KMH – Chapter 8

On her way out after finishing the consultation, a call came in from Manager Moon.
―”There’s been an accident on the way, so it looks like we’ll be about ten minutes later than the original arrival time.”
Jugyeong stepped into the elevator with a ding and replied,
“Okay.”
After ending the call in a businesslike tone, Jugyeong leaned her temple against the wall—then caught herself before her body could sag fully.
It would be a problem if she fell apart already.
After dinner with Grandfather, she’d have to endure a long stretch in his study, playing baduk¹ with him….
If she didn’t want to make a mistake in front of him, she needed to keep her head on straight.
It was right when the elevator doors were halfway closed.
A familiar silhouette appeared in the distance.
Seju.
Jugyeong hurriedly hammered the Close Door button.
Facing him took more energy than it had any right to. There was no way anything good would come of it, and with her visit to Cheongwoljae coming up, she wanted to avoid having Seju gnawing away at what little strength she had left.
Just barely, Seju’s figure slid out of view.
She knew it was childish—immature.
But she couldn’t help it.
Jugyeong dropped her shoulders and let out a small sigh.
Then, suddenly, the back of her neck turned cold.
‘Had our eyes… met?’
A jolt of belated dread ran through her. Jugyeong lifted her head with a stiff expression—
And flinched.
Seju stood there like a carved totem, his gaze flying straight in.
With eyes brimming with hostility, it was like he’d physically struck her; Jugyeong’s cheeks went rigid at once.
“This—”
Seju had wedged his hand into the narrow remaining gap of the doors, barely in time.
“What kind of dogshit manners is this?”
Seju laughed, thin and sparse.
“Do you keep eyes on your face just to make up the numbers, Patent Attorney?”
“…….”
“You didn’t see me?”
She had.
She’d seen him—that was why she’d hit the button.
With nothing to say, Jugyeong turned her eyes away.
In the meantime, Seju shoved the doors open irritably and stepped in, exhaling a rough breath. Standing beside Jugyeong now, Seju slowly swept his hair back with both hands, then looked at Jugyeong’s reflection in the elevator door.
“Did you—when I wasn’t looking—slap my cheek or something….”
“…….”
“My head’s fucking numb.”
It was embarrassing enough that her face heated.
But if she let Seju push her around here, it would be over. He’d swagger like he’d caught a perfect little “case” to chew on, and she couldn’t stand the idea.
Jugyeong gathered her fluster quickly, then met Seju’s reflection evenly in the mirrored door and answered,
“I didn’t see you coming.”
“Yeeah, sure…. Not like being forced to accept a bow from someone who’s already on their knees feels all that great. And we’re strangers—so maybe don’t talk down to me?”
“That’s—”
Jugyeong turned toward him without thinking.
That was when—
Kuuung.
The elevator jolted with a heavy shudder.
Seju caught Jugyeong as she stumbled from the rebound, hooking her like he was reeling her in. Jugyeong spun in a half-circle, startled, and braced a hand against Seju’s chest as if to shove him away—
And Seju tightened his arm hard, locking her in.
“Ah…!”
His grip was viciously strong. Jugyeong’s breath hitched, and she twisted her shoulders in panic—
And lost her balance.
Immediately, Seju shoved a huge hand behind her dry back.
At the same time, Jugyeong tipped into him, spilling forward.
Their gazes tangled—tight, unyielding.
Every time his dense, solid chest pressed fully against her, heaving rough and hard enough to push up under her collarbones, goosebumps broke out.
The scent rising from his body—heat simmering faintly in his arms—soaked deep into her lungs until even her eyelids burned.
“…….”
“…….”
Jugyeong couldn’t move, as if the nape of her neck had been seized.
At point-blank range, his feral pupils stilled, hiding their breath.
Her temperature shot up in a single leap, like she’d been dropped into a subtropical place right after a squall.
A silence slick with sweat.
A razor-edged tension cinched her spine tight.
A big, hot hand.
The weight of him—supporting her waist, clamping her elbow—blurred her vision on the spot.
Jugyeong’s chin trembled as she tried to steady her shallow breaths.
A smooth gaze slid down, drilling into the narrow gap of her parted lips.
Then—
A restrained breath grazed her cheek.
The air turned humid in an instant.
