Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kang Heejae had built a pretty successful life for herself. A lawyer at a top firm, a 45th-floor penthouse in Seoul overlooking the Han River. He’d already seen her expensive car with his own two eyes.

She wanted for nothing. So what was Ha Hyunsu offering her? What kind of payout was enough to drag her back to a place she hadn’t spared a single glance in eleven years?

Sewon had given it some serious thought over the last few days. He was half-tempted to take her up on that “deal.”

One thing was certain: Ha Hyunsu hadn’t brought Kang Heejae here just to play lawyer.

Maybe it was a tactic to rattle him. Or maybe there was another motive entirely.

Whatever it was, it didn’t sit right with him. He needed to send Kang Heejae packing as soon as possible.

Whatever it cost. Whatever it took.

“Tell me. I need to know how much you’re getting so I can decide if I should outbid him.”

Sewon parted his lips, pressing for an answer. The heat was enough to make him squint. He went to take another bite of the popsicle, but a prickling sensation on his right cheek stopped him. He slid his gaze over to Heejae. She was staring a hole right through him.

Instead of biting down, he slipped his tongue out and slowly licked up the melting ice cream. Deliberately slow. Blatantly suggestive.

“Or is it not money you’re getting?”

His eyes crinkled with a sly, filthy implication. Heejae furrowed her brow and wrenched her wrist out of his grip.

“Too bad. Lawyers have a duty of confidentiality.”

“So you’re not going to tell me?”

“Make me an offer first. Then I’ll answer.”

Sewon chewed on the end of the popsicle stick for a moment, then tossed it over his shoulder. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, the stick bounced off the glass door and dropped perfectly into the trash can.

Heejae’s eyes tracked the stick, then snapped back at the sound of a low chuckle.

“What a shame. That’s as far as my negotiating goes.”

Sewon met her gaze and gave an infuriating half-shrug.

“Chasing you around with bags of cash hurts my pride a little. Besides, that’s not the only way to get things done.”

“That’s a shame. I was hoping you’d be a reasonable man.”

Heejae pulled a pack of cigarettes from her cardigan pocket. She stripped the plastic and foil with practiced ease. Sewon watched her in silence before finally speaking.

“And what’s unreasonable?”

“You know. Burying someone up to their neck on a mountain, or stuffing a hostage in an oil drum to use as leverage. When you say ‘other ways’ besides negotiating, isn’t that what you mean?”

She pulled out a long, thin cigarette and caught it between her teeth, her lips curving into a smile.

“Of course, I’d prefer it if you were a dignified CEO, Kim Sewon.”

“…”

“But that’s how thugs operate, isn’t it?”

Was she fearless, or just bluffing? Sewon let out a dry laugh, poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue. He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket.

“What gives you the nerve to run your mouth like that? What if I really am a thug?”

“Are you going to prove it? Thug?”

Click. Sewon sparked the Zippo lighter he’d pulled from his pocket and smirked.

“You’re entertaining, but I don’t have the time to play along.”

He offered the bright red flame to her. She leaned in.

Sewon watched her for a long moment. The sight of pale smoke curling out from between her perfect lips was entirely unfamiliar. Suddenly, the eleven-year gap between them felt very real.

“That really is a shame.”

Her flat response sparked an inexplicable surge of irritation in him.

“Watch your mouth, Kang Heejae.”

His voice dropped to a dangerous low. Heejae hesitated, the cigarette halfway to her lips.

Sewon casually plucked the cigarette from between her fingers.

“Keep acting this entertaining, and I might just have to make time to play with you.”

He toyed with the slender cigarette, looking almost fascinated by how awkwardly thin it felt in his hand. Then, just like the popsicle he’d stolen earlier, he brought it to his own lips.

“I’m a little curious to see what Lawyer Kang looks like when she’s scared. The one with the supposedly trash personality.”

He took a deep drag, his cheeks hollowing out. Smoke slipped past his curving lips.

“I wonder if that’d turn me on, too.”

–

“That fucking thug…”

Sitting by the window in a quiet cafe, Heejae scowled as Sewon’s face flashed in her mind.

The lawyer with the trash personality. He’d chosen those exact words to let her know he’d read the articles about her.

Heejae was never one to care about labels like that. The media outlets calling her a money-hungry, power-crazed bitch were just desperate for a scoop. Getting emotional over a group of people who didn’t care about the truth was a waste of energy.

Let them talk. It meant absolutely nothing to her.

It shouldn’t have mattered. So why did Kim Sewon’s words get under her skin?

Did it strike a nerve?

“Haa.”

Heejae pressed her fingertips against her throbbing temples.

Just thinking about him gave her a headache. Her eyes ached. Her whole body ached. At this point, she was ready to blame him for her worsening nightmares, too.

She was already well past her prescribed dosage of medication, but it wasn’t doing any good. And every time she dwelled on that fact, her mind drifted back to the roses at the village hall.

