Chapter : 04
Jo Dong-min’s voice came from behind her. For a moment, Seo-yoon wondered if she was dreaming. They were in a company hallway where employees were constantly passing by, right in front of Executive Director Do Hyun-jun’s office.
Not Assistant Manager Lee Seo-yoon, but “Seo-yoon”?
When she turned around, she saw Jo Dong-min approaching with a servile smile. Seo-yoon stared at him in disbelief and tightened her grip on her laptop. Then she spoke in a quiet voice.
“Follow me.”
Seo-yoon immediately turned around and walked quickly. She needed to get as far away from this place as possible. She didn’t want anyone else to catch them together.
I need to end this quietly. While no one knows yet that we were dating at work, I need to end it as quietly as possible, as if it had never happened.
Swallowing the emotions welling up inside her, Seo-yoon quickened her pace. She had never imagined that a relationship that had lasted barely a month could become such a burden.
She had sent him messages saying they should break up, called him, and even told him directly yesterday when he had followed her to the company dinner. When he followed her all the way to her home, she had begged him to please let her go.
What else was she supposed to do?
She passed the lounge at the end of the hallway, opened a door tucked away in the corner, and stepped into the emergency stairwell. Leaning her back against the cold wall, she tried to cool the heat rising through her body.
Clang.
The door opened, and Dong-min entered. He had dark circles beneath his eyes, as though he hadn’t slept. Seeing how gloomy he looked made Seo-yoon realize that she had completely lost any affection she had once felt for him.
“Seo-yoon…”
“How do I have to ask you to break up with me?”
Seo-yoon cut him off. She didn’t even want to talk to him anymore, let alone remain in the same place with him.
“I just don’t understand. I don’t know why you’ve changed your mind.”
“Assistant Manager Jo Dong-min.”
“Yes, Seo-yoon.”
Seo-yoon looked straight at Dong-min and asked,
“You really don’t know why I’m asking you to break up with me?”
“Then explain it so I can understand. What are you talking about?”
Dong-min widened his eyes and put on an innocent expression as if he genuinely had no idea. The shameless, hypocritical look on his face left Seo-yoon speechless for a moment.
“You, Assistant Manager Jo Dong-min, with someone other than me…”
You cheated on me with my direct supervisor, who is a married woman.
The words had risen all the way to her throat, but before she could say them, Dong-min spoke.
“Is this because I’ve been busy lately and couldn’t see you often? Because it seemed like work was more important to me than you?”
A hollow laugh escaped her.
It was absurd. More than that, she couldn’t believe how shameless the man standing before her was.
How had I dated a man like this for an entire month?
Come to think of it, they hadn’t even met that many times. Right after she joined the company, Dong-min, an assistant manager in the Business Support Team, had been assigned to help with her work. That was how they exchanged contact information.
As she watched Dong-min attentively take care of her at work, she had begun to think he was a kind person. That was when he confessed that he liked her.
“You’re going to grow old and die without ever dating anyone. Who said you had to get married? You should at least experience dating.”
Her friend Hyo-joo’s words had stirred up her competitive spirit. And because she had been going through a particularly difficult period in her personal life, she had desperately needed someone to lean on, so she had accepted his confession too hastily.
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined it would turn out like this.
“I’m sorry, Seo-yoon. I’ll do better. So come on, don’t be angry anymore, okay?”
“Please, just stop. I’m begging you. Just break up with me quietly.”
“Seo-yoon.”
The corners of Dong-min’s mouth, which had been raised in a servile smile, slowly fell.
His voice had changed in a strange way, and Seo-yoon lifted her head.
Dong-min took one step toward Seo-yoon, who was leaning against the wall. His eyes, which had been fixed intently on her, twisted ever so slightly.
“I can never break up with you.”
A chilling voice spilled out.
Dong-min took another step forward, slipped his hands into his pockets, and tilted his head to one side.
“You said this was your first relationship, right? That’s why I put up with you and waited. What kind of breakup is this? It’s not like we’re children playing house.”
A deep shadow fell across Dong-min’s lowered face. A faint emergency exit sign glowed behind his head. Seo-yoon had never seen this side of him before, and she was left speechless, blinking blankly.
“You should have just stayed quiet when I was asking nicely. Why did you make me say something like this?”
Seeing Seo-yoon standing there with her eyes wide and unable to say anything, Dong-min stretched his lips into a long smile.
“Seo-yoon, how about we go to a motel today? Let’s do it once. Then I’ll break up with you. I can’t be thirty-two years old, break up with my girlfriend, and have never even done anything with her like an idiot.”
Dong-min bared his white teeth and gave her a disturbingly gentle smile.
“Should I make a reservation now?”
Or I can’t break up with you.
His glossy, unsettling eyes seemed to say exactly that.
As if he really intended to make a reservation, Dong-min pulled his phone from his pocket. He dangled it in front of Seo-yoon’s eyes, then slowly raised the corner of his mouth.
Cold sweat gathered in Seo-yoon’s hand as she gripped her laptop.
Dong-min’s sudden change in attitude frightened her, but she couldn’t back down now. If he had decided to go all the way, Seo-yoon had no reason to keep putting up with him either.
