The place he hadn’t expected to hear named left Seojin’s eyes drifting with nowhere to land. Then he remembered that Euni and Manager Kim were right there with him, and slowly evened out his breathing.
Soon his face smoothed over, and he spoke as if it were nothing at all.
“If it’s the JS Gallery, the view of Seoul at night should be gorgeous from up there too.”
It sat on the skirts of a mountain out past the edge of the city, and as he recalled, the scenery was lovely.
Ah, and before that, it’s the place where Shin Seyoung’s first ordeal happens. Where the thread between him and Yoon Haegang gets tied.
Still, as long as he didn’t get out of the car, he wouldn’t get dragged into it himself.
“Thanks for saying that, Seojin. Honestly, you’re my savior.”
Manager Kim kept beaming gratitude at him in great emotional waves. It was a little much, so Seojin quickly took Euni’s hand and headed for the front door.
The three of them went down to the ground floor. There were only three cars parked in the open pilotis lot, and one enormous foreign car jumped straight out at the eye.
“Oh... what the. Seojin, don’t tell me.”
Manager Kim, trailing behind, sounded genuinely shocked.
“...are you secretly a rich kid?”
“No. Not a chance. If I were, would I be living in a villa like this?”
“Then what’s this?”
“...a gift?”
Probably?
“So you’re car-poor...”
“I am not. The apartment’s mine too.”
“Huh? So you are a rich kid?”
“I said no.”
“Then what is it?”
“...a gift.”
Manager Kim clearly wanted a real answer out of him, but Seojin kept fobbing him off while he opened the back door and settled Euni into her car seat.
“That’s not uncomfortable, is it?”
“Nope!”
Her feet were swinging in the air, which suggested she was thoroughly thrilled about going for a drive. Seojin smiled and shut the car door.
“I’ll drive. You sit in the back with Euni, Seojin.”
A very practical worry flitted through Seojin’s head — what if they got into a fender bender?
“Nobody’s going near a car this expensive, they’ll swerve out of the way on purpose, so relax. And I’ll have you know I’m a twenty-five-year veteran with a spotless record.”
Having apparently read exactly why Seojin was hesitating, Manager Kim drove the point home for good.
“More than that, wouldn’t Euni rather ride with her dad than with me?”
Put like that, Seojin had no choice but to hand over the keys and trust him.
And above all, it occurred to him that nobody would know the fastest route from the office to the gallery better than Manager Kim.
“All right, let’s get going!”
At Manager Kim’s cheerful shout, Seojin checked Euni in her car seat one more time.
“Yaaay... let’s gooo!”
The child was busy staring out the window with a giddy face, and Manager Kim glanced at the pair of them in the rearview mirror before nodding, satisfied. Only then did Seojin let his back sink into the seat.
Before long they pulled up at the building where the office was.
“Wait right here. I’ll be back in a second!”
Manager Kim scrambled out of the car and was back in no time with a document envelope in hand. It was a Friday evening and the roads were thick with traffic, yet he wove through it neatly, this way and that. In under ten minutes, the night view of Seoul began to unfurl beyond the windows.
“Wow! It’s so prettyyy!”
Euni pressed her nose flat to the glass and gasped in delight. Seojin stroked his daughter’s hair, soft and slow. Even so, his other hand, resting on his knee, wouldn’t stop fidgeting.
The trouble started at the security post just before the entrance to the parking lot.
“Eh? What do you mean we can’t go in?”
“No vehicles unless you’re an invited guest or staff. Tonight’s event is VVIP-only.”
Manager Kim had the driver’s door open as he talked things over with the guard, and his face clouded with dismay.
“Haa, then can a person go in at least? I’ve got important documents that have to be delivered inside.”
“And the name of the guest, sir?”
“Yoon Haegang.”
“One moment, please. I’ll check.”
Manager Kim drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, restless. Seojin scanned the outside too. Only a handful of streetlamps were lit at the entrance, leaving it fairly dim.
Follow that road a little way and you’d probably reach the gallery. Which meant Yoon Haegang might be out front, waiting. The thought curled his fingers in again.
Just then, a blaring trot melody came pouring out of Manager Kim’s phone.
“Yes, yes, President! Aigoo, we’re at the gallery already. Only they say vehicles can’t come in, so we’re stuck at the entrance. One second, I’ll pass you over!”
Sounding thoroughly put out, Manager Kim held the phone out to the guard.
“It’s my boss on the line. Take it.”
The guard took it with a dubious look, spoke briefly, then handed it back.
“The vehicle stays out. Someone can carry the delivery in, but they come straight back.”
