Vol 3 Ch 23

There were two intense moments that swept through and passed.

I lay still on CEO Jang’s bed, my back pressed against his chest. I could distinctly feel his marble-smooth chest slowly rising and falling against my back. Just as my eyes were drifting shut in the warmth of his body—

His phone on the bedside table emitted a sharp red light, pulling me out of sleep. Soon, a strong arm stretched out from behind me, effortlessly picking up the phone.

“…Yeah, talk.”

His low, husky voice brushed against my ear. A muffled sound buzzed through the receiver. Suddenly, his gaze landed on my cheek. It was unlike him—he seemed to be gauging my reaction.

As CEO Jang sat up, the mattress dipped. I narrowed my eyes slightly. I saw his back as he tightened the belt of his robe and walked out the door.

I sluggishly rose from the bed and watched the door he had disappeared through. What was that just now? It felt like he had deliberately left. A chilling sensation swept over the nape of my neck.

“……”

I stepped out of bed, my feet pressing against the floor. Plop. Plop. Thick clumps of his s**en slipped out from between me. The burning soreness between my legs was unbearable, but I hurriedly put on my robe and rushed out of the room.

CEO Jang was standing on the terrace. A faint breeze seeped in through the slightly open door. Whoosh. Perhaps because I had just woken up, my body shivered. I wrapped my arms around myself and stood there, gazing at his back.

Wisps of black smoke curled upward as he took slow drags of his cigarette. The atmosphere he exuded from behind was unsettling. A sense of unease gnawed at my chest.

Then, without warning, he pulled the phone away from his ear and turned around. His sharp eyes quickly spotted me in the darkness. I flinched, my body trembling slightly.

“……”

Click. CEO Jang’s hand pushed the terrace door shut. Even the low murmur of his voice was now cut off by the glass. What conversation had he been having? The man standing under the dark clouds radiated an ominous tension.

The illusion of peace—so carefully feigned—was beginning to crack. He was plotting something behind my back, and I was growing more anxious and terrified because of it.

Not long after, CEO Jang left the terrace.

“Why are you out here?”

His tone was flat as he asked if I had another nightmare. I shook my head silently. His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

His hand slipped between my thighs. That shameless touch wandered over my g**in as if checking something. He rubbed my still-slickened c**k, then kneaded my swollen, spent balls like they were soft rice cakes.

My face flamed. I twisted my body to escape, telling him to stop touching me. But he pried my cheeks apart and pushed his middle finger inside. As his finger stirred inside me, thick s**en dribbled out.

“You came.”

CEO Jang wiped his finger on his robe, his voice laced with quiet irritation. He sounded like someone scolding a pet for pissing on the floor, and for a moment, a lump formed in my throat.

“…That was from earlier.”

That was yours. But I swallowed the words, unable to say them aloud.

He scoffed.

I had thought he would come back to bed. But instead, he began getting ready to leave. Sitting on the bed, I watched his back.

“……”

“……”

It didn’t seem like he was going to meet a client or take care of work. Whenever he did, he always swept his hair back before heading out. But now, his ink-dark hair fell over his forehead. He was only making the bare minimum preparations before heading toward the entrance.

I had no way of knowing where he was going. But for some reason, I felt I had to ask this time. My lips parted.

“…Where are you going?”

The man, who had always been so quick to spout unnecessary words, remained silent. He only looked at me with those deep, sunken eyes before turning away. Armored in secrecy, he stepped out of the house.

Where was he going?

Left alone, I crossed the living room and stood by the window. A black sedan was parked in front of the lobby. Soon, he appeared. Just as he was about to get in, he looked up, as if sensing my gaze. From fifty floors up, our eyes met.

Then, his tall frame smoothly disappeared into the backseat of the car.

The vehicle carrying him faded from sight.

I sat on the sofa, waiting for him to return. Days passed in restless anxiety.

Swallowing dryly, I bit my thumb and chewed on it. As each day passed, as night fell and morning rose again, my nerves frayed further.

Several days later, the man I had been waiting for finally returned home.

