TTL 5

Chapter 05

A Trap or Something Else.

5:30 a.m.

Before the blue morning air had fully faded, heavy breathing echoed across a hill along one of Namsan’s walking trails.

“Haah, haah.”

Gaeul was running beneath cherry trees that showered the path with pale pink petals.

Although the warmth of spring had settled over the area, her gray tracksuit was already soaked with sweat from the intensity of her workout.

She went jogging as part of her daily routine, but today, it felt unusually exhausting.

At last, Gaeul reached her destination and stopped.

“Phew…”

She removed her earphones and collapsed onto a wooden bench.

Breathing heavily, she took a water bottle filled with cassia seed tea from her bag. As she opened the lid and brought it to her mouth, the wound at the corner of her lips suddenly stung.

“Ah…!”

Gaeul grimaced and touched the corner of her lips.

It was the spot where Park Sa-ran had struck her the day before, splitting her lip with a slap before she left work.

“Haah, split lips take forever to heal. Why did it have to happen there…?”

Clicking her tongue, Gaeul recalled what had happened yesterday. No matter how many times she thought about it, Park Sa-ran’s behavior was unbelievable.

“You nasty bitch!”

SMACK!

The moment Gaeul entered the changing room, her face was slapped to the side.

Park Sa-ran usually cared deeply about how others saw her and always put on a false front. But yesterday, she had failed to hide her true nature. The shocked employees tried to stop her, but Park Sa-ran couldn’t control her anger and continued screaming.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?! You deliberately hid the vinegar made from persimmons that went into the sauce so you could impress GH Food!”

“Let’s get the facts straight. I didn’t hide anything. Every time I tried to explain, you two cut me off.”

Gaeul refuted her point by point, but Park Sa-ran seemed unable to hear a word of it. She was too furious to think clearly.

“Then why didn’t you say anything when I told you to speak? You wanted to go to GH Food in our head chef’s place, didn’t you?”

“If that had really been my intention, I would have accepted their scouting offer.”

“……!”

“Have you forgotten? I said I would stay at Suragan.”

With nothing left to say, Park Sa-ran struck Gaeul on the shoulder for no reason and stormed out.

The employees hesitated for a moment, then quietly began to disperse.

Gaeul had expected the head chef to hate her, but the consequences spread much faster than she had anticipated.

The atmosphere had become so uncomfortable that even asking Gaeul if she was okay made the others worry about how Park Sa-ran might react.

Gaeul sighed as she touched her split lip.

“Phew… Life in the kitchen is going to be rough from now on.”

But she could endure that much without a problem.

As of yesterday, she was done putting up with everything without a word. Whether it was Park Sa-ran or anyone else, if they gave her a little, she would pay them back twice as much.

“Fine, then! I’ll do things my way! Am I really going to let something like this get me down? I’m a general’s daughter, for heaven’s sake!”

Having reached a spirited conclusion, Gaeul took a drink of water.

The rich, slightly bitter taste of cassia seed tea spread across her dry tongue like welcome rain falling on parched earth.

The cassia seeds had been roasted by her own hands, following a recipe her grandmother had taught her. Even now, just as in the past, her grandmother and father remained the roots of her cooking.

After drinking half the bottle, Gaeul prepared to head back down the hill.

Enjoying the refreshing aftertaste, she quickened her pace again. She ran with the falling cherry blossoms as her confetti when, all of a sudden, a man’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“You captivated me.”

Soon, the face of the man with his painterly smile appeared in her mind as well.

It was the handsome face that had kept her thoughts unsettled all night.

Her pace naturally began to slow. Cherry blossom petals scattered at her feet, tumbling chaotically in the breeze.

“Yeon… Chef Yeon Gaeul? That’s a beautiful name.”

The man had handed her his business card with precise, controlled movements. Even his manner carried an air of nobility.

Gaeul had encountered countless men and women from all walks of life, both in the East and the West. Yet even to her, this man’s appearance was truly exceptional.

He was handsome enough to make her heart react, despite the fact that she had always been almost completely indifferent to romance.

“……There’s something strangely familiar about him.”

The more she recalled his face, the harder it became to shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before.

However, no matter how deeply she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out where that feeling came from. After pondering for a while, Gaeul shook her head and muttered,

“Come on. If I’d seen him somewhere before, I’d remember.”

A face like his wasn’t easy to forget after seeing it just once. That was probably the reason.

Perhaps he simply resembled some celebrity she had seen somewhere.

