Chapter 4

At last, the door of the tightly closed Nason Gallery opened, and a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties came out. Her neat hair was tied into a single ponytail. She escorted Jung-heon and Yoon-jung inside.

They passed through the chocolate-colored door, walked through a garden filled with trees blooming white flowers, and entered the building.

“I’ll show you to the second floor.”

Nason Gallery, the place Jung-heon had only heard about before. He had expected a cold and empty space filled with works of art, but the gallery was much more nature-friendly than he had imagined.

His eyes were drawn to the wooden pillars, where the grain of the wood was clearly visible, and the bricks set here and there into the cement walls like traditional Korean roof tiles. Yoon-jung quietly followed beside him, too busy admiring the place to say much.

The first impression of this place is good.

Everywhere he looked, he liked what he saw. The sunlight that slipped gently across the lines of the building and the clear view of the small garden through the large glass windows were especially impressive.

The flower petals hanging from the trees moved in the breeze coming over the wall, spreading their scent through the air.

It was a place that quietly made the heart feel at ease.

The building had four floors in total, from the first basement floor to the third floor above ground, and everything was neat and well arranged. Across the hallway, which alternated between walls and large glass windows, the whole city of Seoul could be seen.

Jung-heon’s gaze moved outside the window. A small N Tower rising at the edge of the mountain ridge looked as if it had been placed on the mountain peak by a toy camera.

“It’s cute. The Seoul cityscape beyond that frame looks like little figures, so it feels so lovely and tiny.”

At Yoon-jung’s careful comment, Jung-heon slowly nodded.

The employee left to prepare tea, and not long afterward, the door opened again.

“Nice to meet you. I’m the gallery manager who will be taking care of you today, Go Woo-yeon.”

At the clear voice, Jung-heon turned away from the painting.

The woman lightly bowed her head and raised it again. A clear smile was visible on her face. Her eyes curved downward, and the corners of her lips lifted.

But the kind smile did not last long.

The woman standing in front of Jung-heon seemed to tremble, and her straight shoulders sank as if they had suddenly lost their strength.

Under the bright blue cardigan that did not match the weather, her chest, which had been held straight, sank deeply in surprise before slowly rising again.

Her neat face, which had a gentle impression, showed confusion for a moment. Then she awkwardly forced the corners of her lips upward.

Her eyes lowered again, and her lips lifted again.

Jung-heon observed every part of that process.

He kept one hand casually inside his pocket, and his gaze remained on her with the same indifferent attitude.

Was the way he tilted his head slightly and openly examined this unexpected coincidence arrogant?

It did not matter.

That was how he had lived.

What he was not used to was the coincidence called Woo-yeon, which he remembered all at once.

Kwon Jung-heon. It really is Kwon Jung-heon.

Woo-yeon slowly swallowed her breath beneath the gaze flying toward her like a spear.

Her heart began beating a little harder, and soon the sound of her pulse grew loud inside her ears.

That face, which she had sensed so many times, erased so many times, engraved into her memory and then tried to scrape away, appeared vividly before her eyes once again.

When Jung-heon moved, the people who had been sitting on the sofa also stood up after him.

But Woo-yeon could see nothing else.

Thud. Thud.

His footsteps echoed as he approached.

Jung-heon walked toward her with his long legs, his expression blank. Woo-yeon could not move at all.

In an instant, Jung-heon came right in front of her and lowered his gaze.

He simply looked at Woo-yeon, as if carefully examining her.

An atmosphere like a strong, stubborn tree quickly wrapped around Woo-yeon’s ankles.

The scent coming from Kwon Jung-heon, which she was certain belonged to him, and his gaze.

His black eyes, with their clearly defined edges, fixed themselves on Woo-yeon.

His gaze seemed to pass through her from head to toe, making her feel as if she were standing naked in front of him.

Did he remember me?

Woo-yeon ignored her pounding heart and tried not to show how nervous she was.

His quiet gaze continued.

