What He Wants

He brushed back his sweat-damp hair as he came closer.

Tae-shin hadn't shown his face at breakfast this morning. Granny Yoon-hwa had said nothing throughout the entire meal, and even Tongyeong-daek had seemed to know nothing about him. It would have been awkward to ask, so Lee-seol had simply kept her mouth shut.

He was dressed in comfortable workout clothes, as if he'd gone hiking up Mt. Hyeonak that morning. The fact that he'd even packed such everyday attire suggested he really did intend to settle in here for good.

In athletic wear, his masculinity radiated all the more powerfully. The hard planes of muscle that a dress shirt had so neatly concealed were now laid completely bare.

Everything about it felt strange. Lee-seol scratched her cheek, embarrassed, and answered at a sluggish pace.

"He's a friend from high school."

"Is that so? Just a friend? He doesn't strike me as the type to see it that way."

"……"

"The way he looks at you. Like a woman. That's exactly what it was."

Tae-shin tilted his head and spoke in a low voice.

"You really don't understand men at all, do you."

She couldn't say why, but a strange mischievousness had seized her. She wanted to point it out to him — that man sees you as a woman, not a friend. If Lee-seol truly didn't know, she wanted to make her aware of it. And if she knew perfectly well and was simply ignoring it, then she deserved to be put on the spot at least once.

The man's husky voice was as rough as gravel mixed into it. Lee-seol's brow creased slightly, and she bit down hard on her lower lip.

Truth be told, Lee-seol wasn't entirely oblivious either.

She knew that Jang Hyun-woo had held a candle for her for quite a long time now.

She had never harbored feelings for anyone, never had anything resembling a real relationship — but she wasn't so dense that she failed to notice the feelings trailing after her everywhere she went.

Hyun-woo had a way of tormenting people that was almost mean in its patience.

Not once had he ever confessed his feelings.

Perhaps because he didn't want to ruin the easy friendship they'd built through elementary, middle, and high school. Or perhaps because they were bound to keep crossing paths in Eulju-ri for the rest of their lives, and he didn't want childhood foolishness to make things awkward between them.

"……I know. I do know."

Ten fathoms of water could be fathomed, but an inch of the human heart could not — she couldn't say why he never spoke, only that he didn't.

A long, unconfessed love was unbearably vexing. Without a single word ever brought into the open, she'd never even had the chance to properly refuse. All she could do was quietly endure the steady, unspoken outpouring of his feelings.

Until he stopped. Without any promise of when, endlessly.

"And what good does knowing do?"

"Then what am I supposed to do about it?"

"You tell him you're not interested in him even if he were the last man on earth. Firmly."

Tae-shin gave a short laugh and inched closer, little by little. Lee-seol could say this with certainty: the look in Jang Hyun-woo's eyes as he had quietly watched her earlier was nothing compared to the intensity in Woo Tae-shin's eyes right now.

It felt as though a hot trail was left behind wherever his gaze passed — even though she knew perfectly well there was no real feeling behind that look at all.

Countless women must have been easily misled by eyes like his. Lee-seol was certain of it.

"……Do you always scrape at people like that, Managing Director?"

"Did I?"

"You've been doing it since the moment we met."

At that, Tae-shin's face crumpled and he let out a hearty laugh.

"I only said it for your own good. A little caution never hurt anyone."

"……Caution against what, exactly?"

Tae-shin only shrugged with practiced nonchalance, as if to say she already knew the answer. Something boiled and seethed in her gut. Lee-seol pressed the feeling down hard and sealed her lips shut.

"Oh, and one more thing, Shin Lee-seol-ssi."

"……"

"Not Managing Director. You should be calling me Woo Tae-shin-ssi."

The voice was seductive and overbearing all at once. It was phrased as a light suggestion, yet somehow it landed like a command.

Come to think of it, every conversation she'd had with him had flowed exactly the way he wanted. He was a master at pretending to respect the other person while steering things toward his own taste. It showed in a man accustomed to handling many people.

