As Jeong-o couldn’t offer any response, Team Leader Mi-Ran Seong brushed her hair back with an awkward expression.
“No, you don’t have to tell me. I’m sure you have your reasons.”
“…….”
“I felt it from the start. Your expression always changed whenever we talked about Director Ji-Heon Jeong.”
Last Tuesday, after the meeting concluded, Mi-Ran had overheard a conversation between Eun-Bi and Si-Nae in the restroom. It was about Jeong-o.
When you work in a company for nearly a decade, you hear all sorts of bizarre rumors. That’s why Mi-Ran didn’t usually pay much mind to office gossip in the restroom. However, the fact that the source of the remark was Assistant Manager Eun-Bi Chae bothered her slightly.
Mi-Ran, too, had been unaware that Jeong-o knew Eun-Bi. Neither of them had given any indication. Mi-Ran recalled every event that had occurred since Jeong-o joined the company.
Jeong-o Lee was certainly strange the day she first met Ji-Heon. Even Director Ji-Heon Jeong had noticed Jeong-o’s unusual reaction and called her into his office. Since then, it had been strange how he caught her wrist in front of the elevator, and it was particularly strange when Jeong-o asked about the accident Ji-Heon had seven years ago.
And yesterday, when Jeong-o went out to entertain a client, Director Ji-Heon Jeong had followed her.
It felt like there was something between the two—a sense that they had become close quickly, as if they had known each other long before. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to ask about it, unsure if it was her place, so her tone remained cautious. Yet, she felt that if Jeong-o’s career were ruined because of Director Ji-Heon Jeong, she would regret not speaking up for a long time.
“……I’m just worried about you. The Director is going to get married soon. Plus, we’re at the same company.”
Jeong-o hung her head low. It was a partial admission. Mi-Ran felt sorry, as if she had brought up something she shouldn’t have.
“……Do you have any intention of speaking seriously to the Director?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Assistant Manager Jeong-o Lee, let me know if you want to drink. I may not be able to solve your problem, but I can listen to your troubles.”
Jeong-o’s eyes welled up with tears. She was grateful that Mi-Ran wasn’t prying into everything and wasn’t criticizing her. Mi-Ran would likely keep it to herself, just as she was doing now.
“And.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“Resignation is not an option. You know that, right?”
In truth, this was Mi-Ran’s real purpose. For a team leader, losing a team member is devastating. Mi-Ran ignited her fighting spirit, vowing to watch over her team members diligently.
Jeong-o nodded with a smile.
*
Ji-Heon went with the members of Production Team 1 to check the work Assistant Manager Si-Nae Jo had done the previous night. With trembling hands, Si-Nae Jo pulled a file out of the PC’s recycle bin.
“Is this it?”
“Yes. But the client said this morning they didn’t like it, so it had to be redone.”
“Then the work you did yesterday is useless, isn’t it?”
Si-Nae Jo’s face turned bright red. The atmosphere in the entire office grew cold, as if right before a storm. Everyone avoided Ji-Heon’s expressionless gaze, swallowing hard.
“Disappointing. To work so hard and have nothing to show for it.”
“…….”
“You would have been better off going to the company dinner.”
The calm, self-muttering sneer left Si-Nae unable to even lift her head.
“Anyway, I understand. It can’t be helped. It is difficult to win over a client’s heart.”
Ji-Heon stepped back after a moment, as if there was nothing else he could do. Si-Nae secretly let out a sigh of relief that it had ended at this level. However, just before Ji-Heon left the team area, he added one more thing.
“From now on, Assistant Manager Si-Nae Jo, please submit a work report every day at 6 PM.”
“……Pardon?”
“There’s no need to come find me in person; just send it to me via email.”
Just when she thought she could breathe easy!
Long after Ji-Heon had left, the members of Team 1 looked at Si-Nae with pity. She had only acted to help Eun-Bi, but now she was completely on Director Ji-Heon Jeong’s bad side.