The sound of movement outside the door had me leaping off the sofa and rushing to the entrance.

His jacket carried the scent of the wind. Beneath it, his hands were gloved in unfamiliar black leather. I hesitated, calling out to him softly.

“…CEO.”

A black plastic bag, gripped in his hand, dropped at my feet.

Thud. A heavy yet sharp sound struck the floor.

I stared down at the crumpled black bag rolling at my feet, then asked,

“…What is this?”

CEO Jang motioned toward it with his chin. It seemed like he wanted me to check for myself.

Slowly, cautiously—as if reaching into the jaws of a feral beast—I opened the bag.

“……!”

The first thing I saw was a reddish-brown brick.

I recoiled instantly, as if burned, and withdrew my hand.

The brick was stained with dark red blotches. Its jagged cracks suggested it had been slammed against something solid. And—

Hair. A few strands were tangled around its edge.

The suspicion I had dismissed as absurd solidified into certainty.

I slowly lifted my gaze to meet his.

“…Where did you get this?”

The man, who had once seemed so distant, lowered himself to my level.

“I got a call from an employee. They spotted a truck near the house, by the mountain. So I went there.”

“……”

“It was left in the cargo trunk.”

“…But they said before that they couldn’t find it.”

My tongue felt dry.

That reddish-brown brick—once used to prop open doors—had, on that day, been brought down on my father’s head.

I had seen it fall near his body. But somehow, it had vanished. My uncle had claimed it was gone. Unless it had grown legs and run away, someone must have deliberately removed it from the scene. My uncle had been in full control of the situation back then, so I had believed him without question.

“He hid it on purpose. To amplify your unease. That way, you’d be more likely to obey him.”

“……”

“And when you’re no longer useful, he could conveniently ‘discover’ it. Make sure the neighbors see it.”

I sat frozen for a long time before his words snapped me back to reality.

“There’s something else inside.”

I didn’t want to reach into that bag again. CEO Jang must have noticed, because he pulled something out himself with his gloved hands and handed it to me.

A bankbook.

I took it and flipped through the pages.

It was torn, dirt-streaked—ruined.

Most deposits were just over 20,000 won. At most, they barely reached 50,000.

A record of the small amounts my mother had secretly saved, hidden from my father.

As I stared at the painstakingly accumulated money, I could picture her joy.

A lump formed in my throat, bitter as bile.

The final chapter had arrived. The amount displayed was barely ten million won. My fingertips, clutching the bankbook, began to tremble before it slipped from my grasp and fell to the floor.

…Those b**t**ds. All this, just for this…

“The one person I could rely on—why did it have to be like this?”

“…….”

“What have you even been relying on to live until now?”

I couldn’t find the words to respond. I could only stare at the things held out in front of me with a devastated heart.

The man clicked his tongue lightly and got up from his seat. CEO Jang pulled off the gloves he had been wearing and shoved them into the trash can. Then, he approached the wardrobe, took out a new pair of gloves, and put them on.

“…CEO.”

He had just returned. Yet, he was already getting ready to leave again. I stopped him with my words.

“Where are you going?”

CEO Jang turned his chin slightly toward me. The stark shadows on his face, cast by his defined features, deepened.

“You just got home.”

Suddenly, the corners of his lips stretched into a slow, deliberate smile. A wave of unease sliced through my chest.

“I still have something left to do.”

Something to do? It was already past 2 a.m.—a time when most people had long fallen asleep. What could this man possibly be going out to do at this hour, in the eerie, silent darkness of the night?

“…Can’t you stay?”

His eyes narrowed slightly, as if hearing something unexpected. I hesitated before continuing.

I was telling him not to go. That was something I would never have said under normal circumstances. No, something I could never have said.

“It’s really late.”

Desperation gripped me. I clung tightly to one of his arms and pressed myself against him.

His gaze lowered to where I held onto his arm, the intensity of it making my skin burn as if I had been scorched.

“How strange. Even Seo Yeowon is holding onto me now.”

“…Don’t do it.”

Even though I left out the subject, he didn’t ask what I meant. He only let out a low hum deep in his throat.

