He had been forced to watch a psychopath put on that kind of performance while he was already mentally shattered, so he must have been driven completely to the edge.
And the harder he tried to find a way out of that situation, the more inevitably he would think of Sejin.
He could not deny that Sejin was the key capable of resolving everything.
Today at the earliest. Tomorrow at the latest.
Even if that prediction proved wrong, Eunwon would contact him before the day of their next meeting.
He was too weak and knew far too little to navigate a world where people would do anything for profit.
Sejin could only hope that Eunwon would make the smart choice before his interest cooled.
For now, that was the full extent of the encouragement Cha Sejin could offer him.
***
After managing only a few hours of fitful sleep near dawn, Eunwon got up, prepared for university, and went downstairs.
The immaculate house, without a speck of dust anywhere, showed no sign that anyone else was there.
“Young Master, please have some breakfast.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can eat….”
“You still need to eat something before you go to university. Have some fruit, at least. Or even just a sip of milk. Please?”
“…All right…. Um, but my father… did he not come home again last night?”
“…No…. Madam Seo is extremely worried because she still cannot reach him. She could not even get out of bed this morning….”
It had already been three days since his father had last come home.
Eunwon had called him repeatedly as well, but all he ever heard was the recorded message saying the phone was turned off.
“I… Madam Seo…. No, um….”
“You may speak comfortably in front of me, Young Master.”
“…Is she asleep? I wanted to see her before I left….”
“You may go in. She took something for her headache a short while ago, so she should still be awake.”
After thanking Housekeeper Kang, Eunwon headed toward Madam Seo’s room.
Standing before the closed door brought back the night from two days earlier.
Madam Seo had not left her room since that night, and they had not exchanged a single word. Even raising his hand to knock was difficult.
But he could not continue standing by helplessly.
Gathering his courage, Eunwon knocked.
A faint voice from inside told him to enter.
He drew a deep breath and opened the door.
Madam Seo lay on the bed in the dim room.
Eunwon approached the pool of light cast by the lamp beside the bed and looked down at her closed eyes.
“…Are you feeling any better? It seems you did not eat breakfast. You should have something….”
At the sound of Eunwon’s voice, Yeo Heejin opened her eyes and glared up at him as though she might unleash a barrage of cutting words.
Then she simply turned her back.
“Get out.”
“…….”
“I don’t want to see your face right now.”
“…….”
“You’re asking if I’m all right? How could I possibly be all right?”
Eunwon held his breath at the voice that struck him with icy force.
Her cold rejection pierced his heart more painfully than the cruel words she had hurled while drunk that night.
“Don’t forget to check the news reports all day.”
“…….”
“There might be an article saying your father was found somewhere.”
“Why… Why would you say something like that…?”
“Get out. I don’t want to hear it.”
She gave him no opportunity to say anything else.
With the entire atmosphere around her transformed, Eunwon quietly turned and left the room.
“…….”
The empty corridor was deathly silent.
After walking through it, Eunwon stared into the deserted living room.
There was no one there.
It was so still that he could hardly believe laughter and affectionate conversation had filled it only a short time ago.
All of it felt like a mirage.
Unless Eunwon seized the solution called “marriage,” everything he had encountered there would vanish in an instant.
And then…
He would be rejected again.
Just as he had been before.
Back then, it had been the first time. He had still had his mother, so he had been all right without his father. Having lived without him all his life, he had never desperately needed his presence.
But now that his mother was gone, his father was his only family.
And that father was suffering now…
because of Eunwon’s selfishness.
“Young Master, Chauffeur Oh is here. I packed some fruit, toast, and juice for you to eat on the way. Please make sure you have at least a little. I will take good care of Madam Seo, so you do not need to worry.”
Housekeeper Kang’s words abruptly penetrated Eunwon’s dazed thoughts.
Coming back to himself, he accepted the bag she held out and crossed the silent living room.
His head felt as though it might collapse beneath the weight of everything pressing down upon it.
Throughout his classes, Eunwon repeatedly searched for his father’s name and the company’s name on a web portal.
