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He gazed blankly at Song Hee-jin’s face as she slept soundly. He had thought his interest in Song Hee-jin was just a diversion, a bit of fun in his exile. But he was wrong.
He had thought that once they had sex, that was the end of it. That sex was the end of a man-woman relationship. But he realized that sex was actually the beginning of a man-woman relationship.
In short, he had met his match.
For the first time in thirty years, Shin-woo deeply contemplated the definition of a relationship. He didn’t feel like he should leave after having sex; instead, he wanted to move on to the next stage.
He wanted to eat together, talk, hold hands, and watch movies. He wanted to go back to the day he asked Song Hee-jin out and properly go through all the steps he had skipped. And of course, after that, more sex. He wanted to have intense sex again.
Ridiculously, his lust had made him think of a serious relationship. He had been drawn to her because she was beautiful when she cried, his heart had gone out to her alluring aloofness, and he had completely lost his heart to her skillful lovemaking in bed.
He felt like a beast for his own behavior, but he didn’t care. What was the difference between falling in love through sex and having sex through love?
“What time is it?”
Hee-jin, lifting her heavy eyelids, asked in a low voice. Her tired face and her hoarse voice from moaning were so beautiful that he couldn’t answer right away.
“Team Leader?”
“It’s seven. Sleep more.”
“Already?”
Hee-jin, startled, covered her body with the blanket and sat up in bed, clutching between her legs and bending over.
“Aah……”
“What’s wrong? Are you hurting somewhere?”
His heart sank as he saw Hee-jin moan. Had he pushed the delicate woman too hard with his inexperience during their first time?
“N-no.”
“No? Spread your legs.”
As he parted Hee-jin’s closed legs with his hands, semen flowed down between her thighs.
The sight of her vulva, glistening with the milky fluid, was so beautiful that blood rushed to his lower body again. He felt satisfied that this beautiful woman was carrying his bodily fluids.
Should he lay her down again and fuck her? Should he at least pretend to be polite and kiss her respectfully, asking to do it one more time?
Just looking at her below made him want to do it again, and the veins on his cock throbbed. The moment he reached for her red, swollen perineum, Hee-jin recoiled and coldly pushed him away.
“I should get going now.”
Trying to suppress his desire, Shin-woo suggested in a calm voice, “Why don’t you ride with me to Seoul later?”
“No. I don’t want any unnecessary misunderstandings.”
It was the answer he had expected, but Song Hee-jin’s coldness in drawing a line left him momentarily speechless.
“What misunderstandings?”
“We just enjoyed one night. There’s no need to flaunt it to people.”
Hee-jin, pulling out a tissue and roughly wiping herself, picked up her scattered clothes and put them on indifferently.
Shin-woo was the one who had said it was just for enjoyment, so he couldn’t deny her words now.
“Then I’ll contact you when I arrive in Seoul.”
“No. There’s no need to contact me. I’ll see you at the company then.”
He blankly watched Song Hee-jin leave the hotel room as if running away, without even making eye contact.
Bang, the door closed with a sound. It felt like his heart closed with a similar sound.
“Damn it, was I rejected again…?”
It felt like it was time for Song Hee-jin to stop rejecting him.
He was thinking about fucking the woman who was running away as if disgusted. He couldn’t be more miserable than this.
He hated clingy women, but this time, it seemed like Cha Shin-woo was the one who had become truly pathetic.
He collapsed onto the messy bed as if falling. He could still almost grasp Song Hee-jin’s scent in his hands.
Ridiculously, he felt the bed sheet where Hee-jin had lain. Shin-woo, who had thought lightly of Song Hee-jin, realized how short-sighted his thoughts had been.
Drrr.
The vibration of his phone pulled him out of his thoughts. He reached out and checked the text message that had arrived.
[Come back to Electronics starting next week. Stop by the house on the weekend.]
It was a message from his mother, whom he had been waiting for three months.
________________________________________
Hee-jin, who had gotten into the elevator without even looking in the mirror, nervously pressed the ‘CLOSE’ button, hoping not to run into anyone she knew.
With every step she took, the semen that had pooled inside her leaked out, soaking her panties.
Last night, she had been too consumed by lust to ask the man to go get a condom.
‘I’m not interested in a woman who still can’t forget her ex-boyfriend.’
Hee-jin had lost her reason at Cha Shin-woo’s provocation. Half of it was the alcohol, and the other half was the resentment she had built up towards Park Myung-ho.
‘We’re not at the age to be thinking about marriage yet. Seeing how you act makes me feel suffocated and burdened.’
‘Sometimes you seem like a total psycho.’
She had responded lightly to the lightly approaching Cha Shin-woo, as if protesting against Section Chief Park Myung-ho’s breakup notice.
She wasn’t a burdensome woman who only looked forward to marriage. She wasn’t a psycho-like woman. She wanted to forget the miserable hypothetical situation that she wasn’t good as a girlfriend, and even worse as a wife. She wanted to explain to herself that she was a woman who knew how to enjoy herself quite well.
Cha Shin-woo’s forceful kiss was a rude act that couldn’t happen between ideal lovers, but she decided to erase all preconditions and just be true to her instincts.
They weren’t going to get married anyway, so couldn’t they just enjoy each other for a while based on looks? It didn’t make sense to reject a man like Cha Shin-woo for a casual encounter.