In the silence where the only sound was their breathing, she slowly swallowed.

There was no clear intention in Kwon Jung-heon’s calm eyes.

Even so, Woo-yeon could not bear the nervous feeling, and the tips of her feet hidden inside her shoes moved restlessly.

“Manager Go Woo-yeon?”

At last, the clearly shaped red lips moved.

Woo-yeon had been standing there frozen in a daze. When she heard his voice, she suddenly came back to herself and quickly opened her lips.

“Hello…”

The moment she said it without thinking, she suddenly came to her senses.

And she realized.

Were we really close enough to simply say hello to each other?

“…there.”

Her voice came out hesitantly, and her mind went blank.

Just as she thought it could not have sounded more awkward, Jung-heon smiled.

He pulled up the corners of his lips, something she had never expected him to do, and smiled broadly.

Heat instantly rushed to the tips of her ears.

Did he remember her or not?

Even after his red tongue briefly moistened his lips, the tilted smile on his lips did not disappear.

It seemed he had already understood why Woo-yeon was so flustered from that short, hesitant greeting.

“Nice to meet you.”

At the moment Woo-yeon wanted to hide her face anywhere she could, Jung-heon reached out his hand first.

His hand crossed the space between them.

His eyes were just as dark as before, making it impossible to easily understand what he was thinking.

Woo-yeon carefully took his offered hand.

The moment their fingertips touched, his entire palm wrapped around hers.

Warmth rose between their softly touching palms.

Their mixed body heat was surprisingly hot, unlike his emotionless attitude.

Woo-yeon slightly raised her eyes at the unexpected warmth, and Jung-heon, whose eyes met hers, slightly raised one eyebrow.

“This is our CCO, Chief Creative Officer, Director Seon Yoon-jung.”

“Nice to meet you, Manager.”

Seon Yoon-jung, who looked like a small bird, pushed up her glasses and smiled brightly.

After they exchanged greetings and sat down, there was a knock at the door.

The door opened, and an employee placed tea on the table before leaving.

“Please have some.”

Unlike the iced tea offered to Jung-heon, with flower petals floating between the ice cubes, Woo-yeon’s tea was warm and steaming.

The dark-colored teacup and the blue cashmere cardigan she was wearing stood out.

The room was cool, but it was not cold enough to need to wrap herself up so tightly.

“But it seems you have a cold. Is it from the air conditioning?”

“Ah, yes.”

“You have to be even more careful when the weather is hot. I catch air-conditioning sickness easily too, so I know. The air from the air conditioner can be like that. Summer colds can be really bad, so I hope you get better soon.”

Yoon-jung’s warm and caring words made Woo-yeon’s heart relax a little.

But then Kwon Jung-heon quietly lifted his cup and took a sip without saying anything, and she froze again at his blunt attitude.

Even so, her eyes kept being drawn toward the man sitting across from her.

The fingers of the man placing his cup down on the marble table were long and white.

A ring rested on one of his long fingers, and his nails were neat and clean.

Is he married?

Woo-yeon stared blankly at the white-gold rings shining on the fourth and second fingers of his left hand.

When she raised her head, her eyes met Jung-heon’s.

She awkwardly pulled up the corners of her lips, then naturally looked away.

“Manager Go Woo-yeon.”

Jung-heon spoke first.

Her eyes were drawn back to his calm face.

Kwon Jung-heon’s eyes were black and deep, so deep that she felt as if she could see straight into them.

But there was no clue in those eyes.

Nothing that showed whether he knew Woo-yeon or remembered her even a little.

It had been more than ten years.

Maybe he did not remember.

No.

Shouldn’t he remember?

She did not know.

Just as many thoughts crossed her mind and questions began to form, he asked:

“How far can you go?”

The strange question shook Woo-yeon again.

“I heard that you can get anything you want here.”

Nason Gallery was a place Representative Na had acquired several years ago in Gahoe-dong with the intention of eventually handing the building over to her daughter.

