YHTI 08

Chapter: 08

Department Store VIP Personal Shopper Room

Yoonseul had no idea why Igeon had brought her here.

“Why did you want to come here?”

“To take care of my writer.”

“Take care of me?”

“Min Yoonseul, you’re going to the Hansan Media awards ceremony this week, right? It’s the first occasion where you’ll be introducing yourself to the public under your own name. If you’re going anyway, shouldn’t you go looking your best?”

“Ah…”

Only then did Yoonseul understand what Igeon had really been thinking, and she nodded.

In fact, this was something Yoonseul herself had been worried about.

This awards ceremony was not simply a place where she would receive an award.

It was where she would face Chairman Jung, her biological father, again.

It was also the day when the photographs that would later be cited most often by the media would be taken, once the world discovered that she was Chairman Jung’s biological daughter.

The story of a father and daughter who had been separated without knowing of each other’s existence and then dramatically reunited at an awards ceremony had every dramatic element the media loved.

In her previous life, Yoonseul had been deceived by Junghee’s manipulation into believing that revealing her identity would lead to questions about the fairness of the competition and potentially cause trouble for Chairman Jung. So after attending the awards ceremony, she had given up the award.

But this time, she had absolutely no intention of moving according to Junghee’s wishes.

That was why the awards ceremony was important.

However, she had spent all her time writing manuscripts in her workspace and had no idea how to dress herself properly, so she had been worried about it.

And Igeon had stepped forward to solve that problem for her.

Soon, the shopper appeared carrying racks filled with dresses of elegant silhouettes and modern suits.

Among the countless outfits, Igeon reached out without hesitation, as though he had known the correct answer from the beginning. His choices and rejections were decided in the blink of an eye.

“This one doesn’t suit Min Yoonseul’s skin tone. This one makes you look too young, so it takes away from the gravitas you need as a writer.”

There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in Igeon’s eye for fashion.

Even though the concept of personal color had not yet become popular, he seemed to know exactly which colors suited Yoonseul perfectly.

It was an aesthetic sense he had naturally developed from growing up surrounded by beautiful works of art.

The dressy two-piece suit Igeon ultimately chose suited Yoonseul as though it had been custom-made for her.

Its calm yet luxurious colors were neither excessive nor old-fashioned. They made Yoonseul’s clear skin look even more translucent and enhanced her intellectual atmosphere.

Yoonseul opened the fitting-room door and stopped in front of the large full-length mirror.

For a moment, she felt as though she had forgotten how to breathe.

The woman in the mirror looked so unfamiliar.

It was definitely her face, yet it seemed to shine as though it belonged to someone else.

“How is it? I like it.”

At Igeon’s satisfied voice, Yoonseul looked at herself in the mirror again.

Without realizing it, the corners of her lips curved upward.

“I like it too. I really like it.”

For an instant, Igeon’s eyes trembled slightly as he watched Yoonseul’s face light up with a bright smile.

It was as though the clear smile of Yoonseul during her freshman days overlapped with the woman standing before him.

After driving her all the way to her home, Igeon handed her a business card before she got out of the car.

“I made a reservation at the salon three hours before the awards ceremony, so stop by. You can get your makeup done before you go.”

“Dipflix’s writer management really is the best in the world.”

Yoonseul playfully gave him a thumbs-up, and Igeon let out a low chuckle.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re cute.”

Yoonseul was rendered speechless by Igeon suddenly saying something so embarrassingly sweet as though it were nothing.

“Thank you so much for today. Goodbye, CEO.”

Yoonseul hurriedly got out of the passenger seat, bowed, and disappeared.

“She’s pretending she didn’t hear me.”

The corners of Igeon’s lips smoothly curled upward as he gripped the steering wheel.

As the car started moving and drove along the road, Igeon thought about Yoonseul.

In his mind, he could already vividly picture the beautiful Yoonseul standing beneath the spotlight at the awards ceremony.

“…I was the only one who knew.”

Igeon quietly tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

He had a feeling that the pearl hidden deep within the mud, which only he had noticed, would soon emerge into the world and shine brilliantly.

He felt a little disappointed by that fact, yet at the same time, he was very much looking forward to it.