She was twenty-seven. She had never enjoyed sex while dating Park Myung-ho. Maybe it was because she and the clumsy Park Myung-ho had bad sexual chemistry. Or maybe it was because Hee-jin herself had acted passively in bed, censoring herself because she didn’t want to look like a promiscuous woman to Park Myung-ho.
‘Am I like a wooden doll in bed? If that’s not the reason, then it’s a bit hard to explain why he’s marrying another woman right after breaking up with me after dating for three years.’
The lewd talk from her superiors that she had heard during the day wasn’t entirely wrong, which was even more shocking. She had learned for the first time in twenty-seven years that being shy in bed wasn’t a virtue.
Hee-jin, who had never even held hands with Park Myung-ho in the three years they dated, had chased after Cha Shin-woo, who had kissed her and disappeared.
And Hee-jin had acted as skillfully as if she had become the sexiest femme fatale in the world in front of Cha Shin-woo. She didn’t want to look like a lady for a casual encounter. Hee-jin had swayed naked on top of Cha Shin-woo like the female lead in a porno she had once seen.
She had acted lightly, as if to prove that Park Myung-ho was wrong, that people were wrong.
And the moment she opened her eyes, with the liberation she felt, Hee-jin was experiencing freedom for the first time.
Was the problem that she had always taken everything in the world too seriously? Was thinking that dating naturally led to marriage an outdated way of thinking?
Both her romantic relationships and her work had been heavy burdens, but after enjoying just one day of freedom, the world looked different.
Yeah. Who cares what others think?
She chuckled briefly at her disheveled appearance reflected in the elevator, but then swallowed her smile at the vivid pain spreading between her legs.
What would change even if rumors spread that she was a loose woman? It wasn’t like she had committed a crime. If it really wasn’t right, she could just submit her resignation. There were plenty of places to work in the world besides a large corporation. It wasn’t about lowering her standards; it was about finding a place that suited her.
Live lightly. This was a life lived only once, and even she had found her own image burdensome and suffocating.
Hee-jin opened her hotel room door with her key card, savoring the feeling of being reborn. She quietly took off her clothes and put on a bathrobe, passing by Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, who was still in dreamland.
“Oh, what time is it?”
Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, who had woken up at the sound, frowned and asked Hee-jin.
“It’s only seven. I’ll shower first, so sleep more.”
“Okay… Wake me up in 30 minutes.”
Fortunately, Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, who had been quite drunk last night, seemed unaware that Hee-jin hadn’t returned to the room, as she had passed out.
Anyone could tell that Hee-jin had just come in from outside, but Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi closed her eyes again without the slightest suspicion.
Hee-jin went straight into the shower. She was briefly about to get angry at the ridiculous hickey marks on her body, but she rubbed soap on herself, reminding herself that there was no need to take everything in her one and only life so seriously.
________________________________________
“Did something good happen to you this morning?”
Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, who had been intently looking at Hee-jin’s face for a while, tilted her head and asked.
“Pardon?”
“Your face is glowing.”
“Is it?”
She felt inexplicably guilty, and her neck flushed. Whether it was because she had decided to live her life lightly or because of the fantastic sex last night, Hee-jin’s skin glowed brightly.
“Well, once this business trip is over, the immediate crisis will be over for a while, so you must feel relieved.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“It’s unfair. My face is haggard because the exhibition is ending, but Assistant Manager Hee-jin’s face is glowing because the exhibition is ending.”
Her colleague, Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi’s, compliments about her appearance weren’t a one-day or two-day thing, but she felt uneasy because she had a guilty conscience.
She had decided to take things lightly. She hadn’t committed a crime.
Hee-jin tried to forget her heavy thoughts, reminding herself of her decision once more. It wasn’t a crime for unmarried young men and women to enjoy a day together. The human heart was truly amazing; as she made up her mind, her chest felt wonderfully light, as if she had really become a different person.
“Shall we eat over there?”
As she entered the restaurant for breakfast, she noticed a table where people from the Battery Business Division were sitting.
If it had been Song Hee-jin before her rebirth, she wouldn’t have joined the people from the Battery Business Division, even if it was just because she felt uncomfortable with what she had heard yesterday. But now that she had decided to be confident, she mustered her courage and placed her key card and phone on an empty seat.
“Oh, Assistant Manager Song Hee-jin is here?”
“Hello.”
“Sit down. Today’s breakfast will suit your taste.”
General Manager Lee Seok-joon and his group, completely unaware that Hee-jin had heard their gossip, greeted her nonchalantly. Behind her back, they had spewed lewd talk that she couldn’t even bring herself to repeat, but in front of her, they were the epitome of gentlemen.
Hee-jin also smiled at them and greeted them casually. At the same time, she imagined her confident self slapping someone across the face if she experienced the same thing next time. Her heart beat uncomfortably at the thought alone, but if she mustered her courage, it wasn’t something she couldn’t do.
“My stomach hurts. I should eat some pho first. Assistant Manager Hee-jin, let’s go.”
“Yes, Assistant Manager Kim.”
She had a casual conversation with Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi while going around the breakfast buffet. Her ears were open to Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, but the face of Team Leader Cha Shin-woo floated in her mind.
The few times she had sex with Park Myung-ho had just been painful. Even that ended before she could get bored, so she had thought sex was an enjoyable act only for men.
But that was Hee-jin’s misconception. She couldn’t read Cha Shin-woo’s thoughts, but last night, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she was more aroused than him.
