Chapter 25
Screech.
The Bentley slid to a stop in the underground parking lot of a high-rise building in Gangnam, its destination. As the engine turned off, Hye-jeong looked into the rearview mirror, neatly swept back her disheveled hair, and reapplied red lipstick to her glistening lips.
"Hoo..."
She took a short, deep breath. It wasn't just a simple breath. It was a ritual to shed the mask of a 'lewd female' who had just moments ago felt pleasure from her son's touch, and to return to being the 'Queen of Myeong-dong' who commanded hundreds of billions in assets.
"Let's go, son. I'll show you how Mom works."
"Yes, President-nim."
As I replied playfully and opened the car door, men in suits who had been waiting were lined up, bowing 90 degrees at the waist.
"Welcome! CEO-nim!"
Their booming greeting echoed through the parking lot. Hye-jeong walked proudly through them, without even a glance.
Click. Click. Click.
The sharp click of her high heels pressing down on the marble floor sounded particularly piercing. As her sleek, shapely legs, extending from beneath her short miniskirt, moved, the managers' gazes remained fixed on the floor, not daring to lift their heads.
(Wow... Look at this complete change in atmosphere. Is this really the same woman who was just sucking on my finger?)
I shook my head in disbelief and followed her. The place we arrived at after taking the elevator was the management office and conference room located on the top floor of the building.
As she sat at the head of the table and crossed her legs, middle-aged men, including the building manager, sweated nervously as they pushed stacks of documents forward.
"This is the vacancy rate report for this month, and the current status of tenants in the underground arcade. Also, the director of the hospital on the third floor has requested a rent reduction..."
"A rent reduction? Their sales last month were up 15% compared to the previous year, so what are you talking about? Refuse it. Tell them to leave if they don't like it."
"Ah, yes! Understood!"
"And the marble floor in the lobby has lost its shine. Change the management company. I can't stand to see even a single scratch in my building."
Hye-jeong's voice was as cold as frost. An unapproachable charisma emanated from her as she tapped the documents with the tip of her ballpoint pen, issuing instructions.
I sat on a sofa in a corner of the conference room and watched the scene blankly.
(Vacancy rate? Break-even point? Maintenance Reserve Fund? ...I can't understand any of it.)
To be honest, I thought being a building owner was just a job where you sat back and collected rent regularly. But the back-and-forth conversation sounded like alien language. All I knew was the chilling aura she was currently exuding.
(I really... messed with an incredible woman. Those strict and scary people are practically crawling on the floor.)
However, my gaze wasn't on the documents, but directed under the table.
Underneath the conference table, which had a translucent glass top, Hye-jeong's crossed legs were faintly visible.
The managers were intimidated by her sharp, icy gaze and couldn't even lift their heads, but I knew.
(That beneath her confident demeanor... she was actually wearing crotchless panties.)
Even at the very moment she was shouting, "Change the management company," her secret place beneath her miniskirt would be moist with the vaginal fluid I had applied earlier.
She might be pretending to be calm and enduring it, rubbing her thighs against the edge of the table.
Public charisma and private lewdness.
That stark discrepancy excited me to no end.
(Those people wouldn't even imagine it. That the queen scolding them had actually just swallowed her son's semen.)
Just then, Hye-jeong, who was reviewing documents, glanced at me.
As our eyes met, her cold eyes softened for a brief, very subtle moment, and she sent me a wink.
I cleared my throat and adjusted my posture. However, as the meeting dragged on, I started to get restless.
Hye-jeong's way of severely scolding the managers was interesting at first, but due to the rampant use of incomprehensible terminology, I quickly grew bored.
(Mom will handle it well anyway, right? Should I get a cup of coffee?)
I stretched my stiff back and stood up. I was just about to head to the pantry located in a corner of the conference room.
Click.
The heavy conference room door opened, and with the sharp click-clack of heels, someone entered.
"Unnie, a call from Lawyer Kim... Oh?"
It was a sophisticated woman with a bob haircut, clutching a luxury clutch bag in one arm. Wearing a form-fitting cream-colored suit dress, she boasted a dazzling beauty no less than Hye-jeong's, but her aura was distinctly different.
If Hye-jeong was a ripe red rose, should I say this woman was more like a cold, haughty lily? With sharp eyes and an intellectual aura, she was the quintessential 'cold city woman' type.
