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Chapter 9
After finishing her meal, Hee-jae helped the staff move the case files from Chairman Shin’s study into the car.
“Thank you. You’ve all worked hard.”
After greeting them, she reorganized the files in the back seat one more time. Just as she was about to close the door, she hesitated and pulled out the file on top.
When she opened the first page, she saw an endless list of crimes committed by Se-heon.
As she read through the charges one by one, her head tilted in disbelief.
She muttered to herself.
“Vice Chairman, how did you end up like this?”
In her memory, Se-heon had always been the embodiment of perfection. Unlike the gentle-looking Kyo-bin, Se-heon had hardly any expression, a pale face, and an aura that made him seem unapproachable.
Cold and detached, yet equipped with an extraordinary mind and an unshakable background—he was a universally acknowledged elite.
Especially since there was a ten-year age gap between them, Hee-jae had never even had a proper conversation with him.
Raised under Chairman Shin’s strict education that demanded perfection in every matter, he had never once faltered. Grades, sports, appearance—everything was flawless.
Even with his tall height and handsome looks, he still sought skin treatments and personal shoppers to perfect his outward appearance.
To someone like him, countless temptations must have reached out.
Indeed, Chairman Shin had occasionally set traps for him, offering shortcuts as tests. Yet, as far as Hee-jae knew, Se-heon had never once fallen into them.
Rigid to the core, he always chose the orthodox path, ignoring the easy way.
So how could a man like him have committed not just one, but countless crimes?
It was impossible to imagine Se-heon hurling insults at people or scheming with paper companies for money laundering.
“This kind of thing… definitely reminds me of someone else.”
The thought brought another person’s face naturally to mind.
That was when it happened.
“Do you think I did it?”
A man’s voice rang out, though she hadn’t sensed his presence.
Startled, Hee-jae slammed the file shut and turned around. Standing right before her was Shin Kyo-bin.
The very man she had just been picturing in her head.
Like the saying “speak of the tiger and he appears,” Kyo-bin seemed to embody it perfectly.
He smiled leisurely, as if he had read her thoughts.
Kyo-bin had grown up in misery, unlike most heirs of a conglomerate, branded as an illegitimate child.
Deprived of sufficient affection, hidden from the public, and abused in the name of discipline, he grew up hollowed out inside despite his smiling exterior.
Over time, he became a troublemaker who stirred up unnecessary incidents just to draw attention.
The young Kyo-bin Hee-jae remembered looked like someone who, if given a little power, would do anything to seize even greater power.
So if anyone could have committed these crimes, it seemed more like Kyo-bin than Se-heon.
After all, Se-heon had nothing to be dissatisfied with. As the legitimate heir, he had no rivals to contend with, and Chairman Shin had already firmly chosen him as successor.
If he had simply continued doing his work flawlessly, he would have become the next owner of Shin Group without any issues.
So why had Se-heon, of all people, felt such insecurity that he would commit these crimes just to cement his position?
What threat had driven him into such corruption?
“The brother you remember… wasn’t like this, was he?”
Kyo-bin’s voice pierced her thoughts, reading the questions on her face.
Hee-jae flinched, raising a brow as she looked at him.
“Diligent, upright. Raised under strict discipline, to the point of being compulsive, precise, and clean.”
Kyo-bin knew not only that she was puzzled by Se-heon’s change, but also that she was beginning to suspect him instead.
Hee-jae instinctively tried to step back.
“What could he have been lacking, or what made him so angry, that he would go this far?”
Kyo-bin, arms crossed, closed the distance she had tried to create.
Tension thickened. Hee-jae swallowed hard as his eyes drifted to her pale neck.
Sensing danger in the charged atmosphere, she tried to break it.
“Does this have anything to do with you?”
Her blunt, fearless question widened Kyo-bin’s eyes in surprise. But soon, he smirked faintly.
He reached out, grabbing the open car door behind her, caging her in.
She shrank back instinctively.
“That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own.”
Leaning down to her eye level, his clear brown eyes shone like glass—beautiful but impenetrable.
His good looks always distracted people from the darkness inside him.
“Just one more thing I have to ask…”
But Hee-jae was no longer the same as before.
Her heart still raced uncontrollably whenever she faced him, but she had learned not to be swayed so easily.
At the very least, she had enough suspicion now to see past his honeyed tone.
“You didn’t frame him, did you?”
Hee-jae’s voice was firm, her gaze unwavering.
Kyo-bin’s brows twitched for the first time. It clearly stung that she would trust his brother over him.
“Like you did to me before.”
Though not as serious as these accusations, Kyo-bin had often pinned his mistakes on Hee-jae.
Whenever he messed up, he would ask her—no, order her—to take the blame and apologize in his place, knowing he’d be beaten and scolded if he admitted it.
And she had yielded countless times to his sweet-talking “just this once” pleas.
So yes, her suspicion was justified.
That the troublemaker of Shin Group, Shin Kyo-bin, might have deliberately set up the legitimate heir, Shin Se-heon.
“What do you think?”
For a moment, he had faltered, but now his smirk returned as he asked mockingly.
“Do I look like the type to do that?”
Leaning closer, he fixed his gaze on her, as though demanding she look straight into his eyes.
But to Hee-jae, the answer was obvious.
Yes. He looked exactly like that type.
Or rather, someone who would do far worse.
“Hee-jae.”
Before she could reply, he called her name. His tone was drenched in affection, as though to cover up what he truly wanted to hide.
As she stared up at him, he smiled faintly and tucked her hair behind her ear with slow, deliberate fingers.
The ticklish touch made her frown slightly.
“I get whatever I want, no matter what it takes.”
His hand, slow a moment ago, suddenly gripped her chin tightly.
She gasped as he leaned in close.
“And if something gets in my way… of course I’ll remove it.”
His eyes gleamed dangerously, and Hee-jae had no idea yet what those words truly meant.