Si-Nae clutched Eun-Bi’s sleeve desperately. “Assistant Manager… what do I do…?”
“Oh, dear. I was on thin ice yesterday too. It’s okay. I’ll talk to him properly.”
Eun-Bi comforted Si-Nae and headed toward Ji-Heon’s office. Si-Nae clenched her fists at her desk. She couldn’t forgive Jeong-o Lee for snitching about the fact that she had been the one assigned the task.
After Ji-Heon entered his office, Eun-Bi followed.
“Oppa.”
Ji-Heon didn’t answer; he just sat and flipped through the documents in front of him.
“Did something bad happen?”
“…….”
“Assistant Manager Si-Nae Jo was just trying her best, too. If you scold her for something like that, the employees get scared.”
When no response came from Ji-Heon, Eun-Bi changed her question.
“Why were you so hard to reach yesterday?”
“…….”
“Eun-Yeop Oppa came over too, and we were planning to meet up. Did you talk to our Oppa?”
After a long while, an answer came.
“Yeah.”
“What did he say?”
“He didn’t say much.”
Eun-Bi was hurt by Ji-Heon’s indifferent reaction. She felt even more so because she had been scolded by Eun-Yeop yesterday.
Marriage. She had been running toward a clear goal, and she thought she could see the summit now. She had assumed Ji-Heon Jeong would naturally accept the marriage, but now, for some reason, she felt anxious. Her lips twitched; it wasn’t easy for her to smile.
She forced herself to open her mouth and speak.
“Mother mentioned the marriage. What should we do?”
“You can handle it roughly on your own, can’t you?”
It was a point she had barely managed to bring up, but his response didn’t seem to have even the sincerity of the fingers flipping lazily through his papers.
“Roughly how?”
“Don’t you know my mother better than I do?”
It wasn’t that she had grown accustomed to his cold attitude. Eun-Bi was simply enduring it. For the sake of the marriage she would one day grasp, she was suppressing her pride and holding on. That was why, when it came to marriage, she couldn’t help but be sharp.
“Fine. Let’s say I tell Mother whatever. Then what about you, Oppa?”
“…….”
“What do you want to do?”
“I’m not shameless enough to even ask you for marriage.”
“……What if I want it? What if I say let’s do it?”
At her question, he slowly stopped what he was doing and looked at her. He just looked at her. Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth again.
*You? You, of all people?*
It felt as if words he had never spoken were being hammered into her head by some inexplicable force. His expression held both a sneer that wasn’t a sneer and a laugh that wasn’t a laugh. His arrogant and icy gaze, looking down at her, made Eun-Bi shudder.
Staring at her, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Then we should break up.”
“…….”
“Though, of course, we’ve never actually dated.”
Without changing his expression, he lowered his gaze and continued his work as if nothing happened.
“Since there’s no history, isn’t it something that can be ended with a single word? Tell Mother that we broke up.”
Eun-Bi couldn’t speak; she shook her head stubbornly. She couldn’t do as Ji-Heon said. This was no longer something that could be ended with a single word. There were many things Ji-Heon didn’t know. Eun-Bi had spread the word about her relationship with Ji-Heon to many people in the company, and 95% of it was mixed with lies. If it weren’t for the marriage, she wouldn’t be able to save face or show her face at the company. It would shock her entire family, too.
“Oppa, can you say that so easily?”
“I don’t understand why you find it so difficult.”
“…….”
“I’m busy, will you please leave?”
His consistently emotionless voice tightened Eun-Bi’s chest. She knew that if she harassed him any further, even the freedom to raid his office like this would vanish. Clenching her teeth, Eun-Bi left the office.
On her way out, she ran into Seung-Gyu. Looking at Seung-Gyu, who appeared humming a tune—as if he were in a good mood, which was irritating—Eun-Bi let out a sharp scoff.
“He’s busy right now, Oppa.”
“Oh, really?”
Even though Ji-Heon had warned that he was busy, Seung-Gyu didn’t turn back. Eun-Bi’s brow furrowed.
