Chapter 15
Villain in
Love
15.
If It Isn’t Destiny
Seongheon was on his way back to the office with the site manager after completing a field inspection. It was lunchtime, and a Domyeongjae truck used for transporting the workers’ meals was parked in a corner.
“Vice President, aren’t you going to eat?”
The manager asked as Seongheon’s gaze lingered on the truck. After staring at the vehicle for a moment, Seongheon gestured toward the office with his chin.
“Let’s eat together in the office.”
“Yes, Vice President.”
They walked across the vast, empty expanse where every blade of grass had been cleared away.
“The food from Domyeongjae is excellent. The workers are very satisfied. The side dishes are wonderful, and there’s a great variety.”
“That’s good to hear.”
The manager spoke highly of the quality of the meals provided by Domyeongjae. It was only natural. Everything from the rice to most of the vegetables and meat was raised, grown, and supplied directly by Domyeongjae.
On top of that, the main hall staff—renowned for their culinary skills—and a nutritionist oversaw the cooking, so the taste and quality were bound to be superb.
“You eat breakfast and dinner at Domyeongjae, don’t you, Vice President? I’m envious.”
“You should come by for a meal sometime.”
“Oh, I’ll definitely have to take you up on that. I won’t forget the invitation.”
The older manager chuckled as he replied, and Seongheon gave a brief, polite smile.
Workers began trickling out of the large container building set up as a temporary cafeteria on one side of the construction site. One boisterous worker, patting his full stomach while picking his teeth with a toothpick, spoke in a loud, gravelly voice.
“I fell for my wife at first sight. You hear me? At first sight! And from that day to this, I’ve never looked away, swearing my loyalty to her. I’ve spent my life earning money for her and giving her my whole heart. That’s how I’ve lived, you lot.”
“Don’t make me laugh. You, giving your whole heart? Fell at first sight, my foot. What is this, a TV drama?”
Seongheon paused mid-stride. He watched the workers walking in the opposite direction.
“…Look at this guy, he doesn’t believe me. I’m telling you, it was at first sight! When my wife came walking toward me from over there, I felt like a shovel had been driven straight into my heart. It was an incredible feeling!”
The men laughed as the scruffy-bearded man gave a grand romantic polish to the story of his first meeting with his wife.
“Do you guys even know what a meeting like that is like? Do you know how hot and sizzling love at first sight is? If you haven’t experienced it, don’t talk. You petty, pathetic bunch. Suddenly, I don’t even want to talk to you.”
Falling at first sight.
“It’s a massive thing. It’s like having scales over your eyes so you can’t see anything else, your ears are plugged up, and you can’t even tell if the water is hot or cold.”
At first sight.
“I just thought, ‘Ah, I have to marry that woman. I must make her mine!’ I couldn’t think of anything else. It’s destiny, I tell you. Destiny!”
“Oh, sure. Here he is, the greatest romantic in all of Moksan County. A real Romeo. Then stop giving your wife such a hard time, you human disaster! Stop getting drunk and sleeping on the street every night!”
“Hey, that can happen in life. Anyway, my point was that my wife is an amazing person for taming someone like Jo Cheol-ung. Let’s just go.”
As the workers walked away with a swaggering gait, Seongheon stood with a pensive expression.
‘It’s a massive thing. It’s like having scales over your eyes so you can’t see anything else, your ears are plugged up, and you can’t even tell if the water is hot or cold.’
Was falling at first sight even possible?
What could you possibly know or experience about a person to make feelings bloom like that?
‘Ah, I have to marry that woman. I must make her mine!’ I couldn’t think of anything else. It’s destiny, I tell you. Destiny!
It made no sense.
“Vice President?”
The manager looked puzzled when Seongheon suddenly stopped and didn’t move. Seongheon quickly straightened his posture and began walking again.
Falling at first sight was impossible. It was nothing more and nothing less than the psychology of an impulsive shopper who opens their wallet because they were dazzled by the packaging.
