Chapter : 10
Seoyoon’s eyes widened.
“Two… two of them?”
Could a man really get two women pregnant at the same time? Seoyoon couldn’t understand. No, she didn’t want to understand.
“Yeah. You know how Executive Director Do Young-joon is famous for his messy private life. It got even worse after his divorce. He’s a complete degenerate.”
Seoyoon, who knew nothing about office gossip, was hearing this for the first time. She could only blink in shock, and Manager Cha smiled subtly, seeming to find her reaction amusing.
“You didn’t know? You knew he married the eldest daughter of Korea Group and divorced her after just a year, right? The funny thing is, it was an arranged marriage, but she was already pregnant before the wedding, so they rushed into the marriage. I joined the company around then, so I remember it clearly. They made such a huge fuss about it being the love of the century, a royal family’s pure romance, and all that. With a complete degenerate like him.”
“Ugh…”
Manager Cha frowned and shook her head.
“That’s why the chairman dotes on his second son so much. The two brothers have completely opposite personalities.”
“Oh…”
Seoyoon nodded blankly. What she had just heard was so shocking that she still felt dazed.
“The eldest son is basically a walking time bomb. The chairman must have had a pretty hard time keeping all those articles out of the press. The PR and legal teams were constantly on alert, working together to deal with the media. Compared to him, Executive Director Do Hyun-joon just works without a single scandal. We don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but at least his public private life is spotless, right? And he’s highly capable, too.”
While fragments of words—female employees, two women, simultaneous pregnancies—floated around in Seoyoon’s mind, she also learned that Executive Director Do Young-joon had been involved in a major car accident at the beginning of the year and had used the accident as an opportunity to completely withdraw from company affairs.
Just then, the sound of footsteps approached, and five or six employees entered the break room. Manager Cha stopped talking. She opened the can of coffee in her hand, took a long sip, and smiled brightly.
“You’re going in to interpret again today, right? Let me know if you hear anything new. Good luck.”
Knock, knock.
At the sound of the knock, Hyun-joon looked up and checked the wall clock.
9:30.
Wasn’t the morning meeting at ten?
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Manager Han Ki-yeol entered carrying a report. As he placed the documents on the desk, Ki-yeol said,
“This is the report prepared by Director Kang Min-gyu. I thought you might want to look it over before the meeting.”
Hyun-joon, who had been reviewing the documents sent by the legal team, nodded.
“Director, we’ve assigned an in-house interpreter for today’s meeting. It was difficult to find one because we had to cancel another meeting and pull someone out at the last minute. I took some heat for it, but considering the circumstances, this is an important meeting that even the chairman will be attending.”
“Today’s interpreter will be Assistant Manager Lee Seoyoon.”
“Yes, what? Assistant Manager Lee Seoyoon?”
Ki-yeol’s eyes grew round. He stared at Hyun-joon as if asking, Why?
Yesterday, the situation had been urgent, so he understood. But today, they had already found an interpreter.
Ki-yeol waited for a moment, but Hyun-joon merely lowered his gaze and continued silently reading the report. He offered no explanation.
“Yes… Understood.”
Well, when had he ever kindly explained himself?
Ki-yeol had practically gotten down on his knees, begging and almost shedding tears as he pleaded to pull an interpreter away from another assignment.
He silently swallowed a sigh.
What a pointless effort.
Two years in the Business Planning Team at the U.S. branch, one year in the Business Division after returning to Korea, and one year in the Strategic Planning Division. After nearly four years of assisting Hyun-joon, Ki-yeol thought he had become pretty skilled at reading the room.
Yet every now and then, there were still moments when it was impossible to figure out what was going on inside Hyun-joon’s head.
He might be indifferent, but he wasn’t particularly difficult to work with. He had an easygoing personality and tended to let things slide, believing that what was good was good enough…
Is he very tired?
Ki-yeol stopped just as he was about to leave the office and glanced back.
Hyun-joon wore a sleek, perfectly tailored black suit, a pristine white shirt, and a neatly tightened tie. His hair was combed back cleanly. He gave off a somewhat stern impression, but there was no sign of fatigue on his face.
Only a cold, formidable presence radiated from him.
His nose seemed a little sharper than before, and his jawline looked… Had he lost some weight?
But if that were the case, it was strange. Even the small movement of flipping through the documents made the muscles of his arms beneath his jacket stand out distinctly.
As Ki-yeol discreetly examined Hyun-joon’s condition, Hyun-joon stood up.
Holding the report and tablet in one hand, he casually walked past Ki-yeol.
Ki-yeol reflexively checked the time.
It was time to head to the morning meeting.
When Hyun-joon entered the conference room, he naturally exchanged nods with the employees present.
Chairman Do, who had left for Jeju Island early that morning to attend a business leaders’ forum, was absent. In his place was Chief of Staff Bae In-chan.
When their eyes met, Chief Bae gave Hyun-joon a subtle smile and a slight nod.
