TCDBL 04

Chapter : 04

“I mainly handle finance-related contracts in the legal affairs department. Haha.”

Lee Jung-woo’s narrow eyes gleamed. He was a good head shorter than Dogeon.

His body, hardly what anyone would call healthy, was full of hidden excess fat here and there.

His murky eyes moved incessantly as he sized up the person in front of him. He looked just like a rat cautiously watching its surroundings, scurrying around in search of any scraps it could pick up.

“Baby. Say hello. This oppa is my little uncle’s son.”

“Ohhh, I see! Nice to meet you.”

Jung-woo pretended to adjust his rimless glasses while scanning Dogeon’s watch and suit.

Ah. Not a rat, but a bat, perhaps.

It was obvious what he was doing—judging people by their appearance and trying to figure out whether they were worth attaching himself to.

“What do I care?”

Dogeon casually ignored the man who was acting high and mighty without even knowing his place. He simply took a deep drag from his cigarette and remained silent.

“Oh, oppa, seriously. Baby! That oppa is from Hyunsin Construction.”

Ayoung answered for him, shooting Dogeon a sideways glance.

“But his personality is kind of shitty. He fucking hates having his personal information exposed, so he doesn’t have much of a presence.”

“Ahhh. Construction, huh.”

Jung-woo nodded as if that explained everything.

Once he confirmed that Dogeon wasn’t from the distribution or chemical divisions—the sectors that wielded considerable power within the group—his interest seemed to disappear.

……Apparently, he had no idea that the true power within the group wasn’t in any of those subsidiaries, but Han Dogeon himself.

“He’s an executive director, but what do you call it again? You know, when someone just puts their name on a company?”

“A figurehead, baby.”

“Uhhh, right! That! That oppa is just a figurehead executive director.”

Dogeon didn’t bother correcting her. He merely gave a short laugh.

It was too absurd to take seriously.

“Why did you bring an outsider to a family dinner?”

At last, Dogeon spoke, his lips delivering a blunt rebuke.

“I brought him so I could formally introduce him to the elders of the family! Grandpa even said it was okay to bring him.”

“Do you not get tired of bringing every guy you date and ‘formally’ introducing him?”

Dogeon ground out the end of his cigarette and tossed the words out indifferently.

The two who had been giggling froze simultaneously.

“Oh my, oh my! He’s crazy! I was so happy to see him again after such a long time, but here he goes again. Baby! That oppa just sits there quietly and then turns everything upside down. Ignore him.”

“Ah, haha. I’m totally fine with it! Your past is all—part of you, after all.”

“Oh my, baby……! That’s so touching.”

Whether the two of them hugged and made fools of themselves or not, Dogeon simply walked past the annoying couple and entered through the main gate.

The family dinner hosted by Han Bong-jun, chairman of Hyunsin Group and Dogeon’s grandfather, was beginning.

As always, the dinner was a complete spectacle.

“Baby, here. This is the sausage you like. Have some.”

The chairman, a man in his eighties, shakily picked up a pink sausage with his chopsticks and placed it in his mistress’s bowl.

“Oh, Chairman, really. In front of the whole family, too.”

“Chew it well. I specifically had them buy it because I wanted to give it to my baby.”

“Yes. I’ll enjoy it! Oh my, this tastes just like the old days. It’s amazing.”

Ha Eun-jin exclaimed, her face clearly showing that she was forcing herself to act as though it tasted good.

After recently sullying the family registry by secretly registering her marriage to Dogeon’s grandfather, Ha Eun-jin’s enthusiasm toward the old man had dropped considerably—perhaps because she had already achieved her goal.

“That’s right, isn’t it? Baby, eat plenty. I bought lots of your favorite sausages.”

The chairman watched proudly as his mistress chewed on the sausage. His eyes glowed grotesquely as he watched a woman young enough to be his daughter munching away.

The grandfather, who was showing off his mistress with nothing more than a sausage.

And the mistress, who wasn’t even putting in her best effort despite receiving everything she wanted.

To everyone watching, it was nothing short of a sitcom.

“……Mrs. Sacheon. Please give me some water.”

“Yes, young madam.”

Clack.

Dogeon’s mother put down her chopsticks, dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin, and finished her meal.

Apparently, the nasal sounds Ha Eun-jin was making had spoiled her appetite.

Dogeon understood completely. Ha Eun-jin was an eyesore to him as well.

Because while he was frantically cleaning up the mess caused by that woman’s presumptuous actions, he had failed to catch Seo Yoon-seol in time after she had eaten him up and run away.

“Hoho. The two of you grow more affectionate with each passing day! You’re such a wonderful example for the younger generation.”

His eldest uncle chimed in shamelessly. He was the very person who had encouraged Ha Eun-jin in the first place.

While Dogeon, the grandson the chairman trusted, was away overseas, he had whispered in the mistress’s ear and pushed through the marriage registration like a thief.

His desperate attempt to bring the shares Ha Eun-jin would receive over to his own side was almost touching in its desperation.

But the chairman wasn’t even giving his mistress shares.

He was merely buying her pink sausages.

