The First Slap of Retribution

Seol-hee slapped Jin Dong-chan across the face, hard and deliberate, right in front of Yeo In-ok — making sure the woman saw every second of it.

The air froze solid.

Dong-chan, freshly struck, and Yeo In-ok, standing a breath away from the whole scene, both found themselves at a loss for words.

The hand that had hit him was trembling.

Her heart pounded like it had gone mad.

I actually did it. I really just did that.

Seol-hee took a step back and bowed her head politely toward Yeo In-ok.

"Then I'll be waiting to hear from you. Mother."

Every bit of persecution, every blow, every humiliation they had heaped on her over the years — she intended to collect payment for it, piece by careful piece, starting today.

She had only just taken the first step.

Hiding the tremor and the nerves, Seol-hee walked away without a backward glance.

Bloodshot veins spread across Yeo In-ok's eyes. Gritting her lower lip between her teeth, she glared after Seol-hee's retreating figure, swearing to herself that she would pay back this humiliation a hundredfold.

"When on earth did she grow a spine like that?"

Dong-chan eyed his mother anxiously as she shook with barely contained rage.

He was just as stunned by the slap Seol-hee had landed on his cheek. Every instinct screamed at him to chase her down and pay her back on the spot. But he was afraid Yeo In-ok might collapse.

"M-Mom. Are you okay?"

Yeo In-ok's eyes snapped open, blazing, fixed on Dong-chan.

"Slapped? By a thing like her?"

"I… well…"

"What did I tell you? I told you if anyone ever laid a hand on you, you were to crush their hand to dust. Didn't I say that!"

Dong-chan backed away, step by furtive step.

Yeo In-ok doted on him in ordinary times, but when her temper flared, she was more terrifying than anyone alive. He had no one in this world on his side. Not even his own father.

Unable to withstand her furious stare any longer, he set off after Seol-hee.

Meanwhile, Seol-hee quickened her pace.

She had slapped Jin Dong-chan with all the boldness she could muster, but she was still standing in a situation where retaliation was entirely possible.

She sped up further and rounded a corner.

That was when it happened.

She came face to face with a man she never could have expected.

The mere fact of his presence in the space seemed to change the air itself. The noise that had been chasing her felt as if it had fallen away all at once, gone distant in an instant.

Why is Shoe Guy here?

The man stood with his back against the wall, arms crossed.

Startled as she was to run into him in a place like this, a different worry dropped into her stomach like a stone.

Was he listening to all of it?

Raising one hand, he gave her a casual wave of recognition.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"What are you doing here?"

She had glimpsed him briefly in the corridor earlier. But why would he show up in the middle of this particular disaster?

Just as he opened his mouth to answer—

"Hey, Woo Seol-hee, hold on a second…. Huh."

Jin Dong-chan, who had rounded the corner right behind her, stopped dead the moment he saw the man standing beside her.

He was so shocked his breath nearly gave out.

Do… Do Yi-hyuk?

It was really him.

The air caught in Dong-chan's throat.

Why was he here? His appearance alone was enough to turn the entire situation on its head.

Do Yi-hyuk's cold gaze slid past Seol-hee and landed on Dong-chan, who crumpled under it, shrinking back without meaning to.

His relationship with Yi-hyuk was awkward in every possible way. Not only did they come from rival political dynasties — he had stolen Woo Seol-hee from the man.

While he was still deliberating how to handle him, Yi-hyuk spoke first.

"Do you have more business with Ms. Woo Seol-hee? Because I've… been waiting quite a while."

He straightened his posture and checked his wristwatch, as though to emphasize how long he had stood there waiting for her private conversation to end.

Dong-chan's deliberation lasted only a heartbeat. He accepted the strange relationship Yi-hyuk had conjured out of thin air and played along without missing a beat.

"No. No, I… it can wait. I mean… it can wait, sir."

Caught in the middle, Seol-hee watched the man before her handle Jin Dong-chan with quiet bewilderment.

That's not like him. Dong-chan doesn't back down this meekly.

Brow furrowed, she studied Dong-chan with suspicion. He stole a glance at her, lips parting slightly, but there wasn't the faintest trace of anger in his expression or his posture.

If anything, he simply looked flustered by the encounter. He even seemed — uncharacteristically — frightened.

It was reminiscent of how he used to behave, scrambling like a lost child whenever he stood before his father, Jin Soo-sung.

"Then. Shall we go, Ms. Seol-hee?"

Seol-hee stole a glance at the man walking half a step behind her, positioning himself as though to shield her.

