Tae Beom, who had been drinking alone throughout the dinner, began to empty his glass with Hye Won, who was sitting across him.
“Shouldn’t you stop drinking?”
Although he filled it as she asked, Tae Beom asked as he filled her glass.
“No, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine at all.”
A full bottle was Hye Won’s maximum drink limit.
After frighteningly emptying the glass again, she suddenly supported her chin and started to laugh quietly to herself.
Tae Beom made a disgusted face.
Neither of them could have known about each other’s drinking habits.
“Hey. You there.”
“Ah… Ah, it’s tough. Oh, it’s hard.”
His shoulders were shaking with a small chuckle, but the words he spat out were just the opposite.
Tae Beom wondered if she was crying, so he peeked through her curtainlike hair.
Ah. What a relief. She’s laughing alone.
It was clear that Kim Yang had foreseen the future and fled first.
“Hey. You there. Are you okay?”
“Oh, oh it’s haaard.”
Even if he called out to her, there were no returning words from someone who had already become the last person in the world.
Hye Won leaned her head against the column, closing and opening her eyes now and then.
The dizziness came without warning, making it hard to open her eyes straight away. That’s why she didn’t want to drink.
She could have been sober till the end, she could have stood up just fine.
…It felt as if he had been abandoned by his family, Tae Beom was pitiful.
Without knowing any of his stories, any of his conflicts, he felt pitiful all day because he just seemed like a man abandoned by his family.
The attitude of Ji Seok, who was wary of Tae Beom, was so threatening that it was scary, and his position seemed precarious as even his family turned their backs on his inauguration.
Did his parents abandon him in their hearts? Does the whole family wish for your absence?
“I said I don’t worry about chaebols…”
“Are you talking about me now? That sounds like me.”
So, she wanted to drink with him.
He, who was left alone after the grand inauguration, seemed unusually small because he understood the absence of his family better than anyone else.
Because she had experienced it. Because she was experiencing it.
Because she knew well how that emptiness can affect a person.
“I’m really funny too…”
At the end of her thoughts, Hye Won chuckled.
Isn’t it ridiculous? The thing that threatens Vice President Ha Tae Beom, and she is at the forefront of that, sympathizing with him.
Even if that wasn’t the reason, the process of her sympathizing with him was a pointless task.
Even if he falls off the cliff, he will be safe. Because his and my bottom are totally different.
“I wish you’d drink some water and sober up. There’s no one to take care of you when you’re drunk.”
The bottom of life.
A place he couldn’t even imagine, a bottom of life he couldn’t see even if he died and woke up.
…You know, Vice President, I…
I came from there.
Hye Won slowly lifted her head. With her eyes filled with drunkenness, she stared at Tae Beom.
“It’s no use looking at me like that. I have no intention of taking care of you.”
His words had shortened before she knew it.
While forcibly looking into Tae Beom’s face that wasn’t clear, suddenly there was something she was curious about.
It was the first question. She had lost the opportunity to ask, so she couldn’t ask.
Vice President. Vice President.
“Vice President. Do you happen to know my nickname?”
“I’m not interested, so I don’t know. I don’t want to know either.”
Why did you return to a Korea where there is not a single person who welcomes you?
“My nickname.”
Could you answer if asked?
“I’m the princess in the sleeping liquor.”
“Hey, look at me. Look!”
Hye Won’s eyelids slowly closed.
What is the bottom of life?
A time of selfloathing where nothing was chosen willingly.
A period of drift when the two poles of a broken compass lost their function and direction.
A life that continues amidst the thorough indifference of others, and a despair from which not even I can save myself.
There is nothing but growing up. There can’t be any memories or recollections one wants to cherish.
While eating today, I had to think that maybe this meal might not be available tomorrow.
Because surviving was a task as challenging as a hefty homework
I had never even dreamed of doing anything else.
“Oh, you startled me.”
Sixyearold Hye Won painfully realized how much the word ‘normal’ is hovering in heaven.
Crying alone in the black night was also a luxury. Because you had to drink water when you’re thirsty, because there was not enough tissue to wipe tears, naturally learned the principle of not crying and emptying out.
The bottom of life.
Hope reflected in the distant sky, a single ray of light that seeps in from a hole as small as a fingernail.
At six years old, she knew that unless she was born again, that light would not reach her.
“Miss. What will you do if you sleep here? Oh, I can’t live.”
Just remembering made her body stiffen, the chill set in, muscle aches occur; that was the bottom of life.
Hye Won, who had been falling asleep with a frown, opened her eyes abruptly to the sensation of someone shaking her body.
She had been sleeping so deeply that even when she opened her eyes, her mind didn’t come back easily.
“My goodness, what will you do if you sleep here? Oh, you should go home and sleep.”
What? What is this sound?
Hye Won hastily got up. Thump thump, the sound of joints snapping from her waist.
She barely half opened her eyes and looked around. It was a familiar scenery but she couldn’t connect the thoughts.
… Ah.
After closing and opening her eyes a few times, Hye Won, who had realized that this place was the office and near her desk, opened her eyes wide.
Early dawn, before the morning came.
It was the cleaning lady who had started cleaning before the employees came, who woke up Hye Won, lying on the floor.
“Do you work without time to go home? My goodness. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone sleeping on the floor.”
Damn. Why am I here?
“It must have been cold, how did you sleep? You’re young, young. What are you going to do if you get sick?”
At the scolding of the lady, Hye Won sat up a little more. Hye Won, who had been lying on the cold office floor, rubbed her head and looked around.
She had fallen asleep haphazardly on top of an English newspaper spread out. Her tiny shoes were just off her feet.
The stiffness in her body, the chill and the muscle ache, was not due to hitting rock bottom in life, but simply because she had fallen asleep on the office floor.
This is madness. Ahh.
The moment Hye Won woke up, a headache hit and she closed her eyes tightly, then opened them again. The janitor who was emptying the trash can sneaked a glance at her.
“You didn’t pass out.”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I must have startled you.”
“I thought you were dead. Hurry up and get up before others see you.”
“Yes……”
Hye Won struggled to get up. Her stiff arms and legs protested in pain.
“Can I throw away the newspaper you slept on once you’re up?”
“Ah. Yes, yes.”
Hye Won turned her gaze to tidy up the English newspaper she had been sitting on. And then, she slowly exhaled.
The jacket haphazardly dropped on the floor. A man’s suit jacket that was clearly covering her the entire time.
“Why is the newspaper all in cursive writing? I guess people working in big companies read newspapers in cursive too?”
“It’s not what I read……”
It was Tae Beom’s.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