Her lower body felt numb with every step she took because of Cha Shin-woo’s impressive size. Still, it was a thrilling love affair worth willingly forgetting the pain.
Lost completely in the throes of sex, she was amazed at her own appearance, bouncing around on the bed like a vixen.
She hadn’t enjoyed sex before, but it wasn’t that she lacked sexual desire. She tried out positions she had become familiar with watching porn alone for the first time in front of a man. And Hee-jin was surprised to find that she wasn’t clumsy and could move her hips quite well.
Song Hee-jin, so you were a woman who knew how to enjoy herself like that. She felt resentful of the days she had lived foolishly hiding herself.
Team Leader Cha Shin-woo might leave JK Electronics at any time, but thanks to his casual treatment of her, Hee-jin had re-evaluated her thoughts on life.
“Team Leader, are you down now?”
As she returned to her seat, she saw Team Leader Cha Shin-woo sitting next to her.
While nodding to Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, who greeted him, Cha Shin-woo’s gaze was fixed only on Hee-jin.
“Hello.”
Hee-jin greeted Cha Shin-woo, trying not to feel awkward, but the atmosphere at the table became seriously tense because he had cursed at General Manager Lee Seok-joon yesterday.
“Oh? There was cilantro too? Why didn’t I see it?”
Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, completely unaware of what had happened yesterday, was the only one who didn’t grasp the atmosphere and chattered alone before getting up to get some cilantro.
Five people around the table, enveloped in silence, concentrated on their meals without a word.
Feeling like she would choke on the awkward silence, she wet her throat with the pho broth, and Cha Shin-woo, sitting next to her, silently poured water into her cup.
General Manager Lee Seok-joon, who had been intently watching Shin-woo as he consecutively got her tissues and even put a portion of sriracha sauce, which she hadn’t taken, in front of Hee-jin, snorted with a ‘well, of course’ look.
“Team Leader Cha is already here. You should have given him a morning call.”
Just then, General Manager Kim Tae-hwan from the Corporate Strategy Division approached Shin-woo’s side, stretching languidly.
“How much did I drink yesterday? I blacked out again. You should have woken me up, you taciturn guy.”
General Manager Kim Tae-hwan lightly tapped Shin-woo’s shoulder, and he replied indifferently, “What’s the point of having a smartphone?”
At Cha Shin-woo’s words, General Manager Lee Seok-joon clicked his tongue and interjected in their conversation.
“General Manager Kim Tae-hwan. You need to manage your subordinates better?”
No sooner had Lee Seok-joon’s words fallen than Cha Shin-woo’s sharp gaze landed on Lee Seok-joon.
“It’s a well-known fact that the Battery Business Division is a mess, so who the fuck are you to tell anyone to manage anyone?”
Cha Shin-woo’s gaze, which had been warmly fixed on Hee-jin like someone who had changed masks, suddenly flashed fiercely.
“What?”
A tense atmosphere hung in the air as if they had fallen into a vacuum.
Yesterday, he had made lewd remarks about Hee-jin, so he had no excuse even if he was cursed at, but today the atmosphere was even more chilling.
It wasn’t the first time she had heard curses, but Hee-jin was startled by Cha Shin-woo’s tone and turned as white as a sheet of paper.
In the tense standoff that felt like the start of a second round, General Manager Kim Tae-hwan changed his expression and said, “Do you think our Corporate Strategy Division looks easy? Who are you to tell us whether to manage our people or not?”
General Manager Lee Seok-joon, whom she had only known as a jovial drinking buddy type, retorted with a sharp look in his eyes, and General Manager Lee Seok-joon, unable to retort, gritted his teeth and stood up noisily.
The moment General Manager Lee Seok-joon and his group left, Hee-jin, unable to bear the atmosphere, also gathered her belongings, and Cha Shin-woo handed her something.
“Take this.”
“Pardon?”
General Manager Kim Tae-hwan, seeing the atmosphere between the two, excused himself as if giving them space and disappeared with his plate, leaving Hee-jin and Shin-woo alone at the table.
“It’s ointment. You were quite chafed. I searched for an open pharmacy this morning to buy it.”
“Ointment…? Oh!”
Hee-jin’s face turned bright red at Shin-woo’s words, and she took the bag he handed her and stood up from her seat.
Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, who belatedly returned with a plate full of food in both hands, excitedly chattered to Shin-woo.
Hee-jin’s heart beat strangely fast at the unexpected behavior of the most casual man she knew.
While telling herself not to foolishly assign meaning to it, she couldn’t shake off thoughts of him until she left the exhibition hall.
________________________________________
“How come you never come home until I call you?”
As soon as he entered the main house in Seongbuk-dong, Madam Lee Ae-jung started nagging Shin-woo.
“When I kicked you out to JK Motors, you didn’t come, and now you’re complaining that you don’t come.”
“Would my heart be at ease seeing my son get kicked out to a harsh place? At times like that, you should come in bowing your head and saying, ‘It was my fault.’”
“It’s not like anything will change just because I speak in a wheedling tone.”
Madam Lee Ae-jung took Shin-woo’s hand and led him to the study. He hadn’t even seen his father’s face yet, but she seemed to be in such a hurry that she took out her glasses without even exchanging greetings.
“Things will change.”
A smile spread across Madam Lee Ae-jung’s face, her eyes gleaming.
