Kim Chae Ryung
Three bottles of vintage red, two bottles of champagne worth her yearly salary, and an aged whiskey that could be traded for a sedan. The reds were for Soo to miss her husband on, the champagne were gifts to family whose weddings Soo refused to attend, and the whiskey would be added to the drink stand in the living room for Wook to consume while watching baseball.
Checking each bottle, Chae Ryung referenced the prices on her phone and nodded her approval at the new shipment. The prices matched up, the bottles were in good condition, and she smiled when the man—sent from the company Soo ordered from—generously tossed in juice boxes for the girls. "Straight from France. We know Mrs. Hae likes the organic ones for her children."
The lid fell shut on the crate, Chae Ryung passed Soo's card over, and an exorbitant amount left the bank account for a box of alcohol. A glance at the many zeros on the receipt informed Chae Ryung that the numbers were, again, correct.
In the early weeks of her job, Chae Ryung remembered ogling the receipts she watched Soo's accountant sift through. The number of zeros and the large sums of money Soo and Wook poured into mundane things like chairs and tables used to make her head swim. But now, Chae Ryung was accustomed to it all. She stared at receipts for millions of won without so much as a blink, organizing them and setting them aside for the accountant to file and deal with.
Just a few years, girl, she thought to herself. She estimated it would take five years for her to find, seduce, and marry the man that would fund her political career. The maid at the Lees says Jung's cousin is your age and he comes by for the holidays. He could be the one… or the Kims a block down, their son is a year younger than you. He could be your key.
Chae Ryung slammed the trunk of the car and thanked the courier. She had no idea what his job description was, but 'supervising wines around the world at the whims of rich people' seemed almost equivalent to hers. But instead of wine, Chae Ryung cared for two little girls.
She drove with the radio on, humming and tapping her hands against the leather steering wheel. There were glances from other cars and Chae Ryung basked in them. Let them stare at the Equus that thrummed with the bass from her music. The windows were so tinted she doubted a person with their nose against the glass would be able to discern the contents of the vehicle.
Because the company had sent a familiar courier, the entire process of getting the crate from customs and having it moved to her car took much less time than usual, adding nearly an hour to her schedule. She planned to use that time wisely once the crate was securely unpacked. If she played her cards right, she would be able to steal away for an hour-long bath with an episode of the show she was currently watching.
By her schedule, Yoon was home unless she had decided to go to her friend's house after pre-school. Mi, whose schedule changed daily, was at piano class.
The house would hopefully be empty aside from Mrs. Hae. Soo would be feverishly working in her office or practicing piano with the doors closed. Chae Ryung remembered a time when Soo woke every morning and took two hours to herself, playing piece after piece on the piano. While Soo played virtuoso, Chae Ryung played with Mi and listened to beautiful concertos unfurl at Soo's fingertips.
Chae Ryung drove past the security building where Wang So worked. She hoped he was nowhere near the house because the last thing she wanted was for him to be lurking around, encroaching on her "me-time".
Wang So. She hated him.
At first, she had thought he was just quiet. She was used to silent coworkers, so that did not bother her. Bodyguards were usually the less talkative types.
In the beginning, she could even admit to liking the quiet, older man whose lean and muscular body was only too nice to look at. Wang So woke at five every morning to work out. When he returned to the house, the slowly rising staff were treated to the sight of him in skintight compression gear, sweating even though he had exercised in the snow. Chae Ryung knew the maids also found Wang So easy on the eyes. She could admit to admiring his body on occasion.
But there was something off about him that irked her. He was too aloof in everything that did not pertain to Soo or the girls. While Chae Ryung was glad he took the most important part of his job seriously, she detested his heinous lack of respect for the majority of the handbook she had meticulously crafted.
Dress code went in one ear and exited the other. He no longer wore a tie; his once white button-downs were replaced with black button-ups, sweaters, and even t-shirts. He replaced his oxfords with black running shoes on account of how uncomfortable oxfords were and, if she remembered his words, "How am I supposed to run towards the danger if I'm in dress shoes? Sneakers are more prudent, Miss Chae Ryung."
Chae Ryung strangled the steering wheel in her hands as she remembered snapping that the bodyguard was supposed to protect the family – not run towards the danger and try to be a hero.
Wang So… Chae Ryung thought about how she had passed by Wang So sitting on Mi's carpet as the little girl showed him pictures of her favorite types of cats on her tablet. If Chae Ryung had not been in a rush to get to Yoon's bedroom, she would have snatched the tablet away before Wang So pointed to a kitten with a pink collar and said it looked like Mi. That had led to two full days of Mi babbling about how if she were an animal, she would be the "prettiest, fluffiest, blue-gray kitten with a sparkly pink collar." Later, she even added, "And Mr. So would be a stripey cat with a pink collar since I like pink and Mr. So is nice so he gets pink too!"
Mr. So isn't nice, Chae Ryung thought as she turned the car into the driveway and waited for the gate to open. He's an asshole that doesn't care about anything other than himself. He barely completes the minimum requirement for the job, yet your mother keeps him around for reasons unknown.