“Are you going in?”
“I’m going to see how hard my friend is working.”
“Hmph!”
Eun-Bi clicked her tongue once more and stomped away, her footsteps echoing sharply. Seung-Gyu stared at Eun-Bi with a sullen expression before turning his head away.
Seung-Gyu and Eun-Bi had not been on good terms for the past seven years, ever since they first met. Seung-Gyu disliked Eun-Yeop, his high school classmate, and he didn’t like his younger sister Eun-Bi, either. He detested Eun-Yeop’s craftiness and found Eun-Bi’s bravado insufferable. He simply refrained from forcing his own standards onto Ji-Heon.
As Seung-Gyu pushed open the office door and stepped inside, he faltered at the sight of Ji-Heon’s lethal gaze. Ji-Heon’s glare, which he’d fired off under the snap judgment that it was surely Chae Eun-Bi again, softened upon recognizing his friend.
“Chae Eun-Bi seemed furious. Did you two fight?”
“No.”
“I suppose not. You wouldn’t even bother fighting,” Seung-Gyu said, plopping down onto the sofa. “You were exceptionally courteous to her, though.”
“I can’t treat her lightly,” Ji-Heon replied, resting his chin on his hand while flipping through some documents.
He had no choice but to be courteous to Eun-Bi. Seven years ago, Eun-Bi had reported Ji-Heon’s accident and helped them catch the hit-and-run driver. It was said that when Ji-Heon was in a coma, she had taken great care to ensure his mother, Mrs. Jang, didn’t lose hope. It seemed that connection had allowed her to maintain a good relationship with his mother ever since.
On top of that, their families knew each other, and she was the sister of his friend, Eun-Yeop. So many strings were attached that he couldn’t simply ignore her. Seung-Gyu was well aware of those circumstances.
“Still, you should tie up the loose ends if there’s someone you actually want to date.”
“There isn’t.” Ji-Heon denied it without hesitation at Seung-Gyu’s advice.
“Right. Maybe you don’t want to date anyone right this second, but don’t you at least want to share an umbrella with someone?”
“…….”
“Wait, no. Not an umbrella. A coat. You were walking around in a coat.”
“…….”
“I saw it all yesterday, Jeong Ji-Heon. You were practically filming a movie scene out in the open.” As Seung-Gyu teased him repeatedly, Ji-Heon grew quite contemplative.
“Want to deny it? That’s all just romantic feelings.”
Even so, accepting the cringeworthy term “romantic feelings” was difficult. The emotions Ji-Heon felt were quite clear. His reaction to the appearance of a woman named Jeong-o. That was a feeling that could only arise because she was a woman and he was a man. A sexual desire, much like an appetite.
He was about to assert that it wasn’t anything like romantic feelings when Seung-Gyu pressed him teasingly.
“So you’re worried about her getting rained on, but you don’t like her?”
“Right.”
“You want to be near her, but you don’t like her?”
“Right.”
“You’re concerned about her being sick, but you don’t like her?”
“…….”
“Jeong-o Lee was wearing the cardigan I bought you, a man’s cardigan, yet you say those aren’t your feelings?”
“……That was from you?”
“You heartless jerk.”
It was a feeling he couldn’t easily define, and she was a person he couldn’t easily define, so having someone slap a clear-cut reason onto it made him feel strange.
“……It’s just that her appearance is exactly my type.”
“…….”
“I’ve never been like this before. Not once in 33 years. That’s why it’s annoying.”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes. That’s what we call pure, heartfelt love.”
His heartless friend had developed a pure, heartfelt love. Seung-Gyu’s lips stretched wide enough to say they’d hit their limit. Ji-Heon still found it hard to accept. They had only met ten days ago; there was no way it could be genuine love.
“Anyway, do your best. I’m not helping.”
“Who asked for your help?”
“You’ll come begging for my help someday, though.”
Confident in his prediction, Seung-Gyu wandered around the office with a scholarly gait before stopping abruptly in a corner. A yellow umbrella was leaning against the wall.