“…CEO, please tell me you won’t do it.”

His long, sharp eyes rippled with an eerie smile as he looked down at me.

“And here I thought you wanted to kill me before.”

The moment my doubts turned into certainty.

…No way.

My mouth fell open in silent shock. Terror coiled around my body, making me tremble violently. A cold shiver ran down my spine, and I immediately began to plead with him. Lowering my voice as much as possible, fearing that my words might leak into the silence beyond these walls.

“CEO, please… tell me you won’t do it.”

I wrapped both arms around his.

“It’s all in the past now.”

If I just forgot, that was enough. Like crumpled scraps of paper, I could ball it all up and toss it into the trash.

“…If something goes wrong, the consequences will be too great.”

CEO Jang raised one sharp eyebrow, as if he had no idea why I was saying such things.

We were standing before completely different problems, as if we weren’t even looking at the same reality. I was desperate, but he… he was smiling. As if something about all this pleased him.

A madman—I couldn’t understand why he was smiling, nor did I want to.

Right now, the only thing that mattered was stopping his steps.

“Whatever the price is, I’ll be the one to pay it. So why are you worried about that, Seo Yeowon?”

He pulled the end of his glove, stretching the leather tightly over his fingers.

“You’re good at pretending you don’t know, acting like it’s none of your business.”

“…….”

No matter how many times I begged, CEO Jang acted as though he heard nothing.

I thought I would go insane from fear.

Before I realized it, he had finished getting ready.

As he finally moved toward the door, I rushed to grab the back of his shirt, yanking him toward me.

“…What now?”

His expression turned questioning as he looked back.

Without hesitation, I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my face against his shoulder.

As I inhaled, his deep scent filled my lungs, layering itself over my chest.

“CEO Jang Kijoo….”

At the sound of his full name, his body, which had always been as solid as a stone wall, froze like cement.

I heard the sound of his Adam’s apple bobbing.

His gaze turned to me, his snake-like eyes curving into a smooth arc.

“Do you not trust me? Is that why you’re doing this?”

“…….”

“You’ve got some nerve, calling me by my full name.”

He tried to pry my arms away from his waist.

I only tightened my grip around him.

Then, I lifted myself onto my toes and pressed my lips against his eerie, smirking mouth.

It was a clumsy kiss, not even close to being skilled.

Yet, he groaned, his hand clutching my cheek.

“…Hnn.”

Our lips pressed together, w** flesh sliding against each other.

His firm arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me flush against him.

For a long time, we kissed, tongues tangling together.

As I reached toward his belt zipper, his hand caught mine before I could touch it.

CEO Jang, his lips slightly swollen, murmured:

“It won’t take long.”

Even drenched in l**t, his cold determination remained unwavering.

A darkness overtook my vision.

I could feel it down to my very bones—no matter what I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop him.

Panting, I whispered through my parted lips:

“…Then take me with you.”

“What?”

“If you really have to go… then I’ll go with you.”

His eyebrows furrowed as if he had just heard something absurd.

Even I was startled, replaying the words I had just let slip.

“What did you just say?”

My lips trembled violently.

My vision blurred.

I forced myself to hold back the tears threatening to fall, knowing that at any moment, he could simply turn and leave.

“You’re shaking like crazy, even your eyelashes, and yet—what? You think you can do what?”

He was right.

I was trembling from head to toe, drowning in thick, paralyzing fear.

I was terrified.

Terrified of what he was about to do.

Terrified of what might happen if I failed to stop him.

If I could, I would gather my words back into my mouth and swallow them whole.

But… at the end of the day, the reason he was moving right now—was me.

That was an undeniable fact.

Knowing that, how could I just stand back and let him go?

I clenched my lower lip between my teeth, over and over again, trying to suppress the tears rising in my eyes.

“…I’ll go.”

Saying it once more, my mind settled slightly.

Yes.

Rather than being left behind, anxiously waiting for CEO Jang to return, it would be better to go with him.

After reassuring myself, I spoke again, this time with conviction.

“I’ll go too.”