Chapter 03
Even after Sahyeok left, the newsroom at Sanghyeon Daily couldn’t stop talking about him.
“But seriously, wasn’t he ridiculously handsome? He looked better than most celebrities.”
“I know, right? I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d become a fan of an executive director. Can I come along next time you cover Noble Group?”
Listening to the excited reactions from the college intern reporters, Gong Supyo turned to Woo Jihyun with a bored expression.
“See? Isn’t this shallow obsession with appearances exactly what’s destroying our society, sunbae? One of these days I’m going to do an in-depth investigation into the lookism that’s poisoning this country.”
“We should start with a survey comparing Kim Sahyeok’s looks to Gong Supyo’s.”
“Ah, sunbae!”
Woo Jihyun snickered at Gong Supyo’s wounded protest.
“Alright, interns. Since you’ll probably get to see that handsome face a lot from now on, you can all head home happy. As for Bae Seobin and Gong Supyo… looks like we’ll have to send you over to the Business & Industry department. Since you already know the source personally, covering him shouldn’t be too difficult.”
The words snapped Seobin out of the daze she’d been in ever since she’d suddenly been assigned to cover Noble Group.
Then Gong Supyo unknowingly poured fuel on her anxiety.
“Exactly. Since Noble’s sponsoring the forum, you’ll be glued to him for the next three months. And if your source’s a pain, it’s absolute torture.”
Three months… together?
“I-I… I’ll be right back!”
Seobin shot up from her seat and hurried out of the newsroom.
Kim Sahyeok was one of the suspects connected to her sister’s death.
How could she possibly sit across the table from him, interview him, and write flattering articles about his company?
For three whole months?
Unless…
Unless she was investigating Noble Group’s corruption so she could use it against him.
Otherwise…
Impossible.
By the time she reached the second basement level through the emergency stairwell, Seobin was already heading toward the parking garage without hesitation.
A black sedan was just preparing to leave.
Instinctively, she knew Sahyeok was inside.
She broke into a run.
But the sedan had already started moving, gliding smoothly out of the garage.
“Wait!”
She sprinted after it with everything she had.
But the car disappeared from sight before she could catch up.
Stopping in the middle of the parking garage, Seobin braced herself against her knees as she struggled to catch her breath.
“…Haa…”
She let out an empty sigh.
Just as she turned around—
“Why kick away such a good opportunity?”
A man’s figure emerged from the opposite side of the parking area, where the company vehicles were parked.
It was Gu Bonghwan.
His worn-out T-shirt sagged around the collar, and beneath his faded cotton pants, his toes poked out through his sandals.
“Sunbae… why… are you… here?”
Before Seobin could finish her question, Gu Bonghwan casually walked across the garage toward her.
“Weren’t you trying to land a big story? Then why are you running away?”
His voice was completely indifferent.
“I… I’m in the Social Affairs department…”
“You want to dig into Sarim’s corruption from the Social Affairs desk.”
“M-Me?”
As Seobin lowered her trembling gaze, desperately searching for an excuse—
“You met with an aide from Assemblyman Yoo Seokgi’s office.”
“You also contacted a junior employee from the Sarim Foundation’s General Affairs Department.”
“And you even pulled the Sarim Foundation’s real estate registry.”
“Though every one of those efforts was a complete waste of time.”
One after another, Gu Bonghwan listed all the things Seobin had secretly done during her probation period while using her identity as a reporter.
Her face stiffened.
“Don’t look so surprised.”
“I don’t care what you’re doing.”
“If you’re going to do it… do it properly.”
Just as Gu Bonghwan turned toward the elevators—
“Sunbae, wait.”
Everything he’d said was true.
None of the investigations she’d conducted had gotten her anywhere.
So she had no choice but to grasp at the only straw within reach.
“Then… what should I do?”
“What’s your objective?”
If I told him…
That I want to uncover the truth behind my sister’s death…
What would he say?
But she couldn’t tell him the truth.
“I want to expose the corruption surrounding Assemblyman Yoo Seokgi’s family and the Sarim Foundation.”
“I want to uncover the truth behind every incident connected to the Sarim Foundation.”
Gu Bonghwan frowned.
As though he were listening to something painfully ordinary and utterly uninteresting.
“Why?”
“I want to expose the collusion between politics and business that’s taken root in Korean society…”
Her voice faltered.
It sounded convincing.
But it wasn’t the truth.
And she knew that empty ideals weren’t enough to persuade the man standing before her.
“I want to become a famous reporter.”
Gu Bonghwan let out a scoff.
It sounded like ridicule…
Yet somehow, it didn’t feel mocking.
Using his middle finger, he pushed up the rimless glasses resting on his nose and studied Seobin carefully.
“Now that’s refreshing.”
Feeling as though she’d passed some kind of test, Seobin gathered her courage.
“What should I do?”
“Please help me, sunbae.”
If it meant finding even the smallest clue to clear her sister’s name…
She was willing to work with anyone.
