Chapter: 06
“Take responsibility?”
Eunjae could not understand his words at once and wore a confused expression. She did not know exactly what he meant by taking responsibility.
In a situation like this, responsibility would naturally mean legal responsibility…… Was he telling her to go to the police station and report herself for sexual harassment? Or was he planning to demand compensation for damages?
“H-how…… should I take responsibility?”
Eunjae’s pale, trembling appearance was pitiful. Regardless, Taegun smiled leisurely as though he could see straight through her thoughts.
“It’s simple. You just have to date me.”
“Exactly what do you mean by ‘date’……?”
“Do you think two grown adults are going to meet up and play house?”
Joo Taegun gave her a pointed look, as though she should have understood that much on her own. Naturally, Eunjae’s thoughts went straight toward the worst possible scenario.
‘Gasp, no way……?’
Without realizing it, she covered her chest with both arms and nervously swallowed.
Taegun did not notice the gesture because he was rubbing his shoulder and moving away from the bed. Even from a distance, the sheer size of his body was intimidating.
“It’s already very late, so get some more sleep for now…… I’ll take you home once it’s light.”
“Um, Vice President…….”
“Oh, right. I saved my number in your phone, so if you’re thinking about avoiding my calls, give up on that idea.”
It was a sharp observation. Eunjae flinched and nodded quickly. Perhaps satisfied with her reaction, he gave a small laugh and pulled the doorknob.
“Then.”
After a final whisper telling her to sleep well, the door closed.
After hearing something like that…… there was no way I could sleep here!
With a silent scream, Eunjae stayed awake for the rest of the night and climbed out of bed just before dawn completely broke.
Fortunately, all the belongings she had dropped were also in the room, so it was not difficult to gather them up one by one.
She quickly checked her clothes, grabbed her bag, and finally checked the living room before opening the door.
The wide living room was covered in the blue light of dawn like an ocean.
On the opposite side of the room, she could see a long hallway and the entrance. On the left side of the living room was a room that appeared to be Joo Taegun’s bedroom. Its door was firmly closed, and the place was so quiet that she could not hear even a breath.
Eunjae, tense from head to toe, tiptoed across the living room and headed straight for the entrance. She opened the door as carefully and quietly as possible.
Click.
As the door opened, cold air seeped inside. She shivered all over, carefully put on her shoes, and slipped outside.
Once the door closed behind her, she suppressed the sound of her footsteps and hurried toward the elevator.
“Haa…….”
The moment she safely escaped the luxurious apartment, all the strength drained from her legs.
While she turned on her phone and called a taxi, her heart pounded noisily. It felt as though she had become the protagonist of a spy movie.
‘What am I supposed to do now? I’m screwed…….’
Anyone would have found it impossible to predict that the man she had blindly asked for help and then kissed would happen to be the vice president of her company.
After the taxi she had called arrived, Eunjae quickly squeezed herself into the back seat and carefully thought about what she should do from now on.
First, quit the company.
But the moment she thought of that option, she had to shake her head. She had already paid off some of her debts through the company’s low-interest employee loan program.
If she suddenly quit, the interest rate would change, and it would obviously become difficult to make repayments until she found another job. She had not gritted her teeth and endured Team Leader Kang’s advances for nothing.
[Eunjae, can you give me this month’s allowance a little early? Your dad and I are trying to go to the hospital together, but we don’t have any money.]
[Han Eunjae, do you happen to have around 200? I’ll pay you back double. I really mean it this time.]
[Hey, don’t ignore me.]
[Reply. I said reply.]
When Eunjae looked at her phone, the family messages she had been unable to answer last night appeared one after another. Her mother’s message was the same as always. Her older brother’s message was the same too. She sighed the moment she saw them all.
Eunjae’s mother ran a hair salon in the countryside, but the income was nothing special. Her father worked as a deliveryman for a Chinese restaurant, while her older brother was unemployed.
In particular, despite being unemployed, her older brother had been the one who gambled on stocks in hopes of making a fortune and gradually lost the family’s assets.
Even so, Eunjae’s mother loved her son tremendously. She loved him so much that, worried her innocent son might be taken advantage of right under his nose, she could not even send him to Seoul and instead kept him close by.
