PHUW 90

Before Haeri could be called, the dog had already vacuumed up the kibble that had been poured into his bowl, then licked his lips and hovered around the human dining table. The marble island table, built to fit the tall, lanky body type of the Hyeonnsan family, was so high that most dogs wouldn’t even dare. But this one managed to hook his front paws onto the edge and dragged down a plate of fried eggs with his paw, then stuck his mouth in.

“Hey, that’s mine.”

Haeri, with his curly bedhead, sat at the table, eyes suddenly wide as he pulled the plate away from Gom-i. Even though the dog had already licked it, he looked ready to eat it all anyway.

“Give that to Gom-i.”

Jeong Mok slid his own plate over to Haeri instead. Gom-i, having swallowed the first egg in a single bite, now started eyeing Haeri’s share too.

“Stop eating already. You’re already a pig, do you want to turn into a wild boar?”

Woof.

Watching the two of them fight over a simple fried egg, Jeong Mok felt full without eating and just had toast and a cup of coffee for breakfast.

While he cleared the table, Haeri washed his face, brushed his teeth, and got dressed on his own. As Jeong Mok strapped on the watch he had set aside and grabbed his briefcase, he noticed Haeri tugging his mop of curly hair neatly into the hood of his sweatshirt.

“Where are you going?”

“Gom-i needs his walk to do his business.”

“I set up a pee pad in the bathroom over there.”

“I know. But he won’t use it.”

Maybe he felt they were talking about him, Gom-i already had the leash in his mouth, barking urgently. He looked desperate, as if he had been holding it in for a while. There were indeed some breeds that insisted on outdoor bathroom habits.

“You should have woken up earlier and taken him first thing.”

“I’ll do it.”

“How are you going to take him in a wheelchair?”

“This is fully automatic. There’s nothing it can’t do.”

Jeong Mok had bought the latest, top-of-the-line model out of concern it might be inconvenient for him.

“Moving it is one thing. But how will you clean up? It’ll be a pile. Let someone else do it.”

At Jeong Mok’s suggestion, Haeri shook his head and pulled out a small scoop and waste bags.

“Standing up for a bit is fine. And since I’m going out anyway, I’ll look around the neighborhood too. The house is big, but staying inside all the time is suffocating.”

Haeri marched to the front door energetically. Jeong Mok couldn’t imagine how he planned to walk such a huge dog like that. It made him nervous, like he had left a child by the water’s edge.

But he already knew there was no point in opposing. So he opened the door for Haeri and helped him into the elevator.

“Are you really sure?”

“Do I look like a kid to you?”

You are a kid. And not just any kid, but a black hole that sucked in every accident and mishap.

And last night, Jeong Mok had stripped that kid bare and devoured him. Leaving aside whether he had any right to scold like an adult, he didn’t want to start a pointless quarrel on such a good morning.

The elevator soon reached the first floor. Haeri and Gom-i went ahead, with Jeong Mok following behind. The building staff in the lobby stood and gave slightly bowed, holding open the glass door for Haeri.

“Thank you.”

At his brisk greeting, the staff smiled brightly.

The front of the building connected directly to a large park. The park was so spacious that walking one lap took more than thirty minutes. The Han River was further off, and with the wheelchair he would have to take the bike path and go around.

As Haeri headed happily toward the park, he suddenly stopped and turned back to Jeong Mok.

“Aren’t you going to work?”

“I am.”

“Then why are you following me?”

“Ah. I still have some time.”

“Well, yeah. It’s only 7:10 now.”

Haeri checked his phone and nodded. For an ordinary office worker, this was just the time to start waking up and getting ready. But executives went in two hours earlier than regular staff, so even if Jeong Mok left right now, he would technically already be late. His chauffeur had already tracked his movements and was waiting with the car near the park entrance.

Just as they were about to enter the tree-lined park, breathing in the fresh morning air.

“Coming through.”

A resident in light workout clothes jogged past them from behind.

“Oh? Oh.”

Startled, Haeri bowed his head quickly, but the jogger was already far ahead. Soon after, a middle-aged woman resting on a park bench waved warmly when she saw Gom-i.

“Oh my. Hello. You’re really handsome.”

Thinking she was greeting him, Gom-i wagged his tail and trotted over to her. Despite his massive size, she wasn’t afraid at all. She reached out her hand and pulled out some pet treats she had brought along.

“There are a lot of cats around here, so I carry some treats. These are fine for dogs too. Can I give him some?”

“Yes, yes. It’s fine.”

As soon as she placed the dried chicken treat on her palm, Gom-i gobbled it up instantly.

“Thank you.”

“Did you just move in?”

“Yes. We moved yesterday.”

