9. I Hate You
At Seungho’s call, everyone else turned their attention to the two of them simultaneously. Jihyun, unused to the gazes, swallowed hard.
She felt Bora’s unusually sharp stare. A cold sweat broke out on her hands from the anxiety of what kind of embarrassment she might face in front of everyone again. The suffocating silence and concentrated looks tightened around Jihyun’s breath.
“Is there something you want me to do…?”
Seungho looked intently at the restless girl, then slowly spoke.
“Don’t clear it away. You haven’t finished eating yet.”
“H-Yes, sir.”
‘Did it show that I wanted to clear the table quickly and go down to the kitchen?’
Feeling like her thoughts had been read, Jihyun flinched but also felt relieved as she lifted the tray and stepped back.
Minwoo, who had been anxiously glancing between the two, visibly relaxed and resumed chatting with the group. The one who had changed the atmosphere was staring blankly at the glass in his hand.
‘Annoying.’
Bora gulped down the juice in one go, irritated that things weren’t going her way. She was skilled at hiding her emotions behind a smile—she’d always done that since she was young.
In truth, ever since she arrived at this house, Bora had felt deeply uncomfortable. It was all because of Seungho. She had come back to Korea after a long time just to see him, but all of his attention was elsewhere.
She was bothered by his bored gaze staring off into space as if enduring a dull time, but what she couldn’t bear was that his indifferent look had focused on just one person. The moment she realized this, Bora’s mood plummeted.
At the end of Seungho’s gaze stood a young servant. He seemed about the same age but was a strangely mature servant who served calmly and skillfully.
For some reason, Bora felt angry—at a shabby assistant who couldn’t even compare to her.
So she deliberately brought up the engagement topic. Just by making everyone pay attention, she was satisfied.
At the same time, instead of taking out her anger on Seungho, Bora chose someone else.
“I wish there were more of these.”
She glared at Jihyun and expressionlessly raised her hand, pointing to the empty plate where the canapé had been. Following her call, Jihyun came over and bowed to clear the plate, but Bora clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.
“Tsk, your apron is stained. How can you serve guests hygienically like this?”
Surprised by the unexpected sharp criticism, Jihyun’s eyes went wide as she checked her apron.
“Huh?”
The apron was just as she had first put it on. Feeling unjust but knowing she had to follow the basic rules required of servants, Jihyun could only nod.
As a servant, Jihyun had no right to protest. Knowing this well, Bora fixed her gaze on Seungho and raised her voice even more.
“Seungho, it seems your household doesn’t manage the servants properly?”
Despite the sharp words, Seungho’s face remained calm. Bora raised her voice further.
“I’ll call Manager Kim and tell him to manage the servants properly.”
“Hey, stop it.”
Minwoo, thinking Bora was interfering too much, lowered his posture to stop her. Jihyun, unfairly cornered, looked pale as if about to cry.
Having pushed Jihyun almost to tears, Bora felt slightly relieved. Then suddenly, something happened so fast that Bora opened her eyes wide.
“Gasp.”
With the sound of liquid dripping, people around sighed. Seungho had lifted his glass and poured it over Jihyun’s head.
The grape juice, flowing from the tilted glass, slowly ran down Jihyun’s head like red blood.
Caught off guard and unable to avoid the juice, Jihyun’s light-colored eyes shook violently. Her face contorted with a mix of shock, humiliation, and other emotions. Seungho, having emptied the glass, spoke as if nothing had happened.
“You don’t want to stay looking like that, do you?”
It was a cruel declaration.
“Oh dear, what a sight.”
The lady in charge of the kitchen rushed to Jihyun, who came down a mess, and handed her a towel with a fuss.
“Did something happen upstairs? They never mistreated the servants even if the guests were unruly…”
Ignoring the lady’s pity and curious gaze, Jihyun silently wiped her wet hair with the towel. Manager Kim, who had been busy moving around the mansion, spotted Jihyun and approached.
“What happened to you…?”
As the shocked Manager Kim started to speak, the kitchen lady silently signaled him not to say anything. Understanding the situation from the atmosphere, Kim sighed softly and brought another towel to dry Jihyun’s hair.
“Just hang on a little. The second young master will soon be leaving abroad, so this won’t happen again.”
