Chapter 46
Villain
Pure Heart
Our Birth
As Yeonwoo stepped out of the café, Seongheon naturally reached out his arm. Taking it as a signal, Yeonwoo hesitated for only a moment before reaching out and taking his hand.
In front of the office. Amidst the coming and going of office workers, Seongheon led Yeonwoo by the hand and saw her into the passenger seat of the sedan. He then climbed into the driver’s seat and immediately pressed the accelerator.
Pulling her seatbelt fastened, Yeonwoo glanced back.
“I think people saw us.”
“It seems you have the type of personality that acts first and regrets later.”
When Seongheon indirectly pointed out that the milk was already spilled, Yeonwoo turned her gaze back to the front.
Let’s be together today. I’ll leave the choice to you.
In that moment, a sense of crisis seemed to bleed into the peaceful air. Her instincts had moved her legs, warning her that if she let this man go now, if she sent him away like this, a sorrow far greater than the fear she held in her heart would surely find her.
Simply living through today was overwhelming enough; she didn’t know what to make of tomorrow.
She didn’t even know what would happen a few hours from now when night fell, so she wondered what good it would do to sit still and imagine the distant future.
“What were you thinking about back at the café?”
Unlike her, whose mind was a tangled mess, his voice sounded like that of someone merely living out an ordinary day. Yeonwoo gripped her seatbelt tightly and spoke.
“I think I was thinking about a lot of things, but I’m not sure exactly what. Just this and that.”
“What about me?”
“……I did.”
When Yeonwoo answered in a small voice, Seongheon let out a silent smile. Taking the wheel for the first time in a while, Seongheon came to a stop in the middle of a congested road and finally stole a glance at her.
“Now, what should we do? What should we try?”
It wasn’t quite a question, yet not quite a monologue either. At his words, Yeonwoo gripped the belt even tighter. His statement that they should be together today seemed to be pressing down on her mind more and more.
“Let’s eat first. Anything you want to eat?”
“I eat everything. I’m not picky.”
“Hm, then perhaps Korean food……”
“What’s your favorite menu?”
“Korean food. Let’s do that, then.”
Tapping the steering wheel with his fingers while waiting for the signal, Seongheon pressed the accelerator again. As he made a left turn as if he had already decided on a destination, Yeonwoo raised her eyebrows.
It felt as if she had been sucked into a movie where the ending was unknown. What would appear in the next scene, and what would happen after that?
The only thing predictable was that it would end someday.
Next to Seongheon, who seemed to have no particular thoughts, Yeonwoo could only let out heavy breaths. The price for the impulse to reach out to him was greater than she had imagined.
The restaurant they arrived at was a small establishment. With only about three tables, the tiny place had no fixed menu; it was entirely up to the owner’s whim.
Upon entering, an elderly grandmother wearing a stained apron turned on the gas stove without a word of greeting. Following Seongheon’s lead, she sat down, and before long, mugwort soup and seasoned raw flounder were served.
“Eat up. I’ll bring more.”
At the owner’s voice, which seemed to be offering its own kind of kindness, Yeonwoo’s eyes went wide.
“For a second, I thought it was Manager Mun.”
“Her hometown is Moksan County. While talking, she mentioned she had a family member who used to work at Domyeongjae.”
“Wow.”
As Yeonwoo let out a small exclamation of admiration, Seongheon glanced back and stood up from his seat.
Instead of the owner, who was busy sautéing and frying food in the clearly visible kitchen, Seongheon stood in front of the beverage refrigerator and looked at her.
“I’m thinking of having a drink.”
At the unspoken question of whether she would join him, Yeonwoo nodded.
“Then I think I’ll have one too.”
It was hard to endure this sober anyway. It was for the best.
No matter how much they ate, the food didn’t seem to decrease; it just kept coming. Knowing the tastes of Seongheon, a long-time regular, the owner brought out one customized appetizer after another.
When Yeonwoo emptied her glass, Seongheon filled it halfway and set the bottle down. The sound of the owner’s knife was rhythmic in the kitchen as she prepared something else. Watching the scene, Yeonwoo suddenly burst into laughter.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Just because. I was surprised to see you visit a place like this.”
“It’s a place my uncle—I mean, the President—introduced me to. I’ve been coming here for over ten years.”
“It’s nice. The food is delicious, too.”
“The owner’s hearing isn’t great, so the fact that conversation is easy is an advantage.”
“I see.”
Inside the restaurant, which had aged as much as its owner, his clean and sophisticated appearance looked as out of place as a cutout. In a space where one felt they should loosen their tie and drink until their nose went crooked, the sight of him sitting with a posture straighter than anyone else’s while drinking was quite striking.
- 3 -
…….How long had it been since the glasses were emptied and refilled?
Seongheon spoke in a low voice.
“I thought you would just send me back at the café.”
“Were you surprised that I came out?”
“I should say I was happy.”
Seongheon swallowed his drink at the end of his sentence. Without so much as a furrow of his brow, he swallowed the liquor with his lips closed and set the glass down.
Yeonwoo moistened her lips before speaking.