Seo-yoon gathered strength in her trembling fingertips and called out to him.
“…Assistant Manager Jo Dong-min.”
“Yes, Seo-yoon.”
“I… I saw everything. What you and Manager Oh Cho-hee were doing in the rooftop garden two days ago.”
A strange silence descended.
His glossy eyes seemed to tremble in the darkness, but soon they curved into a long, thin smile. A soft chuckle escaped through his narrow lips.
“You saw us? Then you should’ve said so sooner. I wasted all that effort for nothing.”
The sight of Dong-min laughing out loud as though he found it amusing sent a chill down the back of Seo-yoon’s neck.
Seo-yoon looked at him in confusion.
“But do you know something?”
Dong-min took the hand he had tucked into his pocket and stroked Seo-yoon’s cheek.
Startled by the clammy, repulsive sensation, Seo-yoon tried to turn her face away. Dong-min grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him before continuing in a deliberate, measured voice.
“I cheated on you. Not with Manager Oh.”
“Dowon Soft’s software quality assurance contract with the American broadcasting company HBC is the largest software contract ever signed between a Korean IT company and an overseas company. Based on Dowon Soft’s core technological expertise, we are expanding into the overseas market…”
A press conference video produced by the Public Relations Team was playing on the large television mounted on one wall of the executive office.
Chairman Do Won-seok sat at the head of the sofa, watching the video with a pleased expression. Whenever the handsome face of his second son, Executive Director Do Hyun-jun, head of the Strategic Planning Division, appeared on screen, the smile around the chairman’s mouth grew wider.
Chairman Do’s longtime friend and Chief of Staff Bae In-chan had once described Hyun-jun as having a face that could mesmerize people. Bae had also been the first to suggest putting him forward as the company’s “face,” since he was perfect for presenting to people who were obsessed with appearances.
What else was marketing?
Making an eighty look like a hundred, and a hundred look like a hundred and twenty by wrapping it up attractively. Making something good look even better.
That was public relations and marketing.
And for that purpose, Hyun-jun’s appearance was more than suitable.
Chairman Do’s wrinkled eyes narrowed as he gazed steadily at Hyun-jun.
He wasn’t just handsome, either.
Natural instinct, an astute mind, and a burning desire for success.
He couldn’t have asked for a more useful son.
“Our Executive Director Do, you’ve worked hard. So, how is the establishment of the Overseas Business Division coming along?”
“We’re preparing for it. It looks like it’ll take some time to officially establish the division, so before then, I plan to form a task force and get the work underway.”
It had been two days since Hyun-jun returned from his business trip to the United States and one day since the press conference.
Chairman Do knew that his demands were unreasonable. He also knew that he was pushing Hyun-jun to his limits.
Even so, Chairman Do had decided that they couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity.
“Right. We can’t just hire anyone because we’re in a hurry. Do you have any employees in mind?”
Chairman Do asked casually.
There were plenty of talented employees stationed in the Strategic Planning Division, but anyone Hyun-jun took with him would undoubtedly be at the team-leader level.
Or perhaps managers and deputy managers below them would work as well.
“Yes.”
“The fact that you answered so quickly makes it sound like you’ve already decided.”
Chairman Do laughed heartily, his eyes narrowing with satisfaction.
Hyun-jun remained quietly smiling, then raised his wrist to check the time before getting to his feet.
“I’ll be going now. I have a meeting scheduled with a company.”
Chairman Do nodded and waved his hand dismissively, telling him to go.
Of course he was busy.
Even so, Chairman Do was extremely pleased with his son’s neat, composed appearance, which never showed the slightest sign of disorder.
After leaving Chairman Do Won-seok’s office, Hyun-jun took the elevator down to the first floor.
It was nine o’clock, already late, but he still had unfinished business on his schedule.
He had a meeting scheduled with a company they were considering acquiring before establishing the Overseas Business Division.
It was called a meeting, but in reality, it was a drinking dinner.
Once alcohol started flowing, the atmosphere would loosen up, and conversations would go more smoothly.
That was exactly what the company’s representative had been aiming for when he scheduled the meeting so late.
The philosophy was that good things were good things.
Since Hyun-jun had been too busy to make time anyway, he had accepted, but the exhaustion that had built up to the very top of his head now weighed heavily on his entire body.
I’m fucking exhausted.
At least the company representative had taken Hyun-jun’s schedule into consideration and chosen a location near the office.
Hyun-jun ran a hand through his hair, passed through the lobby, and stepped outside.
A cool night breeze brushed against him.
He walked along heavily, then pulled a cigarette from the inner pocket of his jacket. He placed one between his lips and flicked his lighter several times, but only weak sparks appeared. It wouldn’t catch.
A dry laugh escaped through his slightly parted lips.
It was a dull laugh steeped in exhaustion.
Hyun-jun stopped walking and gave a short laugh before loosening his tie and pulling it down.
Where was that convenience store again? I think there was one nearby.
As he looked around, the glass doors at the company entrance opened.
Lee Seo-yoon emerged.
She walked while rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Then she glanced over her shoulder before quickly continuing on her way.
As if she were running away from someone.
