DERH 16

Chapter 16

Kind Sena

It was quite uncomfortable to suddenly deal with someone when she did not even know what his usual interests were, what his tastes were, or what he liked or disliked.

If they were people who would never see each other again, she could just throw out random topics, laugh, and let it go.

But there was one more problem.

Since she absolutely needed to make this person like her for her own purposes, she had to be extremely careful.

Ryu Kang-hyun was extremely blunt and was not a man of many words. If possible, he seemed like the kind of person who could spend the entire day without saying a single word, whether the other person felt uncomfortable or not.

After being the one who suggested they eat together, Sena could not stand the awkward atmosphere anymore and suddenly raised one hand.

“Boss, please give us one bottle of soju.”

Sena shook the green bottle from side to side, opened it, and filled the glasses.

“Senior, would you like some too?”

Instead of saying something pointless like Why are you drinking during the day? or What about your car?, he simply held out his empty glass.

Sena politely held the bottle with both hands and filled Kang-hyun’s glass.

Clink—

Their glasses touched with a cheerful sound.

The sound of the soju going down their throats was refreshing as well.

Thud.

When the glass landed on the table, there was even a sense of determination in the way he put it down.

“Ahh. They say if soju tastes sweet, life must be bitter. But why is it so sweet today?”

“Maybe life is more bitter than usual today.”

“No way. I’m actually in a really good mood today. I finally got rid of some frustration.”

“Then you chose the wrong menu.”

“Why? If you come to a wedding, you should at least have galbitang.”

“You didn’t really come here to congratulate them. As expected, your personality is bad. And you hold grudges too.”

If she was dealing with someone whom pretending would never work on, then she had to face him honestly.

She needed to show the cards she could reveal, watch his reaction, and then decide whether to show another card or keep it hidden.

“Who is the one with the really bad personality? I don’t want to hear that from you, Senior.”

Kang-hyun gave a small laugh and took the bottle sitting in front of Sena.

He filled her glass for her.

Then, when Sena reached out her hand for the bottle, he stopped her and filled his own glass instead.

Sena quickly turned her thoughts over, searching for something they could talk about.

Then she remembered what Jung-hee had said when she visited her recently. She had asked Sena to introduce her to Kang-hyun.

“You know Jung-hee, right, Senior?”

“Who is that?”

“Park Jung-hee. A junior from our department. You don’t remember?”

It was not a name that was easy to forget, so Sena had some hope.

But his thick eyebrows slightly twisted, and he tilted his head as if he were hearing the name for the first time.

Her attempt to find something they had in common had failed.

“Jung-hee keeps asking me to arrange a meeting with you, but if you don’t even remember her, she’ll be really disappointed. She’s a public defender, and she said she saw you once in court too.”

He really looked like he could not remember, so Sena continued.

“She was the student council secretary for all four years. We even took some classes together, remember?”

“Maybe.”

All her effort to find something they had in common was cut off with a single word.

She had never imagined it would be this difficult to find someone they both knew when Kang-hyun had barely made any friends while he was in school.

The more hopeless it felt, the faster she drank.

“What did you even do while you were in school, Senior? You never showed your face at department events.”

“I went to lectures, did assignments, and took exams. I was busy enough with just that.”

“What kind of fun did you have?”

“I just don’t have any memorable memories. It doesn’t mean I had no fun at all.”

What exactly had been fun for him?

There had been several major incidents during their school years, and plenty of rumors that students talked about for an entire semester.

Sena wondered if there was anything among them that Kang-hyun actually remembered.

“Senior, I’m asking just in case.”

“……?”

“Do you remember that incident? After the sports festival, what department was it again? Anyway, some crazy guy got drunk, climbed onto the horse statue at the main gate, and happily started moving his hips.”

“Oh, the one where he completely took off his pants and was half-naked?”

“You remember that?”

“How could I forget? It was the second most shocking incident I experienced while I was in school.”