After exchanging a brief greeting with the woman, Haeri took Gom-i to a quiet corner of the park where no one else was around. Having unexpectedly been fed plenty of treats, Gom-i relieved himself near a storm drain. Jeong Mok cleaned it up instead.

“Give it to me, I’ll throw it out when I get home.”

Haeri took the tied waste bag and small scoop, placing them in the small basket attached to his wheelchair.

“Now you really have to go, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“What if you’re late because of traffic. I’ll just take a lap around the park and head back.”

Haeri practically pushed him to hurry off.

“Alright. I’ll call you, so keep your phone close.”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

Seeing Haeri wave his hand, Gom-i wagged his tail too. Jeong Mok smiled, waved back, then walked toward the car waiting at the park entrance.

As soon as the chauffeur opened the door and he sat down in the back seat, the phone in his jacket pocket vibrated. It was the security team. Jeong Mok looked out the window as he answered.

–Hello, Vice Chairman. Ahn Haeri is currently walking with his dog in the park in front of the residence. Three of our members are moving at a distance.

“I’ve confirmed two. Where’s the other one?”

The jogging man and the woman on the bench had both been members of the security team. To prepare for any situation, they had added a middle-aged woman as well as strong male agents. That demographic could appear anywhere in the city, hospital, shopping mall, and blend in naturally while keeping watch over Haeri’s every move.

–He’s at Haeri-nim’s eleven o’clock, riding a bicycle.

Sure enough, there was someone pedaling leisurely in that direction. At a glance he looked like a student out for exercise, but he was in fact a former special forces soldier, now a professional bodyguard.

“If anything happens, contact me immediately. Don’t forget the text updates every hour.”

–Don’t worry. I’ll report by text every hour.

The moment the call ended, Jeong Mok signaled the chauffeur to depart. The black sedan glided away, leaving the park behind.

***

–8:17 returned home

–10:00 rehabilitation exercise (rehab trainer visit)

–11:00 moved to bedroom after lunch (ordered sandwich and latte delivery from a nearby café)

The report on Haeri arrived by text message, just as instructed. The moment the screen lit up, Jeong Mok chuckled.

‘He ordered coffee.’

The first thing he did after Jeong Mok left was exactly what he had been told not to. His body was still not well, and Jeong Mok wished he would drink something better than coffee.

‘At least it’s not an Americano, that’s something.’

Both corners of his mouth curved upward softly.

“Vice Chairman?”

He turned his gaze toward the cautious voice.

The one who had addressed him was a subsidiary president who had come to the vice chairman’s office to report on business progress. The executives who followed him kept their mouths shut, but they did not bother to hide the curious glances they threw at Jeong Mok, who was distracted in the middle of their report.

“You look like you’re in a good mood?”

“Do I?”

“Did you perhaps get a girlfriend?”

The smooth-talking president was quite interested in the new vice chairman. He was a vassal loyal to the current chairwoman, not aligned with the second branch of the family. But he had no idea what had prompted the chairwoman to send away the capable successor overseas and place her nephew, who had been living quietly, into the vice chairman’s seat.

Family matters were strictly family matters.

Anything that happened within the Hyeonsan main house was shared only among the people of the main house. That was the iron rule of the Hyeonsan family, a clan full of unpredictable romantics with a messy family history.

It was partly a matter of keeping distance from the second branch, but more importantly, it was a rule necessary to prevent disruptions to management. Which was why no one knew that after repeatedly upending the chairwoman’s mood with notorious romances, the heir had finally gone through with the marriage he wanted, then abandoned his post entirely to send his beloved wife abroad to study. If it were ever revealed, it would not just be a disgrace to the family, it would shake the company stock.

That was because the personal weakness of the Hyeonsan chairwoman’s family was precisely “romance.”

Now it was hardly spoken of, but even the romances of Noh Seongjae and Noh Heejae, the chairwoman’s sister, had once been considered great scandals by the older generation. That daughters of a conglomerate chairman, his own flesh and blood, would reject arranged marriages and instead marry freely for love was, at the time, an incident worthy of drama or film.

And even though men had done the same without reproach, the sisters received concentrated criticism for being “sentimental.” The second branch, greedy for management rights, gleefully fanned the flames. The late former chairman Noh Yeongtae suffered countless headaches over it.

For these reasons, the presidents and executives of Hyeonsan were extremely sensitive about the romances of the chairwoman’s family. Jeong Mok understood that to some extent.

“No. He’s someone I know, a younger acquaintance.”

He cut it off cleanly, not wanting any unsavory rumors to spread.

“Is that so? Then a junior from university?”

That was dangerous too, since the current chairwoman Noh Seongjae and Choi Jieon had their own scandal from their university days.

“No.”