“……”
Listening to Manager Kim’s words of consolation, Jihyun felt she finally understood why servants couldn’t last three months. It was the first time in her life she’d experienced such humiliation.
Not only did she have to serve kids her own age, but she also got into trouble and ended up silently enduring juice poured over her head.
‘I shouldn’t have done this in the first place.’
Sighing, Jihyun closed her eyes, blaming herself for being swayed by the high hourly wage rather than blaming Manager Kim who had sent her to serve.
“Ahem, about us…”
After Jihyun disappeared, Minwoo cleared his throat in the cold silence that surrounded them, rolling his eyes. He was just as confused.
Seungho, who was normally unreadable, was acting even more stiff than usual today. Bora, meeting after a long time, was behaving unlike herself, freezing the atmosphere.
Born at the top of the pyramid, they had nothing to fear thanks to their overflowing wealth since childhood.
The only person they were ever afraid of was the elegant Shin Seungho, sitting quietly over there.
For some reason, even though he was the same age, he had an overwhelming presence unlike others. Minwoo knew well that his dignity came from complete indifference to others.
But for Seungho himself to approach a servant and deliberately spill juice was something completely beyond Minwoo’s understanding. Everyone else seemed to think the same, unable to speak up.
They needed a change of topic.
“Shall we talk about Switzerland?”
“Good idea. Let me join in too.”
As Minwoo spoke, the rest eagerly joined, shifting the sharp tension into chatter about their winter break plans in Switzerland.
Amidst the noisy group, Bora clenched her lips tightly and stared at Seungho, who seemed uninterested in the conversation and only looked at the butterfly hanging in the room.
“Shin Seung…”
Just as Bora tried to speak to Seungho again, Minwoo quietly stopped her.
“No. Don’t touch that guy.”
“What?”
Annoyed by the boring joke, Bora frowned. But Minwoo wasn’t joking.
“Just leave him alone.”
“Why are you like this too?”
Minwoo looked at Bora’s face, trying hard to suppress her irritation, then shifted his gaze to Seungho.
“Seungho’s been sensitive lately.”
“That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard today.”
Bora snorted. Sensitive Seungho? He was the type who seemed indifferent to everything in the world.
“If you want to charm him, do it in Switzerland. Not now.”
Bora swallowed a bitter laugh. If Seungho were the type to be won over easily, she would have tried over and over. Seungho had always been too difficult for her. Maybe that’s why she wanted him more…
Minwoo looked seriously at Bora, who seemed troubled.
“I know what you’re thinking, but don’t touch him unnecessarily.”
After the commotion, in the deep night when everyone had left, Seungho gazed at the most beautiful blue morpho butterfly he owned.
Admiring the harmony of its black wings and shining blue, his restless mind would usually calm. But today, even that failed to bring peace.
Memories of the day resurfaced, narrowing his eyes. The red liquid flowing down thin strands of hair kept flickering in front of his eyes.
The sensation of gripping the glass as if it might break was still vivid. He had been the one to order it through Manager Kim.
He couldn’t stand the expressionless face of Jihyun while she worked in the house. He didn’t expect her to smile. But every time he saw those empty eyes that showed no interest, his mood sank endlessly.
So he made up his mind. Even if he couldn’t make her smile in this house, he was sure he could hurt her.
He thought that if he saw Jihyun struggling, cornered without any escape, his own discomfort would disappear.
But he didn’t want to entrust the role of pushing her into the pitfall to others. Making her cry or humiliating her was entirely his responsibility.
That’s why he acted impulsively…
Seeing Bora’s childish remarks that, when annoyed, she bullied the workers instead of friends, and watching Jihyun’s reddened face as if about to cry made him irritated.
Seungho closed his eyes. The liquid flowing down the strands of hair also carried away his memories.
The juice that flowed over her white skin passed by her large eyes and into her plump lips. The soft, swollen lips, holding the juice, became even redder.
In his memory, Jihyun’s lips were too tempting. When Seungho tore his gaze away from the trembling lips that couldn’t protest and swallowed hard, his eyes met Jihyun’s wet brown eyes.
Unlike usual, her brown eyes spoke clearly.
‘I hate you.’
The moment he met the resentful gaze, the back of his neck prickled with a shiver. It was a feeling he’d never experienced before.