“This one. You only tell me things when there’s a hint of curiosity. You’re no fun at all.”
“Why are you looking for fun by grabbing your son? Why don’t you go have brunch with your friends? Or should I call my aunt for you?”
Madam Lee Ae-jung rolled her eyes at Shin-woo’s indifferent reaction and continued, “Your grandfather wants you back in Electronics.”
He had been waiting for his exile to end as soon as possible, but the news that was finally delivered didn’t particularly move him.
“Why are you looking for me when you have a drug-addicted grandson?”
Even though he was the third generation of JK, Chairman Lee Seong-ho only recognized his eldest son’s son as the successor. Cha Shin-woo, the grandson born to a daughter, couldn’t dare to aspire to a significant position.
No matter how hard Shin-woo tried to curry favor with his maternal grandfather, Lee Sang-hyuk, his cousin and the chairman’s direct grandson, always took the credit while Shin-woo did all the work. Unlike Shin-woo, who had been a model student throughout his school years, Lee Sang-hyuk was dissolute, but Chairman Lee Seong-ho’s affection always leaned towards his direct grandson.
There was a time when he had even tried to suppress his temper, hoping to get his hands on a powerful affiliate, but he belatedly realized the reality.
About three months ago, Shin-woo had a heated argument with his cousin Lee Sang-hyuk, who was the likely successor of the JK Group, and regardless of who was right or wrong in the dispute, he was conspicuously exiled to JK Motors, which was facing a crisis of withdrawal.
“While your father is preparing for retirement and cleaning up his surroundings, it seems he realized that Sang-hyuk is no good. These are the chairman’s words. His saying he wants you back in Electronics means that Sang-hyuk might even give you a decent position.”
“I’m sure he will.”
Madam Lee Ae-jung slapped his arm, deflated by Shin-woo’s unmoved reaction.
“Why are you so unmotivated!”
“I wonder why I’m so unmotivated.”
Shin-woo let out a languid sigh and looked back on his past life. He had never even considered his own dreams and had just diligently taken business management classes. But the reality he had realized was that he would have to spend his entire life cleaning up after his good-for-nothing cousin and watching his back.
Someday, Cha Shin-woo would have to take the blame for the embezzlement and tax evasion that Lee Sang-hyuk had committed.
So, even the last bit of his motivation had disappeared. He had endured his humiliating exile by just chasing after Song Hee-jin and getting through each day.
But after sleeping with that Song Hee-jin…
It wasn’t just a small thing. Even though he felt indifferent to the news of returning to Electronics, he was curious about what Song Hee-jin was doing even at this moment.
“Anyway, start going to Electronics right away from Monday. Say hello to your father and let’s go see your grandfather soon.”
“As you command, Mother.”
There was no point in resisting. Cha Shin-woo’s life would forever be a puppet of JK.
Shin-woo, who had gotten up from his seat, sauntered out of the study. Madam Lee Ae-jung sighed, patting her chest at the sight of her talented son’s lack of motivation.
________________________________________
Hee-jin couldn’t get out of bed all weekend due to the aftereffects of the business trip. Whether her eyes were open or closed, the audacious things she had done kept coming to mind, and her face flushed.
Now that she had decided to live her life lightly, relationships between men and women felt endlessly light too. She even regretted the moment she had innocently devoted her heart to her first love.
Looking back, it wasn’t that Hee-jin had fallen for Section Chief Park Myung-ho. She had just become attached to a man who liked her, and like keeping a sense of loyalty, she had sincerely envisioned a future, unknowingly suffocating the man.
She now realized how futile her vague childhood dream of getting married quickly and building a sweet, beautiful family had been.
First love wasn’t beautiful. It was full of clumsy and embarrassing moments. She hadn’t known that a woman’s love could be a burden to a man. If she had to suppress her expressions of affection so that the other person wouldn’t feel suffocated, then love didn’t seem like a very enjoyable thing.
Because it wasn’t love, that day with Cha Shin-woo was different. She didn’t need to deceive herself to look good, and there was no reason to be pretentious.
Since she had decided to live lightly, she felt more comfortable than anything else. Because it wasn’t a relationship with marriage as a premise, it didn’t matter what the other person thought of her. Just changing her mind had made the world look different.
What was marriage in this day and age? What if love and sex were separate? Even love that she had believed would one day lead to marriage ended overnight.
Hee-jin, who had been trapped in an old-fashioned way of thinking and had been stifling herself, finally broke free from her suffocating life.
“Good morning.”
Hee-jin greeted brightly and sat down at her desk. After the news of Section Chief Park Myung-ho’s marriage, she had felt self-conscious, as if everyone was talking about her, but now she intended not to care whether they did or not.
Just last week, she had been considering submitting her resignation, but now she would confidently, no, shamelessly, stay put.
If there was someone who should leave, it wasn’t Song Hee-jin, who had given her heart, but Park Myung-ho, who had considered love a burden.
“Oh, good morning.”
“Assistant Manager Hee-jin, you’re here?”
While organizing her desk, Hee-jin glanced at Team Leader Cha Shin-woo’s seat. It was already past nine, but he hadn’t come to work yet.
She vowed to act naturally if she ran into him again. She wanted to be cooler than anyone in front of him, so that the burdensome Song Hee-jin buried in the past wouldn’t suddenly pop out.
