🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 27
The genealogy Hari and Un found was only half of the original. All the information needed for the lawsuit had been neatly torn away.
Hari desperately needed the missing half and wanted to search Ok Noyeo’s house a little more, but unfortunately, there was no time.
After carefully restoring the shrine to exactly how they had found it, Un and Hari returned home.
At home, Maldong was waiting for Hari with wide, anxious eyes.
Hari soothed the tearful Maldong, who kept saying she had almost woken Jungho and Changgeun because Hari had returned later than promised. Only then did Hari finally go to sleep.
Morning came.
Hari barely touched breakfast before heading to the office.
“Hey, what’s wrong with your face?”
Nahee, who had been sitting on the wooden porch swinging her feet, sprinted toward Hari at frightening speed.
“Who picked on you? Which bastard was it? What idiot dared mess with an oejibu?”
Nahee grabbed Hari’s cheeks tightly with both hands.
She inspected Hari’s bloodshot eyes, the dark circles beneath them, and even the dry, chapped lips sticking out like a duck’s bill.
Flames practically blazed in Nahee’s eyes.
Hari hadn’t come to the oejibu office for three days, and now she looked like a complete mess. Nahee’s mind raced with worries—was the Daesagan household starving her? Had someone hurt her? Her anger simmered hotter and hotter.
“Lem… let go… so I can talk.”
Hari barely managed to answer.
Nahee was taller than Hari. Pulling Hari’s head up to her own eye level forced Hari onto her tiptoes. It was terribly uncomfortable, so Hari gently pushed Nahee away.
Only then did Nahee reluctantly let go.
“Whew. You’re seriously strong.”
Hari rubbed her sore cheeks.
“That’s right. I’m strong. And rich, too. So if anything’s bothering you, tell me. You know what they say? There’s nothing in this world money can’t solve.”
Nahee’s habit of bragging about her wealth somehow sounded fresh every single time.
“Nothing’s bothering me.”
“Then are you hungry? Is your dad starving you?”
Ever since becoming acquainted with Jungho while staying at the Daesagan household, Nahee had started casually calling Hari’s father “Mister.” Jungho never seemed to mind.
Maybe he simply pitied Nahee after everything she had suffered because of her own father.
“Would my father ever starve me?”
“I guess not… Mister isn’t like my father. If even a speck of dust got into your eye, he’d act like the whole world was ending.”
Nahee’s voice wavered slightly.
She wasn’t jealous of Hari, but remembering her own past inevitably left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Knowing exactly what was in Nahee’s heart, Hari always found even her rude behavior endearing and let it slide.
Nahee followed closely behind as Hari entered the office.
When Hari sat down, Nahee took the seat across from her.
As Hari spread out her documents, Nahee opened a book.
A quick glance revealed it was one of the gossip stories Maldong had written.
Our Maldong is raking in money by the armful.
“But why are you here?”
“What? Am I not allowed to be here? This is my house.”
“This is my office.”
“You don’t pay a single coin.”
Hari let out a little hum and folded her arms across her chest.
When I got your marriage annulled, you acted like you’d carry me on your back forever. And now your true colors are showing? That’s a little disappointing. Kind of a shame, too.
“Are you saying I should pay rent?”
If that was what Nahee wanted, Hari could certainly offer a reasonable amount—not much, but enough to show sincerity.
Moving the office wasn’t even under consideration anymore.
People already knew Hari worked here, and relocating would only confuse potential clients.
“Hey! Do I look like some penny-pincher? Don’t you dare pay me! Not a single coin! If you try, I’ll just hand over the deed to the house!”
Nahee shot to her feet, veins bulging in her neck as she shouted at the top of her lungs.
Judging by her expression and actions, it looked like a threat.
Judging by the actual words…
…it was like winning the lottery.
Is this… some overly aggressive way of showing affection?
The thought suddenly crossed Hari’s mind.
“Do you like me?”
“I-I li… what?”
“You don’t?”
“No!”
“So you do like me. That’s why you want to stay with me and be nice to me.”
Nahee’s lips parted soundlessly.
Seeing her flushed face—a mixture of embarrassment and frustration—lifted Hari’s spirits considerably.
“Keep liking me. I’ll work hard and live well enough that your feelings won’t be something to be ashamed of.”
Nahee was simply bad at expressing affection.
Hari wanted to respond sincerely to those genuine feelings.
She smiled brightly.
