Unhealthy - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 17. Heavy Responsibility

It wasn’t the suffocatingly balanced diet she used to eat at the Hannam-dong house. It looked like a roughly prepared meal made with ingredients from the refrigerator, yet it was strangely mouth-watering.

“I’ll… eat well.”

Hae-yeong bowed her head in greeting and looked up to observe Taejun’s expression.

“It’s not poisoned.”

As if he took that as suspicion, Taejun grumbled indifferently.

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

“Then that’s good.”

“Did you make all of this yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Taejun nodded casually as if she was asking something obvious.

Firm muscles bulged over his roughly rolled-up shirt sleeves.

He seemed like someone who wouldn’t have any connection to cooking.

“I didn’t know you could do things like this.”

Seeing that he had prepared warm rice without any help, it seemed he often cooked for himself.

It was a sight she would never see at home, so Hae-yeong looked at Taejun with curious eyes.

“Of course you wouldn’t know.”

“…”

“I hate having to take care of things with my own hands.”

Taejun replied calmly while moving his chopsticks.

Though his movements were efficient, his clumsy sincerity kept catching Hae-yeong’s attention.

“But this is…”

“I told you. I don’t have the bad taste of tormenting someone without even feeding them.”

He shrugged as if it was nothing special, but his casual consideration struck Hae-yeong’s heart helplessly.

This was like the image of a man clumsily preparing breakfast for a lover he had spent the night with.

Gi Tae-jun and lover.

The moment such an absurd word crossed her mind, Hae-yeong’s cheeks burned hotter than the steam from the seaweed soup.

Taejun, who had barely picked up a few grains of rice with his chopsticks, keenly read the constant changes in Hae-yeong’s expression and asked.

“Why are you making that face again.”

Unable to overcome her embarrassment, Hae-yeong hurriedly lowered her head. Her heart pounded as if she had revealed all her inner thoughts.

“It’s nothing.”

Hae-yeong shook her head vigorously while burying her spoon deep into the seaweed soup that had more beef than seaweed.

“I told the house.”

“What, what did you say?”

There was no doubt that Gi Tae-jun was the one who had pushed her into Gi Chairman’s shadow. However, within that fence, it was only Gi Chairman who actually restrained and controlled her.

Taejun had never once restricted her daily life or forced anything on her.

Though the term ‘supervision’ was awkward for a grown adult, just as it had been before she entered university, Gi Chairman had thoroughly managed her daily life by setting curfews even after she started campus life.

Of course, staying out overnight or coming home late was allowed if there was proper justification, but even that required going through meaningless procedures of informing family members in advance.

Even though Gi Chairman’s watchful eyes had loosened recently due to his busy schedule with business expansion, it was certain that stern scolding would follow for staying out without notice.

At least it was very fortunate that Gi Chairman was away on a business trip.

“I said I was helping An Hae-yeong with her liberal arts class assignment by visiting the Cheongsan Construction Site. I said it would probably take two days.”

Since she would inevitably be called by Gi Chairman when she returned home and have to listen to various nagging for a long time anyway, she had planned to pretend not to know until he came back.

However, Hae-yeong couldn’t help but admire Taejun’s skillfulness in instantly resolving her deep worries and the series of events.

“Did the elder allow it? If he directly checks the site or something, he’ll quickly realize it’s a lie.”

Hae-yeong asked carefully while loosely gripping the spoon in her hand.

If the suspicious Gi Chairman made even one phone call to the Cheongsan Business Center construction site, this sandcastle-like peace they had carefully built could collapse in an instant.

However, unlike Hae-yeong who was worried about the consequences, Taejun’s complexion was excessively clear.

“I contacted the manager separately. I said I’d stop by briefly at dawn.”

His voice answering Hae-yeong’s concern was extremely calm.

Taejun had already blocked all routes that Gi Chairman’s suspicion might reach. His arrogance, as if winning over the manager who supervised all practical affairs was nothing to him, seemed terribly characteristic of Gi Tae-jun.

“…Thank you. I was worried about what excuse to make.”

She was sincere. The overwhelming feeling that had rushed over her upon waking disappeared like melting snow with Taejun’s few short answers.

Even if it sounded cowardly, right now his skillful deception felt like sweet salvation.

Taejun’s fidgeting fingertips stopped. He soon raised his head and stared intently at Hae-yeong.

“I’m the one who brought you here.”

His gaze slowly swept up from the corner of Hae-yeong’s lips to her eyes, which were swollen from crying for a long time last night.

It was a gaze too heavy to be called responsibility, and too cold to be called affection. Even through his glasses lenses, she could feel that coolness completely, so Hae-yeong kept her mouth tightly shut.

“…”

“I won’t make you worry about such things, so don’t think unnecessary thoughts and eat everything.”

Taejun moved his spoon indifferently again.

Hae-yeong instinctively realized that the range of unnecessary thoughts he mentioned included last night’s intimacy and worries about what would unfold in the future.

Honestly speaking, nothing had been clearly sorted out yet, but somehow one corner of her heart filled up reassuringly. She couldn’t tell whether the source of that trust was because it was Taejun, or because her innate temperament was easygoing.

What was certain was that as long as he was involved in her life, she had a strange conviction that at least for now, she wouldn’t fall off a cliff.

***

That night, well past midnight.

Jejun was wandering around the study shrouded in pitch-black darkness like a ghost, searching for something.

His phone’s flashlight emitted a thin beam of light, turning through the dense pile of documents in the drawer one by one.

The rustling sound of paper rang sharply through the space like noise cutting through the silence.

“It should definitely be here.”

The contract stating that Hae-yeong would be temporarily protected until she became an adult. There might be a definite clue in that piece of paper.

Jejun clearly remembered that strange scene right after Hae-yeong crossed the threshold of this house, when Gi Chairman had urged her to sign.

‘Don’t interfere recklessly. That girl is already getting ideas and saying she wants to move out all the time, and if her aunt’s matter gets added on top of that, it might become difficult for us to control her.’

True to his origins as an outstanding thug, Gi Chairman used to scoff at the legal effectiveness of documents and contracts.

Such a simple old man, swayed by the clever Gi Tae-jun’s logic, took on the role of a guardian that wasn’t in his nature and formally brought Hae-yeong into the house.

Moreover, having watched the entire process that led to creating a contract no different from a written pledge, he knew better than anyone.

Gi Chairman’s behavior of trying to forcibly keep her even in a situation where Hae-yeong’s aunt might very well be alive was highly suspicious.

Furthermore, even though he clearly knew the duplicitous nature of the woman newly brought into the house, Jejun also pondered over her words.

‘If I handle the kid well, how much would fall to my share? Why would I do such a stupid thing? Right? And you know how warmly I treat that Hae-yeong girl every time I see her. If you say things like that, I’m really hurt.’

He couldn’t understand the attitude of a woman wagging her tail to gain favor with Hae-yeong, who should be the easiest person to treat roughly in this house.

Crucially, Gi Chairman was someone who didn’t waste money or time on things that wouldn’t bring him substantial benefit.

To say it was out of respect for Je-won Group’s founder and his brother seemed insufficient, considering he knew how much Gi Chairman secretly hated and was hostile toward them.

That’s why it was even more puzzling.

Not just taking care of her briefly until she became independent, but not letting go even after she became an adult.

And the limitation of ‘until her aunt is found’ also seemed somehow suspicious.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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