Episode 18

She had been so stubborn about never doing what her mother or Hae-mi did, yet now wasn’t she walking the same path as them? She had agreed to take money from a man and offer her body in return.

The misunderstanding born from using a borrowed name had spread like wildfire, but in the end, it was something she had caused. Who could she blame, and where could she seek an explanation? It was all meaningless.

“That brat, glaring at me with those dagger eyes. I said I don’t want it, I’m not eating! Hey, you eat too. If you just sit there, all of this’s going straight into my mouth.”

“I’m not going to eat.”

So-hee watched the strawberries in the styrofoam box disappear one by one and thought it was just as well. It was such a trivial sentiment that there was no need for it to be shared.

As So-hee took out her apron, Hae-mi poured water into a cup from the water dispenser and swallowed a small pill.

She remembered how Hae-mi used to grumble that even medicine for a cold was too expensive, and she couldn’t help but worry.

“Did you get that from the hospital? Wouldn’t ointment work instead?”

As Hae-mi gulped down the water, she turned her head and widened her eyes. Then her eyes crinkled into crescents.

“Are you nuts? You think I’d go to the hospital for a damn bruise.”

“Then what kind of medicine is it?”

“Birth control pills. I don’t trust any other meds, but this one I do. Who knows, without these I might’ve been stuck raising some kid without a father. God, that’s fucking horrific. Don’t you think so?”

“Ah…”

Maybe she would need those too. She hadn’t thought that far yet. So-hee made up her mind to stop by a pharmacy soon and get birth control pills.

The thing she really needed to buy wasn’t strawberries — it was that.

* * *

Gye Won-ho, who had been leaning against the barred window reading a newspaper, lifted his head. Across from him, Mayor Choi Jung-pil was staring down coldly at Choi Joon-seok, who lay in the hospital bed. It was a closed ward operated in absolute secrecy, and this was the first time the mayor had come in person for a visit.

“Mayor Choi Jung-pil’s Future Plans? A Focused Interview”

Gye Won-ho’s eyes skimmed the newspaper article filling the page, then shifted to Choi Joon-seok’s bedside—someone he’d known for decades. Dressed in a restraint suit and tied down, Choi Joon-seok showed textbook signs of drug addiction. Even in his delirium, his limbs trembled with spasms. His sunken cheekbones and the dark hollows beneath his eyes made him look at least ten years older than he was.

“Tsk.”

Mayor Choi clicked his tongue and turned his back with a cold finality, as if he couldn’t bear the sight any longer.

“Will this thing be back to normal by next year?”

This thing. Gye Won-ho almost scoffed aloud at the term, barely holding it in. The mayor wasn’t even referring to a person anymore. Choi Joon-seok was no longer treated like a son—only a burden, a ticking time bomb the mayor was forced to carry, terrified it might explode and ruin him.

The collapse of their father-son relationship was something Gye Won-ho welcomed with open arms.

Born when Mayor Choi was in his forties to a wife ten years his junior, Choi Joon-seok was his only blood heir—and now, his greatest liability. He had fulfilled his role as a ticking disaster with flying colors.

Unlike Choi Seo-young, the adopted daughter paraded around for appearances and educated in Korea, Choi Joon-seok had been sent to the U.S. at the age of eight. But instead of thriving, he had lived in excess, eventually falling into drugs.

After that, it all unraveled beyond repair.

They spent a fortune to buy him a diploma, and now, ahead of next year’s presidential election, he had been brought back to Korea for treatment.

If only the mayor’s wife hadn’t smuggled Choi Joon-seok away to some temple, claiming she’d have him cured, at least that incident wouldn’t have happened.

Having escaped from the temple, Joon-seok had crawled into some shady back-alley lounge, taking the cheapest, dirtiest drugs—and ended up causing an irreparable disaster.

The matter was so dire that Mayor Choi hadn’t even informed Gye Won-ho, trying to handle it solo. But, as always, some small fry had meddled, and in the end, the mayor had no choice but to seek help from Gye Won-ho. As always, the filthiest, nastiest work had to be handed to the dog he raised himself.

Thanks to it, Gye Won-ho gained a new card to play—and stumbled upon an unexpected prize.

He folded the newspaper and set it on the window sill before walking over to Choi Joon-seok’s bedside.

“As long as Madam doesn’t try to sneak Joon-seok out again like last time, the election campaign will go smoothly.”

Gye Won-ho, his face composed with practiced ease, gently stroked the sunken cheek of Joon-seok—who he’d once affectionately called ‘brother.’ The skin could hardly be called human anymore; it was stiff and lifeless like dried leather.

