Chapter 10
Rows of cars were lined up along Cheongpyeong Lake. I was staring at the passing scenery the whole time. After a while, I turned my head to the presents that filled the backseat, from various local specialities to large flower bouquets, a shopping bag with a beautifully wrapped beret, and a distinctive trademark of Artist Kim Eung-soo.
When I reached out to straighten the tangled ribbon, Soo-wan, who was in the driver’s seat, spoke for the first time since we got into the vehicle.
“Leave it. Don’t mess it up.”
I rolled my eyes, ignoring his words I straightened up the tangled ribbon in the packing.
“I told you to leave it as it is right?”
“It’s done. It’s untangled now.”
“If someone said not to do something, then don’t do it!”
I leaned on my seat and gave him an absurd look after hearing his sudden outburst. The car that had completely stopped moving began to move again. We were on our way to the Gapyeong villa of artist Kim Eung-soo. It was a meeting arranged by CEO Shin to greet Artist Kim and say hello as the company received the main prize at the Red Dot Awards. Needless to say, me and Soo-Wan were less than thrilled about it.
The traffic condition was gradually getting cleared. Soo-wan speeds up and glances at me, who was sitting in the seat next to him.
“I heard that you’re moving to Hae-in Architects? When will you be going?”
“It has not been decided yet.”
“Did you have an interview?”
“I still haven’t even contacted him.”
“It’s way out of your league. You should go for it as CEO Shin said, he’s trying to help you. It’s very difficult to get in there. Not just anyone can go in.”
He is a grown adult for god sake, why is he still so sarcastic? I shifted my gaze from the window to Soo-wan. After returning from Germany, my relationship with him was gradually getting worse day by day. He even had the audacity to interrupt my presentation yesterday and refund all the gifts I have chosen to Artist Kim.
“Senior, do you feel inferior to me?”
His face flushed red in an instant hearing my words and exclaimed.
“Me? Do you think I’m crazy? Why do I feel inferior to you! Wow, don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself? How can you talk like that to your seniors?”
“Then why are you being so childish? Were you always this bad with people? The staff kept asking if I had a fight with Senior. If you have a problem with me, please tell it to my face.”
“A problem? Yes, you are right. Hey, Lee Ji-Eun, what’s up with you and Kwon Lee-Hyun? After Executive Director Kwon met you, he pretended not to know me! He said that he had something to ask of me, but now he ignored me like I’m invisible. Aren’t you the one who’s acting shitty and stabbing people behind their backs? Huh?”
He hit the steering wheel harshly.
After hearing what he said, I just smiled with an absurd expression etched on my face. I indeed felt unfair, and looking back, it was also true that I was tangled up in a personal relationship with Kwon Lee-Hyun. So I actually had no answer for him. It was Lim Soo-wan who talked about the blueprint but now the debate about whether the chicken or egg comes first was a waste of time.
He took my silence for his advantage and raised his voice several times at me, calling not to ignore him, but soon it ended with a string of irritable swear words as if he was tired of it all.
After what felt like forever we finally approached Artist Kim’s villa.
I did not design a separate parking lot at the request of artist Kim. The reason was that Kim Eung-soo himself did not drive, and the caretaker used a small car. But today, things were a little different.
In front of the villa, three black sedans were parked. Men who appeared to be bodyguards stood at the gate staring at Soo-Wan’s car with a stern expression.
Soo-wan parked the car on nearby flat land and approached them with a stiff gait.
“I have an appointment with Mr Kim Eung-soo, can I come in?”
“Sorry, there is a guest at the moment. Please wait.”
“Oh… Will it be over soon?”
“I’m not sure. Please wait.”
The bodyguard withdrew his attention from Soo-Wan and said something to his earpiece. He returned to the car grumbling and climbed into the driver seat. He then asked me to wake him up when those men in black suits disappear.
I got out of the car and took out the flower bouquet and the shopping bag from the back seat. I rose from my hunched position when I saw a familiar face in the distance. Wearing silver-rimmed glasses paired with a neat suit, he was indeed Kwon Lee-Hyun’s secretary.
As if he also recognized me, he gave me a light nod with a slightly surprised expression. Two huge vehicles and the other one was Kwon Lee-Hyun’s personal vehicle. That means the guest who came to visit artist Kim was none other than Kwon Lee-Hyun.
This was the first time I have ran into him again since we drank wine together a few days ago. My mouth began to dry up and my throat was burning from the strange tension. I leaned against the car and pressed my cheeks with the back of my hand. I tried my best to avoid looking in the direction of the villa as much as possible. To ease the tension within me, I took out my phone and sent random emotes to the office group chat for no reason, then went on my browser to read about the weather.
I turned my head to the strange bustle I felt, the white gate opened and I saw Kwon Lee-Hyun’s head. He was taller than most bodyguards and he could be easily spotted anywhere easily for his striking looks and his domineering aura. He was undoubtedly Kwon Lee-Hyun.
“Come with me.”
A small woman followed behind Lee Hyun. That woman was in a maternity dress and had an innocent face but she wore a look of discomfort. She followed Lee Hyun closely and tripped over her own feet as if she missed a step. Lee-Hyun grabbed the woman with his long arm. He carefully supported her and asked if she was okay. That woman, with a flushed and with a tired expression, placed her forehead on his chest.
He said nothing, and the woman leaned on him for a few seconds to catch her breath before getting into the car. There was no warmth in Kwon Yi-Hyun’s eyes. As the secretary approached him and whispered something, his brows hardened for a split second before turning in my direction. Our eyes met and we stared at each other for a few seconds.
