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Moon Issak made suspicious movements at a party Ryu Hyerin had attended with Bae Jaemin.
Although Bae Jaemin and Moon Issak spoke to each other informally, they weren’t on good terms. However, that day, Moon Issak approached them with an uncharacteristic smile. Ryu Hyerin noticed that Moon Issak wanted to speak with the Priest alone; after exchanging meaningful glances with Bae Jaemin, she rose from her seat and left them.
For about 30 minutes, Moon Issak and Bae Jaemin talked in a sitting room attached to the party hall to avoid public gaze. And, as the center of the party, Ryu Hyerin enjoyed conversing with the attending guests.
Of course, that wasn’t easy work. Some uninvited guest, who she had thought would not attend, rushed up to her while she was standing in the middle of a crowd. From the moment Ryu Hyerin saw that green, short-bob hairstyle at the entrance, she covered her mouth with a delicate hand to hide her sneer and prepared herself.
The man with the short green hair finally found Ryu Hyerin. To be exact, he found her while searching for Bae jaemin and approached her with flames of anger in his eyes. “Where’s the guildmaster-nim?”
“…He’s talking to Moon Issak-ssi.”
“Moon Issak? Why talk to a man like that?”
The man confidently demanded Bae Jaemin’s presence, as if the man were searching for some luggage he had checked in with a concierge.
Ryu Hyerin had no particular desire to bring up the matter of age, but she was a year older than this man. They weren’t intimate nor affectionate. However, she endured his arrogant informal speech because this man, Ahn Seo-kyung, was still useful to her and Bae Jaemin. Additionally, she had guessed why he was hostile to her.
That was to say… It would be more accurate to note that the slightest bit of sympathy and a sense of superiority kept her from dropping her faint smile. Therefore, once again, Ryu Hyerin deigned to correct Ahn Seo-kyung’s arrogant way of speaking, swept her hair back, and looked towards the sitting room. “Who knows. He doesn’t tell me everything.”
“……” Ahn Seo-kyung’s eyes followed Ryu Hyerin’s gaze and found the sitting room; he immediately walked past her, lightly grazing her shoulder as he passed.
After witnessing such fierceness, the gathered guests asked Ryu Hyerin, ‘Who was that rude man?’ with their questioning gazes. She responded with a faint smile, stabilizing the tumultuous atmosphere.
After taking a glass of champagne from a passing server, Ryu Hyerin languidly watched Ahn Seo-kyung squabble with a bodyguard in front of the sitting-room door, in the middle of the reception hall.
Though the User in charge of Bae Jaemin’s personal security was incredibly embarrassed, he eventually knocked at the door. He knew very well, as he’d worked with HaHae for a long while, that he could not let this reckless young master become his enemy.
Fortunately–fortuitously–Moon Issak left the sitting room first. Ryu Hyerin had always hated that man’s snake-like eyes, so she tore her gaze away, pretending to speak to the other guests. In the meantime, Ahn Seo-kyung entered the room.
“Hyerin-ah.”
”Jihye-unni.”
Kang Jihye, who always followed Ahn Seo-kyung around, had showed up half a beat late. Her personality was vastly different from Ahn Seo-kyung’s, and even Ryu Hyerin didn’t find her a chore to talk to. Easygoing, incorruptible…once she believed in someone, she had faith in them until the end…
‘Perhaps those that are ‘Knights, or Knight-affiliated,’ have straightforward personalities…’ Ryu Hyerin suddenly thought before swallowing a bitter smile. After all, she only ever knew two ‘Knights.’
When she looked at Kang Jihye, she often recalled a similar woman. For a long time, that woman would feature in her nightmares…even more than Seo Dawon…
“Excuse me… Do you know where young master Seo-kyung is?” Kang Jihye hesitantly asked Ryu Hyerin, who fell deep into futile thoughts.
Ryu Hyerin shook her head gently to shake away those bitter memories and softly responded, “He’ll be with Jaemin-ie.”
“Ahh…” Fumbling, Kang Jihye’s voice trailed off at the end of her word; she carefully observed Ryu Hyerin, trying to gauge her mood. Ryu Hyerin gave her a sweet, knowing smile.
Any close aide to Bae Jaemin would have noticed the strange vibe flowing between Ryu Hyerin and Ahn Seo-kyung–to be more exact, Ahn Seo-kyung’s one-sided hostility and ruthlessness towards Ryu Hyerin.
In any case, Ryu Hyerin knew that, in front of an honest person like Kang Jihye, rather than slandering someone, it would tug on the other’s heartstring to just laugh the offense off as if Hyerin was ignorant to his machinations.
As expected, Kang Jihye scratched at her short, sporty hair and dragged Hyerin out to the terrace. She sipped the champagne that Ryu Hyerin had handed to her as she sighed and confessed something. Jihye mostly made excuses for the man, but, since the information concerned Ahn Seo-kyung and his father’s women, the information was useful.
