Winter Season Chapter 57

In the first place, he was someone who had no connection to high-end suits, gentle classical performances, wine, and finger foods. If it were soju and cheap snacks from a street stall, that might be a different story. Perhaps because of that, unlike the woman who looked natural, every single one of his actions felt awkward.

“Is that so? You don’t look like it. How unexpected.”

The woman nodded as if it were no big deal and lightly tilted her wine glass. Then, her eyes sparkled toward a certain spot as she spoke.

“Do you see over there? Where people are gathered?”

“Yes?”

“That person is the General Manager of Taesung Group who hosted today’s party.”

As Yihyeon turned his head toward where the woman gestured with her chin, Gu Jinhyeok, dressed in a dark gray suit, came into view. Many people were gathered around him as he stood with his arms crossed, conversing with someone.

“But the one I’m aiming for isn’t that side, but the second son’s side. Director Gu Seunghyeok. It seems he didn’t attend today.”

Yihyeon, who had been gripping his wine glass tightly without realizing it while looking at Gu Jinhyeok, suddenly turned his head at the mention of Seunghyeok’s name. The woman was poking her head out and looking around as if searching for someone. Biting his lower lip hard, Yihyeon cautiously spoke to the woman.

“…Why that person?”

“Ah, I guess you don’t know, Mr. Yihyeon.”

The woman looked around and then brought her face slightly closer to Yihyeon’s.

“Director Gu Seunghyeok occasionally holds parties where he only invites certain people. The time is a secret, the location is a secret. Only those who are strictly invited can come.”

“… …”

“Drinking and dancing. Well, that part isn’t much different from other private parties, but they say the level of the participants there is different, or something like that.”

Lowering her voice like someone sharing a secret, she continued.

“Looking at my colleagues, after they go there once, whether they are men or women, they all seem to land something big. …I’m trying to make an impression this time too, you know.”

At the woman’s words, the scene he had witnessed in the basement of Nexus on the day he first met Gu Seunghyeok flashed through his mind. As the images of people entangled with each other in their naked bodies surfaced, his expression instinctively furrowed. Casting his eyes down, Yihyeon pressed the wine glass to his lips and spoke softly.

“…I think it would be better not to take an interest.”

“Oh, do you know something, Mr. Yihyeon?”

Yihyeon ignored the woman whose eyes suddenly lit up with curiosity and drank his wine. While pressing his lips together at the bitter aftertaste and rolling his eyes, he met the gaze of a middle-aged man talking to someone over there.

Who is that? He looks familiar.

The man who met Yihyeon’s eyes narrowed his brow for a moment, then smiled broadly as if he had just remembered. Then he tapped the person next to him and pointed with his chin toward where Yihyeon was.

Ah, the logistics company president I saw at the dinner with Gu Jinhyeok a while ago…

He belatedly recalled the man’s identity and avoided his gaze, but President Nam was already approaching Yihyeon along with the person standing next to him. Standing in front of Yihyeon and the woman, the logistics company president wore a friendly smile and placed a hand on Yihyeon’s shoulder.

“To think I’d see you here. Was the name… Kwon Yihyeon?”

“Ah… Yes. Hello.”

Yihyeon slightly twisted his shoulder to pull away and bowed his head a little.

“President Yang, introduce yourself. This is the person, the one I told you about.”

“Ah. I’ve heard a lot. I’m Yang Gyeonghyeon from Inseong Products. You’re more of a beauty than I heard.”

More than I heard?

He couldn’t understand why they were discussing things related to him. There were many suspicious points for interest shown to a mere secretary. However, since he couldn’t ignore the man who was smiling affably and offering a handshake, Yihyeon inevitably reached out his hand.

As his hand was taken, goosebumps erupted along his spine because the man was stroking the back of his hand with his thumb. Both the palm damp with sweat and the clammy heat were unpleasant. When Yihyeon quickly pulled his hand away, President Yang licked his lips as if it were a shame.

“I didn’t expect to meet you here. Did you come with General Manager Gu Jinhyeok?”

