The Cruel Beast’s Desire - Chapter 36

He flung open the half-open bedroom door.

Ieum and Hayeon were lying side-by-side on the bed, fast asleep.

“Haa…”

Yoonjae roughly swept back his hair. He had been running around like a madman, thinking the child was gone, but the two women were sound asleep, making him feel foolish.

“Haa, haa.”

His heart was pounding as if it would burst, and rough breaths escaped his lips without ceasing. The scene before his eyes didn’t feel real, and Yoonjae stood there as if frozen.

They hadn’t even covered themselves with the blanket, which made him feel even more drained.

“Haa… Where’s Ieum?”

Having arrived late, Madam Lee tried to approach the bedroom without making a sound, even as she breathed heavily.

“Haa… Thankfully, she was here…”

“I’ll take her with me.”

As Yoonjae tried to go to the bed, Madam Lee grabbed his arm and stopped him. She dragged Yoonjae all the way to the living room and lowered her voice as much as possible.

“Why are you trying to take a sleeping child away? Just leave her here today.”

“I can’t do that. If she doesn’t want to sleep alone, I can sleep with her.”

“You have such a strange personality. What, is the world going to collapse if she sleeps here? Children can do that sometimes. Why are you being so fussy and trying to separate them on a night like this?”

Madam Lee clicked her tongue and tried to drag Yoonjae back to the door they had come through.

“Leave Ieum here to sleep, and you, Executive Director Tae, go to your room and get some sleep. You look terrible.”

Yoonjae stepped aside to avoid Madam Lee, who was pushing him on the back.

“I’ll watch Ieum for a bit before I go.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to pick up a sleeping child and bring her?”

“I’ll let her sleep here as you said, Madam. I just want to see Ieum’s face one more time before I go.”

“Well… I suppose it’s hard to calm down quickly after being so surprised that the child was gone. My heart is still pounding, so how much more must it be for you, Executive Director Tae.”

The few minutes he spent searching for Ieum felt like being trapped in a hell he had never experienced before.

“Calm your surprised heart and come back.”

Madam Lee patted Yoonjae’s shoulder and left.

Yoonjae quietly moved towards the bedroom where Ieum was sleeping.

He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled up the blanket to cover Ieum and Hayeon. Only after stroking Ieum’s face with his hand did a sigh of relief escape.

“Haa.”

He tried to get up again, but his body wouldn’t listen, as if all the strength had drained out of him.

It seemed like it was because his startled heart hadn’t calmed down yet, so Yoonjae gently lay down next to Ieum. He buried his face in the child’s small shoulder and whispered in a low voice.

“Ieum-ah… Without you, Daddy… can’t live.”

Yoonjae closed his eyes, holding the sleeping Ieum in his arms.

Even in the morning, silence flowed through the house. It was past 8 o’clock, the time when Yoonjae would have come downstairs.

Madam Lee assumed that Yoonjae would naturally be in his study.

She thought she should tell Hayeon in advance about the commotion that had happened last night, so Madam Lee went to the detached house.

Hayeon had said that she would automatically wake up at 5 o’clock because she had been teaching early morning classes for a long time, so she thought she would be awake by now.

She opened the door and entered, but Hayeon was not visible in the living room. She approached the half-open bedroom door and looked inside, where she saw three people sound asleep on the bed.

Seeing that Yoonjae, who had said he would take Ieum with him, had also fallen asleep here, Madam Lee quietly slipped out of the detached house.

Back in the main house, Secretary Kim approached with a flustered expression.

“I came because I couldn’t get in touch with the Executive Director. He’s not in his study or bedroom.”

When Secretary Kim rushed in at this hour, even on the weekend, it never brought good news. It seemed like it was an extremely urgent matter, but Madam Lee didn’t want to disturb the rare sight she had just seen.

“Secretary Kim, have you had breakfast?”

“Breakfast isn’t the issue right now. Where is the Executive Director? Is he at the swimming pool?”

Unlike the urgent Secretary Kim, Madam Lee moved leisurely. Moreover, she didn’t even give any hint as to where Yoonjae was.

It was different from how she would immediately tell Secretary Kim where Yoonjae was as soon as he arrived.

“Madam Lee!”

“Instead of that, come and sit at this table. Let’s have breakfast together.”

Madam Lee moved leisurely. She prepared one more serving of rice and soup and placed it in front of Secretary Kim.

“I didn’t want to eat alone, so this is good.”

“Haa… Madam Lee, do you know that you’re acting strangely different from usual today?”

Even though he said she was acting strangely, Madam Lee only smiled.

“Everyone in this house will be a bit strange today. Starting with the homeowner.”

“Pardon?”

After only saying incomprehensible things, Madam Lee sat down. Only after Secretary Kim sat across from her did Madam Lee pick up her spoon and take a bite of the soup.

“Kaa… That really hits the spot.”

Even if he begged her to tell him here, it didn’t seem like Madam Lee would easily tell him, so Secretary Kim sighed and picked up his spoon, as if giving up.

