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Psst! We're moving!
“Mom, the situation has changed. You need to change too. How can you keep clinging to the past?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I don’t know. I can’t live like this, so move out of that basement room.”
“Mom.”
“At least find a room with sunlight!”
Eun-chae sighed deeply at her mother’s ear-splitting voice. She was so angry that she couldn’t say anything nice, so she tried to calm herself down.
“Sister, stop tormenting her!”
Suddenly, her uncle’s voice came through the phone. It seemed he had come into the room because her mother’s voice was too loud.
“Get out! I have nothing to say to you.”
“I won’t make you do the dishes. Just stay home quietly. Don’t drain the energy of a kid who’s working hard to make money.”
“Fine. I’m too disgusted and resentful...”
“Eun-chae.”
Her uncle called her, having apparently taken the phone. His voice was weak.
“Yes, Uncle. I’m so sorry...”
“No, don’t worry about this. Your mother’s whining isn’t new.”
“As soon as I find a place...”
“There’s no need for that. If you take your mother away so hastily, what will I become?”
“I’m sorry, Uncle...”
She really had nothing to say, no matter how much she tried.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. Don’t worry and take care of your health. Okay?”
“Yes...”
“I’m hanging up.”
She could hear her mother making a fuss in the background, but her uncle hung up the phone immediately.
They were half-siblings, and they hadn’t even lived together. The only reason her mother was acting so stubborn was because her uncle had helped her out before.
Her uncle was enduring her mother because of that debt and sense of duty.
She couldn’t keep living in this house. As her mother said, she needed to find a way for the three of them to live together when her father was released.
Besides, when Seok-kyung got married, this relationship would naturally end, so she needed to prepare for that.
Eun-chae took out her notebook and pen, wrote down her current savings and the money she owed Seok-kyung, and started to make a new budget.
“I definitely need a loan...”
There was no way to avoid taking out a loan.
She had forgotten because she was comfortable, but now was not the time to be concerned about Seok-kyung’s situation.
Reality was always ice-cold.
Thinking she should look for a part-time job, Eun-chae checked job search apps on her phone.
There weren’t many jobs that wouldn’t interfere with her company work, but she needed to do something now.
________________________________________
As soon as she entered the office, Eun-chae felt a chill down her spine. It was because Assistant Manager Yang had been staring at her intently from the moment she entered until she reached her desk.
Why again? What trouble is she trying to start?
She tried to suppress her frown and was about to sit down when Yang spoke.
“What’s your relationship?”
Yang asked bluntly.
“Excuse me?”
“What’s your relationship with our CEO, Eun-chae?”
“What... do you mean?”
Her throat was dry from the sudden question, but she tried to remain calm and asked back.
“I mean, the section chief and the CEO both offered to take you home, and you were practically hugging the CEO. Doesn’t that look strange to anyone?”
“Hugging? When did I...?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know. Everyone saw it, not just me.”
Yang looked around at the others, and the department members, including Hyun-jung, looked flustered. It was clear there had been gossip about the company dinner.
“I guess I did something rude when I was drunk.”
“Exactly. Why did you do something rude to the CEO? I thought you were the female lead in a drama, going back and forth between two men. You’re quite something, Eun-chae.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You know what I mean. You’ve been dressing up lately. I knew you had ulterior motives.”
“That’s going too far.”
Eun-chae couldn’t hold back anymore.
She hadn’t done anything to be treated as a woman seducing two men at once.
If it was just because Seok-kyung and Hyun-woo offered to take her home after the company dinner, there was no reason to listen to such rude words quietly.
“Am I going too far?”
“Yes, you are. I haven’t done anything to deserve such words.”
“Really? I’ve been suspicious ever since you went straight to the CEO when he first arrived. And yesterday, you hugged him so naturally. It looked like you had some kind of relationship. And the CEO knows your address, too.”
“Well, that’s all your misunderstanding, Assistant Manager Yang.”
“Fine, fine. Let’s say it’s my misunderstanding. You’re just angry because you got caught. Why don’t you dress down like you used to? Why dress up so obviously?”
She couldn’t take it anymore.
“Then why don’t you dress up too, Assistant Manager Yang?”
“What?”
