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Chapter 06
“I didn’t know Lee Yujin was your classmate. Do you know her too, Director?”
Office manager Heo Mingi, his voice as thick as his build, asked about Yujin.
“How could Kim Chanyoung not know?”
Sunwoo couldn’t take his eyes off Yujin as she walked away with her back turned to him.
That girl who used to care about no one but herself had somehow grown into a mother willing to do anything for her son.
When asked whether she still had feelings for Jaehyun, Yujin hadn’t been able to answer right away.
The wavering in her eyes.
Emotion shakes reason.
She acts tough, but when Jaehyun reveals his true nature, there was no telling whether she would be able to withstand it.
[At least you still wear your school uniform?]
As Sunwoo reached for a cigarette out of habit, an old memory suddenly surfaced, drawing a faint laugh from him.
What kind of person had the past sixteen years made you into?
Just as his own brutal past had changed him, had Yujin changed too?
When Yujin needed him, he would appear before her as naturally as possible.
Sunwoo’s plan had succeeded in input, but the output was far from satisfying.
Normally uninterested in others, he had been thinking about Yujin far more than necessary ever since meeting her again.
Reflecting on how unusually excited he had appeared in front of a client, Sunwoo rose leisurely from his seat.
After casually straightening his wrinkled shirt, he left the office with Mingi following behind him.
Gangnam J BAR.
“The director is waiting for you.”
The interior of the bar was luxurious and grand, reminiscent of medieval Europe.
The lighting was just right, and the atmosphere wasn’t noisy.
Even at the early hour, a few couples were already seated in the lounge enjoying cocktails.
Sunwoo and Mingi crossed the central hall and entered a private room under the manager’s guidance.
“Sit.”
Chanyoung, who had arrived first, raised his whiskey glass toward Sunwoo.
In front of him sat bottles of Royal Salute 32-year-old and Ballantine’s 30-year-old whiskey.
Unlike Sunwoo, who disliked drinking on weekdays, Chanyoung enjoyed drinking sessions.
With practiced ease, Chanyoung uncorked the whiskey and poured drinks into the row of empty glasses.
“So you met Lee Yujin?”
“You really hear things fast.”
Sunwoo glanced at Mingi, who had taken a seat across from him.
Mingi awkwardly cleared his throat and avoided his gaze.
“So it’s finally starting.”
Unable to hide his excitement, Chanyoung placed a glass in front of Sunwoo.
Warm-colored lighting traced the sharp bridge of Sunwoo’s nose and jaw before falling across his glass.
“We’re planning to submit a financial disclosure request for Jung Jaehyun’s assets to the court.”
Sunwoo gently swirled the liquor in his glass as he spoke.
“I’m already curious how Vice Chairman Jung, who can’t do anything on his own, is going to survive this cold winter without Lee Yujin.”
The moment Chanyoung finished speaking, the three men clinked their glasses together.
Sunwoo emptied his whiskey in one gulp.
As the strong liquor burned down his throat, a crease briefly formed between his brows.
“Five percent of KY stock plus a separate success fee… you know the deal, right?”
“I like how transparent you are. Once our plan moves forward, what are you going to do with Lee Yujin?”
“Well, that’s…”
“……”
Even while drinking hard liquor, they never let down their guard around one another.
Wary of each other, yet trusting each other the most.
A strange but solid relationship.
“That’s none of your business.”
“Do you think Ms. Lee Yujin will really move according to our plan?”
Unlike Chanyoung, who burst into hearty laughter at Sunwoo’s words, Mingi cautiously spoke after noticing the subtle change in him.
It was rare for Mingi to openly share his thoughts when the three of them were together.
Quick-witted as ever, Sunwoo instantly understood what Mingi was implying.
Mingi was asking whether he had developed different feelings toward Yujin.
“I make the plans. Lee Yujin is nothing more than good bait to catch Jung Jaehyun.”
Still unconvinced, Mingi continued looking at Sunwoo suspiciously.
“The two of you seemed closer than I expected…”
“Would that be a problem?”
Sunwoo snapped sharply at Mingi’s words.
Their eyes collided in the air.
At the warning in Sunwoo’s gaze telling him not to cross the line, Mingi quietly backed down.
“No, sir.”
Mingi averted his eyes as though he no longer wanted to continue the conversation with Sunwoo.
Though he worked as the office manager at Sunwoo’s firm, he was ultimately Chanyoung’s man.
Compared to Chanyoung, whose instincts for reading the board were dull, Mingi was sharp and tight-lipped.
If even he had noticed the cracks Sunwoo showed around Yujin…
Showing that loosened side of himself in front of Mingi was not a good sign.
