chapter 26
Seoha met Kyungjun’s piercing gaze head-on.
This was the man who, after becoming a secretary, had planned to take over the company, yet calmly grilled clams with a perfectly composed face. That much showed how clever and meticulous he was. His question wasn’t just a wild guess.
“Why are you asking me that?”
“You smell like Yoon Seoha.”
Kyungjun stood and leaned forward, as if he could actually smell Seoha.
“Exactly the same. Your tone, your habits, even your actions.”
“Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”
“Even that shameless look in your eyes.”
Who was calling whom shameless? Seoha forced her furrowed brows into a straight line.
“Let’s say Secretary Ryu is right. Being friends is a personal matter, so I don’t understand why you’re interrogating me like this.”
“This. This is a Yoon Seoha design.”
Kyungjun picked up Seoha’s first design from the desk and held it in front of her.
“You thought I wouldn’t notice, huh? This is the last design Yoon Seoha submitted before the accident. You copied it, I caught you, and then, pretending it was your own, you brought another design claiming it was your identity. Am I wrong?”
“……”
Seoha was confused.
The original of this design was in a safe. Only Seoha and her mother knew the password. If entered wrong five times, it would lock permanently.
So how did Ryu Kyungjun know about it?
As she tried to think, a memory surfaced. The first day they met in front of the CEO’s office, a design book had fallen to the floor. Kyungjun had picked it up and studied it closely instead of returning it.
He remembered a sketch he had seen only once and recognized it exactly. He was scarier than she had thought.
“So… you have proof that it’s a Yoon Seoha design?”
“Director Kang’s condition is slowly improving. Once she fully recovers, we’ll be able to get that design from the safe.”
Her mother was improving?
Her heart thumped. Overjoyed, tears pricked her eyes. Memories of building a future with her mother at the company surged, and longing welled up.
Just a little longer. I have to protect the company.
“You recognized it correctly.”
Seoha lifted her head and said coolly,
“Yes. This is a Yoon Seoha design.”
“What’s with that confidence? Forgot about the bet at the desk?”
If she had stolen someone else’s design, she would have tidied her desk as promised.
Even now, she had no reason to be ashamed. If Kyungjun knew the secret of that design, she also knew his secret.
“Isn’t Secretary Ryu the one being too confident?”
Kyungjun frowned.
“What do you mean?”
This time, Seoha leaned forward. Her nose was almost touching Kyungjun’s jaw.
“Secretary Ryu, you’re a spy for the Taeyang Group.”
“……!”
Speaking the words she had been turning over in her mind felt like carbonated water rushing down a blocked throat.
“Yes. I’m friends with Yoon Seoha. I know you’re the hidden son of Chairman Ryu of Taeyang Group, that you tried to exploit Director Kang’s weakness to force this company to Taeyang, and….”
Seoha glanced around Kyungjun’s office, almost as large as the CEO’s, and smiled.
“The shareholders and management of Kang Yoon’s company have no idea about any of this.”
Kyungjun fell silent, stunned by her accurate observation.
He had never imagined Seoha had figured out his identity. And never in a million years would he have guessed she would tell her friend.
“Are you threatening me now?”
“Speaking casually again. Since it’s come to this, shall we speak freely? We’re the same age anyway.”
With nothing left to fear, Seoha even raised her eyebrows nonchalantly.
“Not a threat. Consider it a negotiation. I stay silent, you stay silent. Just like always. Nothing changes.”
Seoha was fully herself now. Kyungjun felt as if she could be speaking from someone else’s body, and it wouldn’t surprise him.
“Why stick with this company so much?”
“To become a designer. I’ve always envied Seoha.”
At this moment, Seoha truly envied Seoha.
Not the Jo Seoha sharpening knives to protect the company and get revenge on her husband, but the Yoon Seoha who could throw divorce papers in her husband’s face and walk away—that was enviable.
“Is that all? You want to be like Seoha just because you envy her?”
“‘All’? You envied her too, didn’t you?”
“I? Envy Yoon Seoha?”
Seoha laughed again.
“People are all the same. If something makes you insanely jealous but you don’t want to admit it, you deny that person instead of your feelings. Seoha was born with a silver spoon; she hasn’t achieved anything by herself. Her head’s full of flowers. She just got lucky.”
Kyungjun’s face flushed.
He had envied her, then resented and envied her even more, and now his pathetic, gloomy side was exposed.
“Stop playing with words.”
Kyungjun rubbed his face and said dryly,
“Jo Seoha, I’ll hire you as an official designer. On the condition you give up Yoon Seoha’s design.”
