Chapter 09
As expected, Oh Hye-joo already knew.
Given the information network of a chaebol family’s lady, perhaps it was only natural.
“Aren’t you uncomfortable? Doesn’t it make work difficult?”
“Ah… I’m fine.”
“You must have been flustered. So, you’re working on the same team now? You’ll be seeing each other every day.”
“Yes, but Prosecutor doesn’t really interact much personally… so there’s no conflict.”
“Did Woo-kyung volunteer to be on your team intentionally?”
She was trying to indirectly ask if the two of them were meeting again. This seemed to be the main point.
“No. That’s not it.”
At the calm but firm denial, Oh Hye-joo’s eyes widened slightly.
“Really? Sorry, I jumped to conclusions.”
“There’s absolutely no need to apologize.”
Oh Hye-joo tucked Eun-jae’s hair that had been blown by the wind behind her ear.
“I thought Woo-kyung had just come back to Korea temporarily. But when he suddenly applied for reinstatement, I wondered if it was because of you.”
Her son was so taciturn that he never shared his deeper thoughts, Oh Hye-joo said with a gentle smile.
“Our Eun-jae will have a hard time dealing with a bad boss. You know my son’s temperament, right? Just looking at him can freeze someone.”
Watching the crowd heading into the prosecution office, Oh Hye-joo rose from the bench.
“If it becomes too difficult, let me know. I’ll use my connections to transfer you somewhere else.”
For a fleeting moment, Eun-jae wavered—she was offering something urgently needed right now.
Still, he couldn’t rely on Oh Hye-joo any further. He smiled calmly and shook his head.
“Just your words are enough, thank you.”
Eun-jae shifted the topic to the black mini dress Oh Hye-joo had brought.
“You always take care of me like this… but I wonder if I can actually pull off something this bold.”
“You know Baek Hae-na’s taste. She orders tons and doesn’t even pick it up. Only the shoppers struggle.”
Baek Hae-na was Woo-kyung’s half-sister and Oh Hye-joo’s biological daughter.
“Wear it when you want to look pretty. Eun-jae, it’s time you meet someone good too.”
Would that day really come? A day when he could genuinely smile beside someone who wasn’t her… could it truly come?
“Thank you for taking care of me, Director.”
Eun-jae smiled faintly, masking his bitterness.
After sending regards to the Do-young Group chairman, their brief meeting ended.
Eun-jae refused the offer of Oh Hye-joo’s driver helping him carry the luggage into the building and went inside briskly.
“Keep in touch!”
Oh Hye-joo watched until his slender back was out of sight.
“…But don’t actually contact me. You’re like a leech.”
Muttering that, she turned the corner with quick, heavy steps.
“I’m so busy, and I came all the way here for nothing. Damn it.”
As soon as he got into the waiting car, he lit a cigarette, frustration evident in his movements.
“So, even Jung Eun-jae doesn’t know why Baek Woo-kyung suddenly decided to stay in Korea.”
Sighing, Oh Hye-joo replayed the pointless conversation earlier in her mind with a touch of bitter humor.
“Nothing’s easy. Did that wretched woman ruin everything for me too?”
Wretched indeed. An illegitimate child, yet her face and mind are sharper than most—Jung Eun-jae’s life was properly tangled.
No matter how she thought about it, Woo-kyung being attracted to such a lowly woman was like a second chance granted by God.
The first chance had been when Woo-kyung was about to give up his position as group successor and become a prosecutor.
If Woo-kyung were gone, her daughter would be the only direct heir to inherit the group.
After the coronation, she would rise as the queen mother.
But now that plan was about to fail.
“After sending her abroad… what’s gotten into him, tsk.”
Perhaps the chairman—or her husband, the vice chairman—might regain interest in the group succession. That was the scariest thought. They were the kind of people who could hand over all shares at any time, even to Baek Woo-kyung.
Then, all the twenty-plus years endured in this suffocating household, next to a husband who constantly eyes other women, would be meaningless.
Oh Hye-joo pressed her throbbing temples.
“Have you found the firm to back Baek Woo-kyung?”
