Chapter : 03
The man and woman disappeared into the darkness of the parking lot. Watching them, Hyun-jun let out a quiet chuckle.
Lee Seo-yoon and Jo Dong-min.
As he exhaled a long breath, the smoke drifting hazily into the air brought back memories of what had happened yesterday.
The vulgar scene of Jo Dong-min rolling around half-naked with Manager Oh Cho-hee in the rooftop garden. Seo-yoon watching the scene while trembling all over. Her small, tearful voice begging him to please pretend he had never seen it.
Remembering those things made irritation and disgust surge inside him. He rubbed the back of his heated neck and shook his head from side to side.
‘Please… pretend you didn’t see anything.’
It was understandable that she might be ashamed of being caught in such a situation. She might simply want to let things pass quietly without getting her feet dirty by stepping into that mess.
But Hyun-jun was not like that.
Why should I pretend I didn’t see anything?
Hyun-jun slipped one hand into his pocket and walked steadily toward the place where Lee Seo-yoon and Jo Dong-min had disappeared. After passing several cars parked sporadically throughout the lot and entering the darkness, he heard faint voices.
Hyun-jun continued walking toward the sound. Between the walls of the buildings at the back of the parking lot, he saw two pitch-black silhouettes standing face-to-face.
“Seo-yoon, what’s the reason? Why are you suddenly saying we should break up?”
“Please… just break up with me.”
“Why? How can you just decide something like this on your own?”
“…I thought about it, and I realized that dating someone from the same company is too much of a burden. And I’m also very lacking.”
“Do you really think that makes any sense?”
Hyun-jun took a deep drag from the cigarette between his lips. He exhaled slowly toward the air as he continued walking. The two men and women simultaneously turned their heads toward him when they sensed someone approaching.
“S-Sir.”
Dong-min was so startled that he stammered, while Seo-yoon’s face turned pale and she froze in place with her eyes wide open. Hyun-jun stared at the two of them with dry eyes before giving them a crooked smile.
“What are you doing here?”
The two of them pressed their lips tightly together as though they had agreed beforehand.
Hyun-jun asked,
“Why would Assistant Manager Jo Dong-min from the Business Support Team come to a dinner gathering for the Strategic Planning Division?”
Dong-min could do nothing but blink.
“This isn’t even near the company. I’m asking because it looks like you came here deliberately.”
“……”
“I can’t stand it when I’m curious about something.”
Dong-min lifted his head to meet Hyun-jun’s gaze. The large man, a full head taller than him, was intimidating simply by standing there.
Cold light lingered in his eyes. His expression made it impossible to tell whether he was smiling or sneering. The firm muscles visible beneath his rolled-up sleeves only added to the pressure.
Without realizing it, Dong-min swallowed hard and glanced sideways at Seo-yoon.
A thin trail of smoke slowly drifted between the three of them. Ash fell with a soft tap from the glowing tip of the cigarette.
Seo-yoon, who had been silently staring at the ground like a student awaiting punishment, cautiously raised her head. Then she spoke in a trembling voice.
“Assistant Manager Jo Dong-min came here to talk to me.”
“At this hour?”
At Hyun-jun’s question, Seo-yoon’s eyes shook. Her expression made it clear she had never expected him to ask.
“Yes…”
Watching Seo-yoon answer in a barely audible voice, Hyun-jun raised one corner of his mouth.
“Ah…”
He deliberately drew out the end of the word as if he had understood something, and Seo-yoon flinched.
“Right. You two enjoy your private time. I had no idea, so I guess I rudely interrupted.”
Hyun-jun stubbed out his shortened cigarette, took out another one, and placed it between his lips. He gave the two of them an ambiguous smile, then turned around and casually walked away.
“Cut the press conference footage into separate clips for each question and save them. Assistant Manager Lee Seo-yoon, play the footage you filmed of Executive Director Do Hyun-jun talking to the foreign reporters in front of the booth. Yes, there. This scene looks natural and good. I think we should edit this one and use it for overseas promotional material.”
Since early morning, the Public Relations Team had been gathered in the conference room reviewing the footage they had filmed the day before.
“Don’t you think Executive Director Do Hyun-jun looks incredibly natural when he looks at the camera? He could be an actor.”
“Exactly. And how should I put it? His face has a certain atmosphere to it. Being an actor isn’t just about being handsome. You need something that sticks in people’s minds, and Executive Director Do has exactly that. His eyes are sharp, so he can look cold, but when he smiles, he just melts people.”
The employees repeatedly played the press conference footage, marveling at Executive Director Do Hyun-jun’s sculpted appearance. They nodded, thinking that this must be why the chairman always put Executive Director Do in front of cameras.
Manager Oh Cho-hee was clicking her mouse, sorting through hundreds of photographs taken the day before and selecting the ones that could be used as promotional materials. Then she spoke with concern.
“But is Team Leader Park okay?”
At Manager Oh’s question, Deputy Manager Go Hyeong-seok’s face twisted.