The moment his clear Adam’s apple rose and fell—
Pop.
The lights went out.
​
***
​
“What the fuck.”
Seju muttered, dumbfounded.
“We’re stuck? Right now?”
Those long legs strode forward.
“And what is this other piece of shit—”
He was about to slam the door with the temper surging up—
Then stopped.
“…….”
Because Jugyeong’s face flashed through his mind.
The way it had turned bloodless the moment she realized the attic door at the villa wouldn’t open.
Over years of orbiting Jugyeong stubbornly, like a moon trapped in endless revolution, Seju had learned something:
Small and dark, as conditions, didn’t matter.
What mattered was the situation—being unable to leave the space by her own will, whether it was big or small—
‘She was fucking terrified of that.’
His heart kicked his breastbone—thud.
Seju’s brows twitched with worry. He let out a hollow laugh, then tightened his eyes slightly, sweeping his mouth with a bitter tongue.
Still? Even now?
…No. Seriously. Don’t tell me.
Swallowing hard, Seju slowly turned his head.
It was dark, but you could still make out shapes.
And Jugyeong was nowhere.
His chest dropped.
“Hey—Ha Jugyeong!”
Seju yanked out his phone and switched on the flashlight.
Jugyeong was slumped as if her legs had given out, face buried in her knees.
Her back rose and fell weakly.
Fuck.
Not just fuck.
This was really fucked. Fucking fucked, holy shit.
Seju’s face drained. He reached out in a frantic blur—
But Jugyeong slapped his hand away, hard, like ice.
Even while she couldn’t breathe and was fluttering like that, she was strong at exactly times like this.
For some reason, that fact made relief crash over Seju so hard his eyes flared.
“Put that stupid pride on in front of the dipshits you like to prance around for. Don’t pull this shit with me.”
“D-don’t… touch me….”
“Fine. Then get up. For now.”
Jugyeong’s lips moved weakly.
It wasn’t just pride. Staying like this was the only thing that helped her feel even a little stable.
But she couldn’t speak properly.
Behind her tightly shut lids, everything spun. Her breath kept catching and sliding down her throat in broken gulps.
“Are your ears blocked?”
Seju wanted Jugyeong—who’d swatted his hand away like a warning—not to be touched—to stand up on her own.
So he waited.
Waited, and waited again….
Even Seju could sit there all day like a stone pillar until Jugyeong finally showed her face.
He could. Any time. As long as the patience wearing down to its last thread didn’t snap.
Seju, hand braced at his waist, stared up at the ceiling in thought—then tilted his head slightly.
“I seriously can’t watch this. It’s pathetic.”
He hauled Jugyeong up in one motion.
Jugyeong, feet dangling low as Seju lifted her, thrashed in disgust, and waved her hands.
“I said—don’t…!”
The resistance was thin.
Her hands flailed through the air, and Seju had to offer up his face—his shoulder—his chest—
Fuck, what kind of kid had no strength like this?
Getting smacked by a puppy’s tail would hurt more.
Seju shoved Jugyeong back against the elevator wall.
After guarding the back of her head—fragile as an eggshell—he jammed his knee between her trembling, long legs.
“Ugh…!”
Jugyeong collapsed as if she’d been kneed in the groin, eyes flashing open.
“Breathe.”
Seju, startled out of his skin, blocked just under Jugyeong’s nape with one arm and covered her lower abdomen with his other hand.
“Jugyeong. The sun’s going down.”
“Let—let go…!”
“Sorry as fuck, but I’ve got a schedule too.”
Jugyeong, kicking at the floor like she was trying to push him away, went slack.
She couldn’t even twitch a finger.
A weight that made the backs of her knees go numb was pressing down across all four limbs.
A wall behind her.
Him in front.
The fallen phone’s flashlight cast a cone of light onto the ceiling.
Seju, half his face swallowed by shadow from the bridge of his tall nose, looked unfamiliar.
Like a stranger.
Seju aimed his gaze at Jugyeong at an angle and asked,
“Is it over?”
“S-s… breath…”
“I know.”
Seju lightly pressed down on her lower belly.
A suffocating pressure gripped her like her throat was being squeezed.
“Ugh—!”
Jugyeong arched back.
Seju caught her tiny face as it pressed toward him with his shoulder, then murmured into her ear,
“Push.”