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Chapter: 1
“Please keep this a secret from the others.”
The woman who had held out the approval folder finally broke the suffocating silence.
“I’m begging you, Prosecutor. …Of course, it would be better if you did that too.”
The sharp eyes of the man who had been reading the documents lifted.
Jeong Eun-jae, Investigator, Criminal Division 1, Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
His cold gaze swept over the civil servant ID hanging from her neck, devoid of even a trace of emotion.
“…….”
Overwhelmed by his silence, Eun-jae quickly opened the next folder and avoided his eyes. A short, shallow laugh slipped out.
His head tilted slightly. His brows narrowed just a bit. A crooked mouth. Eyes that didn’t smile.
Even without looking, she could picture that familiar expression—unique to a man who mocked with a sneer.
To Eun-jae, he had looked impressive even in moments like that.
“What exactly should I keep secret?”
The low voice that finally fell tightened her chest. The voice she had missed so much now stabbed into her solar plexus like a cold thorn.
“Are you talking about the fact that you and I used to make out, roll around, and do all kinds of dirty things together?”
“……!”
“Or that you sucked me dry, used me, and then dumped me?”
The ex-lover she had met again after three years—as her direct superior—radiated a much colder, more frigid aura than before.
Still, she had no right to protest the way he phrased it.
Because she was the one who had hurt him with words she should never have said.
‘Oppa, you’re just… too much. Why are you so clingy? It’s suffocating.’
‘A normal girl who dated a chaebol. For people like me who have nothing, even that counts as a spec. Thanks for helping me build my resume.’
‘I want to date other men too. If I meet people and you still turn out to be the best, I’ll 연락 you then.’
She was the one who had broken up with him by stabbing him with words like knives.
“……If you leave the signed approval folders here, I’ll collect them, Prosecutor.”
Eun-jae forced herself to sound calm and changed the subject back to work. But he didn’t let it go.
“My mood is ruined. First day back in Korea, and already.”
He stood up and leaned forward, bracing a hand on the desk.
As his mountain-like body drew close, a familiar scent brushed her nose.
How could she forget? That faint citrus scent that had always pressed down on her whenever she clung to him in his arms.
“Listening to you call me ‘Prosecutor.’”
“…….”
Her heart betrayed her, reacting to his scent without any sense.
Just as Eun-jae bit down on her lower lip and lowered her head to avoid him—
“Oh? The new Prosecutor! Hello, sir. I’m Section Chief Kim Cheol-ho.”
“Wow, hello Prosecutor! I’m Administrative Officer Yoo Eun-hye. Nice to meet you!”
The office door opened and other colleagues came in. The timing was a blessing.
The man straightened up. As his body moved away, Eun-jae quietly let out the breath she had been holding.
“No, Investigator! How can you make him work on his very first day?”
“Huh? Ah…!”
Only then did Eun-jae come back to her senses.
“Prosecutor, we’re not that bad, you know? We’ve been a team with great 분위기 for over a year now. Haha!”
But the man expressionlessly took out his fountain pen.
Seeing his lack of reaction, Section Chief Kim awkwardly shut his mouth.
“Uh… well, we look forward to working with you, Prosecutor.”
Scratch, scratch. The sound of pen on paper filled the awkward silence.
Prosecutor Baek Woo-kyung. The approval folder, now signed next to the gleaming nameplate, was set down with a thud.
Eun-jae grabbed the folder and fled from in front of Baek Woo-kyung as if escaping.
…Though in truth, she couldn’t completely escape him.
Because of the T-shaped desk arrangement and the low partitions, Woo-kyung, seated at the head, had a perfect view of Eun-jae’s profile.
What do I do now…
Prosecutor and investigator. Until one of them was transferred, they had to work as a team, constantly entangled in 업무.
The future looked pitch-dark.
Eun-jae swallowed her bitterness and focused deliberately on her monitor, but the turmoil inside her wouldn’t settle.
The day her messily broken-up ex became her direct superior.
***
She had no idea how the morning passed.
Only when lunchtime came did Eun-jae finally escape the same space as Baek Woo-kyung.
“Man, this isn’t easy. Geez.”
Section Chief Kim, walking after lunch with coffee in hand, tilted his head.
“He doesn’t want tea time, doesn’t want meals, doesn’t want a welcome dinner. Says he hates all of it. First time I’ve seen a prosecutor who hates being treated.”
That wasn’t all. All morning, Woo-kyung had ignored every joke Kim threw out to lighten the mood.
“Is he a hardcore introvert? With a face that’s SSS-tier handsome, he could easily be an extrovert.”
The administrative officer tilted her head too. Eun-jae listened silently.
“But, that rumor is true, right?”
The officer suddenly lowered her voice as if remembering something.
