Just Min Chae-yoon

The private tutor who found the wounds I'd hidden beneath my sleeves asked, with pity in her voice, if I was all right.

That same day, she went to my father and demanded money. My father took her as his mistress.

A college classmate who saw my scars gossiped about me at every drinking party. Not long after, he received a complaint from the family lawyer — and fled into the military.

A woman who approached me after taking one look at my face and my background stripped off her clothes without hesitation, then claimed I'd raped her while drunk. That one was actually pretty funny. It wasn't me who'd gone to the motel with her — it was my bodyguard. He charged her with false accusation.

If I started counting, there would be no end to it.

Human beings are filthy, ugly, foolish, and stupid.

Ah, but Min Chae-yoon.

She's at least better than the rest.

She was just Min Chae-yoon.

Just that.

The innocent face that asked if I was okay stood with the light at her back. The girl — taller and lankier than I was — had a neck damp with sweat, and she examined my arm with large eyes clouded by confusion.

The granddaughter of a friend the old hag doted on, or so I'd been told.

I'd known for a long time about the girl who came and went from this house every school break. The same woman who twisted her face into a demon's and hurled crude insults at me would play the part of a decent human being in front of that kid.

I shoved the wounds on my arm even more deliberately into her line of sight. Look at this. Look. This is the old hag's true face. Everything you thought you knew was nothing but a hypocritical shell.

Pity she couldn't hide. A cautious probing. And questions.

With a window washed in new green behind her, the girl looked down at me from the light. In those eyes, darkened further by the backlight, something rustled and lingered — a wound, or pity? I was certain it was both.

Min Chae-yoon never let anything cow her. She didn't know how to get tired, either. Even in the face of venom that would have sent most boys running off in tears, she'd only falter for a moment — then come talk to me the next day as if nothing had happened. That shamelessly unbothered face of hers made my blood boil, but ignoring her did no good.

Before a few months had passed, I had no choice but to admit that she outstripped me in patience and persistence.

What kind of kid is this?

She clung like a leech. Weren't girls supposed to burst into tears and run off if you spoke to them a little harshly? But Min Chae-yoon couldn't have cared less. I wasn't even sure she understood what I was saying. I didn't want to see her, and yet I had no choice — I was stuck going to the old hag's house every week whether I liked it or not.

I was already wound to the breaking point by the old hag's worsening hysterics, but Chae-yoon kept striking up conversation without a care. I'd curse her for being stupid and simpleminded, then find myself answering her without meaning to. She'd take that as encouragement and cling even harder. A vicious cycle.

Not that it mattered. Once the old hag died, I'd never have to see her again.

The year I turned twenty-one, that insufferable, monstrous old hag died of illness.

She was finally dead.

"She was such a sensitive, delicate person. I suppose she just couldn't bear the stress."

The elderly woman who'd worked at the mansion for years glanced at me as she said it. As if I were the reason the old hag had fallen ill.

She didn't know a damn thing.

That woman was irritated by everything that failed to meet her standards. She also loathed that elderly servant, whose sweat smelled especially foul in the summer. She died because she couldn't master her own temper.

Serves her right.

"I heard she refused life-prolonging treatment."

"She said she wanted to go when her time was up. That's so like her."

Bullshit.

Throughout the funeral, I had to keep working not to smile. There were too many eyes watching. It was to my advantage to look like a devoted grandson who'd visited his grandmother every week. I put on a somber face and kept silent. Aside from the family, most people offered me a word of condolence.

Min Chae-yoon was at the funeral, of course.

She grieved the old hag's death more than I did — more than her own grandson. Maybe even more than the old woman's son. My father comforted Chae-yoon, who'd grown thin from crying.

I scoffed at the old hag's hypocrisy, but I couldn't deny that she'd loved Min Chae-yoon. She'd even left a letter addressed to her — something she hadn't done for her own son. I didn't know what it said, but judging by how Chae-yoon cried, they must have been quite close.

Chae-yoon kept vigil at the funeral hall in mourning clothes the entire time. I didn't bother talking to her. After all, once the funeral was over, we'd have no reason to see each other again.

But as if to mock my prediction, Min Chae-yoon kept contacting me with stubborn persistence. Even when I ignored her, even when I unilaterally canceled our plans, she held firm. She'd grumble, sure, but she never once genuinely criticized me.