“Sure, but then what am I supposed to do with the car...”
That’s your problem, not mine. The guard’s eyes said as much, and Manager Kim clicked his tongue, at a loss.
“Daddyyy, Euni needs to peeee...”
Euni had been watching it all unfold, and now she whispered it into Seojin’s ear. He hadn’t planned on getting out of the car at all, but with that, he had no choice.
“Yeah? Okay. Hold on a moment, then.”
Seojin bit down hard on his lip, let it go, and tapped Manager Kim on the back.
“Manager Kim, give me the documents. I’ll take them in.”
“What! Seojin, are you sure that’s all right?”
Too busy wrangling with the guard to have caught the whispered exchange in the back seat, Manager Kim lit up. And yet he couldn’t hide how sorry he felt about it either.
“Euni needs the bathroom anyway, so I’ll hand these over and come right back. I just give them to the boss, right?”
“Yes, yes. Thank you, Seojin.”
Seojin smiled and climbed out of the car. He took the documents first, then gathered Euni up into his arms.
“He says he’s at the gallery entrance right now, so you should run into him as soon as you get there.”
“Got it. Back soon.”
Seojin set off at a quick pace. Past a handsome garden dressed with ornamental trees and sculptures, a single-story building came into view.
The museum married traditional tiled roofing to modern construction with uncanny elegance, and under all that bright lighting it pulled the eye in even harder.
But what caught his eye before any of that was Yoon Haegang, breathing out a plume of white smoke. Seojin hadn’t even reached him yet and already the air felt thicker, like it was pressing down.
“Daddy, when are we gonna get theeere?”
Seojin, who had faltered a step, snapped out of it at Euni’s nagging. He pulled in a deep breath and hurried on. The moment he stopped in front of the man, Yoon Haegang tipped his chin toward Euni and asked,
“And what’s that, exactly?”
That? Calling someone’s precious daughter a that! Seojin’s brows pinched together before he forced them smooth again.
Euni was right here. He couldn’t let her see him scowling.
“My daughter. Euni, say hello. This is the president of Daddy’s company.”
“Hellooo, I’m Noh Eun, Daddy Noh Seojin’s daughter.”
Having a handsome man gaze steadily down at her made Euni squirm with shyness. Burrowing into her dad’s chest and sneaking little glances up at him, she was unbearably cute, but instead of smiling, Seojin held out the documents in his hand to Yoon Haegang.
“President, here are the documents.”
It had been a while since Euni said she needed the bathroom. She had to be right at her limit by now, so there wasn’t a second to waste.
“I’ll be going, then.”
Seojin waited just long enough to see Yoon Haegang open the envelope and check the contents, then breezed straight past him.
“Where are you going?”
Except Yoon Haegang came striding after him on those long legs, falling into step beside him as he asked.
“Uh, to take care of some business.”
“Ah. Let’s go, then.”
And with that he jerked his chin toward the entrance, so Seojin swallowed his protest and walked into the gallery with Yoon Haegang glued to his side. Thankfully, a restroom sign was visible not far past the doors.
“I’ll see you Monday, President.”
Desperate to part ways with him, Seojin ducked his head in a quick bow and turned around. Yoon Haegang was already out of his thoughts. Euni squirming nonstop in his arms registered as a warning that she’d hit her limit.
“Daddy, Euni has to peeee...”
“I know. Euni, we’re almost there. Just a second.”
Seojin scanned ahead anxiously. He’d seen the sign a moment ago, but the restroom refused to appear.
Where on earth is it?
Only after several turns did he finally spot his destination, and his pace picked up. Someone was trailing along behind him, unhurried, but he had no room to notice.
Seojin bolted into the restroom, ducked into the very first stall and sat Euni down. Watching the child’s face ease let him finally breathe out in relief.
“Okay, Euni. Ready to head out?”
“Yeah!”
Seojin got a firm hold on Euni as she threw herself into his arms, beaming, and stepped out of the stall, then stopped short. The smell of roses was drifting from somewhere. He definitely knew that scent.
Shin Seyoung’s pheromones. The ones he’d brushed past by chance on the street at lunch today.
The instant it clicked, Seojin reflexively pulled Euni tighter against himself. He inhaled carefully, but no, he hadn’t been mistaken. That damp, water-soaked sweetness seeped straight up into his nose.
“Hnngh...”
Then a moan, almost a sob, came from the stall furthest back in the row.
In Korea a “villa” is a small, low-rise walk-up apartment building — modest housing, not a luxury home.
“Car poor” : someone who sinks everything they have into a car they can’t really afford.
