Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“…What do you want?”

Heejae asked. Her voice was ice-cold, treating him like an unwelcome guest.

Yesterday at the supermarket was one thing. That might have been a coincidence, but running into him here, now? Impossible.

Either he’d asked the motel clerk who knew her destination, or he’d tailed her from the start. Only two options.

Either way, he had gone out of his way to find her. But why?

“The fuck do you mean, ‘what do you want’?”

Sewon stared her down, then slipped a cigarette between his teeth. A flame flared at the tip, lighting up his furrowed brow and sharp nose.

His expression was just as irritated as his tone. So was the gaze he leveled at her through the rising white smoke.

“You think my words are absolute shit, don’t you, Heejae.”

Kang Heejae. Heejae…

He said her name, and a voice echoed in her head.

A younger silhouette flickered over his face, then vanished.

Heejae frowned and let go of the doorknob. She turned to face him.

“Do we know each other?”

Sewon took another silent drag. He let the smoke sink deep into his lungs, and as it drifted back out, his tightly closed lips slowly parted.

“No.”

“We don’t know each other?”

“We don’t just know each other. We know each other fucking well.”

She couldn’t remember, but she was certain he was in her memories.

Maybe he was the man who saved her on that rainy bridge, or the one who planted roses in the backyard.

Maybe he was both.

A savior, a man she’d let into her home. Either way, they must have known each other very well, just as he said.

Yet she couldn’t bring herself to believe him completely.

The hostility radiating from him didn’t match her fragmented memories.

It was definitely not her imagination.

“Ah. You don’t remember?”

He sneered and took a step forward.

The heavy thud of his shoes stopped right in front of her. Heejae quietly curled her fingers into fists. She slowly looked up at the man, who towered a full head over her.

His lips twisted into a smirk. He tapped his temple with the hand holding the cigarette.

“Because it’s completely empty up here?”

Veins bulged faintly on the backs of her clenched hands.

“…I’ll ask one last time. What do you want?”

“You still don’t know your place.”

Despite her sharp glare, Sewon only smirked wider, finding her reaction pathetic.

“I wondered what gave you the balls to come back here…”

He pulled his hand from his pants pocket. Heejae instinctively clenched her jaw.

It was an old childhood habit, born from standing around like an idiot and getting the inside of her cheek torn open.

Fortunately, he didn’t throw a punch. He flicked a stiff business card at her face.

Belatedly realizing her defensive reflex, Heejae let out a shaky breath.

“You’re the lawyer Ha Hyunsu brought in?”

The card clipped her cheek and fluttered down. The gold-foil MK logo glinted on the paper, right above her neatly printed name: Kang Heejae.

“Don’t tell me you remember that bastard.”

Sewon tossed his cigarette butt next to the card and ground it under his shoe.

“Because that would actually hurt my feelings.”

She didn’t understand a single thing he said, but that last line was the most baffling of all.

Why? The question wouldn’t stop.

Rummaging through the empty drawers of her memory only worsened the headache. A sharp, needle-like pain stabbed at her brain. She bit down hard on the tender flesh inside her mouth.

The man lifted his gaze from the yellow linoleum floor.

“Since you don’t, I’ll put this nicely.”

“…”

“Drop this case, Attorney Kang Heejae.”

By “this case,” he had to mean the advisory counsel position.

She knew, but she played dumb.

“What case are you talking about?”

“Whatever it is.”

He doesn’t know. He didn’t know the specifics of her retainer.

Heejae let out a dry laugh and looked up at Sewon with a tilted head.

“And why should I do that?”

“Because making an enemy out of me won’t end well for you.”

“An enemy…”

No way…

A sharp gasp escaped her lips.

She realized who he was.

Before coming down to Geumnakri, she had run a quick background check on the head of the redevelopment association.

He was a local who had served as village head for years, tight with the local elite—especially the Geumseong family, who had been rooted in the area for three generations.

Geumseong Group, the conglomerate built by the family, had conveniently been selected as the redevelopment contractor. Since then, rumors of a corrupt connection between the family and the association head had persisted.

The rumored partner in that connection was the CEO of Geumseong D&C, a demolition firm under the Geumseong Group umbrella.

If the association head got ousted, this CEO had the most to lose. He was the only person who would view her, and her acceptance of Ha Hyunsu’s offer, as an enemy.

The CEO of Geumseong D&C, Kim Sewon.