Madam Seo’s order not to forget to check the news all day dominated his thoughts, leaving him unable to stop searching again and again.
Whenever one class ended, he spent the time before the next calling his father.
Please….
Please, just turn your phone on.
He made dozens of calls, but the phone did not come on even once.
When Yoon Jiwoon asked why he kept staring at his phone, Eunwon could not answer.
He called his father again.
The phone was still turned off.
—The phone is currently turned off….
As the recorded message he had heard hundreds of times over the past several days played again, Eunwon felt as though something inside his mind were melting away.
The thought that something might truly have happened to his father flashed through him, and fear turned his fingertips cold.
“…….”
He had no more time to hesitate.
There was nowhere left to retreat and nowhere he could hide simply because he was afraid.
He had to put everything back where it belonged.
His father.
His father’s company.
The warm living room that had once been filled with laughter.
If Eunwon alone gave up his place, everything else could return to where it belonged.
He took out his phone and found the contact saved under “Husband,” staring at it for a moment.
He had thought he should change the teasing, shameless name, but another thought had distracted him before he could.
Seeing it now brought Cha Sejin’s face to mind.
I have to call him.
I can do this.
I can resolve everything.
With fingertips drained white, Eunwon pressed the call button.
The black screen soon displayed the word “Husband,” and the ringing tone began.
“…….”
Two contradictory wishes crossed inside him at once.
He desperately hoped Sejin would not answer.
At the same time, he desperately wanted Sejin to answer quickly so this agonizing situation would finally end.
—Yeah, sweetheart.
Eunwon’s tightly closed lips parted, and a trembling breath escaped.
Strangely, merely hearing Sejin’s voice made him feel as though he might burst into tears.
“…Hello. This is… Seo Eunwon…. Is this a good time to talk?”
—Yeah. It’s fine.
“Could you possibly….”
—…….
“…meet me right now? I have… something I need to tell you.”
A brief silence passed from the other end of the call.
It was truly only a moment, but Eunwon was so afraid that the silence might end in rejection that he could barely breathe as he waited for Cha Sejin’s reply.
—If my sweetheart wants to see me, then I have to see him.
“Thank you…. Um, tell me where to go, and I’ll come to you.”
—Okay. I’ll send you the address. See you in an hour.
“All right….”
His weak reply was followed shortly afterward by the end of the call.
Eunwon sat motionless, waiting for the message to arrive.
Soon, his phone vibrated briefly, and an address appeared on the screen.
He immediately returned to the department lounge, collected his bag, and left the building.
Even as he walked off campus, and even after boarding the bus that would take him near the meeting place, Eunwon continued searching his father’s name until his phone grew hot in his hand.
Every so often, clinging to the faintest possibility, he called again.
But nothing changed.
It took approximately forty minutes to arrive.
The café had an atmosphere similar to the one where he had last met Cha Sejin.
When Eunwon entered the glass-walled building, an employee behind the counter greeted him warmly.
“Welcome. Are you Seo Eunwon?”
“Ah…. Yes….”
“I’ll escort you to the second floor. Executive Director Cha has not arrived yet.”
“…All right.”
Eunwon followed the employee upstairs, sat beside the window as directed, and set down his bag.
“…….”
He looked around the quiet café, then slowly lowered his gaze and released a long breath.
There were things he wanted to ask and words he wanted to say, but everything was tangled together inside his ruined mind, preventing any of it from taking clear form.
“Did you miss me that much? You got here incredibly fast.”
As Eunwon struggled to decide what he should say first, Cha Sejin’s voice suddenly reached him.
Startled, Eunwon lifted his head and watched Sejin sit across from him.
He had been so lost in thought that he had not noticed Sejin’s presence at all until he was right beside the table, and his heart began pounding violently from the shock.
“Hello….”
“Yeah. Hi. You couldn’t even make it through the full week in the end, huh?”
“…….”
“What did you want to tell me? Go ahead.”
Eunwon steadied his breathing and bit hard into the inside of his lip.
The faintly metallic taste of blood spread across his tongue.
He drew another breath and looked at Cha Sejin.