“Seo-kyung-ie is a bit sensitive these days.” Kang Jihye started.
“Really?”
“And he hasn’t been able to see guildmaster-nim often due to the Jeju Island case… The investigation has been strangely prolonged as well.”
“Ahh…”
“And it seems like his uncle isn’t willing to lift his hand to help this time…”
“Omo… Really?”
“We’re in a difficult situation… but all we were told was to pretend to be cooperative. We’re unable to do anything about the investigation at the moment.”
The last people Park Hoseok met before he died were Ahn Seo-kyung and Kang Jihye. Because of that, the two were called upon by the investigative agency, day after day, and the two suffered quite tiresomely.
Despite having a firm alibi at the estimated time of death, Ahn Seo-kyung’s hysteria grew daily; that man had never been ‘cooperative’ a day in his life, either.
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‘Despite all that, Executive Director Ahn won’t step forward. Is that so…’
If it was to the extent where Director Ahn, who had given Ahn Seo-kyung his surname though the man was an extramarital child…and had coddled him to the point that he had developed that unpleasant personality…started saying “be cooperative”… Perceptive eyes were still observing the Jeju island case.
It was a frustrating situation, but Ryu Hyerin schooled her expression and nodded sympathetically. Kang Jihye’s expression darkened, and she knocked back all the champagne in her glass. Perhaps the woman had interpreted Ryu Hyerin’s reaction as understanding and acceptance towards Ahn Seo-Kyung’s rudeness.
“But, why isn’t Bae Jaemin-ssi with you today?”
“He was talking to Moon Issak-ssi for a moment. Though, I think their conversation is finished now…”
“Moon Issak? How’d he get invited here?”
“…He’s unexpectedly a man of many means,” Ryu Hyerin said.
Kang Jihye must have also recalled Moon Issak’s notorious reputation. She grimaced as she swallowed another sip, though she had been drinking the champagne like water before.
Then, after a moment of silence settled between the two, Ryu Hyerin got a system alert.
[Bae Jaemin: Come here]
Considering Kang Jihye, across from her, had no reaction, this must be a personal message from Bae Jaemin sent only to Ryu Hyerin. She swallowed a burst of laughter and pulled herself gracefully away from the wall she had been leaning against. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Mhmm.” Kang Jihye waved her hand casually. Ryu Hyerin drew the curtains and made her way out of the terrace.
Though Ryu Hyerin was always conspicuous wherever she went, the long hallway alongside the terrace was only lit by tiny indicator lights on the ground, allowing her to reach the sitting room without attracting much undue attention. Perhaps the bodyguard was told of her approach in advance, unlike how he had behaved with Ahn Seo-kyung, the man politely stepped aside. Thanks to this, Ryu Hyerin was able to quietly enter the room without being disturbed.
“…Hyerin-ah,” Bae Jaemin said.
“No knocking? What’s with you,” Ahn Seo-kyung grumbled.
As soon as the sitting room door opened, the tangled sight of Bae Jaemin leaning against the table with Ahn Seo-kyung leaning towards him–almost on top of the Priest–unfurled before her.
It was as if the two had been kissing until just recently–Ahn Seo-kyung’s cheeks flushed red. This scene was suspicious no matter how one looked at it.
Ahn Seo-kyung was briefly embarrassed, but he must have noticed how they would appear to Ryu Hyerin. He suddenly twisted and squirmed his body further onto Bae Jaemin. However, she already knew that Bae Jaemin wouldn’t have touched the other at all.
‘He must have begged Bae Jaemin to kiss him?’
She merely adopted a faint sneer, which only Ahn Seo-kyung could see, and quietly closed the door behind her. Ahn Seo-kyung’s temper rose–his lips trembled; however, because the man had to keep up appearances in front of Bae Jaemin, he could do nothing else.
“Jaemin-ah. The President is looking for you,” Ryu Hyerin softly said.
Above all, Bae Jaemin looked like he’d been saved as soon as she entered.
The Priest carefully removed Ahn Seo-kyung from his body, as if he had been waiting for those words; Ahn Seo-kyung’s face paled. Ryu Hyerin greatly enjoyed the young master’s fragile, wounded face. “…Ah, I apologize. I’ll leave now.”
“Wait, my clothes are crumpled.”
Ryu Hyerin went one step further; she lightly brushed Bae Jaemin’s shirt collar that Ahn Seo-kyung had been tightly squeezing. As soon as she did so, Ahn Seo-kyung’s blazing glare pierced her cheeks, but Ryu Hyerin smiled brightly as if she were ignorant of all that. She then folded her arms around Bae Jaemin’s elbow and pressed against his side. “Don’t worry. If I’m clinging to you like this, no one will concern themselves with some wrinkled clothes.”