EHR 04

Chapter 04

Crazy.

Even to himself, it was clearly insane that desire surged at the sight of a collapsed woman.

“Seo Jaei, wake up.”

Yoo Gam reached his arm into the bathtub. Her soaked body was easily caught.

Hoo.

A curse burst out at his beast-like instinct, and Yoo Gam gritted his teeth and lifted Jaekyung’s body.

Yoo Gam’s wife, Seo Jaei.

He wrapped the body of his lovely wife, who let out groans like sleep-talk, in the towel beside him.

He didn’t want to put down Jaekyung, who fit perfectly in his arms.

He wanted to hold her all night and fall asleep, but once Jaekyung opened her eyes, she would surely run away.

Yoo Gam carefully laid Jaekyung on the bed and put a bathrobe on her.

They had spent countless nights long ago, but seeing Jaekyung’s body under the light for the first time, he couldn’t take his eyes off her—she was so beautiful.

“Uuuung.”

When her closed eyes fluttered slightly open, a sharp scream rang out.

“W-what. What are you doing right now.”

Perhaps not fully awake, Jaekyung’s body, as she tried to sit up, wavered, and Yoo Gam pulled the staggering Jaekyung into his arms and wrapped around her.

“Are you trying to die?”

“L-let go of this. What do you mean, die.”

“What if you fell unconscious while sleeping in the bathtub.”

She seemed to have fallen deeply asleep, intoxicated by the warm water and aroma, on top of feeling the cold coming on. Jaekyung gathered her senses and spoke firmly in a husky voice.

“Please leave.”

“I can’t leave. Who knows what you’ll do again.”

“I need to get dressed. Are you telling me to stay undressed?”

“I’ll come back, so hurry and change.”

Once the door closed, Jaekyung quickly took off the bathrobe.

“C-crazy.”

Seeing her own body with not a single thread on it, Jaekyung’s head throbbed like a ball of fire. Why had she fallen asleep in the bathtub.

She wanted to collapse and sleep right now, but she couldn’t stay here.

She put on a blouse and pants and hurriedly threw on a sweater.

Jaekyung, having packed her bag, held a thick jacket in her hand and cracked the door open slightly. The man was not yet in sight.

Just as she opened the front door and was about to run out quickly—

“Seo Jaekyung.”

A low voice calling her came from the hallway.

*

Early morning, Yoo Gam washed with a refreshed face and put on a suit prepared in the dressing room.

Buttoning his shirt while looking in the full-length mirror, Yoo Gam thought of Jaekyung, who had run away before his eyes last night.

Finding Jaekyung had been a coincidence like fate.

Would this be how it felt to find a toy that Director Jin had smashed to pieces?

*

“Mother lost everything precious. You lose something too. Then you’ll understand Mother’s heart, at least a little.”

*

After his father’s funeral ended, pointed stiletto heels shattered eight-year-old Yoo Gam’s toys into pieces. Seo Jaekyung, whom he had held in his arms and sucked on every night like a pacifier, was also like a toy that Director Jin had thrown away.

Even without taking medication, he had been able to sleep properly for the first time in five years since Jaekyung left.

Perhaps it was the relief of finding the wife who had left him sick—the wife he had mistaken for love.

Because of the will of the collapsed Chairman Do Uitae, Director Jin had brought a woman he had never seen before.

It was a hasty marriage, fearing that Do Yujin—an illegitimate child the same age as Yoo Gam—might push him out in inheritance order.

There was no way his heart would easily waver.

Had the ten months of sharing a blanket meant something?

From the day after Jaekyung disappeared, his insomnia worsened.

*

“Tell me about any of your past experiences that made you most anxious.”

“My runaway wife. ……When that woman was there, I slept well. I wonder why.”

*

No matter how much treatment and psychological counseling he received daily, it didn’t improve.

*

“That woman ran away because she hated you taking medication. She said she couldn’t live under the same blanket as a mental patient.”

*

Director Jin said that one of the reasons Seo Jaekyung left was because Yoo Gam took psychiatric medication.

To the doctor who recommended medication again, he firmly refused to take the medication he had barely managed to quit. Eventually, when the attending physician only delayed without progress, he introduced Yoo Gam to a famous psychiatrist in the United States.

It was an escape-like study abroad for treatment.

While staying abroad, he didn’t think of Jaekyung. He was furious at the betrayal of his wife, who had burrowed into his cold embrace.

But when he returned to Korea, the runaway wife circled in his head and his insomnia worsened.

When the face of Jaekyung, happy receiving a proposal from a man, came to mind, displeasure struck him. Yoo Gam, who had been tying his tie, furrowed his brow.

She wanted money from me, so she must want money from that man too.

