Chapter 8: That’s a Relief
After exchanging a brief nod with Kyung-min, Da-hee heard a voice from across the hall, opened the door, and stepped into Do-heon’s office.
Do-heon, who had been reviewing the file Da-hee had organized and sent in advance, looked up at her.
“How was it?”
“Exactly like you said it would be, Executive Director.”
Having just returned from an afternoon visit to KD Health, Da-hee frowned as soon as she recalled the meeting.
“There may be structural problems, but every single employee there is strange. You can tell just by looking into their eyes—they’re not right.”
Even with her superior sitting in front of her, she spoke bluntly, making no attempt to soften her words.
The two had worked on the same team before Do-heon left for the United States, and Da-hee was one of the people he trusted most—trusted enough to be among the very first members he recruited for the TF team.
“I’d already heard from Secretary Kim that Yoon-kyung was working there, but seeing it in person was unbelievable.”
“I was excited because I thought we’d finally get to sit in on a meeting together. But how are they on the same marketing team and still not sharing meeting schedules?”
The way the employees treated Yoon-kyung had bothered Da-hee immensely.
“When are you going to make the announcement? Can’t you do it sooner?”
“You were the one saying you didn’t want to go.”
“Complaining won’t change the fact that it has to be done. If we’re doing it anyway, we should do it properly. Besides, after seeing that mess today, I actually want to go there even sooner.”
Watching people who had no idea how precarious their own situation was while they busied themselves with petty office politics made her want to reveal the reality they were facing.
“That’s all.”
After giving a brief report on everything discussed during the meeting, Da-hee finished speaking.
“Good work.”
“Executive Director.”
“Yes?”
“I know we’re supposed to separate business from personal matters, but… I think this is different.”
Do-heon silently looked at her, signaling for her to continue.
“Is it really the right decision to put Yoon-kyung on the TF team?”
KD Health’s current condition was clear.
The goals they had to achieve within six months were clear.
The direction Do-heon had laid out for the business was equally clear.
With Kwonseong’s capital and KD Health’s unique products, it would undoubtedly be difficult—but she believed they could succeed.
“The executive director knows.”
“He knows that the employee he saved three years ago… was you, Yoon-kyung.”
The only thing that continued to trouble her… was Yoon-kyung.
Remembering Yoon-kyung’s violently shaking eyes and stunned expression after hearing those words, Da-hee sighed.
She even felt guilty, as though she’d been the one who had hurt her.
“I just wonder if we’re making someone who’s finally managed to move on relive painful memories.”
“If I exaggerate a little… isn’t that basically workplace harassment?”
“Yes,” Do-heon replied calmly.
“That is an exaggeration.”
“You weren’t there back then.”
The atmosphere inside the company at the time…
The way everyone looked at Yoon-kyung…
It had all been painfully sharp.
Yoon-kyung herself had also been a victim of the hit-and-run accident.
But because Do-heon remained unconscious for two weeks, public opinion gradually turned into something else.
People acted as though she was the reason he’d been injured.
Before long…
Do-heon became the pitiable victim.
Yoon-kyung became the woman who had ruined him.
Everyone spoke her name without hesitation.
Rumors whose truth no one could verify spread from person to person.
People pitied Do-heon for waking up without the memories of the previous two years…
And looked at Yoon-kyung with resentment, as though she had caused it.
Even after she resigned and left Kwonseong, no one worried about her.
Instead, they labeled her a coward who had run away.
“I understand.”
“That’s enough. You may leave.”
“Can I ask just one more thing?”
“You have a lot of questions today.”
“How did you find out that the employee you saved was Yoon-kyung?”
“Maybe my lost memories came back.”
There it was again.
That was Do-heon’s favorite response whenever he didn’t want to answer.
Realizing she wouldn’t get anything more out of him, Da-hee simply nodded.
“I’ll take my leave.”
As soon as the door closed behind her, Do-heon turned back to his monitor.
But unlike before…
The words on the screen refused to register.
A single face kept filling his thoughts.
Checking the time out of habit, he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper clipped together.
It was Yoon-kyung’s résumé.
“Did something happen this morning? The atmosphere felt strange.”
“Executive Director Kwon’s secretary came by today. They asked HR for the résumé of a former employee…”
“It was her.”
“Her? Who?”
“The female employee Executive Director Kwon saved.”
Standing outside the meeting room earlier that day, Do-heon had accidentally overheard a conversation between HR employees.
And because of it…
He had learned something new about Yoon-kyung.
“Wait… has Executive Director Kwon recovered his memories?”
“Everyone’s wondering the same thing…”
“E-Executive Director!”
The accident had been major enough to dominate both newspapers and television news.
He had been unconscious for two weeks.
He had lost two years of memories.
