At the End of That Memory Chapter 32

Should I say that he knew how to deal with people? Otherwise, should I say that he was trying to solve it with money? Either way, the results would be similar, so it was true that Kwon Yido was great. So, Lee Taeseong would probably be keeping his head down, unable to deny it.

“…This is work that must be done even without special allowances. You don’t have to say it’s hard work.”

“Now you’re talking nonsense.”

“…”

I closed my eyes happily as I looked at Lee Taeseong, who was dumbfounded. The puzzled expression made him look like the usual Lee Taesong I knew. As I covered my mouth and suppressed my laughter, he asked bluntly:

“Is this funny?”

“Well, it would be a lie if I said no…”

I met many people and Lee Taesung felt someone new. I actually felt comfortable that he didn’t try to flatter me. Did Kwon Yido have a good eye for people? He managed to pick someone who wouldn’t cause me any inconvenience.

“Are we leaving in the afternoon?”

“Yes, I will come pick you up as soon as you finish eating.”

I nodded quietly while fiddling with the transparent teacup. I inadvertently lowered my gaze and saw a ring on my ring finger. I guess I’d have to get rid of it and roam without it. Somehow this fact made me feel sad.

Lee Taeseong, who disappeared briefly during lunch, returned with my clothes as soon as I finished eating. It was such amazing timing that I wondered if I was daydreaming, so I couldn’t help but be a little dazed when he handed me the suit and shoes. He left the front door saying he would wait outside, and I returned to the room with the clothes I had given him.

“…Isn’t the color too bright?”

The outfit Kwon Yido chose was a gray suit with warm colors overall. As expected, the size was perfect for my body, and the hem of the pants fell neatly as if I had measured it. The tie was a slightly darker color, and although it had no special pattern, it went well as a focal point.

I dressed up in a suit and picked out accessories in the dressing room. Since Kwon Yido had taken care of the clothes for me, I planned to prepare other things on his own. The handkerchief should be a similar color to the tie, and the tie pin and watch should be worn so that it does not stand out.

“The day will come when I will use this.”

I didn’t know that I would be able to use the items neatly arranged in the drawer with my own hands. Unlike before, when I didn’t even recognize it as mine, at least I had no hesitation in wearing it. This was probably because I had already received many even greater things from him.

After spraying the perfume one last time, I took off my engagement ring and placed it on the nightstand. I had never removed it before, a light mark remained on my finger. Looking at it, it seemed like it would probably not disappear until the end of today’s ceremony.

When I came down to the first floor and left the entrance, I felt a new emotion. How long has it been since I dressed up like this? Even though I wore a suit when I saw my father, something felt different. Just like the time when I came early in the morning for the engagement ceremony with Kwon Yido.

Lee Taeseong was waiting for me outside the middle gate. He was standing in front of the elevator going down to the garage and talking to someone on his cell phone. He inadvertently looked away, and as soon as our eyes met, he frowned and closed his eyes.

“…”

“… ”

I heard something being said on the other end of the phone. Lee Taesong, who was suddenly silent, was frustrated. I adjusted my tie and nodded lightly.

“Aren’t you going to call?”

“…Ah yes. I will do that, then.”

Lee Taeseong suddenly hung up the phone and pressed the elevator button. As I entered through the naturally open door, he belatedly followed me and got on the seat close to the door. He glanced back at me and spoke.

“These clothes…Is it custom-made?”

“I guess so. Kwon Yido chose it.”

Since it was chosen by Kwon Yido, who had a keen eye for such things, it probably wasn’t ready-made. Judging from the length and fit, it was clear that it was made to order by the specific measurements. I wondered how he knew my size, but that was something I had to ask the moment I saw the clothes hanging in the dressing room.

“…I was surprised that it suited you better than I expected.”

I thought he wasn’t the kind of person who talked nonsense. It looked like he would do his best as my assistant today. Of course, I knew that being well-dressed wasn’t a bad thing.

“There is no man who doesn’t look good in a suit.”

As soon as I answered gently, the elevator door opened. Lee Taeseong moved his lips as if he was about to say something, then shook his head and took the first step. A sedan similar to the one Kwon Yido drives was parked closest to the entrance.

“Do you also drive?”

“Yes, I decided to take you there today.”

He answered like that and opened the back door of the car as he was used to it. Surprisingly, it seemed that he handled important tasks alone, from serving as an assistant to driving. At least I didn’t think Chief Kim had to drive, so I just hoped he received a lot of special allowances.

As Kwon Yido once said, Lee Taeseong was a pretty good driver. To be precise, should I say he is stable? On the surface, it looked like he was driving the car roughly, but in reality, he was rather careful. I muttered meaningless words while looking at the scenery passing by outside the car window.