“It’s not like I’ll ever see him again anyway.”

She had rejected his offer so firmly that there was no reason for them to meet again, not even by chance.

Gaeul decided to put an end to these unproductive thoughts. She had just started moving again when her feet suddenly stopped at the sight of a familiar figure.

“……!”

Someone was standing among the pale pink cherry blossoms.

The very man who had occupied her thoughts moments ago was walking toward her.

The sight seemed so unreal that Gaeul instinctively pinched her own cheek.

It stung.

“……Since it hurts, I guess this really is happening.”

But why was that man here?

His dark gray classic suit stood out against the scenery of falling cherry blossoms, creating a strange contrast that drew her attention.

Click, click.

The steady sound of his dress shoes grew closer before finally stopping in front of her.

The first thing that caught her eye was his cool blue tie, which matched his overall demeanor.

Before she could even open her mouth, his deep voice fell from above her head.

“Good morning, Chef Yeon Gaeul.”

At his casual greeting, she lifted her gaze.

Their eyes immediately locked. Her face was reflected in his pitch-black pupils.

Thump.

Her heart beat even harder than it had moments ago.

There it goes again.

Gaeul bit the inside of her cheek, desperately trying to ignore the pounding in her chest.

He was pointlessly handsome. Just meeting his eyes was enough to make her heart lose control.

The unfamiliar change was both strange and unpleasant, and it made her voice sound a little curt.

“Is this a coincidence?”

“Do you think it’s a coincidence that I came here to meet you at this time, in this place?”

Hyunseung spoke as he brushed the cherry blossom petals from his clothes.

“No. That’s why I find it unpleasant.”

“Why? Are you worried I might be stalking you?”

“I can’t exactly say you aren’t.”

Even though Gaeul made no effort to hide her displeasure, Hyunseung responded without the slightest hesitation.

He took a business card from his pocket and handed it to her with a faint smile.

“I took a few shortcuts. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t bring myself to let you go just like that.”

What is wrong with the way this man talks?

Was it a habit? Judging by the way he kept smiling faintly, perhaps it was.

If so, it was a truly terrible habit. With a face like his, he could probably get away with asking people for just about anything.

He must be used to getting his way by acting like this.

Not a chance.

In her twenty-eight years of life, Gaeul had experienced more than enough to know that this sort of thing was nothing special.

Sweeping her sweat-soaked bangs back, she spoke.

“I clearly rejected your offer yesterday. Besides, I’m nowhere near qualified enough to be the kind of chef GH is looking for. I think you’d be better off finding another chef.”

“You already have all the qualifications you need. Didn’t I tell you? You’re the only person who has ever captivated me, Chef Yeon Gaeul.”

“…….”

“I’ll meet whatever conditions you want. You’ll probably receive one of the best offers in the industry. And once the project launches, all the honor and wealth that come with it will belong to you.”

Hyunseung deliberately placed his business card in Gaeul’s hand again before adding,

“Because you’re my only alternative.”

“As I’ve told you repeatedly, I prefer staying at Suragan.”

Gaeul returned the business card that had just been placed in her hand.

Then she calmly walked past him, quickening her pace as she went.

But she hadn’t even taken five steps before her feet came to a halt.

“I hear your father has quite a grand name. Yeon Gaesomun.”

“……!”

The moment Ji Hyunseung spoke her father’s name, Gaeul’s body froze.

It was as if a part of her mind had suddenly shut down, leaving her unable to think about anything at all.

The water bottle slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. It rolled across the pale pink cherry blossom petals.

Click, click.

As the leisurely sound of dress shoes approached from behind, a steady voice followed.

“A famous chef who ordered a contract killing. He poisoned the food of a leading presidential candidate, ultimately causing the man’s death. The dish he ate that day was grilled abalone with soybean paste, the chef’s signature dish.”

“…….”

“He was known to work as a chef on the side, while his real profession was a contract killer. After the trial, he was imprisoned, and the case ended with his suicide. What a dramatic life, wouldn’t you say?”

My father wasn’t that kind of person!

She wanted to argue, to deny every word he had said.

But not a single word came out of her mouth.

When she bit her lip, she tasted the metallic tang of blood from the split skin.

“And yet, the daughter of a murderous chef is now pursuing a fine career as a chef herself.”

“…….”

“If this fact were to become public…”

At last, Hyunseung stopped in front of her and smiled cruelly.

“There’d be another huge uproar, wouldn’t there?”