‘By the way, being at odds with Director Kim… Isn’t that too risky?’
While Sojeong was pondering this, Hahyun suddenly raised his head and met her eyes. The childlike expression disappeared, and his deep brown eyes stared clearly at Sojeong. Feeling intimidated by his presence, Sojeong quickly averted her gaze.
“I know. It might seem like Director Kim has more power right now. But you know what? I’ve been doing something behind Director Kim’s back since I took this position. How about you first look into that before making your judgment?”
It was a strange proposal that could only be made if he completely trusted Sojeong. If Sojeong were to betray Hahyun and join hands with Director Kim, everything he had done in secret would obviously be exposed.
Hahyun seemed confident that Sojeong would never refuse his offer. Sojeong mumbled in a small voice.
“What if I refuse?”
“Even if you refuse, I know you won’t tell Director Kim what I’ve been doing in secret. You’re not that kind of person, Assistant Manager Kang.”
As he smiled with his eyes curved, Sojeong found herself smiling along unwittingly. It felt like being enchanted by a ghost.
“Assistant Manager?”
At Hahyun’s call, Sojeong snapped out of her thoughts and took a seat at the conference table, turning on her laptop. Sitting across from her, Hahyun’s hand was tightly gripping his phone. He seemed to be waiting for someone’s contact, but with his brows deeply furrowed, it didn’t look like anything good. Still, when their eyes met, his awkward smile appeared kind.
“CEO, I’ve looked into what you mentioned.”
“If our secretarial team has looked into it, then the information must be accurate. So what’s the conclusion?”
Sojeong straightened her shoulders and turned the laptop screen toward Hahyun.
“Here’s the data on internal and external directors. I thoroughly investigated everything from their personal lives to their standing within the company, who they’ve been in contact with, when, and how much, and even what their true intentions are.”
Hahyun looked at the screen with wide eyes. As Sojeong had said, all the information was clearly organized. It was incomparably more detailed than the data previously received from Director Seo Sanghyun.
“You must have worked hard to supplement the inadequate materials, Assistant Manager.”
“I needed to understand the situation too.”
“So what’s the conclusion?”
Sojeong raised the corners of her mouth. If she had been afraid to be at odds with Director Kim, she wouldn’t have created such detailed materials, let alone shown them to Hahyun. Sojeong answered calmly.
“I don’t know what happened, but the situation has clearly shifted much more toward Director Seo Hajin compared to the last board meeting. But, shouldn’t you be helping Director Kim instead of Director Seo Hajin?”
Hahyun smiled as if he had expected this question and replied.
“Our brotherhood is special. We’re very close. And I’m not interested in being a puppet.”
Though much was omitted, Sojeong immediately understood what he was trying to say.
“So my first task was to investigate the directors?”
“Haha, you caught me.”
Sojeong handed Hahyun a file she had prepared separately.
“I knew it. I was concerned about hacking, so I made a separate file. Please review it and call me if you need any additional information. I’ll take my leave now.”
“Thank you, Assistant Manager Kang Sojeong.”
Sojeong bowed respectfully and left the CEO’s office. Hahyun carefully examined the materials. As Sojeong had said, apart from a few directors who were definitely on Secretary Kim’s side, most were leaning toward Hajin.
This was the result of various behind-the-scenes work conducted with Sanghyun. Now, if they just waited for the board meeting, everyone could return to their original positions without any problems.
“Seo Hajin, you won’t escape this time.”
Hahyun muttered as he pressed the call button. Not long after the signal went through, Juwon’s voice was heard. Just hearing it made him want to cry again.
“Hyuuung… Why weren’t you answering? I was about to come home if you didn’t pick up!”
* * *
I hesitated whether to answer the call while holding my phone displaying Secretary Kim’s name. If it had hung up quickly, I wouldn’t have answered, but it kept ringing persistently, so I finally picked up. Of course, I also pressed the record button for future reference.
“Yes?”
– Yoon Juwon-ssi, this is Secretary Kim.
“I know. What is it? Didn’t you cut ties with me?”
– Cut ties? What a hurtful thing to say…
I was so appalled I couldn’t speak. From the beginning, he had intended to hand Hajin and me over to the prosecution, yet he was being incredibly shameless.
“Please just state your business briefly. As you know, I’m not in a free position.”
– You’re in such a hurry. It’s nothing special, but you must know that Director Seo Hajin has escaped the prosecution’s investigation thanks to an incompetent prosecutor. So unfortunately, your confinement will be extended.
Secretary Kim cleverly twisted his words. His clear goal was to remove Hajin and take that position for himself, not for my sake, yet he pretended otherwise, which was disgusting.
“And?”
