TWELVE 95

The expressions and words of the aunt and her husband finally shattered my composure. My jaw tightened, and my cheeks burned. I was a fool for believing that the aunt and her husband would be easier to talk to than Jeon Juseok.

“I didn’t bring this up because I wanted money.”

“Ha.”

My aunt gave a mocking sneer as if it were funny, and my uncle tilted his chin up and looked down at me as if he had caught my weakness.

“If it’s not money you want, then what?”

“I said I’d give you 98 million won. Is that not enough?”

My aunt now even wore a faint smile on her lips.

“Seungkyung. I know all about the hard life you’ve lived. Why wouldn’t I? So you don’t have to act tough and pretend otherwise for the sake of your pride.”

Now I understood clearly. My aunt’s family and I spoke the same language, but we might as well have been from different countries. My common sense and beliefs did not work on them, and they would never understand me either.

“I wanted acknowledgment and an apology, not money.”

I did something I shouldn’t have done because I needed money back then. I’m sorry. If Jeon Juseok had spoken to me like that first, I might have requested leniency for the fellow without ever needing to meet the aunt and her husband.

“If that is difficult for you to accept, I don’t think there’s any use in talking further.”

It was a waste of time. I looked at Gi Seoin, and the fellow met my eyes and gave a slight nod. It meant we should do as I wished.

As I tried to stand up, my aunt immediately half-rose and reached out to press down on my knee.

“Where are you going?”

“I told you. I don’t think talking any further will do any good.”

“Why do you get to decide that on your own? What… what should we do for you? I said I’d give you the money!”

“We’ll be…”

“No, just sit down.”

I swallowed a rising sigh and lowered myself back down. My aunt spoke with her upper body leaning far toward me, as if she intended to block me if I tried to stand again.

“Acknowledgment, apology. Fine, let’s say all that’s well and good. I understand too. But we can’t guarantee that. What are you going to do if Juseok says he doesn’t want to admit it or won’t apologize? Do you even have a way to force an acknowledgment and an apology out of him?”

I knew that. That was why I was asking the aunt and her husband to persuade him.

But looking at them now, I didn’t think the aunt and her husband could persuade Jeon Juseok either. They didn’t seem to have much heart for it. I shook my head.

“Yes. So, please just pretend the conversation we had today never happened. If you and Uncle can’t persuade hyung, there’s nothing that can be done.”

I lightly brushed off my knee where my aunt’s hand had touched.

“If the only way to persuade hyung is through the law, then that’s what must be done.”

“What? Law? What did you say!”

At the same time I stood up, my uncle stood up with his hands on his waist and shouted.

“Who do you think you’re talking to about the law? I took pity on you and showed some consideration, but you’re being quite arrogant. You think things will go your way if we go by the law?”

“I wonder.”

I pointed to Gi Seoin with a look.

“My lawyer will know whether it will or not.”

“Ha!”

My uncle glared at Gi Seoin as if he were a thorn in his side.

“So you’re a Pyeongwoo lawyer.”

However, his tone wasn’t fierce. It was a completely opposite attitude compared to when he dealt with me.

Gi Seoin responded with a calm demeanor.

“That is correct.”

“It’s impressive that a young person got into Pyeongwoo.”

I wondered what my uncle wanted to say. My curiosity was solved immediately.

“I am a clerk for Mr. Seo Boseon of Cheongcheon. Even if you are a newcomer, you must know Mr. Seo since he is quite famous.”

“Of course, I know him.”

“Mr. Seo will be handling Juseok’s case.”

My uncle pulled up the corners of his mouth. He wore an expression as if he had already won a battle that hadn’t even started. I checked Gi Seoin’s reaction as well. The fellow remained consistently composed.

“That must be reassuring for you.”

“Is there any doubt?”

My uncle crossed his arms.

“However, he is an opponent that the other side would find quite burdensome.”

To my ears, those words sounded like, ‘He is not an opponent a greenhorn like you can beat.’

“At any rate, since you said you’d leave it to the law…”

My uncle’s gaze turned toward me.

“Let’s try it that way, then.”

My uncle seemed to be trying to provoke me and plant seeds of anxiety. But it didn’t work at all. No matter what lawyer Jeon Juseok used, I had Gi Seoin. Regardless of where Gi Seoin came from, I trusted the fellow.

“Then we’ll be going now.”

I cut the conversation short and greeted the aunt and her husband.

“Stay healthy.”

I added those words because I felt I would never see them again—people who were related by blood but felt more distant than strangers.

