10. My Own Thing Got Scratched
The days passed by fairly peacefully. Since then, Seungho never came looking for Jihyun. Even Manager Kim, having roughly understood the situation, stopped calling her over on weekends. Anyway, it was a good thing.
With some breathing room, Jihyun spent time in the garden, picking out stones that Chairman Shin’s wife found bothersome, or sometimes helping Hyunsook with hand washing.
“If you’ve finished your work, go rest. You’re no good if you keep doing this.”
As usual, Hyunsook held out some fancy lingerie to stop Jihyun, who was eager to help.
“No matter how you look at it, I don’t think this matches the madam’s taste…”
As if reading Jihyun’s thoughts, Hyunsook tossed the lingerie into a basin.
“These are the underwear of the girls who come to see Master Myeongho. They always keep extras ready.”
“Girls who come to see him?”
Jihyun jumped in surprise at the plural.
“Does that mean he sees multiple girls at the same time?”
Hyunsook grimaced but didn’t forget to warn Jihyun.
“There’s more than one visiting lover. They have incredible stamina, the women always change. You must never run into them.”
Glancing around as if to avoid being overheard, Hyunsook muttered quietly:
“He’s rude and throws himself at any woman when he’s in the mood…”
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Jihyun nodded. She had never met Myeongho before, and she hoped she never would.
“Never seen you before. Who are you?”
Why today, of all days, did she have to be pulling weeds in the garden?
Jihyun instantly regretted it when her eyes met those of a man with horizontally slanted eyes. Tall and solidly built, resembling Shin Seungho but with stronger features and a sly tone, his dull eyes instinctively told her who he was.
This man looking down on her was none other than Shin Myeongho, Chairman Shin’s eldest son—whom Hyunsook had recoiled from.
The colorful lingerie Hyunsook showed her overlapped with Myeongho’s face. Reluctantly, Jihyun stood and bowed.
“I’m a part-time worker here.”
His lips twisted at her answer that dodged the question.
“Obviously. What’s your name?”
Though brothers, Myeongho’s smile was different from his younger brother Seungho’s. Unlike Seungho’s cold, expressionless look, Myeongho gave off a deep heat.
“Choi Jihyun.”
Myeongho stared at her hesitantly with a curious look.
“Manager Kim hiring part-timers, that’s something. After the last incident, I thought only middle-aged women got hired.”
Jihyun swallowed hard, listening quietly.
What incident had happened?
“Anyway, finish what you’re doing later, but bring me a glass of ice water in my room.”
“…Yes?”
Jihyun’s face darkened at the sudden order. Putting aside her displeasure, the second floor was where Seungho stayed—now an uncomfortable place even to think about. She didn’t want to run into him, even by chance.
“Manager Kim told me not to go up there.”
“What does that matter? Come to my room later.”
Ignoring her attempts to come up with excuses, he walked off briskly through the garden. Reluctantly following him inside, Jihyun filled a glass with water and ice and went upstairs.
Despite the chilly late autumn air, Myeongho drank the ice water greedily.
“Ah, now I feel better.”
Jihyun watched his hand nervously. Once he finished, she planned to take the glass and leave immediately—but he didn’t hand it over as expected.
He shook the glass slightly, rattling the ice. Jihyun’s quick-reaching hand felt foolish.
Myeongho mockingly held the glass up to her.
“What should I do? I like eating ice; it might take a while.”
“Then I’ll just go out first…”
Turning without hesitation to leave, Jihyun was stopped.
“While you’re going, do me a favor.”
Why did this damn house always make her run errands? Was it because if he did it himself, his wrist might break?
Suppressing her rising irritation, she turned back to face him.
“Speak.”
Myeongho scanned her from head to toe and smiled darkly.
“Go buy me that thing from the convenience store.”
“Excuse me?”
“I heard teenagers can buy it too, but don’t get any weird ideas—it’s not for you.”
Jihyun frowned, not understanding what he meant. Myeongho kept his unpleasant smile. A bad feeling crept up from her toes.
Clink. The sound of ice hitting glass had never been so chilling.
“Pretending you don’t know? Come on, kids these days all know.”
“…”
Her younger brother Seungho openly mocked her by treating her like a servant in front of others, but Myeongho was worse—openly harassing her.
“Haven’t you done it before?”
