Chapter 20
The Villain’s
Pure Devotion
20.
Mun Siljang’s Outing
After hanging up the phone where Seongheon had said he was coming, Yeonwoo paced the guest room. Hearing a presence outside, she opened the door.
As she peeked out and met Seongheon’s eyes, her face flushed so deeply that even her earlobes turned bright red.
“Oh, Vice President, about this…”
She gripped the door handle tight, at a total loss. As she stood there with only her face poking out, Seongheon pushed the door and stepped inside.
Yeonwoo took a few steps back to create some distance, and Seongheon’s lips parted slightly.
Thud. The door closed behind him.
“This… I put it on, but no matter how much I look at it, it seems too flashy, and maybe too much… It didn’t seem this bad when I saw it inside Domyeongjae, but looking at it again now…”
The outfit Yeonwoo was rambling about was excessively gaudy. Seongheon scanned her from head to toe with a look that seemed to ask if he was really seeing what he was seeing.
The tacky, electric-blue dress clung to her body so tightly it was almost comical. The hem, which flared out from below the knees like a mermaid tail, made the rustling sound of cheap fabric every time she moved.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think this is right…”
The cheap beads sewn haphazardly all over the dress were dizzying to look at. Trapped in her awkward posture, her face turned a bursting shade of crimson.
Seongheon closed and opened his eyes slowly at the sight of the most absurd outfit he had ever witnessed in his life. When he remained silent, Yeonwoo’s embarrassment spiked, and she fidgeted with her fingers, piling on more excuses.
“I… I should have asked sooner, I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.”
“Mun Siljang. Sigh…”
A long sigh escaped Seongheon’s lips. Yeonwoo bit her lip hard and looked down, while Seongheon pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a hollow laugh.
He had overlooked too much. Since he had never asked anyone to provide women’s clothing before, he had assumed that ‘banquet attire’ would naturally mean a tasteful evening gown—the kind of dresses worn by the women who consistently accompanied him on business.
But what on earth was this? It looked like something one would wear for a touring variety show in Southeast Asia—no, even those shows probably didn’t use outfits like this these days.
This is driving me crazy. He couldn’t help the dry chuckle that escaped him.
“Ah… I’m sorry…”
At his chuckle, Yeonwoo looked as if she were about to cry. She looked like someone who had ruined the job before it even started and didn’t know what to do.
Whew. Seongheon squeezed his eyes shut for a moment in thought, then opened them again to look at Yeonwoo. Taking a moment to look at her properly, it was almost impressive that she could even pull off such a garment.
“Well, it’s startling, but looking at it now, it’s not too bad.”
“…?”
Yeonwoo’s head snapped up in surprise. She looked at him as if asking if he was mocking her, causing a faint, thin smile to touch Seongheon’s lips despite himself.
It was a rather cute expression.
“It’s not bad?”
“If the person wearing it pulls it off, isn’t that enough?”
“Ah. Well.”
“Turn around once.”
“Yes.”
Flustered, Yeonwoo slowly turned in a circle. The dress, which was recklessly low-cut in the back, revealed her frame all the way down to her hip line. Only then did Seongheon’s brow furrow deeply.
Against her porcelain-white back, her spine and shoulder blades stood out clearly.
“What is this? This is the worst.”
Just a moment ago he had said it wasn’t bad, but upon seeing the exposed back and the skin-tight fit over her pelvis and hips, a critique bordering on a curse slipped out. Yeonwoo lowered her head even further, her flush spreading all the way down her neck.
Unlike the relatively modest front, the daringly exposed back made Seongheon’s head spin. The thought of other men seeing her like this made him decide that it was absolutely unacceptable.
The gaudy dress, flashy enough to cause motion sickness, wasn’t the problem. The problem was the sharply plunging back and the way it clung to her lower body.
“How could they give you something like this…”
Harsh criticism continued to pour out.
Finally, Yeonwoo’s eyes welled up as if she were about to burst into tears. Looking at Seongheon’s increasingly grim face, she felt that things had gone horribly, horribly wrong.
I’m doomed.
“I’m sorry…”
“I think I made a big mistake. I’m sorry. I think I should probably just stay in the room today…”
“Hello? It’s me.”
Before she could even finish her sentence, Seongheon pulled out his phone and made a call. Cut off mid-speech, Yeonwoo fell silent.
Who was he calling? Yeonwoo tentatively lifted her head.
“Something came up. I need your help, Hwang Siljang.”
He must be finding someone else to go and smile in her place. Yeonwoo lowered her gaze again.
“I’ll send you the address. Contact a nearby shop and get a banquet dress. It’s for a dinner, for a woman.”
“…” Ah. Yeonwoo’s eyes fluttered wide. His voice resonated through her.
“Size?”
She felt Seongheon’s gaze on her. As his eyes slowly scanned her from the top of her head down, a dizzying sensation traveled up from her toes.
Her mind was a mess. She couldn’t keep a single thought straight.
“Height is about up to my shoulder.”
