1. Hello, You Who Forgot Me
“Here are the materials for tomorrow’s meeting. Organize them for me.”
Jihyun stretched her arm over the partition and handed the meeting materials to Yunkyung as if tossing them at her.
The heavy documents landed on the back of Yunkyung’s hand, which had been moving busily over the keyboard. Under their weight, the keys were pressed randomly, and typos began appearing across the screen.
“Since the meeting is tomorrow, finish them before then.”
Adjusting the glasses she wore to block blue light, Yunkyung raised her head.
“It’s not my job.”
“Ms. Kang Yunkyung, you always give me the same answer.”
Even though she knew it wouldn’t work on Yunkyung at all, Jihyun burst into laughter as if Yunkyung’s response were amusing.
“It’s because we’re so busy. You’re different from us, aren’t you?”
“I also have a lot of work that I need to finish today.”
“That’s your problem, Ms. Kang Yunkyung.”
“Do I need to know about your problems too, Ms. Gwak Jihyun?”
The two women’s gazes collided in midair.
“I’m asking you for a favor. Maybe it’s because the weather is cold, but I have a headache and I’m feeling particularly exhausted today.”
Quite a thing to say when she was drinking coffee filled with ice on a freezing day.
“If I were better at my job, I might have helped you, but I’ve only been working here for half a year.”
She might as well have said her fingers hurt. The time she joined the company had absolutely nothing to do with typing documents.
“You know we need people like you for the company.”
“As I said, I…”
“It’s really important material. Kwonseong Group is coming tomorrow.”
Cutting Yunkyung off, Jihyun deliberately mentioned ‘Kwonseong.’
At the same time as Yunkyung’s face turned cold, a cheerful laugh escaped Jihyun’s lips. It was an arrogant laugh filled with superiority.
“I heard someone from Kwonseong was coming. So it’s tomorrow.”
“Who do you think will come? Surely Vice President Kwon Dohun won’t be coming himself, right?”
His name came from the mouths of the employees standing beside Jihyun.
“My brother is such a busy person that he probably won’t. And I’d rather keep work and personal life separate. He’s my fiancé, and I want him to remain my fiancé. I don’t want to meet him because of work.”
Jihyun smiled as she deliberately fiddled with the ring on her fourth finger.
“It’s for our company, and furthermore, it’s also for Kwonseong. You’ll do it, right?”
Before Yunkyung could even answer, Jihyun thanked her and handed the work over to her.
The two female employees standing beside Jihyun glanced at her nervously before looking over Yunkyung’s desk.
Even though Yunkyung came to work earlier than everyone else and left later than everyone else, her desk was always piled high with unfinished work. There was also always a half-eaten sandwich or kimbap sitting there.
Because there were no windows, Yunkyung’s desk received no sunlight, and even the office lights barely reached it, leaving her area darker than the rest.
The pitiful woman who had fallen out of favor with the CEO and the princess.
That was Yunkyung’s image within the company.
“I’m telling you, he’s been so busy since returning to Korea that I can’t even see him properly. I think having a fiancé who’s too capable can be a problem too.”
The female employees, who had briefly felt sympathy for Yunkyung, quickly withdrew their gazes from her at Jihyun’s following words.
“Exactly. If it were me, I’d be worried.”
“There’s really nothing lacking about him.”
The two women agreed with Jihyun, praising both her and her fiancé, Dohun.
Everyone in the company knew that the moment someone got on the bad side of Jihyun, the CEO’s younger sister, they would be treated like Yunkyung. That was also why everyone kept their distance from Yunkyung and barely spoke to her.
“But he still contacts me every day. You know how sweet my brother is.”
Jihyun didn’t return to her desk. Instead, she remained standing there as though making sure Yunkyung could hear and continued talking about Dohun.
“I thought he’d be really indifferent.”
“He is indifferent to other people. I even have to tell him not to be so cold sometimes.”
“Even if he lost his memories, I guess the body remembers the person it loved.”
At the female employee’s words, Yunkyung’s fingertips twitched.
At the same time, the smile disappeared from Jihyun’s face, and a cold gaze turned toward the employee.
“I-I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant…”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
Jihyun softened her expression as if nothing had happened.
“If he still can’t remember after three years, we should assume he won’t ever find those memories. It’s unfortunate, but if they were memories that could be erased in the first place, they probably weren’t that precious.”
Jihyun looked at Yunkyung as she spoke.
“But it’s okay. I’ve filled his life with so many wonderful memories that the past he lost isn’t even something worth regretting.”
“R-Right. The past is just the past. What matters is the present.”
“Vice President must be really busy too, returning to Korea and all.”
Only after the three women returned to their desks did Yunkyung finally remove her hands from the keyboard. The typing had stopped, but the monitor was filled with nothing but typos.
This was always what Jihyun left behind.
As long as Jihyun’s jealousy and hostility toward her continued, neither the work assigned to Yunkyung nor the childish harassment would end.
Because Jihyun was a child who had already taken away the most precious thing in Yunkyung’s life, yet still wanted to take away even the smallest bit of happiness from her.
Yunkyung pressed the ‘delete’ button. The speed at which the letters disappeared was almost the same as the speed at which she had typed them.