Yet Gye Won-ho felt no guilt about what had become of Joon-seok. He had only taken his time taming him. Joon-seok was the one foolish enough to step into that world—his own fault.

Just as Mayor Choi had once tried to tame Gye Won-ho, he had returned the favor, using the mayor’s own son in exactly the same way. The only difference between Gye Won-ho and Choi Joon-seok was this—one pretended to be used, while the other truly was.

“My wife, my son—they’re both doing their damned best to get in my way. Assign someone to him. Make sure he doesn’t wander off anywhere.”

“Understood.”

Mayor Choi’s lifelong goal was now within reach. Once the upcoming election ended, Choi Joon-seok would be abandoned by his own father and left to rot in this place for the rest of his life. No matter how much he was his flesh and blood, if he became an obstacle, to Mayor Choi he was nothing more than garbage—trash too dangerous to burn, yet too troublesome to ignore.

Blood ties—what meaning did they really have?

Unlike Baek Mu-gyeong, who was obsessed with the lack of blood relations despite growing up in the same orphanage, Gye Won-ho was perfectly content with his rootless existence. He had nothing to protect, no burdens to drag him down. That meant no weaknesses for enemies to exploit—a luxury for a man constantly hunted by predators like rabid dogs.

That’s why Gye Won-ho willingly played the dog, determined to take everything for himself.

When Director Moon of the orphanage sold him to Mayor Choi, and later when the mayor sold him again—this time as an adopted son to Chairman Gye Myeong-oh of Taekang Group to keep the rival gang-backed organization in check—he had never once resisted. He let them play master while he played the obedient dog.

After all, people are easiest to manipulate when they’re drunk on power, thinking they’re in control. Fortunately, they’d never realized that.

“How’s Seoyoung’s matchmaking with Professor Kim’s son going?”

“I’m persuading her. As you know, Seoyoung’s not interested in that kind of thing.”

“She listens to you. Convince her.”

Mayor Choi, despite riding on the coattails of Chairman Gye Myeong-oh’s criminal syndicate, now aimed to clean his image by tying himself to the respected Professor Kim from the welfare sector. He intended to marry into that family, expand his influence, and secure his foundation.

Since his drug-addicted son could no longer be used in the marriage market, he was now trying to make use of his adopted daughter.

“Of course.”

As Gye Won-ho gave a charming, unreadable smile, Mayor Choi eyed him with suspicion and asked casually:

“Why is there still no news about that?”

Though no subject was given, Gye Won-ho responded smoothly, without pause.

“I’m still looking for the item.”

He didn’t know why his eyes kept drifting to those sorrowful, misery-filled eyes—but he was curious.

“Weren’t you the one who said there was no need to look?”

And lately, he had been trying to find out why he felt that way.

“There’s a detail that’s bothering me. I need a little more time.”

Just then, his phone buzzed. It was a message from Han Geon-hui. As Gye Won-ho checked it, his expression stiffened—a rare occurrence. The sudden shift made Mayor Choi scowl.

“What’s going on?”

Gye Won-ho casually slipped his phone back into his jacket.

“A stray cat scratched my car. Such poor manners.”

“Is now the time to worry about such nonsense?”

The one enjoying this drawn-out game was undoubtedly Gye Won-ho. Mayor Choi, his nerves frayed to the edge, and Yoon So-hee, who had adorably gone out to buy birth control pills, were the ones dancing on his strings.

With his free hand, Gye Won-ho stroked the soft fabric inside his jacket pocket. The silky texture clung to his calloused fingertips.

“Who knows? Sometimes, one trivial thing can ruin everything.”

* * *

“Excuse me, miss. Could you come here for a moment?”

So-hee was about to leave after finishing tutoring when Seong-min’s mother called her back.

“Yes, Mrs. Seong-min. Is something wrong?”

Seong-min’s mother glanced back into the room So-hee had just exited, then lowered her voice. Seeing the troubled look on her face, So-hee’s body tensed. This didn’t feel good.

“I’m sorry, but we’ll have to stop Seong-min’s tutoring at the end of this month.”

Her unease had been spot on. She needed more tutoring jobs, not fewer—this was far too sudden. Though flustered, So-hee quietly exhaled and quickly tried to recall if something had gone wrong with her lessons.

Since she had started tutoring Seong-min, his grades had improved. His gentle nature meant there had been no trouble. He always followed along well in class. In fact, thanks to him, two of his friends had joined the lessons, and they’d been doing group sessions for a few months now.