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Chapter 02
A man moved closer to me, step by step, while I remained on high alert.
As the cigarette smoke thinned, his face gradually came into focus.
“Stop. Don’t come any closer.”
I spoke to the man approaching me.
I could even hear his faint laugh now; somehow the distance between us had already become small.
“Long time no see. Class monitor.”
Class monitor?
Now that I thought about it, his face wasn’t unfamiliar.
Who was he?
As if amused by my confused expression, the man grinned, showing a slightly crooked tooth.
Under the sleeve of his perfectly fitted white shirt, a tattoo of indiscernible shape was visible on his right forearm.
With that rough appearance and his sly smile, he looked undeniably dangerous.
Was he someone sent by Jaehyun…?
But the man showed no intention of answering my questions, continuing to smile in silence.
Who is he…?
He looks familiar.
Without realizing it, I had stopped focusing on my caution toward the stranger and instead became absorbed in my own uncertainty.
“You’ve grown up pretty.”
Without taking his eyes off my face, he put the cigarette he was holding to his lips.
“Ah! You….”
A burn scar on the back of his right hand.
A faint memory that had been tickling the back of my mind suddenly became clear.
“You finally remembered?”
At that moment, a loud noise echoed as an SUV entered the parking lot.
The headlights shone directly toward me, making me turn my head.
Soon after, a large man—big enough to fill the entire front seat—stepped out of the vehicle.
“You’re early.”
A large man in a black suit bowed deeply toward him.
The two of them clearly did not look ordinary.
I looked back and forth between the two men.
I didn’t need further explanation to understand what kind of life he was living.
“Kim Seonwoo. How did you end up…?”
Kim Seonwoo.
My middle school classmate.
The only thing I remembered about him was that he lived in Geumje-dong with his grandmother.
Back then, because he was receiving basic livelihood assistance, I—his class monitor—had gone all the way to Geumje-dong to collect his welfare verification documents since he rarely came to school.
That was about it.
Seonwoo tossed the cigarette he had been holding onto the ground and reached into his pocket to take out a wallet.
“I’m busier than I look. I don’t have time to talk right now….”
He slipped a business card between his index and middle fingers the same way he had held the cigarette and held it out to me.
Frowning at his playful gesture, I took the card from him.
“Huh?”
Seeing the title printed on the card, I looked at him in shock.
Unlike my constantly changing expressions since meeting him again, he remained completely calm and composed, as if he had rehearsed this moment.
His shadow fell over my startled face.
Grab.
Seonwoo caught my arm as I tried to step back and pulled me closer, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
“If you want to work with me, call me.”
Ha.
Before I could even grasp what was happening, Seonwoo disappeared from my sight.
I looked down at the business card he had given me once more.
<Law Firm Lee Kim.
Managing Partner, Attorney Kim Seonwoo.>
“Kim Seonwoo… a lawyer?”
Law Firm Lee Kim.
A tall building in the center of Seocho-dong.
On the 8th floor of this building was the law office listed on Seonwoo’s business card.
The same Kim Seonwoo who once lived a rebellious life full of dissatisfaction with the world—he really became a lawyer?
I still couldn’t believe it.
In front of the building, five or six people wearing masks were protesting with placards.
“Disgracing judicial justice, Kim Seonwoo—revoke his law license!”
“I’ll just go in for a consultation.”
Right now, I needed a competent and trustworthy lawyer, and I was prepared to deal with the devil himself if it meant gaining custody.
If Kim Seonwoo was that capable devil, I would take his hand without hesitation.
[If you want to work with me, call me.]
Whatever the price.
As soon as I got off on the 8th floor, I saw the sign for the law firm.
The glass automatic doors revealed the inside of Kim Seonwoo’s office clearly.
Despite my wavering resolve, the door opened on its own.
“How may I—… huh? Yujin-ssi?”
As soon as one employee recognized me, the others who had been focused on their work turned to look as well.
Whispers spread through the office and the space quickly grew noisy.
“I have a consultation appointment with Attorney Kim Seonwoo.”
I had long since prepared myself for this kind of attention.
“This way, please.”
The interior was fully visible through glass walls.
Through the glass door, I met Seonwoo’s eyes.
Unlike me, who was struggling to hide my discomfort, he smiled brightly.
Had he always been someone who smiled like that?
His sharp nose bridge, the small tooth revealed when he smiled.
Even now, traces of his sixteen-year-old rebellious self still remained on his face.
“Sit.”
