Chapter 22
“I don't have business cards yet.”
Jaekyung looked at Do Yujin.
“What kind of work did you do at headquarters?”
She added politely,
“If you were important enough to be sent directly to assist the chairman, you must be very capable.”
“I'm not particularly capable.”
Yujin smiled.
“I'm an international lawyer. I handle international law consulting.”
International law.
It was a field Jaekyung herself had once been interested in, since she had gotten good grades.
The Uitae Foundation also shared curricula with overseas schools, so it would clearly be useful.
Jaekyung carefully examined Team Leader Do's business card.
“Secretary Seo, write yours here.”
Yujin casually pushed a sheet of paper toward her.
Instead of his phone, he handed her a pen.
His calm gaze made it difficult to refuse.
Jaekyung accepted the pen.
She quickly wrote down her number.
“Chief Kwon will support your practical work.”
She returned the pen.
“I'll go inside now.”
Yujin glanced toward the chairman's office.
“Aren't you working out here with us?”
He looked surprised.
“There's a secretary desk inside the chairman's office?”
That arrangement was unusual.
“Ah, that's because...”
Jaekyung searched for the right words.
“I help with security-related work inside the chairman's office.”
“Ah.”
Yujin nodded slowly.
“So security work alone with the chairman inside a closed room.”
Jaekyung immediately corrected him.
“It isn't a closed room. It's an office.”
She continued quickly,
“There are documents that can't be allowed outside.”
“Right.”
Yujin nodded.
“They definitely shouldn't leak.”
Jaekyung added another explanation, worried he might misunderstand.
“The chairman was only recently appointed, so he's reviewing the foundation's overall operations.”
She spoke carefully.
“He's extremely thorough.”
“My hyung usually doesn't keep people close.”
Yujin looked at her.
“Anyway, please take good care of him.”
The more Jaekyung looked at him, the more his appearance reminded her of Yugam.
But there was something different in his gaze.
Even when he smiled, a strange chill remained.
His presence was intimidating in a completely different way.
“I'll be going, then.”
Jaekyung forced a smile at the headquarters employee who still hadn't taken his eyes off her.
She turned toward the chairman's office.
Then her forehead hit something solid.
Thud.
A broad chest.
“Why aren't you coming?”
Jaekyung stepped back and looked up.
Yugam was staring down at her.
She could see her own reflection in his dark eyes.
“I was showing Team Leader Do where the office is.”
Jaekyung asked,
“Do you need something?”
“Team Leader Do will work with Chief Kwon.”
Yugam's tone was cold.
“Don't get involved with him at all.”
Jaekyung looked apologetically toward Yujin.
Saying that right in front of the new team member was harsh.
Yujin merely shrugged at Yugam's dismissal and smiled at Jaekyung.
“I thought you were late because you were getting coffee.”
Jaekyung suddenly remembered.
“Oh, right. Coffee.”
She turned.
“I'll bring it immediately.”
“No.”
Yugam stopped her.
“Secretary Seo, go inside.”
He added casually,
“I'll get it.”
Jaekyung blinked.
“What if you spill it and burn your chest again?”
Her face instantly heated.
“Did you apply the medicine?”
Haa.
That chest again.
The whole thing had been Jaekyung's mistake.
She remembered Yugam pressing the burn cream and aloe gel Chief Kwon had left at security into her hands.
“Apply it twice a day. Don't forget.”
He had repeatedly reminded her as though the injured skin belonged to him.
“I can take care of myself, Chairman.”
Jaekyung squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment.
Then she opened them firmly.
Yujin whistled softly.
“Wow.”
He looked between them with obvious interest.
“You even remind her when to apply medicine.”
His smile widened.
“This workplace has incredible employee benefits.”
Yugam's eyes narrowed.
Yujin raised his phone.
“I need to take this call.”
Then he winked.
“You two stay friendly and carry the coffee together.”
He turned away.
“Oh, and make mine iced.”
Out in the hallway, Yujin answered the phone that refused to stop ringing.
“Yes.”
He listened.
“Hyung is doing fine.”
A pause.
“Yes, the secretary is a woman.”
He glanced back toward the office.
“Apparently she was hired because she's good at her job. Chief Kwon recommended her.”
He continued smoothly,
“I don't think there's anything you need to worry about, Director Jin.”
Then he added,
“I'll visit you soon.”
Director Jin still hadn't withdrawn the net of concern...
No.
The surveillance surrounding her son.
Yujin had reassured her, but he knew she didn't fully believe him.
A cold voice came from nearby.
“You're spying pretty openly.”
Yujin turned.
“Hyung, you're here?”
He smiled.
It was the same smile he'd worn at eight years old during the funeral.
“Stop calling me hyung.”
Yugam's eyes turned cold.
“It's disgusting.”
They were the same age.
Hearing Yujin constantly call him hyung irritated him.
Yujin tilted his head.
“If you're going to the hospital, want me to take you?”
An illegitimate child interfering in every detail as though they were family irritated Yugam.
Even knowing about Yugam's regular medical appointments felt unpleasant.
“Mind your own business.”
Chief Kwon had not returned yet.
So Yugam left the office alone for his hospital appointment.
He planned to keep his psychiatric treatment secret from Jaekyung.
It had been five years since he stopped taking medication without permission despite his doctor's strong objections.