The Song Hee-jin who clung to men was now dead. She didn’t even want to think about that embarrassing woman.
“I’m going crazy, Assistant Manager Hee-jin.”
“Why, again?”
Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi, looking tearful, pulled Hee-jin’s chair close and said in a small voice, “It’s about Team Leader Cha Shin-woo.”
Her heart dropped with a thud at the unexpected mention of Cha Shin-woo’s full name. She was on edge, wondering if Assistant Manager Kim had noticed her glancing at his seat.
“What about Team Leader?”
“You know about the establishment of internal regulations for the Battery Business Division that Team Leader Cha Shin-woo is in charge of, right?”
The Battery Business Division was where those bastards who had argued with Cha Shin-woo at the last exhibition were, and things didn’t look good.
“Yes.”
“General Manager Kim Tae-hwan will be directly in charge of that project.”
Hee-jin tilted her head, unable to immediately understand Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi’s words.
“So?”
“Why would the General Manager suddenly take over a project that Team Leader Cha Shin-woo was in charge of?”
“I wonder.”
“It seems he quit without even handing over his work.”
“Team Leader Cha Shin-woo, he quit?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
A corner of her heart felt empty at the news that Cha Shin-woo hadn’t come to work without a word.
She had spent a casual night with a casual man, and he had casually left. But for some reason, her heart didn’t feel light.
“Is that… possible…? Did he go back to Electronics?”
Before Hee-jin even realized she was prying, Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi shook her head.
“So, this is just my gut feeling, but I think he didn’t go back to Electronics; he probably got fired. I heard in the break room earlier that General Manager Lee Seok-joon from the Battery Business Division and Team Leader Cha Shin-woo had a big fight at the exhibition last week. No matter how well-backed you are, going against the General Manager is dangerous. Think about it. If it was a transfer to an affiliate, he wouldn’t be able to leave so irresponsibly.”
“Isn’t that just something you heard?”
“General Manager Kim Tae-hwan came directly just before Assistant Manager Hee-jin arrived. The team leader position will remain vacant for the time being. He didn’t say anything specific, but look at the office atmosphere. It’s chilling, isn’t it?”
Hee-jin felt like a stone had been placed on her heart at Hye-mi’s words that Cha Shin-woo seemed to have been forced to resign by higher-ups.
Come to think of it, she now noticed that Cha Shin-woo’s desk had been cleared. The atmosphere in the planning team, which had been nagged by the General Manager since morning, was darkly silent.
It was no wonder that Cha Shin-woo, who had acted like he had nothing to lose even if he got fired, had quit the company, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she herself was partly responsible for him leaving the company.
He had ended up like that trying to help Hee-jin, who was caught in a scandal. The lightheartedness she had tried to embrace instantly turned heavy.
“I used to come to work for the fun of seeing the Team Leader’s face. Now I don’t know what fun I’ll have at work. I’m dying, Assistant Manager Hee-jin.”
“I’ll go to the break room for a bit.”
“Are you going to get coffee?”
“Yes.”
“Have a good one.”
Leaving Hye-mi, who was groaning again, behind, Hee-jin got up from her seat with her phone as if possessed.
Her head throbbed. It didn’t make sense that he had been forced to resign over the weekend without even going through the disciplinary committee process, but the fact that he had left without handing over his work supported Hye-mi’s claim.
Hee-jin went into the break room and filled the coffee machine with a capsule. After their casual one-night stand, he hadn’t shown up at the company, and feeling a sense of responsibility, Hee-jin hesitated, wondering whether to send him a text message.
She couldn’t stop the internal conflict, even while feeling that her worrying about whether contacting him would seem clingy was uncool.
It certainly wasn’t an attempt to show lingering feelings, but she felt she should at least express her gratitude to the man who had fought for her.
Hee-jin had been writing a long, detailed message explaining the situation, but she felt that the content she had written seemed unnecessarily obsessive, so she deleted the entire long message and finished with a clean, single sentence.
[Thank you for everything so far.]
As Hee-jin turned around with her fragrant coffee, she suddenly stopped, feeling a persistent gaze that had been on her for some time.
“How have you been? You look good.”
Section Chief Park Myung-ho, who had been ignoring Hee-jin whenever they ran into each other at work since their breakup, greeted her for some reason.
She didn’t want to talk to her ex-boyfriend in the break room, where people were gathering in twos and threes to have a tea break before starting work.
As she tried to pass by with a nod, Section Chief Park Myung-ho stuck close behind Hee-jin.
“Can we talk for a moment?”
People from other departments began to glance at the two of them. Hee-jin kept her mouth shut, feeling that if she exchanged even one more word with Section Chief Park Myung-ho, she would be plagued by exaggerated rumors. Park Myung-ho took the lead, gesturing for her to follow.
“Did you change your phone number?”
Section Chief Park Myung-ho, who had entered the emergency staircase, looked Hee-jin up and down and asked. His impure gaze made her skin crawl, and Hee-jin’s hand holding the mug trembled slightly.
“Is that what you called me here to talk about? Yes, I changed my contact information, and I need to start work, so I’ll be going now. And please don’t acknowledge me again.”
Annoyed, she turned to leave, but Section Chief Park Myung-ho suddenly grabbed Hee-jin’s wrist.
“I’m getting married.”
Hee-jin shook off his hand as if it were a bug and glared at him.
“So?”
“Would you like to have dinner with me and talk?”
