Whisper Chapter 15

“I thought I was going to die of fear. Just thinking about how much I trembled that day, phew.”  

 

Cha Gyeol did not accept Chairman Choi as his father. Already over 180 cm tall when he was in middle school, Cha Gyeol was following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather.  

 

Chairman Choi, who had only watched as Cha Gyeol treated him not as a father but as a filthy bastard, reappeared in front of him five years ago.  

 

And back then, Cha Gyeol—  

 

“Who did he take after to have such a temperament?”  

 

He had visited Chairman Choi, reduced his office to a war zone as if a bomb had dropped, and disappeared without a trace.  

 

Chairman Choi did not allow any security guards or personnel to enter and simply watched everything unfold.  

 

Meanwhile, Secretary Lee, standing beside him, trembled uncontrollably, unsure of what to do. He was so tense, fearing something might happen to Chairman Choi, that he ended up suffering from a severe illness afterward.  

 

The entire ordeal lasted barely thirty minutes.  

 

Cha Gyeol’s face remained expressionless as he swung the steel pipe, and his precise, efficient movements were so graceful that they only heightened the terror.  

 

The cost of restoring the office, which had been completely destroyed, was equivalent to several years’ worth of an average employee’s salary—excluding the price of the famous paintings that had been hanging on the walls and the valuable ceramics acquired through difficult auctions.  

 

“It seems he was not himself after all.”  

 

After twenty years, he could finally say such a thing.  

 

Chairman Choi let out a low chuckle and sipped his now lukewarm tea.  

 

“Keep someone on Assemblyman Im.”  

 

“Yes, Chairman.”  

 

Chairman Choi showed the most emotion when talking about Cha Gyeol. As his secretary, the main part of his job revolved around Cha Gyeol. At first, he had been dissatisfied with taking on such tasks after joining the company, but at some point, he realized—this was the most important thing to Chairman Choi.  

 

And that the work he was doing, the preparations he was making, were far from trivial.  

 

However, Secretary Lee did not yet know that the future Chairman Choi envisioned was approaching fast.  

 

***

 

At this rate, she might as well as go right inside the pad.  

 

Cha Gyeol had already pulled Lee Heewoo away from the pad screen more times than he could count.  

 

“I shouldn’t have given it to you.”  

 

But it seemed Lee Heewoo couldn’t even hear Cha Gyeol’s words. Cha Gyeol stared in disbelief at how completely immersed she was in the pad.  

 

Her large eyes sparkled, constantly reflecting different lights, and her full lips were slightly parted from intense concentration.  

 

That state was her default, but depending on the changing scenes, her eyes would grow wider, her mouth would open more, or her large eyes would narrow.  

 

[Look carefully into my eyes.]  

 

[Why?]  

 

[Because only you’re in them.]  

 

Damn it, what kind of lousy dialogue is this? Cha Gyeol clenched his teeth to stop himself from cursing out loud.  

 

But why were her pupils wavering, and why was her face heating up over such a ridiculous line?  

 

Seeing Lee Heewoo watching a drama as if it were the most thrilling thing in the world—one that screamed of Jang Pal-yong’s style—gave Cha Gyeol a headache.  

 

[You should close your eyes.]  

 

His ears were about to rot. Supporting his temple with his fingers, he tilted his head slightly, when suddenly, a wet rubbing sound filled the air. Cha Gyeol rolled his eyes upward in frustration.  

 

Are they crazy? They show this kind of thing in dramas now? The sound effects were so explicit—why not just go all the way and show everything? Just as he was thinking that—  

 

Gulp.  

 

The sound of swallowing caught Cha Gyeol’s attention.  

 

His gaze shifted, and he locked eyes with Lee Heewoo, who, startled by her own swallowing, turned her head in shock.  

 

Finally, Lee Heewoo, who had been completely absorbed in the drama, registered Cha Gyeol’s presence.  

 

Her face, frozen in place as reality hit her, turned visibly redder by the second.  

 

“Give it here.”  

 

Cha Gyeol motioned with his index finger, and Lee Heewoo hesitated before slowly handing over the pad. Her glossy black pupils darted around, scanning Cha Gyeol’s face.  

 

“This is harmful content. It’s bullshit, so stop watching this garbage.”  

 

Cha Gyeol turned off the pad. Giving a smart device to someone with zero immunity was a mistake. He should have had her watch documentaries instead. Or educational programs. Tsk. Clicking his tongue, Cha Gyeol tossed the pad onto the spot where Jang Pal-yong had been sitting. If Jang Pal-yong had seen that, he would have flipped out.  

 

“My lady, once you get hooked on this kind of stuff, there’s no coming back.”  

