Chapter 10

The next morning, Sa-heon lay stretched out at his ease on the cramped ivory sofa, watching Chief Choi and Ji-an heave sigh after sigh.

The sofa was too small for him to stretch his legs out all the way, yet it was surprisingly comfortable, and one night on it had made the place feel even more like his own.

Ji-an, though, looked drawn. She must have tossed and turned all night.

A laptop, a pile of printouts and a half-drunk cup of coffee covered the small wooden table in front of the sofa. Chief Choi’s voice dropped to a grave pitch.

“Managing Director, word is the audit team has formally opened its inquiry. The stated grounds are a leak of internal information and the potential for creating external risk.”

“What internal information.”

“They’ve latched onto the word ‘material’ you used on that call, sir. The Chairman’s side seems to have read it as you cooking something up with the Vice President’s line, having it go wrong, and then using the threat of a leak to blackmail him.”

“So in the end he went running to Father with a lie.”

If his father, Chairman Lee, had one virtue worth naming, it was this. He might have set up house with a new woman on the excuse of family pressure, with two sons already born out of wedlock, but he played no favorites among his children. He kept all three sons in check equally, and he neglected them equally.

Chief Choi went on carefully.

“My read is that the Vice President means to turn the tables and box you in before you can trip him up.”

“And?”

“They’ve requested access to all of it. Not just the secretariat, but the emails and meeting records of the Business Strategy Team and the Technology Planning Office, both on your line.”

“It’s pressure through official channels. On the surface, it looks like a plausible response to business risk. And in the meantime, they buy time,” Ji-an added.

Still lying on the sofa, Sa-heon propped an arm behind his head and gave a short laugh. Lee Jae-gwon must have been good and riled.

“If it comes to this, you’ll have to appear before the board or the Audit Committee and account for it in person.”

“Then I’ll just do it in person.”

He said it without a care, and—

“You can’t, sir!”

“Absolutely not!”

Ji-an and Chief Choi cried out at the same moment. When Sa-heon only looked at them blankly, Chief Choi cleared his throat. Ahem.

“As you’re aware, you’ve lost your memory, and one wrong step could really turn things against you. You don’t even know the names of the board members.”

Tsk. This had turned into a nuisance. As Sa-heon clicked his tongue, Chief Choi lowered his voice.

“The thing is, for an audit to be carried out, you have to be at the company. They’ll need you to verify emails, account for reports, cooperate with the investigation.”

“And so—” Chief Choi stopped for a moment, then nodded with a resolute look.

“There’s only one conclusion. We manufacture an official reason you can’t come in to the office.”

Hm. Sa-heon thought it over for a moment, then gave a short nod.

“Then we use the car accident as the excuse.”

“Yes. I’ve already got the medical certificate. Officially we’ll process it as sick leave and file a report that you’re recuperating at home for the time being.”

Ji-an dug through the stack of documents, pulled out the paperwork and held it up for him, and Chief Choi added—

“Once that’s done, they’ll have to hold off on inspecting you directly for a while, and in the meantime we can get things in order on the board’s side.”

“Let’s do that.”

Sa-heon knew perfectly well that even if he did go in, he was in no state to handle any real work. And if he was going to take a rest anyway, taking it while infuriating Lee Jae-gwon made it all the more enjoyable. He was sneering inwardly at the thought when Chief Choi made a careful suggestion.

“And I do think you’ll have to move somewhere else for a while.”

“Hmm.”

Sa-heon answered half-heartedly, taking his slow, appreciative time looking Ji-an over.

“I haven’t got anywhere suitable to go.”

In neat beige slacks and a sky-blue blouse, Ji-an was fresh-faced and pretty again today.

“Move somewhere else, hm.”

So how could he manage to stay on here? Chief Choi, by the look of him, wasn’t the sort to raise a single objection or question about anything Sa-heon told him to do. He’d be easy enough to talk around.

“Well, this is a real problem. Nothing to be done about it, I suppose. I’ll have to impose on this place for a while…”

His mouth went through the motions of earnest deliberation, but what he was really thinking about was the dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders, and the slender wrist showing under her rolled-up sleeve, and how much he wanted to take hold of that wrist. And right about then—

“Please don’t worry, Managing Director.”

All of a sudden Ji-an nodded with a resolute look and went on.

“I know a place you can go.”

It was a bolt from the blue, and Sa-heon shot upright on the sofa.

“What is this.”

Sa-heon looked at the rooftop room¹ in disbelief.

What had been waiting for him at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour drive out of Seoul was a tiny rooftop room perched on a two-story house.

Perhaps Ji-an read the disbelief on his face, because she spread her palms and gave him a bright smile.

“This is where you’ll be staying for the time being, Managing Director.”

“So. You’re telling me. To live in a rooftop room.”

“Yes.”

“I’m Lee Sa-heon, though?”

“Haha, yes.”

“Haha?”

“Hahaha.”