Most days, he could endure it.
But when he overworked himself, his condition worsened and headaches struck so violently that it felt as though his skull would split.
His doctor continued writing notes in Yugam's counseling file.
“Have you been sleeping well lately?”
“About three hours.”
“Any other symptoms?”
The doctor looked concerned.
“You stopped taking your medication, so it must still be difficult.”
Until Yugam was eight and his father died, his childhood had been relatively peaceful.
His first real hardship had been severe enough to completely reshape his life.
His father had died in a plane accident during a business trip to the United States.
Then an illegitimate child the same age as Yugam appeared at the funeral.
Do Yujin.
And beside him was the mistress.
Their appearance pushed Jin Heeyeon's fragile mental state to the breaking point.
Young Yugam had comforted his mother with tiny hands.
He absorbed her intense disgust and hatred toward his father's death and betrayal.
Her endless anger.
His adolescence collapsed along with her life.
“I dream a lot only when I'm exhausted.”
“What kind of dreams?”
Yugam paused.
“My wife...”
Then he added,
“And a female student wearing a school uniform.”
Yugam had started taking psychiatric medication in his first year of high school.
That was after he collapsed in the school garden while trying to endure a life that had pushed him to the edge.
He had entered the Uitae Foundation's school while hiding the fact that he was founder Do Uitae's grandson.
But after attending for only about a month, he became too ill even to go to school.
If not for the student who helped him back then, he might have suffered brain death and died.
After waking, he had wanted to reward her.
But the only information he had was that she was a girl wearing the school uniform.
“What kind of student was she?”
The doctor asked gently.
“If you remember anything from that time, try bringing it back.”
Yugam stared ahead.
“I... don't know.”
After the appointment ended, Yugam closed the consultation-room door behind him.
On the seventh floor psychiatric ward, Minho stepped out of the elevator and headed toward the VIP treatment rooms.
He needed a consultation regarding an important patient's unexplained chest pain and sleeping problems.
Then he stopped.
“Huh?”
His eyes narrowed.
“Isn't that the guy following Jaekyung around?”
He had just seen Do Yugam come out of his medical-school friend's private psychiatric consultation room.
That striking face was impossible to miss.
Broad shoulders.
A powerful build that drew attention immediately.
Minho felt irritation rise inside him.
Why is a man who's already handsome and rich following Jaekyung around?
Jaekyung was pretty, smart, and capable.
But neither her family nor her job was the kind of background a chaebol family would normally covet.
A doctor like Minho was already more than good enough for her.
Even their ten-year age difference was perfect.
Several nurses whispered nearby, their faces slightly flushed as they glanced at Yugam like he was a celebrity.
Minho clicked his tongue.
“He called himself her ex-husband and said all that nonsense.”
He scoffed.
“Maybe he really is crazy.”
No matter how rich Yugam was, inside a hospital he was only another patient.
Minho walked toward him.
“Are you sick somewhere?”
Yugam turned at the crooked greeting.
Minho continued,
“What brings you to psychiatry?”
Yugam looked him over.
Jaekyung's boyfriend.
No.
Her ex-boyfriend.
A tense silence formed.
Yugam's expression remained indifferent.
“Do you have that much free time?”
Minho stiffened.
Free time?
He was a successful doctor.
His insecurity rose simply from standing next to a man who looked better than him.
He raised his chin.
He only acts arrogant because he was born with a rich grandfather.
Minho refused to feel intimidated by a chaebol.
Especially not by Jaekyung's ex-husband.
He had been known as a genius in his rural hometown.
Now he was a successful doctor at Taebong Hospital in the middle of Seoul.
He wanted Yugam to understand that.
“As you can see, I'm extremely busy.”
Minho deliberately waved the patient file in his hand.
Yugam shrugged.
“If you're busy, then it can't be helped.”
He started to walk past him.
“I was planning to request another medical consultant for the Uitae Foundation.”
Minho froze.
“What do you mean?”
He turned.
“We have a formal contract.”
Yugam stopped and looked down at him.
“The contract is with the Taebong Medical Foundation.”
His voice was calm.
“Not personally with you.”
Minho's face stiffened.
“And the contract says we can request a different consultant at any time.”
Yugam raised an eyebrow.
“Did you really not know?”
Yugam had reviewed every clause involving external personnel.
He intended to remove any unnecessary people attached to the school through favors or connections.
Minho's voice rose.
“You think a chairman can remove a perfectly good consultant whenever he wants just because of a woman?”
This brat isn't even thirty and he's trying to mess with me?
Minho's anger boiled over.
It had to be because of Jaekyung.
A chaebol brat with nothing but money and a pretty face.
Being a consultant for the Uitae Foundation had added prestige to Minho's career.
The travel allowances were also generous.
And now this parachute-appointed chairman was about to take away a position Minho had enjoyed.
Yugam's voice remained calm.
“We don't need a medical consultant who comes to our students' sports festival, sits in the VIP section, and spends the entire time looking at his phone.”
Minho stiffened.
“With the money we're paying you, I could deploy at least two full medical teams.”
Yugam looked directly at him.
“Do you have a problem with that?”
Then he walked away with long, relaxed strides.
Minho stared at Yugam's back and clenched his fist.
It's not enough that he's stealing my woman.
Now he's interfering with my work too?
I won't let this go.
His glasses trembled from anger.
