IGYW 06

Chapter : 06

After finding out that Ji-hoon had left the school, I-eum could no longer live her life normally.

She could no longer concentrate on studying, and the CSAT, which had been the most important event of her life, was pushed to the back of her mind. The only person filling her thoughts was Seong Ji-hoon.

Tears came to her eyes, but she did not cry. She did not even know whether this was something she was allowed to cry over.

Classes were over.

The students streamed out of the school like the tide going out, leaving I-eum alone in the classroom.

She was supposed to buy some bread and milk from the cafeteria before it closed and then go up to the study room, but she simply had no energy.

So she sat there for a while.

She gazed at the school grounds, where rows of trees stood bare after almost all their once-lush autumn leaves had fallen.

She was remembering the day she had first met Ji-hoon there when—

“……!”

That was when I-eum’s eyes widened.

A man wearing a dark-gray three-piece suit entered her field of vision. His tall figure standing in the school grounds with his hands shoved into his trouser pockets was not an illusion, no matter how many times she rubbed her eyes.

I-eum leaned her head out the window and cried out,

“Teacher!”

The man who had been looking toward the playground raised his head and looked at I-eum.

It was Ji-hoon. It really was Seong Ji-hoon.

“Don’t move! Stay right there! Please!”

After shouting as loudly as she could, I-eum rushed out of the classroom. She heard a chair fall backward, but she paid no attention and moved her legs as fast as she could.

Her ragged breathing made her ears ring.

Her eyes grew hot with anxiety at the thought that she might lose Ji-hoon again.

Then, just as she was about to leave the entrance, a firm hand suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Whoa.”

She had stumbled because she was rushing and almost fell, but Ji-hoon managed to catch her.

“Why did you come running after me like that? Did I happen to borrow money from you?”

I-eum forgot to answer and simply stared blankly up at Ji-hoon.

The man she had thought had returned to his company and would never come back again was standing right in front of her.

“Sniff.”

Tears burst out from the overwhelming relief.

Ji-hoon, flustered by I-eum suddenly rubbing her eyes with her sleeve, asked in a bewildered tone,

“W-what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“Ugh, hng…….”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Not knowing what to do, Ji-hoon awkwardly reached a hand toward I-eum’s shoulder, but he could not bring himself to pat her and simply left his hand hanging in the air.

“Why did you just leave?”

“Leave? Me?”

“They said you went back to the company, sniff, and that you wouldn’t, hng, come back to school anymore…….”

As she struggled to get the words out between sobs, Ji-hoon stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.

He had merely gone back after being scolded for a while and told to reflect on his actions. He had never imagined that the girl would be waiting for him and start crying the moment she saw him.

In the end, Ji-hoon lowered his hand without patting her shoulder.

“Of course I’d go back.”

Although he had not returned this time.

“You’re crying over something like that? I guess students preparing for the CSAT must have a lot of free time these days. Back in my day, I even saved time by eating my meals quickly.”

Even while saying that, Ji-hoon felt a strange emotion.

Partly relieved, yet somehow even more complicated inside.

In truth, he had returned to the school angry as well.

He had known that I-eum was Yeon Chang-shin’s daughter and Yeon Ho-nam’s granddaughter from the moment he saw her name tag on the day they first met.

But he had not known that she had even been offered up as a sacrifice in the rotten games played by adults.

“Stop crying.”

At that, I-eum raised her reddened eyes sharply.

“You’re so mean. You tell me not to cry without even comforting me.”

“Follow me.”

He deliberately spoke stiffly before turning his back on her and walking away.

Even as she grumbled, the soft patter of her footsteps following behind him sounded just like a chick.

I-eum brought her fingertips to her eyes, which were still hot from crying.

As she pressed them firmly, a teacup was placed in front of her with a soft clink.

“Drink it, kid.”

Ji-hoon sat down in the seat of honor, muttering that he was hardly old enough to be someone’s designated tea server. His seat was diagonally across from hers.

After taking a sip of tea, I-eum’s mood quickly brightened as though she had never cried.

“Wow. It’s delicious.”

It was citron tea. She wondered how long it had been since she had last drunk sweet-and-sour citron tea. It seemed like this was the first time since her mother had left home.

