Chapter 1

Their vision blurred.

It was accurate to say their eyes had rolled back in a fury.

A dawn buried in heavy snow, a university district residential alley draped in silence. Click, click. The metallic sound of a lighter wheel turning meaninglessly echoed eerily down the alley.

The moment lights turned on inside a first-floor villa a man and a woman had entered side by side, a dark figure from behind a streetlight revealed itself beneath the yellow glow. The man, whose face was hidden by a hat, was wearing a thin jumper and slippers, yet he remained detached as if immune to the cold.

Before long, the light in the window he was glaring at flickered out.

“Total bullshit.”

Veins bulged fiercely across a fist reddened and scraped by the cold.

Should I flip it? That kid wouldn’t even recognize me anyway. The self-derision lingering on his dry lips was chilling.

The man threw his head back and slowly lowered his eyelids. The breath he spat out, pressing down as he clenched his teeth, drew a hazy path and scattered into the distant empty air.

Right. It’s too disappointing to just leave like this.

His gaze, which had glanced over the window, searched around the snow-covered flowerbed. Tapping things with his foot to choose one to his liking, the man bent down with an upsi-daisy. His right hand, pulled from his pocket, held a rock the size of an adult’s fist. With a polished surface, it was quite prettily shaped.

The rock, tossed up a couple of times as if to gauge its weight, left his hand with momentum behind it.

Crash!

Tearing through the silence of dawn, the window glass shattered into a messy pile of fragments, a scream burst out, and simultaneously the inside of the window blazed brightly.

The man, who had been focusing on the sound with a bored expression, leisurely turned his back and walked away, turning his back on the commotion.

I know.

‘How, how can you do this to me! I’ve served the president for over ten years!’

That you and I must never be entangled.

‘The madame and I, I… it’s hard to even put into words. You know it’s not true……’

That we cannot be together.

’……Young Master.’

Knowing full well, it was a relationship I maintained out of my own selfishness. Deceiving innocent you, purely for my own greed.

I thought there would be no end if I hid myself like that and deceived you. Rather, so naively.

’-……Wanna meet up?’

If I had known that would be the last,

’-Let’s stop this kind of thing now. We’re not kids.’

If I had known that would be the end. I would have revealed myself before you, even in such a pathetic state. Even if I were to be condemned, I would have done so.

Standing at the entrance of the alley, the man cast his gaze over his shoulder. The snowflakes, which had grown thicker by now, fell upon his footprints and erased his traces.

I will no longer seek you out first. Because if we meet again, I won’t let you go.

No matter what lies at our beginning,

No matter what reason exists for you and me to be impossible.

The top floor of Jaeyang Group’s headquarters, Chairman Kim Sangho’s office.

“What kind of shape is this if you’re trying to become something?”

Kim Sangho, buried in the sofa, clicked his tongue with a displeased expression. The frequent, uncomfortable silences and cold gazes devoid of warmth. This was a father-son reunion after four years.

“Surely you aren’t asking because you’re genuinely curious?”

Kim Ju-shin, sitting diagonally opposite, asked with a faint smile. It was a behavior meant to scratch at one’s nerves.

Arriving at the airport this morning, he had been escorted straight here. Having neatly changed into a pre-prepared suit instead of the training clothes he had worn in.

“Cut the small talk and get to work.”

A listless voice ended the brief silence. Ju-shin dismissed it with ease.

“No thanks.”

Resolutely, without even a pretense of hesitation.

“No thanks?”

“I need to study.”

“Study?”

Repeating the end of the sentence as if dumbfounded, Chairman Kim Sangho pulled a bundle of photographic prints out of a yellow envelope placed on the table and hurled them. The glossy paper reflected the light as it slowly plummeted. Most of the photos were of nightlife establishments like clubs or bars, and the subject was Kim Ju-shin.

“Wow.”

Admiring the scattered items as he looked down, Ju-shin lazily fiddled with his earlobe.

“You could have just called if you wanted to see me. Why spend money like this?”

“You…!”

Blushing red with anger, Chairman Kim Sangho picked up a decorative golf ball he had been holding and threw it. Embedding itself in the marble wall with a loud thud, the ball rolled across the tile floor.

Dodging it with just a casual tilt of his head from his seat, Ju-shin patted his chest with a mischievous sense of relief.

“Calm down. Who is that young punk having a private audience with the Chairman, people must already be so curious.”