Nahee puffed out her cheeks until they were round, then slowly let the air escape with a soft whoosh.
“Tell me about Lady Wang Eunyoung’s case instead. Do you actually have a plan? Aunt Chunja stopped by the office again yesterday and stayed for quite a while. Looking at her face, I think her husband hit her. I’m worried he’ll throw her out.”
Hari could already imagine how Chunja was being treated by her husband.
I want to tell her to leave the house… but that could give him leverage during the lawsuit.
As heartbreaking as it was, Chunja had no choice but to endure.
“How’s Eunyoung doing?”
“I think she’s doing fine. Since she’s considered someone else’s family now, they don’t seem to bother her.”
Calling a ten-year-old child “someone else’s family” after marriage…
Hari couldn’t help sighing.
Seeing Hari’s expression darken, Nahee spoke confidently.
“If anything happens, I told her to run straight here. I’ll take good care of her, so don’t worry. I even hired people.”
Afraid Eunyoung’s father might come after them, Nahee had recently hired two sturdy men as temporary guards.
She was completely sincere about protecting both Chunja and Eunyoung.
Suddenly, an idea struck Hari.
Resting her chin on one hand, she looked at Nahee.
“What?”
“Want to work with me?”
“What? You want me to become an oejibu? No thanks. I hate reading law books.”
“Who said anything about becoming an oejibu? Just help me with my work. Investigate cases with me. Protect clients. Come to think of it… that’s already what you’re doing, isn’t it?”
As a lawyer, Hari didn’t feel comfortable letting Nahee work for free.
The rent-free office arrangement was about the limit of what she felt she could accept.
In life, relationships worked best when people gave and received in balance.
Anything beyond that would become a problem.
More importantly…
Nahee needed a new purpose in life.
Judging by how she keeps sticking her nose into everything, she’s bored.
Hari had often seen people who burned with determination to get divorced fall into depression after finally achieving it because they no longer knew what to do with themselves.
Nahee, who had completely cut ties with her family, must feel even emptier.
So…
She would simply give her a job.
“You’ll be my office manager.”
“What?”
“From now on, you’re Manager Kim. I’m the oejibu, you’re the office manager. I’ll pay you too. I can’t offer much.”
“Me… an office manager… Does that mean you recruited me?”
“…Yeah.”
Technically, she was hiring her.
Nahee desperately tried to suppress the corners of her mouth from lifting.
She repeatedly cleared her throat while her legs bounced excitedly beneath her.
“Well… if you insist on working with me that badly, I suppose I’ll help you out. But your standards are pretty high. I’m only agreeing because it’s you.”
“Thank you very much.”
Hari bowed with exaggerated politeness.
Nahee burst into laughter before leaning across the desk with both hands planted firmly on it.
“So what do I do first?”
Hari answered immediately, as if she’d been waiting for that question.
“Go meet the village chief where Ok Noyeo lives.”
“Meet him? Aren’t you going?”
Hari had already been turned away.
The village chief, the village’s eldest authority, was an incredibly stubborn old traditionalist.
The moment he saw Hari, he started waving his cane furiously, calling her someone who destroyed the very foundation of Joseon families.
Hari had even brought makgeolli because she’d heard he liked to drink.
If there had been even the slightest chance the man might eventually open up to her, she would have visited him a second or third time.
Unfortunately…
That didn’t seem likely.
Surely he wouldn’t slam the door in Nahee’s face too.
No one knows Nahee’s face.
Having spent years secluded indoors as a widow before marriage was unexpectedly proving useful now.
“So what am I supposed to ask him?”
“Everything about Ok Noyeo. Even the smallest details.”
“Got it. I’ll even find out how many nose hairs that old man has. What are you doing while I’m gone?”
“I’m going to meet Ok Noyeo’s oejibu.”
“She hired an oejibu?”
“Apparently.”
And not just any one.
She had hired an oejibu renowned throughout Hanyang.
He had contacted Hari yesterday afternoon.
If I’d found solid evidence, I wasn’t planning to meet him. But since I didn’t… I have to.
It would be Hari’s first time meeting another oejibu somewhere other than the Capital Office.
How different would a Joseon oejibu be from a modern Korean lawyer?
Will I be able to learn anything? It’d be nice if his goal is reaching a settlement.
If they failed to find evidence, negotiating a settlement was always Plan B.
After seeing Nahee off, Hari returned to her desk.
She gazed quietly at the case file bearing Eunyoung’s name and sank deep into thought.