The secretary in the passenger seat spoke with a nearly dying voice.
“Well… since she’s an active prosecutor, no one’s willing to investigate her background… I’m sorry.”
“All idiots? Missing out on making money.”
Still fuming, Oh Hye-joo inhaled the last bit of smoke from her filter and closed her eyes.
…Baek Woo-kyung. I want to get rid of that wretched ex-wife’s child quickly.
For now, she would watch to see what happens between him and that wretched woman.
Her mind spun busily in every direction.
Tap-tap, only the sound of keyboards filled Prosecutor Baek Woo-kyung’s office, quiet as usual.
“Uh-hum.”
Manager Kim cleared his throat, breaking the silence. He exchanged glances with a clerk behind the partition, which seemed suspicious.
“Um, Prosecutor, I have a question!”
The clerk peeked out and grinned. Woo-kyung glanced up from the documents.
“Do you prefer beef or pork, Prosecutor?”
“I prefer beef.”
“Ah, I see.”
Having said his piece, the clerk returned to his documents.
The other clerk, wondering why that question came up, sheepishly looked at Manager Kim.
“Um, I also have a question, Prosecutor.”
This time Manager Kim asked with solemnity.
“Do you prefer soju, beer, so-maek, or Western liquor?”
Only then did Woo-kyung’s eyes sharpen, sensing the main point.
“When does our office have team dinners?”
“Exactly! Our Baek Office needs time to bond with each other. Haha!”
‘Baek Office’ was the nickname for Baek Woo-kyung’s team, Manager Kim added.
“As you know, Prosecutor, these days, the MZ generation often has lunch dinners. Our Baek Office is free at the moment—”
“Wait, Manager!”
The clerk hurriedly stopped him, and Eun-jae’s eyes widened.
“Oh! Right, you’re not supposed to say we’re free.”
There was a superstition in the prosecution office: saying you had free or light work always meant urgent issues would arise.
Manager Kim quickly covered his mouth, just as the loud phone rang.
“Baek Woo-kyung’s office.”
The clerk answered, looking distressed at Manager Kim.
“Ah… an emergency arrest? …Yes. Has the police investigation finished? …Ah, now? You’re transferring the suspect immediately?”
Manager Kim silently tore at his hair in despair. The previously free moment had ended.
Eun-jae smiled faintly, looking away.
Then his eyes met Woo-kyung’s indifferent gaze.
“…”
Perhaps a sense of camaraderie, however faint, had developed. They could now briefly meet each other’s gaze.
“Investigator.”
“Yes, Prosecutor. I’ll get the case overview and materials from the police and set up the shared drive so you can access evidence.”
The response was instantaneous, fully understanding Woo-kyung’s instructions.
“Should we reserve the interrogation room where recording is possible?”
This time, even he thought he had acted correctly. Woo-kyung’s neatly arched brows lifted slightly.
“Let’s do that.”
His faint smile almost seemed like praise.
Returning his focus to the documents, Woo-kyung’s face once again showed no hint of amusement.
“…Yes.”
Eun-jae’s response came slightly delayed, as he absentmindedly traced the faint dimple on Woo-kyung’s right cheek.
…Why am I acting like this?
I decided not to linger on this.
Eun-jae focused his mind, quickly making calls to the police, sending emails, and drafting cooperation requests to shake off distractions.
The work proceeded smoothly. Access to the shared drive was quickly approved.
However, a problem arose elsewhere.
Clicking through the materials on the shared drive, Eun-jae suddenly stopped.
The emergency-arrested suspect was someone he knew well.
‘It’s the professor!’
He couldn’t believe it. The screen showed the personal information of a professor who had briefly been his law school advisor.
“Oh my. The suspect is a law school professor?”
“Then they must at least be a former judge or prosecutor. How did they end up being arrested?”
Hearing Kim and the clerk talk, Woo-kyung’s eyes slowly moved over the documents.
“….”
He froze for a moment, then his gaze met Eun-jae’s again.
Professor Yoon Deok-jung, a criminal law expert at Korea University Law School.
He was also Woo-kyung’s most respected mentor.
