Seol-ah's Icy Fury and Eternal Vow
"Is this the grand merger plan for acquiring a massive conglomerate that you dare bring before me?"
My voice, cold as ice, instantly froze the air in the vast conference room. The executives—dressed in their impeccably tailored, top-of-the-line suits and pulling in billions in annual salaries—shrank back under my sharp gaze, their faces paling as they stared at the floor.
Incompetent, lazy fools. Even if billions were at stake in this project, to me it was just meaningless number games. The fact that my precious minutes were being wasted reviewing this garbage pile of papers filled me with unbearable disgust and irritation.
My mind was consumed with one thought: escape this boring space as quickly as possible and rush to the only light in my world.
That's when it happened. My smartphone, resting on my lap under the desk, lit up with a short vibration.
In an instant, the chilling rage and murderous intent dominating me vanished without a trace, like a lie. Just taking in the two words 'Jinwoo' on the screen made my rigidly hardened heart melt like sweet cotton candy.
The executives trembling before me moments ago were completely erased from my sight. The world's noise faded, and only the warm breath of that kind man beyond the screen seemed to reach me.
I bit my lip hard to suppress the smile trying to break free, then quickly typed a reply, pouring in my endless grievance and longing that this meeting with these incompetents was dragging on, delaying my time to pick up my Jinwoo.
Aah. How could even these simple lines of text be so pretty and tender? I wanted to smash through the door of this stuffy conference room right then and bury my cheek in his broad, warm embrace.
Other people's gazes meant nothing. The center of my world was solely Kang Jinwoo, and this vast wealth and power I held existed only as tools to bind him perfectly by my side and make him the happiest man in the world.
I gently stroked the phone screen with my fingertip, then fixed my gaze forward with eyes gone cold once more.
"Meeting's over."
"Pardon? B-but, Director, we still have the risk analysis section..."
"Risk analysis? Start by analyzing the risk of losing your heads and rewrite it. If a perfect revision isn't on my desk by 9 a.m. tomorrow, I'll accept the resignations of every executive in this room."
I rose abruptly and strode toward the conference room door. Gasps of shock and despairing sighs erupted behind me from their ashen faces, but it was none of my concern.
The only thing that mattered was the time my man would spend waiting for me on that bench.
"Chief Secretary. Have the car ready now. Heading to the university."
In the back seat of the custom-made luxury limousine speeding toward campus, my fingertips trembled with impatience. This morning, Jinwoo had been wearing the premium cardigan I'd personally selected with utmost care—his broad shoulders, kind eyes, that dazzling smile he gave me. The mere thought of other things ogling him made my insides burn black with jealousy.
I read the KakaoTalk message from Jinwoo dozens of times, trying to calm myself, but the deep-rooted possessiveness and primal anxiety wouldn't settle easily.
Ten years. Through that long, horrific time, I'd endured clutching only the worn crayon ticket paper he'd left me, pressed to my heart. In the cold, vast mansion without even my parents' warmth, amid the suffocating pressure of heir training, the only salvation that let me breathe was the warm smile Jinwoo gave me.
A world without him was hell itself. So now that he'd circled back into my arms, I wanted him under my perfect control, no matter the means.
Before long, the car entered the university campus gate. I flung the door open before it fully stopped and stepped out, glaring sharply at the burly bodyguards scrambling to follow and ordering them to stay put. Jinwoo would feel burdened.
My heels clicked alone as I hurried across the quiet campus grounds. There, by the library bench where cherry blossoms fluttered like snow, I spotted at a distance the sturdy back of my brilliantly shining man—unmistakable.
I let out an unconscious sigh of relief, my stiff lips curving softly—until it happened.
My vision caught an unwelcome intruder who had no business in my man's radius: a female student in a fluttering white dress, forcing a frail expression, holding out a cheap envelope letter hidden behind her back and a chocolate box with a ribbon toward my Jinwoo.
In that instant, the taut string of my reason snapped with a sharp twang.
