I’d Rather Live as a Villain - I’d Rather Live as a Villain chapter 49

49 The poison is rising sharply

She remained silent.

She just alternated between looking at me and the marriage contract I had placed on the dining table, taking deep breaths through her nose that shook her shoulders, then slowly exhaling them.

So, I did the same.

Just like that day at the general meeting, when she faced off against the old shareholder, I didn’t bother to break the awkward silence with another word.

Then, Moon-jung hid her lips and licked them with her tongue inside her mouth for a while before speaking.

Her eyes scanned the marriage contract before looking at me.

“So, that’s what’s been holding you back all this time?”

“I had no choice.”

Our relationship couldn’t burden each other.

That’s what this contract was for.

So, without any precedence, we consistently mustered courage towards each other, but it always just spun in place like a hamster wheel.

Responding to my rhetorical question, she nodded once and took the beer I had opened for myself.

I just watched her as she swallowed the beer for quite some time.

Pushing the beer can back towards me, she asked,

“Which clause has been holding you back? The one about custody rights?”

I shook my head briefly.

“If that clause had been a burden, you would have agreed when you asked if I wanted to amend it.”

“So? Weren’t the other clauses fairly standard?”

“The very existence of this contract is a shackle. No specific date is mentioned, but it was made under the premise of divorce from the start.”

“…”

“What meaning could your last addition to this contract, written by your own hand, possibly have for me? It’s a contract that implies we should take responsibility for each other’s feelings.”

“You said you’d do it methodically, didn’t you?”

“I did, didn’t I? And I am doing it. So, in the end… this is what happened.”

“What do you mean ‘this is what happened’?”

“Why ask when you know everything? In the end, I wanted to tear it up with my own hands. If you won’t allow me to, then there will always be a limit to the courage I can muster in our relationship. In this contract…”

I looked down at the marriage contract for quite some time, swallowed my words, then met her eyes and spoke.

“There’s no clause about the wounds that might arise from our relationship. Usually, the party ‘Eul’ has to bear it all. But now, suddenly, I’m scared. I don’t have the confidence. So here I am, having come this far, and I can’t muster the courage to take one more step. It feels like I’m just growing the wounds I’ll have to deal with later with my own hands.”

A sip of beer.

Then I asked again.

“Can I tear this up?”

Perhaps what I wanted to confirm here wasn’t whether Moonjung agreed to tear up the contract, but her certainty about our relationship.

Maybe my feelings got through, as Moonjung slowly closed and opened her eyes, then nodded.

“Why ask the obvious? You already asked first if it could be torn up that day.”

“So, should I really tear this up?”

I tore the contract in half, laid out on the table.

Then I took the two torn pieces, stacked them, and tore them in half again.

Why was this so hard?

“Phew…”

Without realizing it, a mix of emotions escaped my lips with the breath I had been holding back.

I downed the remaining beer in one go, down to the last drop, and then, for no reason, began to crumple the can.

“But you know that was a notarized contract, right?”

“…Huh? What?”

“Regardless of the process, you tearing up the contract means you’ve terminated it, so while asking for a penalty is too harsh, you should return the 5 billion won sent as an advance.”

“Oh, shoot… Wait a minute!”

I quickly spread out the quartered pieces of the torn contract on the dining table and began to restore them to their original positions.

“Do you have something like glass tape at home?”

“Fufufu…”

“No, wait a second. Stop laughing! It’s just the contract that’s torn. You know, right? If we stick it back to its original state, there’s no problem at all.”

It was when she had started the joke, and I was playfully hitting back.

She threw off the white towel that had been on her head, shook her wet hair with her hands a few times, and then stood up from her seat.

And slowly, she turned back towards where I was sitting.

“What should I do about this? It’s fine if I just stick it back together with tape, right? Even torn bills are accepted by the bank if they’re restored to their original state. You know that, right?”

I was still sitting, only lifting my head towards her to tease her once again.

On that day, she pulled my face into her embrace and hugged me tightly.

* * *

How long had I been buried in her embrace?

Suddenly, I felt her hand tousling my hair.

Ms. Munjeong stepped back and began to look at me.

“Do I really have to give the money back?”

To that, Ms. Munjeong nodded briefly, but repeatedly, and then said,

“If you need it, I’ll give you more.”

