Munjeong - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

The deep, low voice seemed to resonate in her head. Only then did Manager Kim, flustered, rush over to introduce Chaeon to him.

 

“Oh, no, this isn’t the one. This is the daughter of the new Mrs. Ahn. Chaeon, this is the eldest son. Hurry and greet him.”

 

The eldest son? So… this man lives here?

 

To Chaeon, he had been, from the moment she first saw him, the epitome of someone who had everything—an ideal and perfect specimen. On top of that, he belonged to the family that owned this house. It seemed like there couldn’t be a more flawless combination. Stunned by the realization, she stared blankly up at him for a moment before collecting herself and offering a composed greeting.

 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Yoon Chaeon.”

 

The man, accepting her gaze as she looked up at him, murmured in a low voice.

 

“This isn’t our first time.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“We’ve already met once.”

 

“Oh, yes. Back then…”

 

“Manager Kim.”

 

The odd flutter in her chest at the unexpected fact that he remembered her was short-lived.

 

The man turned his eyes away from Chaeon as if she were entirely irrelevant, just as he had done before, and walked up to Manager Kim, stopping right in front of him. As the rigid Manager Kim bowed his head, the man leaned in and whispered as if giving instructions.

 

“Even for the staff, make sure they pay attention to their appearance.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Make sure they wear clean socks at the very least.”

 

Realizing he was indirectly pointing out her shabby appearance when they first met, Chaeon felt her ears burn. She was tempted to snap back and ask if it was a crime to try to save money by reusing worn-out socks, but this man was either a member of the family employing her mother or the employer himself.

 

Taking a small breath to compose herself, she bit down on her lip. Why did he have to look down on her right to her face?

 

“Yes, I understand.”

 

At her immediate response, Manager Kim turned to look at her with wide, surprised eyes. The man’s gaze also shifted lazily back to her.

 

“I’ll make sure to pay close attention to my appearance from now on so I don’t look shabby.”

 

She bit her tongue to hold back the words, “How rude.” Looking him straight in the eye, she continued in an even tone, deliberately echoing the dismissive words he had spoken aloud for her to hear.

 

“I look forward to being in your care, sir.”

 

“…”

 

His cold eyes fixed on her. He stood tall, gazing down at her for a long moment, narrowing his eyes as if dissatisfied with something. Then, his tongue brushed against the inside of his right cheek.

 

“You’re a bit verbose.”

 

The familiar, low voice that seemed to reverberate all the way to her chest delivered the words without a trace of warmth.

 

“‘Yes, I understand.’ That would’ve been enough.”

 

“…”

 

Tilting his head slightly, he let out a faint chuckle, a puff of air escaping his lips as if he found her amusing. His flawless, sculpted features were more striking than anyone she had ever seen, but the unreal quality of his face only made the sharp-edged smile even more intimidating and chilling.

 

“Manager Kim.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

Manager Kim seemed visibly flustered by the unexpected exchange. The man casually gave his order to the man bowing before him.

 

“Make sure there’s nothing to be talked about.”

 

“Yes, I understand.”

 

“If they don’t know manners, teach them.”

 

“Yes.”

 

But he’s the one who was rude first. Chaeon stared at him, incredulous, but the man, as if there had been no incident to begin with, simply walked away into the main building. It was as if he couldn’t care less about her reaction.

 

His gait was upright and poised in a way that suggested he had never had to bow to anyone. Chaeon bit her lower lip, glaring at his retreating back.

 

The summer sunlight pouring down on his broad, dark back seemed as though it was being swallowed whole by him.

 

—

 

Though her summer vacation hadn’t been long to begin with, time seemed to move even faster after she arrived at Munjeong. With only about a week left until school started, Chaeon was spending her days quietly.

 

Heejeong busied herself with her work at Songbaekwon, while Chaeon stayed in her room, diligently previewing her second-semester lessons or working through mock exam booklets. In between, she helped her mother with tasks like hanging or folding laundry. That day, as they had been doing for the past few days, she and Heejeong sat across from each other on the bed, folding freshly bleached towels.

 

“By the way, Chaeon, I heard you met the eldest son.”

 

“What?”

 

“Manager Kim told me. He said you saw him on the day you arrived.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

As Heejeong glanced at her, she folded a towel into a neat rectangle and spoke in a hushed tone.

 

“Be careful not to give him anything to criticize. Be polite if you see him. They say he’s a very meticulous person.”

 

“…”

 

“Still, maybe because he was raised so well, he seems so refined. Very gentlemanly.”

 

Chaeon bit her lip gently. No, he’s not. I don’t like him. I can’t stand him. The words rose to the tip of her tongue but were swallowed back down. Even if she didn’t like him, what could she do? After all, he was practically their employer.

 

On her first day in the house, when she had finished unpacking in her overly spacious room, her face still burning from either the weather or his pointed comments, his arrogant gaze had stayed lodged in her mind like a thorn.

 

Finally, unable to shake her curiosity, Chaeon opened her phone browser. After a moment’s hesitation, she typed a search term that might provide some answers.

 

“Jun Kwang family eldest son.”

 

All she knew was that much, but just pressing the search button brought up an astonishingly large amount of information about him.

 

“Jun Kwang Group’s eldest son, Jang Taeha, begins formal overseas management training based in Berlin.”

 

Jang Taeha. The name she had been curious about since she first saw him. Clicking on the particularly lengthy headline, Chaeon was greeted by an article featuring Jang Taeha’s languid, indifferent face as he conversed with his aides in a photograph.

 

And beneath the article were countless comments heaping praise on him.

 

“Wow. So good-looking. If you’re going to have it all, at least don’t take the looks too.”

 

“A modern-day noble.”

