Dokyung stared intently at the woman’s diminishing figure in the rearview mirror. It was quite amusing to see her glaring at the back of the car with a visibly irritated face.
“Are you interested in marrying me?”
Should he call it honest, or bold?
“You’ll find it difficult to find a business partner as good as me.”
Or perhaps arrogant.
Despite being the one seeking a deal, she overflowed with groundless confidence. Coming with nothing and daring to propose a deal.
This unprecedented recklessness was refreshing. Among people who constantly tried to gain his favor, she had essentially told him to his face, without hesitation, that it wasn’t him she needed but his money.
Was that why he wanted to provoke her more? He was curious to see how those reddish-brown eyes, inconsistent with her proud attitude, would waver when stimulated.
“I haven’t been drinking.”
Her raised eyes were full of explicit displeasure and wariness. The lie she uttered with a flushed, heated face was quite unskilled.
Yet she was fairly good at catering to the tastes of those lecherous old men.
She was a peculiar woman in many ways.
“That’s Han Yuri, right?”
Kang Jinwoo, who was holding the steering wheel, glanced back and asked a question. Only then did Dokyung withdraw his gaze from the woman and turn his head indifferently.
“What did you say?”
“I was greeting her.”
Recalling what he had witnessed, a suspicious look spread across Jinwoo’s face. The expressions of the two people facing each other had been quite peculiar for it to have been a simple greeting.
No. He had been somewhat puzzled from the moment he observed her smoking a cigarette and watching a group of people leave.
When had Lee Dokyung ever easily given attention to someone? The intuition of someone who had known him for a long time began to stir.
“Just a greeting?”
Lee Dokyung’s gaze in the rearview mirror was piercing. His intention to ask what Jinwoo meant was clear.
“You didn’t say much that day. It doesn’t seem like you directly rejected her at the meeting either, so I thought perhaps…”
“Clear my schedule for tomorrow afternoon. We’re going to Seowoon City.”
Dokyung’s voice cutting off the end of Jinwoo’s words was harsh. It was a signal to shut up. Immediately understanding, Jinwoo discreetly avoided his gaze and answered.
“Yes, I’ll clear it.”
The car, having regained its quietness, smoothly left the alley. Dokyung’s eyes, having shaken off the afterimage of the woman no longer visible in the rearview mirror, became calm again.
***
The lights came on in the previously dark conference room, and the gazes of about ten executives and employees turned to Chairman Han Myeongcheol sitting at the head seat. The chairman spoke to Yuri, who was standing at the podium after finishing her performance presentation.
“You’ve worked hard.”
At this highest form of praise from Chairman Han, who was stingy with compliments, expressions of happiness and displeasure divided among the people in the conference room.
“How’s the preparation for the additional campaign coming along?”
“We’re proceeding so that it can start right from next week. This morning, we discussed the budget with the management support team…”
“Give that money to Hyunsu.”
Yuri’s words were cut off, followed by an unexpected order from Chairman Han.
“From today, Executive Director Han Hyunsu will take over the additional campaign, and Director Han, you will oversee the Arko Mall entry in Seowoon City.”
The atmosphere reversed instantly. Understandably so, as this brand renewal project was one that Yuri had personally overseen for over a year, putting her whole heart and soul into it. Just as it was beginning to show real results, telling her to hand it over to Han Hyunsu meant attributing all her achievements to him.
A silent murmur arose in the conference room. Breaking through that atmosphere, Han Hyunsu responded conspicuously.
“I’ll work hard.”
The chairman urged Yuri, whose face had grown cold.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
Ignoring Han Hyunsu, who was smirking at her, Yuri calmly opened her lips.
“Chairman, since I started this project, I’d like to finish it myself. Regarding the Arko Mall entry, after completing the additional campaign…”
“Director Han, do you not want to work?”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Then do as you’re told. Without talking back.”
Gritting her teeth, Yuri finally kept her mouth shut. She knew well the chairman’s temperament of never reversing decisions once made. And that adding more words would be futile.
“Yes, I understand.”
Only after finally hearing Yuri’s answer did Chairman Han withdraw his gaze.
The brief meeting ended, and starting with the chairman in his wheelchair, the executives who had been seated rushed out of the conference room.
