Chapter 23
A Villain’s
Pure Love
23.
My Blind Spot
The moment the general tourists trickled out of Domyeongjae and every gate was finally bolted shut, a heavy silence settled over the main hall.
Various events were held within the permitted areas of the estate, and on weekends, the number of spring sightseers coming out to enjoy the season was considerable.
Only after the distant wail of the taepyeongso finally ceased did Manager Mun swing the doors of the main hall wide open. She then bent her aging knees to sit on the wooden veranda, gazing out at the scenery.
‘Don’t know? Grandma, if you live around here, you should know. Haven’t you seen her?’
He was a man of poor character. One didn’t even need to exchange words to know, but after a few sentences, it was clear he wasn’t just low-life—he was subhuman scum.
The woman in the ID photo was definitely Yeonwoo. No, there was no need to even verify with a photo. She knew where she lived, knew her mother…
‘Does this old lady think she’s some kind of servant? You know her. If you keep playing dumb and I catch you, I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a grandma.’
But why was such a piece of trash looking for Yeonwoo?
When she stared at the photo too long out of shock, the man pressed her as if interrogating. Only then did Manager Mun lift her head to look at him.
‘What?’
“Is she your bride?”
‘I asked if she’s your bride. Did she run away?’
When Manager Mun asked, the man let out a short, clipped breath as if suppressing his rage. Then, approaching with that characteristic swagger, arms held wide, he nudged Manager Mun with his belly.
‘Grandma. I hate questions. Just answer what I ask. I’m in a hurry!’
‘If you’re in such a hurry, you should’ve come yesterday. What were you doing coming today?’
‘Why, you crazy old hag…’
Furious at the absurd wordplay, the man reached out his right hand threateningly. Manager Mun quickly opened her shopping bag.
She grabbed a few pairs of Yeonwoo’s mother’s underwear and shook them at him.
‘Young man. Buy some drawers. They’re breezy.’
‘Ha. This old lady really has lost it.’
‘Don’t you need drawers? Buy some. I’ll give ’em to you cheap.’
‘If you’re crazy, you should stay cooped up at home! Why are you wandering around! You crazy hag!’
‘I gotta sell these drawers. Buy some. Just give me a hundred won a pair.’
As Manager Mun shook the underwear and begged him to buy, the man recoiled. Thinking she was a senile old woman, he spat a thick glob of phlegm, tossed a few curses, and climbed back into his car.
“To think someone gave birth to a thing like that and probably ate seaweed soup happily afterward… My goodness, it brings tears to my eyes, tears.”
Manager Mun, who had been watching the sunset while slowly swinging her feet, muttered to herself.
“What on earth was she doing in Seoul to be chased by a low-life scoundrel like that?”
Human intuition is a powerful thing. Hadn’t Yeonwoo seemed suspicious in some way from the moment she first saw her?
A pretty face, but eyes that hid too much; a posture that seemed to feed on anxiety.
She had gotten rid of her phone and hadn’t even told her mother she’d quit her job.
It was difficult to speculate recklessly, but that wasn’t the kind of man who would latch onto a woman living a normal life. What kind of business would drive a man like that to hunt someone down with such crazed eyes?
She didn’t want to imagine it, but it had to be something related to money, or men.
No matter how she connected the dots, none of it was pleasant.
‘I like it here.’
Recalling the words Yeonwoo had said during a meal once, Manager Mun’s face fell into a deep, quiet contemplation.
After closing and opening her eyes slowly, thinking for a long time, Manager Mun suddenly snapped her head up.
“So, she didn’t come here to help her mother from the start.”
Domyeongjae had been a perfect sanctuary for Yeonwoo.
“Something ominous has entered Domyeongjae. Something very ominous.”
Seeking a place where no one could find her, Yeonwoo had simply chosen Domyeongjae.
The moment they arrived at the lobby, Seongheon told her to go wash her hands. Yeonwoo stopped by the restroom and washed up. As she stepped out, her gait hurried once again by her high heels, Seongheon, who had been waiting, extended his arm as if it were a habit.
“Come.”
Feeling she wasn’t in a position to refuse, Yeonwoo gently took his arm. He led her out of the lobby toward a meticulously manicured garden. Yeonwoo, walking almost unconsciously while leaning on his arm, widened her eyes at the sight of the elaborately decorated garden.
She couldn’t help but let out a soft exclamation. As if a festival of lights had begun, yellow lamps illuminated the darkness, offering a mood entirely different from the daytime.
Having watched the nights and days of Domyeongjae, she thought she would never be surprised by its scenery again.
Unlike the tranquil atmosphere of Domyeongjae that calmed one’s bustling worries just by looking at it, this place had a luxury that made her feel as if her feet were lifting off the ground.
Forgetting for a moment who she was walking with and where they were, Yeonwoo looked around. It wasn’t a landscape where everything was born, bloomed, and withered naturally, but a perfect vista that bore the marks of a professional’s devoted care.
Unlike Yeonwoo, who was distracted by the night view, Seongheon’s thoughts were complicated.
The more he tried to push his thoughts down, the more they sprang up and grew, leading him to the conclusion that they could no longer be guarded or blocked by anything.
Even when he brought her here, telling her to smile in his stead.
Even when he boasted that he was about to start something—whether it was a favor or an impulse buy.
He hadn’t thought his heart would be in this state. In a life where he had always valued cause and effect, he had never encountered something where he understood neither the cause nor the result.
If it was something passing, he wanted to let it pass. If he could believe it was just a temporary whim, he thought it was right to believe so.
Something that approaches rapidly. The very thing he had lived his life being most wary of.
“Um, Vice President.”
To think that would be you.
“You said you had something to say.”
Had he been too defenseless? When did she slip in?
