This Man's Embrace
"Noona?"
In the midst of a situation so stifling she could barely breathe, An Hyeonju heard the word "noona" and turned her head.
In an instant, a familiar face appeared right before her eyes.
"Taewoong……."
His name slipped from her lips before she even realized it.
"What's going on?"
Ha Taewoong stepped in close. It was a single line that carried the unstoppable force of a real man.
"Hic……."
At Ha Taewoong's words, the sorrow she had been holding back exploded. She threw herself straight into the tall young man's embrace—an unconscious reaction after trembling in fear.
The world treated her like a professional athlete and heaped praise on her, but her own reality was different. She was still only in her early twenties, little more than a complete novice in society. On top of that, she had far less real-world experience than her peers. She had devoted herself solely to golf in pursuit of success. Now she was the one being coldly rejected by a world she barely understood.
The world was far colder and more dangerous than she had ever believed. When people saw a beautiful flower, they tried to pluck it. Even if left alone, insects swarmed from every direction.
Today was no different. She had earned her driver's license long ago, but it had been rotting away unused. This weekend she finally had a reason to drive herself. If she still had her old driving sponsor the way she did before everything fell apart, she would never have needed lessons. Circumstances were different now. At least she owned a car, so she could try. Her driving was still clumsy, so lessons were essential. She had registered for them without trouble and was on her way out.
She should have ignored him from the start—the man who openly scanned her body and fixed his bloodshot eyes on her. It was not the first time she had faced that kind of stare. That bastard, the chairman of Shinyang Financial Group, was the one who had driven her into this pit in the first place. This man was the same breed. There were men like him among the fathers and teachers at Cheonghwa High School. There were men like him among the golf galleries too—men who treated every woman, pro or amateur, as nothing more than eye candy. If someone claimed it was simply a mountain every female golfer had to climb, she would have had nothing to say. But this was not one of those cases. They treated her like a wildflower blooming by the roadside, insulted her, and tried to break her.
Slapping his face had been a mistake. She should have endured it, but the humiliation had been too much. And now this filthy bastard was trying to exploit even that. He was not the kind of man you could reason with. The watching eyes of the people around them only stoked her anger further. There was no one here except curious bystanders content to stand by while someone else suffered.
At the moment of greatest crisis, Ha Taewoong appeared before her eyes as if by miracle—the male student who had left such a powerful impression after only one brief meeting.
"Noona, are you okay?"
A soft, warm voice sank into her ears. With a quiet rustle he naturally wrapped one arm around her and drew her in. A protector the heavens themselves had sent for her.
"You—you! Who the hell are you?!"
The man who had been relentlessly cornering her shouted.
"Deaf? I'm Taewoong. Hyeonju noona's little brother."
"You little shit, talking down to an adult like that?! You're clearly a high school brat with no manners!"
A classic geezer—the kind of "adult" whose only real pride was his age. It seemed some things never changed no matter how much time you rewound or fast-forwarded.
"Is there an adult here? Where? All I see is a horny dog sexually harassing a powerless woman."
"D-dog? Did you just call me a dog? You little fucking bastard, flapping that hole of a mouth! Do you even know who I am?"
He snarled like a beast, his voice booming through the lounge. An Hyeonju was too terrified to lift her head. She had never faced such an unreasonable, arrogant man in her life.
"And do you know who I am?"
Ha Taewoong's bold, heavy counterquestion came flying back like a fastball.
"Isn't that a Cheonghwa High uniform?"
"You're right. He's a Cheonghwa High student."
"Oh my, how… that man just stepped in it. Fearlessly picking a fight with a Cheonghwa High kid…"
The Gangnam aunties were quick on the uptake. They whispered among themselves based on everything they knew about Cheonghwa High—the elite school attended mainly by the children of Korea's most prestigious families. Living in Gangnam was not enough to get in; it was the top high school in the country.
"C-Cheonghwa?"
The man was not unfamiliar with the name either. The vast majority of its students' parents belonged to Korea's mainstream upper class. A student from that school?
He swallowed dryly as reality sank in. He had been full of bluster, but compared to the parents of Cheonghwa High he had nothing to say. He ran a golf sports shop in Gangnam. Assets in the tens of billions were pocket change next to those families. If word got out, his business could collapse overnight.
His face turned a sickly yellow and cold sweat poured down his back. A year earlier he had been caught drunk driving and had his license revoked. He was taking the required classes to get it back after the disqualification period. That was when he ran into An Hyeonju today.
