Chapter 8
Cha Do-gun’s enemies, Cha Ji-hwan and Madam Moon’s younger brothers, joined forces to prevent him from entering the company.
Naturally, everyone Chairman Cha had trusted was also targeted for removal, and the blade they had been sharpening fell without mercy that morning.
The employees checking the personnel announcement to see whether their names were on it had mixed expressions of joy and despair.
Some were suddenly transferred from office work to production factories, while others were demoted to logistics centers.
The most shocking case was Kim Sang-gil, the secretary office chief who had served the chairman for thirty years.
“Hel…lo, Chief Secretary.”
Holding a large cardboard box, Sang-gil entered and looked over the faces of the three employees who had arrived before him.
Bang Eun-mi, the head of the Finance Department, was famous for her flawless accounting, where not even a single ten-won coin was ever missing.
Kang Young-ho, the head of the Planning Team, had been promised an executive position by the chairman because of his groundbreaking program.
And Secretary Lee Seo-yeon, who had been like the chairman’s hands and feet.
After greeting them with a nod, Sang-gil sat down at an old desk with a chipped corner.
“It’s nice to see you all.”
He had expected something like this after the chairman’s death, but the measures had come much sooner than he expected. His face clearly showed his confusion.
“Chief Secretary, I really don’t think this is right. How can someone who was the chief secretary for thirty years be made a team leader?”
Eun-mi’s voice was filled with tears, and she seemed unable to continue because of her choked throat.
“Some people have resigned too.”
There were employees who had simply thrown their resignation letters onto their desks and disappeared before he even arrived.
“It has really been a long time since we’ve all been together.”
Just as Sang-gil began to speak, the old office door suddenly flew open as if it were about to break.
Shin-young entered, followed by two employees who were said to have the best looks in the company.
The person responsible for making everyone’s jaws drop at this morning’s personnel announcement.
The chairman of the RS Cultural Foundation, Moon Shin-young.
With her new title, Shin-young’s shoulders were full of arrogance.
When Chairman Cha was alive, he had even strictly warned Shin-young never to set foot in the company. She had framed the former chairman of the cultural foundation with nonexistent corruption and driven her out.
“Oh my, Chief—no. Team Leader!”
With an excited face, Shin-young walked toward Sang-gil.
Her golden two-piece suit, completely out of place in this gloomy office, made a soft rustling sound with every step.
“Secretary Jang. Let’s see, let’s see. Put the flowerpot over there.”
Shin-young stretched out her finger and pointed somewhere.
“Team Leader, congratulations on your department transfer. You too, and you too.”
Since she did not know the other two people’s names, she simply pointed at them with her finger as she passed by.
When she finally stood in front of Seo-yeon, Shin-young clenched her jaw.
“Secretary Lee.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“You’re not very smart, are you? You saw the personnel announcement. What should you call me?”
Shin-young crossed her arms arrogantly.
“Chairwoman, hello.”
“Yes, yes.”
Satisfied, she turned her attention back to Sang-gil.
“Secretary Lee, I can use her from time to time, right?”
“Chairwoman, employee Lee Seo-yeon belongs to the Document Management Team. She has work to do here.”
“You’re saying no?”
Sang-gil drew a clear line.
“Yes. If you need her assistance, please send an official request for cooperation.”
“Since this is a company, if that’s the procedure…”
Shin-young made a meaningful expression before calling Seo-yeon.
“But, Secretary Lee.”
Shin-young stepped closer and bent forward, bringing her face under Seo-yeon’s chin.
“You’re quite cold-hearted. Your old man died, but you didn’t even cry? The chairman treated you so well. I thought you would be the one crying the most.”
She giggled before speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“You, did you perhaps sleep with my old man? Was he no good? Is that why you didn’t cry?”
Without the slightest change in her posture, Seo-yeon brought her face close to Shin-young’s ear and whispered quietly.
“Chairwoman.”
Shin-young, enjoying herself as she teased her, raised her thickly mascaraed eyelashes.
“Yes?”
“I thought you already knew. The chairman… couldn’t do it.”
As if her suppressed anger had exploded, Shin-young’s body trembled.
Alarmed, Sang-gil quickly approached and pulled her away from Seo-yeon.
“You! You!”
“Please don’t disgrace the late chairman. I ask you.”
Seo-yeon bowed at the waist.
Please, just please.
It was as if she were saying that Shin-young should stop embarrassing the chairman, who had loved a woman like her.
After Shin-young left, breathing heavily and raging with anger, silence settled over the cold office.
Eun-mi, who was rather plump, patted Seo-yeon’s shoulder.
“You know, Secretary Lee, I thought you were a gentle lamb.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what? We’re not in a position to apologize to each other right now.”
Clap. Clap.
Sang-gil lightly tapped his palms together.
“All right. Shall we begin the Document Management Team meeting?”
People bring out the devil inside them when they gossip behind someone’s back.
And those possessed by that devil spread all kinds of filthy words that make the ears of even more people sweet.
That afternoon, Seo-yeon encountered countless devils while pushing a mail tray through the office.
“She threw herself at the chairman just because she had a pretty face.”