*

“I’ll accept it on the condition that you treat me only as the chairman. If you approach me as a husband, I can’t work as your secretary.”

*

The sight of her pretending to have forgotten the marriage and the husband’s existence was cute, but he had no intention of being fooled.

Before he knew it, Yoo Gam in the mirror was perfectly dressed in his suit.

As he was about to leave the room, the phone rang.

[Director Jin]

Jin Heeyeon, who meddled in every detail when it came to her son, couldn’t rest easy even after going to Europe.

“What is it this early in the morning. It’s night there—why aren’t you sleeping?”

-I lay down but thought of my son. Is your insomnia improving? You should take the medication the doctor recommends. How could you quit on your own.

Regardless of Director Jin’s worry, unable to sleep on the other side of the globe, Yoo Gam’s expression showed no change. He leisurely went out to the living room and took a sip of the warm tea prepared in advance.

“Your son is how old, and you’re worrying about him taking medication. I must have been tired thinking about going to work—I slept well for the first time in a while.”

-You slept? Without medication? That’s strange.

“Yes, without medication. A snail bride helped me.”

-Are you dreaming? What nonsense about a snail bride out of nowhere. If not your mother, who takes care of my son. I worry you’ll collapse. Is work manageable? If not for my business trip, I’d go and personally introduce our Director Do to the principal and vice principal so they’d assist you well.

Perhaps because he had found his wife who had vanished without a trace, Yoo Gam’s body was more full of vitality than ever.

He opened the front door wide with sturdy steps.

“I’ll handle it myself. If even the Director follows me around, people will say the young chairman is incompetent.”

-Still, people need to know who their superior is so they don’t nitpick.

“I’ll evaluate by work alone, so don’t worry—I won’t care even if they nitpick.”

-Anyway, I’ll come as soon as possible, so just do well until then.

Even at his words that he was fine, Heeyeon was impatient.

Director Jin’s extended business trip was fortunate for Yoo Gam. He planned to prevent Heeyeon from intervening in Uitae Foundation affairs.

“Yes. I will. You should give me a chance to show your son’s abilities too.”

-Oh, you remember the daughter of Minister Han I mentioned last time? I’ve set up a dinner. She’s the same age as you and pretty. She’s from Uitae Foundation—did you see her when you were in first grade?

“I only attended for a month—how would I remember anyone.”

-You might remember when you see her face. Offers of arranged meetings are coming in from everywhere—it’s wonderful.

It was Director Jin, who every time presented a meticulously detailed plan for his marriage and life. Yoo Gam wore a cold expression.

Opening the door and walking down the stairs, under the clear sky, the vehicle Yoo Gam would ride was waiting.

“Seems the rumor of being a druggie that was going around has quieted down.”

-I’ve quit the medication now. And I took it because I was sick—is that a flaw? I live with stomach medicine too.

“Is psychiatric medication the same as stomach medicine.”

-If I just get you married, your mother will have no regrets. This time it’s a truly decent family’s daughter. If your father-in-law is the Minister of Justice, how reassuring would that be for you.

The one reassured wouldn’t be Yoo Gam but KE Group and Director Jin.

“What’s good about marrying again. Just bring back the last woman.”

-Don’t even mention that woman. How long ago is it, and you’re bringing up the runaway. It was only a small amount of money, but she took it and left, so she’ll manage to live on her own.

Did Heeyeon not know that her son was still legally married?

“That woman suited me well too. I think that’s what you said?”

-Back then, because of the chairman’s will, things were so urgent, but a poor family that only covets money isn’t worth associating with. Surely you’re not going around looking for that child?

If she found out he had already called her to his office, there was no telling how Heeyeon would react. Yoo Gam didn’t mention Jaekyung.

“I have no thoughts of remarrying, so don’t even dream of it.”

-Son! How long are you going to be like this. Mother feels hurt.

“I need to go to work. Hanging up.”

Pressing the end button, Yoo Gam got into the back seat that Chief Secretary Kwon opened for him.

“Chief Secretary Kwon, have all the foundation’s administrative documents been prepared?”

“Yes. Except for materials disposed of after the retention period, everything has been gathered. The volume was enormous.”

Since Chairman Do Uitae collapsed, the corruption of Uitae Foundation had piled up steadily for nearly five years.

Before Director Jin returned from her business trip, he needed to find out as much as possible about what had happened in the foundation.

Last night, Yoo Gam’s manhood had reacted to the sight of his wife collapsed in the bathtub in a provocative pose. He wanted to take her home right this instant, even today.

Now, no matter how much she struggled, she was in the palm of Yoo Gam’s hand.

“Seo Jaekyung—check if she’s come to work.”