TL: Aniea
Her expression was so terrifying that even the great Kim Ji-hye couldn't carelessly open her mouth.
"Mother, please let go."
"...I am ashad."
"You don't need to apologize. There must have been a reason why Mother grabbed her hair. I'm sure there was so circumstance."
"......"
Kim Ji-hye felt a surge of emotion at Kang Woo-ju's words. With that, she cautiously let go of Park Hye-jeong's hair and quietly stepped back.
Now free, Park Hye-jeong couldn't contain her rising anger. She was ready to throw whatever was nearby and scream at the top of her lungs.
But at that mont.
Her eyes t Kang Woo-ju's cold, emotionless gaze. It felt as if sothing had choked her, preventing her from making a sound.
'...W-What is this!?'
Park Hye-jeong, experiencing an unfamiliar sensation for the first ti in her life, found her mind going blank.
She wanted to turn her head and avoid Kang Woo-ju's gaze sohow, but his icy stare wouldn't even allow her the act of blinking.
'What kind of eyes...'
She had t countless people who were at the top of their social circles.
Among them were CEOs of well-known large corporations and even young self-made chaebols, so around Kang Woo-ju's age, who had gained wealth overseas.
They all carried an aura of distinction, but none could be described as 'overwhelming' the way Kang Woo-ju now was.
'...Am I trembling?'
Suddenly, Park Hye-jeong realized her body was trembling.
She wanted to believe it was the aftershock of the earlier fight with Kim Ji-hye, but unfortunately, her brain—quick to discern the strong from the weak—had already made its judgnt.
The reason her body was trembling wasn't anything else but the predator, 'Kang Woo-ju,' who was staring down at her with such indifference.
"Park Hye-jeong-ssi."
Step, step—
Kang Woo-ju started walking toward her. Even just that was enough to capture everyone's attention with his overwhelming presence.
"Oh, um... That..."
Park Hye-jeong tried desperately to speak, but her voice wouldn't co out properly.
In the anti, Kang Woo-ju had already reached right in front of her. His first words, eting her gaze, were shockingly blunt.
"Your makeup is quite thick."
"...!?"
"Have you ever heard of 'surfactants'? The very costics you slather on to cover your wrinkles are a mixture of water and oil."
"W-What does that have to do with anything!?"
Finally, Park Hye-jeong managed to voice a response, though her voice was cracked and strained from her tension.
Hoo—
Kang Woo-ju sighed softly as he looked at her. His breath spread through the room, making the atmosphere even colder.
"I suppose trying to have a rational conversation with soone unreasonable is aningless. Though I don't like it, shall we talk at a level that suits you?"
"......?"
"Daema Construction. It's a company that's managed to stay afloat for over 10 years. Ah, if we count the ti before it changed its na, it's exactly 24 years."
"W-What are you talking about...?"
Twitch—!
Park Hye-jeong's eyes widened at Kang Woo-ju's words. She instinctively realized that he was about to say sothing dangerous.
'No, it can't be.'
The past of Daema Construction was a secret known only to a very few, including herself and her husband. Even her daughter didn’t know about it.
While she denied it in her mind, the number '24' Kang Woo-ju ntioned stuck with her.
And even more troubling was the confidence in his eyes, as if he knew all the truth.
"You're still wearing suits just like back then, though the material has changed a bit. But your actions remain that of a lowly thug."
"You...!"
"It's not 'you'; it's Kang Woo-ju. Park Hye-jeong-ssi."
Kang Woo-ju firmly cut her off. Park Hye-jeong quickly tried to speak again, but he raised his hand, gesturing for silence.
"It seems you haven't fully grasped the situation yet. Why do you think I'm bothering to bring this up right now?"
"You... No, Kang Woo-ju. Do you know who you're ssing with? I don’t know how much you know, but what makes you so confident to act like this?"
"I'll return those words right back to you."
"...What?"
Click, click—
Kang Woo-ju's footsteps echoed throughout the entire departnt store. The pressure he exerted as he approached Park Hye-jeong was so imnse it felt like it was filling the whole space.
Park Hye-jeong felt like she was suffocating, her face turning pale as if sothing was strangling her.
'I-I can't breathe-!!'
As if her thoughts didn't matter in the slightest, Kang Woo-ju drew closer and slowly lowered his head toward her.
Like an anaconda coiling around its prey, suffocating it. He locked eyes with her and then opened his mouth wide.
"Park Hye-jeong. Do you know who you're ssing with?"
Park Hye-jeong saw it clearly then—the first ti an emotion appeared in his cold, emotionless eyes. A clear intent to kill.
The mont she recognized it, her body reacted on its own, without any control from her. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the side.
"...Mom!"
Only then did her daughter, who had been standing behind her, rush forward and grab Park Hye-jeong. But even she didn’t dare to et Kang Woo-ju's gaze.
"Call an ambulance! Call 119, quickly!"
"......"
Her daughter scread at the helpless employees around them. But they, too, were frozen in place, their bodies stiff.
Secretary Yoon, who had managed to regain her composure, quickly raised her phone, but soone reached out and stopped her.
"CEO-nim!?"