“She really is disgusting.”
“If I were her, I’d have quit already because I’d be too ashamed.”
“I’m sure that face has been completely fixed too.”
Before, they had at least whispered where she could not hear them.
Now, they deliberately spoke loudly enough for her to hear.
As Seo-yeon walked, Do-gun’s voice from yesterday, heard through the phone, suddenly came to her mind.
The first thing he had said after suddenly calling her was:
“You won’t be able to endure it if you go there. So just say one thing. Ask me to help you.”
Why should I?
How can Mr. Cha Do-gun help me in this situation?
The chairman helped me too, but look at the result.
In the end, everything is my burden.
“You’re being so frustrating. Listen, Ms. Lee Seo-yeon. Just close your eyes and marry me. Once I enter the company, I’ll be holding the sword. Then I can cut down all the bad guys, can’t I?”
I don’t know.
Is a marriage like that really right?
In the end, I’ll become a woman who marries a man so that her husband can swing the sword.
“I’m not actually the kind of person who casually says things like this. This is a marriage you should accept while bowing your head and thanking me.”
I don’t like it.
Then what will you become?
Someone who cuts people’s throats with a sword handed to him by his wife.
“Let’s do it. Marriage, okay?”
Remembering his voice that had seeped through the phone in a coaxing tone, Seo-yeon pressed her lips together so she would not smile.
“Oh my, how shameless. Are you smiling?”
A female employee behind her mocked her, but Seo-yeon paid no attention.
Thinking about Cha Do-gun naturally made her feel better.
“I’m saying let’s get married. Marriage.”
His voice lingered in her mind like the lingering scent of perfume.
As she pushed the tray along, Seo-yeon straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin.
“What a load of bullshit.”
After seeing the company’s personnel announcement, Do-gun let out a hollow laugh.
Lee Seo-yeon wasn’t the only one who had been screwed over.
They demoted everyone who had been my grandfather’s people.
That means they’re planning to cut off all my hands and feet in advance, doesn’t it?
He entered the company lobby and headed straight to the security office.
Security Chief Im Seong-hoon recognized him and came running in alarm.
“Y-young Master.”
“Hi, Uncle.”
The security chief was startled and quickly pushed him behind a marble pillar in the hallway.
“What are you doing here?”
“Are you afraid you’ll get fired?”
The only one of my people who had not been demoted.
A completely loyal ally who had stayed in contact with Do-gun even while he was in America.
“Find someone and send me a text.”
“Who?”
“Lee Seo-yeon. You know her, right? Chairman’s adopted granddaughter.”
Even as he said that, Do-gun was so amused that little laughs kept escaping through his teeth.
My great grandfather, who brought his adopted granddaughter and grandson together!
“I heard she’s been transferred to the Document Management Team. She’ll be delivering mail all day. Send me the hallway CCTV in real time.”
“That’ll be a lot of work.”
“I know. If it were easy, would I have come here myself?”
“You really can take over as CEO, right? I bet my neck and the necks of all my subordinates on you, Young Master.”
When someone’s faith begins to shake, you have to give them an even greater certainty.
“Don’t worry. If that doesn’t work, I’ll get you a job at my company in America.”
Do-gun walked down the long hallway.
Did Lee Seo-yeon walk through this hallway too? With those tiny feet, that tiny body.
Soon, the security chief sent a video to his phone.
Sunlight shattered through the full-glass windows.
When the phone screen became difficult to see because of the glare, Do-gun stepped into the shade of a flowerpot beside a pillar.
He saw Seo-yeon.
She was pushing the tray with her head held high and a confident expression on her face.
The corner of his mouth tilted upward as he watched the video.
“You haven’t lost your spirit. You’re doing well, Lee Seo-yeon.”
Then he heard someone’s voice.
“Did you hear the rumor about Lee Seo-yeon?”
“What is it? What did that gold digger do this time?”
Suppressing a giggle, the woman continued.
“I heard Executive Director Cha Ji-hwan has a woman these days.”
“What? His wife is pregnant! No way. Who is she? Don’t tell me it’s Lee Seo-yeon?”
Their giggling became more malicious.
“I heard someone saw them coming out of a hotel together!”
Do-gun, who had been smiling while looking at his phone, quietly put it into his pocket.
When he walked out into the hallway, his eyes were practically murderous.
Suddenly, someone sprang out from behind the flowerpot, making the female employees gasp.
“Hello. This place looks like that place, and that place looks like this place. I seem to be lost right now. Ah, you don’t know me, do you? I’m Cha Do-gun. Chairman Cha Woo-man’s grandson.”
“Oh my. Ah, hello.”
The female employees were stunned by Do-gun’s extraordinary looks and the unbelievably powerful background he had just revealed.
He leaned his upper body toward them.
“I was feeling damn pissed off, but it’s nice to meet you. Let’s go to hell together today.”
“What?”
His sharply raised eyes flashed with a cold light.
“You don’t know hell? Hell? Ah, I see. You don’t know. That’s why you go around saying such garbage. My grandfather used to say this.”
“When you see someone lying, beat the hell out of them!”
