ALDA 07

 Love Doomed to Die 

 Chapter-07   The Beginning of the Job

Surrounded by silence, Eun-hee could feel that everyone in the room was focused on her.
A sudden wave of fear surged through her. She was pressing her toes so hard into the ground that her calves felt on the verge of cramping.

Only now did she realize that she had been staring at the floor the entire time.
The first thing that caught her eye when she finally lifted her head was a large oval table.

On it were lavishly arranged drinks and snacks. Through a transparent glass, she could see someone’s smooth, crossed legs.

A man sat in the center of a sofa encircling the table, his posture relaxed—almost reclining.
Beside him, a woman in a glossy slip dress was refilling his empty glass.

Glug, glug.
The brown liquor made an oddly cute sound that didn’t match the grim atmosphere. The women clinging to the three men looked so glamorous that Eun-hee wondered if they were aspiring celebrities.

Click.
The sharp sound of a Zippo lighter snapped Eun-hee back to her senses. It was Cha Young-hoon.

A cigarette hung from his lips as he bent his head toward the flame. His other hand held a phone.

His blank eyes scrolled down the screen until suddenly his brow furrowed. Then, his sharp gaze lifted.

Their eyes met—Eun-hee’s and Young-hoon’s.

A strange flicker ran through the man’s pupils, erasing his bored expression. The wrinkles between his brows smoothed out.

The lips that had held the cigarette parted slightly. His jaw dropped, and the cigarette slipped from his mouth.

The white stick fell straight down—clean and precise, like a diver performing a perfect vertical drop.

“……”
“……”

They exchanged a brief look.

Eun-hee shut her eyes tight, as if facing despair. She swallowed dryly and dug her nails into her palms.

A short sigh escaped him.
It tore through her chest like a blade.

Then came a harsh curse. Eun-hee flinched and looked up. She couldn’t catch the words exactly, but she knew it was profanity—the savagery in his eyes made it clear.

She tried to read the emotion behind his glare, but it was impossible.

Her own feelings, however, were painfully clear.

I’m ashamed…

Standing before him like this—humiliated her.

She wore the most expensive clothes of her life, her makeup done by a professional, yet she had never felt cheaper.

All color drained from her small face.

“Oh my, sir—your cigarette.”

The woman beside him bent forward to pick it up, her heavy breasts pressing deliberately against his knees.

Of the three women, she was the most beautiful. She let her hand linger on the floor, drawing out the moment. Her soft flesh kneaded against his thigh like dough.

The man didn’t reject her touch—but he didn’t welcome it either. Still, his hand slid up her back with gentle ease.

When it reached her nape, his fingers closed around her hair, tender yet possessive. Her head dipped lower.

Eun-hee bit her lip. The scene was obscene, unsettling. She wanted to look away, but her eyes refused to move, paralyzed by shock.

Young-hoon’s gaze clung to her relentlessly.

His Adam’s apple shifted as he swallowed, and Eun-hee could almost hear the sound. She hunched her shoulders; cold sweat trickled down her neck.

But in his harpoon-like stare, there was no trace of embarrassment—only brazen defiance.

Deliberately so.

He’s a pervert.

Rage boiled in her gut.

“Oh, sir… ah…”
The woman cooed, squeezing his thigh with her hand.

Young-hoon inhaled deeply. He grabbed his tie and tugged it loose, undoing two buttons on his shirt as he exhaled.

He didn’t even bother to hide what his body was saying—not from Eun-hee, at least. The bulge shifting beneath the table was unmistakably directed at her.

“A-ah…”

A faint moan of distress escaped Eun-hee.

She had come here to deliver something, but her mind went completely blank.

Young-hoon flicked the unlit lighter aside. He no longer had any desire to smoke.

Then he gently lifted the woman off his lap. She clung to his arm like a whining child, refusing to let go.

“What is this.”

He brushed her away and muttered.
It wasn’t clear whom he was addressing—Eun-hee? The others? Himself?

But one thing was certain: his expression was the coldest she had ever seen.

He couldn’t have expected to meet her in a place like this. Shock, yes—but that furrow between his brows carried more than surprise. It was clear, seething anger.

Eun-hee froze, her shoulders rising as she held her breath. The muscles along her neck turned to stone.

“The chairman said…”

“Prosecutor Park Kang-in.”

Young-hoon cut her off mid-sentence.
Eun-hee’s voice vanished. She lowered her head.

He rested one hand on the table and turned slightly.

“Would you like to choose one?”

At his words, the man beside him—Park Kang-in—brightened visibly, inching closer with hopeful eyes.

Young-hoon tapped the marble tabletop with his finger. Tap, tap.
Each sound landed in rhythm with the words that followed:

“Abuse of authority. Bribery. Disclosure of official secrets. Violation of the Anti-Graft Act.”

Each crime rolled smoothly off his tongue, deadly as a song.

“So what’ll it be, huh?”

His tone was flat, detached—but Park Kang-in’s face flushed like a forest caught in flames.

“Y-you… you really don’t understand brotherhood or patriotism, do you? Why scare people like that? Ha, I get it—it’s a joke, right? A joke?”

He laughed loudly, forcing the sound to fill the suffocating room. Young-hoon’s lips curved faintly, a ghost of a smile. That was all.

“Prosecutor Park,” Young-hoon said softly. “I’m a man who cherishes his friends deeply.”

Park Kang-in squinted at him, suspicious.

“I can’t stand the thought of a dear colleague being destroyed over a bribe. It breaks my heart.”

“Khmm.”
Park coughed awkwardly and downed his drink in one gulp.

A gold watch encrusted with diamonds flashed beneath his sleeve. He quickly pulled the cuff down to hide it.

“Of course, who am I to speak of things like justice and fairness? Just a concerned friend, sharing a few sentimental thoughts.”

Park’s face crumpled like paper—guilt and panic mixing into one pitiful expression.

“Starting today,” Young-hoon said quietly, “I think I’ll have a small wish. That we, my dear friend, stay respected men for a long time. Proud, loyal, and… united. How about it, Prosecutor Park?”

The warmth in his words only deepened Park’s humiliation.

Trying to save face, Park turned on the man beside him.

“Chairman Choi! Did you hear how this bastard talks to me? What did I tell you, huh? Don’t set up meetings like this again! I almost got misunderstood here—damn it, Chairman Choi, you know me, right? I’m all about fairness and justice!”

He downed another glass of whiskey in fury.

The older man beside him quickly bowed his head, panicked.

“Y-yes, yes, I see now! I’ve made a terrible mistake. Truly unforgivable. Prosecutor Park has done nothing wrong—it’s all my fault, all of it—”

His pale face trembled; his clasped hands shook violently.

“Fucking hell!” Park shouted, still seething. He hurled his glass in rage.

The crystal arced through the air, spinning—

—and flew straight toward Eun-hee.