 

The sight of Lee Heewoo still clutching her fork tightly made Cha Gyeol chuckle. He playfully tapped the tip of Lee Heewoo’s nose. Her perfect nose shape, accented by a tiny black mole, only added to her charm.  

 

Lee Heewoo touched her nose and smacked her lips. The images from the screen kept replaying in her mind as she looked at Cha Gyeol, her heart pounding in an unsettling rhythm.  

 

It seemed Cha Gyeol was right—this really was something she shouldn’t be watching. It wasn’t so much that it was entertaining; rather, it was so strange and fascinating that she couldn’t tear her eyes away.  

 

“…I think you are right.”  

 

Lee Heewoo placed a hand over her chest and murmured softly. Cha Gyeol’s gaze darkened.  

 

As he looked at Lee Heewoo, an inexplicable heaviness welled up in his chest.  

 

“My heart was racing the whole time I was watching, but now that I’m looking at you, it kind of hurts here.”  

 

Even though he knew it was just a meaningless remark, Cha Gyeol’s long eyes curved slightly and narrowed.

 

It felt as if the blood in his entire body was rampaging savagely. A powerful impulse overwhelmed him. He clenched and unclenched his large hands, trying to control his emotions, but the impulse only grew stronger.

 

Cha Gyeol knew exactly what this impulse was.

 

Fuck, this is a disaster.  

 

He loathed having his life controlled by someone else. His mother, who had failed in love and raised a fatherless son, had a profound influence on Cha Gyeol. Whether it was because he had been born without a father or because it was simply in his nature, Cha Gyeol had never sought out his father or been curious about him.

 

His mother never explicitly mentioned his father to him either, but Cha Gyeol knew that she still couldn’t forget and continued to love his biological father.

 

How could she not?

 

She had hidden unread, nameless letters deep in her wardrobe and wasted away in sorrow.

 

Unable to let go of her love, his mother ultimately passed away from an overdose when Cha Gyeol was seven years old. She had taken too many sleeping pills because she couldn’t sleep. His maternal grandfather, who had spent his life in the underworld, fell ill from grief after losing his only daughter.  

 

When Cha Gyeol grew older and learned the truth, it reinforced his aversion to allowing people close to him and intensified his hatred of having his life dictated by others.

 

His biological father was a member of one of the most prominent chaebol families in South Korea. However, due to family opposition, he abandoned Cha Gyeol’s mother. Though he had wealth beyond measure, his mother, who came from a gangster family, was never accepted.

 

What was worse, that man had known about the pregnancy.

 

Yet he refused to acknowledge the child as his own and cut ties with the mother, maintaining an attitude of complete indifference.

 

It was utterly pathetic. What was love, that it could lead to this? What was family, that it held such power? What was a child, that he could be discarded so easily?

 

That was why Cha Gyeol never gave his heart to anyone. He maintained an appropriate distance in his relationships and had never allowed anyone close.

 

And yet—

 

He found himself keeping someone close, feeling a sexual urge toward them. And that person was just a kid who had only just turned twenty.

 

Maybe it was because it had been a while since he had last emptied his balls. Cha Gyeol, considering the possibility with rational suspicion, thought about calling a woman to fuck.

 

“…Sir?”

 

Lee Heewoo tilted her head slightly and called out to Cha Gyeol. There was something about the look in her eyes that felt terrifying.

 

“I won’t watch those anymore. I’ll listen to you.”

 

Did this kid even understand how those words sounded?  

 

Cha Gyeol leaned his head back and exhaled a sigh. He didn’t dislike it. In fact, the problem was that he liked it too much.

 

“Little miss.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Don’t say things like that to just anyone.”

 

“Oh, uh, but I only said it because it’s just you. You told me to listen to you, didn’t you?”

 

Fucking hell, what was this kid thinking, trusting people so easily?

 

“Yeah, only say that to me. Only me.”

 

He spouted nonsense without a second thought.

 

When he slightly turned his tilted head to look at Lee Heewoo, the girl pursed her lips tightly and nodded, as if she understood.

 

The realization that she had now stepped onto the wrong path made Cha Gyeol let out a hollow laugh.

 

Mocking himself, he reached out and poked Lee Heewoo’s cheek. It felt soft and springy. He started to pull his hand away but ended up poking it a few more times.

 

“This is insane.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“No, not you, miss.”

 

Lee Heewoo, looking puzzled, blinked rapidly. Her cheeks, which had reddened from just a few pokes, made her look even more bewildered.

 

Cha Gyeol quickly stood up and stepped away.

 

“You know what a phone is, right?”

 

While Lee Heewoo had been absorbed in a drama earlier, an employee had discreetly brought over a phone box.

 

Cha Gyeol picked up the phone, which was the same model and color as his own. When he turned it on, it was already set up with several apps. The number assigned to the phone had the same last digits as his own.