It wasn't that far from Seoul to Gyeonggi Province, but it wasn't close enough for Ian to visit whenever he wanted, either. Depending on where in Yangpyeong the facility was located, the journey from Seoul could take two or even three hours.
"Don't you like it?"
Ian shook his head at Yunhui's question. Apart from being a little far from Seoul, the facility was everything he could have asked for. In fact, it was so extravagant that he felt uncomfortable accepting it.
"Any hospital in Seoul would be fine, really..."
Still, the thought of being so far from his mother bothered him, and he couldn't help muttering the words.
"Any hospital? Are you sure?"
Ian swallowed against his dry throat. Unlike the Yunhui he had known before, the Kang Yunhui standing before him now was utterly unpredictable. For all he knew, Yunhui might take him at his word and arrange for his mother to be admitted to some dreadful hospital in Seoul instead. He couldn't afford to answer carelessly.
"Let's get her settled there first. If she finds it uncomfortable, I'll move her somewhere else."
For some reason, Yunhui was the first to compromise. He had been so merciless until now, but perhaps he still felt some affection for Ian's mother, whom he had known since childhood. Maybe he cared about her well-being, at least a little.
Perhaps Ian had been too sensitive about everything.
He nodded without further protest.
"I'll say it again. As long as you behave yourself and do as I say, no one gets hurt. Not Han Yudam, and not your mother."
The reminder of why he was here silenced Ian. He nodded.
"When are you going to cancel your engagement to Yudam? And what if your parents object? What are you going to do then?"
He wanted to make sure Yunhui couldn't change his story later. This was an arranged marriage between two families, and Yunhui's parents might have had more say in it than Yunhui himself. Ian needed to know for certain that Yunhui had the authority to put an end to it.
"My parents are in Europe right now. The engagement with the Han family was entirely my decision. I don't need their permission to cancel it."
Ian let out a disbelieving breath.
That bastard.
So his parents hadn't pressured him into anything. He had done it entirely of his own free will. That made the whole thing even more outrageous.
"I really don't understand you. Why on earth would you...?"
The question that had crossed his mind dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times slipped out before he could stop it. But he swallowed the rest.
He doubted Yunhui would give him a clear answer even if he asked, and at this point, the answer hardly mattered. Whatever his reasons, Kang Yunhui had taken Ian's and Yudam's lives into his own hands and was manipulating them as he pleased.
That was the only fact that mattered.
"Then cancel your engagement in front of me, too. Right now."
Ian demanded exactly what Yunhui had demanded of him.
Yunhui regarded him silently.
"Once you belong to me completely."
Ian was about to ask what the hell Yunhui meant by belonging to him, but Yunhui rose from his seat, apparently unwilling to explain any further.
The moment to ask passed.
"Move your things over right now."
"Right now?"
"I've already completed the hospital arrangements for your mother. All that's left is to take her there. I've sent a driver, so..."
"Wait. Hold on a second."
Ian was bewildered. He had only just signed the contract, and Yunhui had already sent a driver to collect his mother?
What was the rush?
"Call the driver back. I need to explain the situation to my mother first, at least. And I need to take her to the hospital myself and see to her admission."
Yunhui frowned at his answer. He looked as though he wanted to ask whether any of that was really necessary.
But this was one thing Ian refused to compromise on. He didn't want to put his mother through anything that might worry her, however slightly.
He held Yunhui's gaze, refusing to back down.
After a few seconds, Yunhui let out a short breath.
"Fine. I'll take you to her now."
He was still insisting on doing everything now.
Nevertheless, Ian was relieved that Yunhui had agreed to take him to his mother first.
*
When they arrived outside the studio apartment building, Yunhui got out of the car with him.
Ian hadn't expected Yunhui to drive him personally, so he had been a little taken aback when Yunhui got behind the wheel. When Yunhui asked if something was wrong, Ian had shaken his head and said it was nothing.
They had spent the entire drive to the apartment building in silence.
Ian had expected being alone with Kang Yunhui in the confined space of a car to make the silence unbearable.
Surprisingly, it hadn't bothered him at all.
Perhaps the memories of their childhood were etched more deeply into his body than he realized. He had felt a little uncomfortable at first, but after about five minutes, his tension had gradually eased.
At some point, he had even leaned his head against the window and dozed off.
I actually fell asleep.
He felt rather embarrassed with himself.
Since his father's death, Ian hadn't managed a single night of deep sleep. He had been constantly anxious that his mother might collapse again. Between the pressure from his relatives at Haemyeong Industries and the endless aftermath of the company's troubles, he had been running back and forth between his lawyer's office and Haemyeong Industries without a moment to collect himself.
