I'd Rather Be Collateral

So that was the part Manager Yoon had been talking about.

"So he was trying to launder their identities…."

"It seems so. Though it wouldn't be easy."

"Jin Jae-hwan is more capable than he looks. He might pull it off someday."

Well, Kang-hyun couldn't have cared less what the Jin Jae-hwan couple did with themselves. If they washed their identities so thoroughly that they never showed their faces in front of him again, he'd only be grateful. Jin Ye-seo, however, was another matter entirely.

"How dare he try to spirit her away on his own."

Kang-hyun muttered it under his breath. Seeing with his own eyes that Jin Jae-hwan had tried to snatch Ye-seo away sent a quiet fury rising through him.

Good thing he'd confiscated Jin Ye-seo's phone. He'd nearly had to chase her all the way overseas.

Thoroughly irritated now, Kang-hyun read the remaining messages.

"Jin Jae-hwan. So this is how you're going to play it?"

That was the end of the messages. Kang-hyun set the phone down on the desk and gave Yoon Tae-seok his orders.

"Copy these messages, then delete them."

They were the kind of content best erased as soon as possible.

"Yes, sir. Understood."

The only salvageable piece was that Jin Jae-hwan had thoughtfully included reachable phone numbers in the text itself—the single thing for which Kang-hyun felt even a flicker of gratitude toward the traitor.

The attempt to smuggle his daughter away was infuriating, but those numbers would be the very thing that finally put the brakes on him. This would cut the time required significantly.

"And call the number Jin Jae-hwan gave us, timed for American hours."

"Yes, Executive Director."

Oddly enough, being force-fed by Do Kang-hyun had left her with a bit of energy after all. Once he disappeared into his study to work, he did not come looking for her for hours.

Ye-seo spent the entire afternoon lost in thought in the bedroom, then around four she rose sluggishly and went to the studio. Like a creature of habit, she could only flee to the one refuge she had left—her paintings.

Today she loaded a thick brush with viridian, a color like healthy evergreen. It was one of the hues she loved most.

Spread thin in a pale wash, the viridian looked beautiful and cool. They said it was an artificial color that could never be made from natural materials, yet on a canvas it became the shade closest to living trees—a contradictory color, and all the more fascinating for it.

It was the closest thing she had to healing. She lost track of time, sinking into the world inside the canvas; perhaps two hours had passed.

A presence pricked at her senses. Her ears pricked first, like a puppy's, but Ye-seo could not bring herself to turn around. Was it Mrs. An? Or Do Kang-hyun?

Finding the bedroom empty, Kang-hyun had headed for the next most likely place. Even though this was his own house, it was the one room that made someone freeze the moment he stepped inside: Ye-seo's studio.

And there she was, of course. Even from behind, in a plain solid-color tee, that unassuming figure snared his gaze completely.

She knew he was there and still refused to look. In that case, he would simply make looking unavoidable.

Kang-hyun moved closer and stopped right beside her. Even then Ye-seo would not glance at him; her hand never paused.

All he could see were the long lashes fluttering over her lowered eyes. Knowing it was him, she seemed to tremble just a little. Last time he had told her her singing voice was pretty; today—

"Pretty. Your hand when you paint. Your profile."

At last Ye-seo turned her head, face twisted with pure dread. The atmosphere flipped on its head, but she deliberately tried to ignore him, putting fresh force into the brush she held.

She laid a stroke where she had intended, then cleaned the brush in oil. Under Do Kang-hyun's watchful eyes she quietly went back to work.

Yet something had scrambled her thoughts, and in the end she set the brush down. Unable to look at the painting any longer, she lowered her head.

"Executive Director."

Ye-seo rose from her seat. Still not facing him, she made a request that was not quite a request, more polite than before.

"You made this space for me and even gave me permission to paint. I know a mere piece of collateral should be grateful for something like this. But I'm sorry—I want to paint alone, in quiet. When someone comes in, it's a distraction."

Kang-hyun stood beside her, looking down at the crown of her bowed head.

He was curious about the front of this woman who was so carefully setting her complaints at his feet. She always pushed him away, but when she painted she seemed especially determined to drive him out.

"I would appreciate it if you treated this place as my workplace and respected it."

"Is this 'distraction' limited to Do Kang-hyun? You show Mrs. An your painting just fine."

Ye-seo's words died in her throat for a second. So he had heard it from Mrs. An. There was nothing she could say to that.

She carefully turned her head just enough to glance sideways. Sure enough, Do Kang-hyun's face was laughing at her. Flustered, she blinked rapidly and hurried on with what she had meant to say.

"And while we're on the subject, please stop calling me… calling me pretty all the time."

Kang-hyun had not expected that at all; a short laugh escaped him. Face like a puppy, personality like a cat.

"Jin Ye-seo, you're fucking haughty. You're pretty and you tell me not to say you're pretty. If you don't want to hear it, maybe don't be pretty."

Asking him not to call her pretty… the request itself was pure arrogance.

"I've never once in my life told another woman she was pretty."

Ye-seo's lowered eyes lifted and found Kang-hyun. Impossible.

"I only say it to you. Just so you know it's not something I throw around like some cheap player."

It had to be a honey-coated lie, yet the man's expression somehow did not look false. Could this one be real too?

"W-well, stop it anyway. I'm your collateral, Executive Director—not your girlfriend."

Kang-hyun went still for a beat. For some reason both his lips and his eyes stopped moving.

"Then want to be my girlfriend?"

He asked it outright of the haughty woman who never stopped pushing him away.

"Isn't being a girlfriend better than being collateral?"

The woman who had looked thoroughly cornered still managed to answer, voice shrinking smaller and smaller.

"…I think collateral is better."

At that, Do Kang-hyun let out a small burst of laughter. This woman. Even while half-frozen with nerves, she was insanely honest.

"I just got dumped, fuck."

Her face stiffened at the curse, yet she did not deny it; she simply refused to meet his eyes. Even while blasting him with cold air, she kept sneaking glances—cute as hell.

"It's fine though, Ye-seo."

When he said it was fine without turning cold, her eyes rolled back to him for another furtive look.

"Even if you dumped me, I can still have you."

Ye-seo's face colored with open dismay. The more she looked at him, the stranger this man became.

Dumped, told no, and he still wanted to have her? Listening to him, it was as if she were already his possession.

"The only man who can have you is me."

In that instant Ye-seo edged her body back a fraction. He had not even stepped any closer.

Those eyes were always the problem. The leech-like stare felt as if it were touching her all over.

Even while being treated like nothing but a nuisance, Do Kang-hyun never lost that leisurely smile, as if he found the whole thing endlessly amusing.

Fortunately he seemed ready to leave; he slid his hands into his pants pockets and turned toward the door. After a few steps he checked his wristwatch and spoke without looking back.

"Thirty minutes until dinner. This time come downstairs quietly and sit at the table."

Whenever this particular issue came up, his tone turned especially high-handed.

"Otherwise I'll take it as you wanting me to carry you down again and come up to get you."

Just thinking about it made Ye-seo shudder; even though he was not looking at her, she shook her head hard on her own. With his back still turned, Kang-hyun went downstairs.

Sometime after ten that night, a call came from Yoon Tae-seok. Kang-hyun, sitting in his study, closed his laptop entirely and answered.