More than her lingering confusion about the unfamiliar Dong-chan, it was him that puzzled her — how he had appeared out of nowhere in a situation no one could have predicted. Above all, the way he had subdued Jin Dong-chan in a single breath, with nothing but a look and the weight of his presence.

"Um… but…"

Of everything, one question gnawed at her the most.

"How do you know my name?"

He had said it so naturally — her name in his mouth, as though he'd been calling it for years.

He leaned in and whispered, low enough that Dong-chan, standing behind them, couldn't hear.

"I overheard."

"Ah."

Well, of course. Dong-chan and Yeo In-ok had been shouting her name loud enough to rattle the walls. There was no way he'd missed it from where he'd been standing.

"Is he still watching, by any chance? Him."

She didn't dare turn around herself — turning to look felt like it would admit to some lingering attachment, and she couldn't stomach that misunderstanding. So she asked him instead.

He slid his gaze back just enough to check, then whispered without turning his head forward.

"Yep. Watching."

"Persistent, isn't he."

She couldn't tell how much he'd overheard, but he surely knew at least that she and Dong-chan were lovers long since finished. She squeezed her eyes shut against the embarrassment, and he made a suggestion.

"Shall we walk a little closer? Not as a couple, but enough that anyone watching thinks we're something."

It caught her off guard for a moment, but it wasn't a bad idea at all.

The more she stoked Jin Dong-chan's jealousy and scrambled his senses, the more easily she could shake him off for good.

"But if you get tangled up with me, it'll cause you trouble."

She worried, needlessly perhaps, that if he got involved in her affairs, Dong-chan might harass him or worse.

Of course, the last few minutes had proven he was hardly so easily pushed around. Still, she worried.

"Then it'll cause me trouble. So what."

He strode over and closed the distance until he was right at her side.

"You really don't have to go this far for me."

The faint scent of his cologne tickled her nose.

When her shoulder brushed against his solid arm, Seol-hee stiffened. Instinct made her lean away, but he rested his hand carefully on her shoulder.

"Just bear with it a moment."

Listening to the man's quiet whisper, Seol-hee stayed rigid as a board while Jin Dong-chan's burning stare bored into her back.

The two of them walked for a long while before finally finding the entrance to the event hall.

"Thank you. I keep owing you, it seems."

Before she could even finish speaking, he withdrew the arm he'd draped around her shoulder and stepped back a pace.

Because he drew the line so neatly — sparing her any feeling of obligation or unwanted thoughts — Seol-hee felt at ease.

"I did eavesdrop on you, though. Not that I meant to."

She had no retort for his apology. He'd simply been standing in a corridor anyone might pass through when she lit that powder keg.

"But… how did you even get back here?"

The corridor was longer and more tangled than she'd expected, a spiderweb of turns — and this was a good distance from the stage entrance where they'd first crossed paths. The question gnawed at her.

He hesitated for a moment, choosing his words.

"The thing is… I actually got lost. Somehow."

"I'm sorry — what?"

All the tension she'd carried from the encounter with Dong-chan and Yeo In-ok dissolved, and a laugh burst out of her before she could stop it.

Looking needlessly embarrassed, he tugged at his earlobe, the tips of his ears going red.

So he's more of a mess than he looks.

Cute.

Since her regression, Seol-hee had kept every man at arm's length, no matter who he was. Now, just a little, her guard came down.

"Are you with the events team?"

Only after asking did she notice something strange.

At the office, at the venue — he was never wearing a staff badge. Come to think of it, she still didn't even know his name.

"Ah… well, you see—"

Just as he was about to continue, he drew his phone from the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Sorry — one moment."

"Of course."

He answered the call, gave a few clipped replies, and hung up almost immediately.

"I should be going."

"You must be busy. Of course, go ahead."

"See you next time. Our next time."

At that word — our — Seol-hee momentarily lost her voice.

As if to say her answer didn't matter, he gazed at her for a long moment, then turned and walked away.

She stood staring blankly after him as he passed through the banquet hall where the event was in full swing, watching until his figure vanished from view.

Then a bittersweet smile flickered across her lips.

When she had slapped Dong-chan and turned her back on them, the terror of the past had surged up out of nowhere.

Memories of a time when she couldn't stand up to them, couldn't force out so much as a single word.

The moment she'd rounded the corner and seen him standing there — she hated to admit it, but she had felt relief.

Which made a mockery of her vow never to lean on anyone.

It was just a moment. That's all it was.

Seol-hee clenched her jaw.

Pull yourself together.

The more help she accepted, the softer her heart would grow.

Hadn't she sworn that in this life she would keep her eyes fixed on nothing but the goal?

She had just begun shaking her head when it happened.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Seol-hee's heart plummeted.

Slowly, she turned her head.