Hyun-joon returned the smile.
Seoyoon, sitting right beside Chief Bae, also lowered her head.
Her smooth, pale skin, neatly tied-back hair, light beige knit sweater, and slender fingers busily moving across the keyboard.
Lee Seoyoon gave off a composed impression as she stared intently at her laptop. She seemed to be reviewing the meeting materials in advance for the interpretation.
Considering that she had stayed late working until dawn, she looked surprisingly energetic.
So that’s how it is.
A faint smile formed on Hyun-joon’s lips as he took the seat opposite her.
When Hyun-joon gave a slight nod to Director Kang Min-gyu, who was standing at the front of the conference room, the lights dimmed and the screen came into focus.
One half of the split screen displayed the manager of the U.S. branch’s Business Division, while the other displayed the PowerPoint presentation Kang had prepared.
“The employee who accessed the confidential documents has been identified as Manager Noh Se-chan of the Technical Sales Team. We’ve also confirmed that Manager Noh used the IDs of several employees without authorization. His attendance records, CCTV footage, and site access logs have all been investigated, and with the cooperation of the legal team, we’re currently tracing his bank accounts.”
Only a day had passed since the incident, yet the dark circles beneath Director Kang’s eyes were obvious. His face looked haggard, and his voice was hoarse and metallic.
In a word, he looked desperate.
He probably hadn’t slept a wink all night, obsessively investigating the matter.
If the mastermind behind this incident wasn’t completely uncovered, Director Kang wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility either.
The scale of the incident was far too large to have been the work of a single employee, and the timing was suspiciously perfect.
It was almost as if the person had joined the company knowing in advance that he would be dispatched to the U.S. branch.
They must have exploited weaknesses in the management system for dispatched employees.
There was undoubtedly someone behind the order, and the arrow of suspicion was pointed directly at Director Kang, who had personally hired Manager Noh Se-chan and sent him to the U.S. branch.
Then Seoyoon began interpreting in her characteristically clear voice.
Her interpretation was much smoother and more natural than yesterday. Unlike the tense, nervous performance she had given the day before, she seemed relaxed.
She’s certainly quick to adapt to work.
And she has good instincts.
It was just then that a faint smile spread across Hyun-joon’s face.
Team Leader Hwang Jae-wook of the Business Division, who was sitting beside him, tilted his head curiously.
“Director, who is that female employee interpreting right now? She doesn’t look like one of our regular in-house interpreters. I’ve never seen her before. Did we have a beauty like that working here? Her English is good, too, and she seems friendly.”
He had been watching her closely since yesterday, and words poured freely from Team Leader Hwang’s mouth without the slightest filter.
Her voice was pleasant to listen to.
If she was available, he wanted to use her as a permanent interpreter for Business Division meetings.
She was attractive enough that they could even bring her over to the sales team.
“You know looks are important in sales. If you bring a pretty female employee along to a client meeting, you’re already halfway there. If she sits beside them, pours them a drink, and gives them a sweet little smile…”
Team Leader Hwang smiled slyly as he appraised Seoyoon’s appearance.
Hyun-joon stared directly at him.
Hwang instinctively turned his head to seek agreement, only to meet Hyun-joon’s icy gaze. He hurriedly wiped the smile from his face.
“She’s an employee of the TF team. I personally requested her as an interpreter. Some of the Business Division team leaders aren’t proficient in English.”
Hyun-joon kept his eyes fixed on Hwang, as if to say, You’re the one I’m talking about.
“Among the team leaders, the Business Division is the only one with employees who can’t speak English, isn’t it?”
Hyun-joon looked directly at Hwang and raised one corner of his mouth into a crooked smile.
Hwang quietly lowered his gaze and began fidgeting with the documents in front of him.
“It must be pretty inconvenient every time you have a meeting, right?”
“……”
Hunching his shoulders, Hwang lowered his head and moved the hands that had been fiddling with the papers beneath the table.
Hyun-joon flipped rapidly through his tablet before lifting his finger from the screen.
He pressed his index finger firmly against the report file and pulled it toward himself.
Rustle, rustle.
He slowly turned the pages one by one and spoke in a low voice.
“This isn’t the 1980s. Your sales tactics are disgusting.”
“What? Ah, I-I’m sorry, Director. I misspoke earlier…”
“Be careful. If I see you doing that one more time, you’ll be having a meeting with HR.”
“…Yes, understood.”
Hwang nodded stiffly, thoroughly tense.
Then a voice as gentle as it was chillingly ominous reached his ears.
“Raise your head. You need to focus on the meeting. Something major has happened in the Business Division. What are you going to do about it?”
When Hwang raised his head, he saw Hyun-joon wearing a thin, mocking smile.
Hwang swallowed hard.
As he watched the smile disappear from Hyun-joon’s face, he stiffly turned his head toward the conference room screen.
And until the meeting ended, he never once turned his head again.