“Secretary Kim, how long have we known our Executive Director?”

“Why are you asking that out of the blue? You know everything.”

“It’s been over seven years since the Executive Director came into this house holding a tiny baby.”

“Yes, it must be around that long.”

Because Madam Lee was consistently strange today, Secretary Kim answered absentmindedly.

Secretary Kim first saw Yoonjae when he had been working in Chairman Tae Juwang’s secretary office for about three years.

The first thing Secretary Kim did on the day he first met him was to take a hair sample and submit it for a paternity test. The suspicious Chairman Tae brought Yoonjae into the house only after confirming the test results. And Secretary Kim became Yoonjae’s personal secretary.

Yoonjae, who came into this house holding a newborn baby, seemed to have no desire for life. He only reacted when the child cried, and he never opened his mouth except when going to his mother’s room, who had terminal cancer.

After his critically ill mother passed away, he was worried that Yoonjae might let go of the thread of life, but Yoonjae instead burned with motivation.

Anger, resentment, and sadness were the driving forces that lifted him up.

He received harsh management lessons, and Yoonjae always achieved results beyond expectations.

The reason why the suspicious Chairman Tae entrusted everything to Yoonjae and stepped back was also because of the achievements Yoonjae had made in the meantime.

Yoonjae, who had always lived with the strings of tension tightly wound, loosened the tightened strings in front of his precious daughter and was like a friendly father.

And also one more person.

He was far too emotional in front of Kang Hayeon, who was now in the detached house.

It felt like he was pouring out all the anger, resentment, and sadness that had been the driving force behind Yoonjae onto Hayeon.

It seemed like everyone had become strange since Kang Hayeon came. Including Madam Lee, who was engrossed in her meal in front of him.

“It’s said that it’s not good for a person to change suddenly. I want to see you for a long time, Madam.”

Madam Lee laughed softly.

“Secretary Kim, have you ever seen the Executive Director asleep?”

“No. I’ve never seen him.”

“Me neither… I’ve never seen him.”

“He can only sleep for a maximum of three hours even with medication. It’s a rare sight to see. The Executive Director asleep, that is. Ah, I’ve often seen him with his eyes closed.”

Madam Lee smiled brightly as if she was about to bring up a great story.

“I saw that rare sight today.”

“Pardon?”

“I saw the Executive Director sleeping so peacefully. He’s probably still sleeping.”

“……”

It was hard to believe that Yoonjae was sleeping.

“So, unless the world is turned upside down… don’t desperately look for the Executive Director and wait with me while eating. If he doesn’t wake up even after we finish eating, we’ll have tea too.”

Madam Lee wore a benevolent smile. Secretary Kim still didn’t believe it, but he didn’t look for Yoonjae as urgently as before.

Even after finishing the meal and drinking tea, Yoonjae didn’t appear. His heart was anxious, but for some reason, he didn’t want to rush today, so he opened his laptop.

She thought she was dreaming of holding a warm doll. Hayeon opened her eyes at the sensation of the doll she was holding wriggling and burrowing into her arms.

What she thought was a doll was actually Ieum. It was surprising that Ieum was sleeping in her bed, but Yoonjae was also visible in Hayeon’s sight.

Seeing the soundly sleeping Ieum and Yoonjae, she initially thought she was still wandering in a dream.

She blinked her eyes several times, but seeing that the scenery remained the same, she knew it wasn’t a dream, but Hayeon couldn’t move at all.

Hayeon was seized by a strange feeling in the face of such an unfamiliar sight.

It was as if someone had dropped her into a moment she had dreamed of in the past. The flow of consciousness gradually flowed in a strange direction.

It was as if the events of the past seven years had been a very, very long nightmare, and she was finally waking up from the dream and into reality.

She wished that she had lost the child she had carried in her womb and had been abandoned by the man she loved in a very terrible nightmare, and that she had returned to the arms of her real family after finally waking up.

She couldn’t help but think that the real family Ieum had talked about last night was the two people in front of her now.

She wished that it wasn’t a dream or imagination, but a real reality, where Hayeon, who had just woken up from a very long dream, would wake up Yoonjae and whine that she had a very scary and sad dream, and he would tell her to forget it because it was just a bad dream, and then embrace her in his wide arms.

She harbored a futile dream.

“Haa.”

Every time Ieum, who had burrowed into Hayeon’s arms in her sleep, wriggled, she was reminded of the baby’s movements she had felt.

A stinging pain arose around her eyes, and Hayeon gently closed her eyes. But even then, the pain didn’t disappear.

Rather, it spread throughout her entire body, as if a heavy pain was being etched deep in a place that her hands couldn’t reach.

“Hmm.”

Hayeon tightly closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep even at the sound of Yoonjae tossing and turning.

She didn’t have the confidence to see him right now.

She felt like she would unknowingly run to him and hug him, saying she had a scary dream.

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