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Chapter: 12
Woo-kyung was sitting on the sofa in front of the tea table, not at the desk.
Leaning his upper body against the backrest with his eyes closed deeply, it seemed he had fallen asleep.
But there was another reason Eun-jae was startled.
“Alcohol…”
The glass he held contained a pale amber liquid. A subtle scent of whiskey lingered in the air.
Woo-kyung rarely drank alcohol, even on usual occasions. If he did, it was just one or two light drinks when he was in a good mood.
Seeing him drink properly like this was a first.
“……”
It must be due to the aftermath of Professor Yoon’s trial.
Eun-jae quietly bit her lower lip.
Manager Kim had been beaming, saying that their prosecutor had won overwhelmingly, but Eun-jae was concerned about the door to his private office, which had been firmly closed all afternoon.
Even someone as rigid as him wouldn’t find it pleasant to appeal to a respected mentor.
Still, she hadn’t expected that he would be so shaken that he drank alcohol he normally wouldn’t.
Baek Woo-kyung had always been an adult figure to her, a sky to look up to, a solid fortress.
She had assumed that someone so indifferent to everything would brush this off calmly as well, so she hadn’t thought to offer any awkward comfort.
As a colleague who had investigated together, the only thing she could manage was to check whether the trial had gone well.
She had waited until the end of work to see him, also intending to request her transfer approval—but today clearly wasn’t the right day.
Eun-jae turned to leave the room. That’s when her eyes fell on the glass precariously held in his hand.
“It should be fine if I just put the glass away.”
After a brief hesitation, she approached him.
Leaning down, she lifted the glass and placed it on the table, but the closeness made her uneasy.
“……”
The subtle, citrus-tinged scent brushed past her nose.
It was the familiar fragrance she had smelled countless times while being close to him.
Eun-jae’s gaze fell on the man’s closed face.
Her eyes traced his sharp jawline, the lips tinged red, the prominent bridge of his nose, and finally stopped at the deep eye sockets framed by long lashes.
“Ha… ah, it tickles.”
When they spent nights together, after moments of passion ended, he would bury his face in her shoulder to catch his breath.
His long lashes would brush her delicate skin, and Eun-jae, too exhausted to push him away, endured the tickling.
“Oppa… why do your eyelashes… are so long?”
One day, complaining, she had protested, and his eyes had narrowed sharply in response.
“This is frustrating.”
“…?”
“It means you’ve been staring at other guys’ eyelashes too.”
The moment she realized his gaze darkened disapprovingly, a hot hand gripped her round shoulder.
“Oppa, wait. That’s not what I meant, ah…”
Her thoughts, vivid as yesterday, carried her back through the excitement and joy of those times.
Branches of memory spread until they reached the scene from a few days ago.
Baek Woo-kyung, sitting across from another woman, smiling gently—a ghostly image of him came to her mind.
…Enough.
Eun-jae straightened up, moving away from Woo-kyung. Just as she tried to distance herself,
“……!”
Her wrist was suddenly grabbed, making her shoulders jump.
Woo-kyung had opened his eyes, staring directly at her.
“What’s that look? Like you’re seeing an alcoholic.”
His low, languid voice was calm, as if he weren’t drunk at all.
“You… are awake?”
“Look openly. Don’t peek secretly.”
He smiled faintly and tugged her arm slightly. Eun-jae tried to appear composed as she sat beside him.
“I… um, came to see if you were… okay.”
He raised a brow, questioning with his eyes, then ran a hand through his hair with the free hand.
“I heard Professor Yoon’s trial concluded well… If you’re tired, rest. I’ll leave.”
His usually drowsy eyes narrowed sharply for a moment.
“Are you okay?”
“……”
“I guess I’m in a position to be worried about by a little kid.”
He crossed the boundary between prosecutor and investigator in an instant.
“You even drank alcohol you normally wouldn’t.”
Finally, Eun-jae resigned herself and met his words, slightly indignant at being treated like a child.
…Honestly, I haven’t done much right either.
Even when the elevator stopped, she had needlessly worried about him.
He, the subject, was completely fine, and she regretted making unnecessary fuss.
“Want a drink?”
He smiled faintly, gesturing at the whiskey bottle on the table.
“You know this drink well.”
“No, I won’t. I’m not good with alcohol.”
