MOON Ch 14

To summarize, the story went as follows.

Vice Chairman Jang Ikhyeon was enjoying a secret affair with Son Jua, who had been his secretary during his time as a director. However, regardless of his own wishes, his father, Chairman Jang, pushed forward an arranged marriage with Min Hayeon, the daughter of Chairman Min of Woosung Products.

Joining hands with Woosung—which exerted immense influence in the fashion business at the time—to further strengthen Jungwang’s reach, while simultaneously maintaining close ties with the family of an extraordinarily special mentor, was Chairman Jang’s long-cherished dream; and Jang Ikhyeon, lacking the nerve to defy his father’s wishes, agreed to marry Min Hayeon and abandoned Son Jua in order to properly step onto the springboard for his own advancement.

However, Jang Ikhyeon ultimately could not get Son Jua out of his mind and sought her out again when she was already dating another man at the time. Persuading Son Jua over and over that he would accept her even if she gave birth to another man’s child, he practically maintained two households, shuttling back and forth between the main residence and Son Jua’s home.

When a significant amount of time passed and the lawful wife, Min Hayeon, found out about the truth, she remarked that he might as well bring Son Jua into the house. Without even taking a moment to think, Jang Ikhyeon brought her into the house right away, as if he had been waiting for that very opportunity.

Upon learning the truth, Chairman Jang flew into a rage, but unexpectedly, Min Hayeon stepped up first to persuade him, saying, “Wouldn’t it be better to keep her close and watch over her rather than creating scandal by sneaking around?” In the end, Chairman Jang, who was uniquely weak when it came to his daughter-in-law, had no choice but to side with her as if swallowing bitter medicine.

Thanks to that, a farce unfolded in which the concubine, the wife, and the children born from their respective wombs came to live under one roof.

It was a story far too provocative and unpleasant for nineteen-year-old Chaeon to hear, but Yeonsoo, who excitedly spilled out their romantic drama in a steady stream, seemed to find it merely enjoyable. Chaeon, who at least possessed enough precocity to understand the overall flow of events, was momentarily rendered speechless by the story of the two people she had viewed as completely perfect, even if the nature of things was somewhat different.

She had thought it strange that despite being brothers, they strangely had no interaction and were uniquely cold toward each other… but hearing this story, it somehow seemed understandable. Wouldn’t it be stranger if the two held warm feelings for each other?

“Phew. Anyway, she came into this house after making such a fuss, but look at her now. The second Ma’am is treated like total chopped liver, too. I don’t know why she doesn’t just get a divorce, honestly.”

“Thank you for letting me know, unnie. I’ll be careful.”

At Chaeon’s response, which was calmer and more composed than expected, Yeonsoo pouted her lips with a disappointed face.

“What’s that, is that it?”

Then, how else was she supposed to react here? Not only was it not a topic to laugh and enjoy, but Chaeon was also far too busy tending to the lingering scars from what she herself had gone through to be surprised by each and every story like this. It was better to let a story like this go in one ear and out the other.

What, boring, was Yeonsoo’s reaction. Looking blankly at her retreating back as she turned and walked off with a sullen look, Chaeon also let out a sigh and took a step forward.

It was the moment Chaeon, having neatly stacked and arranged the towels inside the towel drawer in the linen room, stepped into the lobby to return to the annex again.

“I’ve leveled all the cracked sections neatly. It’s quite old, but fortunately, because it’s such a high-end brand manufacturer and Ma’am took very good care of it, there was no warping of the dampers.”

The owner of the voice was a stranger. Likely a piano tuner, Chaeon unconsciously stopped in her tracks at the sight of Taeha standing face-to-face with a man whose back was turned. Wearing a crisp, unwrinkled white shirt with a navy-toned vest underneath and a dark blue tie, he looked, as always, breath-takingly handsome.

It was a moment later that his gaze shifted past the tuner’s shoulder toward Chaeon.

“…As for the lower range, the loose parts had dropped quite a bit in pitch. During the initial tuning, I first pounded in the loose pins a bit…”

“…”

“…so, I tried my best to preserve the feel that Ma’am had wanted. Probably, if you play it yourself…”

While listening attentively to the tuner’s words that continued on, Taeha’s gaze did not leave Chaeon. It was just as Chaeon, frozen in fluster without realizing it, was about to move her feet.

“Right now, there’s no one in Songbaekwon who can play.”

At Taeha’s response that came after a long pause, the tuner panicked and immediately pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket.

“Ah, is that so? It’s almost similar to the way it was tuned previously, but in that case, I will speak to them separately…”

“It’s alright.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll figure it out myself.”

Why, while looking at me…

For some reason, Chaeon couldn’t move, as if bound by his gaze that was staring intently at her. When Taeha gave a slight nod with an impeccably neat demeanor, the tuner also bowed his head to him in a daze, giving an Ah, I understand in a voice somewhat stiff with tension before leaving the area.

