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Chapter: 9
As expected, Oh Hye-joo already knew.
Given the information network of a chaebol family’s matriarch, perhaps it was only natural.
“Isn’t it awkward? Doesn’t it make work uncomfortable?”
“Ah… I’m fine,” Eunjae replied.
“You must’ve been flustered. So, you’ll be working on the same team? Seeing each other every day, huh?”
“Yes, but Prosecutor is such a work-focused type… we won’t really clash personally.”
“Did Woo-kyung volunteer to work where you are on purpose?”
Oh Hye-joo’s question was a roundabout way of asking if the two of them were meeting again. This must be the real point.
“No. That’s not the case.”
Her calm but firm denial made Oh Hye-joo’s eyes widen slightly.
“Really? Sorry, I got ahead of myself.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize at all.”
Oh Hye-joo tucked Eunjae’s hair back behind her ear as the wind blew.
“I thought Woo-kyung just came to Korea temporarily. But then he suddenly applied to be reinstated, so I wondered if that was the reason.”
Being a very reserved son, he never brought up personal matters. Oh Hye-joo smiled gently.
“Our Eunjae’s going to have a hard time with the wrong superior. Is my son’s personality normal? Just looking at someone quietly can freeze a person.”
Watching the crowds heading into the prosecution office, Oh Hye-joo stood from the bench.
“If it gets tough, let me know. I can use my connections to transfer you somewhere else.”
For a moment, Eunjae wavered. Someone offering exactly what she needed right then.
But she couldn’t rely on Oh Hye-joo any longer. Eunjae smiled calmly and shook her head.
“Just your words are enough, thank you.”
Eunjae diverted the topic to the black mini dress Oh Hye-joo had brought.
“You always take care of me like this… But can I really pull off something this bold?”
“You know Baek Hae-na’s tastes. She orders all sorts of things and never even picks them up. Only the shoppers have to deal with it.”
Baek Hae-na was Woo-kyung’s half-sister and Oh Hye-joo’s biological daughter.
“Wear it when you want to look pretty. You should meet a good person too, Eunjae.”
Would such a day come? A day when she could smile freely beside someone who wasn’t him… would it really come?
“Thank you for taking care of me, Chairwoman.”
Eunjae smiled faintly, hiding the bitterness.
With a final greeting about the well-being of the Do-young Group chairman, their brief meeting ended.
Eunjae firmly refused Oh Hye-joo’s chauffeur offering to carry her things inside and walked briskly into the building.
“Keep in touch!”
Oh Hye-joo watched until Eunjae’s slender figure disappeared from view.
“…But don’t actually contact me. You’d be like a leech.”
Muttering to herself, Oh Hye-joo turned the corner with heavy steps.
“I’m so busy, and yet I came all the way here for nothing. Damn it.”
Once in the car she had been waiting for, she lit a cigarette, irritation evident in her movements.
“So Eunjae doesn’t even know. Why did Baek Woo-kyung suddenly act crazy and stay in Korea?”
Sighing, Oh Hye-joo replayed the empty conversation from moments ago.
“Nothing’s ever simple. Did that unlucky woman ruin my plans too?”
Unlucky indeed. A child born out of wedlock, gifted in looks and intelligence, yet her life had gone astray—Jeong Eunjae.
No matter how she thought about it, Woo-kyung being infatuated with such a bottom-dwelling woman must have been God’s second chance.
The first chance was when Woo-kyung insisted on giving up the group heir position to become a prosecutor.
If Woo-kyung disappeared, the only direct heir to inherit the group would be her daughter.
Once the coronation was complete, she would ascend as the queen mother.
But that plan seemed to be failing.
“I sent her abroad, and now… what’s gotten into him?”
With the chairman aging, maybe he’s suddenly taking an interest in succession again?
That was the scariest part. Both the chairman and her husband, the vice chairman, could hand over the entire stake to Woo-kyung anytime.
Then all her decades of enduring in this suffocating house, beside a womanizing husband, would have been in vain.