“What’s with this umbrella?”
It was what Ji-Heon had left behind when he briefly returned to the office after parting ways with Jeong-o last night.
“You don’t seem like the type to need something like this. Shall I take it? To give to my daughter.”
“No.”
“…….”
“It’s mine. Don’t touch it.”
At Ji-Heon’s stern tone, Seung-Gyu twitched his nose. *This guy, once he got an interest in women, even developed a possessiveness for things.*
Regardless, having human desires was a good sign. Seung-Gyu chuckled and left the office.
*
Friday evening. The team members, finally liberated from overtime, left their desks one by one.
They were guaranteed freedom this weekend. There wouldn’t be a peaceful weekend again until after they finished the war-like competitive presentation. So, he needed to rest properly this weekend. And spend plenty of time playing with Ye-Na.
Having finished his work, Jeong-o began packing her bag, thinking about how she would spend her weekend. Her hand reached for the cardigan she had taken off. That morning, when her muscle aches were severe, she had mindlessly accepted it from Ji-Heon, but after taking medicine and clearing her head, she regretted it. She even felt a bit of resentment toward Ji-Heon, who had taken advantage of her physical and mental vulnerability to drape his coat over her shoulders.
‘Still, I should wash it before returning it.’ Jeong-o put the cardigan in her bag.
As she stepped out of the office toward the central hallway, she ran into Ji-Heon again. It seemed he was leaving for the day as well. Coming face-to-face with him, she felt her temperature rising again.
‘Don’t be intimidated.’
Jeong-o took a brave step forward. Though, her body wasn’t as brave as her mind, given that she still had the tail end of a cold.
The elevator wasn’t coming. They stood side by side in front of it. She could feel his gaze upon her as he lowered his eyelids to look at her. Jeong-o stubbornly stared straight ahead and said,
“I’ll have the cardigan dry-cleaned and return it to you.”
“Just give it to me.” He held out a large hand, one that looked like it could easily lift a basketball with ease.
“A friend bought it for me, so I have to get it cleaned personally.”
“Yes.”
*If it’s that precious, why did you lend it to me?*
She couldn’t understand his real intentions, but Jeong-o silently took the cardigan out of her bag and handed it to him.
“Thank you for letting me wear it. Thank you.”
“Assistant Manager!”
After she handed over the cardigan, Gihun came running toward them from the office, calling for Jeong-o.
“Director, are you heading home?”
Seeing Jeong-o and Ji-Heon standing side by side, Gihun bowed politely before speaking to Jeong-o again.
“Assistant Manager, I brought my car today. Would you like a ride?”
“It’s Friday night. Don’t you have plans?”
“I’m heading toward Hwayang-dong. Do you want to go together?”
“Shall I?”
Jeong-o gratefully accepted Gihun’s offer. Gihun was the most comfortable colleague in the company. But then, Ji-Heon called out to Gihun.
“Mr. Gihun Song. It sounds like the phone is ringing in the office, and no one is answering it.”
Sure enough, a phone was ringing somewhere.
“Oh? Assistant Manager, just a moment.”
Gihun ran back toward the office. The two were left alone in front of the elevator once more. Ji-Heon took the cardigan he was holding and draped it back over Jeong-o’s shoulders.
“Just wear it on your way.”
It happened so quickly that Jeong-o had no time to stop him. While Jeong-o was frozen in surprise, Gihun came running back from the office and said,
“Assistant Manager, it looks like you should go ahead. Something came up that I need to send an urgent email for.”
“Oh… I see. Good luck.”
“Yes.”
After Gihun left, Ji-Heon continued.
“It’s a precious item bought by a friend, so make sure to return it on Monday.”
“…….”
“Returning it over the weekend would be fine, too.”
Was it a joke? Or was he serious? The smile he wore on his lips looked somewhat wicked. Jeong-o couldn’t say a word, terrified that he might ask her to come in over the weekend.