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Chapter 2
“You’re pretty.”
Pre…tty?
In that instant, Hongshi’s heart pounded and heat rushed to her face.
The tip of her nose stung, and her throat tightened.
She didn’t know how she was supposed to react.
You should never have been born.
You’re possessed by an evil spirit.
Your eyes are bad luck, so don’t look at me.
Just hearing you cry gives me chills.
Those were the kinds of words Hongshi had heard all her life.
So this was unfamiliar.
And yet, strangely enough—
She felt like crying.
As if he understood everything in her heart, Taesan gently stroked the top of her head.
“But I don’t like seeing you get pushed around like an idiot. You belong to me, Kang Taesan’s girl, got it? So don’t let those morons bully you. If they insult you, insult them twice as hard. If they hit you, hit them ten times harder. Don’t worry about the aftermath. Your oppa will take care of everything.”
Why was he being so nice to her?
Did he want something from her?
But she had nothing.
His kindness and affection only felt difficult and frightening to Hongshi.
She was only nine years old, but she already knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
That was why she couldn’t simply accept his kindness at face value.
The man next door used to say it sometimes.
That rich people all had strange hobbies.
Maybe, to Taesan, she was just some new source of entertainment.
Something fun for now, but something he would eventually lose interest in.
And when that day came, where would she go?
She no longer had a home.
She no longer had a mother.
Right now, all she could do was play along with him.
Hongshi lowered her head deeply.
“Thank you, young master.”
“I told you to call me oppa.”
“……”
Hongshi quietly avoided his gaze.
Taesan stared at her insistently for a moment before taking her home.
From that day on, Taesan attached the word oppa to nearly everything he said whenever he got the chance.
And every morning, he took her to school and waited expectantly for a greeting.
“Hongshi, shouldn’t you say goodbye?”
“I’ll be back from school, young master.”
“Oppa.”
“……”
When Hongshi stubbornly kept her mouth shut, Taesan let out a dry laugh.
“You’re really making me competitive here.”
Hongshi didn’t understand why he was so obsessed with making her say oppa.
But the housemaids repeatedly warned her.
Call him young master.
So Hongshi continued to call him that until the very end.
Because that was the proper thing to do.
As though drawing a line between the two of them kept her safe.
But he kept stepping across that line.
Rain or snow, he took her to school every day and picked her up afterward.
Whenever there was good food, he secretly bought some for her.
One year passed.
Then another.
She had thought he would eventually grow bored of her and cast her aside, but he still cherished her.
Right up until the day she graduated elementary school.
He remained there in the same place, always watching over her.
Hongshi could no longer keep her distance from him.
“Your oppa’s a little late, huh?”
Even though there had been an accident near the school and traffic had completely jammed, he had still rushed over to congratulate her, ending up covered in scrapes and bruises.
Taesan smiled brightly as he held out a bouquet of flowers.
“Congratulations on graduating, Hongshi.”
How could she possibly keep pushing him away after that?
“Thank you……”
Holding the bouquet close to her chest, Hongshi finally gave him the word he had always wanted to hear.
“Oppa.”
At that moment, Taesan froze.
He stared at her with a dumbfounded expression before bursting into loud laughter.
His radiant smile made her heart pound wildly.
On the way home, the car left behind the crowded city and sped endlessly down quiet country roads.
The familiar scenery of Cheongsol Village, two hours away from Seoul, somehow failed to catch Hongshi’s eye today.
Because of Taesan sitting beside her.
Pretending to look out the window, Hongshi stole glances at him every so often.
He had claimed he wasn’t busy, but perhaps that had been a lie. He was even wearing glasses while focusing intently on his tablet.
Fifteen years ago, on that day, Taesan had completely changed her life.
Without him, she probably would have died after being beaten by her mother for the rest of her life—
or died while being subjected to bizarre rituals by shamans.
That was the future she had expected.
But thanks to Taesan, she had safely made it through elementary school, middle school, and high school, and now she was close to graduating college.
At first, she studied hard because she wanted to repay him.
But now, she was desperately trying to get even a little closer to his side.
That was why she had secretly interviewed for the position of secretary to the vice chairman of Taejung Group, even though she knew Taesan would be angry.
That’s right.
Hongshi had been in love with Taesan for a very long time.
But Taesan was far too distant a person for someone like her to dare approach.
If she confessed, he would probably turn away coldly, just as he had with all the other women who confessed to him.
And she would surely lose the affection he currently gave her.
“You wanted to look at my face that badly?”
“…Huh?”
Lost in gloomy thoughts while staring at him absentmindedly, Hongshi blinked in surprise.
Taesan had apparently been watching her for some time already, because he smirked as he looked at her.
“You’re going to bore a hole through me.”