“Yes, you stay healthy too.”

My aunt said.

“I hope today’s choice is one you don’t regret.”

“I won’t regret it.”

“It’s easy to be certain when you don’t know anything.”

My aunt smiled brightly and rubbed my shoulder.

“It’s a mistake someone your age can easily make, so don’t blame yourself too much.”

“Blame myself?”

I tried to smile back at my aunt. I didn’t know if it turned out well.

“Mistakes are things people make even as they get older.”

Seeing the corner of my aunt’s mouth twist, it seemed I had smiled properly.

I had talked too much. Gi Seoin and I left that house just like that.

Entering the elevator, we soon reached the basement. Only after getting into the car in the parking lot did I feel like I could breathe.

“Sigh…”

My head throbbed. The fellow must have been quite stressed as well, just as much as I was… I pressed my temples and looked to the side.

Gi Seoin looked perfectly clear.

“You worked hard.”

His face even looked refreshed.

“Somehow, your complexion seems to have gotten better.”

“Do I look that way?”

“Yes.”

“It was funny. Maybe that’s why.”

“What was funny?”

“Seeing someone gloat while relying on other people’s abilities.”

Gi Seoin, who fastened my seatbelt for me, started the car.

“Like father, like son.”

The car, which made a quiet starting sound like the fellow’s calm bass voice, pulled smoothly out of the parking lot. Perhaps because of Gi Seoin’s composed attitude, my tension also eased. I buried my back into the seat. This was much more comfortable than that expensive-looking sofa at the aunt’s house.

“But.”

I asked as I reflected on the previous conversations.

“Is that lawyer really such an amazing person?”

“Lawyer Seo Boseon?”

“Yeah, that person.”

I wondered just how great a person he was for everyone from Jeon Juseok to my uncle to gloat like that.

Gi Seoin, expressionless, said.

“He’s an ordinary partner lawyer.”

“Really? Uncle was talking about a famous lawyer and such.”

“Most lawyers at Cheongcheon are famous.”

“Hyung Juseok said he was a top-tier lawyer…”

“The top-tier lawyers are Gi Yongsu and Kang Suyeon.”

“Who are they?”

“My parents.”

That’s right. I had briefly forgotten the fact that Gi Seoin was the son of the family that founded Cheongcheon.

Gi Seoin continued.

“Jeon Juseok won’t even be able to start anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

“I…”

The moment the fellow was about to continue speaking, we hit a stoplight. Gi Seoin, having applied the brakes, looked back at me.

“I’m going back to Cheongcheon.”

I needed a moment to understand the meaning of those words.

“…What? Why?”

“I think it’s necessary.”

“Is it because of me?”

That wasn’t what I wanted. I grabbed his sleeve.

“Don’t do it if it’s because of me, Seoin.”

“It is because of you, but there are several reasons.”

“What are those reasons?”

“…”

Gi Seoin, who quietly glanced at the front, straightened his head and changed gears. The car moved forward again. The fellow opened his mouth belatedly.

“I decided because I wanted to.”

“You wanted to leave Cheongcheon.”

“I changed my mind.”

“So I’m asking why you changed it, I mean…”

To Gi Seoin, his parents were like a prison, and Cheongcheon was the place owned by those parents. It had only been a few months since the fellow had made up his mind and escaped from there. And now, he suddenly changed his mind?

Of course, he wasn’t the type of fellow to make such a decision impulsively. If he had set his mind to do so, I believed there would be a proper reason. But I couldn’t help but worry.

“I know you must have thought about it a lot, but still, think about it one more time.”

“Woo Seungkyung, I’ve been thinking about it since the day you disappeared.”

Gi Seoin’s calm demeanor seemed to say once again that he had deliberated so much that there would be no regrets.

“No matter how much I think about it, I have to return to Cheongcheon to protect you.”

“What does my protection have to do with you returning to Cheongcheon?”

As soon as I asked, a chilling premonition weighed down on my back.

“The person who ordered Jeon Juseok to kidnap you.”

Gi Seoin said.

“I think it’s my mother.”

“Who? If it’s mother, your mother?”

“Yes.”

“The ones who told Jeon Juseok to kidnap me were those thugs. Weren’t they? Do you… have any evidence?”

“A reasonable suspicion.”

It was a familiar answer.

‘I have a reasonable suspicion.’

When the aunt and her husband asked if I had evidence that Jeon Juseok stole Grandmother’s bankbook, that was how I answered.

Gi Seoin had waited until the moment I could understand this answer to bring up the story.