EHR 03

Chapter 03

“A secretary for entertaining? Why would my wife be so displeased? Is this a concept where you act angry?”

A concept? Haa.

Having no reason to keep listening, Jaekyung was about to rise from her chair when Yoo Gam held out yet another document before her.

<Chairman’s Secretary Office, 3-Month Employment Contract>

“Someone went and made my wife unemployed without permission. So I made this.”

So she really had lost her job because of the vice principal’s notice. Was this what “position change” meant?

As unexpected events kept occurring, even Jaekyung—who didn’t easily get rattled—couldn’t grasp what was happening.

“I see the chairman personally came to deliver the termination notice himself.”

“Special treatment just for Seo Jaekyung.”

“I’m not the least bit grateful.”

“I’ll hold your termination processing. I’ll defer the penalty fee. Just accompany me to the foundation dinner first.”

“I decline the offer.”

“The money Seo Jaekyung likes—I prepared it as a reunion gift. The principal mentioned that Ms. Seo’s attitude was good.”

As if Jaekyung had no choice from the start, Yoo Gam curved the corners of his lips and leaned back leisurely in his chair.

“We’ve been separated for five years, so from now on I’d like to keep my wife by my side. It’s good for both of us, isn’t it?”

Separated, wife—at the absurd words, Jaekyung chewed her lips.

“What you’re saying right now sounds like crazy talk.”

“Does it seem crazy? The doctor said the same thing. That I’m obsessed with my runaway wife. She took the money and bolted—wouldn’t that make anyone crazy? I am crazy, so the sane Seo Jaekyung should start by grasping reality.”

Yoo Gam, with no expression whatsoever, gave off a chill that raised goosebumps.

“…….”

“Accept the conditions and it’s simple. Do you have the ability to go up against a major law firm by divorcing me right now? The smart Seo Jaekyung should judge for herself. The post defaming the foundation? If you add the penalty fee plus damages for defamation, it’ll add up quite a bit.”

*

The moment the elevator doors closed, Jaekyung became aware of reality.

Opening her tightly shut eyes, Jaekyung looked at Yoo Gam as if she had made a decision.

“…Just a moment. I’ll pay the contract worker penalty fee somehow, so please just cancel the additional damages you mentioned.”

“Is there a reason I should?”

“You’re being too harsh on an individual.”

Yoo Gam turned his head languidly.

“You’re the one being too harsh. I said if you work as my secretary and grind your bones, I’d reduce the penalty and damages. Didn’t you understand?”

“I told you I won’t be a secretary.”

“If you followed me on your own, haven’t you already expressed your intention to contract?”

“I didn’t follow you—I’m on my way home.”

“Getting on the same elevator is generally judged as following. Common sense.”

“That’s the chairman’s standard.”

Yoo Gam slightly furrowed his brow and looked at Jaekyung, who didn’t back down on a single word.

“Seo Jaekyung. What is it you want?”

At Yoo Gam’s persistent gaze, Jaekyung was flustered. She needed time to organize her tangled thoughts.

It was her own fault—when she applied as a teacher, it had felt uncomfortable, but she had thought lightly that a one-semester contract position wouldn’t be a problem.

“What I want is…….”

Jaekyung stopped mid-sentence.

Before being swayed by this man who threw around talk of major law firms, she needed to judge rationally.

“If you don’t know, let’s go with the standard I just made. I won’t demand even the marital bed right away.”

The marital bed? He’d said he was crazy, and he certainly wasn’t in his right mind.

It was bewildering and irritating, but it was clear that Yoo Gam, the chairman, held the sword by the hilt right now.

Jaekyung looked up with tired eyes.

“What’s the standard you just made?”

“If you want a romantic reunion, let’s start with an office romance.”

Yoo Gam’s lips, reflected in the elevator doors, curved up faintly.

“Excuse me. Are you really my husband? If you were my husband, you’d know there’s no reason for you to appear. You know that well.”

The doubt didn’t disappear. For Jaekyung, the title “wife” was unfamiliar.

It was natural—they had been a marriage in name only, a couple who had never even seen each other’s faces, sharing hot nights with nothing but a single gasp.

Staying with Yoo Gam in the narrow space felt like the limit of her patience.

Fortunately, the elevator opened right on time. Jaekyung walked out with quick steps.

“Is running away a habit? Like back then.”

Jaekyung’s body was caught by Yoo Gam’s strong grip.

“Who ran away?”

She wanted to tell the truth right away, but because of the secret contract clause she had signed with Director Jin, she swallowed the truth.

He took a step closer and stared down intently at Jaekyung. A scent—neither familiar nor unfamiliar, ambiguously stirring her heart—brushed past her.

“Let go of me.”

“I’ll let go, so come work as my secretary.”