“Time flies…”

Everything that had happened recently seemed overly unrealistic. There were the days I spent with Kwon Yido at his house after the engagement ceremony. Time passed in the blink of an eye, and when I came to my senses, it was already the middle of spring.

‘I don’t even want to see you, so get out.’

“…”

I fiddled with my left hand, which used to have a ring on it, as a habit. Since there was nothing on my finger, I felt empty. It was easy to form a habit, but why did it take so long for it to disappear?

‘We won’t be seeing each other for a while.’

When I thought of my father, my chest felt heavy. The endless thoughts stopped, and it felt like my ears were going deaf. Now that my eardrums have completely healed, eating was not difficult.

What would he say when he sees me? Did he not think of me even once? Did the USB I gave really disappear into the trash can like that?

There was no answer to the endless questions. In the first place, whatever answer I received was not very pleasant to me. What had already happened would not go away, and my father’s thoughts would not change either.

“I will wait outside.”

The first place Lee Taeseong brought to was a shop that occupied the entire third floor. Since I was already dressed, I thought I should probably touch my hair a little. As I approached, the employee who opened the door bowed and guided me inside.

“Mr. Jung, you can come this way.”

The inside of the shop was similar to the place where they helped me get dressed on my engagement day. Various fitting clothes were hanging, and there were also various accessories in a glass-covered decoration box. As I walked past the area filled with cosmetics and sat down in front of the mirror, an employee began skillfully setting my hair.

Did Kwon Yido take care of all of this himself? There was no hesitation in touching up my hair as if they had been contacted about it in advance. On the day of the engagement ceremony, there was a discussion among the employees about me.

“It’s time for you to get a haircut.”

The staff member, with a friendly appearance, tidied up my long bangs with a very careful hand. She parted my hair, fixed it on one side, sprayed it, and then used a hair dryer to add volume to the area.

“Oh, your hair is so pretty that I would like to take care of it. Do you take care of your hair separately?”

“Haha…”

No matter how many times I heard the shop employees’ unique lip service, I could never get used to it. In particular, the hairdresser I spoke to this time was as chatty as the chatty employee at the shop I used to go to.

It didn’t take long for my hair to be neatly set. Meanwhile, I was told four times in total that my hair was of good quality, three times that my head was pretty, and two more times I was told to come to me the next time I got my hair cut. When she handed me their business card with her number written on it, I had to admire her passionate work spirit.

“…What is this?”

Lee Taeseong, who was waiting outside, looked at the business card I held out and looked puzzled. When I looked at him staring at my styled hair, I shrugged my shoulders and added playfully.

“Lee Taeseong, please come here when you get a haircut. The staff is very friendly.”

He silently accepted the business card I held out. I thought he would reject it as if not needing it, but he put it in his inner pocket. Since the staff’s goal was probably sales, it was a half-success.

“Are we going to the hotel now?”

“Yes, there is no other place to stop.”

The founding ceremony of Seonho Group was scheduled to be held at the grand banquet hall in the Myungsung Hotel’s Libra Hall. It was the second largest banquet hall owned by Myungsung Hotel and could accommodate approximately 400 people depending on the layout. Lee Taeseong said that it would be like a party with a free atmosphere, inviting key executives and employees of Seonho Group and related business partners.

“Lee Taeseong was Kwon Yido’s bodyguard before. If you were to stick around with me, wouldn’t some people think he was strange?”

When I asked while he was driving, Lee Taeseong looked back at me through the rearview mirror. Now that I see it, he had also tidied his hair more thoroughly than usual. He frowned and stared straight ahead again.

“I don’t know much about what I was doing as a security guard, except for the security teams I worked with. There aren’t many people like me who can remember the face of a security guard. Can you remember who your security guard was?”

“Hm…”

I hummed quietly. As soon as I heard his question, the people who were my security guards came to mind. Usually, you aren’t aware of the people you keep by your side that much.

“I’m not bragging, but I tend to memorize everything.”

“…”

Taeseong Lee remained silent and looked at me through the rearview mirror once again. It didn’t seem like he thought it was a lie, it was just a complex expression.

“…Do you treat all your guards like you do to me?”

“What do you mean by treating others like you?”

“That’s it… No, never mind.”

It was a dull ending again, but I didn’t bother to ask. I just thought that Kwon Yido was very thorough in not having anyone who could recognize him.

After that, when I got in the car and arrived at the hotel, with good timing, I spotted a group of people getting out of the car in front of me. Two familiar men got out of one car, and two women got out of the car behind.

“…”

They were my family. Meeting my family after a long time. Anyone who saw them walking inside in harmony could only see them as a close-knit family.

Seeing that harmonious appearance, many questions came to mind. Why was there no contact with me at all? Did they just decide not to involve me?

