#71

“Understood.”

Secretary Sung Yoojun carefully observed the two and released Lee Daon, who he had been holding. I was worried that Lee Daon might start acting out the moment he was let go, but fortunately, he remained calm even after Sung Yoojun’s restraint was lifted. Of course, he was still glaring at me as if he wanted to kill me, breathing heavily through his nose, but at least he wasn’t causing a scene trying to storm out. That was enough for me to consider him calm.

“Daon-ssi.”

“…….”

“Daon-ssi.”

I called out as gently as possible, but Lee Daon didn’t respond. Feeling awkward, I let my eyebrows droop slightly. If I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding from the restaurant, we needed to have a conversation, but he seemed to have no intention of talking to me.

However, giving up easily wasn’t an option, so I patiently called him again.

“Daon-ssi. I think we need to have a conversation. What do you think?”

“……I have nothing to say to you.”

Ah, he responded. Although his words were negative, the fact that he opened his mouth at all was meaningful. At the very least, there was now a chance for dialogue.

“I would like Daon-ssi to talk with me. That way, we can clear up the misunderstanding you have right now.”

“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”

“The idea that there was some kind of deal between Rep. Oh Hahyun and me……”

“Oh, are you trying to say that my mom didn’t sell us out? Is that what you want to tell me right now?”

……Hmm. That was a bit too blunt. My efforts to soften my words had been completely disregarded. Still, while his words were direct to the point of being overwhelming, they weren’t exactly wrong. Letting out a sigh, I nodded slightly.

“……Yes. That’s what I want to say.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. If that’s not the case, then why were you meeting with my mom?”

“There were unavoidable circumstances.”

“Circumstances? Sure, I bet there were. The kind of circumstances my mom always has. So what? Are you about to ask me to understand because you had your own circumstances too?”

The more cynical his words became, the redder Lee Daon’s eyes grew. He had managed to hold back his tears so far, but it looked like the slightest push would make them spill over at any moment. He was speaking as if to wound me, yet he seemed to be the one getting hurt the most.

“No, Daon-ssi. I’m not asking you to understand me. I just want to tell you that the thing you’re thinking of never happened in the first place.”

I continued, feeling a pang of sympathy for Lee Daon’s face, which looked like it might break into tears at any second.

“You are not products that can be bought or sold. I have never once thought of you or anyone else that way. I never paid any price to Rep. Oh Hahyun to take you two in. And even if Rep. Oh Hahyun tries to use you and Gaon-ssi as leverage for something in the future, I will never comply. Not even 0.1%.”

As if sensing my urgency, Lee Daon stared at me with bloodshot eyes. He was observing me carefully, as if trying to gauge something—or perhaps he was lost in thought.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, he finally broke it, speaking slowly.

“……You sound just like President Lee Yongjun.”

What……? That man? Saying something similar to me? I couldn’t help but show my shock at Lee Daon’s words. The idea of being compared to someone I despised filled me with instinctive discomfort. Seeing my reaction, Lee Daon let out a twisted smile.

“You were not sold. I never gave Rep. Oh Hahyun anything in return. You are not objects. I treasure you more than anyone else and will always take care of you. So trust me and follow only me. Just do as you’re told, and everything will be fine.”

“……”

“I believed that. And I don’t have to tell you how that turned out, do I?”

With each word that escaped Daon’s lips, thick tears began to fall from his eyes. His lips curled into a smile, but his tears flowed freely, making the sight unbearably heartbreaking.

“Under President Lee Yongjun, I was treated worse than an animal. I was just a machine that made money. And sometimes, I was a good punching bag when he needed to vent.”

“……Daon-ssi.”

“How am I supposed to believe that you’re different from President Lee Yongjun? Can you prove it? Can you prove that everything you’ve said and done so far was the truth?”

Faced with Lee Daon’s question—asking me to prove the truth—I found myself unable to answer right away.

How in the world can a person’s heart be proven? What should I do to make Lee Daon feel at ease? No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find an answer, and the silence stretched on.

Perhaps interpreting my silence in his own way, Lee Daon let out a quiet, cynical laugh.

“You can’t, can you? I knew it.”

With a cold voice, he spoke and then began walking. His destination was the front door behind me.

“If you can’t prove anything, then to me, you’re no different from my mom or President Lee Yongjun.”

The moment he brushed past me, his voice struck my ears like a bolt of lightning. Shocked by his words, I stood frozen, unable to react. Then, I heard the sound of the front door opening and closing behind me.

Daon had walked out.

“Ah……”

As soon as he left, Lee Gaon, who had been anxiously watching our confrontation from the side of the living room, let out a small sigh. Instinctively, he took a step forward as if to chase after Lee Daon, but when he saw me standing by the door, he hesitated and stopped awkwardly.

Seeing him watching my reaction so cautiously made something boil inside me. A tangled, suffocating sensation welled up, as if something inside me was about to burst. I placed a palm over my chest, then suddenly turned and ran out the front door.

“Wait……! President!”

From behind, I heard Sung Yoojun’s urgent voice calling me, but I didn’t look back. I just kept running—past the garden, through the slightly open gate, chasing after Lee Daon’s retreating figure in the distance.

He was walking down the wide road with his head lowered. Every so often, he would raise an arm and rub his face, seemingly wiping away tears with his sleeve.

“Lee Daon!!”

As the distance between us narrowed, I called out his name loudly. Startled by the sudden call, Lee Daon flinched and slowly turned around.

By then, I had almost completely closed the gap between us. As soon as he turned, I reached out both hands toward him.

Seeing my hands suddenly reaching for his face, Lee Daon’s expression turned pale, and he squeezed his eyes shut. Normally, I would have immediately withdrawn my hands and apologized for scaring him. But today, I didn’t want to do that.

Instead, I cupped his cheeks firmly with both hands and pulled him toward me. As Daon, drawn in by my touch, obediently met my gaze, I stared straight into his eyes and asked.

“Daon. Do you really think that?”

Even to my own ears, my voice sounded drenched in hurt. At the sound of it, Lee Daon’s tightly shut eyes snapped open, and he looked at me with a startled expression.

“……What?”

“Do you really believe that I’m the same as those people? Is that what you’ve been thinking all this time?”

I spoke with the desperate hope that he wouldn’t say yes. At my words, Lee Daon’s pupils trembled violently. Like I had earlier, he fell into a long silence, unable to find the right words.

And that silence was unbearably painful.

Could he truly, sincerely believe that? That I was no different from Rep. Oh Hahyun or President Lee Yongjun? If that was the case…… if that was really the case, I would be deeply saddened.

I had been doing my absolute best for Lee Daon and for everyone in Tartarus. It might not have been perfect—maybe I was lacking, clumsy, and awkward—but I had been trying my hardest. And I had believed, even just a little, that my efforts had reached them.

But perhaps that had all been my own delusion.

It’s a sad truth, but sometimes in life, sincerity alone isn’t enough. Maybe this was one of those moments. Even as I tried to think about it rationally, I couldn’t suppress the wave of sorrow and disappointment welling up from deep within me.

I bit down on my trembling lips, trying to control my emotions, and slowly removed my hands from Lee Daon’s cheeks. The faint warmth I had felt through my palms disappeared, leaving a strange chill in my chest.

Lee Daon would probably leave now.

I worried about where he would go since he had always lived at the dormitory. Would he try to return to his family home, where Rep. Oh Hahyun was? The thought concerned me, but I swallowed it down and quietly took off my coat. Then, carefully, I draped it over Lee Daon’s shoulders—since he wasn’t wearing any outerwear.

“What are you doing?”

“……It’s cold. At least wear this. If you go like this, you might catch a cold.”