“Okay? How could he be okay after practically pouring wine straight down his throat like that? Just thinking about him making a spectacle of himself and spilling wine in front of Executive Director Do yesterday…”
Ugh.
Go Hyeong-seok shuddered.
Yesterday, after barely managing to drag Team Leader Park Jae-cheol outside and put him in a taxi to take him home, Park had vomited twice. Remembering how the furious taxi driver had cursed him out with every insult imaginable and how they had even had to pay for the cleaning fee made his irritation rise all over again.
And if that had been all, it would have been fortunate.
Apparently, his hangover was so severe that he had even been admitted to the hospital.
And here we are, drowning in work.
“Assistant Manager Lee Seo-yoon.”
Deputy Manager Go called Seo-yoon in an irritated voice.
“Yes, Deputy Manager.”
“Go to Executive Director Do Hyun-jun and get the promotional video and materials approved as soon as possible. They have to be uploaded to the website by tomorrow.”
Seo-yoon looked at Go with slightly startled eyes.
Until now, she had never gone directly to Executive Director Do to give a report. She was only four months into her job, the newest member of the Public Relations Team, and certainly not at a rank where she would normally report directly to an executive director.
“We have to prepare additional press materials to distribute this afternoon. And we’ve already got lunch scheduled with the reporters. The team leader is absent, so everything’s piled up.”
In other words, the report would probably take quite some time.
Seo-yoon hesitated, unable to answer immediately. Eventually, she quietly said,
“Yes.”
Standing in front of the office of the head of the Strategic Planning Division with her laptop in her arms, Seo-yoon looked up at the dark gray door.
The sturdy, solid door gave off a cold and austere feeling, much like Executive Director Do Hyun-jun himself.
She pretended she was fine, but in truth, every time she saw Executive Director Do, her heart shrank.
Even making eye contact with him made her chest sting as though she had been caught doing something wrong. She felt anxious that he might ask about what had happened that day.
‘A voyeur? I was wondering if you had a thing for secretly watching people.’
It felt as though Executive Director Do’s voice was echoing in her ears, and Seo-yoon squeezed her eyes shut.
‘You two enjoy your private time. I had no idea, so I guess I rudely interrupted.’
Even when he had spoken with that mocking tone, Seo-yoon had been unable to say a single word in response.
Just thinking about Executive Director Do Hyun-jun standing on the other side of that solid door made it hard for her to breathe. The air felt as though it were pressing down on her shoulders, and just as a faint sigh escaped her—
“Assistant Manager Lee Seo-yoon.”
She heard someone call her name.
She turned her head and saw Executive Director Do Hyun-jun walking toward her. As the distance between them gradually closed, Seo-yoon simply blinked before quickly lowering her head.
“Hello, Executive Director.”
Hyun-jun stopped in front of Seo-yoon and looked down at her, clutching the laptop tightly in her arms. He reached out, opened the office door with a click, and asked,
“What is it?”
“I came to give you a report.”
“A report?”
“I came to get your approval on the promotional videos and materials filmed at yesterday’s press conference.”
Oh, that.
Hyun-jun nodded twice before entering his office. Seo-yoon quietly followed him inside.
They passed the empty secretary’s desk and entered through another door. Inside was a spacious desk positioned with its back to a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.
Beside it stood a large bookshelf filled with books. In the center was a sofa and table, while one side of the wall had a small refrigerator, a coffee machine, and a minibar equipped with storage cabinets.
The overall color scheme was neutral.
The interior was clean and simple, though it felt somewhat stark.
Seo-yoon stood there blankly watching Hyun-jun take off his jacket and place his phone on the desk.
It was her first time giving a report inside his office.
She needed to show him the videos on her laptop, but where was she supposed to sit for something like this?
While she hesitated, unsure what to do, Hyun-jun sat down at the head of the sofa and said,
“Sit.”
“Yes.”
Seo-yoon answered quietly and sat down on the long sofa diagonally across from him.
After taking a breath, she placed her laptop on the table and began explaining what they had organized during the meeting.
She played several edited videos and showed him the materials that would be included in the promotional package.
Hyun-jun’s expression barely changed as he listened to the report.
He pointed out several parts that needed to be revised and asked her to send some of the videos to him by email.
Whenever he occasionally asked a question, Seo-yoon gave the answers she had prepared.
Once the report was finished, Hyun-jun stood up.
“Good work.”
It was his way of telling her that she could leave now.
His voice was dry and businesslike.
Seo-yoon bowed her head and left the office, feeling considerably lighter.
The report had ended much faster than she had expected, and Executive Director Do Hyun-jun seemed completely uninterested in her.
She felt a little embarrassed realizing that she had been overly conscious of him.
Even if he happened to know about the private lives of one or two employees, there was no way a busy executive like Do Hyun-jun would care about such things.
As time passed like this, she thought, perhaps she would be able to continue working at the company peacefully as though nothing had ever happened.
She believed that words like affair and office romance would gradually be forgotten.
That was when—
“Seo-yoon.”