You can’t spit in a smiling face, as the saying goes, and the more Sa-heon needled her over every word, the more Ji-an’s eyes crinkled up with her smile. Faced with that kind of nerve, he let out a hollow laugh and looked around in exasperation.

“…”

The green epoxy coating on the rooftop floor threw the sunlight back in a glare so bright he could hardly keep his eyes open, and on an aluminum drying rack a few dry towels and a couple of aprons fluttered in the breeze. Most of the flowerpots set along the edge of the roof held plants that had withered and dried up, and a few held nothing but dirt.

“It looks like this, but it’ll be cozier than you think.”

Ji-an said it in an overly bright voice, like an agent trying to unload a bad listing, and hauled the steel door open with all her strength.

“My unnie had the whole place repaired² when she moved in.”

Kreeeak. The rusted door groaned open. The room must have been used for storage, because inside was a shambles of assorted junk.

Ji-an’s face froze for an instant at the sight. Then she slammed the door shut with a bang and stood in front of it, hiding it behind her back.

“I-it just needs tidying.”

“…What was that. I didn’t get a look.”

“I’ll help you clear it out! It’ll be a little uncomfortable, but please bear with it.”

“Not a little uncomfortable. A lot uncomfortable.”

Haa. Ji-an let out a long sigh, crestfallen.

“I don’t want to put you up in a place like this either, Managing Director. But there’s no other way. Here, at least, nobody will be able to find you. I mean it.”

Sa-heon laughed and swept his hair back.

“That’s my honey, all right. My sweetheart worries about me far too much. Who’s going to come looking for me? Nobody’s coming. Why would anyone come looking for me.”

“That’s only because you don’t know, Managing Director. Chief Choi didn’t go into detail earlier, but apparently this morning was really serious. They say the Vice President came by and made an absolute scene looking for you…”

“Did he?”

“Um, Managing Director. There’s something I’ve been wondering about, though.”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you tell me last night that their side made the attack first?”

“Did I? Maybe it’s the headache. I don’t really remember.”

Sa-heon changed the subject without batting an eye, grinding his teeth at Lee Jae-gwon all the while.

What he felt like doing was storming into the company this instant, accounting for everything and blowing Lee Jae-gwon away. But with his memory gone, that would be no different from sticking his own head into the enemy’s mouth. He might have bluffed his way through a phone call, but face to face, the man was bound to notice that something was off.

Still, a rooftop room was not the answer. Sa-heon smiled brightly and said—

“We’re filing the sick leave anyway, aren’t we? I think I’d be better off just staying at home.”

“You can’t. The Vice President is sure to come to your house again. And keep your phone switched off for a while.”

“My honey’s being awfully firm and capable about protecting me. I’m truly grateful, but the thought’s enough.”

“Managing Director. I’m serious. I’m really worried about your safety.”

This was turning into a headache. Sa-heon pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead.

Then again, he really had got the man’s temper up. The man had gone as far as tampering with the car, and with things where they stood now, he might well decide to be rid of Sa-heon for good this time.

All the same, this wasn’t it.

When moving had come up, the sly idea he’d been entertaining was to land somewhere near Ji-an’s place, or better yet, in Ji-an’s place itself. He should have caught on the moment she punched the address into the navigation with that grim look on her face.

I’ve gone and shot myself in the foot.

Sa-heon looked out at the view beyond the rooftop room, his face uneasy.

A Catholic church stood not far off, and around it lay a small neighborhood of low-rise apartment buildings and houses, with rows of shops huddled among them.

“What on earth kind of neighborhood is this.”

Perhaps Ji-an took the question as a sign that he’d given in, because she brightened and answered promptly as she gathered the aprons and towels off the drying rack.

“It’s called Dansol-ri, out on the edge of Ollyeong County. It’s where I lived when I was little. And this is my unnie’s house.”

She pointed at the church and went on.

“You see the church over there? That’s where I grew up. My unnie and I were raised in the orphanage the church runs.”

“Ah.”

Sa-heon shoved a hand into one pocket.

An orphanage, then. Should he offer some plain word of comfort, or say he was glad she’d at least had her unnie with her? Or, since he’d hardly been raised in an ordinary family himself, offer some half-baked sympathy about knowing how she felt?

“That must have caught you off guard, hearing it out of nowhere like that. But it’s not something I need to hide.”

Ji-an laid the laundry she’d taken down on the rack and folded it neatly, one piece at a time, with a bashful smile. Sa-heon gazed at that smile for a while, then clicked his tongue. Tsk.

“What are you smiling so prettily for.”

“Sorry?”

“Making a man go soft.”

The tips of Ji-an’s ears went scarlet in an instant. Her feelings were showing plain as day, and Sa-heon took a step closer.

“Say I stay here. Then what about you, Ms. Han Ji-an.”

He asked it with a sidelong, downward look, and Ji-an answered without meeting his eyes.