Penthouse Tranquility
Jay was gazing at Unamjae as it receded into the distance. Her eyes narrowed as if she could hear Ok-hyeon’s voice drifting over the mansion walls. “Is this really acceptable?”
Sixty or more executives of the Samjeong Group bowed before her, but Ok-hyeon, in the presence of her only son, was nothing more than a frail old mother. Even though her methods were misguided, Jay knew her heart was pure—she loved her son. “If this continues, Mother’s health might suffer.”
“You’ve been holding back worry all this time, and it’s already harmed her health. You should have done this sooner. At least this way, Mother can stop visiting that shaman’s house—it’s the best choice.”
Seonwu’s face looked anything but relaxed as he spoke. In the car heading to the apartment where the two would live together temporarily, a heavy silence settled.
Seonwu’s apartment was not far from Jay’s school. Once a run-down neighborhood filled with dilapidated buildings, it had been redeveloped under the residential environment improvement plan, becoming a New Town. At the center of that New Town stood the Samjeong Construction apartment as a landmark. Of the ten buildings, only four were designed as penthouses, and one of those was where the two would live.
“I considered a high-end complex in Gangnam, but maintenance was too much hassle, so I went with this one.” Seonwu opened the door lock of the penthouse entrance. Through the full-window facing south, the winter sun poured deep into the living room. With light stretching all the way to the entrance, Jay squinted her eyes. Unable to speak a word, she stepped inside still wearing her shoes, entranced.
Beyond the penthouse windows, a blue sky unfolded like a screen. If she opened only the balcony window, the rooftop garden would follow immediately. In the garden visible outside, young trees swayed their branches in the early winter wind. At the center of the living room, Jay turned around and their eyes met. “You’re giving me this house?”
“It was meant as a settlement. If you want it, I can transfer the ownership today.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“I know. It wasn’t that. Anyway, from your expression, you seem pleased with the house. Even though it’s not spacious, I worried.”
“Not spacious?”
Compared to Unamjae, the penthouse was compact, yet far larger than a typical family home. It was so enormous it dwarfed even the hermitage where she had once lived. “It’s twice as big as the hermitage I lived in before.”
Jay approached the balcony, opened the door, and stepped onto the rooftop garden as if entranced. The wind was cold, but the winter sun was warm. Seonwu watched Jay standing in the rooftop garden, then turned back. They had received the apartment, but it was the first time either of them had actually seen it. The marble used as finishing on the living room walls had been warmed by the winter sun. For the time being, they had decorated it in bright colors, imagining Jay living alone, but the interior felt more well-done than expected. If the contract marriage had remained as signed, Jay would have left the house in a month. Her role as a talisman was also coming to an end. This house had been prepared for that day.
Dust did not settle; regular cleaning services came by, but the empty house felt hollow without furniture. There were many things needed for immediate living, not just furniture. “I don’t know what to prepare first.” While Seonwu muttered to himself, Jay entered the house from the garden. “I’ve never seen an apartment with a private garden before.”
“It’s a relief that you like it.”
Not only the house, but the young trees planted in the garden were all straight and beautiful. If left to grow like that, they would become handsome trees. “Yes… I’ve never seen a house like this before.”
Jay loved the city, but raised in a mountain village, she sometimes felt suffocated by the city’s starkness. A small garden no bigger than her own height had only a few trees. Here she could spend time alone without worrying about other people’s eyes. She had created her own space untouched by her mother-in-law’s piercing gaze or the shaman’s suffocating breath. The fact filled Jay with emotion. “I never knew you’d like the garden the most. If it’s too empty, next year I’ll call people to plant evergreen trees.”
“Evergreen trees?”
“There are trees that don’t lose leaves even in winter—something like the yew.”
“No. I don’t like trees that keep their leaves in winter… They’re sad when I just look at them alone.”
“Since it’s your house anyway, do whatever you want. I’ll send a lawyer tomorrow, so transfer the ownership to you.”
“No, you don’t need to rush like that. Just do it slowly when the contract ends. I had no intention of receiving anything at all.”
Jay had been rambling, but when Seonwu said “give,” she felt he was receiving. If she showed too much delight, he might see her as an empty person. Closing her lips, she stopped speaking. “My husband has a lot of money. So you can scrape and take as much as you want and then get divorced.”
His words sounded as if he was saying there was a chance she would be scraped off if he tried to scrape her. “Please don’t make things difficult unnecessarily. I never even thought you would give me the house…”
“How naive you are about the world.”
Seonwu turned and looked around the empty house. From today, they would need to bring in necessities immediately. “Let’s go out first.”