Oh Hye-joo pressed down on her throbbing temples.
“Have we found a firm to attach behind Baek Woo-kyung?”
Her secretary in the passenger seat spoke in a weak voice.
“Well… since he’s an active prosecutor, no one is willing to take the job of investigating him… Sorry.”
“All fools? Missing out on a money-making opportunity.”
Fuming, Oh Hye-joo drew deeply on her cigarette filter and closed her eyes.
…Baek Woo-kyung. I want to get rid of that ex-wife’s child as soon as possible.
But for now, I have to watch what she does with that unlucky woman.
Her mind was spinning busily in all directions.
In the quiet prosecutor’s office, only the sound of the keyboard echoed as usual.
“Ahem.”
Manager Kim cleared his throat, breaking the silence. He exchanged a glance with the clerk across the partition, which seemed a bit suspicious.
“Uh, Prosecutor. I have a question!”
A clerk peeked out and smiled. Woo-kyung glanced up from his documents.
“Do you prefer beef, Prosecutor, or pork?”
“I prefer beef.”
“Ah, I see.”
Having said his piece, the clerk returned to his documents.
The next question was awkward, and the clerk looked embarrassed, glancing at the manager.
“Um, Prosecutor, I have another question.”
This time, Manager Kim spoke solemnly.
“Do you like soju, beer, or maybe a cocktail? Whiskey?”
Finally, Woo-kyung’s gaze sharpened, reacting as if asking, What’s your point?
“When will our team have a dinner gathering?”
“That’s right! Our Baek team needs time to get to know each other better. Haha!”
‘Baek team’ was the nickname for Baek Woo-kyung’s office, the manager added.
“You know how it is, Prosecutor. The MZ generation likes lunch gatherings too. And our Baek team happens to be free—”
“Wait, Manager!”
The clerk panicked, stopping him, while Eunjae’s eyes widened.
“Oh! Right. Saying ‘free’ is forbidden.”
In the prosecution office, saying they were free or less busy was taboo—it always jinxed sudden emergencies.
The manager tried to cover his mouth just as a loud phone rang.
“Baek Woo-kyung’s office.”
The clerk answered, looking distressed at Manager Kim.
“Ah… an urgent arrest? …Yes. Police investigation completed? …Ah. Now? You’re sending the case immediately?”
Manager Kim silently tore at his hair. The once-free moment was over.
Eunjae let out a hollow laugh and turned her gaze elsewhere.
Then, their eyes met, emotionless yet intertwined.
“….”
Perhaps a sense of camaraderie was forming. Now, brief eye contact was possible.
“Investigator.”
“Yes, Prosecutor. I’ll get the case overview and materials from the police, request shared drive access, and set it up so you can review the evidence.”
Woo-kyung’s instructions were immediately understood.
“Should we reserve the interrogation room where recording is allowed?”
This time, Eunjae felt she’d handled it properly. His neatly arched eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Sure.”
The faint smile seemed almost like praise for a job well done.
But as Woo-kyung focused back on his documents, the smile quickly vanished.
“…Yes.”
Her delayed answer came as she lightly traced the fading dimple on his right cheek.
…Why am I like this?
I promised not to linger on him.
Eunjae quickly refocused, making calls to the police, drafting emails, and writing cooperation requests to clear her mind.
The work progressed smoothly. Access to the shared drive was quickly approved.
But the real problem arose elsewhere.
As Eunjae accessed the shared drive, her clicking suddenly stopped.
The person urgently arrested was someone she knew well.
‘It’s the professor!’
It was hard to believe. On the screen was the profile of her former law school advisor.
“Oh my, the suspect is a law school professor?”
“Wait, then they must have been a former judge or prosecutor. How did they end up getting arrested?”
Kim and the clerk spoke, and Woo-kyung’s eyes, previously buried in documents, slowly registered.
“….”
He froze for a moment, then their eyes met again.
Professor Yoon Deok-jung, a criminal law expert at Korea University Law School.
He was also the mentor Woo-kyung most respected.