The chairman firmly believed Dogeon’s opinion that if he gave the mistress any shares, she would run away.

“Ah, ow. Baby, I think I ate too much. My stomach hurts.”

The chairman, who had been perfectly fine moments ago, suddenly put down his chopsticks and began acting pitifully.

Everyone’s eyes turned toward the head of the table.

“Huh? Chairman, are you having trouble digesting?”

Ha Eun-jin sprang to her feet and rushed over, rubbing the old man’s stomach.

“Where? Here?”

“Ah, ow, ow.”

“Oh my, you must have indigestion. Mrs. Sacheon! I told you to cut the side dishes into smaller pieces for the chairman!”

Blaming an innocent person, Ha Eun-jin exaggeratedly rubbed various parts of the chairman’s body.

“Baby. I need my baby’s magic hands. Do that for me.”

“W-what? Here?”

Ha Eun-jin flinched and glanced around.

Apparently, even she knew this was embarrassing.

Then, gritting her teeth, she began rubbing the chairman’s stomach.

“Baby’s hands are magic hands. Baby’s hands are—”

Burp.

The chairman quietly burped directly into Ha Eun-jin’s face.

It was obvious from her eyes that Ha Eun-jin was cursing him.

“I think I need to go inside and rest.”

“Th-then, shall we……?”

Telling them to handle the rest of the dinner themselves, the chairman left the dining room with his baby supporting him.

“Ugh. I’ve lost my appetite.”

A snicker escaped when someone muttered under their breath.

“Let’s leave first.”

Dogeon’s mother rose from her seat, finally dropping the look of contempt from her face.

Dogeon also placed his napkin on the table and stood.

“Sister-in-law. The meeting hasn’t even started yet. You’re leaving already? Construction is the pillar of our family’s business, so what are we supposed to do if you leave?”

His eldest uncle spouted words he didn’t mean in the slightest.

“I’m sorry, Brother-in-law. I have a call waiting. I’ll be going first.”

Dogeon followed his mother, the CEO of Hyunsin Construction, and left without a trace of hesitation.

In front of Hyunsin Construction’s headquarters.

The client who normally joined Yoon-seol in the silent protest was sick, so today she was alone.

After standing outside in the cold for several days without seeing any results, it was understandable that the client had ended up bedridden.

“I hope this gets resolved soon.”

The client’s goal was to receive an apology from the man who had betrayed her.

That was why a silent protest was the best option.

She had tried filing a criminal complaint, but he had countercharged her with stalking. And because they had never been married, her claim for damages against the woman he had an affair with had also fizzled out.

Even so, the client wanted an apology from the man.

Not for herself, but because she wanted her baby—who had passed away so pointlessly inside her womb—to hear it.

“I wouldn’t even want an apology from Lee Jung-woo.”

In any case, it was a lawyer’s duty to do what the client wanted.

The cold weather made the tip of Yoon-seol’s nose sting.

She opened a large thermos and poured out the warm liquid inside.

“Wow, it smells great.”

It was a fragrant coffee rich with the aroma of nuts and dark chocolate.

The coffee, which was exactly to her taste, had been provided by Hyunsin Construction’s security team.

And that wasn’t all.

They had even brought her a camping chair and a parasol, telling her to sit comfortably while protesting.

The protest in front of the main entrance must have been an inconvenience to them, so why were they treating her so well?

[What can I say? We’re just doing what we were told, right? The higher-ups said it was a legal protest, so we were told to treat you well.]

Even when she asked the security team why, she only received vague answers.

In any case, she should gratefully accept their kindness.

Yoon-seol carefully sat down on the camping chair and slipped her mask down slightly.

As she took a sip of the fragrant coffee, the clear Italian sky came to mind.

“The coffee tastes similar to the one I had there.”

A memory flashed through her mind.

The day she had sat beside Dogeon on the terrace of his house, leisurely savoring coffee as they looked out over the lake.

The scorching sun that day.

The dazzling shimmer of sunlight dancing across the lake.

The cool breeze.

The rich aroma of coffee spreading through her mouth.

And……

The heavy yet sweet woody scent of the man as he swept his hair back.

“It’s a relationship that’s over. Just let it go, Seo Yoon-seol.”

The trip was over, and she had returned to reality.

The happy time she had spent with Han Dogeon was merely a part of that journey.

To avoid stumbling on the bleak, frozen ground beneath her feet now, she had no time to indulge in nostalgia for the past.

“I should stop drinking.”

The more coffee she drank, the more she found herself thinking of the cold man’s beautiful smile.

That wouldn’t do.

Yoon-seol set the coffee down with a tap, then curled herself up and hugged her knees.

There was a far more important matter that she truly needed to focus on.

She didn’t want her concentration to scatter.

“Finding the truth about Dad’s case comes first.”

She had left that man in such a hurry, almost as if she were running away, precisely because of this.

……That morning, Yoon-seol had received a suspicious message from an unknown sender.

〈Your father, lawyer Seo Gyu-pil, was murdered.〉

〈The drunk driving incident that day was all fabricated.〉

And then came photographs of documents whose origins were impossible to identify.