She hadn’t expected to meet him like this.

Her discomfort spiked into genuine anxiety.

The rumors about him were universally violent, and she was completely isolated out here.

Heejae glanced at the open iron door behind him and forced her voice to stay level.

“For someone who knows me ‘fucking well,’ you don’t seem to know me at all.”

“What?”

“Threats don’t work on me, CEO Kim Sewon.”

Having made it clear she knew exactly who he was, she took a slow step forward.

“Besides, lawyers never end up in a good spot anyway. That’s why we look at the terms. If I’m going to get cursed out, I might as well get paid enough to make it worth my while.”

Sewon pivoted to follow Heejae as she stepped around him, then stopped.

Heejae stopped too, her lips curving upward. Sewon arched a sharp eyebrow, demanding to know what she was doing. She mirrored his expression and continued.

“I haven’t signed a contract yet. You know what that means, right?”

“Are you trying to make a deal? If I offer better terms than Ha Hyunsu, you’ll back off?”

“It’s a better strategy than bringing up useless memories. Think about it.”

“…”

“Because those memories…”

She trailed off and raised her right hand. She tapped her temple, just like he had.

“…aren’t in my head anyway.”

It was pure bravado, only possible because she had a clear path to the door now. A calculated bluff to leave room for negotiation without looking like an easy target.

“Still arrogant, too.”

Sewon tilted his chin up, looking down at her. He poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue and laughed.

Heejae’s face went rigid.

She had only played that little game with the contract to get out of the room safely.

She wanted to show she wasn’t on anyone’s side yet, that she could easily be swayed. If there was room for compromise, he’d have no reason to push her.

But she had provoked something much more dangerous.

Poking his left cheek with his tongue was an old habit of his. The realization made her heart drop.

He always made that exact face when he found something amusing.

When watching a dying cat. When observing a gang beating from a distance. When staring down at her after they were assigned as desk mates in class…

Fragmented memories swirled in her head. Her stomach churned, and bile rose in her throat.

“Then… I’ll see you around, CEO Kim Sewon.”

Heejae turned her back on him and hurried out of the village hall.

She collapsed to her knees on the gravel nearby. Yellow bile spewed from her lips. She heaved, blood rushing to her head, her pulse pounding in her ears.

The gravel dug into her knees. The throbbing pain brought tears to her eyes.

A few days later, Heejae went back to Dong-a Supermarket.

The recurring nightmares were one thing, but the nasty headache from that day still hadn’t faded.

It was like a signal demanding she remember something. The nagging sensation only grew stronger with time. She couldn’t just sit around.

She decided to start with the supermarket owner. The woman knew everything about the neighborhood—and about Kim Sewon.

Heejae pulled an ice cream bar from the chest freezer outside and slipped into the store. Bongsoon, who had been watching TV, jumped to her feet.

“Heejae! You’re still around?”

“Yes. I think I’ll be staying a bit longer.”

Heejae handed over the ice cream and a few thousand-won bills. Bongsoon took the cash, then pushed two of the bills back.

“That’s too much. Here.”

“It’s for the water from the other day.”

“I told you, forget it. You think I can’t spare a bottle of water?”

“Please take it. I’ll feel bad if you don’t.”

“You used to run up a tab every single day, and now you’re too proud? Guess you’re making good money these days.”

“Should I pay off the tab?”

Heejae paused halfway through opening her ice cream and looked at Bongsoon with an innocent face.

“How much…”

“I’m joking. Joking! That tab wasn’t yours anyway. It was your father’s booze money. If I’m collecting that, I’ll do it in the afterlife.”

Heejae’s face stiffened at the sudden mention of her father. Bongsoon quickly pulled out her old cash box and added:

“L-look, even with the water, you’ve got a thousand won left over. Grab another ice cream next time you pass by. Got it?”

“Okay…”

Heejae nodded. Hearing the sudden exhaustion in her voice, Bongsoon wanted to slap herself. Why did I have to bring up that dead guy…

Bongsoon scrambled to change the subject. Heejae pulled the wrapper off her popsicle and popped it into her mouth.

“You still like those, huh? You used to eat them all the time.”

“I did?”

Heejae’s eyes went wide. She looked exactly like she had back in her school uniform days. Bongsoon’s eyes crinkled in a smile.

“Oh, yeah. Back in the day, Sewon used to buy ’em out all the time just to give to you.”