Choi Hyeon-myeong’s breath carried an edge that seemed part madness and part fierce restraint, so strangely erotic that every inhale snapped her mind awake, only for every exhale to leave her body melting all over again. Her legs could barely hold her weight, forcing her hands to lean heavier against his shoulders.
Hyeon-myeong drew her by the waist as though urging her to sit right atop him. And as a dazed Yu-yeon let herself be guided between his parted thighs—
Wait…?
Her body froze just as she drew near.
Something hard and unyielding prodded against her thigh.
Through the briefest sliver of an opening, Yu-yeon managed a sound.
…Because his lips weren't the only thing burning hot.
Failing to catch her faint plea, Choi Hyeon-myeong kept showering her with kisses. As her lips pulled away, his mouth traced down carelessly against her jawline and the hollow of her neck.
Yu-yeon's breath hitched in panic.
Turning her head away, she shoved at his chest with all her might. Between her unrecovered strength and his staggering power, it was hardly a contest, taking her what felt like an age just to push him off.
The gaze of the man drunk on Hong Yu-yeon turned fierce, as if demanding to know why. Yu-yeon stared back in sheer disbelief before looking down.
His lips had not been the only hot thing—nor was that heat the half of it.
‘He must be out of his mind.’
Between his parted thighs, swollen to bursting against his trousers, was an intimidating presence standing thick as a fence post driven into a cabbage patch.
This couldn't be happening, she thought.
It really couldn't.
Yu-yeon couldn't even manage a scream, her eyes round as saucers as her lips merely worked silently.
While her already crimson face looked ready to burst from pure shock, the man merely cast his eyes down for a cursory glance, brazen as could be, as if asking why she was making such a fuss over a perfectly natural physiological reaction.
With eyes that looked merely annoyed at having the mood ruined by something like this, he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in again.
If you get that close, it'll touch!
When it actually brushed against her again, Yu-yeon let out a squeak and scrambled back. The hands that tore free from his shoulders spread wide in the air like open fans.
‘When did I ever rub against it?!’
Her wide eyes wavered in utter astoundment.
Finding even that reaction amusing, the man curled the corner of his lips, his gaze fixed on Hong Yu-yeon and no one else.
‘N-No, isn't that a total malfunction?!’
She couldn't fathom how a man could let his factory expand to such proportions without the slightest restraint, all while lost in kissing her.
Yet far from doing anything to settle it down, he simply reached for her again, clearly intending to pick up where they had left off. It was beyond baffling. Did this man possess no shame whatsoever?
Yu-yeon's face flared with unbearable heat, ready to combust.
Flustered and mortified, she ducked her head, only to realize looking down was even more indecent. When she jerked her face aside, Choi Hyeon-myeong teased her once more.
‘Ugh.’
The gaze that had been fighting to avoid him snapped back with a sharp glare, taking in the brazen man's face.
Delighted even by that dirty look, Hyeon-myeong laughed with deep satisfaction and pulled her head against his chest. Yu-yeon leaned into him awkwardly, doing everything in her power to keep her lower body from brushing against him. Her head was spinning.
He seemed gentle enough to indulge her every whim, yet he wouldn't yield an inch.
He was relentless in his clinging, unshakeably firm.
He was like a madman when it came to biting, sucking, licking, tangling, prodding, and chewing—and even the way his fingers moved felt borderline perverse.
Only then did Yu-yeon truly understand the kind of man she had provoked.
Her boss, who had kept his Killer Whale Radar sweeping in every possible direction to clean up after the cyberattack and drive the stock price back up, abruptly took the afternoon off.
After tearing through a mountain of work in the morning like a hurricane, he left with strict orders that no one was to look for him or contact him in the afternoon. It had sounded less like an instruction and more like a threat. Thus Kim Gi-baek spent a lazy afternoon answering the occasional phone call, enjoying a rare, easygoing day.
Right in the middle of it, a summons from Vice Chairman Choi Jun-sik—Executive Director Choi Hyeon-myeong’s father—sent him rushing over to the group headquarters.
Guided into the vice chairman's office by a resident secretary, Gi-baek bowed deeply.
Vice Chairman Choi Jun-sik, eldest son of Choi Sun Group Chairman Choi Yong-chol.
Though Chairman Choi Yong-chol, now nearing ninety, still held the group's highest seat, he restricted himself to charting broad directions and handing down key decisions. Most of the practical management of the conglomerate was overseen by his eldest son, Vice Chairman Choi Jun-sik.
And one day, Choi Jun-sik's only son, Choi Hyeon-myeong, was poised to inherit it all.
However, expecting anything beyond what was officially assigned to Executive Director Choi was as futile as chanting sutras to a sleeping stone Buddha. There was no telling whether he even harbored any desire to claim that chair.
Furthermore, since Executive Director Choi did not possess the same upright character and steadfast diligence as Vice Chairman Choi Jun-sik, it was difficult to guarantee a stable future for the group.
Of course, Executive Director Choi's sheer competence remained utterly second to none.
Besides, lately the executive director seemed to be handling his duties well enough without complaint.
Gi-baek figured Vice Chairman Choi Jun-sik's summons today was merely a routine check on his son's well-being. It had happened several times before.
Yet when Jun-sik set down the pen he had been holding, an oddly sly glint appeared in his eyes.
Looking at Gi-baek, who had answered honestly out of genuine ignorance, Jun-sik curled his lips into a smile.
Gi-baek's eyes widened.
A certain woman immediately crossed his mind. But he wondered if this was something he was at liberty to speak about.
Watching Gi-baek's expression, Jun-sik quickly caught on and gave a nod.
Gi-baek swallowed hard.
Jun-sik's persistent gaze pinned Gi-baek in place.
Though he knew it was said in jest—that Jun-sik was not genuinely trying to threaten him—the sheer weight of the vice chairman's presence made Gi-baek's voice turn taut with nerves.
Even so, the man Kim Gi-baek feared most was not Vice Chairman Choi Jun-sik, but Executive Director Choi Hyeon-myeong. Gi-baek skirted the dilemma with a reasonable point.
Indeed, considering the terrifying way the man had warned him against acting foxy around Hong Yu-yeon, it seemed obvious that Hyeon-myeong had no intention of hiding his obsession in the first place.
Hearing Gi-baek's diplomatic answer, however, Jun-sik's face instantly clouded with gloom and worry.
“…”
How could anyone understand the misery of a father who was too terrified of his own son to approach him carelessly or probe into his affairs?
Muttering in a hollow, deflated voice, Jun-sik offered a bitter smile and dismissed him.
Gi-baek backed out at once, and left alone in his office, Jun-sik let out a long sigh.
Yet that sigh soon curved into a smile.
Kicking the front door open, Lim Chun-gyu barged into the house and bellowed.
Shin Young-hwa, who had been lounging sideways across the living room sofa while nagging the housekeeper to fold the towels properly, glanced up with an unenthusiastic look.
At the name Hong Yu-yeon, Shin Young-hwa's pupils quivered violently.
Shin Young-hwa shook her head, shuddering as though being asked to do something unthinkable. Lim Chun-gyu pressed on to persuade her.
There was someone else who reacted to the name. Lim Da-mi emerged from her bedroom, her face brightening as she questioned her father.
She couldn't afford to let a golden opportunity like this slip away.
Having confirmed the news, Da-mi slipped right back into her room and dialed her boyfriend, Do Yong-tae, without missing a beat.