“You made me uncomfortable and brought me all the way here just to talk, and now you want to talk some more? Does the person you’re marrying know? That you asked your ex-girlfriend to have dinner?”
Hee-jin retorted sharply, dumbfounded, and he let out a hollow laugh.
“You’ve changed, haven’t you?”
“Don’t be clingy. Can someone who’s about to get married act like this?”
“Looks like I hurt you deeply.”
She was taken aback by his assumption that Hee-jin had changed because of the hurt he had caused her. It wasn’t entirely wrong, but she didn’t want to agree with him because she resented him for judging her again as he pleased.
“No matter how heartbroken you are, don’t go around smiling cheaply at guys.”
“What did you just say?”
“That’s what I hear. They say everyone in the planning team is desperate to be the first to sleep with Song Hee-jin. I’m just saying this because I’m worried about you.”
Park Myung-ho, who blamed Hee-jin again, seemingly hurt in his pride after she rejected his dinner invitation, hadn’t changed at all from before.
Hee-jin finally realized for sure. Park Myung-ho was trash who tried to tame women to his liking, and the naive Hee-jin had been played by his tricks.
“Worried? Who asked you to worry?”
She wasn’t the old Song Hee-jin anymore. The one who believed his demeaning words and blamed herself for the breakup even after being miserably dumped was gone.
Now that she had become a new Song Hee-jin, she deserved to slap him. She wanted to pour the hot Americano on Park Myung-ho’s face, but the last bit of her innocence made her hesitate.
“Ha, damn it. It’s not even a garbage dump.”
It was then. When had he appeared? Cha Shin-woo came down the stairs, muttering a low curse.
Cha Shin-woo, who stopped in front of Park Myung-ho with a rough breath, looked down at him from a head taller.
Hee-jin’s face turned bright red at the thought that Cha Shin-woo had overheard her pathetic conversation with her ex-boyfriend. Then she wondered how Cha Shin-woo, whose desk had even been cleanly cleared, had appeared from upstairs.
“What did you say?”
Park Myung-ho’s face flushed as he asked Cha Shin-woo, who had called him ‘trash,’ but Shin-woo didn’t even treat him like a person and muttered to himself.
“I came here to try and save this crumbling company, but I’m busy cleaning up trash. Shit. I rushed down so quickly I couldn’t even record this bastard.”
Whether he felt threatened by Cha Shin-woo’s mention of ‘recording,’ Park Myung-ho looked warily at him and then at Hee-jin.
“I’ll go now.”
Before Hee-jin could reply, Cha Shin-woo spoke to Park Myung-ho this time.
“Go back to your seat.”
“Pardon?”
“The head of the accounting team was Team Leader Hong Dong-joo, right?”
“Yes, that’s right, but…”
“Okay. Go on.”
“Yes…”
Park Myung-ho disappeared with a reluctant expression and a bow of his head. Hee-jin, still not grasping the situation, stared blankly up at Shin-woo.
It was only a little past nine on Monday. Rumors had already spread that Cha Shin-woo had been fired from the company just because his desk was empty and the general manager had taken over his work.
Even though she knew how much the people at the company fabricated stories without any basis, Hee-jin had also readily accepted the plausible rumors.
Hee-jin chuckled to herself, thinking about how she had believed those words without any evidence. And suddenly, she felt glad to see Cha Shin-woo at the company again.
“The text message. What does this mean?”
Shin-woo took out the text message Hee-jin had sent and asked. Hee-jin smiled awkwardly and replied, “Ah… I saw your desk was empty, so I thought you had quit the company.”
Shin-woo narrowed his brow at Hee-jin’s words and took a step closer.
“So. Were you going to end it like this?”
“Pardon?”
“If I quit the company, is this the end for us?”
Hee-jin asked innocently, looking at him as he twisted his head, his unfocused eyes gleaming.
“We’re not even in a relationship where we can just end things, are we?”
“Haa……”
Shin-woo sighed for a long time as if displeased, then placed his hand next to Hee-jin’s face, trapping her against the wall.
Cha Shin-woo’s breath tickled her philtrum. The skin where his exhalation touched turned peach-colored.
Almost touching, not quite. His lips drew closer in an inappropriate distance. Hee-jin bit her lip and slightly turned her head.
“Let’s have dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Don’t eat with that bastard. Eat with me.”
Hee-jin blinked her large eyes. Her heart fluttered at Cha Shin-woo’s deep gaze. The moment she felt a nervous anticipation of something impure happening, the door to the emergency staircase on the lower floor opened, and the voice of a man talking on the phone could be heard. She immediately remembered that there were no secrets about what happened inside the company.
“I should go back now.”
Barely breaking the tense atmosphere, Hee-jin lightly pushed Shin-woo and fled up the emergency staircase as if running away.
The moment she returned to the planning team and sat down at her desk, her phone vibrated.
[I’ll wait for you in the underground parking lot after work.]
It was a text message from Cha Shin-woo.
Hee-jin turned her phone screen face down, making sure no one could see it, and placed her hand on the mouse. Her heart pounded like someone who had just sprinted.
________________________________________
‘How long are you going to live going from one affiliate to another? Either surpass your cousins or bow your head at their feet. You’re past the age to be deciding that.’
The elderly Chairman Lee Seong-ho clicked his tongue, looking at his grandson from his daughter’s side, who was far more talented than his direct grandsons.