“Of course the front part. But why the condition at the back?”
Kyungjun’s eyes scanned the sketches scattered around.
-‘Finally, a new brand is launching at Kang Yoon Company. Congratulations, Designer Yoon Seoha.’
Seoha had overheard conversations between Yoon Seoha and Director Kang about this design.
-‘Department store entry comes last. We won’t beg to enter first; the stores should approach us first. Can you handle that, Seoha?’
-‘Of course. Who do you think I am, Mrs. Kang?’
-‘Yes, my beautiful daughter.’
Hearing those conversations and laughter in the CEO’s office, Kyungjun could not imagine what it felt like to be recognized and loved by one’s parents.
“This is Yoon Seoha’s new brand.”
Kyungjun carefully organized the sketches. Seoha’s gaze never left his long fingers.
“New… brand?”
“When Yoon Seoha wakes up, she’ll launch this new brand. A boutique in Cheongdam-dong, a launch show with VIPs and celebrities, pop-up stores nationwide. So don’t even think about touching this.”
Seoha felt a lump in her throat.
“…Anyway, this company will eventually be sold to Taeyang Group.”
“That’s only after Director Kang and Yoon Seoha return. Until then, I’ll never hand this company over to anyone, Taeyang or otherwise.”
Kyungjun placed Seoha’s sketches in the bottom drawer of the desk and pressed the lock button.
“Jo Seoha, cooperate. Don’t waste time flirting with idiots like Lee Seung-oh; bring back amazing designs like a proper designer.”
Seoha stared silently at Kyungjun.
She wondered why he hadn’t sold the company all this time despite having the chance over three years. Why he stayed, even serving as Seung-oh’s secretary.
Perhaps he had been protecting Kang Yoon all along. Absurd, but possible.
“Why are you staring? Got something to say?”
“…I have a request.”
Maybe she could get a little help.
“I want to see Director Kang. Let me meet her.”
“Why would you want to see Director Kang?”
Kyungjun’s gaze sharpened.
“I told you I’m Yoon Seoha’s friend. I don’t have parents. Ever since I was little, Director Kang treated me so kindly, I think of her as a mother.”
“The amazing friend who steals designs?”
Seoha wanted to hit the sarcastic Kyungjun.
“If you doubt me, you can stay beside her. I won’t do anything, just see her.”
Kyungjun eyed her suspiciously.
“…Then, tomorrow after work. I’ll accompany you to the hospital. When I contact you, come down to the parking lot.”
Finally, she would see her mother. Seoha pressed her swelling heart with her hands. She could already hear her mother calling her, “My daughter.”
“Th-That’s n-not possible!”
Shocked, Jisoo, lying down to sleep, turned bright red and sat up abruptly.
“Jo Seoha hasn’t even finished her internship. And now, in just a month, she’s a full designer?!”
“That’s how it is, honey. Even as CEO, I can’t overturn what was decided in the meeting.”
“Why was there a meeting about Jo Seoha in the first place?”
“Director Ryu liked her design. The other executives too, and me as well.”
Jisoo pushed away Lee Seung-oh, who tried to hug her.
“I wasn’t at that meeting! The design department is mine. Any personnel decision without my input is invalid!”
For a moment, Lee Seung-oh’s expression darkened. The lights were mostly off except for a small lamp, so Jisoo didn’t see it.
“You’re right, my dear.”
After a brief silence, Seung-oh gently stroked Jisoo’s hair.
“The design department is yours. But this company is mine. You have no authority over personnel.”
Jisoo felt frustrated. Seung-oh never said sorry or threatened to fire Jo Seoha.
“When you were the team leader, it wasn’t like this. You picked new designers, so I failed too.”
“Yoon Seoha was part of the owner family.”
“So am I!”
Jisoo pushed Seung-oh forcefully again and shouted,
“You’re the CEO, I’m the wife! A wife is family too!”
“I meant the legally and socially recognized owner family. If we register our marriage, you’d be right, but not yet.”
It was exasperating. Jisoo even wondered if Yoon Seoha’s stubborn survival was revenge.
Jisoo flipped the blanket over her head and turned away from Seung-oh.
Usually, when she pouted, Seung-oh would comfort her, saying it was cute. But tonight was different. He sighed annoyedly and left the house.
“Where are you going?”
“A drive.”
He didn’t even ask her to come. Soon, the sound of slippers crossed the living room, followed by the door closing.
Seung-oh did not return home all night.