“…Yes. Because he invited me.”

“General Manager Gu seems busy going here and there. Would you like to come to our table and have a glass of wine together?”

At the table the man pointed to with his chin, there were two more people besides those two. Yihyeon had no desire to sit and drink with people he didn’t know, and since he felt something chilling about the two men in front of him, he politely shook his head.

“I’m sorry. I have company.”

Only then did the two men discover the woman standing next to Yihyeon and belatedly exchanged nods. Then, as if it were a shame, they lightly tapped Yihyeon’s shoulder and spoke.

“Haha, it’s a pity, but it can’t be helped. Right then, you all have a good time.”

A sigh he had been holding back escaped toward the backs of the two departing men. Feeling stifled, he was about to drink some wine when the woman next to him grabbed Yihyeon’s arm.

“Mr. Yihyeon, what’s this? You were a guest of the General Manager?”

“Ah…”

“Aish, then you should have said so earlier. You made the person who said all those things feel so embarrassed for nothing.”

Yihyeon avoided the woman’s playful glare and toyed with the nape of his neck.

“I’m sorry. I thought it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Then do you happen to be acquaintances with Director Gu Seunghyeok as well? Is he not attending today?”

“I’m not sure about that.”

It was a question the woman threw out as soon as she realized Yihyeon was someone connected to Taesung, but Yihyeon also had no way of knowing Gu Seunghyeok’s whereabouts. When Yihyeon looked down and shook his head, the woman pouted her lips as if it were a shame and picked up one of the canapés she had brought.

As the woman fell silent and a brief quiet followed, his head began to throb with the thoughts he had pushed aside. This was not the time to be leisurely chatting here.

He had to find the server to receive the sleeping pills, and he had to think of a way to naturally get Gu Jinhyeok to take them. In the midst of that, what the logistics company president had said earlier continued to make his head dizzy.

He felt a sigh rising at the situation where nothing was clearly sorted out, but he had no clue where or how to start unraveling it. Yihyeon, who tried to drink his wine out of habit, confirmed the glass was empty and reached out to a passing server.

“Ack.”

And just then, the collision between Yihyeon’s hand offering the empty glass and the server’s hand holding a wine glass happened in an instant.

With a small noise, red wine was poured over the back of Yihyeon’s hand.

“I’m—I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The wine flowing down the back of his hand left a red stain on the edge of his white shirt sleeve and dropped to the floor.

The server, who still had a youthful look on his face, saw this and repeatedly bowed his head to Yihyeon with a flustered expression. Quickly lifting his hand, Yihyeon touched the nape of his neck with a troubled look.

Wiping his hand was one thing, but the problem was that the clothes he received from Gu Jinhyeok were ruined. Yihyeon spoke toward the server.

“Could I know where the restroom is?”

“Ah… Yes, yes. I will guide you.”

Yihyeon signaled to the woman and followed behind the server. As they walked somewhere through a hallway on one side of the first-floor hall, a luxurious restroom with indirect lighting appeared.

Just as Yihyeon bowed to the server and was about to enter the men’s restroom, the server held out a hand towel to Yihyeon.

“Thank you.”

Taking it and heading to the sink, Yihyeon turned on the water and wiped his hand. He pulled his sleeve and held it under the running water, but the red stain already dyed into it would not disappear. Yihyeon, inevitably pulling his hand away, gave up on wiping the stain and picked up the hand towel. At that moment, something dropped into the sink with a thud.

“Ah.”

What caught his eye was a white powder contained inside a small plastic bag.

Yihyeon’s eyes widened instantly, and he quickly picked it up. After looking around in case someone had seen, he tucked it into the inner pocket of his jacket.

He could feel his heart thumping. Standing and leaning on the sink, he quickly turned the faucet open. This was because he felt that if someone were to approach, they would hear the sound of his heart.

Staring down at the stream of water exiting the sink while chewing his lips, Yihyeon splashed cold water on his face a couple of times. Only after wiping away the dripping water droplets did he finally begin to calm down a little.