‘Grandfather. I know even if I surpass my cousins, you won’t give me Electronics.’
‘Don’t be so sure without even trying.’
Shin-woo had a lot he wanted to say to his maternal grandfather, but he held it in. There was no point in talking until his throat hurt; his sincerity wouldn’t reach someone who had closed their ears.
The innovative projects that Shin-woo had planned at JK Electronics had always been credited to Lee Sang-hyuk.
Not only that. If the successor had been decided based on ability, his mother, Lee Ae-jung, who was a daughter and smarter than anyone, wouldn’t have been kicked out, told to stay away from the group’s affairs.
His maternal grandfather was just trying to use Shin-woo to provoke his direct grandson. When he was young, he hadn’t known his maternal grandfather’s intentions and had tried his best to be loyal to the company, but Chairman Lee Seong-ho couldn’t let go of his attachment to his drug-addicted direct grandson.
‘Grandfather. I have no lingering feelings for Electronics.’
‘You worthless thing.’
‘Give me Motors.’
‘What?’
‘I will sacrifice myself until the affiliate separation process is complete.’
Vice President Lee Sang-hyuk of JK Electronics had exiled Shin-woo to JK Motors simply to humiliate him, who threatened his position, but Shin-woo had rather intended to settle down at Motors.
Rather than licking Lee Sang-hyuk’s boots to secure a position in Electronics, rebuilding the crumbling Motors suited his aptitude better.
Of course, there was no need to rashly spout his ambitions in front of the elders. It was more advantageous for his well-being to divert attention by saying he would settle down at the failing company.
‘That’s welcome news. It’s been a while since you’ve come to your senses, Shin-woo. Sang-hyuk will be pleased.’
‘Then I’ll take my leave, Grandfather.’
‘You heartless fellow. You came after so long, can’t you play with your old man?’
‘Shall I call Sang-hyuk hyung for you?’
‘You impudent boy. Never mind.’
As soon as he left the house, Shin-woo headed straight to the company. Once JK Motors finished the affiliate separation process within the JK Group, he wouldn’t need to be played around by Lee Sang-hyuk anymore.
Shin-woo spent the weekend calling General Manager Kim Tae-hwan of the Corporate Strategy Division and planning a way to innovate JK Motors.
And as soon as Monday dawn broke, he directly convened the personnel committee. He cut off the head of the Battery Business Division, a core department that needed to develop electric vehicles.
Even without that, circumstances suggesting a connection with a subcontractor had been detected, and he had been closely monitoring the Battery Business Division for several months. He had received reports that stupid old fogeys were gathering in groups to intimidate subcontractors and receive entertainment.
To make matters worse, he had personally witnessed the deplorable behavior of General Manager Lee Seok-joon of the Battery Business Division, who was harassing female employees when he should have been focusing on research and development, and he took this opportunity to settle things.
Just as he was ponder about what level of punishment to give for the corruption committed by someone who had been loyal to the company for a long time, he saw him harassing Hee-jin. You could tell everything from one instance. A bastard who had no sense of ethics towards his subordinates was unlikely to be loyal to the company.
Thanks to Song Hee-jin, the judgment regarding their disposal had become clear. The bastards from the Battery Business Division, who would be under police investigation from today, would probably never set foot in the industry again.
After cutting off all the heads of the bastards who had illegally received entertainment from subcontractors, there weren’t many key personnel left in the Battery Business Division. He hadn’t intended to carry out a purge as soon as the balance of power shifted. A bloodbath was raging inside the company just three days after he took over JK Motors.
[Thank you for everything so far.]
But during the wrap-up of the meeting, a text message arrived from Song Hee-jin. Thank you for everything so far, without any context. Was she planning to quit the company?
He thought of Song Hee-jin, who was so cool she could freeze someone to death. He came to the conclusion that her actions after sex, coldly drawing a line by saying it was just for enjoyment, might have been her way of intending to submit her resignation to the company.
Shin-woo left the wrap-up to General Manager Kim Tae-hwan and headed for the elevator. He didn’t have the patience to wait for the slow elevator that stopped at every floor, so he dashed down the emergency stairs.
‘That’s what I hear. They say everyone in the planning team is desperate to be the first to sleep with Song Hee-jin. I’m just saying this because I’m worried about you.’
Damn it. As expected from the mouth of a dirty bastard, every word was so filthy he couldn’t bear to listen.
Were only rotten bastards left in this rotten company?
Shin-woo returned directly to the executive director’s office and called in Team Leader Hong Dong-joo of the accounting team, urging him to properly conduct internal ethics training. Team Leader Hong Dong-joo took responsibility and transferred Park Myung-ho, who was about to get married, to a regional office.
Of course, it would be a lie if he said there were no personal feelings involved in Park Myung-ho’s transfer to the regional office. He had every intention of getting rid of the bastard who had once dated Song Hee-jin, keeping him away from her.
Was he trying to innovate the company, or just get rid of the bastards who bothered Song Hee-jin? After finishing the cleanup, his mind was full of thoughts about Song Hee-jin.
He had sent her the location of the parking lot where his car was parked via text message, but she remained silent.
Since when had he become so fixated on a woman he had just glanced at for amusement during his exile? Why was the simple act of sending a text message so difficult?
The words that the male bastards who thought Song Hee-jin was easy were saying were completely wrong.
