Chapter 54

Chapter 54

By this point, it felt safe to say they were each just talking about themselves. Yoon Seokchan had already decided on the conclusion he wanted, no matter what the other person said, and he had no intention of budging even an inch from it.

So what the hell was he really after, saying all this to her now?

Heeju took a step back from the situation, choosing to listen in silence as she tried to read Seokchan’s true intention.

“For now, he’ll dote on you because you’re pretty. Coddle you, c*ck-hungry and all. But how long do you think that lasts?”

“…….”

“The moment you start feeling like a nuisance, or you get in the way of his future, that bastard will toss you aside without blinking. Even if you’re his woman.”

The things Seokchan was saying sounded contradictory. Heeju asked in a flat voice,

“You said you want me to become ‘something’ to Executive Director Kwon. Then why are you warning me like this?”

“Ah. You really are smart. You see things clearly.”

Seokchan let his shoulders sag, clicking his tongue softly.

“Honestly, I’m conflicted myself.”

“…….”

“Part of me wants you to become someone special to him. Someone who trips him up, blocks his path a little.”

His voice dropped lower.

“But at the same time… I can’t stop worrying you’ll get hurt by him.”

“…You don’t even know me that well.”

“Maybe not. But feelings like that don’t always need a reason, do they? Let’s call it… my way of mourning Ko Heejin.”

“How did you even know Ko Heejin?”

Heeju looked straight at him.

“Haven’t you said enough warm-up already?”

From the start, Heeju couldn’t have cared less about how massive Seokchan’s love-hate obsession with Gukhyeon was, or how deep the crack ran between two men who only called each other brothers in name. What happened between them was their problem. She honestly wished they’d just deal with it themselves.

“Did no one ever tell you anything about Ko Heejin?”

Seokchan rubbed the bridge of his nose and slid off the bed. Heeju frowned slightly.

She hated the way he’d been circling her since earlier, never saying anything straight, just poking and testing. So she decided to return the favor. Eye for an eye. If he wanted to probe, she’d probe right back.

“That depends on what kind of story you mean.”

Seokchan let out a short laugh. The way his smile collapsed made him look tired, and at the same time, razor-sharp.

“Don’t try to play games with me. I’m a lot more of an older brother than you. You should listen when an adult talks.”

“I don’t know. In my experience, people who say things like that are never actually adults.”

“Oh. Then you should start being more careful about who you associate with.”

“So are you going to let me leave now?”

“Haha. You don’t want to be friendly with me, huh? Is that what you’re saying?”

Instead of answering, Heeju glanced at the men still blocking the doorway. Big, solid figures planted there like wooden totems. They avoided her eyes and looked to Seokchan instead, waiting for his signal.

“You can ignore everything I said before,” Seokchan said. “But if you really want to know about your dead sister, then listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

His expression hardened. He lowered his voice until it was almost a whisper.

“This is my personal number. Don’t save it. Memorize it.”

He pulled out a business card case from his inner pocket, flipped through it, and handed one card to Heeju. She looked down at the number.

It was simple enough to remember at a glance. What bothered her was how secretive he was being.

“There’s a safe in Executive Director Kwon’s bedroom,” Seokchan said. “Bring me the USB inside it.”

“…….”

Heeju let out a short, cynical laugh. It was the kind of laugh that said she could not believe this was all he had to say after building things up so dramatically.

“You really think I’m going to listen to you, Director Yoon?”

The fact that she had been taking him seriously up until now was so ridiculous it kept making dry laughter slip out. What the hell was I even expecting.

Seriously, there was not a single decent human being anywhere near Kwon Gukhyeon. She had thought all he dealt with were knives and baseball bats, but somehow it was people like this swarming around him instead.

She could see how a person ended up like that. When you are constantly surrounded by villains who sniff out weaknesses and wait for a chance to tear you down, there is no room left to stay normal.

“If you’re going to ask me to play spy, shouldn’t you at least tell me where the safe is, what the password is, that kind of thing? Oh, and how I’m supposed to sneak into Executive Director Kwon’s bedroom, too,” Heeju said.

“…….”

“I don’t know what’s on that USB, but it sounds pretty important. You should also tell me what the success fee is.”

“If you succeed in taking the USB from the safe…”

Seokchan stepped closer. An overpoweringly heavy scent of cologne hit her nose.

“I’ll give you as much money as you want. Enough that you could live comfortably and still die without spending it all. I’ll compensate you with an amount of money a mere forensic pathologist could never get their hands on, even if they busted their a-s autopsying ten bodies a day for their entire life.”

He took back the business card he had handed her earlier.

“But from what I can tell, Ko Heeju, you don’t seem like someone who’s drawn to money. You’re curious about something else. Executive Director Kwon, the people under him, and Ko Heejin. You want to know how they’re all tangled together. That’s why you became his personal doctor in the first place, right?”

“I became his personal doctor just to make a living.”

Heeju said it without blinking as she looked straight at Seokchan. It was a lie, but that was fine. Yoon Seokchan had not been telling her the full truth either.

“I am curious about Ko Heejin, enough to be listening to this ridiculous story right now. But curious enough to do pointless spy work? I don’t think so. I’m not that stupid.”

“If you were stupid, I wouldn’t have made this offer in the first place. You memorized it all, right?”

Seokchan fluttered the business card right in front of her face. Then he pulled out a lighter and set fire to the edge of the card.

“There are a few things I can guess he might use as a password. But in the end, you’ll have to try them yourself.”

He flung the burning business card onto the table. The card crackled as it went up in flames, and a sharp, acrid stench of burnt paper spread through the hospital room.

Watching the card blacken and curl, Heeju thought to herself: he could have just taken it back normally. Why bother setting it on fire. Was it just for show. Either way, he was a weird one.

“As for where the safe is… honestly, I don’t know,” Seokchan said, shrugging shamelessly.
“Probably somewhere in the bedroom.”

“And sneaking into Executive Director Kwon’s bedroom…”

Seokchan’s gaze slid over Heeju from head to toe, slow and unsettling.

“I don’t think that would be very difficult for you, Ko Heeju.”

Heeju let out a deep sigh. She did not bother hiding her obvious displeasure.

“The more I listen, the more it sounds like you’re actively trying to get sued for sexual harassment, Director Yoon.”

“Haha, that’s a dangerous thing to say. Before you even make it to a police station with a complaint, my wife would erase you from the world without leaving a trace. If you plan on working next to Executive Director Kwon for long, you should watch your mouth.”

“You must have a very loving wife.”

“Ah, look at me. I must’ve bragged about my wife again without thinking. You’ll forgive me, right? We’re still basically newlyweds.”

“…….”

How long was this tedious, unpleasant conversation supposed to go on. Her patience was wearing thin by the second.

Suddenly, there was a loud clatter outside, and the sliding door rattled open. Sungang, just back from his tests, froze for a moment at the unfamiliar scene inside the room.

His gaze swept from Heeju and Seokchan standing face to face in the middle of the room, to the bulky men in black suits lined up by the door. His expression twisted viciously.

“You fuc.1ng bastard. Who the hell do you think you are, barging in here and shoving your face into my space?”

Sungang kicked off the floor and lunged forward at the same time Seokchan’s aides rushed to block him. His blue hospital gown flapped as Sungang swung his arm hard. His fist slammed squarely into the stomach of the man who stepped up first.

As the man doubled over with a choked grunt, Sungang drove his knee up into the man’s face with brutal force.