The Hansan Media Competition Awards Ceremony was held in grand fashion at the banquet hall of a famous hotel in Seoul.

When Yoonseul arrived at the entrance, a staff member in charge of guiding guests approached and asked for her name.

“Writer Min Yoonseul. This way, please.”

On the round table where the staff member escorted her, there was a seating card bearing her name in elegant handwriting.

As the Grand Prize winner, her seat was at the main table closest to the stage.

She saw winners from other categories who had arrived earlier awkwardly greeting one another.

“Hello. I’m Min Yoonseul.”

Yoonseul greeted them with a calm smile before taking her seat.

Before long, dazzling lights came on, and the awards ceremony officially began with the host’s polished remarks.

After several announcements related to the competition, a course meal was served.

The food placed before her looked incredibly appetizing, but Yoonseul couldn’t bring herself to eat.

Her nerves had risen to the point where it felt as though her throat were tightly blocked.

She could see Chairman Jung Yoonjoon sitting at the head table.

Dad…

An overwhelming desire to run to him and throw herself into his arms surged through her.

Yoonseul gripped the hem of her skirt beneath the table and desperately suppressed her surging emotions.

Fortunately, when she secretly glanced at him, his complexion looked healthy, and a sigh of relief escaped her.

He would die of pancreatic cancer four years from now.

This time, I’ll definitely save you, Dad.

Just as Yoonseul was desperately holding back her tears and making that vow, she noticed a familiar face sitting right beside Chairman Jung.

It was Do Igeon.

He was naturally engaged in conversation with Chairman Jung.

Without realizing it, Yoonseul stared at him, happy to see him.

Igeon sensed her gaze and turned his head toward her.

It was already too late to look away, so Yoonseul slightly lowered her head in a polite greeting.

In response, Igeon stared at her for a moment before the corners of his dark lips gently curved upward.

At that moment, it seemed as though the space around him suddenly became brighter.

Apparently, it wasn’t just her imagination, because the gazes of countless people throughout the banquet hall instantly turned toward Igeon as if on cue.

Yoonseul quickly turned her gaze forward.

After the meal ended, the highlight of the ceremony—the awards—began.

The awards proceeded from the Encouragement Award to the Excellence Award and then the Grand Excellence Award, one after another.

Finally, only the last award remained.

“Now, we will proceed with the prestigious Grand Prize of the Hansan Media Competition. Writer Min Yoonseul, winner of Insomnia, please come up to the stage!”

Thunderous applause erupted.

As Yoonseul stepped onto the stage after being called by the host, she received a heavy trophy along with a large panel clearly displaying the prize money of 50 million won.

Click. Click. Click.

The reporters in the press section all began firing their camera shutters noisily.

That was when it happened.

A brief commotion arose at the head table.

Chairman Jung had been staring blankly at Yoonseul on the stage when he accidentally let go of the wine glass in his hand.

Red wine spilled across the pristine white tablecloth.

Yoonseul’s eyes trembled violently at the sight, exactly as it had happened in her previous life.

Back then, she had failed to notice it.

But now she could clearly see the look in her father’s eyes.

Holding back the tears that threatened to spill, Yoonseul lowered her gaze to the floor.

Dad knew who I was the moment he saw me.

The emotions swirling through Chairman Jung’s eyes told Yoonseul so many things.

Why didn’t I know back then?

He had been looking at her with eyes so full of aching affection that it seemed as though he might burst into tears at any moment.

‘It was a lie that your father abandoned you and your mother. At the time, he didn’t even know you had been born. So when you meet him in the afterlife, don’t hate him. Make sure you embrace him.’

Deceived by Junghee, she had allowed her father, who had desperately tried to approach her, to leave her life in vain.

If only she had looked more closely into her father’s eyes back then, she would have been able to recognize the desperate sincerity hidden within them.

The past, when she had ignored her father’s true feelings and done nothing but resent him, made her heart feel as though it were being torn apart with guilt and regret.

But fortunately, she had been given another chance to set everything right.

Beneath the shower of spotlights, Yoonseul sent a desperate, silent greeting toward Chairman Jung.

Dad, please wait just a little longer… This time, I’ll hold you warmly in my arms.

Yoonseul’s grip tightened firmly around the trophy in her hands.