At the same time, she had expanded the gallery and stepped down as its representative, only to return to the position two years later.

It was a gallery filled with masterpieces that reflected collectors’ tastes, as well as works by masters of the art world and rising new artists.

It had a leader with the ability and connections to somehow put any artwork a customer wanted into their hands.

There was only one reason Jung-heon had come here after even receiving an introduction from Director Seo Jeong-ju.

A few months later, there would be Chairman Ryu Jung-hwan of Haeshin Group’s 60th birthday celebration.

He had come to find a piece of artwork to take there.

Chairman Ryu Jung-hwan was the man who had started with nothing and built the foundation of what would become Haeshin Group through the construction business.

He was generous and sometimes hot-tempered, but to Jung-heon, he was no different from a creator.

He was the great man who had opened the door to a new world for Jung-heon, given him opportunities, and boldly pulled him forward.

Believing that opportunities for education should be equal, he supported many orphanages.

But when seventeen-year-old Jung-heon came to him and asked only for the chance to study, Chairman Ryu believed in the young man’s spirit and supported him without holding anything back.

With Haeshin Group behind him, Jung-heon studied desperately for Haeshin.

He never once lost first place.

He entered university as the top student and kept that position until graduation.

The moment he graduated, he became a person of Haeshin and served Chairman Ryu.

Then, two years ago, after ten years of succession and the transfer of management rights, he left the company.

After a chaotic series of personnel changes, Jung-heon eventually joined Jang Woo-jin, who was already running an investment company.

Unlike the wishes of the Haeshin family, who wanted him to remain at Haeshin, Jung-heon believed that staying anywhere other than beside the chairman who had personally taken him in would be meaningless.

Since Jung-heon joined, M Holdings had grown larger every day.

But Jung-heon was still a person rooted in Haeshin.

He was still Haeshin’s man.

And Haeshin’s dog.

“I want to acquire a painting by Artist Song Tae-baek.”

Chairman Ryu Jung-hwan personally collected hundreds, even thousands, of artworks.

From famous painters whose names even people who knew nothing about art would recognize, to unknown artists.

He was a generous man who collected and supported the works of anyone he liked, even artists sometimes dismissed simply as painters.

Among them, the artist Chairman Emeritus Ryu Jung-hwan cared about most was Song Tae-baek.

Song Tae-baek had died unknown, but after his death, the value of his name had risen sky-high.

He was a Korean painter whose price per canvas exceeded 200 million won.

The price of his works increased every year, and whenever one of his paintings appeared at auction, it broke the previous record.

Perhaps the portraits of his era that he had left behind stirred feelings of nostalgia.

For Chairman Ryu, who now spent his days painting orchids and enjoying collecting art, this was a work he had wanted for a long time.

He wanted it as a birthday gift.

Nason Gallery was a place where you could not even cross the threshold without a reservation.

Even so, they had opened the doors because of one phone call from Director Seo.

This was Jung-heon’s chance to find out just how extraordinary this place really was.

“You want to find a work that hasn’t been released to the public yet.”

A faint, watery light passed through Woo-yeon’s eyes as she calmly spoke.

Song Tae-baek had been a strange man while he was alive.

He had continued to make bold and unusual moves, yet he lived in seclusion.

All of his few remaining works had gone to Haeshin Art Center and Chairman Ryu Jung-hwan’s private residence.

Nason was the only gallery through which one could obtain a work by Song Tae-baek.

So Woo-yeon understood the meaning behind Jung-heon’s seemingly indifferent question.

He came here knowing about Song Tae-baek’s unreleased final work.

He knows about the emotions and stories hidden inside it.

“I’ll look into it.”

Only then did Jung-heon nod as if they were finally speaking the same language.

“And, I don’t know much about this side.”

The neat line of his lips, which had seemed to hold a faint smile, opened as if this could not possibly be so easy.

“Let’s recommend a few more.”

His gaze was sharper than a spear capable of tearing through a shield.