She was prepared to endure anything.
“Get close to Kim Sahyeok.”
“Very close.”
The answer was the one Seobin had wanted to hear least.
She looked at Gu Bonghwan in disbelief.
“…What?”
“I don’t understand.”
“If we’re investigating Noble Group, that’s one thing, but…”
“I’m telling you to get close to him.”
“Assemblyman Yoo Seokgi’s son and Kim Sahyeok were classmates.”
“They were both on the swim team.”
“They’re both part of the top one percent of society.”
“They share the same network of political and business elites.”
“…I see.”
How did Gu Bonghwan know all that?
She knew he’d spent years investigating the Sarim Foundation.
But she hadn’t expected him to know the relationships among the second generation of those families as well.
How much does he know?
Does he know something that could help me?
Her thoughts became increasingly tangled.
“You have to go inside their world yourself.”
“See it.”
“Hear it.”
“You never know what you’ll find.”
“It might turn out to be nothing.”
“Or it could become the biggest story to shake the entire country.”
“Whether that happens…”
“…depends on your luck.”
Seobin bit her lip.
“But…”
“If you want to catch a tiger…”
“…you have to enter the tiger’s den.”
Leaving those final words behind, Gu Bonghwan walked away.
Seobin remained standing there in silence for a long time.
“This way, please.”
The impeccably dressed hotel manager escorted Seobin to the very top floor of Hotel Meridian, where Sahyeok was staying.
Since returning from the United States, Sahyeok had refused to move back into the family home.
Instead, he was staying at a hotel owned by his uncle.
Chairman Kim Huyong wasn’t pleased about it.
Still, after years of living as though he’d cut ties with his family entirely, simply having his son return to Korea was enough to satisfy him—for now.
Adjusting the plain black shoulder bag hanging at her side, Seobin quietly followed the manager.
The hallway on the twenty-first floor, home to the Royal Suite, resembled an art gallery.
Paintings worth anywhere from thousands to hundreds of millions of won lined the walls.
When they reached a set of double doors, the manager tapped a keycard.
The automatic door slid open.
Behind it stood another heavy door made of solid wood.
“You may go inside and wait in the reception room.”
“Ah… thank you.”
Seobin bowed politely.
The manager returned the bow with practiced courtesy before quietly leaving.
Standing before the enormous geometric-patterned wooden door, Seobin felt an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Taking a deliberate deep breath, she grasped the handle.
Click.
The door opened.
One step.
Then another.
Carefully, Seobin entered Sahyeok’s world.
“…”
After walking down the surprisingly long hallway and reaching the reception room, she barely managed to suppress a gasp.
The entire sunset skyline of Seoul spread out before her.
The long shadows of the setting summer sun slanted through the floor-to-ceiling windows like a breathtaking landscape painting.
The Han River flowed peacefully in the distance.
Beyond it, the bustling heart of Seoul unfolded in eerie silence.
Almost entranced, Seobin drifted toward the windows.
Toward the rippling orange sunlight spilling across the white marble floor.
Just like…
That swimming pool in the summer.
The one that had swallowed her sister—
And nearly taken Seobin with it.
“Bae Seobin. Stay with me.”
“…Please… please…”
“…I’m sorry.”
“It was my fault.”
“I’ll do anything to fix this…”
“So please…”
“Don’t leave like this…”
“Seobin… please…”
The muffled voice she’d heard as she sank beneath the water echoed once more in her ears.
A fragmented memory.
Even now, she couldn’t tell whether it had been real…
Or merely an illusion.
“Do you like it?”
A man’s voice from behind startled her back to reality.
She turned around.
Leaning casually against the bookshelf that covered one wall stood Sahyeok.
He wore a black bathrobe.
His hair was still damp, as though he’d just stepped out of the shower.
The relaxed smile on his lips made them appear even redder.
He took a bottle of whiskey from the display cabinet, poured himself a glass, and dropped onto the sofa.
Then he tilted his chin toward the stunned Seobin.
Every movement he made flowed with effortless ease, almost as though time itself had slowed down.
“Sit.”
The casual tone—as though they were close enough for informal speech—only hardened Seobin’s expression.
Keeping her lips tightly pressed together, she sat diagonally across from him.
She took out her reporter’s notebook, a pen, and her phone.
Activating the recording app, she placed the phone on the table.
“I’ll be recording the interview.”
“That’ll be difficult.”
Leaning back against the black leather sofa, Sahyeok looked at her lazily.
“I informed Director Hwang in advance.”
At Seobin’s firm response, Sahyeok smiled faintly.
He reached over…
Picked up her phone…
And, making sure she was watching, powered it off.
Seobin’s gaze turned icy.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“You wanted an interview.”
One eyebrow rose.
Then fell.
Resting his elbows on his knees, Sahyeok leaned forward, closing the distance between them.
The opening of his bathrobe shifted, revealing the well-defined muscles beneath.
“Then let’s have…”
“…our interview.”