“Prosecutor Baek Woo-kyung is the eldest grandson of the Doyoung Group, right? Like, a real gold spoon.”
Kim leaned in too, like sharing a secret.
“Yeah, fact. Why else would he suddenly come back to Korea while training as an exchange prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Defense? The Doyoung Group is in chaos.”
“You mean that news? Ugh, what about the stocks I have in Doyoung Electronics…”
Recently, rumors of health problems surrounding Chairman Baek Wan-seop of the Doyoung Group had shaken the entire country.
Baek Wan-seop was Woo-kyung’s grandfather.
“But wasn’t Prosecutor Baek… I mean, isn’t this a bit much to say, but wasn’t he already pushed out of the succession race?”
At the officer’s cautious remark, Kim nodded vigorously.
“I saw it on a stock forum too!”
“Obviously. Who would give up being a chaebol heir to become a low-paid civil servant? He must’ve lost in the share battle.”
“Then did he come back to Korea to grab a position somehow? Ugh, now even I’m getting stressed.”
After that, the two were busy exchanging gossip about the Doyoung family.
Most of it was wrong.
It was nothing like the truth Eun-jae knew, having lived for twenty years in the Doyoung estate’s annex since kindergarten.
Woo-kyung’s grandfather and father had cherished him greatly, believing he was born with the qualities of a leader.
They naturally thought he would inherit Doyoung and make their empire flourish.
But Woo-kyung felt no passion for accumulating wealth and power, and he himself rejected the position of heir.
Becoming a prosecutor who judged right and wrong and upheld justice—that was a path he chose purely by his own conviction.
Eun-jae had loved even that proud conviction.
It started with admiration. Unlike herself, the daughter of a live-in housekeeper, she wanted to become someone as dazzling as Baek Woo-kyung, shining from a high place.
Admiration became a goal. She dreamed of becoming a prosecutor like him and standing by his side.
The dream eventually became love. First love, young love, unrequited love—whatever name it had, it didn’t matter. As long as she could dream of Baek Woo-kyung, she was happy.
But… it should have ended there.
She should have left it as a dream, watching from afar where she could never reach.
Instead, fate intertwined their hearts, and they spent four years as lovers.
Not knowing how cruel the price would be.
“–It’s your first time, right?”
“Huh?”
Her drifting thoughts were cut off by the sudden question.
“With Prosecutor Baek Woo-kyung.”
“……!”
Eun-jae’s round eyes widened.
‘First time, huh? You.’
One summer night, when she had barely managed to hold back her bursting heart and tasted his lips hotter than the sun.
He had looked down at her trembling self and murmured lazily, asking if it was her first kiss.
‘If… if I’m bad at it, and you don’t like it—’
‘No. I like it.’
‘……!’
‘It’s f**ing good. Jeong Eun-jae.’*
Why was that scene suddenly overlapping in her mind?
Eun-jae brushed her hair back, hiding her fluster.
“I mean, it’s your first time working with Prosecutor Baek. You’ll be interrogating together.”
“Ah, relax. Just do what you always do!”
Her colleagues thought she was nervous about the new prickly boss and cheered her on.
“Yes. I’m fine. …It’ll be okay.”
Eun-jae forced a smile and nodded.
They were just coworkers now. She only hoped their past wouldn’t cause problems.
***
Today’s subject was the son of a mid-sized construction company chairman.
He had hidden small cameras in a university lecture hall and in his car’s passenger seat, secretly filming women.
The victim’s statement matched witness accounts, and there was clear physical evidence, so the investigation should have been easy.
But—
“Oh my, our beautiful investigator! The flower of Seoul Central! Seeing you up close, you’re absolutely dazzling!”
From the start, the atmosphere soured thanks to the over-the-top lawyer who fawned over Eun-jae.
“You remember me, right? I was here at Central last week too. That was Criminal Division 2.”
In the uncomfortable silence, only the lawyer babbled on.
“Today I formally greet Prosecutor and Investigator of Criminal Division 1.”
The lawyer handing out business cards was someone seen more often on TV variety shows than in court.
“And Prosecutor Baek Woo-kyung, how is it? Is Korea better than the U.S.? Settling in well?”
“…….”
At the familiar tone from a stranger, Woo-kyung’s eyes sharpened.
Anyone could tell he was displeased.
“I’ve already pulled together all my school, regional, and blood connections in the Doyoung Group and made some calls. It’s my first time bowing to the old man, so I have to make a good impression, right? Haha!”
Eun-jae was horrified inside.
Of all things, the lawyer was pursuing a strategy completely opposite to Woo-kyung’s nature.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
As expected, her worry became reality.
Thud. Woo-kyung closed his laptop, cold anger leaking from between his teeth.