What would you do if you got caught? The corners of his eyes folded in half as he spoke in a whisper. Despite the provocation, Chairman Kim Sangho replied calmly.

“I’ll place you in a proper position, so start learning the ropes right away.”

It seemed Chairman Kim Sangho was quite ill. Mentally. Just the other day, he had been trembling for fear a single strand of his illegitimate child’s hair would be discovered. And now he wanted him to learn the work.

Slowly rising to his feet, Ju-shin tugged at his jacket to neaten his appearance. Chairman Kim Sangho’s sharp gaze tracked his movements. Full of disapproval.

“I’m a blank slate, Father.”

So. Dragging out the end of his words, his long eyes curved prettily.

“Don’t scratch me.”

Contrary to his warm expression, his low voice was icy.

Chairman Kim didn’t try to stop him further. It was as if he knew things would eventually go his way. Even so, it was plainly evident that he was suppressing a boiling rage.

“Oh.”

As Ju-shin was leaving with a polite bow, he suddenly flicked his finger and spun around.

“You probably need to change the agency doing your background check. They are pretty rookie-ish.”

Before he even finished speaking, some unidentifiable piece of metal flew by at a terrifying speed.

Oops. Ducking slightly to dodge it, Ju-shin bared his teeth in a grin. Wrapping up with a grumbling remark that the rod of love was getting more aggressive by the day, he left the room.

Click.

As the hinges latched, Chief Secretary Kwon, who had been waiting, fell in step beside him. Though called an executive secretary, he was essentially no different from a watcher assigned by Chairman Kim.

Stepping into the elevator, Ju-shin loosened his tie slightly. A look of fatigue was clearly visible on Chief Secretary Kwon’s face reflected in the copper panel. Understandably so; he had dragged him out since morning, made him change clothes, and even nagged him until his mouth was dry.

“Kim Ju-shin.”

A low sigh flowed over the descending mechanical hum.

“Don’t provoke the Chairman.”

“Your words are getting short, Manager. To the young master.”

Kwon Seon-o, Chairman Kim Sangho’s closest confidant and the de facto power broker of Jaeyang Group.

Ju-shin had followed him quite well since childhood. Because he was the only person who had treated him like a human being when he was treated like an outsider.

“It’s like hitting a rock with an egg. You know that. If you’re going to break someday, break quietly.”

“Yeah, I know. But I don’t want to be an easy egg.”

“For an egg, your mouth sure runs wild.”

Checking the floor numbers nearing the first floor, Kwon Seon-o turned his body and straightened Ju-shin’s tie. Who would even know he was of this family’s bloodline? It was quite a remarkable dedication.

“Don’t do this, Chief Secretary Kwon. If my heart flutters, it’ll be troublesome for both of us, you know?”

“You’re not my type.”

“Liar.”

Ding.

The elevator stopped on the first floor and opened its doors wide. As Ju-shin straightened his back from leaning against the wall and stepped out into the lobby, a waiting crowd rushed in all at once.

Just then. Excuse me, shouted a small woman urgently as she sprinted past him. That sight unfolded slowly, like in slow motion.

With cheeks flushed faintly from running diligently and lips holding a smile. A tear mole embedded beneath her left eye. Seeing that much, Ju-shin instinctively turned on his heel and pressed the open button. The overcrowded elevator, which had nearly closed, opened its doors again. At that, the woman who had boarded last met his gaze.

The face only he knew, seen after seven years.

“……”

Feeling his gaze sweeping over her employee ID card, the hazel-brown eyes, wary of a stranger, seemed to say: Get off if you’re not getting on.

Because he had held the closing elevator for so long, murmurs of irritation began to leak out.

“Interesting.”

He phrased it that way, but it wasn’t an amused expression. Since it was too loud to be a monologue, the woman’s expression changed strangely as if she had heard it.

Jaeyang Food PR Team, Jung Woojung.

PR Team Jung Woojung. Is that so?

Only after chewing on it one more time did his long fingers release the button. The eyes chasing the woman disappearing between the closing doors soon turned toward Kwon Seon-o.

“Chief Secretary Kwon. Give me a call once Mr. Kim Sangho calms down.”

“……Why?”

Hmm. His eyes narrowed in a pretense of deep thought before he soon smiled brightly.

“I thought I might become an easy egg after all.”

To the young master who had started walking ahead, Chief Secretary Kwon questioned his ulterior motives with silence. Ju-shin shrugged his shoulders as if it were no big deal.

“I just decided. My career path.”