Chapter 39: This Isn’t Love

“I regretted it the moment I married Soo-ah.”

“What does that……”

“I realized it only once you weren’t there. It wasn’t Soo-ah who should have been by my side, it was you. Still, I tried to take responsibility for my choice. I held onto meaningless time in Milan, trying to forget you, but it didn’t work after all.”

Hyunwoo was faster than Kangeun, who was about to tell him not to wrap up his one-sided emotions as if they were true love, and that she didn’t know anything about such things.

“I’m like this, and you say you don’t know?”

“Yes.”

“Hah……. Kangeun-ah.”

“Have I ever given you any room? I have never behaved in a way that you would misunderstand, nor have I ever said anything that would lead to such an illusion.”

Hyunwoo, fed up with Kangeun’s boldness, took his hand off the wall and stood up straight. He ran a hand roughly through his hair, as if displeased with the situation not going his way.

He massaged his neck for a moment as if his blood pressure were rising, then lowered his gaze again. He seemed to have no intention of hiding the unpleasant look in his eyes.

“Who do you think you are to ‘give room’ or not?”

“……What?”

“Kangeun-ah……. Kangeun-ah……”

While Kangeun was doubting her own ears, Hyunwoo called her name several times as if frustrated, then let out a cynical laugh. The voice he used as he muttered to himself was eerie.

“You should be by my side if I want you there.”

“…….”

“You. If I want it, you should do it.”

Hyunwoo, biting off and ruminating on his words as if confirming them, slowly lifted his head. His eyes were full of mockery as he faced Kangeun, who had gone white as a sheet.

“You shouldn’t be doing this to me, you know.”

“What on earth do you mean……”

“It’s not like you’re unaware of how much I cherished you. Right?”

“…….”

“There was no one I valued as highly as you. Yet here you are, like this.”

Kangeun watched with terrified eyes as Hyunwoo’s hand approached her. Her body felt frozen in fear. All she could do was turn her head and avert her gaze. Then, she felt Hyunwoo’s hand firmly pressing and rubbing a spot on her neck, just below her ear, and she gritted her teeth.

“You’re even carrying around marks from being a tramp.”

Hyunwoo’s breathing grew ragged as he spat out an Italian slur that Kangeun was also familiar with. The pressure in the hand that was rubbing her skin as if to erase the marks he found so displeasing was growing stronger and stronger.

“Ha, it won’t come off. Where else are they? Things like this.”

“…….”

She couldn’t tell if her trembling was due to anger or fear. What was certain was that Hyunwoo, in Kangeun’s eyes right now, looked like a monster.

“Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”

Hyunwoo lowered the hand that had been rubbing Kangeun’s neck. He had realized it was meaningless. He judged that it would be faster to cover it with his own marks instead.

Just as he was about to press his lips close to her, her eyes, filled with clear contempt, met his. Kangeun was glaring at him from right in front of him. Hyunwoo, finding it pathetic, let out a dry laugh and sighed.

“It was my father who took you in and gave you a place to live when you were about to end up on the streets and be sold off.”

“……I am aware.”

“He went as far as to show you sympathy, and yet you……”

You, who were almost sold off. Kangeun believed that Jaeseon had never spoken of her in such a way. She remembered Jaeseon crying as he explained to Anna the situation he had witnessed. Hyunwoo had also been by his side as he cried, saying he almost hadn’t been able to find Seongho’s daughter, and that if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to face Seongho later.

Jaeseon was a good man. He had helped her renounce the inheritance even at a late stage and had paid off her urgent debts on her behalf so she could be free from the loan sharks. He had supported her in every way possible so she could wrap up her life in Korea and settle in Italy, and he had put his heart into making sure she could graduate from university without much difficulty.

She knew that even if her father was his lifesaver, it was not an easy thing to do. He could have just ignored her, but Jaeseon had flown from Italy to Korea to take care of Kangeun. He had looked at the wary Kangeun with pity and comforted her, saying he was actually grateful she had come to him since he had no daughter.

Jaeseon was that kind of person. How his son, Hyunwoo, could be like this—Kangeun stared at him, trembling with a sense of betrayal so deep it made her eyes sting.

“Who was it that took you around and showed you the ropes when you knew nothing about life in Italy? The one who made it possible for you to work while receiving such treatment, that was all me.”

She couldn’t tell if Hyunwoo was doing this under the influence of alcohol or because he looked down on her that much. Such things didn’t even matter.

At Hyunwoo’s words, which revealed the inner thoughts he had been hiding, Kangeun felt angry and sad at the same time. She realized what the man she had considered her ally really thought of her.

“So Kangeun-ah, you shouldn’t be doing this to me. You know that?”

“…….”

“Ungrateful after being taken in and raised.”

