REH 03

Chapter 3

“A secretary for entertaining guests? Why is my wife so upset? Is this some kind of act?”

An act? Ha.

There was no reason for her to keep listening.

Just as Jaekyung was about to stand, Yugam held out another document in front of her.

<Chairman’s Office, Secretary — Three-Month Employment Contract>

“Someone decided to fire my wife without my permission. So I made this.”

So she really had lost her job because of the vice principal’s notification.

Was this what he meant by a change of position?

So many unexpected things had happened that even Jaekyung, who normally wasn’t easily shaken, couldn’t figure out what was going on.

“The chairman personally came to notify me that I’ve been fired?”

“Seo Jaekyung gets special treatment.”

“I’m not grateful at all.”

“Your dismissal will be put on hold. I’ll postpone the penalty, too. Just accompany me to the foundation’s company dinner.”

“I refuse your offer.”

“I prepared something you like—money—as a reunion gift. The principal recommended you, saying that you had a good attitude as a teacher.”

Yugam leaned back leisurely in his chair, the corners of his mouth lifting as though Jaekyung had never had a choice to begin with.

“We’ve been separated for five years. I want to have my wife by my side from now on, at least. It works out well for both of us, doesn’t it?”

The absurd words—separated, wife—made Jaekyung bite down hard on her lip.

“Everything you’re saying sounds insane.”

“Do I seem insane? That’s what the doctor said, too. He asked if I was obsessed with my runaway wife. I paid you and you ran off. Wouldn’t that make anyone crazy? I am crazy, so the sane Seo Jaekyung should start by understanding the reality of the situation.”

Yugam’s expression remained blank, but an icy chill radiated from him enough to make her skin crawl.

“……”

“It’s simple if you accept the terms. Do you have the ability to divorce me right now and take on a major law firm? Smart Seo Jaekyung can figure it out for herself. That post criticizing the foundation? If we add compensation for defamation on top of the contractual penalty, the amount will be quite substantial.”

The moment the elevator doors closed, Jaekyung finally realized the reality of her situation.

She opened her tightly shut eyes and looked at Yugam with determination.

“…Wait. I’ll somehow pay the penalty for the contract position, so please withdraw the additional compensation you’re demanding.”

“Why should I?”

“You’re being too harsh on an individual.”

Yugam turned his head lazily.

“You’re the one being unreasonable. I told you I’d reduce the penalty and compensation if you worked as my secretary and worked yourself to the bone. Didn’t you understand?”

“I already said I wouldn’t be your secretary.”

“If you followed me here, doesn’t that mean you’ve already expressed your intention to accept the contract?”

“I didn’t follow you. I’m on my way home.”

“If you got into the same elevator, common sense dictates that you followed me.”

“That’s your standard, Chairman.”

Yugam narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Jaekyung, who refused to concede even a single word.

“Seo Jaekyung. What do you want?”

His persistent gaze flustered Jaekyung.

She needed time to organize her tangled thoughts.

It had been her mistake to think that applying to be a teacher wouldn’t cause any problems simply because it was only a one-semester contract, even though she had felt uneasy about it from the beginning.

“What I want is….”

Jaekyung stopped herself.

Before allowing herself to be pushed around by this man who kept talking about major law firms, she had to think rationally.

“If you don’t know, then let’s go with the standard I just made. I won’t demand that you sleep with me as husband and wife right away.”

Sleep with him?

He claimed he was crazy, but he really wasn’t in his right mind.

It was disturbing and absurd, but there was no denying that Yugam, as chairman, held the upper hand at the moment.

Jaekyung looked up at him with tired eyes.

“What exactly is the standard you just made?”

“If you want to rekindle our romance, let’s start with an office romance.”

The corners of Yugam’s mouth lifted ever so slightly in the reflection on the elevator doors.

“Excuse me. Are you really my husband? You know very well that if you really were my husband, there’s no reason you should have appeared in front of me like this.”

Her doubts hadn’t disappeared.

The title wife felt strange to Jaekyung.

That was only natural. Even though they had spent passionate nights together, they had never actually seen each other’s faces. They had been husband and wife in name only.

Being confined in such a small space with Yugam was beginning to test the limits of her patience.

Fortunately, the elevator doors opened at just the right moment.

Jaekyung hurried out.

“Is running away a habit? Just like back then.”

Yugam’s powerful grip caught hold of Jaekyung’s body.

“Who says I ran away?”

She wanted to tell him the truth right then and there, but because of the confidentiality clause in the secret contract she had made with Director Jin, she swallowed the truth.

He stepped closer and stared down at her.

A scent passed between them—not quite familiar, yet not entirely unfamiliar either—that stirred her heart in a strangely unsettling way.

“Let me go.”

“I’ll let you go if you come work as my secretary.”

“I already refused.”