Just as Yuri was about to leave, gathering up the documents spread on the table, Han Hyunsu, who had deliberately remained behind, spoke to her as she didn’t even glance at him.
“Take it easy with work, Yuri. You’ll damage your health like this. Your Oppa is saying this because I’m worried about you.”
As if he wasn’t even worth looking at, explicit words flew at the back of Yuri’s head as she passed by, ignoring him without even turning around.
“I hear your blind date with Lee Dokyung failed?”
Yuri, who had briefly paused her steps, let out a faint sigh through her teeth. Han Hyunsu, who had been leaning back in his chair casually, got up and approached her.
“That bastard rejected you, I heard? Well, it’s not easy for someone like you to turn him on. How about it, want me to introduce you to one of my friends…”
“What bullshit.”
“Ah, my little sister must have been hurt badly? That’s why you should have played nice instead of being so stiff. Well, you can do it this time. He’s doing the construction for Arko Mall. Try to seduce him well. Who knows? That whore Lee Dokyung, he might have some extremely unusual fetishes…”
“The one with unusual fetishes is you, Executive Director Han Hyunsu.”
Yuri held up her phone screen in front of Han Hyunsu. His face instantly contorted as he saw it.
On the screen was a photo of Han Hyunsu that she had received just this morning. This time it was from a woman who claimed to be an aspiring model. It was a photo obtained by paying a large sum to a woman who said she had been mistreated by Han Hyunsu after he approached her offering to be her sponsor, and who threatened to distribute it to the press immediately.
“Ah, shibal.”
Yuri quickly avoided Han Hyunsu’s hand as he tried to snatch her phone. He nervously jerked up his empty hand. It was a habit that showed he was desperate to swing at her. Yuri looked directly at him and continued.
“Three thousand per photo.”
“What?”
“When I sorted through the usable ones, there were about ten. Make the deposit, I’ll send you the account.”
“You crazy bitch, for just a few photos…!”
“Don’t want to? If not, I’ll bill Haraboji.”
“Ha, this is really… You caught a good one this time?”
“Not at all. You do so many extraordinary things that this doesn’t even count as leverage anymore.”
Yuri coldly sneered. She could see Han Hyunsu’s distorted face turning red in real-time.
“Stop acting like a whore. You’ll damage your health. I’m worried, Oppa.”
“Hey!”
Yuri left the conference room, leaving Han Hyunsu behind as he shouted. All traces of a smile had disappeared from her face as she turned away.
Her head cooled down. With just one word from Chairman Han, all her efforts over the past year had become meaningless. The porridge she had cooked wasn’t meant to be fed to Han Hyunsu, who was worse than a dog.
“This is the article I wrote. Why has it been changed to Han Hyunsu’s name? Haraboji knew everything, didn’t he? How could you take what’s mine when you knew…”
“What in this house belongs to you, Yuri?”
“Haraboji!”
“Listen carefully to what I’m saying. While you eat, sleep, and shit in my house with my money, don’t be greedy. Nothing in this house is yours. Your article? How is that yours and not Hyunsu’s?”
If only she had listened to her grandfather’s words long ago. If only she had lived like her mother, not coveting anything, could she have been a little more comfortable?
“Ha…”
With increasingly rapid breathing, Yuri hurriedly entered her office as if escaping. The anxiety and panic that came without warning seemed to choke her.
In the end, she opened the locked desk drawer and took out the medicine container that she had kept in the deepest part. Then she sorted out the small pills by type and put them in her mouth.
How long would she have to repeat this?
How long would she have to continue this hopeless one-sided love, leaning on empty hope…
She stood there for a while with her eyes tightly closed. Finally, having barely regained her breath, Yuri picked up the phone.
“It’s me. Please gather all materials related to Arko Mall and send them to me. And please unlock the document access permissions too. Yes.”
After briefly ending the call, Yuri’s eyes, which had been skimming through the documents on her tablet, suddenly stopped at a point on the screen.
Lee Dokyung, CEO of Haegang Construction
A signature in neat handwriting that resembled the man.
The fact that she couldn’t take her eyes off that name for a long time was probably because she regretted the deal that couldn’t be fulfilled.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