“N-No, I wasn’t!”
Startled, Hongshi tried to back away, but Taesan leaned closer instead.
His scent became stronger.
Her breath caught.
“Go ahead and look all you want.”
Hongshi froze completely before finally shoving him away.
“T-That’s enough!”
“Ugh.”
But maybe she had accidentally hit the wrong spot.
Taesan grabbed near his chest and groaned, making Hongshi hurry toward him in alarm.
“Are you oka—!”
But at that moment, Taesan suddenly pulled her into his arms.
“My little kid. Seeing you again after three whole months.”
Hongshi’s eyes widened in shock.
Holding her delicate body tightly against him, Taesan buried his face against her shoulder and whispered softly,
“I missed you so much I thought I’d die.”
At this rate, her heart really might burst.
That was how violently it pounded.
Hearing the frantic beating of her heart, Taesan let out a quiet laugh.
“Why’s your heart beating so fast?”
Thump.
Hongshi shoved him away.
A sudden sense of resentment surged up inside her.
Maybe it was partly his fault that she had fallen for him.
“How can you just suddenly hug someone like that?!”
“You’re that surprised over a hug? You really are still a kid.”
Taesan playfully pinched Hongshi’s soft cheek, which still hadn’t fully lost its baby fat.
Her face instantly turned red.
Suddenly, she felt miserable.
Seriously, this is so annoying.
Why does he keep treating me like a child? I’m already twenty-four.
Whenever she got too irritated and demanded to know why he always treated her like a kid, Taesan would think for a moment before answering.
“Maybe it’s because the memory of the day we first met is just too strong. You feel like someone I need to protect. You’re so small and fragile.”
Those words always left Hongshi speechless.
“First, let’s chase away that wildcat.”
Leaving Hongshi behind, Taesan stepped out of the car.
As Hongshi rubbed the cheek he had pinched and followed him out, Taekyung came stomping over the gate with a face just as feral as Taesan had described.
“Hey! Why are you so late?! Do you wanna die—!”
Taekyung had been charging toward Hongshi as usual, but the moment he noticed Taesan standing there, he froze in horror.
“O-Oppa.”
“Kang Taekyung.”
Taesan slipped one hand into his pocket.
Swallowing nervously, Taekyung slowly edged backward.
“Where do you think you’re running? Get over here.”
Taesan crooked a finger at him.
Taekyung reluctantly approached.
Taesan immediately flicked him hard on the forehead.
“Argh! Why’d you hit me?!”
“Did I or did I not tell you to stop bullying Hongshi?”
“I-I’m not bullying her!”
There had once been a time when Taesan caught Taekyung hitting Hongshi.
That was the first time Taesan had ever truly exploded in anger at him.
After that, he treated Taekyung like a roadside stone.
As though he didn’t even exist.
Taekyung, who admired and followed Taesan more than anyone, had eventually burst into tears and written a formal promise saying he would never touch Hongshi again.
After that, Taekyung stopped openly bullying her like before.
Instead, he became more subtle and calculating.
Hongshi couldn’t bring herself to tell Taesan about Taekyung’s bullying anymore because she felt as though she had come between the brothers.
Well, she could see through Taekyung’s simple tricks now anyway, so she usually just let things slide.
“What, is she your errand girl? If you’re too lazy to get your own bag, then don’t bother living.”
Taekyung glared furiously at Hongshi, who stood awkwardly behind Taesan.
Taesan stepped in front of her, his expression turning cold.
“Kang Taekyung.”
At the icy look on his face, Taekyung hurriedly relaxed his glare.
“H-Hongshi said she’d go get it herself! Right, Hongshi?”
At Taekyung’s frantic eye signal, Hongshi nodded.
“That’s right. I said I’d go.”
“See?!”
Taesan looked back and forth between them suspiciously before finally softening a little.
“So reading comic books was more important than going to get it yourself?”
“Y-You’re the one who only just got home after three months, so why are you nagging me?! And whose oppa are you anyway?!”
“Me?”
Taesan seemed to think for a moment before smiling lazily.
“Obviously Hongshi’s oppa.”
“Ugh, seriously, you’re the worst! So annoying!”
Taekyung stomped away into the house.
“That brat’s temper gets worse every day.”
Was he introducing himself right now?
Compared to Taesan, Taekyung’s personality wasn’t even worth mentioning.
Taesan was so arrogant that even their grandfather was terrified of him.
No one could touch him.
Because if they did, he would pay them back tenfold—no, a hundredfold.
Well, compared to before, he had calmed down a lot now.
The housemaids used to say Taesan had become more human because of Hongshi—
“Ah!”
Wrong thing to think.
His temper was still awful.
With an aggrieved expression, Hongshi glared at Taesan after he flicked her forehead.
