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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The Man Born in Summer and the Woman Born in Winter
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“The Chairman is asking to see you urgently.”
Changgeun, who had returned to the office utterly distraught and lost in thought, immediately left his director's office upon hearing his secretary's message.
He felt like a lamb being led to slaughter, knowing full well why his father was summoning him. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of his father's furious face.
Arriving at the Chairman's office, he stood before the door, took a deep breath, knocked, and then opened it. The moment he stepped inside, something flew swiftly towards him.
“Oof!”
What hit his shoulder and fell to the floor was a tissue box covered in leather.
Then, a thunderous roar struck his eardrums.
“You damn bastard!”
Changgeun slowly raised his head, hunched in an awkward posture.
A portly man with a receding hairline sat on the sofa. It was his father, Chairman Oh.
As if to confirm they were father and son, their distinctive 'snake eyes' were identical.
“I heard the consortium fell through because of you!”
“I'm sorry, Father...”
“I don't need your apologies! Just go die!”
For nearly thirty minutes, Changgeun was thoroughly chewed out by his father. He learned that there was still much profanity in the world he didn't know, and also that a solid slap could make your vision go black.
About ten minutes after he trudged back to his office, looking like a man whose soul had departed, he was emergency-arrested for violating the Narcotics Control Act.
***
The following afternoon.
Hyeonsim received a call from Huiran, telling her to come home, while she was overseeing her assigned actor's interview.
Knowing Huiran would throw a fit if she delayed, Hyeonsim had no choice but to leave her deputy team leader in charge and depart.
Upon Hyeonsim's arrival, Huiran informed her of the schedule she had impulsively decided on while having coffee a moment ago.
“Hyeonsim, drop me off at the massage parlor and pick me up in two hours. Let's walk around the department store and then go eat something delicious. I need a change of pace.”
Hyeonsim wanted to scream, “Can't you go to the massage parlor by yourself and just have me pick you up when you're almost done?”
Even with a field manager, she had to accompany Huiran to almost every schedule, and she even had to take on tasks that a field manager wouldn't, making her wonder if she was Baek Huiran's personal chauffeur or a servant.
“Alright, I understand.”
She couldn't express her true feelings because she thought it would be ridiculous to suddenly act differently after having already spoiled her this way.
“I'll go change and come out.”
“Huiran, wait a moment.”
Huiran, who was about to go to the dressing room, paused.
“Hm?”
“Sit down. I have something to tell you.”
“Something to tell me?”
Huiran sat on the sofa first, and Hyeonsim, taking a seat a little distance away from her, cautiously began to speak.
“A moment ago, I got a call from the Protocol Secretary's Office...”
“And?”
“It's about the memorial poem recitation for Memorial Day...”
“This is killing me. Stop beating around the bush and just say it.”
“They said Min Sahi is going to do it again...”
Huiran's expression hardened.
“Why is Min Sahi doing it again when I said I would?”
“It seems Chae Yeongin sweet-talked them. They said they were short-sighted and thought it would be better to go back to the original plan.”
“Call them and tell them I *will* do it.”
“It seemed pointless. If you bring it up again, you'll just make yourself look more...”
“This is infuriating!”
Unable to control her temper, Huiran shrieked.
Hyeonsim waited for Huiran's agitation to subside before parting her lips again.
“And also...”
“What else?”
“Hong Hanna...”
She was the actress who, after saying she wanted to work with Yeongin and agreeing to sign with SL Entertainment, got cold feet and backed out of the contract at the last minute after Huiran, under the guise of giving advice, rattled off only the company's shortcomings.
“What about her now?”
“It seems she's going to... sign the contract...”
A hollow laugh escaped Huiran's lips.
“She even thanked me for telling her before she signed, so why the sudden change of heart?”
“It seems Chae Yeongin persuaded her too.”
“Chae Yeongin, is she deliberately trying to screw me over?”
“I told you she was audacious.”
“How should I mess her up?”
Huiran gnawed at her lip, beginning to scheme how to retaliate.
***
Late in the afternoon, Yeongin and Jisang went down to the parking lot together for an external meeting.
Jisang grinned, pointing to the passenger seat of his car.
“Please get in. I'll drive you comfortably.”
Yeongin responded with a smile and got into the passenger seat, then thanked Jisang, who was sitting in the driver's seat.
“Thank you for taking me.”
Yeongin's accompanying them to meet a world-renowned film director was entirely due to Jisang's consideration.
“You should thank Seonghyeok.”
“Pardon?”
“I'm just doing what I can because Seonghyeok asked me to help you a lot.”
“He said all sorts of things, didn't he...”
Yeongin mumbled something she didn't mean, then fastened her seatbelt.
“Then, let's go.”
As the car exited the underground parking lot and entered the road, Jisang casually brought up a topic.
“Yeongin, do you know?”
Yeongin looked at the driver's seat, and Jisang looked at the passenger seat, their gazes meeting.