“Ah, I’m getting hungry. I saw they had spring cabbage bibimbap and soybean paste stew today. I should have that with some meat side dishes…”
As the manager’s words faded into the background, Seongheon stopped once more.
‘When my wife came walking toward me from over there, I felt like a shovel had been driven straight into my heart. It was an incredible feeling!’
Lately, he felt lost whenever he thought of that woman. It was a time when he was struggling to control himself, unable to even distinguish the types of emotions that rushed in at once.
…If falling at first sight made no sense.
Then did his current state make any sense?
Destiny.
No. It wasn’t that, either.
“I’m heading out.”
It was three in the afternoon by the time Yeonwoo finished her hectic morning chores and arrived at the warehouse.
She opened the warehouse doors to start the work she hadn’t finished yesterday. Most of the tasks Eunja had dumped on her—clearly intending to work her to the bone—were physically demanding. While it was exhausting, the busy movement actually helped settle her thoughts.
However, the moment she took out the basin and sat down to wash the dishes, thoughts of Seongheon began to pool again. Yeonwoo looked up, pausing as she worked up the soap suds.
“I’m heading out.”
It was just a simple greeting, but it left her heart in a state of unrest.
- 3 -
Yeonwoo tilted her chin up and closed her eyes for a moment before shaking her head vigorously. Right, it probably didn’t mean anything. She had offered a greeting, so he had responded. There was no other reason.
Since she only knew Nam Seongheon’s rank and where he lived, she had no way of knowing what his personality was like. He might be a kinder, more delicate person than she thought.
“Is that right…?”
It didn’t feel like the correct answer. He seemed far, far removed from being kind or delicate. But then she remembered him bowing repeatedly at the bus stop to make up for an employee’s mistake, and the way he had handed her his business card.
He was also the person who had immediately approved her request to work as a substitute, something Manager Moon had shut down instantly. Perhaps, despite his appearance, he was actually a good-hearted person.
Though it felt like an unsatisfying conclusion, Yeonwoo decided to settle on that thought. Letting out a small sigh, she picked up a dusty dish that had been soaking. She would wash them clean as if purifying her own mind. Just as Yeonwoo started the dishes—
“Hey, Yeonwoo.”
It was unmistakably Hyeonuk’s voice. Yeonwoo wiped the sweat from her forehead with her gloved arm and turned to look.
“Did you just wake up?”
“As you can see. Overslept.”
As the carefree chaebol heir who had just rolled out of bed approached, Yeonwoo went back to scrubbing the dishes.
“What are you doing here?”
“As you can see. Doing dishes.”
When Yeonwoo mimicked his tone in her reply, Hyeonuk sat down casually on the dirt ground and his eyes widened at the stack of dishes.
“You’re washing all of these by yourself? This many?”
“The amazing thing is that there are way more dishes in that warehouse that I haven’t even touched yet!”
“Whoa, Grandma Moon is too much. Is she hazing the new recruit?”
“I’m the one who said I’d do it. It’s the most comfortable job because I get to be alone.”
“I guess. Grandma Moon’s squad is pretty intense. I’d probably prefer being alone too!”
As Hyeonuk agreed, Yeonwoo stared at him blankly. Not knowing why, Hyeonuk blinked and then pointed at himself, sounding offended.
“Wow, you’ve really turned cold. So cold. You were smiling this morning, but you’re cold at lunch. I wonder what the evening Ji Yeonwoo will be like?”
“Are you saying I’m making you uncomfortable right now?”
“I didn’t say a word!”
Yeonwoo burst into laughter at Hyeonuk’s cheeky retort. He definitely had a way of making people feel at ease.
“Want me to help? I’ve got nothing to do anyway.”
“Forget it. If the young master of Domyeongjae gets his hands wet, imagine what I’ll hear from Manager Moon.”
“No one’s going to come by. From the looks of it, I don’t think anyone’s going to come looking for you while you’re here.”
As Hyeonuk reached his hand into the basin, Yeonwoo straightened her back.
“I said no.”
“My hand is already in.”
