Chapter 12
Woo-kyung was sitting on the sofa in front of the tea table, not at his desk.
Leaning his upper body against the backrest with his eyes closed, it looked like he had fallen asleep.
But Eun-jae had another reason for being surprised.
“Alcohol…”
The glass in his hand contained a pale amber liquid. Even in the air, a faint scent of whiskey lingered.
Woo-kyung rarely drank alcohol under normal circumstances. When in a good mood, he would enjoy one or two light drinks at most.
This was the first time Eun-jae had seen him drinking so seriously.
“……”
It must be because of the aftermath of Professor Yoon’s trial.
Eun-jae quietly bit her lower lip.
Manager Kim had been grinning ear to ear, saying that their prosecutor had won decisively, but Eun-jae couldn’t stop thinking about the door to Woo-kyung’s private office, which had been firmly closed all afternoon.
No matter how stoic and unshakable he was, it would hardly have been pleasant for him to beg his respected mentor.
Yet she hadn’t imagined that he would be so shocked as to drink alcohol he normally avoided.
Baek Woo-kyung had always been an adult, a sky, a solid fortress for her.
She thought that someone so emotionally detached would have brushed it off calmly this time as well. So she hadn’t even planned to offer any awkward consolation.
At most, she could check, as a fellow investigator, whether the trial had gone smoothly.
And she had come, waiting until the end of the workday, also to request approval for her transfer. But it seemed today was not that day.
Eun-jae turned to leave the room, but then her eyes caught the glass precariously hanging in his hand.
“Just clearing the glass should be okay.”
Hesitating briefly, she approached him.
Bending down, she removed the glass and set it on the table, but the closeness to him made her uneasy.
“……”
A heavy scent with a faint citrus note brushed against her nose.
It was a familiar scent she had smelled countless times when he had leaned against her.
Eun-jae’s gaze landed on his face, eyes still closed.
Her eyes traced his sharp jawline, the reddish tint of his lips, the prominent bridge of his nose, and finally stopped at the deep eye sockets beneath long eyelashes.
‘Haah… ah, it’s ticklish.’
When they spent the night together, after their passionate moments ended, he would bury his face in her shoulder to catch his breath.
His long eyelashes brushed against her soft skin, tickling her. She had been so helpless that she couldn’t even push him away, so she had endured the tickling.
‘Oppa… how does a man have such long eyelashes?’
One day, she had complained grumpily, and his eyes had narrowed slightly in response.
‘This is irritating.’
‘…?’
‘It means you’re looking at other men’s eyelashes too.’
The moment she realized the displeasure in his gaze had deepened, a hot hand suddenly grabbed her round arm.
“Oppa, wait. I didn’t mean that, ah—”
The memory of that excitement and rapture rushed back vividly, just like yesterday.
The branches of thought that began to stretch finally reached the scene from a few days ago.
She recalled, like a lingering afterimage, Baek Woo-kyung sitting across from another woman, smiling gently.
…Stop it.
Eun-jae straightened up and moved away from Woo-kyung. Just as she was about to truly leave his side:
“……!”
The sensation of his firm grip on her wrist made her shoulders flinch.
Woo-kyung had opened his eyes fully and was staring at her intently.
“What is that look? Like you’re seeing an alcoholic or something.”
His low, leisurely voice sounded completely sober.
“You… you’re awake?”
“Look straight at me. Don’t sneak a glance.”
He smiled slightly and gently pulled the arm he had grabbed. Eun-jae tried her best to appear calm as she sat next to him.
“I, um… came to see if you were alright…”
“What?”
He raised his free hand to brush his hair back, questioning with his eyes.
“I heard Professor Yoon’s trial concluded well… but if you’re tired, please rest. I’ll leave.”
For a moment, the relaxed expression in his eyes narrowed.
“Are you alright?”
“……”
“I didn’t realize I’d be the one getting worried by a kid.”
He crossed the line that separated prosecutor and investigator in an instant.
“You even drank alcohol you normally avoid.”
Eun-jae resigned herself and matched his tone, slightly bristling at being treated like a child.
…Honestly, I haven’t done much right either.
Even when the elevator stopped, or when she had needlessly worried about him.
The person himself didn’t seem to care at all, and now regret flooded her.
“Want a drink?”
He smiled slightly, gesturing at the whiskey bottle on the table.
“You know this drink well.”
“No, I don’t want to. I’m not familiar with alcohol.”
His brows furrowed briefly.
“You don’t know?”
