38.
On his first day back home, Haseo looked around the room and then sat on the bed. Normally, he would have been busy going out to run the vacuum cleaner and preparing to make meals.
‘But should I be doing that?’
Having committed what he did, he wasn’t sure if he should be casually moving around the house. So for a while, he just sat with his hands tightly clasped, staring blankly into space. As he did so, his anxiety grew like a monster, increasing in size.
‘This won’t do.’
Haseo gritted his teeth and got up. He thought doing something would make him feel much better. If he did something he shouldn’t, Park Dongsu would tell him. So he opened the door and walked into the living room. First, he went to the kitchen to check if there were any ingredients left. Since he had stocked the refrigerator even on the day he collapsed after taking the drug, there was nothing lacking. So he put on an apron and stood in front of the sink as usual.
Park Dongsu just quietly watched Haseo’s actions.
‘Don’t think about it.’
Thinking wasn’t necessary right now. For now, the people who would eat were Choi Mujin, Park Dongsu, and himself. Since there were roughly enough ingredients, he pondered what to make. But unlike usual, his mind wasn’t working well. Because of this, he made frequent mistakes. He cut his hand with a knife while chopping vegetables and broke a dish.
“Are you alright?”
Park Dongsu urgently approached at the sound of the breaking dish.
“I’m fine. The dish just fell.”
Haseo picked up the fragments of the broken dish while trying hard not to cry.
“You’ll hurt your hand. Leave it. I’ll do it.”
With those words, Park Dongsu pushed Haseo aside and cleaned up the dish instead. Haseo tried to intervene, but Park Dongsu firmly refused. Looking at the now clean kitchen floor, Park Dongsu spoke again.
“Wait, you’ve hurt your hand too?”
Only then did Haseo remember the cut he got while chopping vegetables.
“It’s fine.”
This much would heal quickly with some medicine and a bandage. While he didn’t think it was something Park Dongsu needed to worry about, the man seemed to think differently. He pushed Haseo into the living room and immediately brought out a first aid kit.
“You should have said something if you were hurt.”
“It’s not a serious injury.”
As Haseo hesitantly replied, Park Dongsu let out a small sigh. Even though it was a minor action, Haseo was startled and hunched his shoulders.
“Mr. Lee Haseo.”
“Yes?”
“Are you scared?”
At Park Dongsu’s words, Haseo didn’t know what expression to make. He just nibbled on his lips.
“Let’s look at your hand first.”
Feeling his determination to treat it, Haseo extended his hand to him. The cut was truly insignificant.
“I told you it’s fine.”
As he added a comment, Park Dongsu cleaned the wound with an alcohol swab. Even though it was a shallow wound, it stung when the antiseptic touched it. After disinfecting, he applied ointment and put on a bandage. These were all things Haseo could have done himself, but Park Dongsu wouldn’t let him.
“You might be fine with it, but the Director won’t be.”
Haseo was momentarily at a loss for words at Park Dongsu’s statement.
“Choi Mujin?”
“Yes.”
That statement was strange. Haseo had betrayed Choi Mujin, and Choi Mujin knew it. Choi Mujin said he doesn’t forgive betrayers. Having learned this while living with him, Haseo had begged him.
Please spare me. He had begged him to please spare his life. How had he reacted? Choi Mujin had grabbed Haseo by the hair and glared at him. It might be peaceful now, but at that time, he had even prepared for death.
“Why.”
Haseo asked Park Dongsu.
“Why do you think that?”
“Aren’t you still in one piece? The Director is not the type to let a betrayer back into his home.”
No, no. Haseo didn’t want to think positively like Park Dongsu was suggesting. Considering what he had experienced in life, it made even less sense.
There were many people who pretended to be kind only to take advantage of him. But each time that happened, Haseo didn’t collapse. Instead, he got up resolutely and lived on. That was possible only because he never fully entrusted his heart to others.
Haseo kept his mouth firmly shut. He couldn’t believe anything until he heard it directly from Choi Mujin. And as if sensing his feelings, Park Dongsu fell silent. He put the first aid kit away and left the room briefly.
“What if I run away?”
Though he lacked the courage to run anyway. His grandmother was in the hospital, and as long as she was there, Haseo couldn’t go anywhere. He slowly leaned back on the sofa and curled up. Park Dongsu, who had left, came back inside before long.
“A housekeeper will be coming from this evening.”