“You know, I really had no intention of meeting anyone. When I sought out Domyeongjae, I was truly exhausted, had no motivation, and didn’t want to open my heart to anyone…”
“………”
“I really didn’t want to meet anyone. Because I couldn’t trust anyone, and I didn’t want to trust anyone.”
Since these were not words dictated by her brain, they flowed out as if her thoughts were leaking. It was somewhat rambling, a speech without a clear beginning or end.
However, Seongheon listened to her words in silence.
“But, every time you were a source of strength for me at Domyeongjae, Vice President… I think I was a little… happy.”
“………”
“I think my heart had come to feel that way before I knew it. I relied on you a lot. That’s the truth.”
Her words followed very slowly. He could feel how much sincerity she was pouring into her explanation.
“And, there’s one thing I’m curious about.”
“………”
“Why you… why someone like you would feel this way toward me.”
After rambling on, her true feelings finally came out. She trailed off, wondering how her self-deprecating words would sound to him.
But he surely understood everything.
She thought she had brought out a fairly large piece of her heart, but he seemed to have no intention of giving an immediate answer as he merely refilled his glass.
“Anyone would find it strange. Anyone in my position would be curious, find it odd, and find it hard to believe.”
“I’ve thought about it too.”
“……”
“To be honest, it’s not that I haven’t thought about it. Because more than anyone, I wanted to convince myself first.”
This time, it was his turn to speak.
“I wondered if I simply needed a place to pour my heart into. Or if not that, if I wanted to protect Ji Yeonwoo-ssi out of some pathetic male instinct. I’ve had all sorts of thoughts.”
Yeonwoo closed her lips.
“At first, I thought my eyes would just linger a couple of times and that would be it, but it wasn’t. Then I was curious about your name, then your age. Then I became curious about how you ended up at Domyeongjae.”
“But since these weren’t thoughts I should be having, I tried to fold them away, again and again. But they wouldn’t stay folded. So what can I do? The more I know, the more things I want to know.”
My aunt called earlier and asked if there was a woman I was seeing.
He pushed the liquor down his frustrated throat. Setting the glass down elegantly, as per his well-learned drinking etiquette, Seongheon looked at Yeonwoo.
He stared at her quietly, looking at his own reflection in her pupils that sat perfectly centered.
If only you were a wild grass that would be fine to step on. If only you were someone like a dandelion seed that would scatter on its own if left alone.
Only futile wishes fluttered.
Seongheon slowly continued.
“You might know—no, you probably don’t—but I’ve never been greedy for something I couldn’t have. And I never imagined that ‘something’ would be a person.”
“So I didn’t know either. Just how much it drives a person crazy to have to just watch the thing they want right in front of them.”
“But surprisingly, it hasn’t been bad getting this far. If anything, I think I might have even enjoyed the situation.”
What kind of person would want to enter that kind of marriage these days, but what can you do?
Recalling his conversation with his uncle from a while ago, Seongheon let out a silent sigh. Considering her, who had just taken one step, the worst timing and the worst of times were approaching.
Even so, was it greed to want to start?
“Ji Yeonwoo-ssi.”
“Yes, Vice President.”
No. I want to put a little more weight on the thing called fate.
“From now on, there is only one thing Ji Yeonwoo-ssi and I have to do. To derive a conclusion between you and me.”
“Of course, I think I’ve already reached an answer, but you’ll need time to reach yours as well.”
“What is the answer you’ve reached?”
“You should know well enough.”
As Seongheon murmured while looking at her, Yeonwoo squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them.
The answer he hadn’t explicitly mentioned felt so different from the one she had imagined that her heart raced. For her, who was already overwhelmed by today’s emotions, the answer for the future was a result that felt too vast and daunting.
A result between you and me that felt like it could never be derived through vague expectations alone.
“What do you think? Do you have any intention of creating a conclusion?”
“I do, but……”
“………”
“I don’t have the confidence.”
The clattering noise from the kitchen cut through her voice. A moment where the noisy, loud sounds and the spicy smell of well-charred food proved the reality of the situation, ironically enough.
As Yeonwoo murmured as if talking to herself, Seongheon filled her glass.
There aren’t many who aren’t afraid of an unseen future, after all.
“Ji Yeonwoo-ssi.”
Yeonwoo raised her head.
“I’m just as lacking in confidence. That’s why I’m going to try something. For our ending.”
At the end of his words, Seongheon flashed a faint smile.
“So you try something too. Find some courage. Or get into a state of extreme self-importance.”
“………”
“Be shameless, or throw away all your pride. At the very least, try to achieve a mental victory.”
It seems your aunt is looking into marriage prospects for you.
“Try anything. Because I’m hoping for a relatively positive outcome for you and me.”
Emptying his last glass, Seongheon slowly closed and opened his eyes.
“Let’s go for it. We’ll find out once we try. Whether you and I are fate.”
“………”
“Or just a brief fling.”
His voice echoed in her chest like the wind chimes of a mountain temple.
Unable to answer, Yeonwoo swallowed the heavy lump that had formed in her throat.
……A moment when no one could smile.
A moment when eyes couldn’t sparkle with excitement or anticipation.
A moment when no one could tenderly speak or sing of love.
Yes, such a moment.
“And, until then, I look forward to being with you.”
We were born in such a moment, at such a time.
It was the birth of lovers.