His brows knit tightly for a moment.
“You don’t know?”
Instead of answering, Eun-jae pulled her wrist free from his hand. As the heat vanished, an emptiness lingered.
“More importantly, I have a question. About the transfer request I submitted… why did you reject it?”
Her pointed frustration forced the topic. Woo-kyung raised one eyebrow.
“Why should I approve that?”
“Why—?”
“Do you even know how many cases I’m handling right now, Investigator Jung Eun-jae?”
Ah. It’s because of work. The perfectionist Baek Woo-kyung didn’t want Eun-jae to leave a flaw in the ongoing cases.
If that’s the only reason, she could selfishly feel reassured.
“……I’ll ensure smooth handover to avoid disruption. Please approve the transfer, Prosecutor Baek Woo-kyung.”
“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?”
Swallowing the unexplained bitterness, Eun-jae straightened her back and spoke.
“Yes. Watching you makes me uncomfortable.”
“……”
“It’s awkward constantly facing an ex-boyfriend I didn’t part with on good terms.”
A heavy silence fell between them.
His unreadable black eyes fixed directly on Eun-jae.
She didn’t look away, enduring the dizziness as if being pulled into a black hole.
How much time had passed?
“Don’t go. Stay here.”
Finally, the low voice fell from his lips.
“……”
Her heart felt as if it were falling. Eun-jae hastily avoided his eyes, which she had been staring at steadfastly.
It was the first time Woo-kyung had ever said that to her.
Even in the harsh moments when he had told her to leave, he hadn’t tried to hold her back.
But now—
“Just six more months. I’ll leave Korea.”
His next words extinguished even the tiniest flicker of hope.
“Maybe even sooner than that.”
Eun-jae interpreted this as him planning to marry and return to the U.S. within six months.
Six months, maybe even sooner.
The thought of a time limit, like a death sentence, filled her mind.
In six months, she might never see him again.
And if he became someone else’s husband…
“Yes. Then please do it as soon as possible.”
From now on, she would also have to rid herself of her lingering attachment as quickly as possible.
Eun-jae stood up. There was no reason to remain near him.
“Oh. So you mean leave as soon as possible.”
She silently confirmed with her departure, bowing slightly and leaving his space, carefully ignoring the hot gaze on her back.
“Damn.”
As the door slammed, Woo-kyung brushed his hair back irritably.
The lingering scent Eun-jae left behind only made him more restless.
His chest burned with frustration. He downed the whiskey in one go, emptying the glass.
Does she know why I drank a liquor I never touch?
In fact, the mischievous Eun-jae couldn’t even remember what this drink meant.
He chuckled dryly. She had thoroughly erased him, even forgetting the whiskey he had drunk when she stole his first kiss.
Why assign meaning to it alone? Pathetic.
It was the summer after Eun-jae became a college student.
At the end-of-term party, slightly tipsy, she had run to him and kissed him.
“It’s your first time, huh?”
“I… if I’m clumsy and you hate it—”
“No. I like it.”
“……!”
“I really like it, Jung Eun-jae.”
Boldly stealing his lips, her breath carried a faint vanilla scent.
He later learned that she had drunk a lot of whiskey her friend brought.
Even during her sudden break-up and life in the U.S., when she missed Eun-jae, she would drink whiskey filled with vanilla scent.
That way, she preserved the faint scent of their first kiss in her mind.
“And yet, you don’t even know.”
Maybe he should have reminded her immediately.
Swallowing the words she spat at him to leave, biting and teasing, he suppressed his desire. He didn’t want to look foolish, the only one still attached.
…Or had he already become foolish?
Even during a critical moment investigating Oh Hye-joo’s corruption, she had thought of Eun-jae.
“Damn fool.”
Mocking himself, Woo-kyung refilled the glass. The emptied glass clinked onto the table.
His eyes deepened as he recalled “that incident” from a few days ago.
A few days ago, Doyoung Hotel Lounge.
“Prosecutor, is it really okay for us to meet so openly like this?”
The woman across the tea table appeared polite but wary.
Woo-kyung looked around the bright, open lounge with a warm atmosphere and smiled.
“I chose this place on purpose. There’s a saying that it’s darkest under the lamp.”
The woman glanced around the table, then spoke in a firm voice.
“If Chairman Oh Hye-joo finds out… it will be problematic.”