“Exclusive secretary to the chairman. Three months. And this time, we’ll settle our marital status in the family register as well.”

Regardless of Jaekyung’s firm refusal, Yugam calmly informed her of the decision he had already made on his own.

“This time, the one who runs away will have to pay a very heavy penalty.”

For Jaekyung, there was no way out of the trap.

The car carrying Jaekyung and Yugam moved quietly.

The two remained silent as the car left the restaurant and drove along streets lined with cherry blossom trees in full bloom.

When Jaekyung continued refusing to attend the company dinner, Yugam stopped trying to persuade her.

Before long,

they entered Mugum-dong, the neighborhood where Jaekyung lived, with torn redevelopment banners hanging here and there.

“We won’t have to see each other again.”

“Unfortunately, things won’t go according to your wishes.”

After getting out of the car, Jaekyung could feel Yugam’s gaze on her, making the back of her head burn.

[Seized Property] [Unauthorized Disposal Prohibited]

Yellow tape had been stuck across the old door in an X, sealing it shut.

No way.

Her father had said the house might be provisionally seized.

Hadn’t the money she sent been enough to take care of it?

“My phone is turned off….”

She hurriedly called her father, but couldn’t get through.

Jaekyung quickly turned around.

Yugam, still sitting in the black car, lowered the window as though he had been watching everything she was doing.

“Looks like you have nowhere to go. Why don’t we finish discussing the contract?”

“No.”

“You look like you’re coming down with a cold. Don’t be so stubborn.”

“……Sigh.”

It hadn’t even been a minute since she had confidently declared that they would never meet again.

She had no choice but to get into Yugam’s car.

She didn’t want to argue with him in the narrow neighborhood, where there weren’t even proper walls between the houses, and have the neighbors start gossiping.

“Please let me off up ahead.”

But the car didn’t stop.

Instead, it drove into a luxurious villa.

“Get out.”

“I’ll be going now.”

“For security reasons, you can’t leave this building alone. Stay with me tonight.”

“Open the door before I call the police. Are you planning to get dragged away for kidnapping and confining a contract teacher when you’re the chairman of the foundation?”

“Who knows? If it comes out that you and I are married, it would work out rather well for me.”

He really was insane, just as he claimed.

The old phone Jaekyung had bought when she entered university had already run out of battery and was completely dead.

“Don’t touch me.”

Jaekyung raised her chin and glared at him.

“We’ll see.”

She followed Yugam up the stairs.

The house was larger than Jaekyung’s room, with a spacious entrance and a living room that looked as though several offices had been joined together.

It wasn’t comparable to the family home in Pyeongchang-dong, but seeing a hotel-like residence that looked as though it belonged in a television drama made her hesitate to take another step.

“Use this room.”

Yugam pointed to a door along the hallway to the left, past the living room.

Does he live here alone?

If so, that made it even more dangerous.

Jaekyung brushed past Yugam and shut the door.

Bang.

She planned to sneak out of the house while he was asleep.

After locking the door, Jaekyung looked around the immaculate, hotel-like room.

There wasn’t even a charger.

Ha….

Surely Yugam won’t come into my room, will he?

It had been an exhausting day.

Jaekyung lay down on the bed and tossed and turned, but the throbbing in her head and chills running through her body made it impossible to fall asleep.

When she entered the bathroom, the luxurious fragrance made her want to wash away the unpleasant feeling clinging to her body.

She filled the bathtub with water and dropped in a bath bomb the size of a baseball that had been placed beside it.

Amid the bubbling foam, Jaekyung sank her exhausted body deep into the tub.

Perhaps because of the fragrant water surrounding even her head, she finally felt as though she could breathe again.

Yugam knocked on the door of the room Jaekyung had entered, carrying a charger, cold medicine, and warm soup.

He had used the excuse of her being unwell as an opportunity to see her at least once more.

He had invited her home because she clearly had nowhere else to go.

But the proud Jaekyung had treated him like some kind of pervert and talked about kidnapping and confinement, making him let out a hollow laugh.

Did she fall asleep?

Knock, knock.

He knocked on the door several times, but there was no response.

‘If you touch me, I won’t let you off. You never know what a cornered rat might do.’

No way.

Could this woman have…?

Yugam opened the door with the emergency key.

It would be better if she had simply fallen asleep.

But there was no Jaekyung on the disheveled bed.

He knocked on the bathroom door, but once again, there was no response.

He hurriedly opened the door.

Jaekyung was slumped in the bathtub, her pale face contrasting sharply with her parted, reddened lips.

Her fair skin was visible through the white foam, and the area beside her right breast was exposed without protection.

A single raised mole stood out against her milky-white skin.

‘This mark is something only I know about.’

‘That tickles. Stop.’

Yugam’s blood boiled in an instant.