Yoon Shin’s gaze was grave as he read through the application documents for a pro bono case. The client’s circumstances—seeking help because the burden of medical expenses for a mother with dementia had grown too heavy—looked quite dire. In cases like this, where the client herself was not the mother, they would need to make good use of the guardianship system to obtain the authority to manage otherwise untouchable assets.
“Civil Code... Civil Code. Where was that again?”
Turning his eyes to the thick books on the shelf, Yoon Shin rose from his seat. Then, beyond the window, he spotted Secretary Tak opening the door to Se-heon’s room. At the end of that welcoming gaze, some woman was caught. With her unlayered bobbed hair, she leisurely entered inside, following Secretary Tak’s guidance.
*Is she the Chief’s client?*
The woman was quite tall, and the neatly tailored two-piece suit looked luxurious. Unable to see her face, Yoon Shin lightly tilted his head to the left out of curiosity. As if sensing his interest, the woman briefly looked back.
At that moment, Yoon Shin flinched.
Though she had passed by in an instant, she was an exceptionally striking beauty. Her vivid features and vibrant expression suited her well. Long ago, he had once thought, *If it were Kang Se-heon, he’d probably date a woman like that.* It was exactly that kind of confident image, and it left a deep impression.
For some reason bothered, he pretended to pick out a book while standing in front of the bookshelf, watching that direction more intently. Since he was standing and they were sitting, the angle was slanted. Se-heon’s face, seated across from the woman, was quite visible.
By now, Yoon Shin could roughly tell what kind of mood Se-heon was in just by looking at his facial muscles. His response toward the visitor was definitely not very amicable. Naturally, the atmosphere between the two couldn’t be called warm. Yet, ironically, it made him feel something like tension between a man and a woman even more.
In a bad mood, Yoon Shin eventually stopped halfheartedly picking books and brushing his palm over the bookshelf, and went outside. He had been about to ask Secretary Tak a few things, but the seat was empty—perhaps gone to prepare tea or something. Seeing no other choice, he approached the office manager.
“Manager, who was that woman who went into Lawyer Kang’s room just now?”
His curiosity about every little thing regarding Se-heon was nothing new. The office manager, long immune to it, replied without much fuss.
“You must be seeing her for the first time, Lawyer Do. Well, remember at the beginning of the year when you advised on that pharmaceutical company stock acquisition deal? She’s the esteemed daughter from there.”
“The daughter?”
It was a very short counter-question, but it was filled with unspoken curiosity. If so, she only had ties to the woman’s parents, and there should be no reason for her to be entangled with him personally—he questioned why she had come to the firm to find Se-heon. The office manager, who had been trained over many years working under Se-heon to read a lawyer’s inner thoughts, understood his reaction perfectly and replied.
“She’s not just a daughter. She participated in that project together back then. She was working as a financial manager in America and transferred over here. Apparently she originally had some acquaintance with Chief Kang.”
“Ah... so they already knew each other. Do you know exactly how they know each other?”
“Well, they must have run into each other while working before? We don’t know the details either. But that woman’s offensive was definitely somewhat unusual.”
“What, she asked him out on a date or something?”
“Yes. So for a while, the secretariat was in an uproar over it.”
He had joked with the mindset of *Surely not to Kang Se-heon,* but the reply was shocking. Because of that, the corners of Yoon Shin’s eyes trembled. Pretending to be composed was not easy. Maintaining a poker face, which he could rather skillfully do in court, was utterly impossible. His ensuing voice shook slightly.
“Was it real? Why am I only hearing this now?”
“Oh my, Lawyer Do, you didn’t know. Was it when you were at a seminar? In January.”
“If it was the second week of January... yes.”
“Anyway, Chief Kang rejected the personal request through official channels. She must have been quite embarrassed. We didn’t think she’d come again, but here she is. Very brave.”
Or perhaps she wanted him so badly that she could endure even the humiliation from an opponent as formidable as Kang Se-heon.
Probably both.
The pharmaceutical company stock acquisition matter was already several months old. Yet in the meantime, he had never heard anything like this from Se-heon. Of course, he hadn’t been the type to chat about work in minute detail. But if she had attempted personal contact outside of work, it wasn’t a simple work matter, so Se-heon should have told him.
How could he be the only one who didn’t know about this, when even the secretariat knew?
Yoon Shin, doing his best to compose his emotions and display calmness on his face, gently asked back. There was so much he wanted to know right away.
“What specifically was so unusual about her pursuit?”
“How can I express that in words? Women have intuition, you know. All the unmarried women in the secretariat agreed. They say it’s because Chief Kang has absolutely no rumors of dating, so she wants to conquer him. How thrilling it would be to make a man like that fall for you.”