How dare she. What gutter trash dares touch my Jinwoo?
My steps quickened unconsciously, thick with killing intent.
"S-Sunbae, I really like you. W-Will you... go out with me?"
Hearing that bold confession spill from her disgusting lips, I vowed to bulldoze the entire campus and erase her family from the map of Korea.
The cheap artificial peach perfume stench pierced through my multimillion-won custom scent, twisting my stomach. Only the finest air and fragrances I'd selected were permitted around my Jinwoo. I couldn't tolerate even that vulgar smell touching him.
"Oh my, who's this blushing and standing before someone else's boyfriend?"
I slipped between them with an icy smile bordering on sneer. At my appearance and voice, the girl's face drained to ghostly white with terror. I flicked the nauseating chocolate box to the ground with my fingertips—a light warning for her shallow, arrogant ploy.
I pulled out my smartphone from my coat pocket and dialed the HQ info team chief. The moment her name left her lips, I needed only three minutes. In three, I could vaporize every business her parents had built and bury them in debt on the streets.
I'd teach her bone-deep the horrific cost of coveting my Jinwoo.
"Seol-ah! Stop!!"
But as I was about to issue merciless orders, Jinwoo rose from the bench and grabbed my wrist.
"Hang up, Seol-ah. I'll handle it. Okay?"
His eyes meeting mine—firm yet endlessly warm—made the raging fury inside me fizzle out like a lie. The hot warmth from his large palm around my wrist gently soothed the uncontrollable monster within.
I clicked my tongue and hung up without regret. If my Jinwoo would handle it himself, delaying this bug extermination was fine.
And his next words were sweeter, more ecstatic than any grand symphony I'd ever heard.
"I have a girlfriend."
Jinwoo interlaced our fingers tightly, pulling me snug against his side. His solid body against my shoulder filled me with perfect relief.
"The person I love most in the world, the one I've promised to spend my life with. No one else exists in my eyes but her, and that won't change."
Aah. In that moment, golden fireworks exploded by the thousands in my mind. Amid any crowd, even if the world crumbled, he'd choose only me—a flawless, dazzling vow free of calculation.
The girl, shocked by his firm rejection, fled sobbing, but she was already irrelevant. My vision overflowed with only Kang Jinwoo, gazing tenderly down at me, gripping my hand—the universe itself.
Ten years of gnawing anxiety and burning thirst quenched perfectly in this brief affirmation.
"See? I put up a total iron wall."
His face, grinning while gauging my mood, that playful glint—too lovable. I couldn't hold back, standing on tiptoe to wrap my arms tight around his thick neck.
"Aww, our Jinwoo is so pretty I could die! When you said 'the person I've promised to spend my life with' to that girl, I thought my heart would burst!"
Ignoring all gazes around us, I showered his cheeks with endless kisses, pouring out the overwhelming joy bubbling inside without restraint.
Jinwoo, a bit shy, wrapped his arms around my waist and asked worriedly about the meeting, but that was irrelevant. How could a mere multibillion merger compare to my man's perfect love confession?
Even if the company crumbled, as long as I had Kang Jinwoo, that was enough.
I gazed up at him for a long while, a thick, sweet smile on my lips.
"Jinwoo-ya."
For this perfect sense of victory and relief he'd given me today, I'd repay in my own way—thoroughly, heavily.
"Our Jinwoo did something so perfectly pretty today, so I have to give you an amazing reward, right?"
"Huh? Reward? You don't have to..."
"No, I absolutely do. I cleared my entire afternoon schedule."
I gripped his hand tight, leading him toward the massive black sedan waiting heavily.
This perfect man who, for me, would erase the world around him and leave only me in his. This afternoon, and every moment granted to us from now on.
I'd lock him in the deepest, most secret, most lavish part of my world, pour out all my wealth and love to cherish him utterly.
So sweetly, so viciously, he'd never even dream of escaping me.
I'd make him the happiest prisoner in the world.