Eunbi was very satisfied.
It made things much easier now that she had complained to Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae about Jeong-o Lee. She had found herself an enforcer—someone to harass Jeong-o Lee in her stead.
Today, even without a prior request, Si-nae had given Jeong-o a marvelous order: she was to take charge of entertaining the client.
The AE on a business trip had said that even if they rushed back, it would be past seven, and the production team staff members were all busy with their own work.
Everyone would be leaving the office in droves after eight. That meant Jeong-o Lee would have to deal with the client all by herself for at least an hour.
Her backside couldn’t stop wiggling at the thought of watching Jeong-o Lee break a sweat.
Unable to stay still in one place, Eunbi wandered around the office at a leisurely pace. Then, she ran into Yoon Ae-ra, Ji-heon’s secretary.
Eunbi greeted her sweetly.
“Ms. Ae-ra, heading off to leave for the day?”
“Yes, Manager.”
“The Director has left, too?”
“The Director said he was going to meet the production team and the client. Didn’t you go with them?”
The pleasant smile Eunbi had crafted was wiped away instantly.
Racing toward the team area, Eunbi immediately pulled Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae to her feet.
“Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae.”
“Yes, Manager.”
Startled by Eunbi’s angry expression, Si-nae stood up, looking puzzled.
“You sent Assistant Manager Jeong-o Lee alone to prepare for the company dinner?”
“Oh… yes. The other team members were all busy.”
“How can you send her alone! How is a lone copywriter supposed to handle a client!”
***
He had never paced himself to match anyone else’s walk. All the women who had stood by his side usually had to run at a trot just to keep up with his long stride.
For the first time, Ji-heon adjusted his pace to match a woman’s.
He was so focused on making sure she didn’t get wet that he didn’t even realize his own shoulder was becoming drenched.
He had wished the road to the convenience store across the street would be a thousand miles long, but the two of them reached the other side in no time.
Jeong-o asked in front of the convenience store.
“Thank you. Shall I buy an umbrella for you too, Director?”
“No. That’s alright.”
Because I’m going to share yours.
Ji-heon hid his true feelings and replied.
Not asking a second time, Jeong-o went into the store alone and returned a moment later carrying two umbrellas.
“Here. Use this, Director.”
Ji-heon looked down at the umbrella with a displeased gaze.
Not only did he dislike that Jeong-o had bought two, but the umbrella was a bright yellow one, the kind a young child might use.
“Can’t you get a refund? I have tons of umbrellas at home.”
Jeong-o gave a slightly bitter look.
A chaebol acting stingy over an umbrella.
“Then use it for today and give it to me later. I don’t have an umbrella at my house.”
Jeong-o spoke as if delivering a final decree and started walking first. There was no time to bicker. She needed to find a spot quickly, contact the client, and get them to the dinner location.
She decided to check the places in the order she had confirmed seating before leaving the office. The tavern Gihun had recommended was quite decent.
“We don’t need to look any further; this will do.”
“Fine. If anyone complains that I picked a bad place, I’ll tell them you chose it.”
Ji-heon let out a soft laugh at Jeong-o’s wit.
As soon as they sat down at the tavern, Jeong-o’s phone rang. The client’s contact information appeared on the screen.
“Yes, Assistant Manager. Where are you right now?”
Jeong-o answered the call cautiously. After expertly pinpointing the client’s current location, she hung up and rose from her seat.
Ji-heon rose with her.
Jeong-o stared straight at Ji-heon and said,
“Why don’t you join us later, Director?”
“Why?”
“Think about it. We’re a working-level assistant manager and manager; wouldn’t it be burdensome if the Director came out to entertain them personally? Would they even be able to drink comfortably?”
“Still, it would be better than you handling it alone.”
“Haha. I’ll be fine.”
Jeong-o laughed lightly.
Hmph. Look at what you think of me.
I am a strong ajumma of this land. There is nothing I fear.
Bring it on, client!
The “dinner-party cells” in her entire body were revving up, starting their engines.
***
Due to Jeong-o’s insistence, Ji-heon had to leave the dinner venue.