“Where to?”
“We need to buy furniture and household items.”
“Ah…”
Seonwu strode toward the entrance, and Jay followed at a trot.
Seonwu entered the car and called someone. “Park, secretary, I’m off today, but to buy furniture right away, where should I go?”
Seonwu held the phone against his shoulder and fastened his seatbelt while starting the car. He glanced at Jay in the passenger seat and signaled her to buckle up too. “I’m not the one buying it.”
Jay buckled her seatbelt and watched Seonwu on the phone with quiet eyes. “Yes. That’s right. It’s for my wife’s personal space.”
Jay kept silent. They could not let it be known that they were living together under the assumption of divorce. That was why Seonwu was pretending the apartment was Jay’s personal space. “The department store may not be able to bring inventory right away?”
At the word “department store,” Jay shook her head and spoke in a small voice that wouldn’t disturb the call. “Boss, I don’t need expensive furniture. I heard there are furniture districts—going there would—”
Seonwu nodded. “My wife asks if you think the furniture district quality is okay. Is it possible to receive the furniture immediately if I go there?”
Jay listened intently to the manager’s voice spilling from the phone. “It would probably be better to go to a furniture district like Ahyeon-dong. There should be shops with private warehouses there, and they can ship immediately. The problem is whether the items they have match Madam’s taste.”
People thought of Seonwu’s wife as the daughter of a noble family, so they assumed her taste would be refined. Jay made an “O” shape with her fingers toward Seonwu. That meant it was fine. “The furniture district quality is acceptable. Since we need furniture urgently.”
“Then I’ll check stores that are feasible and send a list.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Seonwu hung up and drove out of the underground parking. While Seonwu focused on driving, Jay took in the convenience facilities near the apartment. The commercial area in front of the apartment complex was quite developed. There were many restaurants and a supermarket, and the bus stops were close together. “I’ll take you to school first.”
“To school? I didn’t bring any textbooks.”
“Just come for attendance check. If you attend properly, I can handle your grades myself.”
Jay’s eyes widened at the offer to handle her grades, but she had no choice but to agree. After all, it was Seonwu who had created nonexistent department seats and admitted her to the new materials engineering department. “Anyway, I’ll go to school. I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with attendance and grades.”
“I’ll need to receive a scholarship from next year.”
“A scholarship? You didn’t seem the type to chase prizes.”
“It’s not about chasing prizes. Until now, Director Seonwu has been paying my tuition, but from next year I have to earn it and go to school.”
Red light. Seonwu turned to look at Jay. His face clearly showed he was searching for the true meaning of her words. “You were studying so hard because you needed money for tuition?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You dummy.”
“What?”
Seonwu reached out and playfully ruffled Jay’s hair. Because of that, her hair became messy. “You were the one who said she would send you to that school, and you convinced the engineering department and Samjeong Electronics to push the R&D project. I poured fifteen billion won into that R&D alone every year.”
“What?”
At the mention of fifteen billion, Jay blinked while staring at Seonwu. “You thought the school created nonexistent seats for me? Shin Jay is the school’s lifeline, its lifeline.”
Until now Jay had thought her admission was not fair. She had not mentioned Samjeong’s “Sam” even once in front of the department students, fearing it might harm Seonwu through favoritism. She had also said nothing about her husband to Minjeong, who had been curious about him. Instead, the school had benefited and admitted her. “If you don’t have money and can’t attend school, that school would still grab you even if you’re dead.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Green light. The car started moving. While driving, Seonwu grumbled as if he wanted Jay to hear. “How much trouble that dean old man is. Every year, while taking fifteen billion, before this semester starts he was nagging for one more research machine to be added to the engineering research institute.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Since they couldn’t get it themselves, how many people he bossed around to get it from Samjeong.”
“So?”
“He called me saying he’d give me the merit award, then ripped off eight billion.”
Using her as a talisman had cost five hundred million won; to say she was sorry to die was not enough. The fact that because of her, tens of billions of won were spent every year. “Director Seonwu’s words don’t feel real…”
“If you want to believe, believe. If you don’t, don’t. He didn’t want to buy that machine, but when I told him my wife has talent for studies, he kept pestering. You can’t not spend money.”
“So you really bought an eight-billion-won machine?”
“If you hadn’t studied so little, the dean old man wouldn’t have been that greedy.”
At this point, Seonwu’s words sounded believable. Fifteen billion plus eight billion. Hearing a unheard-of sum made Jay inexplicably angry. “No, still, eight billion is what…”