If only human emotions, and the memories containing those emotions, could be erased this easily.
Yunkyung gave a bitter little smile to herself before closing her eyes at the face that came to mind. Even now, when that face appeared in her thoughts, she no longer broke down and cried uncontrollably.
After deleting all the typos, Yunkyung habitually stroked the tumbler beside her mouse. Three flowers were drawn on it.
When Yunkyung’s finger touched the flower in the middle, the employees returning from lunch streamed into the office.
The quiet office instantly became noisy.
“So what’s going to happen to us?”
“What do you mean? Since Kwonseong acquired us, honestly, it’s a relief.”
“No, but even if they are the parent company, taking away our laptops was honestly crossing the line, wasn’t it?”
Behind Yunkyung, who was getting water from the purifier in the break room, the people from the marketing team were chatting. It was the team she belonged to as well.
“I heard someone from Kwonseong is coming tomorrow. Do you think Vice President Kwon Dohun will come? I heard he’s in charge of all the companies they’ve acquired.”
“People in that position usually just give orders and sign approval documents. He’ll send someone below him. Why would he come all the way here?”
The name that kept reaching her ears stirred emotions she had barely managed to calm.
Yunkyung also knew that Dohun had returned to Korea and had become the head of the management strategy team.
Partly because of Jihyun, who had been loudly talking about it even before Dohun returned, and partly because of the person who would never have wanted Dohun to return to Korea.
Yunkyung frowned at the face that suddenly came to mind. When the phone in her hand vibrated, she checked the sender.
<You didn’t forget about tomorrow, did you?>
Ignoring the new message visible on her lock screen, she left the break room. The break room on her floor was currently under repair, so she had gone upstairs.
Yunkyung opened the emergency stairwell door and went down to the floor below.
“First…”
As she organized the things she needed to finish in her head, one by one, she locked eyes with a man standing in front of the elevator.
“Kang Yunkyung?”
“…Senior Kyungmin?”
The two recognized each other at the same time and approached each other in surprise.
“What? You work here?”
“Why are you here, Senior…?”
“I came for work. I was originally supposed to come tomorrow, but the person in charge changed.”
“Ah.”
So Kyungmin was the person who was coming from Kwonseong.
Yunkyung nodded as if she understood.
“Have you been well? How many years has it been?”
“More or less. I thought you were still in the HR team, Senior. Or am I wrong?”
“That’s where I was when you were here. It’s been a while since I transferred departments.”
“Where did you transfer to?”
Yunkyung asked.
“Management Strategy.”
“You’re still doing well, Senior.”
“Doing well, my ass. I just came with the Vice President today.”
“The Vice President?”
“Ah, well…”
Kyungmin realized he had spoken without thinking and glanced at Yunkyung.
“Vice President Kwon Dohun.”
At the name that came from Kyungmin’s lips, Yunkyung instantly froze.
Of course. After what happened back then, she had even quit the company. There was no way she would be happy to hear about him.
Kyungmin blamed himself for his thoughtless slip of the tongue.
“I’ve been working as Vice President Kwon’s secretary for three years.”
“Ah…”
Yunkyung hesitantly lifted the corners of her lips. The hand holding her tumbler trembled.
“I see. Senior, I’m working right now, so I should…”
“Secretary Kim.”
The tumbler Yunkyung was holding fell to the floor.
With a loud sound that struck her eardrums, the tumbler lid came off and the water inside spilled onto the floor.
The tumbler rolled in different directions before finally stopping after hitting the wall.
But Yunkyung was different.
The pounding heart she heard behind her, every one of her senses, told her exactly who it was.
How was she supposed to breathe again?
Even though she was breathing, she kept feeling out of breath. Strength continually drained from her rigid body, while the loud beating of her heart made her feel as though her ears were going deaf.
Or was it happening again?
That tiresome ringing in her ears.
“Vice President.”
Kyungmin looked at Dohun, who could be seen over Yunkyung’s shoulder. He had been waiting for his superior, who had gone to the restroom.
“Let’s go in.”
Dohun passed by Yunkyung.
She couldn’t turn her head or even lower it. She simply stood there, frozen.
His voice was still the same—firm and low—but his scent was different.
It wasn’t the scent Yunkyung knew.
She raised her trembling arms and wrapped them around her shoulders. He hadn’t even touched her, yet the place he had passed felt sore, as if their shoulders had collided.
Kyungmin looked back and forth between the fallen tumbler and Yunkyung, giving her an apologetic glance.
But Yunkyung’s eyes contained nothing but Dohun’s retreating figure.
He passed by Yunkyung and was entering the door on the opposite side.
A strange scent she had never smelled before.
Hair that was shorter than it had been three years ago.
A firm back that didn’t turn around to look at her.
And you, who don’t know me.
“…Ha.”
Only after the two men were no longer visible did Yunkyung, who had barely been holding herself together, sink to the floor.
Because the situation she had never once wished for, even in her dreams, had unfolded before her eyes.
Because he had appeared without warning.
Because he was the person she had longed to see as much as she missed him, yet never wanted to meet.
Kwon Dohun was the lover Yunkyung had lost in an accident three years ago.
The man who had once been her entire world.