And then Yunhui had started making a fuss about getting engaged to Yudam, leaving Ian's nerves stretched to the breaking point.
Yet, for a little while, he had forgotten all of it and allowed himself to relax.
He felt guilty toward Yudam, but at least Yunhui's engagement to him would be canceled. Yudam would no longer have to face a situation so desperate that he might threaten his own life.
That alone had lifted some of the weight from Ian's heart. And knowing that his mother would once again receive the best possible treatment gave him another reason to feel relieved.
There was still the renunciation-of-inheritance process to deal with, along with the problems at Haemyeong Industries. But once his mother was settled somewhere safe, he would have considerably more freedom to handle those matters.
It was only natural that some of the tension had finally drained out of him.
Kang Yunhui's recent actions had made Ian's life twice as difficult, and Ian still couldn't understand why he was behaving this way.
Yet, ironically, Yunhui was also the only person resolving Ian's most pressing problems.
"Are you coming upstairs with me?"
Ian was about to enter the building when Yunhui followed him and stopped at his side.
Instead of answering, Yunhui walked half a step ahead of him to the elevator and pressed the button.
Ian had no particular reason to stop him, so he let him come along.
His mother had been asking how Yunhui was doing, and since Yunhui was helping arrange her admission to the hospital, it seemed only right to let the two of them greet each other.
"Don't say anything strange in front of my mother."
Ian warned him as they rode up in the elevator.
"Strange? Like what?"
Yunhui looked as though he had no idea what Ian meant.
"All that stuff about me belonging to you. And don't bring up Yudam, either."
His mother knew nothing about what had happened.
Ian had deliberately kept quiet about Yudam's family turning their backs on him as soon as his father's troubles began. He knew how upset she would be if she found out.
"She'll have to find out about everything eventually, won't she?"
"Later. Just... not right now."
Yunhui frowned in displeasure but said nothing.
"Oh, my goodness! Look who it is! Yunhui!"
The moment they opened the front door and stepped inside, Ian's mother spotted Yunhui and broke into a delighted smile.
Ian glanced at Yunhui without thinking.
He was worried Yunhui might treat his mother as coldly as he had been treating him.
"It's been a long time."
Contrary to Ian's fears, Yunhui smiled gently and bowed his head in greeting.
His mother was so pleased to see him that she took his hand in both of hers and repeatedly patted the back of it.
"I heard you came back as vice chairman of Sanha Group. That's wonderful! You'll be staying in Korea from now on, won't you?"
She smiled at Yunhui with unreserved happiness.
Yunhui, too, treated Ian's mother much as he had when they were children.
Watching the two of them together, Ian almost felt as though the Kang Yunhui he had been dealing with lately couldn't possibly be real.
"Actually, I came to take you to the hospital."
Yunhui brought up the matter himself.
He went straight to the point without giving Ian so much as a chance to explain, leaving both Ian and his mother staring at him in surprise.
"What are you talking about?"
His mother looked back and forth between them, her eyes wide.
"Well..."
Ian hesitated before launching into a lengthy explanation. They had decided to arrange for her to receive treatment at a hospital affiliated with Sanha Group. Yunhui had offered to help, so she didn't need to worry about anything.
He explained the situation as carefully as he could.
He made no mention of the contract he had signed with Yunhui.
After hearing the whole story, his mother was not nearly as pleased as Ian had expected.
Instead, she worried about whether it was right for them to accept so much help from Yunhui.
Although she hadn't said anything, she had some idea of how the people around Ian had been treating him lately.
"I know you're only trying to help, Yunhui. And I'm so grateful that you're looking after Ian the way you used to. But I don't think we should impose on you this much."
What worried his mother was that Ian would end up indebted to Yunhui because of her.
No matter how close two friends were, she feared that an accumulating sense of obligation might eventually damage their friendship.
After what had happened when they were driven out of the hospital belonging to Yudam's family, she had become even more cautious about accepting help.
"Actually, Ian and I have signed a contract. So there's no need for you to feel uncomfortable about accepting my help."
Yunhui suddenly brought up the contract.
Startled, Ian turned to look at him.
"A contract? What do you mean...?"
"It's not..."
"Ian has agreed to help me with my work. He's going to be my personal secretary, available twenty-four hours a day."
Yunhui delivered the explanation as calmly as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Ian's mother turned to him and asked whether it was true.
It was the first Ian had heard of it, too.
He had no idea how to answer.