Even in front of his maternal grandfather, a beast whom people couldn’t even bring themselves to look directly in the eye, he was just indifferent. So why was this woman, who only came up to his chest, so difficult?
An hour had already passed since six o’clock. It was well past quitting time, but Song Hee-jin hadn’t appeared in the parking lot.
He had unilaterally sent a text message asking her to have dinner, so it was natural that she wouldn’t come if she didn’t reply, but he couldn’t easily leave his spot.
It was the first time in Cha Shin-woo’s life that he had waited for someone for an hour without a promise. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to call, afraid of being definitively rejected by Song Hee-jin’s refusal.
Just five more minutes, five more minutes, he repeated to himself. Even after starting the engine, he couldn’t drive away, only flicking his fingers on the steering wheel.
It was then. In the distance, the elevator doors in the underground parking lot opened, and Song Hee-jin, wearing a white blouse and pencil skirt, looked around, checking the parking spot numbers written on the pillars as she approached.
Shin-woo got out of the driver’s seat as if possessed and walked to the passenger side.
He smiled at Song Hee-jin, who was approaching with quick steps, and opened the passenger door wide.
________________________________________
Hee-jin, who belatedly found Shin-woo, paused at his gentle gesture of opening the passenger door for her.
This was the man who had nonchalantly spewed harsh curses at his superior, the man who had poured out lewd talk in bed that she had never heard before in her life, and yet he was opening the door for her and even personally fastening her seatbelt.
“Did you wait long?”
“I just got here too.”
“I’m sorry. I was so busy with work I didn’t even have time to look at my phone.”
Hee-jin rambled an explanation to Shin-woo, who had gotten into the driver’s seat. In any case, the planning department, where the team leader position had suddenly become vacant, had been incredibly busy.
Cha Shin-woo’s low voice resonated in her ears. Hee-jin didn’t know much about car models, but she could tell that the logo in the center of the steering wheel wasn’t that of a car a thirty-year-old office worker would typically drive.
Even if such a car existed, his courage to drive it in front of his superiors was remarkable, and his audacity to conspicuously park a foreign car in the company’s underground parking lot was immense.
For a thirty-year-old office worker at a domestic car company to drive a foreign car of another brand was tantamount to antagonism according to the company’s hierarchy.
Questions churned in her throat. Since the morning’s commotion, rumors about Cha Shin-woo had grown and inflated from lunchtime to evening.
She had also heard that a large number of people from the Battery Business Division, who had spread unspeakable words behind Hee-jin’s back, had been kicked out of the company overnight, and there was news that Cha Shin-woo had been seen on the 23rd floor where the board members’ offices were located.
Hee-jin hesitated for a moment, then decided not to be self-conscious. Even if he was someone in a high position, he was just another person. She despised her own timid self.
“I have something I’m curious about.”
“Tell me.”
Shin-woo, who had stopped at a traffic light, replied in a soft voice. It struck her anew how different the cursing Cha Shin-woo and the gentle Cha Shin-woo were, and she wondered which was his true self.
“You left without handing over your work. Which department did you go to?”
“I went to the executive director’s office.”
If he had gone to the executive director’s office, he must have been handpicked as the executive director’s personal secretary. It was not uncommon for the executive office to take talent from the Corporate Strategy Division. There must have been a big vacancy in the executive office, so much so that there was no time to even hand over his previous work.
“Congratulations. So you’re not a team leader anymore. What should I call you from now on?”
“Are you going to keep seeing me?”
Was it her imagination, or was there a hint of expectation in Cha Shin-woo’s eyes? Hee-jin replied with a light smile.
“Yes. I’m going to see you.”
“Call me by my name.”
Hee-jin hesitated, her lips not parting for a moment, then mustered her courage and spoke his name.
“Yes, I will. Shin-woo-ssi…”
It felt impure to call the name of someone who had been her direct superior just yesterday, but that illicit feeling was somehow thrilling.
Ever since he had been directly appointed to the position of team leader in the automotive team from Electronics, people had said it was unusual. He must have had connections in the executive office.
“If you’re going to congratulate me, you should do it properly.”
“How?”
He leaned in towards Hee-jin, who was at a loss. A thrilling spark flew from their lips as they met unexpectedly.
“Hmm, euum.”
His sweetly encroaching tongue had already filled her mouth. He gently licked her gums as if coaxing her, and warmly caressed her back.
Her heart melted at Cha Shin-woo’s wavering gaze. Hee-jin, who had been passively accepting the kiss, soon began to softly suck on his deeply inserted tongue.
Their entangled tongues gently tickled each other. Her heart softened at the sensation of their most intimate parts rubbing against each other.
“Haa……”
Cha Shin-woo’s exhaled breath, pouring down like a shooting star, traveled along her nerves and thrillingly colored her entire body. His face trembled slightly every time Hee-jin sucked on his tongue as if swallowing it.
His quickening breath, his hot body temperature, his saliva growing sweeter. His reactions changing according to what Hee-jin did made her heart flutter.
As she gently bit and pulled on Cha Shin-woo’s lower lip, he smiled with a tender gaze as if looking at a lover. Their slightly parted lips re-entangled deeply, and as he tilted his head, he poured into her very heart.
Were the headlights flashing in front of her eyes? Her eyes were dazzled and her chest was so full that she could no longer keep her eyes open.
The electrifying kiss shattered brilliantly.
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