NSTAR - 7

The dark circles under Joo-eun’s eyes were unmistakable as she stared at the monitor. 

For a month now, sleep had eluded her—every time she lay down, thoughts of him flooded her mind. 

She’d tossed and turned again last night, only falling asleep late, leaving her head buzzing with exhaustion. 

“Song Joo-eun, did you finish compiling the first-half marketing trend data from our competitors?” 

Team Leader Gam strode in briskly, instinctively seeking her out as he always did. 

“Yes, I’ve already shared it via email with the team.” 

“As expected.” 

Gam raised a thumb in approval as Joo-eun stood to respond. 

No matter what they asked or assigned her, she never hesitated—she was unanimously recognized as the ace of the marketing team. At first, there were a few who envied her, but even they couldn’t deny her value now. The number of times she’d saved the team from crises was more than she could count on her fingers. 

“Song Joo-eun, are you busy?” 

Section Chief Choi leaned over from the desk next to hers, peeking curiously. 

“No, not at all.” 

“How was that Bali pool villa you stayed at? The photos looked absolutely stunning.” 

Choi gestured toward the small frame on Joo-eun’s desk. “Ah yes, that photo right there.” 

“Are you planning to go?” 

“It’s almost our 10th wedding anniversary, and my husband said I can choose any destination this time.” 

“Wow, already 10 years! Congratulations.” 

“Pfft, congratulations for what? It’s more like commemorating 10 years of being sworn enemies, comforting each other through it all.” 

Joo-eun chuckled at Choi’s signature humor. 

“The place was great. Would you like some of the research materials I gathered when planning the trip?” 

“Oh, thank you!” 

“I’ve sent them via the company messenger.” 

“Already?” Choi exclaimed, flustered, glancing at his screen. “How did you send them so fast while we were talking?” 

“Whew… You’re beautiful, smart, and such an amazing worker, Song Joo-eun. I always wonder why you don’t have a boyfriend. Didn’t you meet anyone nice during your trip?” 

“Huh?” 

Joo-eun blinked, caught off guard, and Choi seemed surprised by her reaction. 

“I’m asking if you met any good men while traveling.” 

“Oh… no, I didn’t.” 

“Really?” 

Choi tilted his head, looking disappointed. Feeling oddly guilty, Joo-eun quickly added, 

“I went with a friend, so we were just… busy having fun together.” 

“True. When you’re hanging out with a close friend, you don’t even think about romance. Enjoy this phase while it lasts. Anyway, thanks for the info.” 

As Choi turned back to his work, Joo-eun found herself staring blankly at his profile. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. 

It wasn’t like she’d committed a crime. She knew there was no reason to feel so tense, yet her heart raced uncontrollably. 

Snapping out of it, she redirected her focus to her monitor. 

If even an innocent question made her this nervous, it was clear that stepping outside her usual boundaries wasn’t her style. 

“From now on, absolutely, absolutely nothing like that will happen in my life. It shouldn’t.” 

Joo-eun tried desperately to forget that day, which still made her chest tighten whenever she thought about it. 

Of course, it wasn’t easy. 

---

On the long-overdue drive back to his family home, Min-hyuk sighed deeply, gripping the steering wheel with a stoic expression. 

Returning to Seoul after finishing his overseas assignment nearly a month ago, he hadn’t yet managed to have a proper meal with his parents. This dinner felt less like a reunion and more like ticking off a chore. 

He dreaded the inevitable lecture about work and marriage—it already suffocated him just thinking about it. 

Plop. Plop-plop. 

Large raindrops began pelting the windshield, prompting him to glance up at the sky. 

“They didn’t say it would rain today.” 

The weather reminded him eerily of Southeast Asia. As the car came to a stop, he leaned forward, gazing up at the sudden downpour. 

A memory surfaced unbidden—a woman panicking in the rain.

The rigid expression on his face softened slightly. 

“Song Joo-eun...” 

Her name, murmured countless times over the past month, slipped from his lips again. 

It should have been simple—a fleeting connection, a one-night encounter to be brushed off with cool indifference. 

But every time he thought he’d forgotten her, she resurfaced in his mind the next day, leaving him sighing helplessly. 

Where could she possibly be that not even a trace of her remained? Was her name even real? 

A bolt of lightning struck, briefly illuminating the city. The delayed rumble of thunder followed, and Min-hyuk muttered under his breath: 

“I wonder if she’s trembling somewhere again.” 

If only she were here—just so he could hold her, reassure her with a comforting touch on the shoulder... 

Lost in thoughts of her, the car had already entered the winding hillside road lined with grand mansions. His sigh grew heavier than before. 

Fighting the urge to turn back, Min-hyuk stepped into the house, greeted by the staff who warmly welcomed him home. Their familiar faces eased his suffocating mood for a brief moment as they expressed how long it had been since they last saw him. 

But sitting across from his parents at the vast dining table, large enough to seat a dozen people comfortably, felt like an unbearable ordeal. 

Min-hyuk, Chairman Jung, and Jin-sook sat in silence, eating their meal in stiff discomfort. 

“Master, would you like some more soup?” 

“No, I’m fine.” 

For a moment, Min-hyuk’s hardened expression relaxed slightly. He seemed more at ease speaking with someone who wasn’t family. 

“Hmm. How long do you plan to keep loafing around? It’s time to join DK Electronics.” 

Chairman Jung set down his spoon and broke the silence with his usual demand. 

Already strained and awkward, the mention of what his son despised most visibly irritated Jin-sook, whose eyebrows twitched upward in disapproval. 