Parking behind Soo's car, Chae Ryung grumbled to herself and decided to task Wang So with removing the wines from the trunk once he arrived from his exile in the security building. The drinks would survive an extra hour in the back of a luxury vehicle while Chae Ryung soaked in the tub and opened a bottle of merlot Soo had given her to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
The trek to the back door was an easy one and Chae Ryung wondered if Yoon was home. She hoped the little girl was playing at her friend's house or taking a nap in her bedroom. Chae Ryung was too excited for her hour alone that she hoped the spritely little girl was away for just a little bit longer.
Punching in the codes for the back door, Chae Ryung quietly entered the desolate house and smiled to herself. She set her shoes aside and collected a random pair of slippers to carry her to the servants' lounge.
Merlot, some of the French chocolates Wook brought for the staff… a nice, hot bath… the thought alone was enough to make her salivate.
Chae Ryung shuffled for the lounge until a jarring clang sent chills down her spine. The sound rang out around the first floor, rattling the young woman that crept towards her room.
Freezing, she listened to another ram of piano keys and sighed, resignation filling her veins in a shot of reality check.
"We're not allowed to bang on the piano, Hwang Bo Yoon," she said with a growl, bidding her bath farewell.
Marching for the piano room, Chae Ryung put on her scolding face and prepared to reprimand the three-year-old whose dislike for rules seemed to rub off on Wang So.
The clanging occurred in strange intervals and Chae Ryung heaved a sigh as she walked past paintings, family photos, and a few little scribbles on the walls – courtesy of Yoon.
A twinge of curiosity pulled at Chae Ryung's mind and she frowned when she caught sight of the almost completely closed doors that led into the piano room. There was no way Yoon's little arms could drag the sliding doors in place with her height or strength.
A burglar? No, there's no way – there are cameras everywhere and an entire security team is dedicated to protecting this house. Is it a staff member?
Another clang of horrendous piano keys and Chae Ryung's face contorted into a glare.
A female voice said something unintelligible and then, Chae Ryung heard Wang So's voice. "Turn around."
Closer and closer, she felt her feet act on their own as she approached the piano room. Her mind raced as she eagerly sought to catch Wang So in whatever rule-breaking idiocy that would most definitely get him fired.
Sneaking her presence into the crevice between the doors, Chae Ryung rested her hands against the smooth, bamboo frame, ready to burst in and catch Wang So in—
She gasped.
Peeking into the piano room, Chae Ryung eyed the two jackets tossed onto the floor before slapping a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from being heard by the two people within. She stood perfectly still, staring into the piano room and taking in the worst scene she had ever seen.
Before her very eyes, Wang So stood with his pants dropped to his ankles, showing places Chae Ryung wished to erase from her memory. His mouth opened in a grunt as he fucked Soo from behind, groping her until her hands lost their grip on the ivory piano keys.
Soo stood, bent over the instrument with her legs spread and her dress bunched around her waist. A garter and stockings were her only underclothes and her hair draped over her eyes, messy and unkempt. Soo's voice was louder than So's, and she gasped and moaned with each thrust.
He's raping her, Chae Ryung immediately thought. This can't be consensual, he's raping her.
She prepared to slam the doors open and call the police, but her hand stilled and her shock doubled when Soo pressed on the piano to lift herself and lean back against Wang So. Two pairs of lips already smudged with muted pink rouge came together as tongues met.
Soo tucked her messy hair away from her eyes and moaned against the guard's mouth, holding the back of his neck and pulling him in for a long kiss. Chae Ryung could not pull her eyes away from the scene before her.
Her hands shook, but she could not tear herself away, not when the man she hated muttered that he was close and the woman she admired pushed away from him to turn and kiss him again. Soo took So's length in hand and stroked him as they kissed. Then, she slowly fell to her knees.
Chae Ryung stared at the woman she had aspired to be. Hae Soo was supposed to be the perfect human. She was soft and caring, a perfect mother and wife. She had sex with her husband on a schedule and sang to her children when they cried. She was a kind but strict mother who did not deviate from the norm… and Chae Ryung watched as Hae Soo, the rich, rule-abiding wife of Hwang Bo Wook, began to blow her bodyguard.
She's cheating. She's been cheating. She protected Wang So because she's cheating with him.
Long fingers weaved through Soo's hair as she filled her mouth with Wang So's member. Chae Ryung kept her hand firmly pressed to her parted lips, silent as her hero sullied her marriage vows and giggled when Wang So moaned. "You like that," she teased, her voice a surprising addition to the otherwise wordless production. "I'll have to remember that trick."
"Ah, stop being so cute," Wang So groaned back.
"You love me."
"You love me."
Their banter was nauseating.
Chae Ryung did not remember escaping, but as Wang So's grunts grew more erratic, she fled as if her life depended on it.
Collapsing onto her bed in the servants' lounge, Chae Ryung pulled her knees to her chest as she fought to forget the scene she had just witnessed. Hae Soo, her hero...
Some time passed and Chae Ryung heard a jovial whistle in the lounge. Wang So's footsteps were always silent, but his whistle let her know where he was. He knocked on the door of the bathroom with the shower before entering when no one responded.
How can he be so nonchalant, she angrily thought. Her hands bunched into the soft comforter that covered her bed as she shook her head to clear her thoughts. No, you have information. This is valuable intel. Pull yourself together. You can act as if nothing happened.
You can use this.