Chapter 6
"Good heavens, you’d think a war broke out here," Matron Seosan muttered, surveying the annex courtyard.
The entire area was a disaster zone, as if a swarm of locusts had swept through overnight. Now that the deafening music had ceased, the annex was a silent ruin. Plastic cups and torn leaves floated in the pool, while empty beer bottles, half-full liquor bottles, and shattered glasses littered the ground.
A few of the sunbeds near the pool were even overturned, hinting at some greater chaos.
Matron Seosan unfurled a large trash bag she had brought. She immediately began picking up the debris, grabbing whatever she could.
"I know the annex is like its own private island, but honestly… no matter how much we try to hush things up, if he keeps partying this loudly, it’s only a matter of time before the Chairman finds out. That dignified man would have a fit if he saw this."
Grunting, Matron Seosan bent over and picked up a torn stocking from under a sunbed. As the primary cleaner of the annex, she seemed unsurprised by the abandoned lingerie and simply tossed it into the bag. Yiseo quickly joined her, tidying the area around the sunbeds.
"I swear, I’ve never been so anxious in all my years working at this house. And this mess happens every other day. The sight of it makes me feel this frantic urge to destroy the evidence. The Young Master, really… I know it’s fun to play around in the heat of youth, but still…" Matron Seosan continued her litany of complaints, things she would never dare utter in his presence. "I don’t know what kind of a life he’s lived in America, but now that he’s back home, wouldn’t it be better to lie low for a while and get on the Chairman’s good side? Don’t you think?"
"Yes, you’re right," Yiseo murmured, continuing to pick up trash.
"They lived apart for twenty years, what chance did they have to form a father-son bond? Still, after the Chairman fell gravely ill, he must have had a change of heart, calling his eldest son back from abroad after leaving him there all this time."
As Matron Seosan said, Chairman Kwon had been hospitalized with a stroke last winter. At sixty-six, a stroke could be life-threatening, but thanks to his consistently monitored high blood pressure, it was caught early, and his prognosis was good. By late spring, he had finished his treatments and returned to the mansion with nothing more than a barely perceptible limp.
Around that time, rumors began to circulate that his first son would be returning from the United States. With the health of the conglomerate’s leader in question, it seemed the Chairman could no longer postpone the matter of succession. Everyone whispered that he was getting impatient, unwilling to wait for his second son, who was still only twenty, to be old enough to inherit the company.
"Losing his mother there, living all alone in a foreign country with no family from such a young age… how lonely he must have been. Maybe he went astray because he had no one to depend on, and that’s why he’s become so dissolute."
Matron Seosan straightened up with a regretful sigh. It was clear she was conflicted, unable to decide how to feel about Taegyeom Kwon. She was torn between viewing him as a tragic prince with a pitiful past and a spoiled, ill-mannered young master with a rotten personality.
"Anyway, it’s best for everyone if he just keeps his partying discreet, away from prying eyes, so the Chairman doesn’t get angry. It makes me anxious just thinking about it… Ah, Yiseo! Don’t touch that, just leave it. You’ll cut yourself."
Matron Seosan stopped Yiseo as she reached for the shards of a broken glass. The sharp stench of spilled alcohol hung heavy in the air.
"We’ll need a dustpan for that later. Let’s leave it and start over there."
The area around the pool was mostly clean, except for the broken glass. Yiseo followed Matron Seosan to the jacuzzi in the far corner of the courtyard. White bubbles were still frothing in the tub, long after the guests had departed. A film of unidentifiable foam clung to the edges.
"Oh my goodness!" Matron Seosan, walking ahead, suddenly shrieked and leaped back.
Following her gaze, Yiseo spotted a used condom on the ground. It was a graphic sight: filled with whitish fluid, the end tied in a neat knot, carelessly discarded.
"Oh my, how scandalous."
Clicking her tongue, Matron Seosan fumbled for the tongs she had tucked into her trash bag. The condom, hanging heavy and obscene, was lifted into the air.
"Honestly, with all the empty rooms in this house, they do that outside? Like animals. I’ve seen it all now."
Muttering to herself, she suddenly seemed to remember Yiseo’s presence and shoved the condom deep into the trash bag. She turned to Yiseo with a sheepish smile.
"Just pretend you didn’t see that. The young master must have gotten very used to American ways. In any case, it’s his private life."
"Okay."
"I really shouldn’t have asked you to come with me. You don’t need to be dealing with things like this."
"No, it’s fine. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just trash."
The condom itself didn’t faze her. She wasn’t some naive girl who would blush at a mere contraceptive. It felt like she was peering too deeply into someone’s private life, but she was being paid a generous salary to do a job.
That was all.
However, she couldn’t stop the image from yesterday from flashing before her eyes. They say it gets even bigger when it’s excited. The small, shrunken latex looked impossible to stretch over that massive thing.
She had no idea how elastic the material was, but even if he somehow managed it, the thought of an object that size, a veritable weapon, entering a woman’s body… She couldn’t fathom it. The limitless potential of the human body was astounding, yet the thought sent a chill down her spine. Her friends from school claimed that bigger was better, but surely there was a limit.
In any case, it seemed that Taegyeom, with his inhuman physique, also had a rather promiscuous nature, not even caring about the location of his exploits. Then again, his swimming naked had been anything but ordinary.
"Why did a girl with such a bright future suddenly have to take a gap year from a perfectly good school."
Matron Seosan’s disapproving click of her tongue snapped Yiseo back to reality. A belated heat crept up her neck as she realized what indecent thoughts she had been lost in. She offered a weak smile.
"There you go again. Lots of students take gap years these days. Who graduates without taking at least one semester off? They use the time to have fun, work part-time, and save for tuition."
"He even had your father’s retirement money put directly into your account. You should have used that for tuition and gotten a proper studio apartment! Or at least a small rented room!"
"How could I have done that?" Yiseo asked with a bitter smile.
She had heard this lecture so many times her ears might as well have been calloused, yet it made her feel like a criminal every single time.
"What’s so wrong with turning a blind eye and thinking only of your own future! To just throw it all away on settlement money. My my… When I think about how I couldn’t stop you, I still get so angry I bolt upright in my sleep. If you keep living so foolishly, you’ll be exploited your whole life. The world is a harsh place; you have to fight tooth and nail for what’s yours."
"I did it because I didn’t think it was my share to take. If I hadn’t paid the settlement, I wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly at night."
"Oh my… good heavens!" Matron Seosan pounded her chest and heaved a sigh so loud Yiseo worried it might wake Taegyeom upstairs.
"Don’t worry. I’m saving every penny of my salary. Once I have enough, I’ll go back to school and find my own place."
"When did I say I was worried about you! I’m just frustrated, that’s all! Frustrated!" Matron Seosan glared at Yiseo, her eyes full of concern, and jabbed at the contents of the trash bag with her tongs.
She barely managed to tie a knot at the top of the bursting bag before dropping it in a corner of the yard.
"Anyway, go inside and rest for a minute. I’ll get more bags. We’ve already filled one just from cleaning the outside."
"I’ll go."
"It’s fine! I’ll be right back, so rest!" Waving her hand dismissively, Matron Seosan strode across the courtyard and disappeared through the gate.
Yiseo watched her go, a self-deprecating sigh escaping her lips. Matron Seosan’s nagging about her return to school had at least become less frequent. Right after she had submitted her leave of absence, she had been hounded about it almost daily.
Opening the front door to the annex, Yiseo drew a sharp breath. The air inside was thick with the heavy stench of alcohol, a stagnant and unpleasant miasma. Her nose wrinkled instinctively.
