Chapter 6

M Holdings was an investment company that mainly invested in newly established startups. It was growing larger by successfully making one investment after another.

X Games, one of the companies M Holdings was investing in, had Kim Dong-jun as its chief developer. He and Jung-heon had been close friends since their university days.

‘Bacchus’ was a game created by the developers under Kim Dong-jun, who had put their lives into making it.

The development alone had taken three years. The pure development cost was 40 billion won, and nearly 70 employees had been involved in its development.

Of course, M Holdings, which had invested after seeing the future of Bacchus, had also staked everything on the business.

Kim Dong-jun had bet fifteen years of his life on games, while Kwon Jung-heon had bet eleven years on his friend’s abilities.

They were like comrades who had gone through the hardest times together, so it was understandable that they wanted to help each other achieve their dreams.

After all, Jung-heon had an incredible ability to move capital using numerical data.

That was why Yoon-jung found Jung-heon’s attitude at Nason Gallery even harder to understand.

“I wonder if he really is as capable as his reputation says.”

Yoon-jung spoke while playing with one of the flowers in the large bouquet.

“I mean Nason Gallery.”

Nason Gallery.

The place where the afternoon sunlight had pleasantly poured all the way down to their feet.

At the same time, Jung-heon remembered Go Woo-yeon’s eyes as she had quietly stared at him.

“I’m Go Woo-yeon.”

At that moment, he had wondered if she could be the girl he knew.

A girl who had transferred into his class during the summer of his third year of high school, saying that she would be staying at her maternal family’s home for a while.

Under her neatly brushed-back hair was a thin, snow-white face.

She had been so thin that she looked as if only skin remained, and she seemed like the kind of girl who would burst into tears if someone touched her even slightly.

Hadn’t he heard that she went to an art college after graduating from high school?

He thought he had also heard that she later went to America to study.

He had never expected to meet her like this.

The moment she saw his face, Go Woo-yeon had been unable to hide her surprise. She had started to greet him as if she were happy to see him, only to erase her expression again.

“Hello, there.”

The moment when she had quickly finished the greeting she had accidentally let slip was still vividly clear in his mind.

Even though he had not answered her, Woo-yeon had calmly regained her composure and continued at her own pace.

She looked stronger than before.

Her eyes, which had once been so warmly bright that simply facing them could almost feel frightening, had lost some of their light and color.

But their unique gentleness had not changed.

Her eyes looked as if they had absorbed all the sunlight.

And because of that, whenever he looked at them, a painful memory from some moment in the past suddenly swept through Jung-heon’s mind like a golden wave.

“…Sir, Director, you have a call.”

When he came back to himself, Seon Yoon-jung was standing in front of him with a mobile phone in her hand.

It was a call from Nason Gallery.

“Yes.”

— Hello, Director. This is Go Woo-yeon from Nason Gallery.

The polite voice on the other end had raised its tone on purpose, but Jung-heon could hear the tiredness beneath it.

— The reason I’m calling is that our representative asked me to ask whether you will be attending the Baekyaje.

Only then did Jung-heon remember what Yoon-jung had told him on the way back from the gallery.

The Baekyaje was a special exhibition held twice a year according to the seasons.

Apparently, it was also a party where wealthy and high-ranking people came together to spend enormous amounts of money.

Jung-heon was curious, but only a select few were invited, and there was no particular reason for them to attend.

He remembered Yoon-jung saying that there was no need to worry about it.

Then he spoke.

“I’ll attend.”

Perhaps that was not the answer Woo-yeon had expected.

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

But soon, her neat voice returned, as if shortening the pause.

— Yes. Then I’ll prepare everything assuming that you’ll be attending.

“What about the paintings?”

Jung-heon gently stopped Woo-yeon, who was about to end the call.

“Did you look into it?”

— Yes. I told them that you were interested in purchasing them, but they haven’t given us a definite answer yet, so I’m planning to go to Yangyang.

“Why Yangyang?”

— There is a museum there run by the family of Artist Song Tae-baek. I’m planning to visit it. And I think we’ll be able to receive the other works earlier than expected.

“That’s good news.”

— I’ll contact you again once the schedule is fixed.

Her clear voice softly flowed into his ear, pleasant enough to put him in a good mood.

Just like before, she was probably answering like a machine with a businesslike expression.

Jung-heon remembered Woo-yeon calmly adding explanations after every direct question he had thrown at her as if he were testing her.

Even in situations where he might have gone too far, and even in moments that could easily have upset her, Woo-yeon had calmly organized everything and dealt with the situation in the same composed manner as when they first met.

— Then…

“Ah, and…”

Jung-heon spoke again when she sounded as if she were about to hurry and end the call.

He could feel Woo-yeon pause on the other end.