“……Then what was the first?”

For some reason, Sena had a feeling that she should not ask.

But she asked anyway.

She suddenly remembered Professor Daniel Klein’s famous saying:

Among the many reasons people die, curiosity takes up quite a large percentage.

Kang-hyun stared at Sena for a moment.

Then he lightly shook his head and lifted his glass, hiding the corner of his mouth that had curved upward.

“The incident where a proud woman with a high nose suddenly confessed while crying with a runny nose?”

Sena’s head moved past the bowl of galbitang and slammed onto the table.

The hand holding her soju glass trembled.

The back of her ear, visible through her long hair, had already turned red and was growing hotter.

“Whoa, whoa…”

After calming her dizzy mind with Lamaze breathing, Sena raised her head.

By now, she knew well that he had not said it with malicious intent, so she did not want to become hostile.

Sometimes people became closer by sharing embarrassing memories from their past with each other.

“How long are you going to tease me about that?”

“You actually figured out that I was teasing you. I thought you would get angry.”

“Can’t you see that I’m trying to get closer to you, Senior?”

“I can see it. That’s why I’m playing along with you.”

“Then let’s erase that incident from your memory now, okay? I think our relationship might develop if you do.”

“Hmm…… I became interested in you because of that incident.”

“Why on earth? Why would you be interested in that pathetic and miserable version of me? Is that your type, Senior?? Are you a pervert?”

“More than that, I thought you had terrible judgment when it came to men.”

“What does that mean? Why would I have bad judgment when it comes to men?”

“Look at today. You dated a man who cheated on you with some ordinary woman. That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Before that, Senior Seong-min was the most popular guy in the law department!”

“You should be grateful that I happened to be there that day.”

Of course, that was true.

Confessing to a man who was already dating someone and was about to go abroad to study?

If Kang-hyun had not been there and someone else had heard her confession, she might have become the subject of gossip among the department students for the rest of the semester.

“Well, I’m sorry for misunderstanding you all this time. And thank you for not telling anyone about it. But you didn’t have any friends to tell anyway, did you?”

“That’s right. I don’t have any friends.”

“Why do you admit it so calmly? When you say it like that, I look like such a terrible person.”

“Then play with me from time to time.”

“You’re a little difficult to deal with, Senior. Will you pay me a friendship fee?”

“Send me the bill.”

“How much are you going to pay? Minimum wage? You know I’m a successful lawyer, so I’m expensive, right?”

“If you charge an unreasonable price, I’m willing to respond legally. We can find out whether charging a friendship fee is legal or illegal.”

“Ah. If I get sued, I’ll have to hire you. Since you used to be a prosecutor, can I get the special treatment usually given to former prosecutors?”

“……”

Kang-hyun had been answering her smoothly without missing a beat, but he suddenly blinked in silence as if she had caught him off guard.

A moment later, Kang-hyun held out his glass toward her first.

Sena also clinked her glass against his, then stuck out her lips as if challenging him to say something else.

“You’ve grown a lot, Gi Sena.”

“Wow. Did I finally beat you after ten years? See? I told you I was in good condition today!”

As soon as they emptied their glasses and put them down on the table, both of them burst out laughing.

“I never expected that I would be able to have a conversation like this with you, Senior.”

“……”

“I think it’s a relief that we finally cleared up our misunderstanding, even if it’s only now. I’ve done quite a lot of foolish things to you, and I still have a long way to go. But I hope we can get along well from now on.”

Sena had been drinking quickly to overcome the awkwardness, but she normally could not drink much soju.

She became tipsy in a very short time.

Kang-hyun called a designated driver and helped the unsteady Sena into the back seat.

Her cheeks were bright red, and she had her eyes closed while breathing softly and unevenly.

As he moved his body back to close the car door, suddenly—

Clack!

His tie was grabbed and pulled hard inside.

Surprised, Kang-hyun quickly reached out across Sena and barely managed to support her swaying body.