“I already refused.”

“Chairman’s exclusive secretary, three-month term. This time, let’s settle the family register too.”

Regardless of Jaekyung’s adamant refusal, Yoo Gam calmly notified her of a decision he had made alone.

“This time, the one who runs will pay a very hefty fine.”

For Jaekyung, it was a trap she couldn’t move a single step from.

*

The car carrying Jaekyung and Yoo Gam moved quietly. Throughout the drive from the restaurant past the streets lined with cherry blossoms in full bloom, the two were silent.

When Jaekyung refused to attend the dinner to the very end, Yoo Gam didn’t press further.

Before long.

They entered Mugeum-dong, where Jaekyung lived—a neighborhood with redevelopment banners torn here and there.

“We won’t run into each other again.”

“Unfortunately, that probably won’t go as you wish.”

Getting out of the car, Jaekyung felt Yoo Gam’s gaze on her, and the back of her neck grew hot.

*

[Seized Property][Disposal Prohibited]

Yellow tape was stuck in an X shape like a seal on the old door.

Surely not. They’d said it might be provisionally seized. Hadn’t the money she deposited taken care of it?

“Her phone is off…….”

She hurriedly called her father, but couldn’t reach him.

Whipping around quickly, Yoo Gam in the black car had rolled down the window as if he had been watching everything Jaekyung was doing.

“Looks like you have nowhere to go. Let’s finish talking about the contract.”

“No.”

“You seem to have a cold—don’t be proud.”

“……Haa.”

Not even a minute had passed since she’d firmly said they wouldn’t run into each other again. She had no choice but to get into Yoo Gam’s car.

She didn’t want to squabble with him in the narrow neighborhood without even a wall, giving the neighbors something to gossip about.

“Please let me off just up ahead.”

But the car didn’t stop and drove into a luxurious villa complex.

“Get out.”

“I’ll be going.”

“For security reasons, you can’t leave this building alone. Stay with me today.”

“Open the door before I call the police. Do you want to be dragged away for kidnapping and false imprisonment of a contract teacher by the foundation chairman?”

“Who knows. If it comes out that Seo Jaekyung and I are a married couple, it’s not bad for me.”

He was certainly crazy, just as he’d said himself.

The old phone Jaekyung had bought when entering university was already out of battery and turned off.

“If you touch me, I won’t let it go.”

Jaekyung raised her head and glared.

“Depends on what you do.”

Following Yoo Gam’s leisurely steps up, the house had an entrance hall larger than Jaekyung’s entire room and a living room that looked like several offices combined.

It couldn’t compare to the old family home in Pyeongchang-dong, but seeing a hotel-like house that seemed straight out of a drama, her feet wouldn’t move readily.

“Use this room.”

What Yoo Gam pointed to was a door in the left hallway past the living room.

Was it a house he lived in alone? If so, it was even more dangerous.

Jaekyung brushed past Yoo Gam and closed the door.

Bang.

She planned to slip out of the house while he was asleep.

After locking the door, Jaekyung looked around the room, neatly arranged like a hotel.

No charger either. Haa……. Surely Yoo Gam wouldn’t come into the room.

The day had been too exhausting.

Lying on the bed, Jaekyung tossed and turned, but her head throbbed and her chilled body kept her from sleeping.

Entering the bathroom in the room, the luxurious scent made her want to wash her uncomfortable body.

She ran water in the bathtub and dropped in one of the baseball-sized bath bombs placed to one side.

Among the bubbling foam, Jaekyung submerged her tired body deeply. Perhaps because of the fragrant water that reached even her head, she finally felt alive.

*

Yoo Gam knocked on the door of the room Jaekyung had entered, carrying a charger, cold medicine, and warm soup.

He had intended to use Jaekyung’s poor health as an excuse to see her even once more.

He’d called her to his house because she seemed to have nowhere to go right away. But with Jaekyung—proud and accusing him of being a molester, going on about kidnapping and false imprisonment—he let out a hollow laugh.

Was she asleep?

Knock knock.

He knocked several times, but there was no sign of movement.

*

‘If you touch me, I won’t let it go. Even a mouse cornered in a corner might do anything.’

*

Surely not. This woman.

Yoo Gam opened the door with the emergency key. He would have been relieved if she were asleep.

The rumpled bed was empty of Jaekyung. He knocked on the bathroom door, but again there was no sound.

He hurriedly opened the door.

There was Jaekyung, slumped in the bathtub, her red lips—contrasting with her pale face—provocatively parted.

“Jaei!”

Pale skin visible between the white foam, and beside her right breast, exposed defenselessly amid her nakedness.

A single raised mole on the snow-white skin.

‘This mole is something only I know.’

‘It tickles. Stop it.’

In that moment, Yoo Gam’s blood boiled.