The three of them still lived together in their country home, while Eunjae alone was living away from home in Seoul.
Of course, she did not resent that. At least, she felt more comfortable living independently than she had when she was living in the countryside.
‘Although money does go out like this every month…….’
Most ordinary people worked when they ran short of money, but Eunjae’s family did not.
Her mother frequently closed the hair salon, saying that she was feeling sick. Her father absolutely refused to go out for deliveries when the weather was bad. And her older brother was beyond explanation.
Yet somehow, they needed so much money for living expenses that Eunjae felt as though her back would break from sending money home every month. No matter how much she saved on food and living expenses, instead of being able to put money into a savings account, everything ended up going to her family home. Sometimes, the situation was almost laughable.
Of course, the funniest thing of all was that even after all this, she still could not turn her back on her family.
Whenever her mother whispered that she was really grateful and that she was counting on her…… Eunjae would repeat this foolish daily routine because of those light, fleeting words of praise.
“Whew.”
With a sigh, Eunjae pushed those dark thoughts aside. This was not a problem she could solve immediately anyway, and there was no need to think about it too deeply right now.
If she could not quit her job, there was only one second option.
Accept Joo Taegun’s proposal.
‘When he says “date”…… he doesn’t mean going on actual dates, does he?’
He had also said that two grown adults would not play house together, so there was only one conclusion.
He probably wanted some kind of physical relationship with her.
But…… would he really go that far over just one kiss?
‘That’s right. Maybe that wasn’t what he meant!’
Although she was already twenty-eight years old, Eunjae had actually never been in a relationship. More precisely, she had never had the opportunity.
She had received many confessions, but there had always been too many obstacles to actually becoming lovers. For one thing, she had nowhere near enough time or money to spend on dating.
As a result, naturally, she had never had a physical relationship with anyone either. She had been so inexperienced that the kiss with Joo Taegun that day had been her first kiss.
“No, come to think of it, that was my first kiss too…….”
She felt unfairly like she had become the only culprit, but there was no denying that she had been the one who had abruptly pressed her lips against him.
Eunjae let out a deep sigh as she got out of the taxi. The walk home seemed strangely long as she trudged along.
After passing through a narrow alley, she arrived at a dark neighborhood filled with old villas. She hurried inside, where a freezing-cold room greeted her.
“Phew…… huh?”
While organizing her bag, she noticed her phone screen flashing. Wondering who could be contacting her at this hour, she checked it, and her eyes immediately shook violently.
[Where did you go?]
It was a message from Joo Taegun. When had he woken up and noticed that she was gone? Eunjae was horrified as she gripped her phone.
[I’m sorry, Vice President. No matter how much I thought about it, I felt that it would be rude, so I came home first. You seemed to be sleeping, so I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye. Please get plenty of rest.]
Good. This should be an acceptable answer!
Eunjae nervously wiped away the sweat from her brow and put her phone far away from her. Whether it was fortunate or not, her phone’s battery was apparently dead, because it shut down. The fact that she would not be able to see a reply even if one came was actually a relief.
Eunjae was relieved that she had managed to return home safely and that today was the weekend, then collapsed onto her bed.
Completely unaware of what was about to happen to her.
“Assistant Manager Han, you couldn’t make it to the company dinner that day?”
After coming back from a half-day morning leave on Monday, Assistant Manager Moon Jihye asked her the question.
Eunjae had just made herself a cup of coffee in the break room, and she flinched before giving an awkward smile.
“Well…… I worked overtime until I finished everything, so it got too late. Still, it’s a relief that I managed to finish organizing the remaining project.”
“Oh, goodness. It was something Team Leader Kang left behind, but you ended up having to deal with all that trouble. I wish I could have helped you a little…….”
“No, it’s okay. You had your own work to take care of too.”
If she had been left to deal with everything alone, she would have felt unfairly treated, but the people in Team 1 had each taken on some of Team Leader Kang’s remaining work.
Eunjae’s workload had simply been a little larger than everyone else’s. At the time, Team Leader Kang had added her name to numerous projects for the purpose of pestering her.
“Was the company dinner fun?”
“Yes, the food was good, and…… I even got to see the vice president everyone had heard so many rumors about in person!”
At that moment, Eunjae spat out the sip of coffee she had just swallowed.