Sena was holding onto his tie and still had her eyes closed with Kang-hyun right in front of her.

Her red lips released sweet breaths mixed with the sharp smell of alcohol, tickling the tip of Kang-hyun’s nose.

“I want to have one more drink. Today is the first day I beat you, Senior. We should have a toast.”

“……”

“I feel like I could fly. I don’t want to go home.”

“……”

“Senior, come with me. Just one more drink. At my house.”

“Gi Sena. You’re drunk. You shouldn’t say things like that to just any man.”

“Just anyone… anyone… Senior isn’t just anyone…”

“You’ve had too much today. Let’s stop here and go inside.”

“……I just…… don’t want to say goodbye…….”

“I’m going crazy.”

He knew very well that she was drunk and could not understand the situation properly.

But when she complained with her slightly loosened tongue that she did not want to part, his heart almost gave in for a moment.

Kang-hyun could not pull his tie free from Sena’s tight grip, so he simply untied it completely.

He left only the tie in her hand and quickly moved himself out of the car.

Before his feelings could change, he hurriedly closed the car door.

Thump.

Sena’s head sank against the closed door as if leaning on it.

Kang-hyun leaned his back against the car and let out a hot breath.

His fingers touched the cigarettes rattling inside his coat pocket.

He thought about smoking one to calm his troubled mind, but if he inhaled cigarette smoke in this state, he felt his head might spin even more.

“Ha……”

He bit his lower lip tightly and kept thinking about what she had said.

As his palm rubbed down his jaw, he could feel the heat rising in his face.

Who was more drunk right now?

Sena’s suggestion to have one more drink had sounded like something else entirely.

Maybe the person who was drunk right now was not her.

Maybe it was him.

The designated driver who arrived first drove Sena’s car out of the parking lot.

Kang-hyun stood there blankly, staring at the place where the car carrying her had disappeared.

He only came back to his senses after another designated driver arrived at the restaurant and loudly called out for the owner twice.

When he returned to his own car and leaned back in the rear seat, a helpless laugh escaped him.

He could not believe that he had been shaken this much by her clumsy attempt at seduction.

Kang-hyun covered his tired eyes with one arm and muttered quietly.

“Ha. Gi Sena, you’ve really grown a lot……”

There was only one week left until the opening of the Family Law Center.

Six team members gathered in the private meeting room the company had provided for their team.

Among them was lawyer Han Yeo-jin, who considered Sena her rival.

They shared the cases each person was currently handling and discussed the cases they would be taking on in the future.

Han Yeo-jin was clearly conscious of Sena, who had been appointed team leader, but she also seemed quite hopeful about the results they could achieve as a team.

It was because she thought that if Gi Sena moved ahead first, she would also have a chance.

“Lawyer Ryu is going to handle the criminal-law consulting for our team, right?”

Sena quietly nodded.

Han Yeo-jin’s question then turned toward someone else.

“Isn’t Lawyer Park a criminal-law specialist?”

It was lawyer Park Jong-chan, who specialized in criminal litigation.

“I’ve only just become a senior lawyer with five years of experience. I haven’t handled many major cases either.”

Park Jong-chan scratched the back of his head and laughed.

“With nine years of experience as a prosecutor, he’s practically a walking law book. I can’t even compare myself to him.”

“What, are we going to have a murder case at the Family Law Center? What major cases could there be?”

“That’s true, but since I’ve joined this team, I’ll still do my best.”

He clenched his fist and held it forward, proudly showing his determination.

The three junior lawyers with youthful faces followed him, nodding and clapping.

“It’s good to have the determination to work hard.”

Suddenly, a firm voice came from near the door.

Ryu Kang-hyun strode into the meeting room and made eye contact with each person inside one by one.

And the last person his eyes landed on was, without a doubt, Gi Sena.

“You have to win to be a lawyer. Don’t you agree?”