“Oh Changgeun was arrested on charges of habitual methamphetamine use.”
Yeongin's eyes widened in shock.
“Methamphetamine?”
She knew he was a bad sort, but she had no idea he was also doing drugs.
“The police will probably apply for an arrest warrant today. He'll definitely be detained, and then transferred to the prosecution in a few days.”
Following this, Jisang revealed the purpose of bringing up the topic.
“That crazy bastard, ah, it's Cha Seonghyeok's doing.”
“...Pardon?”
“Oh Changgeun used Baek Huiran to harass you, didn't he? Seonghyeok was very angry about it.”
“...”
“That's not all.”
“What... else is there...?”
Having heard everything, including the matter related to Seongmyeong Construction, Yeongin's dazed face mulled over what Seonghyeok had said yesterday.
“Don't worry. I have no intention of getting involved in your issues with Baek Huiran.”
Only then did she realize the hidden meaning behind his words.
He had no intention of *getting involved* in her issues with Baek Huiran, but that didn't mean he wouldn't *do* anything.
Cha Seonghyeok's scale of retaliation was truly unparalleled.
***
Thanks to Jisang, Yeongin had dinner with a difficult-to-meet master, heard stories related to the film currently in preparation, and even received a recommendation to send actor profiles.
Even while spending such a meaningful time, her mind was uneasy because Seonghyeok's face kept flickering before her eyes.
As soon as Yeongin parted ways with the two men, she called Seonghyeok.
“Did you meet Director Cheon successfully?”
Hearing his words, she felt as if she were in the palm of Cha Seonghyeok's hand. Perhaps it was because of what she'd heard a few hours ago, but the thought of being protected came to her before the thought of wanting to escape.
“Where are you now?”
“At the office. I was just about to leave.”
“Can I see you for a moment?”
“At my place?”
“Yes. I'll go to your place.”
She readily accepted, thinking it would be safer at his place than meeting outside late at night and being seen by others.
“If you arrive first, go inside. The password is the same as before.”
“Alright.”
Yeongin repeated the words 'the same as before' to herself as she hung up the phone.
***
Seonghyeok hadn't arrived yet, so Yeongin entered the eight-digit password and went inside.
07230105.
It was a combination of Seonghyeok's birthday, July 23rd, and Yeongin's birthday, January 5th.
Three and a half years ago, the man born in summer said to the woman born in winter:
“I added your birthday to the password so you'd feel a sense of belonging here. So you can come and go as comfortably as if it were your own home.”
Sitting on the sofa, waiting for Seonghyeok, Yeongin recalled the memories imbued in every corner of the house. It was heartwarming, and she missed it. It was a feeling she hadn't experienced on the day she came here drunk.
About ten minutes later, Seonghyeok arrived.
“I thought I might be late.”
As he naturally came and sat beside her, Yeongin immediately got to the point.
“I heard from Team Leader Yun.”
“About me asking him to introduce you to Director Cheon?”
“I also heard that you told him to help me a lot, and about Oh Changgeun.”
“He said things he didn't need to.”
While he was with Jisang, his friend from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Division called, and he spoke to him briefly. He only mentioned the matter related to Oh Changgeun because Jisang kept prodding him, not intending for Yeongin to be told.
“Why did you do that?”
“It wouldn't be very manly of me to pretend I didn't see injustice.”
“It wasn't just about injustice, was it?”
“It wouldn't be very manly of me to pretend I didn't see someone harassing my woman.”
“...”
Yeongin couldn't argue, “Why am I your woman?”
She didn't want to.
“I didn't frame him or make up a crime, so there's no need to feel uneasy. He brought it on himself.”
Since the topic had come up, Seonghyeok decided to ask something he was curious about.
“Beomjun didn't say anything, did he?”
“I haven't seen him at all these past few days.”
“I moved quickly because I was afraid Oh Changgeun might blab about us to Beomjun. It took about an hour from when he left me until he was arrested, I think? I figured he wouldn't have the presence of mind to contact Beomjun in that time, and it seems I was right.”
Yeongin, who had been quietly listening to his words, spoke calmly.
“Thank you.”
“I told you not to thank me.”
“Then should I curse you for doing something useless?”
“No, don't.”
Seonghyeok shook his head firmly and continued.
“There's no reason for me to hear 'thank you' from you, because the moment I 'claimed' Chae Yeongin, I made a decision.”
He moistened his fingertip with saliva and dabbed it on Yeongin's face.
“An attack on you is considered an attack on me.”
“What are you doing...?”
As Yeongin rubbed the spot his fingertip had touched, Seonghyeok openly grumbled.
“My saliva isn't dirty to me, but is mine dirty to you?”
She was just flustered; his saliva didn't actually feel dirty to her. If anyone else had done the same thing, she would have needed to scrub herself thoroughly with soap.
“My own saliva is dirty to me, too...”
Yeongin made a lame excuse and quickly got up from her seat.