They say snakes can’t crawl in because of the rose vines.

She didn’t know if the man from her memories was telling the truth. And even if he was, there was no guarantee it would do anything to stop the nightmares.

But she wanted to cling to it anyway. Maybe because she could feel herself slowly losing her mind.

She already suffered from insomnia, but she’d spent the last two days completely wide awake. Her focus was so shot she could barely read the documents resting on her lap. She glared at the blurry, overlapping text on the white paper before finally squeezing her eyes shut.

A tall paper bag was set down on the table.

“Sorry, am I late? I got here as fast as I could.”

The man taking the seat across from her with that friendly greeting was none other than Ha Hyunsu. Heejae slowly opened her eyes. He slid the paper bag toward her with a warm smile.

“A gift. It’s wine.”

Hyunsu’s crisp beige shirt and gentle demeanor were a stark contrast to Sewon. His slightly downturned eyebrows, the dimple that popped in his left cheek when he smiled—they couldn’t be more different.

And yet, they both have that same strangely unpleasant look in their eyes.

Heejae was about to reject the uncomfortable gift when Hyunsu spoke up again.

“I heard you turned down the hotel key. You could have at least accepted that. I’m the one who called you down here, after all.”

A few days ago, his secretary had shown up at her motel with a hotel keycard and a corporate card. He’d claimed Hyunsu wanted her to be comfortable during her stay, even though they hadn’t signed a contract yet. Naturally, Heejae had rejected it without a second thought. None of it felt like a simple favor.

Looking back, there had been something off about Ha Hyunsu ever since he first showed up at MK.

If they really went to school together, there was no way he didn’t know about her amnesia. Yet he had greeted her like an old friend, fully aware she wouldn’t remember him.

Why… Why seek me out, of all people?

“Ah, sorry if I offended you.”

Heejae’s face had hardened as the belated realization set in. Hyunsu hurriedly apologized.

“I was just worried. You’ve been here a few days, so you know… this area isn’t exactly safe.”

Heejae gathered the documents from her lap and placed them face-down on the table.

“I’ve actually found it pretty comfortable here. It’s quiet, and there’s no one around. That’s why I turned you down, so don’t worry about it.”

It was the truth. She had wanted to flee after the first night, but now she actually preferred the motel. At some point, the room conditions had drastically improved. Almost suspiciously so.

Fresh, crisp bedding was swapped out daily, and the high-end amenities were a far cry from what she’d seen on day one. It rivaled any decent hotel.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t heard any couples f-ck!ng through the walls since that day, either.

Not having to run into anyone in the halls was a blessing, especially since she was supposedly down here to “reflect on her actions.”

Hyunsu still looked concerned. Before he could try offering the keycard again, Heejae cut to the chase.

“Your secretary passed along the union members’ concerns. The union president allegedly took a forty-million-won bribe from Kim Sewon, the CEO of Geumseong D&C. Because of that, you want to push to dismiss the President and replace the contractor. Tell me, is this Gangjin Group’s script?”

“…”

“And what you’re after are the construction rights?”

If the Union President and the current contractor, Geumseong, were ousted over corruption, a new contractor would have to be selected. Hyunsu clasped his hands on the table at her blunt question.

“That’s right. I’m sure you know why we’re going to these lengths. You are a corporate lawyer at a top firm, after all.”

In a multi-billion-dollar redevelopment project, this kind of backroom brokering was par for the course. No, what Heejae couldn’t understand was something else entirely.

“I don’t think it’s a smart move for you to be directly involved like this. It could cause problems down the line.”

Even if everything went according to plan and Gangjin Group won the bid, Geumseong could use this exact interference to drag them down. Normally, you’d use a proxy to prevent that.

It was basic common sense. There was no way a director of a major conglomerate didn’t know that.

Yet he had personally sought her out to offer her the position of advisory counsel for the union.

That nagging question reared its head again.

Why…?

Hyunsu’s eyes crinkled in a pleasant smile.

“What’s the problem? I just happened to run into an old classmate. And you, taking a break in your old hometown, just happened to hear about some local elders in a tough spot and decided to help them out.”

Ah. So that wasn’t the end of the script.

Ha Hyunsu had planned for all of this to look like a complete coincidence from the very beginning.

“I see. So that’s why it had to be me.”

That was why he had sought her out. She was the perfect, plausible cover to execute his plan.

And the attitude scandal that blew up at just the right time… was that really a coincidence?

Heejae narrowed her eyes and spoke in a slow, measured tone.

“Kim Sewon already knows, by the way. He knows you’re the one who brought me here.”

Hyunsu paused, his teacup halfway to his mouth. He let out an easy laugh and set the cup back down.

“‘Kim Sewon.’ That sounds so formal. Do you really not remember him?”

“I know him. Kim Sewon.”

Heejae’s voice was deadpan.

“He’s the man who killed my father.”

She might have lost her memories, but she still knew the facts.

Especially an open secret that everyone in the world seemed to know.