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A date at his place?
Was he really being this blatant, even after everything that had happened between them once before?
Joo-eun felt irritated, as if she were being treated like an easy woman.
Clutching her fists tightly, she stood there unable to respond when Min-hyuk added:
“Ah, I left out the most important part—pretend we’re on a date. That’s what I meant.”
Only then did Joo-eun’s tension ease, and her voice shot up indignantly.
“You could’ve just said that from the start! Why leave out the most crucial part?!”
Her flustered reaction was so cute that Min-hyuk couldn’t help but stretch his lips into a wide grin.
“You seemed so worried about being overheard earlier, but now it seems you don’t care anymore.”
Joo-eun lightly scratched the bridge of her nose.
“Hmm. I guess I got a little carried away.”
“Don’t get excited in front of other men. It’s too sexy.”
“I… I can’t believe I just said that. Sorry.”
Joo-eun apologized with an expression that clearly showed she wasn’t sorry at all.
Min-hyuk couldn’t contain his amusement, grinning openly.
Joo-eun was utterly exasperated.
“Why are you smiling?”
“It seems I really am crazy, since I’m smiling even after hearing something like that.”
Ah...
For a moment, Joo-eun stared at him blankly before clearing her throat unnecessarily.
“Hmm. Anyway, we’ve helped each other once, so I don’t think either of us owes the other anything anymore. From now on, I’ll stay completely out of things between you and Chaerin.”
“That’s disappointing. You were my lifeline for maintaining my single life.”
He kept smiling, but somehow it didn’t feel like he was genuinely disappointed.
“I’ll take it that you’ve accepted my apology, so I’ll be leaving now. Bye.”
Joo-eun turned to leave but stopped abruptly when she noticed the document still in her hand. With an “Oh no” face, she turned back around.
Though he already knew why she was returning, Min-hyuk teased her anyway.
“What is it? Did you change your mind already?”
“The team leader asked me to deliver this draft. Please review it.”
“Songsu-eun, please review it one more time. Since we’re pretending to be lovers, and you haven’t come over even once, people are starting to think we’ve broken up. Let’s just take one picture of you coming and going from my place.”
Min-hyuk made his request gently, almost coaxingly.
To amplify the effect, he gazed at her softly, employing a double-pronged attack.
But…
“I already told you clearly—I won’t get involved.”
Joo-eun didn’t budge an inch.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“How cold-hearted of you.”
“Please respect my decision.”
After placing the document on his desk, she bowed more politely than before.
Despite putting forth what he thought was his best charm, it seemed to have no effect. Min-hyuk’s smile faded slightly, tinged with a hint of defeat.
As his expression hardened, Joo-eun’s heart sank along with it.
That’s enough. Stop overthinking this. Remember, things only got bigger because you offered to help for “just five minutes.”
Clenching her wavering resolve, Joo-eun turned decisively.
But just as the door was about to close behind her, a faint breeze seemed to carry what sounded like his sigh, making her heart drop like a stone.
Why did he have to make that kind of expression and weigh her down like this…
Biting her lip in frustration, Joo-eun silently cursed Min-hyuk.
---
“Where’s that fan?”
Back at her desk, Joo-eun frantically opened and closed drawers in search of her mini fan.
The fan rolled out from the back of the drawer when she yanked it open too forcefully.
Pressing the button three times, a strong gust of wind blew out from the mini fan.
“What’s wrong? Did you break up?”
Kim Dae-ri pushed her chair closer, curiosity piqued.
Turning off the fan due to its noisy motor, Joo-eun laughed awkwardly.
“There’s nothing to break up over…”
“But your face is beet red after just visiting the director’s office. You look exactly like an apple right now.”
“Come on, how could Song Joo-eun not feel excited standing in front of the director? She’s a woman too, isn’t she?”
Even Choi Gwang-jang chimed in from behind.
There was no way they could understand that her heart wasn’t just racing—it felt like it might stop altogether.
“Tasks like delivering documents are something I can handle too. Next time, just toss it to me. I'll take it with both hands.”
“Yes, I’ll definitely do that.”
Since this was exactly what she wanted, there was no reason to refuse.
“By the way, does the director have a girlfriend? Even though it’s none of our business, I’m curious.”
Choi Gwang-jang casually tossed out the question as if discussing celebrity gossip.
“I heard rumors that he’s been in talks about an arranged marriage with the daughter of the GB Group. That’s apparently why such a massive investment deal went through.”
Was he talking about Chaerin?
Joo-eun had guessed that she came from a wealthy family, but the GB Group?
The scale of it made her feel small and insignificant.
“Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering how our company managed to secure such a huge investment. So it really was all give-and-take. Haa… The women he sees on different days must be shedding tears of blood.”