"From her symptoms, it seems like a simple fainting spell from shock. It doesn't seem to be an epileptic fit or any other critical condition, so I don't think an ambulance is necessary."
"...Understood. Then I’ll call the ergency dical team within the departnt store. I'll also move the musical performance up a bit so that other VVIPs don’t co down here."
"Please do."
"Leave it to ."
Having worked together for years, Secretary Yoon's attentiveness and ability to handle matters were unmatched.
She quickly identified the solution Kim Eun-ha wanted and imdiately moved to implent it.
"Employees, please return to your posts. As required, you must keep what you saw here to yourselves. If any word gets out, everyone here will bear the consequences."
"Yes!"
The employees responded loudly to Kim Eun-ha’s order and dispersed in an orderly manner, like well-trained soldiers, as if nothing had happened at all.
The people who had been surrounding the area disappeared in an instant. Now only Kang Woo-ju's family, Kim Eun-ha, and the Park Hye-jeong mother and daughter were left.
Park Hye-jeong's daughter, Lim Bora, was overwheld with sha at the situation and couldn't bear it. Her rage, unable to find a proper outlet, turned toward none other than Kim Eun-ha.
"Kim Eun-ha. You..."
"I’ll warn you just once."
As if Lim Bora had chosen the wrong person to confront, Kim Eun-ha ruthlessly cut her off. She looked down at Lim Bora with a gaze colder than ever.
Her face, now completely devoid of the slightest smile, was so terrifying that it made anyone watching tremble. Lim Bora was no exception.
"From now on, you'd better think long and hard before you open that loose mouth of yours. One careless word from you could very well decide the future of Daema Construction, don’t you think?"
"......"
"Well, though it seems like it's already too late."
Smirk—
Kim Eun-ha's lips curled into a slight smile, as if she hadn’t been so stern just monts ago. However, there wasn’t a trace of warmth in that smile. No one dared to speak.
*
After so ti passed.
Kang Woo-ju's family and Kim Eun-ha sat in a lounge area set up in a corner of the departnt store, talking among themselves.
"Mother, I'm sorry. I should have stayed with you to make sure sothing like this didn’t happen..."
"Don't worry too much about it. In fact, I'm the one who should apologize. I'm worried that I caused such a scene by losing my temper unnecessarily."
"You don’t need to worry about that. Believe it or not, I'm actually quite capable. I'll handle everything smoothly without any noise. Oh, and also..."
"Hm?"
Kim Ji-hye tilted her head in curiosity.
Seeing this, Kim Eun-ha gave a soft smile and handed her a neatly wrapped shopping bag.
"What is this?"
"I heard from the staff earlier. They ntioned you really liked the Artycapucines on display. So, I prepared one for you."
"......"
Kim Eun-ha looked a bit apologetic, as if she felt guilty for the events that unfolded.
Kim Ji-hye stared at the shopping bag in front of her for a mont before handing it back to Kim Eun-ha.
"I'll just accept the thought."
"...What?"
"It might not seem like much to you, my dear daughter-in-law, but this is too expensive a gift for . From my perspective, it feels burdenso."
"...Mother."
"Honestly, I was a bit too harsh with Park Hye-jeong, wasn’t I? There were things she said that pricked at , so I lashed out without even realizing it."
There was really no need to pull her by the hair. She could have easily subdued her with less force.
But the words Park Hye-jeong had said pierced her heart like knives, and as a result, she acted more aggressively than usual.
No matter the reason, since the incident happened at her daughter-in-law's workplace, it was only right for her to apologize a hundred tis over.
"They say people should live within their ans. Of course, I'll keep trying to ensure I don't burden you two, but I think I’ll need a bit more ti for that."
"......"
Kang Woo-ju and Kang Byul couldn’t easily respond to Kim Ji-hye’s honest words.
It would have been nice if their story ended like a fairytale—‘The two got married and lived happily ever after.’
But in reality, love was filled with countless hurdles, proving that the simplicity of fairytales was just that—fiction.
‘The environnts we grew up in are just too different.’
Kang Woo-ju nodded to himself. As soone at the center of the situation, he felt this more keenly than anyone else.
Although things had improved a bit by now, there were still monts when he felt like he was suffocating every ti he wore a tie that cost hundreds of thousands of won.
‘Today’s incident is just the tip of the iceberg.’
In this world, bizarre situations that defied common sense happened regularly. It was just that the power of those who ford the cartel was so imnse that such things never beca widely known.
That’s why Kang Woo-ju understood Kim Ji-hye’s emotions better than anyone and couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
"......"
Kim Eun-ha, too, was well aware of what they were feeling. She closed her eyes for a mont, deep in thought.
How much ti passed?
Eventually, Kim Eun-ha opened her eyes and cautiously began to speak.
"Since Mother brought it up first, I’ll be honest too."
"Please, speak as freely as you’d like."
"Thank you."
Sss- hoo—
Kim Eun-ha took a deep breath, as if she was about to say sothing serious, causing everyone to stare at her lips with tense expressions.
"In the future, I plan to marry Woo-ju."
"...!?"
Her statent was so far beyond what anyone expected that even Kang Woo-ju's mouth dropped open in shock.
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