Thinking about returning to the office, he instead found a seat at a cafe right next to the tavern.
Unable to set his worries aside, he decided to sit in the cafe for exactly 30 minutes before heading over to intervene.
Time flowed slowly, and the thirty minutes that felt like a whole day finally passed.
The rain had stopped by now.
Ji-heon, having made up his mind, rose from his seat.
As he headed toward the dinner venue, the AE in charge of Dawon Liquor came running from the other side, gasping for breath as he greeted him.
“Huff, huff, huff. You’ve arrived too, Director?”
“I heard the copywriter was responding to two clients all by herself.”
“Yes. The other production team members should be arriving shortly, too.”
Ji-heon and the AE walked over with heavy hearts.
As they opened the door to the tavern and walked in, they faintly heard Jeong-o’s laughter.
At a large table, Jeong-o and the two clients were sitting face-to-face, chatting away quite happily.
“Do you know the reason why you shouldn’t close the car door too hard?”
“Got it! Because there are four doors!”
At the client’s silly riddle, Jeong-o shouted with enthusiasm. The client even clapped and laughed.
“Assistant Manager, when is the last train here?”
“Ah, you said you live in Bundang, right, Assistant Manager Choi? I’ll check the last train time for you.”
“Then, next question. Which region is famous for having cute winds?”
“The answer is Bundang! Because the wind blows in Bundang (Bun-dang)~”
Throwing light questions at the client and responding with quick wit to trivial inquiries, Jeong-o was unexpectedly managing the time perfectly.
As Ji-heon and the AE approached the table, Jeong-o introduced Ji-heon to the clients with a beaming face.
“Our AE has arrived. And this is Director Jeong Ji-heon from our headquarters.”
“Hello. I am Jeong Ji-heon.”
“Oh! Nice to meet you, Director….”
At Ji-heon’s greeting, the female manager blushed and bowed.
“The rest of the production team is also on their way. I hope the team members can be of help to you both.”
“Assistant Manager Jeong-o Lee has already shared the progress of the project and gave us so many great tips for ideas, so we’ve already received plenty of help, Director.”
Jeong-o’s face turned flushed.
Her round forehead was glistening. Although she was laughing energetically on the outside, it seemed she had endured quite a bit of sweating. Thinking of how hard it must have been to deal with the liquor company employees, Ji-heon regretted not having come sooner.
A moment later, the production team members joined them. They appeared 30 minutes earlier than promised. Eunbi, for whatever reason, had a furious expression on her face.
With more people around, Jeong-o was able to slip away to the side.
After a while, Jeong-o, having moved to a different spot, stood up from her chair while smoothing her chest with her hand. Ji-heon, who had been keeping his eyes on her, stood up quietly and followed.
Once outside, Jeong-o headed straight to a convenience store.
As she reached for a hangover drink to pay for it, a hand suddenly appeared from behind her.
It was Ji-heon.
“I’ll buy it.”
“Ah, then this one.”
Jeong-o picked up the most expensive drink. Ji-heon paid for both.
“Thank you.”
Jeong-o bowed to Ji-heon and chugged the drink.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Since she seemed perfectly fine on the outside, Ji-heon relaxed and asked Jeong-o,
“How is the client’s reaction? Which idea did they like the most?”
He started the conversation with work so he could keep her there a little longer.
However, she couldn’t answer right away.
Her cheeks puffed up and deflated repeatedly. It looked as if she were about to bring everything she had drunk back up. It was a cute expression, but it looked precarious.
“Did you drink a lot?”
“They said they needed my opinion on the taste of the alcohol, so I drank whatever they gave me.”
Jeong-o replied with a look of enlightenment.
“You drank everything they gave you? Soju and beer alike?”
“I figured you’d be here in 30 minutes, and the AE would be here soon, so I only had to endure for 30 minutes.”
“You really have no flexibility.”
Ji-heon felt a sudden surge of anger at Jeong-o’s response. It felt like she had pushed herself too far. It would have been better if she had taken care of herself a bit more.
