Chapter 1
The sound of car doors opening and closing caused the birds perched on the trees to suddenly take flight in a flurry of wings.
Soon after, silence settled over the area.
The entrance leading into the forest was closed off, and because it had been abandoned for a long time, weeds had grown thick around it.
The villa standing directly ahead was old and poorly maintained. The paint on the exterior walls had peeled away, making it look more like an abandoned haunted house than a place where someone lived.
Moreover, since it was located halfway down the mountain, darkness would fall quickly once the sun went down.
With an annoyed expression, Joo-won looked around his surroundings before heading toward the entrance of the villa.
The sound of gravel crunching beneath his feet was the only noise in the area. Everything around him was eerily quiet.
Joo-won had received a phone call early that morning, and the uneasy feeling it left him with had lingered throughout the entire day. In the end, he had no choice but to leave Seoul late in the afternoon.
His aunt, who had gone through a divorce less than a year after getting married, had returned here after ending her short marriage and had been living in this place ever since.
Although it was only about an hour away from Seoul, the villa was deep in the mountains, isolated from the outside world with no nearby houses.
The glass front door was frosted, making it impossible to see inside clearly.
There was no sign of anyone inside, and even though it was getting dark, the lights had not been turned on.
Just as he hesitated while holding the doorknob, wondering whether he should enter, the door suddenly swung open from the inside.
A woman with a bare face and short bob-cut hair greeted Joo-won from within the darkness.
Eun-jung looked much more haggard than the last time he had seen her. If he had passed by her outside, he might not have recognized her.
“You came.”
Eun-jung stepped aside so Joo-won could enter, a faint smile appearing on her face.
“It’s a little shabby, isn’t it? But everything I need is here, so it’s not uncomfortable. Oh, right! You haven’t had dinner yet, have you? Just in case, I bought some groceries earlier today.”
“It’s fine, Aunt. I ate lunch late, so I’m not really hungry.”
At Joo-won’s dry response, Eun-jung’s stiff lips formed an awkward smile.
“I’m sorry for making someone busy like you come all the way here. I’ll make you some coffee. Sit down for a while.”
As Eun-jung headed toward the kitchen, Joo-won sat down on the L-shaped sofa and looked around the room.
There were no appliances or display cabinets. The only furniture in the living room was the sofa and a small tea table.
The light from the kitchen cast a long shadow, faintly illuminating the living room.
Eun-jung returned with freshly brewed coffee, placed it in front of Joo-won, and sat down across from him.
“It’s a little shabby, isn’t it?”
“You said you had something to tell me.”
Joo-won’s desire to skip unnecessary conversation and get straight to the point was obvious in his voice.
Eun-jung, who had been carefully looking at her nephew’s face after such a long time, opened the drawer beneath the table.
“You might think I have no right to ask you for anything since I’ve never really done anything for you… but you’re the only person I can ask.”
After speaking in a quiet voice, Eun-jung took something out of the drawer and held it out to him.
It was a photograph.
More precisely, a picture of a young girl.
Curious, Joo-won accepted the photo and silently stared at the child.
Her smile was so bright that it made him think she was someone who could truly smile like that.
It was a face he had never seen before.
“She lost her parents in an accident not long ago. She’s currently living in an orphanage.”
As if he could not understand why she was showing him this picture, Joo-won looked at Eun-jung with questioning eyes.
“I know it may not be much help, but this mountain area is quite large. Including the land where this house sits, it’s easily over 30,000 pyeong. And the 9 percent of company shares my late mother left under my name… They had been placed in a trust until then, but as a condition of the arranged marriage, your grandfather transferred them all to me.”
Even though Eun-jung referred to her own mother as “my mother,” the way she called Joo-won’s grandfather “your grandfather” revealed the deep resentment she had been holding inside.
She coughed quietly, as if continuing was difficult.
Only after drinking some water did her coughing subside.
The sound of her placing the glass down echoed heavily, almost as much as her strained coughing.
“I’ll give everything I own to you, Joo-won. In exchange… I want you to become that child’s guardian.”
“What are you talking about—”
“She’s left all alone in this world. There’s no one beside her, no one to take care of her.”
“So what does that have to do with you, Aunt?”
Eun-jung hesitated, unable to answer his question right away.
“The company shares and the ownership of this land are technically under my name, but they’ve been restricted so I can’t actually dispose of them freely. You can probably guess why. Your grandfather arranged it that way. But I believe you can find a way. Because I believe you hate that man just as much as I do.”
Joo-won’s deep, unreadable gaze, which had been lowered without revealing its thoughts, met Eun-jung’s eyes.
He did not immediately deny it.
Because throughout his entire life, there had not been a single moment when he had liked his grandfather.
“I want my father to become the most miserable person in the world. I want you to make that happen in my place.”
Joo-won reached out, gripped the cup, and took a sip of coffee.
The movement of his thick, clearly defined Adam’s apple as he swallowed was unmistakable.
“So you want me to become her guardian?”
Joo-won understood that Eun-jung was carefully revealing the idea she had been hiding heavily inside her heart.
“That’s my only condition. You won’t lose anything. With this amount of shares, I believe they will definitely help you someday when you need them.”
Slowly blinking his deep black eyes, Joo-won formed a cold smile at the corner of his lips.
“I don’t want to enter a contract where one side is heavily disadvantaged. But since I have nothing to lose, I’ll accept. However, I want to make one thing clear. My role will only be that of a guardian. Nothing more.”
At Joo-won’s words, Eun-jung let out a relieved sigh.
“That’s enough. More than enough.”
Since Joo-won arrived here, it was the first time a smile had appeared on Eun-jung’s face.
The sight of a man walking through a lobby covered in smooth marble was almost like watching someone walk across a red carpet at an awards ceremony.
Standing close to 190 centimeters tall, the man possessed an intimidating presence that overwhelmed others even when he was simply walking.
His cold eyes showed no emotion at all. Beneath his sharp nose, his tightly pressed lips revealed the heavy and unwavering nature of a man who was not easily shaken by anything.
Following behind him, Seong-hyun quickly moved ahead and pressed the elevator button.
Glancing back, Seong-hyun met the man’s lowered gaze.
Even though he had seen that familiar look countless times before, a chill still ran down his spine.
It was a terrifying gaze.
The problem was the report he had delivered just before getting out of the car.
It was not actually his fault, and when it came to human matters rather than machines, unexpected variables were bound to happen.
But for a man who accepted not even the slightest flaw, whether in work or personal life, and pursued nothing less than perfection, this incident was more than enough to put him in a bad mood.