Because he ran a golf shop, he paid more attention to the sport than most people. In particular he closely followed—and lusted after—the beautiful female golfers. Realistically, though, he never had a chance to meet them. Rounds with top-tier beauty golfers were a privilege reserved for the socially successful, and he had always been bitterly jealous of that fact.
And today An Hyeonju had walked straight into his path—the unfortunate pro who vanished from the golf world after the scandal with the Shinyang Financial Group chairman. Rumors of her affair with a married man had spread through the industry like wildfire. Among the glamorous beauties of the tour, An Hyeonju had always been known for her iron self-discipline. But the man had deliberately needled her with the gossip. It was not made-up, and he had not cared about defamation. He simply wanted to provoke her. A golf-star prospect he would almost never brush past again if he let today slip by.
When the reaction he wanted finally appeared, pleasure surged through him. Watching her flinch at a few carefully chosen words had been enjoyable. A little more pressure and he was sure he could make her cry. The destructive urge to smash what he could never possess had been writhing inside him.
The summit had been right in front of him—until a male high school student suddenly interfered. Instant bad luck. The kid was well over 180 centimeters. For a second the man almost mistook him for some actor. Disgustingly handsome. Short hair, cold presence. He was clearly wearing a high school uniform, yet his aura was so far from a student's that the man could have sworn it was a tailored suit.
And then—
"What's an uncle like you supposed to be? Chaebol family? Chief prosecutor at the Central District Prosecutors' Office? Or at least a Gangnam building owner?"
One reality-check after another. None of them applied to him.
"Th-then what the hell are you?!"
Pride scraped raw, the man snapped back. Not every Cheonghwa parent was rolling in money. He knew a few acquaintances whose kids went there. Some of his regular customers were even ordinary prosecutors and mid-level officials.
"Uncle… don't you like living in Korea?"
"……Wh-who the hell do you think you are……"
"Ha. Tae. Woong. Not ringing a bell? The Ha surname. Still not feeling it?"
"No way…… Ha… Haryun Group?"
"Oh my. That's right—the Ha surname is distinctive."
"If he's at Cheonghwa High it has to be Haryun……"
"Good heavens… seeing the young master of the Haryun Group right here."
The aunties caught on first and began chattering excitedly.
"Ha… Haryun…… Ugh."
Only then did the man's eyes begin to shake violently. The shift from suspicion to pure terror was almost comical. Anyone who lived in Gangnam knew exactly how far certain group families could reach. An ordinary Gangnam resident could lose their entire livelihood on a single word from people like that.
"Getting the idea now?"
"A-An Hyeonju Pro and……"
"Pro."
Ha Taewoong corrected him coldly.
"What is your relationship with the Pro……"
"Our school's golf teacher. Privately, she's my noona. Clear?"
"……"
The man fell silent as if he had swallowed honey. He had truly picked the wrong fight. Cheonghwa High's golf instructor was not someone he could take lightly.
"Apologize. Kneel. Right now."
The command was ice-cold. The man glanced around in panic. Every curious auntie's gaze was fixed on him. Among them was even one madam he recognized by face. Kneeling here would make him a complete laughingstock.
But—
"Should I call my personal lawyer? Uncle, you do realize you've already crossed into sexual harassment and insult, right?"
As expected of someone from a major group family, he was thoroughly familiar with the law. Not just anyone kept a personal attorney on retainer. That alone left no room for doubt—he was Haryun blood.
Thud.
The man dropped to his knees. Protecting his pride against an opponent this powerful was impossible. Better to squeeze his eyes shut and beg for mercy right now.
"An Hyeonju Pro…… I'm sorry. Please forgive me……"
The words crawled out of his throat, still clinging to whatever scraps of dignity he had left.
"Specifically. Put real sincerity into it so the victim can actually feel it."
The male student's voice rang through the space like a stern judge's verdict.
"Why so shy all of a sudden? Shout it the way you were shouting earlier. Right now!"
"I-I'm sorry! I flapped my mouth without knowing a damn thing! Please, in your great generosity, show me mercy!!"
Thud!
He slammed his forehead against the floor. Instinct told him this was his last chance—one wrong move and worthless pride would get him socially buried.
"Noona, will you accept the apology?"
Ha Taewoong asked the woman still leaning into his chest. An Hyeonju turned her head just enough to look at the man with his face pressed to the floor.
"……Yeah. It's not enough, but……"
After receiving the apology, An Hyeonju's face flushed faintly. Only now, after the humiliation and terror of moments earlier, did she fully register that she was still held in Ha Taewoong's arms. Yet she wanted to stay like this just a little longer.
In that brief instant, An Hyeonju thought: Ha Taewoong, this high school boy's embrace…… is so warm.