A Vicious Encounter
His name is Woo Je-hyeok. ‘Je’ does not mean child—it means cheek.
He extended his hand as if asking for a handshake. After exchanging names like that and shaking hands, it seemed one became friends.
Woo-hee stood there with a stony expression, refusing to take his hand, and the man calmly withdrew it.
“I’ll ask again, so this time answer me, all right?”
Woo Je-hyeok took a drag on his cigarette with the same casual enjoyment as any other woman’s words.
“What’s your name?”
Playing with words like this came off as perfectly natural to him.
The urge to know was fleeting. He was curious about this man’s next trick.
She had grown tired of men’s advances, but this time the man was Woo Je-hyeok.
Everyone praised him endlessly, after all. There might even be something fresh and exciting in it for him.
So, on impulse, she told him her name.
“Sun Woo-hee. Hee.”
She almost said her real name but added the last syllable herself.
“Surname is Sun? Or just Sun?”
“Sun.”
“We sound alike, don’t we.”
Perhaps because she had a confusing name. Even in that moment, the man found something similar to link to, which was amusing.
He didn’t seem to care about names at all. He would toss them away like trash the moment he left this building.
“Why are you asking about my name?”
“I told you. I want to be friends.”
“Friends with sex, right.”
The cynical thought slipped out naturally.
“Caught. Playing games.”
The man blew smoke rings, revealing his true nature without any shame.
“Actually, there’s something else I’m curious about. If I ask, will you tell me?”
“Go ahead and ask.”
“Will you sleep with me?”
The sudden question was dull. Woo-hee’s eyes, which had briefly hoped for something else, dimmed.
She had expected different fun from Woo Je-hyeok since Ha-rin described him as so great. But the journey across the sea had been for nothing. No such man existed—gentle, perfect, handsome, and fun. Woo Je-hyeok was no different from the men inside the building who had lunged at her legs, wanting to spread them.
The emptiness she felt at having come this far made her feel foolish. But it would soon fade…
“No.”
Even after refusing flatly, he showed no disappointment. His “Why?” was just a conversational courtesy.
“There are plenty of women who want to sleep with you.”
“There are, but tonight I’m only interested in you.”
“I’m not old enough.”
“Why?”
“I might catch a sexually transmitted disease.”
Woo Je-hyeok burst into laughter. The low sound tickled Woo-hee’s ear for a moment.
But hearing that laughter stirred an inexplicable sense of unease in her chest. She had only made him laugh, yet a vague regret for doing something unforgivable rose late.
He said it innocently.
“I don’t have that kind of thing.”
“…Next time we meet, bring a test, okay?”
“Ah, that’s troublesome.”
The man seemed to have no intention of hiding his light, wicked nature.
Woo Je-hyeok puffed smoke, his face lost in thought. He stared at Woo-hee’s face with eyes that were more like viewing than looking.
It was unpleasant, but Woo-hee also watched the man’s face as if daring him. She scanned him thoroughly, like appraising something.
Her defiant gaze met his. He narrowed his eyes, then lit his cigarette. The dimple at the corner of his mouth deepened.
“Proudly sticking to your pride isn’t my taste, but I find it intriguing today.”
Speaking so openly to her face.
“You really don’t think about sleeping with me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like trashy garbage.”
“Garbage?”
“I especially hate boring, heavy trash.”
Woo Je-hyeok laughed again, longer this time. He was being polite but rude.
“Today’s my last chance.”
Acting kind but shameless.
“I’m getting engaged soon.”
So the opportunity would end today, he whispered like tempting her. Woo-hee found his answer odd.
“You seem more principled than I thought.”
“Principled?”
The man laughed again. It was mockery. He lightly raised his left eyebrow, as if saying “think whatever you want.” He stubbed out the cigarette on the railing, then casually tossed it over the edge.
“If you don’t want to, don’t.”
He murmured lightly and passed her, hands in his pockets, striding away without a trace of regret.
Woo-hee felt the same disdain for Ha-rin again. How could she praise and exalt such a man as gentle and special? His appearance was attractive, but his actions were no different from the dull men she had known.
Yet she felt mocked and disgusted. It was like being used only to burn the cigarette and then thrown away.
“If you don’t want to, don’t.”
The man had spoken lightly, but his expression said he could topple any one of them with ease. It was possible if he truly tried, but he seemed reluctant to bother.
He showed no regret over Woo-hee’s refusal. He had never truly meant it.
Inside the building, he would go find another woman to satisfy his lust and flirt with her lightly. The image was clear.
The foolishness of her sister, who couldn’t keep her mind off a man like this, was amusing.
Anyway, it was not her life. She had no desire to waste time over Woo Je-hyeok.
Woo-hee turned around too. She started down the stairs again. Not long after, a creak came from behind her—the emergency exit door closing.
Woo-hee ignored it and kept descending the straight staircase.
Her head was still fuzzy from the alcohol, and her legs felt heavy. The smell of liquor from Je-hyeok’s direction was annoying. She wanted to hurry home and rest, but suddenly Woo Je-hyeok’s words came to mind.