“…”

“If you say you need it, I’ll do anything for you

“……”

“Mom’s not home today, and since it’s a new house, it’s soundproofed really well. And the bed, it’s so expensive and nice that no matter how much you toss and turn, it doesn’t make a creaking sound. So, how about you sleep in my room with me tonight?”

“……Are you serious?”

“To be honest, I deserve a real Nobel Fool’s Award. I’m only saying this now, but for the past six months, you’ve been living with a god?”

“A god?”

“An idiot god.”

“Puhahaha.”

“The fact that we’re still talking about this just proves we’re both idiots.”

Then, I pulled her hand towards me and our lips met.

* * *

Holding her hand, we ascended the indoor staircase.

Entering my room, facing her who didn’t know what to do in the awkwardness, I closed the door behind us.

It was the moment when rationality completely crumbled.

Facing each other, I hastily stole her lips, and while she flinched, I wrapped my arms around her waist and sat her down on the bed, still kissing.

“Just a moment.”

“

Whenever chance allowed us to share a table at the company cafeteria, I found myself mindful of even the trivial dining habits I never cared for when with other female colleagues.

That day, she made her first request of me.

She asked if I could accompany her on a business trip, suggesting a weekend visit to an Andalusian olive farm. She wanted to experience the contract proceedings firsthand.

It felt like a lie.

The fact that Kang Moon-jung bought me coffee and carved out time for me seemed untrue, as did our lengthy, face-to-face conversation.

Yet strangely, I no longer find her… unbelievable.

* * *

“The overall plan is to fly into Paris and out of Milan,” said Director Choi Jang-ho, who came to confirm the itinerary for the overseas branch tour.

“The head director mentioned he’s already visited the Madrid branch, and since Deputy Oh has inspected it several times, he wondered if we needed to include it. So, I boldly excluded it.”

“Well done.”

“The travel from Paris to Munich will be by car, and from Munich to Milan by flight. Of course, the Milan branch staff will handle airport pickup, and the plan is to fly out the next evening.”

“It’s tight, even without the Madrid branch.”

“Last year’s trip was 9 nights and 11 days.”

“It’s a shame you couldn’t join the more leisurely, tourist-friendly schedule back then. How do you manage with such a tight schedule after three years?”

The European Division Director hadn’t joined the overseas branch tour for two years.

It was because Park Je-dong always included Jung Chang-ho instead of Director Choi in the tour plans.

The lobbying with the Andalusian olive farm owners probably happened around that time too.

That’s why I scheduled this year’s overseas branch tour during the holiday season.

The unspoken pressure was clear: “We’re giving up our holiday to visit, so you should be well-prepared on your end…”

It was all a pretense to win favor with the employees in Pyeongchang-dong, suggesting we were touring to support and encourage them, missing Korea and their families during the holiday.

But that’s not the case.

All the expatriates living there receive far better treatment than the staff here.

They all wanted and waited for these postings.

“Of course, I should go. I haven’t been able to participate in the tour for two years as the European Division Director. The holiday season isn’t a critical time for me.”

It was expected.

The European Division was on the verge of surpassing the Overseas Construction Division in turnover for the first time under his leadership.

Did he notice my thoughts?

“Which organization under Mulsan wouldn’t accompany their top executive on an overseas branch tour? It’s been nonsensical until now; it shouldn’t become the norm.”

To that, I nodded at Director Choi, conveying agreement without any sentiment of gratitude or apology, just as he had stated it was only natural.

“Deputy Director Son Jaegyu wishes to join the Head Director on the upcoming overseas branch tour. I also think it’s a great opportunity to travel without worrying about the office, as it coincides with the holiday.”

Director Choi Jangho’s gaze was resolute.

“With the Head Director present, there’s a great expectation to make significant progress on the issues that have been constipated like constipation with the local branch.”

I was thinking that the firm gaze Director Choi is showing me might be due to the atmosphere created by Deputy Directors Son Jaegyu and Oh Jiwon in the European division office.

“Deputy Director Son is very ambitious right now. He says he will grab the overseas construction sector by any means this year.”

“Ambition alone isn’t enough, is it?”

“He’s got the places to spread it all lined up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then prepare Deputy Director Son’s plane ticket as well. Let’s go see what kind of ambition he’s going to spread and where.”