– What do you mean ‘and’? If you want to escape confinement, you should report to the police…
“Listen, Secretary Kim Cheolwoo. I wasn’t going to say this, but if you’re getting old, act your age. Your intentions are transparent, so why pretend otherwise? It only makes you look ugly.”
There was silence from the other end. Understandably so, as Secretary Kim would have thought I was at odds with the brothers, so my sudden change in attitude must have shocked him. But I had no intention of revealing our relationship to Secretary Kim. The battle wasn’t over yet.
“Seo Hajin is annoying, right? But who would willingly walk into a tiger’s den just to avoid a wolf cub? Do you think I haven’t calculated that much? I’ll decide when to report, if I ever do. So, don’t contact me anymore.”
– You’ll regret it.
“Even if I regret it, it’s my regret, so what does it matter to you?”
I wanted to respond calmly, but throughout the conversation, I couldn’t contain my rising anger, making my words come out sharply.
“Even if I’m confined here for the rest of my life, I have no intention of joining hands with you, Secretary Kim, so please hang up now. I have another call coming in.”
– Y-Yoon Juwon-ssi!
Ignoring Secretary Kim’s final cry, I pressed the end button. On the screen, there were messages from Hahyun lined up. Before I could check each one, a call came in immediately.
“Yes, Hahyun.”
– Hyuuung… Why weren’t you answering? I was about to come home if you didn’t pick up!
He must have sent several messages while I was on the phone with Secretary Kim. I gave a vague answer.
“I fell asleep while lying in the living room…”
– Ah, I see. I thought…
“What? That Hajin-ssi might have come?”
– No!
“It’s so obvious. You were holding your phone again thinking ‘Why isn’t he answering?’ while wondering if Hajin-ssi had left work, right?”
After a long silence, a voice finally came through.
– A little. But not a lot. I just thought about it briefly and then stopped.
“Good job. You’re getting better.”
– Hyung, I miss you. What were you thinking about while sleeping?
“Can you even think while sleeping? I wasn’t thinking about anything… Oh, I did!”
– What were you thinking about?
“About Hahyun.”
– …
Hahyun desperately sought affection from me, but whenever I revealed my true feelings first, he couldn’t adapt and would either close his mouth or blush. Though I couldn’t see him now, I could clearly picture Hahyun’s face, his ears flushed red, biting his lips.
“Hahyun, why are you silent? What were you thinking during that silence?”
– It hasn’t even been 10 seconds, what could I be thinking in that time?
“Huh? So Seo Hahyun didn’t think about me for 10 seconds?”
– Don’t say such strange things. It’s embarrassing…
“Did you do a lot of work today too? You’ve been busy lately.”
– I did a ton, but don’t worry. Just a little more and I can be with hyung all day. That’s why I’m enduring it.
I discreetly sighed in relief at Hahyun’s words. I felt sorry for mistakenly suspecting that Hahyun might be greedy for the position.
“I’ll wait. Hahyun, good job today too.”
– Hyuuung… Please say once more that you’ll wait.
“I’ll wait. Now hang up and get back to work.”
– We could talk a bit longer…
His voice came out mixed with tears. Crying when happy, crying when anxious… The thought of the CEO crying at work made me laugh.
I jokingly said I’d hate him if he didn’t hang up soon, then ended the call. The ticklish feeling wasn’t bad at all.
* * *
“Are you enjoying yourself? Having fun?”
Hyunwoo directed a sneer at Hajin, who was grinning while holding his phone.
“No, listen to this. You’ll laugh too if you hear it.”
Hajin removed the earphone he had in one ear and switched to speaker so Hyunwoo could hear.
“If it’s your love affair and you’re making me listen, I’ll kill you. I’m serious.”
“As if. If it were that, I’d listen alone. Why would I let another man hear it?”
Shuddering, Hyunwoo moved closer to Hajin.
“What is it then?”
“A conversation between Secretary Kim and Yoon Juwon.”
Now interested, Hyunwoo pressed the play button himself. The voices of Secretary Kim and Yoon Juwon could be heard. As the conversation continued, laughter burst from Hyunwoo too.
“Wow, Yoon Juwon is a total fighter!”
“He’s really good at subtly provoking people. Calling him ‘ugly’… Haha.”
After laughing for a while, Hyunwoo suddenly stopped and tilted his head.
“Does amnesia really change someone into a completely different person like this?”
At those words, the smile also faded from Hajin’s face. Wondering if he had said something wrong, Hyunwoo didn’t press for an answer and waited. After a long while, Hajin’s mouth opened heavily.
“I don’t know the details either. But what I do know for sure is that I find the current Yoon Juwon much more lovable than the previous one.”
“…Let’s drop it. It was my mistake for asking.”