So Do-heon had always known that the accident three years ago had been caused by a hit-and-run driver…
And that he had been injured while saving a female employee from Kwonseong.
“I just didn’t know…”
“…that the employee was this woman.”
Looking at Yoon-kyung’s photo on the résumé, he murmured to himself.
That day, for the first time, he searched for news articles about the accident three years earlier.
Only then did he understand Kyung-min’s strange hesitation whenever Yoon-kyung came up…
And Yoon-kyung’s excessive reactions.
Whatever had happened…
The son of the company’s owner had nearly died.
It would have been impossible for her to continue working there.
Wherever people gathered…
Rumors gathered too.
“We agreed that Gwak Ji-hyun’s mother—not Kang Yoon-kyung’s mother—would take care of this.”
“So stop bothering me and go take care of your own daughter.”
That evening…
Do-heon uncovered another one of Yoon-kyung’s secrets.
“You don’t have some hidden daughter, do you?”
Judging by the way Seong-hee and Ji-hyun treated Yoon-kyung…
It wasn’t difficult to guess they weren’t on good terms.
Normally, he had no interest in someone else’s complicated family affairs.
But things changed when that family happened to belong to his fiancée.
Whether Seong-hee had another biological daughter wasn’t the important issue.
The issue was…
That fact had been hidden from him and his family.
Father: Kang Jong-won
Under the Family section of Yoon-kyung’s résumé…
Only her father was listed.
At first, he couldn’t understand why she’d left Kwonseong only to join KD Health.
But considering the accident…
And the fact that KD Health belonged to the family her biological mother had remarried into…
It wasn’t impossible to understand anymore.
Do-heon had already decided to stop looking into Kang Yoon-kyung.
He couldn’t even explain to himself why he had become so curious about her in the first place.
He would have left it there…
If a forgotten memory hadn’t suddenly resurfaced while riding home in a taxi that evening.
“…Who are you?”
When he had finally awakened after two weeks of unconsciousness…
A woman wearing the same hospital gown had come into his room.
At the time, he had already begun feeling suffocated by the people constantly surrounding him.
For whatever reason…
The room had briefly been empty.
There were only two things he remembered with certainty.
The woman had a bandage wrapped around one ear.
And…
She had been crying as she looked at him.
He couldn’t clearly remember her face.
Only that it had been soaked with tears.
Perhaps…
Because it had been covered in tears…
That was exactly why he couldn’t remember it.
Even after he asked who she was…
She never answered.
She simply kept crying.
For a moment, he’d even wondered if she’d injured her throat instead of her ear.
Not a single sound came from her.
Had it not been for the tears streaming down her face…
He might have believed time itself had stopped.
She didn’t even sob.
She was the first person he’d met besides Ji-hyun, her family, and his own family.
Why…
Why was this woman crying so desperately?
“Why…”
“……”
Just as her tightly closed lips finally parted…
The hospital room door burst open.
Ji-hyun and Seong-hee entered.
He couldn’t remember exactly what they said.
Only that they angrily threw the woman out of the room.
“Who… was that woman?”
“Don’t worry about her. She’s nobody.”
“A stranger got into a VIP room?”
“She’s the employee who got you hurt.”
“She’ll never set foot in this room again.”
Ji-hyun’s furious face flashed across Do-heon’s mind.
The blurry face of the tearful woman gradually became clearer.
“She’s the one who did this to you.”
As the outlines sharpened…
Until they finally formed a single face…
Do-heon at last remembered the woman who had visited his hospital room.
“Kang Yoon-kyung.”
Looking at the youthful face smiling from the résumé, he quietly spoke her name.
As though responding to it…
A sharp pain shot through his head.
Gripping his temples against the throbbing headache, he slowly opened his eyes again.
“…Thank goodness.”
Why was the woman he had saved working at KD Health…
And why had she joined the company immediately after the accident?
Why had Ji-hyun—and even Yoon-kyung’s own mother, Seong-hee—pretended she was a complete stranger in the hospital room?
“Really…”
Why had she cried like that…
While looking at him?
“…Thank goodness.”
Recalling Yoon-kyung’s sorrowful voice as those words fell to the hospital floor along with her tears…
Do-heon made up his mind.
One thing was certain.
That morning had begun as an unusually pleasant one for Yoon-kyung.
The bus she’d been waiting for arrived immediately.
A seat opened up right away.
Outside the window, pink cherry blossoms drifted past.
She’d worked overtime every day that week…
But today was Friday.
And she’d received the wonderful news that Hyeon-seo’s surgery had finally been scheduled.
So even when she arrived at work…
Even when she sat down and turned on her laptop…
Even before checking her inbox…
There was no doubt that the day had started beautifully.
“What is…”
Until she opened the email from Kwonseong.
“What is this…?”
Until she read the email informing her…
That she had been appointed to Kwonseong’s new Project TF Team.