Yoon Shin chewed his lips without opening them. However the office manager interpreted this reaction following the silence, she subtly leaned her shoulder toward him across the partition and added in a lowered voice.
“There are rumors that Chief Kang fell for it. That they meet occasionally. Is it true? Lawyer Do, don’t you know anything?”
The sensation, whether anger or hurt, that had been surging through Yoon Shin slowly drained from his shoulders.
That was absurd.
He was quite annoyed that Se-heon hadn’t told him someone had feelings for him, but he didn’t suspect Se-heon.
Most women who encountered him showed favor toward Kang Se-heon. He could console himself that reporting each one would have been uncomfortable. What was embarrassing, though, was that whenever someone threw advances at him, he had told Se-heon every single time in hopes of making him jealous—but looking back, Kang Se-heon had never once done the same.
This man was truly consistent in every sense.
“Lawyer Do, what are you doing here?”
In the midst of falling into complicated thoughts, a sudden call was heard. Turning around, Secretary Tak was approaching from the secretariat side, holding a wooden tray. The liquid inside two glass cups, presumed to be iced Americanos, surged like low waves.
“I saw a guest had come to the Chief whom I didn’t know about.”
Perhaps because Yoon Shin’s answer and the office manager’s intrigued expression painted the general picture, Secretary Tak clicked his tongue and moved toward Se-heon’s office.
“Manager, you still don’t know Chief Kang? He has absolutely zero interest in people as human beings. If he did, he’d be incredibly obsessed and terribly clingy. Here’s an excellent example.”
He gestured with his eyes toward Yoon Shin and knocked on the door.
Watching this, Yoon Shin met eyes with the office manager and nodded, affirming those words. Several secretariat staff who knew well that Yoon Shin still got scolded by Se-heon until he was practically in tears whenever he sought advice for the “Divorce Issue Research Institute” burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, Secretary Tak, with a deliberately puzzled face, knocked once more. There seemed to be no reaction from inside. Naturally, everyone’s gaze fixed on the door. Yoon Shin’s was no different.
Feeling somehow uneasy, he surveyed beyond the window. Se-heon springing up from his seat came into view.
He walked heavily and flung the door wide open from inside, then gestured toward the outside. Though he didn’t speak aloud, it was a firm expulsion order with an intention everyone could grasp.
The woman, still seated, slowly rose. Soon, without much hiding her displeased expression, she exited the space.
The two stood facing each other in the doorway. Honestly, even in Yoon Shin’s opinion, they looked very well-matched visually. Resting his arm on the partition and propping his chin, he observed the scene with the feeling of watching a movie starring good-looking actors.
Of course, if Se-heon didn’t reject her more decisively before his eyes, he planned to wage a one-man war of resistance for about ten days.
Eventually, Se-heon opened his red lips. His low, restrained voice was very magnificent.
“I am a very busy person. Do not request a private audience for such trivial matters again. Those sorts are hired to handle matters like today’s. People taking home hundreds of millions in annual salary while being idle.”
Suddenly, Se-heon’s sharp jawline subtly pointed at Yoon Shin. Naturally, he who had been a third-person observer was promoted against his will to a supporting actor on that stage, falling into a temporary freeze-frame state.
*That sadist.*
Yoon Shin poured out every curse he could spit out in a short moment at him inwardly. Soon, as Se-heon’s gaze turned to the opposite side, he let out a low deep breath. Meanwhile, the woman’s reply continued.
“Since you don’t take my calls, I made an excuse about work and came to see you directly. Is watching one performance together that difficult?”
“I sometimes tell clients this... If you call three times and get no callback, don’t try again. It means I won’t answer.”
“Chief Kang.”
“Watch the performance with someone else.”
“Chief Kang Se-heon!”
“Take care on your way out.”
He arrogantly jerked his chin as if to say the exit was that way. The woman’s lips moved as if to answer, but perhaps realizing too many eyes in the secretariat were watching, she finally turned and left in a huff.
The sound of footsteps faded, and Se-heon, as if unwilling to waste any more time, closed the door with a thud and went back inside.
A brief silence ensued. Soon, clattering keyboard sounds clamored forth.
Secretary Tak, who had been watching the whole series of events while holding the tray, turned to leave when Yoon Shin caught him.
“Secretary Tak, are you going to throw that away?”
“I have to. To be honest, he didn’t ask for it; I prepared it on my own. Shall I give you a cup?”
“Yes, please. I’ll drink it with the Chief.”
“Uh, is it okay to go in now? He really hates anyone messing with his work.”
He agreed wholeheartedly. It had been clearly conveyed from Se-heon’s sarcastic tone just now that he was annoyed by wasting his already insufficient personal time on work. In fact, whenever drinking sessions disguised as meetings occurred and personal conversations unrelated to work began, it wasn’t just once or twice that Se-heon had immediately stormed out.