Tsk. Just as Hyunwoo, having clicked his tongue, was stumbling back to brace himself against the wall and lean toward Kangeun, a figure strode forward and twisted his arm. Hyunwoo, having lost his balance, fell flat on his face, and a large man pinned him to the floor in an instant.

“Ugh…… who are you!”

“Are you all right?”

Kangeun, struggling to hold back her tears, let out a short breath and lowered her gaze. The person who had forced the struggling Hyunwoo to lay facedown and easily subdued him with his weight was Siheon.

“Wait. I’ll report this bastard to the police first.”

“…….”

“Go Kangeun, are you okay?”

“Let go! Let go, you bastard!”

Hyunwoo began to rant and rave, spewing slurs in Italian. Siheon, who had been staring blankly at Kangeun as she trembled in fear and was unable to say anything, gritted his teeth and suddenly threw a punch at Hyunwoo.

With a thwack, Hyunwoo fell silent. In that moment, Kangeun couldn’t even scream; she hunched over and closed her eyes.

“Are you hurt?”

“……Sob.”

“I’m sorry. I should have come down sooner. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

The hands that examined her body and then pulled her into a comforting embrace were cautious. Her suppressed tears finally burst forth. Just as Kangeun raised her hands to return his embrace in the relief she had finally found:

“Ugh……”

Hyunwoo, who had briefly lost consciousness from Siheon’s punch, stood up while holding the spot where he had been hit.

“……Ha, unbelievable.”

“…….”

“How long has it even been since you met? You’ve already fallen for each other in that time.”

“Siheon-ah!”

Siheon turned toward Hyunwoo, who was spitting out blood-mixed saliva while sneering. He stood with Kangeun hidden behind him, as she held onto him to stop him.

“You must have been busy, Kangeun. That’s why you couldn’t be reached?”

“…….”

“Working during the day, and at night, meeting your ‘younger brother’ and trying to look good for the partner company’s Team Leader. But why were you like that with me?”

“…….”

“What is the reason you were only playing hard to get with me!”

No matter what Hyunwoo misunderstood or what nonsense he spewed, it didn’t enter Kangeun’s mind right now. Because stopping Siheon, who stood blocking her entire field of vision, was the only thing that mattered.

She had experienced a similar situation before. It was a night when she had to endure humiliating mockery while hiding behind Siheon’s back, when he was a bit smaller than he was now. After that night, Kangeun had fallen into an abyss. She had lost Siheon, and the subsequent misfortune had taken even her father.

As she remembered that terrible winter, that hellish time that stretched from winter into spring, Kangeun was overwhelmed by uncontrollable terror. She shook her head rapidly and extended a trembling hand.

“No. No, Siheon-ah. No.”

The strength in Kangeun’s hands as she pulled at Siheon’s clothes and arm grew stronger and stronger.

“No. Siheon-ah, please. Hmm?”

She didn’t want Siheon to get hurt, and she didn’t want him to get involved in any trouble. Kangeun shook her head and called out to Siheon. She clung to him even more when she saw his clenched fists trembling with fury. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to face her.

“I’m fine. I’m really fine. Don’t engage with him. Please. Please.”

“…….”

Hyunwoo’s provocation, furious after being hit, continued, but it didn’t reach Kangeun’s ears. She wanted to cover both of Siheon’s ears if she could.

Unless Hyunwoo lunged first, Kangeun wanted to make Siheon turn around and look only at her. To confirm that she was okay and simultaneously help him temper his rage. Kangeun desperately wanted to escape the current situation somehow.

“Huu……”

She could feel the breath Siheon was exhaling as if suppressing it through his broad back. Kangeun held his waist tightly and rubbed her wet cheek against him. It was an action meant to show him she was okay.

“I’m calling in a public intoxication report.”

Kangeun’s eyes widened at the unexpected words. Siheon was holding his phone to his ear.

“Yes. The drunk person is currently unable to stand properly, and there was a minor altercation in the process of protecting my companion. Yes, I will……”

Kangeun, coming to her senses as if she had been doused in cold water, reached out and snatched his phone away. A look of confusion spread through Siheon’s sharp gaze.

“No. You stay out of this.”

“…….”

What flashed through Kangeun’s mind quickly was Siheon’s current situation. Although he was the only grandson of Chairman Cha Mooyoung of the Hyungyeong Group, she didn’t think the relationship between the grandson and grandfather was very good, judging by Siheon’s attitude.

She judged that there was no need to make Siheon undergo a police investigation and create noise on her account. Kangeun wanted to protect Siheon this time.

After answering the police on his behalf that the situation had been resolved amicably, Kangeun ended the call. And before Siheon could stop her, she thrust the phone into his hand and stepped past him.

“Go Kangeun, just stay behind me……”

Siheon’s words as he tried to protect Kangeun, and Hyunwoo’s voice as he took off his mask and poured out humiliating mockery, both cut off like a lie. It was immediately after a sharp sound of a strike against flesh had sliced through everyone’s eardrums.