She didn’t want to get involved at all, but…
Slowly turning her head, Joo-eun cautiously asked:
“On different days…?”
“You didn’t know? Monday girlfriend, Tuesday girlfriend—he supposedly dates women for every day of the week, like a rainbow.”
So this is how baseless rumors spread.
Joo-eun was utterly exasperated.
But then again, there was no way to tell whether this was true or not. What did she really know about him?
Maybe the Friday slot was empty, and they were begging her to fill it.
“Haa, if those rumors are true, how exhausting would that be? Fun only lasts for a day or two. Imagine having to deal with a woman who insists on meeting every single day because you’re only seeing her once a week. How could anyone handle that?”
“I guarantee you, someone like him could probably handle it just fine...”
Joo-eun’s eyes widened in shock at her own words.
“Huh?”
“What?”
A brief silence passed.
“Wait, did you just…”
Exactly. Unless I’ve gone crazy.
“It’s just what I heard from rumors. People say that. I heard it from my classmates.”
Joo-eun awkwardly tried to cover her tracks by bringing up classmates she barely even met.
With puzzled expressions, Choi Gwang-jang and Kim Dae-ri exchanged glances.
“Hmm. Anyway, I’ll get back to work. I have a lot of overdue tasks.”
As Joo-eun began furiously typing away, the two reluctantly resumed their chatter.
“Anyway, that GB Group daughter doesn’t seem like an ordinary person. She’s infamous in business circles as a tyrant. Our director, surprisingly, seems to have a pitiable side.”
“To think he has to enter into a political marriage with someone like her. Suddenly, I feel so sorry for him.”
For a while afterward, Choi Gwang-jang continued sharing anecdotes about the notorious tyrant of the business world.
Though annoyed at herself for getting dragged into this, the sensational nature of the stories kept her ears perked up.
As a result, the document she was working on filled page after page with nonsensical gibberish.
After the gossip session ended…
Deleting the chaotic mess of text she had written left her staring at a blank white page that felt strangely hollow.
Above that empty space, the image of his deep gaze lingered, flickering in her mind.
“What a shame. Song Joo-eun was my lifeline.”
“Why do you keep saying things like that to make people feel guilty…”
The fact that she was the only one who could save him from the clutches of that business tyrant infuriated her.
---
At the end of a day filled with heavy thoughts, the uphill path she walked alone felt particularly burdensome today.
Her mind was noisy.
One voice shouted, What’s so hard about taking one picture?
Another countered, If you make an enemy of someone from such a wealthy family, you’re asking for trouble.
And yet another calmly advised, Just hurry home, eat the warm meal your mom prepared, and go to bed early.
“Haa… I don’t know anymore, really.”
The steeper the hill became, the slower her steps grew.
Would she have felt this bothered if the woman marrying him wasn’t someone like her?
How could they push such a cheap, materialistic woman onto their son?
The chairman who built this massive company—his judgment was truly disappointing.
Then again, from the perspective of a ruthless businessman, perhaps she was the perfect match.
From their standpoint, maybe she was the one lacking.
“Stop thinking about it. Why am I worrying about chaebols? Just focus on your own path. You’ve been doing fine so far. If you don’t want to get tangled up with the chairman’s son and risk losing your job, snap out of it.”
Muttering to herself like a madwoman, her steps inexplicably came to a complete halt.
It was as if she were urging herself to hurry to him.
Just then, a taxi slowly drove past and came to a stop right beside her.
Joo-eun glared at the taxi as if blaming it for its timing.
“Why are you stopping here of all places… There are so many other places to get out. Why here…”
She pressed her hand to her forehead with a deep sigh.
As the taxi began to move again, her hand instinctively shot out.
“Wait! I’m going to Hannam-dong!”
She shouted the address, recalling the text he had sent her without even being asked.
The moment she got into the taxi, waves of regret crashed over her. She tried several times to tell the driver to stop, but held back each time.
In the end, the taxi entered the neighborhood lined with tall walls.
Her lips were raw from biting them so much during the ride, and she could faintly taste blood.
After getting out of the car, she double-checked the address on her phone and approached the large iron gate.
“Alright. Just one picture. If I’m the only one who can help him, why not try to save him?”
Taking the deepest breath she could muster, she pressed the doorbell.
After waiting for a while, she rang it again briefly.
Still, there was no response.
“Hasn’t he come home yet…?”
Just as she was about to turn around, the sound of a lock clicking echoed, and the iron gate split open in the middle.
Between the brown gates, a silhouette slowly emerged, etching itself into her vision like a scene from a movie.
There stood Min-hyuk, wearing a navy-blue robe as if he had just finished showering, his damp hair clinging to his face.
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