Chapter 83
- Spite
2023.07.22.
It must have been drunken rambling.
“Shall we date for 10 years and then get married?”
In fact, So-eun had been feeling restless ever since Tae-joon dropped that confession on her last Wednesday.
To date for 10 years out of the blue and then get married after 10 years.
Of course, So-eun couldn't answer right away that day, so she had no one to blame.
How many people could easily answer such a confession? Considering that we don't even know what will happen tomorrow, let alone next year, he wants to date for 10 years and then get married? It's not like a 10-year maturity insurance.
Nevertheless, So-eun actually felt good and excited. The suggestion to date for 10 years felt like a promise not to break up for the next 10 years. The suggestion to get married after 10 years felt like a wish to continue being together even after that.
A distant promise is an illusion. But even just that had the power to reassure people. Even with the anxiety that the love will end someday, you still believe in that promise.
Conversely, the thought that 'our love will end someday' makes you hesitate to let the love flow. Even if it's just a thought.
So-eun had been treating Tae-joon as if this love would have an end. So, to some extent, she drew a line for herself. Only up to here, she felt relieved that even if she got hurt, she would only get hurt that much. It was a defense mechanism born from the experience of failure.
But he was different. He casually said he would take her to America, and he said she could wear the new summer clothes next year. Now, it's 10 years of dating. So-eun couldn't understand why he kept making promises, but she kept being drawn to him. She kept wanting to believe him. It seemed like he wanted that too.
So, this time again, she felt needlessly excited.
But I guess it was just drunken rambling.
So-eun was a little disappointed that he gave her a sudden confession like homework and then showed up the next day and the day after that as if nothing had happened and talked to her. So she acted out of spite.
But she shouldn't have.
So-eun had underestimated this man, who was full of lingering feelings and spite.
“Eat heartily.”
The two of them, who had slipped out of the company, sat facing each other at a barbecue restaurant.
Tae-joon, grilling more meat than usual, especially 1++ grade Korean beef, earnestly told So-eun. So-eun didn't know why and asked. She wondered if he was planning to go hiking that night.
"Yes? Why?"
"I don't want it to be interrupted."
He put a pile of grilled meat on So-eun's plate and said nonchalantly. A blush like raw meat rose on So-eun's cheeks. It was scarier than saying he would devour her.
Tae-joon was serious throughout, so So-eun couldn't remember the good meat. She kept feeling thirsty, perhaps because she was nervous about going to his house after the meal, and she seemed to have drunk more water than meat.
After the meal, Tae-joon stopped in front of the front door of his apartment and asked.
"Do you remember the password to the front door?"
"No."
"Shall I register your fingerprint?"
So-eun was led by his hand and placed her right thumb on the fingerprint reader. His hand, which was 1 degree warmer than So-eun's, came over it and pressed her fingertips. The fingerprints of her right index finger, and her left thumb and index finger were also entered into the front door in the same way.
"Now try it."
Tae-joon gestured for her to open the door. So-eun, whose body had become the key, gently placed her right thumb on the reader. The front door opened with a whirring sound.
"This house is mine now."
"Yeah."
She made a joke to wash away the silent air, but Tae-joon accepted the words without a smile.
"I gave you the house, should I give you my bankbook now?"
She was terrified by his proposal, which went even further than her own playful joke.
"Director Kim, why are you doing this? ...Are you not feeling well?"
"I'm thinking about how to appeal to you."
"......"
"Don't play hard to get with me."
He called it an appeal, but it was a warning.
"I'll love you precisely."
A subtle smile was clear and blatant.
For some reason, he seemed more impatient than usual. Tae-joon, who seemed to let her go when she asked to brush her teeth and wash up neatly before meeting, followed her to the bathroom a little later. He soothed her, who was upset by the bright light, washed her, and showered her with kisses all over her body. Her lips glistened as they met the water droplets.
He carefully wiped her water-soaked body so that the cold air wouldn't seep into it, then picked So-eun up and took her to the bed. He looked down at her as if he didn't know what to do because the body he had wiped was so beautiful, like a person with a distant fantasy in front of him, and then continued to kiss her again as if attacking her. He moved his lips, drawing stars on her body from wound to wound, and was annoyingly kind.
Each time he stopped moving, his thick Adam's apple swelled greatly. It seemed like he couldn't help his body, which was running wild, and it also seemed like he was reaffirming that he would cherish her. So-eun felt absolutely loved, but she also felt overwhelmed and anxious, and her body felt strange.
So-eun, overwhelmed by the relentless stimulation that didn't seem to end, was pulled to him once again and seemed to say 'please'. Vaguely, without knowing what to ask for or how.
"I'm not yet."
He soothed, coaxed, and comforted So-eun, and ridiculously, even offered comfort and encouragement, and replied in a hoarse voice.
"I'm not yet."
So-eun was frightened and asked.
"...Wasn't it over?"
"Did I ever say it was over?"
He smiled languidly and pressed her down again with his body, which had become even larger than before due to exercise.