Was her heart dropping?
“She’s thin.”
Or was it leaping?
“And pretty.”
It felt as if the blood in her body were drying up. Fearing her legs would give way if she closed her eyes, Yeonwoo kept her eyelids pried open.
“Pick something appropriate. We’re short on time, so an hour and a half at the latest!”
Seongheon ended the call with those few words. A heavy silence followed. Yeonwoo clamped her lips shut, afraid her heart might actually jump out of her mouth.
Tucking his phone into his jacket, Seongheon looked at Yeonwoo. After watching her quietly for a moment as if taking her in, he tilted his chin up.
“You heard the conversation. Let’s wait a while.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Seongheon turned to leave the room, but as he grabbed the doorknob, he glanced back and added one more thing.
“How is your condition? Are you feeling alright?”
At the question, Yeonwoo looked up blankly. Her cluttered mind couldn’t formulate a thought; she simply nodded as if possessed.
Seongheon let out a small smirk and stepped out the door.
Thud. As the door closed, Yeonwoo collapsed right where she stood. The cheap dress made a dry, rustling sound as she moved.
She had no way of knowing Seongheon’s private reason for coming down to the guest room just to ask that one question—if she was feeling okay.
“Oh my? Look who it is!”
It was well past Saturday lunchtime. Yeonwoo’s mother, Sin Yeosa, who was lying in a bed at the rehabilitation hospital, opened her eyes wide.
The sliding door opened, and none other than Mun Siljang walked in.
Carrying a box of small orange juice bottles and a box of soy milk in her hands, Mun Siljang walked over slowly. Sin Yeosa stared at her as if she were seeing a ghost.
“What brings you here? And without a word?”
“A word? What ‘word’ are you talking about? Since when do I need your permission to go anywhere?”
Mun Siljang set the drink boxes under the bed and sat on a folding chair. Sin Yeosa propped herself up, stacking pillows behind her back.
“Why’d you bother buying that? Who’s going to eat it?”
“Leave it then. Let it rot, or pour it into a dog bowl for all I care.”
Neither the words going out nor the words coming back were kind. Sin Yeosa just pursed her lips and ran her fingers through her messy, tangled hair.
Watching her, Mun Siljang clicked her tongue.
“If I squeezed that hair, I’d get a whole jar of oil. Are you living without washing your hair now?”
“You try lying here in pain. Do you think cleaning this body is such an easy task?”
“That’s why you should’ve kept your wits about you while working. Did someone push you? Did someone trip you? How on earth do you fall down after eating well and working well?”
This old woman came all the way to visit just to nag. Sin Yeosa turned her head away sharply with a cold expression, as if she didn’t want to hear it.
Her close friend and younger neighbor, Ja-yeong, had been stopping by the hospital room after finishing work at Domyeongjae to look after her. Through Ja-yeong, she had been hearing news about Yeonwoo.
She had been fuming ever since she heard the staff at the Main Hall were working her daughter to the bone. Mun Siljang was surely at the head of it, and that insufferable Eunja was likely running wild.
“Why is your mouth pouting like that? Did you hurt your mouth when you fell, too?”
So, Mun Siljang was hardly a welcome sight.
Sin Yeosa radiated ‘extreme anger’ with her whole body before finally reaching her breaking point and looking at Mun Siljang. Her face was filled with a sense of injustice.
“Honestly, I don’t know why you’re so determined to pick on someone else’s precious daughter.”
“What are you talking about? Who’s picking on who? Is that what Ja-yeong said?”
“It doesn’t matter who said it. I want to hear the reason why you’re grilling our Yeonwoo so hard.”
“It’s the same for any new hire. Weren’t you like that? Wasn’t Ja-yeong? Should I give her extra points just because she’s your daughter?”
“You could be a little nicer. Am I right or wrong?”
“You’re wrong.”
When Sin Yeosa pressed her, Mun Siljang leaned over and pulled an orange juice from the box. She opened the cap and handed it over as if telling her to be quiet and drink, which Sin Yeosa accepted. Mun Siljang wore a sour expression.
“And anyway, is it really good for you to have a young person coming all the way to the countryside to work? I don’t care if you couldn’t find a replacement—what kind of fool pushes their own daughter into Domyeongjae?”
“They say it’s a mess in the city because no one can find jobs. You should tell her to get back to Seoul as soon as possible and find a new job. Youth is her greatest asset—where is the time for her to be rotting away here?”
As Mun Siljang spoke reproachfully, Sin Yeosa’s eyes went wide, as if she couldn’t understand a word she was saying.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about right now.”
“Did you hit your head too? Did your brain fall out?”
“…No, it’s not that. Our Yeonwoo is looking for a new job? Why?”
“What do you mean why? Don’t you know?”
When Mun Siljang asked back, Sin Yeosa tilted her head, her face still full of questions.
“My daughter said she’s on vacation from her company?”
At Sin Yeosa’s words, Mun Siljang’s eyebrows shot up.
