-cleaned and returned it to him?

No.

She vaguely remembered tearing it when she fell while running away…….

The more Sena remembered the disgraceful events of that day, the darker her expression became.

“That’s why I even offered to buy him a new one. If he insisted that it was fine and refused, shouldn’t that have been the end of it?!”

It had been more than ten years ago, but she could still remember it as vividly as if it had happened yesterday.

It was that humiliating a memory for Sena.

“Come on. He must have forgotten by now. They say the person who gets hit remembers it, but the person who hit them doesn’t. From now on, I just need to establish a good image and avoid running into him as much as possible.”

Now that Ryu Kang-hyun had come to the firm as a partner lawyer, the reality was that she would have to see him and live with him in the same workplace for the next several years, one way or another.

With a luxury-brand gift bag in one hand and a bouquet of yellow tulips in the other, Sena pressed the doorbell.

A moment later, the front door opened along with the welcoming voice of someone inside.

“Come on in.”

“How have you been, Mother?”

It had already been several years since Sena had started calling her Mother, but every time the word came from Sena’s mouth, the woman still looked deeply touched.

“Happy birthday.”

Sena smiled brightly and handed her the gift she had prepared.

The woman smiled warmly, her eyes forming gentle crescents as she accepted the present in her arms and stepped aside to let Sena in.

When Sena entered the living room, her father, Gi Jang-su, who was still somewhat awkward around her, unnecessarily flipped through a newspaper he was not even reading and cleared his throat.

“You’re here.”

“Yes.”

“Did you eat?”

“I’m here to eat.”

“……”

“……”

“How long are you going to stay sulky?”

“Leave me alone. I’ll get over it myself.”

“……Good grief. When is she ever going to grow up? She’s already over thirty.”

After their first round had ended without either of them gaining anything, Sena and Gi Jang-su continued to keep their distance from each other.

“She acts all elegant and refined outside, but the moment there are no other people around, she completely changes like that. I’m honestly scared someone from the company might see her like this. She’s my daughter, but I really can’t understand her.”

As Gi Jang-su clicked his tongue and folded the newspaper in half, Sena tried to suppress the childish anger that still had not gone away.

But then she remembered Representative Gi’s recent actions at the law firm, and her anger rose again.

“Excuse me, mister. I’m sorry, but do I know you?”

“Hey! Gi Sena! Are you going to keep treating your father like this? Do you think I made that decision because I wanted to?”

“I don’t have a father like you. What kind of father stabs his own daughter in the back? And you seemed so happy about it! At lunchtime, you seem to get along perfectly with the new partner lawyer. Do you two even put food on each other’s plates now?”

“Good grief, you’re driving me crazy. You really don’t understand your father’s feelings. Then again, how could a child possibly understand a parent’s heart? You think you’re so great and live happily believing you’re the best.”

“Oh, if you haven’t really helped me much while I was living on my own abilities, could you please stop giving me advice?”

Moyeon, who had been bringing out refreshments, placed the tray on the living room table and looked between the two of them.

“Who would mistake you two for anything other than the Gi father and daughter? Are you fighting again? Your fights get more childish every year.”

Moyeon sat between the father and daughter, who would not even look at each other, handed each of them a neatly sliced pear, and let out a small laugh.

She had watched the Gi father-and-daughter fights for so long that something like this was nothing to her.

“Isn’t it much better to work things out by talking like this? Don’t you remember the old days? Whenever you and Sena fought, both of you would lock yourselves in your rooms like monks taking a month-long vow of silence. You have no idea how hard it was for me, stuck in the middle. I even developed postpartum depression and thought about jumping off the balcony while holding Se-hun. If I had jumped back then, I wouldn’t be here today to see this lovely father-and-daughter relationship on my birthday. Right?”

Thanks to Moyeon, who calmly said such terrifying things in her gentle voice with an affectionate smile, both of them tightly shut their mouths like clams.

Just as the two of them were awkwardly chewing pears without knowing what to do with themselves, the front door opened.

Sena took advantage of the moment and quickly ran toward the entrance.

It was Gi Se-hun, who had just returned after finishing his evening self-study at school.

“Gi Se-hun!”

Se-hun looked at Sena, who was extremely happy to see him, then stretched his neck out and peeked toward the atmosphere inside.

“You two fought. You and Father.”

“Shouldn’t you greet your older sister first when you haven’t seen her in a while? You little punk.”

Se-hun stopped halfway through taking off his sneakers and held out one hand.

Sena shook her head and pulled a white envelope from her pocket, placing it neatly in his hand.

Without changing his expression, Gi Se-hun blew lightly into the opening of the envelope and checked the amount inside first.

Seeing that it was more money than he had expected, he raised one eyebrow and politely folded both hands together.

“Dear Sister. Have you arrived? To think you would honor this humble place with your precious presence. Have you been well?”

Then he bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle.

When he straightened up, his expression had become extremely pleased.

“Do you like me, or do you like money?”

“Sister. In a capitalist society, such a question is meaningless.”

Sena narrowed her eyes and pulled out another white envelope.

“You are the person I love most in the world, Sister. What more needs to be said?”

“Wow, seriously. You’re my little brother, but you know you’re going too far, right? You’re scary. Really scary.”

“I am merely grateful that you think so highly of this humble servant.”

“Go change your clothes and come out. We’re going to eat dinner.”

After cleaning up from dinner, the family gathered in the living room and shared a birthday cake.

Like any ordinary family, they talked about high school student Gi Se-hun’s future career, the couple’s upcoming weekend trip, and various everyday matters.

Taking advantage of the comfortable family atmosphere, Gi Jang-su finally spoke.

“I was thinking about creating a family law center at the firm. What do you think, Sena?”

“A family law center?”

“Yes. Two seniors and four juniors. Six people forming a team dedicated entirely to family litigation.”

“I’ve heard that large law firms have been forming teams these days. There are quite a few major cases in family litigation too, so having one at our firm would definitely help from both a promotional and business-development perspective.”

“I was thinking of making you the team leader.”

“……!”

Sena’s eyes widened at the completely unexpected proposal.

Seeing her surprised expression, Gi Jang-su added,

“I’ll give you a separate conference room too. If you want, I’ll even clear out one of the rooms upstairs for you.”

“Really??”

“If you run the family law center well for one year, I’ll persuade the directors to make you a partner lawyer. To be honest, I know that with your ability, you’re already at the level where you could become a partner at another law firm.”

Hearing Gi Jang-su say that all the effort she had poured into K Law Firm had not been wasted, the anger and resentment she had been holding onto melted away.

“But.”

Sena’s cheeks twitched with excitement at the unbelievable proposal.

But when he said but and began to mention conditions, she calmed herself down and thought,

‘Of course. I knew there had to be a condition.’

Still, whatever the condition was, this position was worth trying for.

Since it was a family-law department, she would be able to take on not only divorce cases but also more specialized cases.

“What is the condition?”

“What do you think of Lawyer Ryu Kang-hyun?”