Chapter 10

　　Her voice, no longer refined, screeched at his ears. "He dragged your rotting carcass back from America to try and marry you off before it’s too late, and you can’t even break your old habits! Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to cover up your debauchery every single day?"

　　Taegyeom winced, plugging one ear with his little finger as if bothered by the noise. Madam Shin’s furious tantrum had absolutely no effect on him. In fact, he looked amused.

　　Behind her, Incheol hovered with a bewildered expression, wringing his hands. Taegyeom gestured with his chin toward the passenger seat, a silent order for Incheol to get in.

　　Torn between placating the mistress and obeying his new master, Incheol shot a desperate look at Manager Gong, entrusting him with the aftermath, and reluctantly climbed into the car.

　　Vroom.

　　The engine roared to life. Unable to contain her rage, Jua kicked the car’s tire with a loud thud.

　　"You lived like a profligate in America, waving your dick around with the money the Chairman sent you! Isn’t it about time you got bored of playing with women?"

　　The rear window slid down a few inches. Taegyeom’s eyes appeared in the gap, and he smiled at Jua, a fresh, bright smile.

　　"You’d think so. But it’s not boring at all. Why would something so good ever get boring?"

　　"What? You shameless…! I’m just telling you to at least keep the rumors down! Did anyone tell you to stop seeing women altogether?" Jua screamed, her pale cheeks flushed with fury as she stared into his gently curved eyes. "Find your release quietly with the women they provide for you here, and act respectable outside so you don’t tarnish the Kwon family name! Is that too much for you to understand?"

　　"My mother certainly has powerful lungs," Taegyeom remarked to the driver. "Let’s go. There’s nothing more to hear."

　　The sedan began to glide out of the garage. In its wake, Jua’s sharp screams echoed off the concrete walls.

　　"If you had been just a little smarter, the Chairman would have brought you back to Korea years ago! Who do you have to blame but yourself? Who’s the one with the bad brain?"

　　Part 3

　　"And just like that, the Madam took to her bed, felled by a splitting headache, I tell you!"

　　"The air around here has been tense enough to walk on, but it finally cracked. It finally blew up."

　　In the staff quarters’ kitchen, the employees sat huddled on a large mat, their voices lowered to conspiratorial whispers. For the past few days, it was the one topic that inevitably arose whenever two or more of them gathered.

　　"I heard the Chairman found out, summoned the Eldest Young Master to the main house that evening, and beat him half to death."

　　"Is that true? That man? It feels like a crime just to look at him, he’s so precious."

　　"How would I know for sure? All I know is, Lee saw Manager Gong running with a golf club right after the Eldest Young Master went into the Chairman’s study. They weren’t in there practicing their swing, so what else could it be?"

　　"But does the Chairman even have the strength to beat a man that big? What if his blood pressure spikes and he collapses again?"

　　"The Young Master must have just let him. Surely he wouldn’t raise a hand against his own father, a man over sixty."

　　The rumor of the war of words between Jua Shin and Taegyeom Kwon had spread like wildfire, gaining new, unverified details with each retelling.

　　"I don’t know how badly he was beaten, but there were no marks on him. I saw him getting out of his car earlier, and he looked so radiant, I couldn’t help but think he’d be the perfect husband for my daughter."

　　"My goodness! You’d better watch what you say!"

　　The staff, gathered around a mountain of green plums, cackled with laughter. Chef Kim picked up a plum and began methodically poking holes in it with a toothpick.

　　"Still," he mused, "I doubt the Chairman would actually go so far as to hit him."

　　Under the head cook’s supervision, the kitchen staff was busy preparing plums for syrup. Chef Kim tossed his finished plum into an adjacent basket. Yiseo mechanically pitted the fruit, her thoughts drifting to Taegyeom Kwon.

　　Leaving aside his formidable physique, which seemed to defy any attack, she simply couldn’t picture that arrogant man—a man who looked as though he’d never bowed his head to anyone—being beaten by someone else.