At first I thought Min Chae-yoon liked me.

But that wasn't it. If she'd liked me, she wouldn't have treated me so casually. It was because we were friends — old friends — that she'd reach out every now and then, just when I was about to forget her. Casually. Almost indifferently.

That cool, offhand temperature was comfortable.

What Min Chae-yoon liked was money, games, and men.

She went on blind dates every weekend without fail, diligently going out to meet people. I'd never heard her say she was dating anyone, not from her own mouth. She'd spill every useless detail of her personal life, but her love life was the one thing she wouldn't talk about.

About a year after Min Chae-yoon joined Gangju Group, though, I happened to see her walking with her arm linked through a man's. That was all.

Maybe it was because I'd known her so long, but Min Chae-yoon didn't feel disgusting, or frightening — or even grotesque.

She was just Min Chae-yoon, as she always had been.

She had fight in her. She tried to keep her word. She had loyalty. She had the gall to call me Princess. She was moderately indifferent...

She was Chae-yoon.

"It's the first time our princess has ever asked me for anything. Might as well do it."

Honestly, I'd expected Min Chae-yoon to refuse.

Min Chae-yoon knew this family. She'd have heard things from her grandfather, and even just piecing together the things I'd spat out in fits of rage, she could have guessed the rest. Given how much she hated hassle — and hated inconvenience even more — I figured she wouldn't want to get involved just for money. So I'd actually prepared bait to go along with the cash.

She'd been singing "man, man" for so long, so I'd introduce her to a guy from a decent family, throw in a few years of affiliate resort memberships, that sort of thing. I wasn't trying to stand in the way of her getting married — I just needed her to help me clear my name, that was all. I was going to have to be sold off in a marriage of convenience anyway. Min Chae-yoon was going to have a completely different kind of marriage.

But Min Chae-yoon accepted the proposal without hesitation.

She liked money even more than I'd expected.

Maybe things are tight for her these days.

Come to think of it, her father had used his severance pay to open a restaurant and taken a huge loss. She'd joked that her grandfather had given her hell for it, but it might have been a bigger deal than she'd let on. I decided that once this ridiculous play was over, I'd give her everything I'd prepared.

I'd introduce her to a man worth marrying, and I'd give her the resort memberships too.

Just as she'd willingly taken on this nuisance for me, there was nothing I wouldn't spare for Min Chae-yoon.

She'd have no idea how significant that was.

After work, Min Chae-yoon opened the passenger door with an incredulous look on her face.

"You didn't even know where I work?"

"I didn't."

The truth was, I'd meant to go pick her up. When I asked where she was, Chae-yoon had panicked and told me she'd come to the parking lot herself — under no circumstances was I to come find her.

"How many times have I told you? No, wait — I've been at this company for years and you still don't know? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Get promoted enough that I'd have no choice but to remember. How am I supposed to keep track of every last junior employee?"

"Even if I got promoted in the Marketing Division, I'd never make it all the way to Strategic Planning where you are."

"If you've got the ability, you stand out no matter where you are."

"Yeah, you're amazing."

But even as she grumbled, Min Chae-yoon climbed obediently into the passenger seat.

"Why'd you call me?"

"If you've taken the money, you've got to earn it."

"I haven't even gotten the deposit yet."

"A contract takes effect the moment you sign it. Have you eaten?"

I turned the wheel and glanced over. Min Chae-yoon, who'd already buckled her seatbelt with brisk efficiency, patted her stomach like a seal.

"I didn't have time. I've been starving since lunch. Because of you."

"You said you were going to the convenience store."

"I told you. I didn't have time."

The sharpness in her voice suggested the hunger was real. Min Chae-yoon was the type to be ruled by instinct — when she was hungry, she got irritable. She could take the nastiest remarks without so much as a twitch of her face, but skip a meal and she turned into a savage beast on the spot.

She called me Princess, and yet she was a vicious dog.

"Hey, where are we going?"

"A restaurant."

"...What's the occasion?"

"You complained that you were hungry."

The look of admiration wasn't unpleasant. It was even a little gratifying.

"How thoughtful of you, Kang Sa-eon."

It wasn't something to be happy about, and yet that offhand remark lingered in my ear. I crushed the rim of my ear between my fingers, trying to shake her voice out of it.