“I don’t think I’m trying to dress up, but maybe I looked pretty to others, enough to cause such misunderstandings? You should try it too. Who knows, maybe the section chief or the CEO will notice you if you dress up?”
“Eun-chae, you’ve crossed a line!”
“You crossed the line a long time ago, Assistant Manager Yang.”
Yang pushed her chair back and glared at her. Eun-chae didn’t back down and glared back.
“Just because you’ve gotten close to the CEO, you think you can do anything, huh?”
“This isn’t work-related, and I don’t have to tolerate such insulting remarks from you!”
Hyun-jung and other department members who were watching came over to try and stop Yang and Eun-chae.
Her heart was pounding and her face was flushed from getting so worked up over something ridiculous.
Yang was also breathing heavily, her face red.
“What’s going on? Why is the atmosphere so tense this morning?”
Section Chief Park, who had just come back from smoking outside, entered the office with Hyun-woo and noticed the tense atmosphere.
“Why? What happened?”
“Eun-chae is talking back to me!”
“Eun-chae? No way, that can’t be.”
“No way? Really?”
Yang glared at Section Chief Park, who rolled his eyes and shut his mouth.
“What’s going on?”
Hyun-woo approached Eun-chae and asked.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Let’s talk.”
Hyun-woo headed straight for the conference room, opened the door, and looked at Eun-chae.
“Tell Section Chief Kang everything. Assistant Manager Yang, come with me. We need to talk.”
Section Chief Park pulled Assistant Manager Yang up and took her outside.
Reluctantly, Eun-chae got up from her seat and headed to the conference room where Hyun-woo was waiting.
As soon as Eun-chae entered the conference room, Hyun-woo closed the door behind her. As soon as she heard the click of the door closing, she regretted making things worse.
“Sit down.”
Hyun-woo sat down in a chair and offered Eun-chae a seat.
“I’m sorry.”
As soon as she sat down, Eun-chae lowered her head.
“I lost my temper for a moment and raised my voice. I apologize to Assistant Manager Yang...”
“Are you really sorry?”
“Yes?”
Eun-chae raised her head and looked at Hyun-woo.
Hyun-woo, tilting his head to one side, looked at her with a worried expression.
“I have a rough idea of what caused the shouting. Yang must have said something unnecessary, and I understand you couldn’t take it.”
“If you know, Section Chief... I guess I did something wrong.”
“No, it’s not that. Yang just has a very loose tongue.”
Hyun-woo sighed.
“I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
“Excuse me?”
“I shouldn’t have offered to take you home... or mentioned that we met outside.”
“Ah...”
Only then did Eun-chae remember what Hyun-woo had said to the department members that day.
Could such a misunderstanding arise because he said we met outside and he knew my address? No, that wasn’t it.
“Even so, there’s no reason to cause such misunderstandings.”
“I know. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s more troublesome for me when you pay so much attention to me.”
Thinking she needed to push Hyun-woo away properly, she spoke coldly.
“What do you think Assistant Manager Yang would think if you called me out like this and took care of me? What about the others?”
“Oh, I see. I’m sorry.”
“Then I’ll get going.”
“Eun-chae.”
As Eun-chae pushed her chair back and got up, Hyun-woo quickly called her.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
“......”
“What’s your relationship with the CEO?”
“Excuse me?”
Hyun-woo stared intently at Eun-chae, who asked back in surprise. He looked so uneasy that she became uneasy too.
“We’re... nothing.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We’re really nothing.”
It wasn’t a lie.
Whatever their relationship was in the past, their relationship now was nothing.
“Okay. You can go.”
Eun-chae nodded and left the conference room.
Whether he thought she would cry or wanted to confirm if she really had a relationship with Hyun-woo, the department members who had been heading towards the conference room quickly looked away as soon as she opened the door.
This was too much attention for someone who had only been known as a competent contract employee.
I need to be careful.
If rumors spread like this, it wouldn’t be good for her, Hyun-woo, or Seok-kyung.
Especially Seok-kyung... he was about to get married, and she couldn’t let him get caught up in such filth.
I need to move out of that house first.
Eun-chae sat down at her desk, determined to contact the part-time job she had seen yesterday.
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