Munjeong - Chapter 22

Fortunately, it wasn’t a hard floor, so the glass didn’t break. Still, the cup that had been filled to the brim was now emptied and rolled helplessly across the wooden deck.

 

As Chaeon looked down at her now-soaked white T-shirt and shorts in disbelief, she raised her head with a dumbfounded expression. Taeha, wearing a blank expression, let out a sigh that sounded almost like a lament.

 

“Well.”

 

“What’s this? You went through all that effort just to spill it all?”

 

The woman sitting next to Taeha snorted as if she found the situation amusing, her tone laced with irritation. Despite her words, Taeha’s gaze remained fixed intently on Chaeon. His smooth lips curved into a faint, leisurely smile.

 

“A mistake.”

 

“……”

 

“I guess it needs to be cleaned up.”

 

A mistake?

 

No, it wasn’t. He didn’t make mistakes.

 

This was deliberate—she knew it instinctively. But with so many eyes on her, it was impossible to argue or accuse him outright.

 

Chaeon, her face pale, picked up the glass that had rolled across the deck. Without a word, she shot Taeha a gaze filled with invisible resentment as he looked down at her with the laziness of a predator, or perhaps as if he were merely bored. Bowing slightly, she turned away.

 

Why? Why is he doing this to me?

 

She bit her lower lip hard, tightly shutting her eyes, and took a few steps forward. Thankfully, he didn’t call her back again. Still, the piercing sensation of his gaze lingered like a weight on her back. Her footsteps quickened as though she were fleeing.

 

Watching Chaeon retreat hastily, Heeseong, who had been sitting on the deck, let out a low whistle.

 

“She’s so damn pretty.”

 

Pretty.

 

She knew how to scrape at people’s nerves just right, too.

 

Taeha swallowed a sip of his cocktail, silently mocking the thought to himself.

 

To get to the main house from the staff quarters, everyone had to pass through this path. At this hour, the only place Chaeon could possibly head was a specific room in the main house. For some reason, it irritated him in an odd way.

 

“By the way, how did I not know there was someone like her…”

 

“Kwon Heeseong.”

 

Taeha’s low voice called out to Heeseong, who was still ogling Chaeon.

 

“What?”

 

“She’s nineteen.”

 

Heeseong blinked at the chilling remark, repeating it in his mind before it clicked. Ah, nineteen. His face shifted as realization dawned, his voice dropping to a muttered, regretful tone.

 

“Damn, so she’s really just a kid.”

 

Taeha didn’t even feel like reprimanding Heeseong for his crude remark. He was the kind of man who couldn’t control himself when it came to women, and his vulgar language was nothing new.

 

The way a person speaks often reflects their own character. And for people like Heeseong, their words inevitably shaped the image others had of them. But Taeha had no intention of engaging further. Their relationship wasn’t built on genuine rapport but rather the superficial camaraderie of family connections.

 

Running a hand through his still-damp hair, Taeha’s gaze suddenly fell to the ground at his feet.

 

“……”

 

It was a heart-shaped leaf. Something that had no reason to have fallen here. His expression cooled as his eyes lingered on it.

 

‘Young Master, I looked into the boy named Kang Kyuhwan.’

 

‘Go on.’

 

A few days ago, Secretary Kim had visited him in the study to report on the boy who had met with Jang Yeonjun. Taeha had listened halfheartedly, finding little of interest in the report until a particular detail caught his attention near the end.

 

‘He seems to have attended the same school as a girl he grew up with, someone named Choi Hyeji. And this girl…’

 

When Taeha glanced at him as if to urge him to continue, Secretary Kim hesitated before rubbing his cheek awkwardly and elaborating.

 

‘She appears to have an unusual obsession with him. There are rumors that she’s harassed girls who tried to get close to him or seemed friendly with him. She seems to be something of a bully at school as well.’

 

Sometimes, intuition has a strange way of piecing together fragments of information, prompting a sudden urge to examine seemingly insignificant details. When those fragments are assembled, they often form a very clear picture.

 

‘Chaeon also seems to be someone who keeps a low profile at school, but there have apparently been a fair number of boys who’ve approached her. Most of them seem to have been turned down. However, this Kang Kyuhwan boy has been particularly persistent…’

 

Jang Yeonjun, who had a peculiar tendency to fixate obsessively on things he liked. Yoon Chaeon, who had caught Jang Yeonjun’s eye. Kang Kyuhwan, whom Jang Yeonjun had met. And Choi Hyeji, who was fixated on Kang Kyuhwan…

 

Ah.

 

A faint, mocking sound escaped Taeha’s lips. This was turning out to be much messier and more ridiculous than he had anticipated.

 

Thinking back to that moment in the study, Taeha’s lips curved into another peculiar smile.

 

Naive and young Yoon Chaeon. She doesn’t even realize what kind of strings I’m pulling.

 

But Taeha intended to simply watch for now. To craft the picture he wanted, patience would be necessary. Each time Chaeon felt hurt or sought solace, she would inevitably turn to Jang Yeonjun.