 

“Seriously, you can feel the elegance. No wonder they call him a noble.”

 

“With such a huge advantage in succession, if he inherits Jun Kwang, he’ll be an absolute cheat code. So jealous.”

 

Noblesse Oblige, an elegant third-generation chaebol. The words used to describe him were so unrealistic that it seemed as if a class system still existed in the modern world. Reading through the praises that everyone seemed to heap upon Jang Taeha, Chaeon felt a wave of nausea rise in her stomach.

 

By coincidence, all her encounters with him had been nothing but unpleasant memories. The unique arrogance of someone who had spent their entire life on top and the overwhelming presence that seemed to crush others—Chaeon found all of it uncomfortable from the very beginning.

 

A rising aristocrat? Elegance? Yeah, right. For someone who supposedly had so much elegance, he sure had no problem looking down on people right in front of them. Chaeon pursed her lips as she scrolled further, finally spotting a brusque comment among the endless accolades.

 

[From what I’ve heard, he’s just a classy jerk who abuses his power. Tch. Figures.]

 

A classy jerk who abuses his power. Though the wording was rough, it seemed like the perfect description of him. Chaeon quietly expressed her agreement by pressing the heart button beneath the comment. Compared to the countless praising comments, the number of likes on that one was in the single digits, but it still felt a little satisfying.

 

Chaeon was pulled out of her recollections when Heejeong gently shook her shoulder.

 

“…Ona. Yoon Chaeon!”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Honestly. What are you daydreaming about so much? I’m going to drop off these towels for your mom, so take these duvet covers from the basket and hang them out in the backyard. Something got on them, so they need to be sanitized in the sun.”

 

Chaeon stared blankly at the basket lying on the ground.

 

Bang! Bang!

 

As she clipped the duvet to the line and beat it a few times, a cloud of white dust rose into the air, glittering like gold in the sunlight filtering through the trees.

 

“Hoo.”

 

The weather was still sweltering. Listening to the deafening cries of cicadas ringing from all directions, Chaeon wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked around. The landscape, a chaotic mix of greens in varying shades, seemed as if it might spill over her at any moment.

 

Following the path through Songbaekwon’s backyard eventually led to a fork. One path continued as a trail for strolling through the garden, while the other led to a small forest. Going through the thick forest and out a small gate at the back led to the foot of Mount Mokah, where the residents of Munjeong often came to hike.

 

Not much of an athlete, Chaeon didn’t particularly enjoy walking, but since coming here, she’d taken a few strolls in the garden. The reason being…

 

Flutter. As the white sheet flapped crisply in the breeze, a statue of the Virgin Mary standing in a corner of the garden caught Chaeon’s eye.

 

Yes. That was the reason.

 

The garden featured a number of beautiful statues—angels, cats, and a bust of a man frozen in dynamic motion—arranged seemingly at random.

 

Perhaps because the estate was an old property far removed from modern architecture, Songbaekwon always exuded an otherworldly atmosphere that Chaeon could never quite get used to.

 

The statues, scattered with no apparent intention or theme, made the place feel like an abandoned monastery. Despite the fact that the residents here were some of the wealthiest in Korea—and perhaps even abroad—the mansion occasionally gave off a strangely eerie vibe, as if it hid some dark, gruesome secret from a horror movie.

 

Whenever she looked at these pieces of art, which felt like part of the mansion itself, Chaeon would experience an odd sensation, which prompted her to stroll through the garden more often. During those solitary walks, she sometimes indulged in the arrogant delusion that she was the owner of the mansion.

 

As usual, that day, Chaeon was gazing up at the Virgin Mary with her arms spread in a gesture of compassion.

 

“Chaeona, out for a stroll again today?”

 

“Oh, Manager Kim.”

 

Carrying a wooden box on his shoulder, Manager Kim was passing through the garden when he greeted Chaeon. He was the one person in this mansion whom she found tolerable. Setting the box down at his feet, he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.

 

“Hello.”

 

“Ah, yes. Gosh, it sure is hot. Aren’t you feeling the heat?”

 

“You’ve been carrying something heavy, so that’s probably why. Want me to help?”

 

Taking off his hat to fan himself, Manager Kim approached her and gave her a sympathetic look.

 

“…Don’t keep trying to help with things no one asked you to do.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because then people will start thinking it’s only natural for you to do it.”

 

When Chaeon tilted her head in confusion at his cryptic comment, Manager Kim, who inwardly pitied her precociousness, just laughed it off and joined her in looking at the Virgin Mary.

 

“You look at this a lot. Did you attend church?”

 

“No, it’s not that…”

 

Her reserved reply made Manager Kim chuckle and nod.

 

“Fascinating, isn’t it? The second young master’s talent is really incredible. They say he never majored in art or formally studied it, yet he creates works like this. It must be innate talent.”

 

“The second young master?”

 

“Yeah. All the statues in the garden were carved by him. Impressive, isn’t it?”

 

As if he wasn’t expecting a response, Manager Kim gazed around the garden with a proud expression, hands on his hips. Then, suddenly, he clicked his tongue and whispered, “If only his health were better.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Never mind. It’s a hot day, so don’t stay out too long.”

 

Smiling warmly, he waved and walked off. Watching him disappear into the distance, Chaeon unconsciously murmured to herself.

 

“The second young master…”

 

He must be one of Jang Taeha’s siblings.

 

Suddenly, she found herself curious about him. A member of a chaebol family who created such perfectly beautiful sculptures. Would he be scholarly, stern, or perhaps eccentric? Thinking along those lines, Chaeon had just turned around when…

 

“Hello.”

 

“Oh my!”

 

Startling her, a man in a white shirt and casual trousers suddenly appeared.