LU C4

Chapter 4

He possessed basic courtesy, but he was never kind, nor was there even the slightest trace of warmth in him. Even though he had everything one could possibly want, his thoroughly guarded and flawless personality never allowed anyone to get close. Most people eventually grew tired, became discouraged, and stepped away on their own.

The man who never bent down before anyone and always carried himself with confidence seemed somehow different today.

Manager Jung couldn’t help but wonder just how strong-willed the woman had to be to casually cut off Kang Joo-won’s words and still maintain such an unshaken attitude.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Manager Jung stared at the woman.

The meal itself was nothing special, just an ordinary spread of dishes. Yet the woman repeatedly widened her eyes in surprise and ate with genuine enjoyment.

She looked to be around 165 centimeters tall, and her straight black hair that fell just past her shoulders emphasized her small, pale face.

Even dressed casually in a white T-shirt and jeans, her delicate and well-balanced features gave off a neat and elegant impression.

On top of that, her small but perfectly straight nose created an overall refined atmosphere.

She wasn’t the kind of beauty that immediately stood out in a crowd, but the more one looked at her, the more their attention was drawn in. Whenever she smiled with her eyes, she had a subtle way of making those around her feel good.

The more he wondered what kind of relationship she had with Kang Joo-won, the more curious he became. Yet the woman still gave them no answer.

After finishing her meal, the woman drank an entire glass of water and placed it down.

“Ah, right! You asked earlier what my relationship with Mr. Kang Joo-won was, didn’t you? Actually, I met him for the first time today too.”

For the first time in a while, surprise and confusion spread across Manager Jung’s usually expressionless face.

For the first time?

The look of disbelief quickly appeared on everyone’s faces except Jae-i’s.

What kind of absurd statement was that?

Even after hearing it, Manager Jung questioned his own ears.

“Now that I say it out loud, I admit it sounds really unexpected. I only knew him as my guardian. I had never actually seen his face before.”

Guardian?

Although Manager Jung had spent many years handling matters for Chairman Kang’s family, this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. He was completely stunned.

It felt like she had been awake for twenty-four hours straight.

Jae-i tossed and turned in bed, trying every possible way to fall asleep, but eventually gave up and sat up.

Maybe because she had eaten too much late at night, her stomach even felt heavy.

Getting out of bed, Jae-i opened the balcony door leading to the garden.

Since October was coming to an end, the early morning air was cold.

A chilly wind that felt like winter would arrive any day wrapped around her body.

Leaning against the balcony railing, she stared at the city lights in the distance that continued to shine without fading.

“I really ended up coming after all.”

As if someone might hear her, Jae-i muttered to herself.

Coming to Korea had been a decision she had made after thinking about it dozens, no, hundreds of times.

Actually, saying she had “returned” wasn’t entirely accurate. She had spent more time living in America than she had memories of living in Korea, so in many ways, America felt more like her hometown.

Yet even after living in the United States for more than ten years, she had always lived like a foreigner with nowhere to truly belong.

Open discrimination, the kind that was obvious on the surface, wasn’t really a big deal. She had lived while facing discrimination everywhere, so something like that was something she could overcome.

The real problem was herself—someone who couldn’t attach her heart anywhere and always lived as if both feet were floating in the air.

She didn’t even know why, but somehow she had always longed for this place called Korea, where not a single person was waiting for her.

Jae-i slowly breathed in, filling her lungs deeply with the night air.

“Feels nice… Korea.”

The sky was nothing special.

People’s lives were the same wherever they went, but only now did she feel like she had finally planted both feet firmly on the ground.

Having the same skin color, the same eyes, and speaking the same language wasn’t actually a big deal, but from the moment she arrived at the airport, she felt a strange sense of relief.

Her decision to come to Korea without any definite plan or preparation wasn’t completely impulsive.

She was close to graduating from university, and all her classmates were busy preparing to find jobs.

But for a long time, Jae-i had vaguely thought that she would go to Korea after graduating.

There was someone she had always wanted to meet if she ever came to Korea.

Kang Joo-won.

Her guardian.

When she was eight years old, her parents passed away in an accident, and she was sent to an orphanage where she lived afterward.

Her father had also grown up in an orphanage, and her mother had no family either, leaving no one who could take care of Jae-i.

When she left Korea, Jae-i believed she had been adopted by an American family.

But the place she arrived at wasn’t an ordinary home. It was a dormitory inside a school.

She lived there continuously, and during vacations, she stayed with foster families operated by a Korean association.

Even after entering university, her life of moving between dormitories never changed.

The reason she was able to graduate smoothly without worrying about expensive tuition or living expenses was because of a guardian she had never even seen.

For a long time, she had wondered why a person named Kang Joo-won, someone with absolutely no connection to her, had become her guardian.

In truth, the biggest reason she came to Korea was because of that unanswered question.

When she was sent to America, she saw Kang Joo-won’s name written on the documents. Following the address listed there had brought her to this place.

Kang Joo-won was not the elderly man she had imagined in her mind.

Why had that man chosen to become her guardian for so many years and generously supported her without hesitation?

It felt like she had been carrying around a frustrating puzzle that had remained unsolved for far too long.

And after meeting Kang Joo-won in front of the house last night, the number of question marks in her mind had multiplied beyond count.

A man with a strikingly attractive appearance—someone who stood out wherever he went—why would someone perfectly healthy and capable spend such a large amount of money supporting a girl he had never even met?

She wanted to shake the sleeping man awake right away and demand an answer.

At the same time, fear held her back.

Because sometimes, there were things that were better left buried for both sides.

As if revealing the tangled mess inside her mind, Jae-i ran her hand through her hair and roughly messed it up.

She thought all her questions would be answered once she came to Korea.

Instead, everything only seemed to become more complicated.

Since she needed to adjust to the time difference, she decided she would stay awake all day and go for a morning workout.

When she stepped outside onto the dim street before sunrise, the cold early morning wind touched her cheeks pleasantly.

Back in America, she never skipped her morning exercise.

Since she wasn’t familiar with the neighborhood, she followed the signs and eventually found a walking path leading to the Han River.

There were many people exercising even at that early hour, so finding the place hadn’t been difficult.

Her body, stiff from the cold morning air, gradually warmed as she started running, and sweat slowly began to form on her back.

The wide-open view of the Han River was beautiful enough to remind her of the scenic walking paths along the Charles River.