　　"Oh, for heaven’s sake, look at the time. I was only going to sit until ten," Matron Seosan exclaimed, glancing at the wall clock and scrambling to her feet. All eyes turned to her.

　　"You’re headed to the annex, right?" one of the women asked. "While you’re cleaning, take a good look. See if he was really hit. If the Chairman used a golf club, there’s bound to be a mark."

　　"I’m in and out of there every day, but I barely ever see him. And even if he was hit, do you think he’d let me see? He has too much pride for that." Matron Seosan tutted, unfolding the apron from her pocket and tying it around her waist.

　　Yiseo tossed another pitted plum into the basket and quietly rose to follow her. "I’ll go help you."

　　"Alright. He had friends over again last night, music blasting until all hours. How am I supposed to clean that mess alone? Honestly, for someone who lived in America for twenty years, it’s a miracle he has so many friends in Korea."

　　"The rich run in the same circles," Chef Kim remarked. "They’re all just the son of this corporation or the daughter of that one. They grow up together, and when it’s time, they marry each other to keep the status in the family. Yiseo, you can give Matron Seosan a hand today. You’ll have your work cut out for you."

　　The other staff members murmured their sympathies and returned to their plums. Their conversation had already moved on to a heated debate about how long the Madam would remain bedridden.

　　As Yiseo followed her out, Matron Seosan gestured with her chin back toward the gossiping staff. "They’ve got a good rhythm now; they don’t need you. Just stay here and help with the plums."

　　"But it’ll be faster with two of us."

　　"Oh, it’s fine," Matron Seosan insisted, shaking her head with a frown. "There are things in there you shouldn’t have to see. It’s just… a mess. I’m better off going alone."

　　The memory of Yiseo seeing the sordid aftermath of a sexual encounter near the jacuzzi still clearly bothered her.

　　"I don’t mind things like that," Yiseo said with a calm smile.

　　Matron Seosan shot her a look as if she’d just said the most ridiculous thing in the world. "Why wouldn’t you mind? What’s so great about seeing that kind of filth that you’d volunteer for it? No. Stay here. They’re delivering garlic from Uiseong later. You can help peel that."

　　"I’ll help with the annex, and I’ll peel the garlic too."

　　"Why are you trying to do everything? They don’t pay you enough for all that."

　　"They pay me very well," Yiseo insisted, trailing after her through the side door. "Manager Gong told me to keep it a secret, but he said he gave me much more than the standard trainee salary."

　　Suddenly, Matron Seosan stopped dead in her tracks. She turned, a troubled expression on her face, and hesitated before blurting out, "Well, the thing is… the other day, the Young Master called me over. He said he’d prefer if no one other than the designated staff entered the annex."

　　"…Pardon?"

　　"I suppose he doesn’t like strangers roaming his territory. Even if it’s just for a moment to clean and leave."

　　"…Oh."

　　"The Eldest Young Master is… peculiar," Matron Seosan whispered, lowering her voice. "He invites all sorts of people over for his debauched parties, so you’d think he wouldn’t care who cleans up after him, but he made a specific point of it."

　　She frowned, trying to recall a word. "What do they call it? A control… thing? You know, those people who can’t stand it when every little thing isn’t under their control?"

　　She clicked her tongue. "Anyway, he’s an eccentric. A real oddball! But what can you expect? His upbringing was hardly normal, so how could his mind be?"

　　She tapped her temple with her index finger. "Born the eldest son of a powerful family, destined to lead a comfortable life, but then he’s suddenly shipped off to a foreign land and loses his mother so tragically. When you think about his sad story, I suppose it’s no wonder he’s not quite right in the head… Or maybe he just doesn’t want too many people seeing how he lives. It’s not a pretty picture. Why would he want to invite just anyone to witness it?"

　　Yiseo listened silently. Matron Seosan didn’t seem to be looking for a response, just venting.