I felt like I was an outsider. No, to be exact, I was an outsider, so it would be absurd to simply express it as a metaphor. If I had been in the middle of it, I would have been truly alien. There was a huge gap between people who were family from birth and people who couldn’t become family no matter how hard they tried.

“Is there any problem?”

“…Not really.”

I tried to erase all my emotions and got out of the car through the back door that Lee Taeseong had opened. He looked at my complexion with curious eyes, as if he hadn’t seen my family members who got off in front of him. His expression seemed to have deteriorated significantly in that short period.

“If you’re not feeling well…”

“No. I’m just a little nervous. I’m okay.”

As I tried to smile, Lee Taeseong frowned. He looked like he didn’t believe my excuse for being nervous.

“Let’s leave the car with the valet and go up together.”

“…”

He handed the car keys to the staff and silently followed behind me. Having a large bodyguard with me somehow made me feel reassured. No one would want to harm me, but it was just a feeling.

The lobby of Myungsung Hotel was always gorgeous. Especially the large and loud chandelier hanging in the center of the hall. The sight of light breaking along rows of cubic cubes was one of the things guests visiting the hotel chose to see.

It was a beautiful sight, but for some reason, I thought it was noisy. The lobby was actually quiet, and only soft classical music could be heard. Even before I was swept up in the crowd, I was already feeling exhausted, as if I had used up all my energy.

“Let’s stop by the bathroom for a moment.”

I wanted to get some breathing room. Once you enter the banquet hall, you won’t have time to leave. I needed some time to compose myself before I could see my father in earnest.

Lee Taeseong seemed to have decided not to argue with me today. Even though I changed direction at will, he didn’t complain. There was plenty of time in the first place, so there would have been no reason to hold me back.

I left him standing outside and entered the bathroom alone. There was nothing special for me to do here so I just planned to wash my hands and check my complexion before leaving. Fortunately, there was no one inside, so I stood in front of the mirror feeling a little at ease.

“…”

My neatly organized hair felt awkward. Except for the straight eyebrows and straight eyes, my face had no special features. My father criticized me, saying that the only thing he cared about was my appearance, but I was not sure if he actually cared about me.

I thought I knew why Lee Taeseong gave me a suspicious look. My pale face looked like I was about to faint at any moment. I was confident in maintaining a poker face, but since when did I start showing my true feelings like this?

I sighed heavily and calmed my expression. I couldn’t even figure out why I felt so bad. Should I say it was an instinctive feeling? I had a feeling that today would be difficult, and it kept sending me warning signs.

Of course, it was a pointless worry. I was not Kwon Yido’s fiancé, I just assumed the guise of the eldest son of Haesin Group. No matter who spoke to me, all I had to do was act like a good son like I always did.

“Ha…”

I sighed heavily and wiped his hands thoroughly. I wanted to at least wash my face, but I couldn’t leave with my face dripping wet. Fortunately, thanks to calming down, my complexion looked much better than before.

When I dried myself off with a hand towel and was about to leave the bathroom, I turned around the corner outside the door, I bumped into someone coming inside.

“…”

“…”

I felt pheromones. Although it was very slight, it was definitely pheromones. It was different from Kwon Yido’s, and I couldn’t say it was a good feeling even with empty words.

My eyes were downcast, I slowly raised my gaze and checked the other person. A colorful brooch and a tie of a unique color were visible on a suit made of luxurious fabric. The face that was an inch above me was so familiar that I couldn’t recognize it.

“…Ah.”

It was Kwon Yijung. He was the second son of Seonho Group, the older brother of Kwon Yido, and the president of Myungsung Hotel. A person with whom I never had a single conversation and someone who did not attend the engagement ceremony on the excuse that he was busy.

Kwon Yikyung, Kwon Yijung, and Kwon Yido. Of the three siblings in the Seonho Group, Kwon Yijung is the only one who was evaluated as having a different appearance. Kwon Yigyeong and Kwon Yido took after their mother, who was the Vice President, but Kwon Yijung alone took after their father. Unlike the two people, who had a cold appearance and did not even need a needle, Kwon Yijung seemed gentle in his own way when he smiled.

But the moment our eyes met, I felt an unknown shiver run down my spine. My back straightened, and fur rose on the back of my head. Something resembling a rejection. An unidentifiable feeling of rejection suddenly washed over me like a wave.

“…Excuse me.”

I barely managed to get the words out, but the goosebumps that appeared once did not subside easily. Why do I feel like this? My hair had turned completely white to the point where I couldn’t even think about it. So I just moved to the side, and I heard a soft voice in my ear.

“Hey.” [1]

…Hey?

 

 

 

T/N:

1. Over here, the word, “Ya…” is used, which is pretty informal and can be implied as threatening. So Sejin was thinking about why he was being addressed in such a way.