Insufferable. Lips pressed tight, Lee-seol spoke as if chewing the words up and spitting them out.

"Fine. Woo Tae-shin-ssi."

"You make calling someone by their name sound like a death threat."

Tae-shin merely smiled, loose and unhurried. A deep dimple carved itself into one cheek. More than his air of perpetual superiority, it was that dimple — flung out with every smile — that grated on her.

"Are you busy today?"

"……Why do you ask?"

"I don't know Eulju-ri at all. I was hoping you'd give me a tour of town."

Lee-seol stood still, staring into his eyes. But she couldn't read his true intention.

It was true that since finishing school, Lee-seol rarely visited downtown Eulju-ri unless she had real business or an errand to run.

What was the point of wandering about outside when the road home only felt more suffocating afterward? To a certain extent, Lee-seol had deliberately given up on learning about the world beyond the gates.

Perhaps because she so rarely went out, Granny Yoon-hwa had never actually tried to restrict her outings. As for leaving Eulju-ri for anywhere farther — aside from group events like school trips, she had never once attempted it, so who could say how that would go.

Well, a simple tour of Eulju-ri wasn't beyond her. But she had no desire to agree. Lee-seol decided to decline first and think it over.

"Granny will have said something about it."

"Is guiding a man through the village a futile errand, then?"

"……"

"The kind of futile errand I have in mind is a little different."

Tae-shin's voice had gone cold, though his face remained indifferent, as if nothing were wrong. He always wore a faint smile — but not now. Once again, the thought surfaced that this bare face might be a little closer to who he really was.

She didn't want to visibly squirm under his gaze, but neither did she want to show how much he occupied her thoughts. There was only one answer available to her right now.

"……All right. But we're back before dinner. I have a piano lesson."

"Thirty minutes, then."

Having obtained exactly the answer he wanted, he slid back into that sleek smile and strolled leisurely through Sehwawon's main gate.

The beautiful building, standing tall and proud as it always did, somehow felt cramped and small today.

Back in the guest room, Tae-shin took his time with a cold shower.

Mt. Hyeonak, with its sweeping views from the ridge, was a mountain that rewarded the climb. No wonder — that very quality had pleased him enough to pick this place as the site for his new venture in the first place.

Until he got what he wanted, a daily ascent up and down each morning — like a cleansing ritual — didn't sound bad at all.

Tsk. Remembering the small commotion from that morning, Tae-shin dragged one hand down the length of his face.

As he studied his own reflection in the mirror, an old scar on his left flank suddenly caught his eye. With damp fingers, he traced it slowly.

What he wanted.

It wouldn't hurt to think it through once more — exactly what it was he wanted from this place.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Tae-shin toweled his hair and checked his phone out of habit. One missed call. It was from Jo Jeong-hoon, his secretary.

At this hour, it would be the usual morning report. He pressed the call button.

The call connected almost instantly, and Chief of Staff Jo delivered a brief greeting before launching straight into the news from the site.

Superstition. Honestly. If such a thing truly existed, then the wretches who deserved not to be alive wouldn't be strutting about the streets in perfect health.

In any case, nothing was more tedious than humoring and coaxing grown men's fears. Tae-shin shook out his hair, irritated, and gazed absently out the window.

"Halt all site work for the time being. It won't function properly anyway. As for the foreman — tell him I'll come see him in person today to hear him out."

"Ah, and one more thing. I have a favor to ask."

Stroking his jaw at a languid pace, Tae-shin delivered the rest of his request without ceremony.

"The young lady in this house. Dig a little deeper. Find out how she's spent all these years — and whether any other man has come sniffing around her……"

Even at this rather peculiar request, Chief of Staff Jo answered a crisp acknowledgment in a voice without the slightest tremor. The call ended cleanly.

Tae-shin gazed quietly out the window.

The sasanqua camellia trees visible outside stood exactly as they had fourteen years ago.

The creaking wooden floorboards warped out of true by the passage of years. The antique lamps that lit only when you pulled their cords. The old bed. Everything in this space was as it lived in his memory.

All except one thing.