Chapter 09

After finishing her meal, Heejae helped the employees move the case files from Chairman Shin’s study into the car.

“Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”

After exchanging farewells with the employees, Heejae once again organized the back seat.

Just as she was about to close the door, she hesitated, then pulled out a file that had been placed on top.

Flipping to the first page, she saw an endless list of illegal acts committed by Saeheon.

As she went down the charges one by one, her head tilted in disbelief.

And she muttered under her breath,

“How did the Vice President end up like this?”

The Saeheon she remembered was a perfectionist who left no room for error.

Unlike the soft impression Kyobin gave, Saeheon had a face that was always pale, rarely showing expression, and carried an aura that made him difficult to approach.

He always exuded a cold aura, yet he was a publicly recognized elite who combined an extraordinary intellect with a solid background.

Especially since he was ten years older than Heejae, she had never really had a proper conversation with him.

Raised under Chairman Shin’s strict education that demanded perfection in all things, Saeheon had never been anything less than perfect—not for a single moment.

Grades, sports, looks—he excelled at them all.

Tall and handsome, he even went through skin treatments and hired personal shoppers to refine his appearance further.

Someone like him must have constantly been targeted by malicious temptations.

In fact, Chairman Shin often laid traps—shortcuts and shady options—just to test him.

But as far as Heejae knew, Saeheon had never once fallen into his father’s traps.

So rigid was he that he ignored every shortcut and stuck only to the proper way.

How could a man like that commit not just one, but countless crimes?

Heejae couldn’t picture Saeheon hurling insults at others, setting up paper companies to launder money, or scheming in such ways.

“These kinds of deeds are more like…”

Rather, there was someone else who naturally came to mind as the type to do such things.

It was in that moment of private reflection—

“You think I’m the one who did it?”

She hadn’t even sensed his presence, but suddenly a man’s voice cut through.

Startled, Heejae snapped the file shut and turned sharply.

Standing right in front of her was Shin Kyobin.

The very man she had just been picturing in her mind.

As the saying goes, “speak of the tiger and it will appear.” Kyobin was the embodiment of it.

He smiled leisurely, as though he could see straight through her thoughts.

From childhood, Kyobin had grown up in misery, unlike other heirs of wealthy families, for he was an illegitimate child.

He was never given enough love, hidden from the public eye, and often subjected to unfair treatment and even abuse.

So even though he wore a smiling face on the outside, inside he had slowly burned black with bitterness.

He grew up a troublemaker, deliberately causing problems just to draw attention.

The Kyobin Heejae remembered from childhood didn’t seem like someone who would ever change even as an adult.

If given even a little power, he looked like the type who would do anything to seize even greater power.

So in her mind, it was far more likely Kyobin than Saeheon who would commit such deeds.

The Saeheon she knew had nothing to covet.

He wasn’t in any power struggle with anyone; Chairman Shin had already clearly chosen him as heir.

If he had just continued doing things flawlessly, leaving nothing to criticize, he would naturally become the head of Shinil Group.

So why had Saeheon felt so insecure that he had to commit all these crimes to secure his position?

What threat had he perceived that led him to fall so far?

“The brother in your memory isn’t someone like this, right?”

Just by looking at her expression, Kyobin knew exactly what questions haunted her.

Startled, Heejae raised a brow and looked up at him.

“He was diligent and proper, wasn’t he? Raised under strictness, he grew so compulsively neat and calculated it was almost an obsession.”

Kyobin knew she doubted him, knew she was trying to reconcile the Saeheon she remembered with the reality in front of her.

Heejae tried to retreat a step back from him, but Kyobin closed the distance just as easily.

“What was he so dissatisfied with, so angry about, that he went this far?”

Crossing his arms, Kyobin closed the gap again as Heejae attempted to create space.

The tense atmosphere made her swallow hard, her throat bobbing.

His eyes slid down toward her pale neckline.

Sensing the sudden heat in the air, Heejae realized she needed to break it.

“Was it you?”

She asked bluntly, without flinching.

Kyobin’s eyes widened in momentary surprise at her boldness.

Clearly he hadn’t expected her to come out so directly. But then he let out a short laugh.

He reached out one arm and grabbed the car’s rear door, trapping her inside.

Shrinking back instinctively, Heejae’s shoulders tightened.

“That’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.”

Leaning down to meet her eye level, Kyobin spoke softly.

His brown eyes shone with an almost transparent brightness.

And yet, what lay inside them was impossible to guess.

Behind that captivating exterior, his true intentions were always hidden.

“Let me just ask you something.”

But Heejae was no longer who she had once been.

She was no longer so easily swayed by his kind face.

Her heart still thumped uncontrollably at simply facing him, yes—but at least now she had learned to keep a layer of suspicion alive.

“Did you frame him?”

She met his gaze head-on, refusing to look away.

Her words pressed him, revealing openly how deeply she doubted him.

The ease in Kyobin’s expression faltered, a tiny crease forming between his brows.

It was clear he didn’t like that Heejae trusted his brother over him.

“Just like you used to do to me.”

Maybe not to the extent of criminal charges, but Kyobin had always managed to pin his wrongdoings on Heejae when they were young.

If he admitted fault, he’d be beaten and scolded until nothing was left. But if Heejae took the blame, it could be brushed aside as something small.

No—it wasn’t even a request. It was an order disguised as one.

He’d plead prettily, saying it was “just this once,” and Heejae had caved countless times, taking his mistakes as her own.

So her suspicion now was reasonable.

That the troublemaker Shin Kyobin might have ensnared the elite heir Shin Saeheon.

“What do you think?”

Recovering from his brief slip, Kyobin tilted his lips into a crooked smile and shot the question back at her.

“Do I look like the kind of guy who’d do that?”

He leaned closer, widening his eyes as though demanding she look into them and see the truth.

But Heejae’s thoughts didn’t change.

Yes, he did look like that kind of guy.

In fact, he looked like someone who would absolutely do it.

“Heejae.”

Before she could answer, he called her name.

His tone was soft, almost affectionate, as though hiding something he didn’t want exposed.

Curling his lips into a faint smile, he reached up and tucked her hair gently behind her ear.

The slow, ticklish motion made her frown slightly.

“I always get what I want, no matter what I have to do.”

His hand, once slow, suddenly shot forward and gripped her chin.

Before she could even cry out in pain, he was right in front of her, making her breath hitch.

“And anything that gets in my way—I remove it. Naturally.”

His eyes gleamed dangerously, but what exactly he meant by those words, Heejae still couldn’t tell.