“Take it out, quick.”
“But I’ve already got soap on my hand.”
“No. I’ll get in trouble!”
“Oh? I’ve already picked up the scrubber. I should just start washing now, right?”
Hyeonuk began scrubbing the dishes faster than Yeonwoo. As she watched him in disbelief, he quickly polished one dish until it shone and held it out to her.
“See? Look at what high-quality labor I am. Look at that shine. Not just anyone can do this. Only an unemployed guy who just woke up can manage this.”
His shamelessness was more than Yeonwoo could handle. Watching Hyeonuk pick up another dish and scrub it with a straight face, Yeonwoo suddenly thought of Seongheon.
“Hyeonuk.”
“Yeah?”
“Is being this sociable and kind to people… is it a family trait?”
She asked indirectly. Hyeonuk gave a wide grin as he placed a clean dish in the rinse basin.
“No? In our house, it’s just me and my father who are like this.”
“Ah…”
“You saw him at Unseondang, my cousin. He’s a workaholic and cold-blooded. I’ve never heard a single warm word come out of that mouth.”
The image of the ‘kind Vice President’ shattered into pieces. Yeonwoo bit her lip slightly.
“I’m already curious about what kind of woman would marry my brother. Well, I guess if she lives with him for the money and the face, she could make it work.”
Hyeonuk, already on his third dish, thrust it toward Yeonwoo.
“I said I’d help, I didn’t say I’d do it alone. Move it, move it, Ji Yeonwoo.”
As Yeonwoo picked up a dish with an exasperated look, Hyeonuk spoke again.
“Oh, right, Yeonwoo. We’re having a reunion soon. You should come.”
“A reunion?”
Yeonwoo’s eyes widened.
It was nearly time to clock out. Seongheon received a phone call from the head office.
“Yes. It’s me.”
— Right, Vice President Nam. You busy?
It was a call from his uncle, President Nam Taejin. Seongheon glanced at the time.
“What is it? I doubt this is a social call.”
— You know that the French architectural associates are arriving this weekend, right?
Seongheon remained silent. He could more or less predict what was coming next.
— You’ll have to make some time. I simply can’t make it that day.
Pressing his fingers to his temple, Seongheon asked back.
“Are you busy?”
— Well, yes. Naturally.
It was the weekend; he couldn’t be that busy. It was likely a golf appointment.
— Putting aside being busy, the associates are young. What’s an old fogey like me going to do there? It’s better if you go. You’re young, you’ll communicate better. Or will you? Will it be hard to talk? Seongheon, should I hire an interpreter for you?
“I’ll check the details through my secretary. Is there anything else?”
— Brat, your voice gets so cold the moment I give you work. Actually, that’s not it. I had a bit of a row with your aunt recently.
Seongheon let out a short sigh as he was forced to listen to a story about a marital spat he had no interest in. President Nam Taejin explained the details.
— You know. He left the day we were fighting? At least he has a place to run to. He’s my son, but I’m jealous.
Hyeonuk had come down to Domyeongjae to escape his parents’ fighting. Seongheon rubbed his temples again as a headache began to form.
Since his uncle wanted to spend his wedding anniversary with his wife, there wasn’t much Seongheon could say. He had little choice but to agree to take the time himself.
“I’ll hang up now.”
Just as Seongheon was about to end the call without a formal goodbye, an urgent voice came through the receiver.
— Wait, Seongheon! No, Vice President Nam!
“Yes.”
He brought the phone back to his ear.
— You have to go there and make sure the atmosphere is good. Got it? Smile a lot, be accommodating, okay? Don’t be stiff and ruin everything at the last second. Be good, okay!
“I’m hanging up. I have a meeting.”
Seongheon put the receiver down with a thud.
‘You have to go there and make sure the atmosphere is good. Got it? Smile a lot, be accommodating, okay? Don’t be stiff and ruin everything at the last second. Be good, okay?’
Only then did he let out a long breath and look back at his monitor.
Smile a lot. The very thought made his nerves feel sharp.