“‘I can’t do this,’ ‘This is my limit’—shouldn’t you at least know when to stop on your own?”
“The client likes all the ideas. But I don’t think they were particularly struck by any of them.”
As he chided her, Jin-seo responded with something unrelated to his previous question.
“The concept might change a little. Director.”
Her voice, overly articulated as if to hide her intoxication, smoothed out the furrowed brow of Ji-Heon.
“Hearts change. They are bound to keep changing. Because we have to keep making choices depending on the situation we face.”
“……”
“There were two lovers who loved each other.”
Suddenly, the conversation veered into a personal story that sounded like the opening of a romance novel.
Unsure if she could use such definitive language, she corrected herself immediately.
“……I thought they loved each other, but that might not have been the case. As soon as the man found out about the woman’s pregnancy, he left. So the woman raised the child alone.”
What was her intent in bringing this up? Was she just drunk?
Ji-Heon sighed quietly and crossed his arms.
Fine. Let’s hear you out, he thought.
“But years later, this man appeared in front of the woman.”
He didn’t want to be swayed by such a trivial story, but the sincerity in her voice and eyes as she spoke left him no choice but to remain still.
“Why would he show up only now? To take the child away? From the woman for whom the child had become her whole world?”
He even found himself pondering the question marked by her tone.
Ji-Heon opened his mouth to say something, but she offered the answer first.
“If so, she would have to stop him, right?”
“……”
“If it’s to protect her child, the woman will do anything. Wouldn’t she?”
“……”
“She can do anything. There are no limits.”
A clear, glassy film covered her eyes, thick and shimmering.
The intensity of the determination in her eyes was so hot it felt as though that film would melt away.
His own heart throbbed, burning as if it had been scorched.
He hadn’t even had many drinks, yet his head throbbed as if someone were stabbing it with needles.
Even amidst that, he felt an agonizing desire to possess this woman.
What was it about her that made him yearn for her this much?
She was a woman hard to define in just a few words.
Once again, she just threw her words out there and turned away sharply.
Ji-Heon felt a strange sense of resentment at being the only one swept away. He wanted to make her turn back.
What must I do to make you look at me?
What must I do to hold onto you?
If it meant he could make her turn back, he felt he could do anything, no matter what it took.
“Jin-seo.”
Ji-Heon called her name in a soft, familiar voice, imagining her father.
Stumble.
The reaction was swift.
She stopped walking and turned her head slowly.
The tears that had been a clear, glassy film moments ago had already melted and fallen to the floor.
He had merely called her name, but she seemed to have forgotten even how to breathe.
Her lips, parted limply, were trembling.
Ji-Heon was startled as well.
Had she discovered the phantom of her father, summoned by the alcohol?
Or did she truly mistake him for her father—or perhaps, was she desperate to mistake him for one?
Her eyes held a look that was desperate to believe, even while suspecting something.
The thrill of having moved her, coupled with the excitement of witnessing an expression he had never seen before, hit his sternum hard enough to ache.
A little more.
Greedy to see deeper into her heart, he asked her impulsively.
“Can you see me?”
“……”
“Do you recognize me?”
At his question, she let out a shallow, sigh-like gasp.
The distance narrowed step by step. She stepped up close to him on her own and parted her lips with difficulty.
“……Oppa…….”
The words, flowing out through sobs, were unclear.
To him, unaware of the truth, it sounded like ‘Appa’ (Dad).
He should have felt satisfied that she reacted, but it felt as though a stone had settled in the pit of his stomach.
To her, a father was a figure of tears.
He realized too late that he had touched something he shouldn’t have.
He reached out to fix it, but—
Her two hands rose slowly and touched his cheeks first. Ji-Heon’s eyes widened.
Just like a week ago in the breakroom, when she let thick tears fall in front of him, with those eyes shimmering as if to pull him in, her face twisted.
“……Are you back?”
She asked. Her voice was crushed by weeping.
Asking if his memories had returned. Asking if he finally recognized her now.
Even though he had no knowledge of that heartbreaking story.
It was Ji-Heon, once again, who was being helplessly pulled along.