“What are you in such a hurry for?”

— I’m not. Please, go ahead.

Her neat voice sounded a little more friendly.

Was she annoyed?

There was a faint feeling of that in the obedient silence.

The corners of Jung-heon’s lips lifted slightly.

“I’d like to get a few more recommendations for artworks. How about today?”

At his sudden suggestion, Woo-yeon answered politely, as if she already had a prepared response.

— The gallery will be closing soon.

“Then I’ll go now.”

— What?

This time, she sounded genuinely surprised.

“Uh…”

She hesitated for a moment.

But it did not last long.

Jung-heon did not give her time to think.

“I’ll arrive within twenty minutes.”

Woo-yeon was not the only one surprised.

Beside him, Yoon-jung, who had been absentmindedly playing with the flowers, raised her eyebrows as if asking whether he was serious.

Jung-heon exchanged a look with Yoon-jung, picked up his suit jacket, and left his office.

After being silent for quite some time, a short voice finally came from the other end of the phone.

— I understand.

The blinds were slowly coming down to the bottom of the windows.

Woo-yeon watched them descend slowly and waited until they completely blocked out the light before moving around the gallery.

Once the sunlight was blocked, the space somehow felt even colder.

Her cold had already gone away a long time ago, but the gallery was always kept cool to maintain the proper temperature for storing artworks.

Even in July, when stepping outside made it hard to breathe because of the blazing heat, the gallery remained the same.

After ending her call with Jung-heon, the gallery became busy again.

No.

The only people left to become busy after everyone else had gone home were Woo-yeon and Ji-woo.

“My goodness.”

Woo-yeon had been about to tell Jung-heon that it would be difficult to make time for his sudden visit.

But Kwon Jung-heon had spoken first.

“Then I’ll go now. I’ll arrive within twenty minutes.”

Without realizing it, Woo-yeon let out a small groan.

Staying late at work was not a problem.

At a gallery where customer satisfaction came first, everything revolved around the customers.

They had even opened the gallery on holidays before when an important customer wanted to visit.

But that was not the problem.

“Should I do it?”

Ji-woo approached Woo-yeon, who was standing blankly in front of the opaque window.

“You look a little tired, Manager. I heard you barely slept last night too.”

Ji-woo looked at Woo-yeon’s face and added with concern.

“No, I’m okay. Still, I’m glad you decided to stay. You should be going home, so I feel bad making you stay because of me.”

“No, don’t say that. Of course I should stay. Isn’t it natural for the assistant to be where the person they assist is? We share both happiness and pain, so what’s the big deal?”

Ji-woo playfully poked Woo-yeon’s side and laughed.

Woo-yeon let out a small laugh at her cheerful attitude.

She could have simply refused.

Maybe I should have been more firm.

But Woo-yeon quickly changed her mind.

Since things had already turned out this way, she just needed to finish everything as quickly as possible.

Is he planning to buy everything I recommend again, just like last time?

Remembering his first visit, when she had been unable to relax even for a moment, made her palms damp.

“I’ll buy you a good meal after this. Let’s eat something delicious.”

“Then I’d be very happy.”

Ji-woo lived by the motto, ‘When you can leave work, leave without looking back.’

Yet, for some reason, the moment she heard that Kwon Jung-heon was suddenly coming to the gallery, she volunteered to stay.

There was no need for two galleryists to attend to just one customer.

Even so, Woo-yeon gladly accepted Ji-woo’s decision to stay and help.

She thought having even one other person there would be better than being left alone with Kwon Jung-heon in the empty gallery.

After preparing to receive the customer, Woo-yeon watched Ji-woo applying another layer of lipstick beside her.

She organized the catalogs and the catalogue raisonné containing information about the artists and their works.

It won’t take long.

Just as Woo-yeon was moving around busily, the bell announcing a visitor rang.

“He must be here.”

Ji-woo, who had been patting powder onto her face, quickly put her cosmetics into her bag and hurried downstairs.

Woo-yeon followed behind her.

It was 7:10.

Exactly twenty minutes had passed since the time he had said he would arrive.

He really is precise.

Well, he had always been like that at school too.

Every morning, Kwon Jung-heon arrived at school earlier than anyone else and sat in his seat at the same time every day.

Wondering exactly how early he came to school, Woo-yeon had once made up her mind to leave home before dawn.

Even then, when she arrived at school, Jung-heon was always sitting in the same place, like a scene from a photograph, with a book open and studying.

“Welcome, Director. We’ve been waiting for you. The roads must be very busy because it’s rush hour. How did you manage to arrive exactly on time?”

Ji-woo opened the door first and warmly welcomed him.

Despite her energetic attitude, Jung-heon calmly stepped inside.

His eyes immediately went to Woo-yeon.

She was standing one step behind.