“I’m getting engaged soon.”
Engaged… engaged…
Was the woman Woo Je-hyeok was meeting now not Jang Ha-rin? Was he really getting engaged to Ha-rin? Hadn’t it been just a light meeting? Engaged? No way.
Woo-hee felt something was wrong. She turned back, but of course Woo Je-hyeok was nowhere to be seen.
***
She went back inside the building. The murky air enveloped her. Pushing through the crowd, she searched for Woo Je-hyeok.
Her head was dizzy from the liquor, and her limbs felt sluggish. Still, she moved busily. She had to confirm something with Woo Je-hyeok—whether he was really getting engaged to Ha-rin.
She wandered the building, calling out for Woo Je-hyeok on the fourth floor, the hall, and the second floor, then climbed the stairs.
“Fourth floor, hall, Woo Je-hyeok.” She repeated the names like a deja vu while heading to the fourth floor. Someone passing by mentioned Woo Je-hyeok’s name again, saying the man had caused another interesting incident.
At the fourth floor, the roar of “Waaah—!” pierced her ears. It was the loudest scream she had heard here. It sounded like joyful cheering, yet it felt strangely eerie.
People were gathered, cheering for something. It looked like they were watching an interesting spectacle in the center. Woo-hee joined the crowd. Thud, thud—the brutal sounds of flesh colliding and bones cracking grew closer.
Squeezing through the gap in the crowd, she finally reached the front and recoiled, wrinkling her nose.
Two bloodied men were tangled together like beasts, clothes torn, faces ruined with blood. They beat each other, stomped, choked, and bit into flesh, baring teeth.
Someone said it was the result of the check Woo Je-hyeok had thrown. They had been bored with the event the whole time and turned it into a gambling ring.
Woo-hee lifted her gaze in amazement and searched for Woo Je-hyeok with her eyes. It was easy—he stood at the most prominent top seat. The fight was clearest to see there, closest to the fighters.
He had one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette between his fingers. He swirled a glass of yellow liquor in his free hand.
After casually drinking, he poured the remaining liquor onto the men rolling on the floor like trained dogs, acting as their owner watching them.
“Hic…!”
Someone vomited blood and collapsed. He desperately grabbed Woo Je-hyeok’s ankle. The fallen man’s face was twisted in pain. It looked like he was begging desperately to be saved.
Woo Je-hyeok’s expression as he looked down showed no emotion. Without pity, he shook his leg to shake off the hand, then stepped hard on it. The man screamed in agony. Under the gory lighting, the side of Woo Je-hyeok’s face was smeared with blood.
People cheered the loser and applauded the winner. Amid the chaotic noise, Woo Je-hyeok’s gestures and expression were eerily calm and indifferent. She kept looking at that face.
Then their eyes met.
Woo Je-hyeok’s eyes, holding the cigarette, met Woo-hee’s. He scanned her, pulled out a lighter from his pocket, lit the cigarette, took a deep drag, and slammed the lighter to the floor. The gunshot-like sound made Woo-hee’s shoulders tense.
Suddenly, the corner of his mouth curved up. He seemed to find Woo-hee’s surprised expression amusing. Then he raised the hand holding the cigarette and gave a light wave.
Like saying “hello.”
Madman. The thought slipped out on its own.
Woo Je-hyeok might not have read her lips, but he first looked away. Woo-hee turned her gaze too.
Woo-hee lost all motivation again. She no longer wanted to speak to that man. She did not want to be entangled with such a madman again.
She pushed through the crowd and left. The brutal noise behind her gradually faded.
Again, Myeong Eun-ju’s words were wrong.
“…handsome, kind, rich, and gentle bastard.”
Woo Je-hyeok was neither kind nor gentle. The word “bastard” was too mild for him—he was just trash. Rude, shameless, vile, and heartless trash.
Woo-hee recalled why she had not taken Jang Ha-rin’s story about Woo Je-hyeok seriously at first.
It was because the gap between the Woo Je-hyeok Woo-hee knew and the one Ha-rin described was enormous.
The grandson of the legendary Woo family, Woo Je-hyeok, was a famous delinquent in the business world. Handsome like a noble heir, yet his personality clashed completely with that image—perpetrating countless abuses, beatings, and moral transgressions, with a trail of scandalous women, all while committing endless incidents and accidents.
She had thought of him as trash who would just toy with Ha-rin for a moment.
His nature might be trash, but his birth was that of a noble heir. How could he marry someone like Ha-rin, who had so many flaws in her background?
She had not realized such a madman could cause the unexpected at any time.
Reaching the third floor on her way down, she turned back again. Woo Je-hyeok’s slippery face floated above the black marble floor.
She turned her head once more. She texted to have a car waiting for her by the stone. Then she walked again, weaving through the crowd like before. She left by the same emergency exit and descended the straight staircase endlessly.
With every step, Woo Je-hyeok’s face clung to her mind like moss, impossible to shake.