“…”
“Is that so?”
Jihyun clenched her lips, unable to endure Myeongho’s filthy words. Seeing her silence annoyed him, and his eyes narrowed.
“You think I don’t know when you’re just pretending to be innocent? Girls like you…”
Crash!
Suddenly, sharp glass breaking echoed through the second floor.
Startled by the harsh sound, Myeongho hurriedly opened the door.
“What’s going on?”
The first thing he saw was shattered glass. The large picture frame next to the butterfly specimen was broken, and Seungho stood there.
Surrounded by broken glass and blood as if he had punched the glass, Seungho’s expressionless eyes slowly met Myeongho’s and then Jihyun’s.
Jihyun, staring into the cold, clear eyes, felt a chill and couldn’t move.
Myeongho gasped seeing Seungho’s bloodied hands.
“Your hand…”
Only then did Seungho look at his right hand and speak.
“Oh, a mistake.”
Myeongho’s face twisted in anger as he shouted curses.
“Crazy bastard, Manager Kim! Manager Kim!”
Manager Kim rushed up, looking like he might pass out at the sight of Seungho’s hand.
“What’s going on, Master Seungho?!”
Ironically, Myeongho was more agitated than the injured Seungho. He kept wiping his face dry, as if avoiding the bloodied scene, mumbling with unfocused eyes:
“That bastard… he knows I hate blood and did it on purpose to get me kicked out of this house. It’s disgusting. Gives me chills.”
Manager Kim hurried down to call a doctor but snapped irritably at the dazed Jihyun.
“Stop standing there like a zombie and move! Clean this up now!”
Snapping back to reality, Jihyun slowly moved toward Seungho. At that moment, Seungho’s mouth twitched slightly, but Jihyun, staring at the blood-stained floor, didn’t notice.
Myeongho never forgot that day in their childhood.
The only thing that sparked any interest in the otherwise indifferent Seungho was collecting and preserving butterflies. Their uncle was delighted and brought rare butterflies for him.
The butterfly flying inside the transparent glass bottle was quite beautiful.
Its blue wings, shaped like snake eyes to evade predators, were more mysterious than threatening. The gorgeous butterfly even caught Myeongho’s usually indifferent gaze.
“Please. Can I touch it just once?”
“No.”
Seungho, who never desired anything before, was the first to refuse.
But Myeongho was not the kind of older brother to respect his younger brother’s refusal. Spotting a chance, he snatched the glass jar, opened it, and grabbed the butterfly’s wings.
The flightless butterfly struggled desperately. Myeongho wanted to see its mystical blue wings one more time.
But his immature little hands were clumsy, and the delicate wings tore.
“Ah…”
Having made a mistake, Myeongho glanced at Seungho, who was staring blankly at the torn wings.
“What, the wings are so fragile? Ugh!”
Because his younger brother was usually so indifferent, Myeongho reassured himself nothing serious would happen. But suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed his finger.
Seungho had stabbed Myeongho’s finger with a long needle. To be precise, the needle went through the butterfly’s body and pierced Myeongho’s finger.
“It’s your fault. You scratched my thing.”
Seungho’s flat voice was so cold it made Myeongho forget the pain. Looking into his calm, emotionless eyes gave him goosebumps. He was scared.
Myeongho shouted in fear, but Seungho silently pulled out the needle, causing blood to gush from Myeongho’s finger.
The butterfly wing dropped to the floor and quickly soaked in blood. Since then, Myeongho never provoked Seungho’s temper again.
That day was such a day. The shattered glass Seungho now stood by made Myeongho remember that same look.
“It’s all your fault.”
Did he really blame me? If so, why did he harm himself instead of attacking me like with the needle?
Myeongho’s questioning gaze drifted into space.
The next day, Minwoo, who came to visit the injured Seungho, was stopped by Myeongho before even reaching the room. Myeongho poured out complaints to Seungho’s friend and cousin, which he had never told anyone else.
“There must’ve been a bug near the butterfly.”
After hearing everything, Minwoo reacted indifferently, more concerned about Seungho’s condition.
‘The mighty Shin Seungho broke the glass out of anger.’
Minwoo glanced at Myeongho, who was relieved it wasn’t his fault. It was clear the foolish, dense older brother had no idea what he had stirred up.