Since it was a law office, he looked quite professional compared to how he had appeared in the parking lot.
“Would you like some coffee?”
“No, water. Two glasses, please.”
At his words, an employee nodded and left.
Once the employee was gone, Seonwoo stood up and drew the blinds over the glass wall that had previously exposed everything inside and outside.
“Did you approach me from the beginning planning to take my case?”
Seonwoo turned toward me.
“For now? Since we also happen to be residents of the same officetel.”
I clasped my trembling hands together on my lap.
Even though I had steeled myself for anything, facing his unreadable expression made my nerves tighten.
“You’re up against the Daewoong Group. Are you confident?”
Unlike my tense posture, Seonwoo looked relaxed and unhurried.
“Why are you so nervous, Yujin? I haven’t even said anything yet.”
“Just answer the question.”
Seonwoo leaned forward, placing his arms on the edge of the table.
His gaze bore down on me.
It felt invasive, as if he were trying to read my thoughts.
“Something that matches the compensation.”
“Ah….”
He reached under the table and lifted my index finger.
I hadn’t even realized I was picking at my nails; blood had already gathered at the tip.
“I’m transparent. Give and take.”
He pointed between himself and me with my finger in his hand.
Annoyed, I pulled my finger away with force.
“I’m staking my whole life coming to you. Stop joking around and just tell me what you want. What you want is my….”
“Do we really have to start talking about money first in a meeting between friends?”
“What?”
“You can discuss fees with my secretary. Don’t be too shocked when you hear the amount. It’s a special discount for acquaintances.”
Seonwoo looked as if he couldn’t believe he even had to explain something like this.
“Money?”
My voice rose in surprise at the unexpected answer.
“If not that, then what? Did you expect something else?”
Seonwoo smiled as if he found the situation amusing.
His smile drained the tension from my body, leaving me oddly exhausted.
“If it’s money, I’ll pay whatever you want. So what do I do now?”
“First, tell me about your ex-husband. Why Yujin came to me in the first place.”
If he became my legal representative, he would learn everything about my past marriage.
Revealing my wounds in front of a former classmate didn’t sit well with me.
It was too personal, too difficult to disclose.
Thinking back made a bitter smile rise on its own.
[It was just a one-night mistake.]
On an ordinary day, Jaehyun—who had gone to work as usual—returned home holding a newborn baby.
Before I could even process the situation, he asked to register the child under his family registry with my consent.
[Even if the child isn’t mine, if it’s your blood, am I just supposed to accept it?]
Perhaps Jaehyun wanted a submissive, obedient woman like other daughters-in-law of chaebol families.
A fierce argument erupted over an innocent baby caught between us, and eventually he said something I could never accept.
[A child you gave birth to isn’t the only child that counts as mine.]
That was unmistakable misery.
The happy family I had long dreamed of—something money couldn’t buy.
Even if I had to lose everything I had built, I wanted it.
But in that moment when that dream collapsed into nothing, I made up my mind.
I would end my marriage with him.
I demanded divorce and custody of my son Yeonhae without hesitation, but he could not accept it.
[You don’t really think you can win custody against me, do you?]
He looked frustrated.
During our miserable marriage, the only source of comfort for me had been our son Yeonhae.
Jaehyun, who had been endlessly persuading me, suddenly changed once he realized I wouldn’t back down and took the child hostage.
Even though he knew better than anyone that Yeonhae was the only thing I truly wanted in that vast house.
[You don’t like noise, do you? I’ll make people whisper about you for the rest of your life.]
I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
I didn’t want to lose to him anymore.
[I shouldn’t have married an actress…]
[Good thing we think the same.]
I knew marriage into a chaebol family wouldn’t be easy, but I never imagined it would trample my identity and dignity like this.
[Stop messing around. Do as I say when I tell you to. If you leave now, you won’t even get visitation rights to Yeonhae, let alone custody.]
[Do you know who Yeonhae is closest to?]
Seeing how emotionally unstable he was, I felt strangely calm.
[With lines like that…]
[Do you know what Yeonhae’s favorite side dish is? How far he’s learned his Korean alphabet? Do you even know that?!]
Words of fury spilled out as I thought of my son, who meant everything to me.
[Ha… Yujin.]
It was suffocating.
A man who didn’t even know what his child needed or cared about, only obsessed with his own pride.
I could no longer stay in the same space as him after he brought an illegitimate child into the house.
The argument escalated until I left the house without thinking about what came next.
And I met him again at the first hearing.