Running a hand through his hair, Sunwoo loosened the tight collar around his neck with the other.
The alcohol hitting his empty stomach seemed to heat his body from within.
“If you make too much noise while fishing and the fish gets away… Mingi, I’ll get angry.”
Though spoken playfully, there was a clear warning for Mingi in his eyes.
Oblivious to Sunwoo’s sharp mood because of the alcohol, Chanyoung casually entered a song number into the karaoke machine as if preparing to sing.
As the familiar trot accompaniment began playing, Mingi leaned toward Sunwoo and refilled his empty glass with whiskey.
At that moment, consecutive text messages arrived from Yujin.
<I’m going to meet Jaehyun for a moment…>
<It’s about our child.>
She was going to meet Jung Jaehyun without consulting her lawyer during an ongoing lawsuit?
Yujin was grinding against his already frayed nerves.
He needed to call her immediately and make things clear.
She could not keep making decisions on her own and simply notifying him afterward like this.
After gesturing to Chanyoung that he was stepping out to make a call, Sunwoo left the private room.
Mingi watched his retreating figure with cautious eyes.
—Yeah.
“You’re going to meet Jung Jaehyun?”
Barely suppressing the anger rising inside him, Sunwoo spoke to Yujin, who had answered as casually as ever.
—Yeonha’s sick. Jaehyun said he’d come because it’s about our child. Right now.
“That’s going to be a problem…”
—If Jaehyun agrees, I can see my child, can’t I?
Urgency seeped through Yujin’s voice.
“You do remember you’re in the middle of a lawsuit, right? You could end up never seeing your child again for the rest of your life.”
—Can’t we at least talk once? Maybe he’ll adjust the visitation date.
“Life must be easy for Jung Jaehyun. Even after bringing home an illegitimate child, his wife still listens so obediently. He says come, and you come. He asks to meet, and you agree?”
Sunwoo sneered at Yujin angrily.
—Kim Sunwoo.
“If you’re going to be this shaken by Jung Jaehyun, why are you even filing for divorce?”
—You don’t understand.
“What is it that I don’t understand?”
—You don’t have a child. If it weren’t for my child, this would’ve been easier for me too.
“Listen carefully, Lee Yujin. From now on, during this lawsuit—”
—Jaehyun’s calling me. I’m hanging up.
Click.
Unable to believe the call had been cut off, Sunwoo froze in place.
Maybe Mingi had been right.
Maybe Lee Yujin would not move according to his plan after all.
Staring at the disconnected call, Sunwoo considered what he should do with Yujin.
“You haven’t changed at all, Lee Yujin.”
Without hesitation, he headed toward the parking lot.
First, he needed to meet Yujin.
Before she met Jung Jaehyun.
—I’m on my way to your house, so wait for me.
Jaehyun’s one-sidedly ended phone call.
“Ha…”
Their conversations were always out of sync.
[Yeonha hasn’t been able to eat for days and keeps throwing up.]
It had already been nearly a month since she last saw Yeonha.
She hadn’t forgotten Sunwoo’s warning to wait, but her desire to see her son’s condition with her own eyes refused to settle.
Anxiety made her pace restlessly while staring at her useless phone. In the end, unable to endure it any longer, she called Yeonha’s daycare.
She had only intended to check whether he was doing well, but instead she heard that he was sick.
The tears she hadn’t shed even when leaving Jaehyun’s house poured out helplessly at the news that her child was ill.
[Absolutely do not see the child outside the court-designated visitation dates.]
Sunwoo’s repeated warning echoed in her ears.
It felt unfair, but if she wanted to see Yeonha immediately, she needed Jaehyun’s consent.
The lawsuit was affecting her life far more than she had expected.
Several times a day, she despaired over the possibility that the case might go wrong, and once those emotions collapsed, they were difficult to recover from.
Her body gradually wasted away.
Though alive, she spent most of her time lying down as if life had already left her.
Who had been checking Yeonha’s daycare notifications?
Had he cried a lot during nights without her?
Had he caught a cold in the cold weather?
Come to think of it, she had never once been apart from Yeonha.
Not since the time she carried him in her womb.
If only she could raise Yeonha herself, she wouldn’t care if she could never act again.
All she wanted was to be beside her son whenever he needed his mother.
That alone.
Soon, Jaehyun called to say he had arrived.
“Not inside the house. Let’s talk in the car.”
She didn’t want Jaehyun entering her home.
This was the first time she would see him since the trial.
Repeating the words she needed to say in her head, she put on her coat and stepped outside.