Just as he was piling up questions he asked himself, she spoke up, as if she had finished admiring the scenery. Seongheon stopped in his tracks and let out a heavy breath as if reorganizing his mind and body.
But what was the point of denying it now? His anger flared at the sight of a strange man’s gaze touching her, jealousy rose within him, and he was filled with regret that he wouldn’t have brought her here if he could turn back time.
“Vice President?”
As her voice called out again, Seongheon straightened his posture. At that, Yeonwoo curled her fingertips and let her arm drop, and Seongheon looked her straight in the eye.
As she stood there wearing his jacket, her gaze looking at him as if ready to listen, he felt several emotions from her. She seemed nervous, and perhaps a bit uncomfortable.
“Yes.”
“I have a question for Ms. Ji Yeonwoo.”
“Thinking back, Ms. Ji Yeonwoo, you had already come down to Moksan County before your mother was injured. Because I met you at the bus stop before your mother’s accident!”
“Yes. Actually, I quit the company I was working for the day before.”
“Why did you leave Seoul? You don’t seem like you’re at the age to be seeking your hometown yet.”
“Ah, that…”
Yeonwoo’s mind became tangled. It was hard to grasp the intent of the question, and she wondered if the answer she was about to give was a matter of importance.
After hesitating for a moment, her lips twitching from a self-inflicted pang of guilt, she finally let out a quiet voice.
“……….”
“Because I wanted to live a better life.”
She felt Seongheon’s gaze.
“Something happened in Seoul that was a bit hard to endure, so I missed my mom. I was going to rest for a bit and then go back up, but things turned out like this.”
“I plan to stay here well, remain here well, and return well. Someday.”
Did she really have plans to go back? Even as she said it, Yeonwoo felt it was something she lacked confidence in. But it was a stark fact that she would have to leave once her mother returned to Domyeongjae.
At the end of her thoughts, Yeonwoo lifted her gaze. She didn’t know if Seongheon’s curiosity had been satisfied, but she felt she had given the best answer she could. There was no need to reveal deeper personal circumstances or recite an undecided future residence.
“I don’t know if that answered your question.”
“Hyeonuk. I mean, my cousin. Does he happen to like you, Ms. Ji Yeonwoo?”
What kind of out-of-the-blue question was this? Yeonwoo’s eyes instantly went wide.
“Pardon? No? Not at all.”
“In the past?”
“No. There was nothing like that. Absolutely not.”
When Yeonwoo denied it strongly, Seongheon lifted his chin.
“Think carefully. Did Hyeonuk hover around you pathetically because he couldn’t confess, or even now, does he give off a strange and ambiguous vibe?”
Like me.
“No. We were just classmates in the same grade, that’s all.”
It was the first time she had answered so sharply in her own voice. Seongheon let out a smirk as he listened to the strength in her tone.
So he had to bring up someone like Hyeonuk to get this kind of reaction.
“It’s true. Hyeonuk and I aren’t in that kind of relationship. This might be a bit of an overstep to explain, but I have no intention of building romantic feelings with anyone. None at all.”
Yeonwoo spoke faster than usual. Thinking he was asking if she dared to have feelings for his cousin, she put emphasis on the end of every sentence.
“So please don’t worry. If you wish, I will avoid Hyeonuk within Domyeongjae. Boyfriends, dating… those things won’t exist in my life, so I will never create anything for you to be concerned about.”
“Because men make my skin crawl.”
Her resentment and grudge against Cha Yunseok had been cold and bunched up before being pushed out past her lips.
Yeonwoo, who had rambled on with things she didn’t need to say in her desperation to prove her innocence, slowly closed her mouth. It was because she saw Seongheon’s expression, which had been merely observing her, suddenly turn peculiar.
Standing there as if chewing over her words, Seongheon let out a short breath and opened his lips.
“That was certainly an overstepping explanation. I’m at a loss for words.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you suspected Hyeonuk and me.”
“I never suspected you. I just wanted to make things clear.”
Phew. Seongheon’s breath hitched once more. Yeonwoo looked at him with a face even more rigid than before.
“Was the thing you wanted to say about Hyeonuk?”
“Of course not.”
“Then please ask the rest of your questions.”
“Forget it. I can’t have your skin crawling.”
For some reason, Seongheon gave a short laugh. It was an ambiguous reaction that she wasn’t sure could even be called a laugh, but Yeonwoo’s heart thudded at the sight of his momentarily upturned lips.
“Well, this looks like it’s going to end before I can even get a word out.”
Even though it was Korean, Yeonwoo, thinking she couldn’t understand him any better than the French official, suddenly blinked hard.
…Ah.
How could this be?
“You have many talents. You made me unable to move, and now you’ve made me speechless. Do you know what you’re doing?”
Even though she was standing in such a wide-open space, she hadn’t been scanning her surroundings for fear of running into Cha Yunseok.
She couldn’t feel the pain in her heart or her pulse racing like mad.
To feel safe. To have forgotten the terror that someone might grab her by the scruff of the neck.
“I’ll have to save our conversation for next time. It seems today isn’t the day.”
Yeonwoo slowly closed and opened her eyes. Tonight, the wind brushing past her ears began to chatter noisily.
Don’t worry, just breathe. There is no one looking for you, no one trying to latch onto your defenseless back.
“I’ll try to make a proper time for it gradually.”
His face filled the space where joy had been absent. Unable to believe the growing sense of safety within her, Yeonwoo only bit her lip.
…Under the waning moon, thin as an eyebrow, her time was safe.
Amidst the lights she wanted to scoop up in her hands.
“Let’s go in. You worked hard today, Ms. Ji Yeonwoo.”
Standing under the protection of a blind spot named Nam Seong-hun.