For no reason, my heart dropped to my toes and then jumped back up.
I greeted him first with a slight nod. I felt stuffy as if I had witnessed a scene that I should not have seen. Lee Hyun greeted me back with a slight nod and without saying anything he followed the woman into the car.
One by one, the vehicles carrying the group of people exited the entrance of the villa.
“Senior. It’s our turn.”
I woke up Soo-wan who had been snoring the whole time. I took the lead with all the presents in my hand. Soo-wan shook his head as if trying to shake off the sleep, and only followed me after straightening his suit and cleaning himself up.
The caretaker, who was cleaning up the guest seats, rushed out to greet both of us. I and Soo-wan followed him into the villa and greeted Mr Kim, who seemed very happy to see us.
“The painting you sent me, I hung it in front of the office. I don’t know how to thank you for sending us such a precious piece of work. Thank you so much, sir.” Soo-wan said.
As he thanked the painter, Soo-wan held Kim Eung-soo’s hand with a smile.
“Oh, It’s nothing. You both have come a long way to visit me here. sit down, My granddaughter came to visit me and went a little while ago, and now I feel a bit frazzled.”
“Oh, so it was your granddaughter. There were a few cars parked outside when we came here.”
Kim Eung-soo laughed at what Soo-Wan said. I remembered the woman who was with Kwon Lee-Hyun and she was heavily pregnant. It felt a bit strange to know that she was the client who personally picked me out.
We drank the tea the janitor gave us and explained about the gifts we brought. I checked whether there were any complaints and whether there were any areas that needed to be improved. While I carefully took notes of the faults—lighting, and ventilation in the kitchen, which I designed very carefully with extraordinary efforts, Mr Kim took hold of my hand and patted it a few times.
At first, I didn’t know why. When I was standing under the winding pine tree, I heard an unexpected word from Artist Kim, who approached me.
“I appreciate that you considered it. This is where my granddaughter is going to live. There is nothing more fleeting than a false honour. The world is a cruel place sometimes. Senselessness always follows when one is young…”
I lowered my hand holding the notebook and looked at Kim Eung-soo. The old man’s wrinkled eyes looked up at the top of the pine tree, and his sigh deepened.
“Poor thing.”
I raised my head when I felt a piercing gaze from somewhere. Soo-wan was standing there with an embarrassed look etched on his face, he turned around and crossed the yard. He headed towards the villa gate. Soo-wan nodded to the caretaker and left the villa as if he was running away.
“Sir, then… let’s look at it in a more positive direction. And within this week, I will send workers to carry out the reinforcement work.”
“Alright.”
“I want to stay longer, but I have a meeting soon, so I think I should get going. I’m sorry.” I said.
“It’s alright, go ahead. See you soon again.”
“Sure.”
I shoved the notebook into my handbag and hurriedly went out. Soo-wan, who was smoking a cigarette under a large chestnut tree, saw me approaching him and crushed the cigarette under his foot.
“Lee Ji-Eun! You shouldn’t put me into trouble like this, huh?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why don’t you just tell the whole damn neighbourhood, huh? Don’t you dare try to pretend to play the victim!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’re disrespectful. So you got a pretty face, so what? Just go back on your own!”
Soo-wan shouted at me and got into the car right away. As I approached the car he firmly locked the door, started the engine, and quickly stepped on the accelerator. His car screeched forward and took off, hurling up clumps of dirt leaving me behind.
I just stood there among the dust that had risen, trying to comprehend the situation with a ridiculous expression on my face. I fanned off the dust in front of my eyes with my hand and flipped my middle finger at the speeding vehicle annoyingly.
“What kind of a sick bastard…!”
I shook my head and pulled out my phone. I called the taxi company saved in my contacts, but I was in an area where dispatch wasn’t possible. In a puzzled tone, the agent informed me it was difficult and suggested that I come down the road at least 1km.
Taking a deep breath, I looked back at the villa caretaker’s car and began to trudge away from the villa. After all, wasn’t this a place where people lived anyway? I kept walking hoping I would eventually see the main road.
After going down the road for about 10 minutes along a path with only trees, grass and sky, finally I came across a familiar asphalt road. However, it wasn’t a good place for a taxi. When I looked around, the place I was standing in was not very populated, only a few vehicles were passing by. Finding a taxi in such a place is going to be hard.
Maybe it was Lee Hyun who told Artist Kim the truth about the blueprint. I’m dead sure it must be him.
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The sound of water from a distance and the breeze of wind that grazed my skin calmed me down. Since I was walking downhill, my feet are leaning forward. I hated that I wore high heels on a day like this.
I tried to call a taxi again. I found the number on a nearby power pole. The driver picked up but he said that he needed the correct address for him to come. To give an address I couldn’t see any buildings in the area where I was in. I was annoyed and hung up the phone. I looked up and saw a sedan with its emergency lights flashing in the distance.
I walked over to the car. There was a signboard glowing as ‘Old Market’, in front of where the car was parked. On the left of that were baskets with pieces of paper saying on each basket. Inside the shop, a handful of sweets, snacks and some sports drinks were on display. Suddenly the shop door opened and a tall man came out bending over the door.
He was holding a cigarette in his hand. With the door open he was about to place the cigarette in his mouth. He turned his head towards me who was trying to make another call to a taxi while walking down the road.
It was none other than Kwon Lee-Hyun. He put the unlit cigarette back into the pack.