“What time do you usually go home?”

“Around midnight.”

“You don’t take private lessons or attend an academy?”

“No.”

At I-eum’s answer, Ji-hoon fell silent as though deep in thought.

She drank her citron tea without paying any attention to his reaction.

She was happy. She was happy that she could enter his office again, and that she could drink tea that he had personally made for her.

But the best thing of all was being able to see him again.

“What do you want to do when you become a university student?”

But Ji-hoon created an atmosphere more like a university-admission counseling session.

“I want to live independently.”

“What are you going to do after becoming independent?”

“Just live freely…….”

She wanted to work a part-time job like other people and date, too.

Having thought that far, I-eum quietly raised her head.

If she were to date someone, she wanted that person to be Ji-hoon, but she had already been rejected outright by him once, so it was difficult to gather the courage to try again.

“But how old are you, Teacher?”

Ji-hoon was already very much an adult, and she became curious whether he did not date.

Maybe he even had a girlfriend now. Adults were good at keeping their private lives hidden.

“You have a girlfriend, right?”

“Just answer my question.”

“Tch.”

She wondered why she did not dislike him even when he acted so forcefully. Instead, she only liked him more. Though she had been hurt and disappointed, now that she had met him again, I-eum’s heart softened once more.

“I asked what you were going to do with your life once you became an adult.”

“I just want to live freely.”

I-eum gave an ordinary answer, but Ji-hoon took it differently.

Only now did he understand.

The reason sunlight and shadow coexisted on I-eum’s face.

“You know the Representative Park you met over the weekend.”

When Ji-hoon brought up the subject, I-eum, who had already drunk half of her citron tea, quietly raised her eyes.

“He said he was going to marry you.”

At the casually dropped subject, I-eum did not move for a moment.

It was difficult to tell whether she was surprised or whether her eyes were asking how he knew about it.

A long silence settled between them.

Only after what felt like a long time did I-eum quietly put down her teacup.

“Has it already been decided?”

“Then it hasn’t?”

I-eum blinked a few times before calmly opening her mouth.

“That man did bring up marriage that day. Of course, I was planning to refuse, but…….”

She explained that Ji-hoon had appeared around that time, so she had not gotten the chance to tell him that she intended to refuse.

Ji-hoon watched her fidgeting fingers as though she were anxious. Then, with a low sigh, he rubbed his forehead.

“Anyway, it’s not your decision, is it?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

Just as he had expected.

But Yeon Ho-nam was not an easy man to deal with.

There were signs that people in politics were beginning to call him a tiger with its teeth pulled, but he still had enough power to control something as significant as a person’s life however he pleased.

Even more so if the person in question was a granddaughter with nowhere else to turn.

Meanwhile, I-eum could not take her eyes off Ji-hoon, who seemed deeply lost in thought.

How can someone have features like that?

The more she looked at him, the more inadequate the word “handsome” seemed. He looked like a sculpture carved with exquisite precision, or a watercolor painting delicately touched by a brush.

“I-eum. Listen carefully.”

After a moment, he spoke as though he had finished thinking things over.

“Your marriage will probably proceed regardless of what you want.”

I-eum quietly placed her two fidgeting hands on her lap and remained still.

It was something that should have shocked her, but it did not.

Many things had happened to I-eum over the years, but not a single one of them had ever asked for her opinion.

More than that, what held her attention was Ji-hoon’s handsome face, bathed in a hazy sunset glow that spread across it like paint.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Teacher. Can you give me your phone number?”

“……What?”

I-eum did not know what the future would hold. She was simply happy that Seong Ji-hoon, the man who spoke and moved in front of her, was right there before her eyes.

“Or I guess you won’t do that. Then at least give me your social media account.”

I’m scared you’ll disappear from in front of me again.

I really don’t think I can be without you anymore, Teacher.

“Hey, I’m actually trying to think seriously and talk to you, but…….”

“You’re going to protect me, aren’t you, Teacher?”

Ji-hoon lost his words in front of her bright, innocent smile.

“I’m right, aren’t I? Right?”

He felt completely deflated by the confidence of a chick that knew nothing.

It was the moment all the determination he had worked so hard to build up simply vanished without a trace.