Instead of answering, Eun-jae pulled her wrist from his hand. When the heat disappeared, an emptiness lingered.
“More importantly, I have a question. About the transfer request I submitted… why did you reject it?”
Her sharp curiosity forced her to get to the point. Woo-kyung’s eyebrows arched slightly.
“Why should I approve that?”
“Why—?”
“Do you know how many cases I’m handling right now, Investigator Jeong Eun-jae?”
Ah. It’s about work. Baek Woo-kyung, a perfectionist, probably didn’t want Eun-jae’s transfer to cause even a small flaw in his work.
If that was the reason, she could selfishly relax.
“…I’ll make sure the handover goes smoothly so it doesn’t interfere with work. Please approve the transfer, Prosecutor Baek Woo-kyung.”
“Why? Is it inconvenient for me?”
Swallowing an inexplicable bitterness, Eun-jae straightened her back and spoke.
“Yes. It’s uncomfortable for me to see you.”
“……”
“It’s awkward to keep facing an ex-boyfriend you broke up with badly.”
After that, heavy silence hung between them.
His black eyes, unreadable, stared straight at her.
Eun-jae didn’t avert her gaze. Even though it made her feel dizzy, as if being sucked into a black hole, she endured it.
How long had it been?
“Don’t go. Stay here.”
Finally, the low voice fell from between his lips.
“……”
Her heart felt like it was falling. Eun-jae hastily looked away from his unwavering gaze.
It was the first time Woo-kyung had said something like this to her.
Even when he had cruelly told her to break up, he hadn’t stopped her.
But…
“Just six more months. I’ll leave Korea.”
The words that followed blocked even the smallest sprout of hope.
“Maybe even sooner than that.”
Eun-jae interpreted this as him planning to marry and return to the U.S. within six months.
Six months, maybe even sooner.
A deadline etched in her mind like a death sentence.
In six months, she might never see him again.
And if he becomes another woman’s husband…
“Yes, then please do it as soon as possible.”
If that’s the case, I also need to rid myself of this lingering attachment as quickly as possible.
Eun-jae stood up. There was no reason to remain near him.
“Oh… you mean leave as soon as possible.”
Silently accepting the affirmation, she bowed and walked straight out of his space, deliberately ignoring the heat of his gaze on her back.
“Damn it.”
As soon as the door closed with a thud, Woo-kyung impatiently ran his hand through his hair.
Eun-jae’s lingering youthfulness provoked him even more.
His chest tightened. He downed the whiskey he had been drinking in one go, finishing the glass.
Does she even know why I chose to drink the alcohol I normally avoid?
Come to think of it, the audacious Eun-jae didn’t even remember what this drink meant.
He chuckled dryly. Ridiculous.
When Eun-jae stole his first kiss, she had forgotten the whiskey he drank at that moment, completely excising him.
Why am I giving it a meaning by myself? Pathetic.
It was the summer right after Eun-jae became a college student.
At the end-of-term party, slightly tipsy, she had rushed at him and kissed him.
‘This is your first time, huh?’
‘If… if I’m clumsy and you dislike it—’
‘No. I like it.’
‘……!’
‘F***ing good, Jeong Eun-jae.’
Fearlessly stealing his lips, her breath carried a faint scent of vanilla.
Later, he learned from Eun-jae’s confession that she had drunk a lot of whiskey brought by a classmate at that party.
Even during her sudden separation and life in the U.S., when she sometimes missed Eun-jae, she would drink whiskey filled with the scent of vanilla.
In this way, he preserved the fading scent of their first kiss in his mind.
“And yet, you don’t even know.”
He had thought about making her remember, perhaps by teasing her lips, biting, or stirring them.
But he managed to suppress his desire. He didn’t want to look foolish as the only one still lingering with attachment.
…Or maybe I already look foolish.
Even at an important moment exposing Oh Hye-joo’s corruption, he thought of Eun-jae.
“You crazy bastard.”
Scoffing at himself, Woo-kyung refilled his glass. After finishing it cleanly, he placed it back on the table with a thud.
His gaze darkened, recalling the incident from a few days ago.
A few days ago, at the Doyoung Hotel lounge:
“Prosecutor, is it really okay for us to meet like this… so publicly?”
The woman sitting across the table, tea cup in front of her, spoke politely but warily.
Woo-kyung glanced around the bright, open lounge and smiled warmly.
“I deliberately chose this place. There’s a saying that things under the lamp are dark.”
The woman glanced around the table before speaking in a firm tone:
“If Director Oh Hye-joo finds out… it’ll be problematic.”