Yoon Shin truly loved Se-heon, but he was certain that if not for his extraordinary abilities, he would have already been ruined and driven out of the industry for personality defects or lack of social skills.
He almost wished it had been like that, more noticeable to everyone.
Perhaps Kang Se-heon felt this maddening mood every day.
“That’s why we need something cool like this. Aren’t I also Chief Kang’s joy bringer?”
Skillfully taking the tray instead, Yoon Shin knocked on his room. Then, immediately upon hearing a low voice, he opened the door and entered. Se-heon was sitting on the reception sofa with his hand on his forehead, eyes closed. As if guessing it was him without looking, he gestured for him to come closer.
Placing the tray on the table and sitting across from him, Se-heon’s eyelids slowly lifted. The irises thus revealed were unusually dark. He looked a bit tired.
“Ask. I’ll give you five minutes.”
“I’ll ask exactly three things. Two minutes is enough.”
This answer seemed quite unexpected. Se-heon’s face, staring intently as if discerning whether he was serious, was full of distrust. But Yoon Shin was truly only curious about the situation itself, not out of petty curiosity. Because of today’s incident, he knew Kang Se-heon would never meet her in this manner again.
Reading Se-heon’s mood, Yoon Shin first pushed a glass toward him as if telling him to drink, and casually asked.
“Number one. Has this happened a lot? If I hadn’t seen it today, I would have never known.”
“Didn’t we implicitly agree not to ask about past events? Only what you witnessed. Next.”
Taking a sip of the cool coffee with his answer, he cast a gaze as if telling him to continue. There was no reason for Yoon Shin not to.
“Then number two. You definitely rejected her, right?”
“I’ll do so to everyone from now on. With a very clear attitude that you’ll never be confused about. Next.”
“The one you love going forward is still me, right?”
Hoo. Letting out a light sigh, he answered, meeting his eyes with a very serious attitude.
“If it weren’t you, would I be explaining myself for the sake of household peace and harmony?”
“Good, a hundred points. Drink the rest.”
“You aren’t jealous? You said yourself that it’s strange to feel certain of the other person’s heart when you like someone. You said that with your own mouth.”
“I’m extremely jealous. But I know I’m the only one in the Chief’s desolate life. I’ll get truly angry when it’s really necessary. We’ll fight then.”
Excuses, justifications, explanations.
Three things he absolutely never did. Because he made no mistakes. Such a Se-heon had indicated he was ready to explain and asked him to ask first. To his vague and unclear question premised on “from now on,” he had willingly given a positive answer.
Even though no one could guarantee when a person’s heart might change, and even though he was someone who always factored in every possible scenario when pushing work forward, his choice, wagering on the future, had been Yoon Shin.
No more perfect answer could exist.
“I’ve given you too much faith.”
“You reap what you sow.”
He smirked without bothering to deny it. His eyes toward Yoon Shin were brimming with love he hadn’t been able to fully suppress.
However, Yoon Shin, having said only what he needed to say, stood up and instead of responding to that gaze, bowed to him like a stranger. Se-heon widened his eyes, filled with an expression of utter absurdity.
Unless trivial incidents like this occurred, it had become somewhat rare for Yoon Shin to come into this room and spend time. Knowing that well, he couldn’t seem to understand why Yoon Shin was trying to leave immediately after entering just a few minutes ago.
“You’re just leaving like this? It’s been less than three minutes since you came in.”
“I’m not at all free, you know, receiving hundreds of millions in salary. I’m much busier than you think. I work very hard.”
“Sulking? How cute.”
“Keep reflecting on that, and finish being cute after work.”
The blinds were still drawn, so they couldn’t face each other’s bare skin. Yoon Shin, with his back to the window, made kissy sounds at the air—mwah, mwah—puckering his lips. Then he turned and left the room.
After conveying greetings of encouragement to the secretariat staff with his eyes, he returned to his room and took out a business card carefully stored in a drawer.
Perhaps today’s incident was only caught because it happened before his eyes, and Se-heon would likely not bother explaining the various approaches people made toward him in the future. Because he knew Yoon Shin trusted that sharp self of his to handle it well on his own.
Still, what was unpleasant was unpleasant.
*Since Chief Kang has absolutely no rumors about dating.*
Yoon Shin’s face turned grave as he chewed over the manager’s words. He had already been trying to create such a rumor. Seeing a plausible opportunity arise, he even felt like the entire universe was encouraging him.
He wanted to make it clear that he had a partner, even a day sooner.
*But I need to know Senior’s finger size... If I measure or touch it openly, he’ll notice right away.*