I’m the housekeeper, aren’t I? Another housekeeper is coming? Haseo’s eyes trembled anxiously at Park Dongsu’s words. It felt like his usefulness was being denied.
‘Well, they can’t trust me.’
With what I’ve done, they might think I’d put poison in the food. Haseo got up from the sofa and went back to the room he had been using. Now all he could do was wait for Choi Mujin to return.
Tap tap.
Choi Mujin lightly tapped the screen of his tablet PC with his fingertips. Watching Haseo made him feel anxious. He wanted to go home right away, but before that, he had been caught.
Chairman Jang, who had been keeping to himself for a while, had called for Choi Mujin for once. No matter how much of a maverick Choi Mujin was, he couldn’t act that way with Chairman Jang. It wasn’t about loyalty or anything. It was because Chairman Jang still held many cards.
“Oh, Mujin!”
Chairman Jang greeted Choi Mujin with a friendly smile.
“Why did you want to meet here instead of your proper office?”
As he clicked his tongue, Chairman Jang shrugged and lifted the coffee cup in front of him.
“What’s wrong with this place?”
“Are there still tea houses like this these days?”
It wasn’t just a nostalgic cafe with “tea house” in its name. It was literally an old-fashioned tea house that you’d typically see in the past.
“There are. That’s why I’m here. I prefer this over things like Americano.”
Chairman Jang took a sip of coffee as if to show off. And not long after, a middle-aged woman exuding a mature atmosphere placed an identical coffee cup in front of Choi Mujin. She was probably one of Chairman Jang’s numerous lovers.
Choi Mujin didn’t touch the coffee cup.
“So why did you call me?”
It wouldn’t be because he had dealt with Choi Minchul. Choi Mujin had maintained boundaries, and Isaac Finance wasn’t particularly on good terms with Toho Construction anyway.
“Hehe, you know what, Mujin?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been unable to have children until now. I visited hospitals, but they told me the probability of having children was ridiculously low.”
“Are you telling me this here?”
“It’s fine, it’s just the two of us here.”
“So why are you suddenly mentioning this?”
“When I was young, I met a woman. She was young and kind. But perhaps it wasn’t meant to be, and we couldn’t meet for long before breaking up.”
Given that Chairman Jang was quite the ruffian in his youth, it was a wonder what kind of woman had endured him. At least now he had become somewhat decent with age.
“It turns out she was carrying my child! Isn’t that surprising!”
“That is surprising.”
Choi Mujin answered unemotionally while touching the tablet PC he had set aside. Right now, he was more curious about what Haseo was doing than about Chairman Jang’s past story. He was just blankly staying in his room; was he okay?
“Ah, your reaction is not what I expected.”
“What kind of reaction were you looking for?”
“Anything! Surprise or a sense of betrayal!”
“Nothing new.”
He had stayed quiet even when there was that commotion with bringing in the nephew. Choi Mujin snorted. And Chairman Jang seemed satisfied with that response.
“This is why I trust you, Mujin.”
Lies. Choi Mujin didn’t believe Chairman Jang’s talk of trust. He scattered words of trust here and there, but in the end, only a few people with high utility value remained by his side.
“How old is the child?”
“Twenty-two. A grown young man. It seems he lost his mother to unfortunate circumstances recently. So I’m thinking of bringing him in.”
“What do you plan to do after bringing him in?”
“I need to see first. Whether he’s worthy of succeeding me or not. I’d like to immediately start grooming him as a successor, but his mother was like that, you know. She was too delicate a woman. It would be troublesome if the child inherited that. So, Mujin.”
“Yes.”
“Could you bring him in and observe him for a while? Your house is spacious. Just keep him with you for the time being.”
“Isn’t your house spacious too, Chairman?”
“I have circumstances. Circumstances.”
Chairman Jang had no children, but he had a wife. A wife who stuck by his side tenaciously, enduring his womanizing ways. Although it wasn’t a marriage out of love, Chairman Jang had neglected his wife too much over the years. So he seemed worried about how she would react if she found out he had a real child.
His wife was no pushover either.
“I’m telling you, you’re the only one I can trust, Mujin. That’s why I covered up this incident too.”
Choi Mujin swallowed the sigh that was about to escape. A cunning snake who acts like he’s asking a favor while knowing everything. While he wasn’t keen on it, it seemed like he would have to take on this task.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