\
Hee-wook's father, Yang Gyu-chil, underwent emergency surgery, but showed no signs of waking up for days. He was barely clinging to life.
A golf club employee who visited the hospital late explained the circumstances of the accident to Hee-wook.
"Since foreign caddies may have difficulty communicating, we have a separate Korean employee familiarize them with the precautions before the round. However, you got angry because you didn't like the caddie, got on the cart first, and urged us to hurry because you were late for your appointment, so our staff didn't have time to help."
"Are you calling that an excuse?"
Hee-wook was so dumbfounded by the employee's explanation that he retorted as if scolding him. The employee also continued his explanation without being shaken by Hee-wook's questioning.
"And regarding safety issues, you already signed a document before the round stating that you would take full responsibility for any accidents."
"So, are you saying you won't compensate me for the damage?"
"Our club will do its best, but we can't deviate from the regulations."
It was an answer that seemed to have been prepared with several layers of protection. Hee-wook cursed in a low voice. The caddie who was driving only suffered a fractured leg and was discharged from the hospital, but it was suspicious that only his father was going back and forth between life and death, as if he had been deliberately injured.
"Why did you assign that caddie in the first place? My father wanted to change the caddie!"
"You are... actually a specially managed customer."
"A specially managed customer?"
"That's... you showed excessive interest in certain caddies, so all the caddies refused to assist. So there was no choice. But our caddie received thorough safety training, but you kept talking to the caddie while he was driving..."
"So, are you saying that the caddie who received safety training is alive, and my father is going in and out of consciousness now?"
If they had both been severely injured, he wouldn't have felt so wronged.
"All the caddies refused my father? Can that happen?"
The moment he shouted and paused, the memory of his phone call with Tae-joon flashed through Hee-wook's mind.
[Coincidentally, I invested in that golf course, so I hear news from there from time to time. I heard your father likes the caddies a lot? Unilaterally.]
Could this also be Kim Tae-joon's scheme?
Just as he clenched his fist, his cell phone rang. It was a text message from the chief attorney of Yulkyu Law Firm.
- Attorney Yang Hee-wook, I heard your father had an accident. Take this opportunity to rest a little. I heard that the Korean Bar Association will soon hold a disciplinary committee regarding Attorney Yang Hee-wook's qualifications as an attorney.
\
It was morning and So-eun hadn't woken up yet. Tae-joon, who woke up first, was about to get ready to go exercise, but he changed his mind.
A message from a errand center employee said that a guest had arrived in front of the apartment since morning. Yang Hee-wook was getting close.
He had people assigned to protect So-eun. An errand center employee in front of Yang Hee-wook, and a private bodyguard in front of Han So-eun. The person who was watching Yang Hee-wook's movements occasionally gave him useful news about Yang Hee-wook's downfall.
Yang Hee-wook was in front of the parking lot. Since the parking lot is off-limits to outsiders, it was a place where Hee-wook couldn't enter, so he was probably waiting there, determined to go directly into the apartment.
What is he going to do when he comes in? Did he bring a weapon?
The more terrible trash you become, the better. Because it gives me a good reason.
Please don't forget your positioning and become the most terrible trash in the world.
Anyway, he thought he should meet him in person, considering the sincerity with which he came all the way here. Tae-joon finished talking to the employee and went straight down to the front of the parking lot.
"What brings you here, Attorney Yang?"
Tae-joon greeted him leisurely, as if he had met him by chance on a walk.
Hee-wook looked rough and his eyes were sunken, probably because he had suffered a lot from the series of big events that had happened. He was a little sad that he couldn't see his old greedy expression.
He glanced down and saw that he seemed to have nothing but his cell phone in his pocket. That cell phone is probably recording now.
Hee-wook, who had approached, glared at Tae-joon, grabbed him by the collar, and shouted.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?"
"Hit me. I'll take it all if you hit me now."
A good location with the CCTV facing directly. He was willing to take a beating here.
Hee-wook, who turned his head following the direction Tae-joon pointed with his chin, took his hand off, panting.
In the meantime, his cell phone was vibrating. He was voice recording in case Kim Tae-joon did something sneaky, but if someone called at this timing, the recording would not be done properly. Hee-wook glared and sobbed, feeling wronged that he had come all the way here but things had gone wrong.
"What do you want?"
"Your internal organs."
Fear spread in Hee-wook's eyes, which had become terrified by the movement of Tae-joon's narrowly opening lips.
"I'll tear you apart and burn you."
His eyes, which seemed to shine, and his subtle smile seemed like they would dry up his blood before tearing his whole body apart and burning it.
Hee-wook desperately struggled, crushed by the murderous intent he possessed.
"Yeah. Kill me. Kill me."
"Don't be scared. I'm not killing you now."
Tae-joon wasn't even shaken by Hee-wook. He just gave a bitter smile as if Hee-wook was pathetic.
"You can't just die. You have to suffer for a long time and die slowly."