 

She needed to believe that Jang Yeonjun’s kindness and obsessive attention were signs of special interest. If she eventually came to view him as someone unique and irreplaceable, and Jang Yeonjun’s interest proved to be more than fleeting… At that point, Chaeon would become a chess piece on Taeha’s board.

 

Until then, he would make sure she fully understood who the true master of Songbaekwon was during her stay here. In a way she could never forget.

 

Taeha’s gaze lingered intensely on the fallen leaf as he picked it up.

 

—

 

The sensation of wet clothes clinging to her skin was unpleasant. As soon as Chaeon returned to her room, she pulled her soaked T-shirt over her head and removed her shorts as well. It wasn’t just about discarding clothes; it felt like she was trying to rid herself of something else—perhaps the persistent gaze that had followed her all the way back.

 

‘If you’re living here as the daughter of a servant, then you’re a servant too.’

 

That one sentence seemed to declare her place as nothing more than that. His gaze as he watched her stoop to pick up the glass. Taeha had always been someone who was used to looking down on her like that. At the same time, the image of the woman sitting beside him, pushing a cookie into his mouth, suddenly came to mind. Her stomach churned uncomfortably again.

 

Shaking her head, Chaeon cupped her cheeks with both hands and let out a long sigh. She didn’t want to think about him anymore. She just wanted to see Yeonjun as soon as possible. Talking to him in his cozy room, reading books together, and sharing trivial stories would surely help her feel a little better. He was the kind of person who brought her peace.

 

Slipping into a pair of jeans and pulling on a freshly washed T-shirt, Chaeon opened her vocabulary book to retrieve the leaf she had tucked in to show him.

 

“Oh…”

 

However, cruelly enough, the leaf she had tucked between the last pages she’d been reading had vanished without a trace. Staring blankly at the empty pages, Chaeon recalled the moment she had dropped the vocabulary book by the pool earlier.

 

Of all times, now.

 

Such uniquely shaped leaves weren’t common. The person she’d wanted to show it to had been someone entirely different, and yet it had ended up in the most unexpected hands. Someone like Jang Taeha would only find such a thing trivial and step on it carelessly. A weary sigh escaped her lips.

 

And yet, the image of Jang Taeha, sitting beside that unfamiliar woman and accepting the cookie she offered, kept surfacing in her mind. She couldn’t understand why. Chaeon squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

 

It felt as if she’d left her heart somewhere behind.

 

—

 

Knock, knock.

 

As soon as she knocked on the door, drained as if she’d been through a storm, Yeonjun opened it.

 

“You’re here?”

 

Cough. Letting out a small cough, Yeonjun pulled up the turtleneck of his white sweater over his mouth and gestured for her to come in. With his tendency to catch colds easily, even slight changes in the weather made him cough.

 

Perhaps it was the white sweater, but his face looked especially delicate as he greeted Chaeon with a gentle smile. Oddly, however, even his appearance couldn’t bring her the same comfort as usual today. Sensing something off, Yeonjun approached her with a steaming mug in hand and sat beside her. The subtle aroma of coffee wafted from the cup.

 

“Did something happen?”

 

“What?”

 

“You don’t look too well, Chaeon.”

 

“Oh…”

 

Somehow, it felt like she could never hide anything from him. As always, her unease had been easily noticed. With a faint, self-deprecating smile, she shook her head. No matter how poor their relationship was, there was no reason to bring up Jang Taeha’s unpleasantness to Yeonjun.

 

“It’s just… with the college entrance exam coming up, I guess I’m feeling a little restless. I need to do well, you know.”

 

“…”

 

Watching her with concern, Yeonjun then chuckled softly at her candid confession of a typical student’s worries.

 

“That’s understandable. I felt the same way before my exams.”

 

“I heard you were an excellent student.”

 

“Even so, it’s still nerve-wracking. Results don’t always align with effort.”

 

Chaeon nodded in agreement. There had been plenty of times when her results didn’t reflect the time and effort she had put in.

 

“Let’s have some figs. Mrs. Kwon drizzled them with honey. Have you had them before?”

 

As he spoke, he pointed to a plate of figs sliced into bite-sized pieces, their deep pink flesh looking irresistibly ripe.

 

“I tried them once when I was a kid.”

 

“They’re at their best right now.”

 

Picking up a piece of fig with a fork, Yeonjun offered it to her with a warm smile. As always, his kindness had a way of easing her mind. The faint coffee scent in the air seemed to wash away the heaviness that had clung to her earlier. Taking the soft fruit into her mouth, she was struck by its juicy, plum-like sweetness mixed with a faintly earthy aroma that lingered on her palate.

 

“It’s really sweet…”

 

“Eat as much as you’d like.”

 

Watching her nibble delicately, Yeonjun placed his coffee cup down on the table and quietly asked,

 

“Chaeon, what do you want to do after the college entrance exams?”

 

His gaze felt unusually deep, as though he was earnestly curious. Tilting her head slightly in thought, Chaeon answered after a moment’s hesitation.

 

“I don’t have any grand plans, but…”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I want to go back to Seoul and find a job. I’d like to give my mom a chance to rest.”

 

“…You’re planning to go back to Seoul?”

 

For a moment, Chaeon thought she noticed a flicker of coldness in Yeonjun’s gaze.