In the quieted room, not a single noise could be heard. Chaeon looked around with a stiff gaze, but lamentably, the only ones remaining here were him and herself. The employees who had been gathered together earlier seemed to have all left after cleaning around the piano.

Tap.

Even in a room as vast as a playing field, a clear sound hit her. Leaning at an angle against the piano, Taeha began to tap on the piano lid with his long, slender fingertips. Tap, tap. Only then snapping out of it, Chaeon belatedly offered a greeting and bowed her head.

“Hello.”

It was a stiff greeting. Slowly raising his gaze to meet Chaeon’s eyes, Taeha silently stared into her pitch-black pupils for a while. It was a look in her eyes like that of a frightened puppy. Dangerously wary of him, yet still unable to hide her curiosity.

Scabs had formed over her split lips, but her once bright red cheeks seemed to have received some care, having regained their original pale complexion.

He had witnessed it himself and knew well that Chaeon occasionally helped her mother with odd chores around the mansion. Although she was still young and didn’t receive a regular salary like the servants, nor did she have a dedicated job, he knew she helped out quite well.

Gazing at her face, which clearly showed discomfort, Taeha’s look grew subtle.

Songbaekwon belonged to his grandfather, Chairman Jang, but before long, it would belong to him. He knew that even in the terms of inheritance within the will his grandfather had prepared just in case, such safeguards had been put in place.

And Yoon Chaeon’s mother was a servant at that Songbaekwon. Chairman Jang’s property, and soon his property.

If so, then naturally that kid, too…

Over Chaeon’s face as she stood with her hands politely gathered, Jang Yeonjun’s face overlapped. How she had trembled with tension and been at a loss when he held onto her, versus how compliantly she was led away by Jang Yeonjun.

When he stared intently at Chaeon, the girl flushed her cheeks and avoided his eyes. That face of hers that seemed to say with her whole body that he was uncomfortable, and that she was at a loss because she wanted to go back right this instant.

That unusually pretty girl in whom Jang Yeonjun—who was always languid and indifferent like a cat stretched out in a box—showed interest. He intended to gauge a bit further what clues that fact might yield. Taeha’s lips stretched out long horizontally.

In order to roll her around to his heart’s content, he intended to gently entice her with something she might like first. Because he knew all too well the desire smoldering quietly beneath that girl’s aloof face.

“Did you say you knew how to play the piano?”

How did he know that fact as well? Hiding her fluster as much as possible, Chaeon answered.

“Yes. I know how to play.”

As Chaeon swallowed her dry saliva while thoroughly tense, Taeha opened the heavy lid with one hand and suddenly pressed down somewhat firmly on a single key—Ding―.

“Can you tell if you hear it?”

“What…”

“What I pressed.”

“Ah… Yes. To some extent.”

Not everyone who plays the piano possesses superb relative pitch, but Chaeon was quite sensitive in that area.

“To some extent.”

Muttering Chaeon’s words back as if chewing on them, he withdrew his hand from the piano, which was still echoing with lingering sound. Stepping back from the large, elegant instrument with an equally elegant motion, he looked at Chaeon and jerked his chin toward the piano.

Slightly flustered by a sign whose meaning was impossible not to know, Chaeon opened her mouth small and barely managed to make a sound.

“Um, well… I used to play, but I don’t play anymore.”

“You said you know how to play.”

“Yes, but…”

“Are your fingers hurt, too?”

His indifferent gaze landed on her fingertips gathered neatly in front of her. It was a sarcastic remark asking if playing the piano was difficult unless something was wrong with her fingers. Thinking to herself how very elegantly he sneered, Chaeon answered reluctantly.

“No.”

“Then, give it a try.”

“…”

“No matter what you’ve forgotten, surely you know how to play at least do-re-mi-fa-sol.”

…Seriously, the way he speaks.

She held back the urge to shoot back, and are you telling me to do it because you don’t even know how to play do-re-mi-fa-sol yourself? No, there was no way he didn’t know. He was probably doing this on purpose knowing full well. With a somewhat twisted mood, Chaeon looked at his completely unruffled face before reluctantly sitting down on the piano bench.

She had to stay here for a while, however long that might be, and since that person was part of the family that employed her mother, nothing good would come from rubbing him the wrong way. Besides… the expensive piano in front of her was, in truth, unbearably tempting.

Whether it was true that its owner had cherished it dearly, the instrument showed no flaws or signs of wear anywhere, radiating a fine polish everywhere her hands touched.

Chaeon looked down at the black and white keys with a fresh feeling. She hadn’t known the day would come when she would touch this instrument again… The instrument that had once been as close to her as a part of her body felt familiar yet foreign. Placing her two slender hands on the keys, Chaeon pressed down starting from her right thumb—do, re, mi, in sequence.

Ah… she could faintly tell as she pressed down. The lingering sound spreading poignantly and turning quiet as fog. The feeling of walking inside a dreamscape. So this is the kind of music the owner of this piano used to play. Taking a long, deep breath with a somewhat wistful feeling, Chaeon changed her mind about merely pressing down the scales in sequence.

She wanted to perform. With this sound.