CH 72.2

“No.”

The phone rang at the same time as Yoo-hwa, who had quickly pulled her hand back, answered. Woo-hyun’s eyes hardened coldly after checking his phone with a regretful expression. It was the face Woo-hyun made when he had work to do.

“Take it. It’s going to be noisy. I’ll close the door.”

Being thoughtful, Yoo-hwa came out with the glass and closed the door. As she was doing the dishes, Woo-hyun opened the door and came out. He hesitated unusually. He even crumpled his face, like he was trying to say something he didn’t want to say.

“You must be busy, so go now.”

Woo-hyun let out a low sigh as Yoo-hwa said what he was trying to say.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. We didn’t promise to see each other today too.”

“Don’t come out.”

Still, she washed her hands under the running water because she thought she should see someone off when they were leaving.

“You don’t like seeing people’s backs.”

She stopped what she was doing at Woo-hyun’s words.

“So you don’t have to see me off. And I’ll call you back soon.”

After that, he left the house. When she was left alone, all she could hear was the sound of water pouring into the sink.

How did he know? It was a secret she had never told anyone. No, part of the secret was wrong. It’s not that she didn’t like to see people’s backs; she didn’t like to see people she liked leave. It made her anxious. She was afraid that a short goodbye would lead to an eternal parting.

When Woo-hyun disappeared, the house seemed to be empty. There was a ridiculous laugh as she thought about how long he had stayed.

Yoo-hwa purposely washed the dishes to fill the emptiness, humming a song that she knew neither the title nor the singer. After washing the dishes, she wiped her wet hands on a towel hanging from the handle of the cabinet and stood in the middle of the house.

What was she supposed to do?

Standing blankly inside the house as if she was lost, Yoo-hwa belatedly recalled the grocery store and checked the time on the clock on the wall. Woo-hyun seemed to have stayed for only a short moment, but two hours had passed. It was a little past 9 o’clock, so the nearby grocery store was just starting to open. She grabbed her wallet and looked at the phone next to the sink.

She left her phone behind when she couldn’t be bothered with it. No one would call her anyway. After thinking for a moment, Yoo-hwa grabbed her phone and stood in front of the entrance. Her foot, heading for the shoe, stopped in the air.

When did he do it? Was it when she went to the bathroom? When she was cooking the ramyeon?

Crouching slowly, Yoo-hwa gazed quietly at the butterfly knot on top of her sneakers, and reached her hand. Even though she knew it wasn’t possible because it was a shoelace, she was careful, afraid it would fly away. Finally, her fingertips reached the butterfly knot. Even though it was just a shoelace, a faint smile spread over her face as if she had caught a butterfly.

… It had returned. Her butterfly.

Yoo-hwa smiled brightly.

Splat, splat.

The tears of joy pouring from her eyes wet the butterfly’s wings.

***

On the open rooftop, a man with a cigarette hanging from his mouth opened his mouth as he looked at the distant scenery.

“It’s amazing, really. In the end, we came to this building.”

As he muttered to himself, the man beside him let out a low laugh.

When the chairman said that he would be reborn as a prosperous financier, some people inside the organization doubted that it would be possible. But he instantly settled down, as if making fun of those doubts.

He took over and merged a well-known but lacking internal stability savings bank and an investment firm, and had a loan company as a subsidiary. The majority of the entertainment establishments that he operated separately were sold in fragments to form the basis of the funds.

In the process, some of the members who seemed to be talented and intelligent were transferred to the positions they deserved, with due support.

“The Chairman is a person who does what he wants.”

“Do you think the Chairman would have done all this?”

The man who was smoking laughed.

“Then?”

“Director Sin did this.”

The man looked around, lowered his voice, and spoke.

“Director Sin? Hey, you punk. So according to your words, the big shot who founded this company was Vice-President Sin Woo-hyun, but he founded the company and left? Does the CEO need to be an expert or something to do his job? Why? If he works so well, Director Sin should become the CEO.”

“I told you to watch what you say.”

The faces of the two men turned pale as they turned their heads around at the low voice that suddenly interrupted them. The rooftop was a space for employees, so they were relaxed because high-ranking people rarely showed up. However, Jun-kyung stood there expressionless, looking at them.

“… I-I apologize.”

Jun-kyun’s cold eyes did not relax even as they apologized.

“How many bastards do you think got cut off after running their mouths like that?”

“…”

The two faces turned white at Jun-kyung’s words. They bent their backs even further, as if they were going to stick their heads to the floor, and apologized.

“Don’t talk about the Director in front of other employees.”

“Understood. I apologize.”

After receiving their apologies, Jun-kyung turned around. Everything that was built in a hurry was bound to have cracks. Those who were brought in from the organization were also one of those cracks. While they had worked together for a long time, the problem was that they had yet to abandon their low-quality work. One of Jun-kyung’s tasks was to identify those corners, point them out, and improve them.