“If we’re talking about that, I thought it was settled.” 

Min-hyuk responded in a dry tone. 

“At thirty-one, it’s time to start learning the ropes of management. Stop wasting time with all this ‘new business’ nonsense and come work for me.” 

“If I join, it’ll be on my own terms—with full recognition of my abilities.” 

“The fact that you’re my son is your greatest ability! What more do you need?” 

Chairman Jung snapped, his voice rising. Min-hyuk remained unfazed, his face a mask of calm. 

“It’s precisely because of those judgmental eyes that I don’t want to go.” 

“Who cares what they think? They won’t dare say a word against you anyway.” 

As if fear had anything to do with it. All he wanted was to take on new challenges elsewhere. 

But explaining himself wouldn’t help—he knew his father would never understand. The frustration welled up inside him, making his stomach churn. 

Then, a text notification chimed. 

Beep-beep. 

Seizing the excuse to interrupt the conversation, Min-hyuk checked his phone deliberately. 

―I found Song Joo-eun. Unbelievable, but she works in the marketing team at DK Media. 

Min-hyuk’s brow furrowed deeply. 

‘This can’t be… After all that searching, she’s an employee of the DK Group?’ 

The meeting he once thought was fate might not have been fate at all. 

He clenched his teeth tightly. As if sensing his turmoil, another message followed immediately. 

―The room reservation appears to have been made about a year ago. 

‘A year ago…?’ 

A year ago, the resort hadn’t even begun acquisition talks with the DK Group. There was no way she could have anticipated being assigned to that room—or encountering him. 

In other words, there was no possibility she had deliberately approached him. 

At last, the tension in his expression eased ever so slightly. 

“What’s the message about? Why the strange look?” Jin-sook asked. 

Min-hyuk smirked faintly, lifting one corner of his mouth. 

“If it’s DK Media instead of DK Electronics… I might consider changing my mind.” 

A brief silence fell. 

Chairman Jung’s eyes widened as if he’d misheard. 

“What? DK Media?”

“Of all things, it had to be the media division, which has been struggling so much that we were planning to shut it down.” 

Though having his son join the company was a hundred times better than nothing, Chairman Jung still couldn’t wrap his head around it. 

“The marketing at DK Electronics is running smoothly enough. If I intervene now, it’ll only cause trouble.” 

“Even so, DK Media is about to scale down its operations. How does it make sense to send my only son there and then reduce the business?” 

“Why cut back on a venture that could potentially become a goose that lays golden eggs? I’ll make sure it grows into something great.” 

The rapid-fire exchange came to an abrupt halt. 

Chairman Jung stared intently at Min-hyuk. His piercing gaze was so intense that even his own son felt hesitant to add anything more. 

Finally, with a reluctant sigh, the chairman nodded. 

“True. Strengthening a weaker subsidiary before making your grand entrance into headquarters isn’t such a bad idea after all.” 

“Do you still have nightmares?” 

Jin-sook suddenly interjected, breaking the silence as she continued eating expressionlessly. 

Min-hyuk’s already cold demeanor turned frostier. 

“No. I don’t have them anymore.” 

It was a lie. Just last night, he had tossed and turned, tormented by nightmares once again. 

“How are things with Chaerin? I bumped into her at the department store the other day, and she mentioned wanting to have dinner together sometime.” 

At the mere mention of Chaerin’s name, Min-hyuk’s smooth forehead furrowed deeply. He set down his chopsticks. 

“Please kindly decline on my behalf.” 

“What’s wrong with Chaerin? For DK Electronics to take flight, we need a solid financial backing like GB Group. It’s time to start thinking about marriage.” 

When Chairman Jung chimed in as well, Min-hyuk slowly closed his eyes in exhaustion, then reopened them. 

“If that’s the direction this conversation is going, I’d rather not hear any more. Please instruct someone to send me the materials related to DK Media. That’s all.” 

He rose from his seat, bowed slightly, and left without another word. 

As usual, Chairman Jung’s voice grew louder, grumbling about why his son always resisted talking about things he disliked. 

Jin-sook silently endured the complaints, just as she always did. 

Her husband, quick to anger, and her son, stubbornly silent, remained unchanged—just like they had been twenty years ago. 

The family home, visited after so long, was still suffocatingly oppressive, no more and no less. 

His heart felt like a sponge, dried out and hardened, squeezing painfully against his chest. 

Song Joo-eun… If I meet you again, will my heart start beating properly once more? 

Please, make my heart race again like it did that day. 

With a mixture of anguish and anticipation in his eyes, he loosened the top button of his shirt and crossed the mansion’s garden. 

---

“Ugh… I’m dying. No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t make sense.” 

From the morning, Team Leader Gam collapsed into his chair with a deep sigh. 

Curious, Joo-eun whispered to Section Chief Choi seated next to her. 

“Chief Choi, what’s wrong with the team leader?” 

“I just heard too. The new director of the Strategic Planning Division is coming, and apparently, they’ve requested a room prepared behind our team.” 

“Our team?” 

There was already a room near the strategy team that the previous director had used. Why go through the trouble of rearranging things? 

Joo-eun’s eyes widened in confusion, mirroring her bewilderment. 

“But do you know who this new director is?” 

“No.” 

“The chairman’s son.” 

That explained why Team Leader Gam looked so displeased. 

“It makes sense for the team leader to feel stressed.” 

“The real source of stress is that we know almost nothing about him—except for one thing: his nickname.” 

Intrigued, Joo-eun asked, “Nickname?”