She entered with quick steps and came face-to-face with me, who was heading to the pantry.
"Ah."
(Uh... who is this? Mom's secretary? Or an executive? She's really beautiful, isn't she?)
I had no idea who she was. But since we had met in a narrow hallway, I instinctively moved aside to make way for her.
"Ah, I apologize. Please go ahead."
I even gave a slight bow and gestured with my hand to guide her. It was an extremely sensible and polite action. But her reaction was unexpected.
"......?!"
The moment she saw me, she flinched as if she had seen a ghost, and froze on the spot. Her seemingly haughty eyes trembled greatly with bewilderment.
"K-Kim Minho... you?"
She tightened her grip on the clutch bag, and with a gaze mixed with wariness and bewilderment, she scrutinized me from head to toe.
(What the? Why is she so surprised? She knows my name, so she must be someone important, huh?)
A typical employee would have bowed subserviently to me, the Young Master, but she called me by my name, using informal language. However, since I couldn't remember who she was, I calmly maintained my smile and spoke softly once more.
"Do you know me?"
"......Huh?"
A disbelieving gasp escaped the woman's lips. She alternated her gaze between my face and the space I had moved from, unable to close her mouth.
"You don't recognize me, do you?"
"Huh? Ah, yes..."
At her words, I shrugged my shoulders. But at my reaction, her eyes changed even more strangely.
"......Seriously? You're not playing a trick on me, are you?"
She took another step closer to me, as if she couldn't believe it. With a click of her heels, as the distance between us narrowed, the cool yet subtle 'cool water' scent emanating from her body intensely stimulated my nostrils. Her sharp eyes behind her glasses persistently pierced into the depths of my pupils as if trying to see through me.
"How... how can you say you don't know me, even after seeing me? Of all people, you?"
Her voice contained not just bewilderment, but a deep sense of betrayal and dismay. Just what kind of relationship did the previous owner have with this beauty for her to make such a devastated expression at a single word of 'I don't know'?
(Doesn't seem like a creditor... Maybe an ex-girlfriend? Or an older woman he was seeing? Damn it, just how complicated were this bastard Kim Minho's relationships with women?)
I feigned a troubled expression and scratched the back of my head. Whoever she was, it wouldn't be good to make an enemy of such a beautiful woman. The best course of action was to be as polite and pitiful as possible.
"I'm truly sorry. I was in an accident recently."
"An accident...?"
"Yes. I injured my head a bit... so my memory isn't entirely intact. If you don't mind me asking, may I ask who you are?"
At my polite apology, her lips trembled slightly. As if her momentum to argue had been broken, she pressed her pale, slender hand to her forehead.
"Haa..."
A deep, long sigh escaped her lips. That sigh was mixed with a sense of futility and complex, unexplainable emotions. She slightly pushed up her glasses and looked at me again with moist eyes.
(Wow... even her sigh looks like a photoshoot. Seeing a haughty career woman make such a broken expression... it somehow makes my desire for conquest boil even more?)
I observed her reaction and swallowed a lewd admiration inwardly. She stared at me silently for a moment, then shook her head and spoke with resignation.
"......Never mind. What's the point of explaining it here now?"
"Um, but at least your name..."
"Later. You'll find out later. Whether you want to or not."
Leaving behind a meaningful remark, she turned her body as if cutting off lingering attachment.
"Alright. Thanks for moving aside."
With a cold, distant expression, but leaving some room for possibility somewhere, she began to walk away down the corridor, click-clack.
Swish. Click. Swish.
Her tight cream-colored dress stretched taut with the movement of her hips, creating a breathtaking rear view. I stood there blankly, unable to take my eyes off her receding figure.
(She has a body like Miranda Kerr, doesn't she? At that level, even Kim Minho of this world would go crazy for her, wouldn't he?)
While it was a little disappointing compared to the large breasts of Mom or his sister, her slender height and well-proportioned figure were enough to captivate even Kim Minho of this world, who was a fanatic for slender women.
Click. Click.
I watched her retreating figure until the sound of her high heels gradually faded away. Every time her cream-colored dress stretched taut with her stride, the hip line extending below her slender waist formed a curve that was not excessive yet full of elasticity, and her swaying buttocks, with every step, possessed a magical power that instinctively drew a man's gaze.