Chapter 75

It was standard for Si-Jin to suck up all the energy from his employees, but Na-Yool was undoubtedly a special case. At the beginning, some people wondered if Na-Yool was so incompetent that he had come up with this strategy to push her to resign. But it was hard to think so. After all, it was Si-Jin himself who had hired Na-Yool after taking a look at her portfolio, and his meticulous eyes could not have picked wrong.

Besides, Na-Yool’s proposals were often adopted over others’, and even from Si-Jin’s high standards point of view, her designs had a sophisticated uniqueness, although they had a commercial side that followed the trend. In terms of technical skills, Seung-Jae, who enjoyed doing his own thing, was no match for her. She was also the best at meeting the client’s needs, hence it was natural that her proposals would be adopted.

Maybe that’s why, without Na-Yool’s knowledge, every time other employees would speak about her, they would ruminate, “What’s the point in being an outstanding employee and catching the President’s eyes? We will only be pushed to our limits anyway, so let’s do the bare minimum.”. If Na-Yool knew, how forlorn would she feel!

“My words exactly. I wouldn’t date him unless I was brain damaged.”

“Yes, except for a pervert, that would be impossible.”

“…Right…”

Na-Yool answered gloomily, as her face twisted by the hidden shame that she indeed was completely crazy and most likely a pervert, too. Her facial expression just happened to look like a ‘I’m disgusted just thinking of it’ one, causing Seung-Jae’s mouth to curve up in a satisfied smile.

“But again, you never know what could happen.”

“I do know a thing or two.”

“You should not be so sure.”

“And by the way, every single person I meet keeps fussing about my relationship with you, so how am I supposed to flirt with anyone?”

“Oh, right.”

His pretty, handsome face sure looked delighted!

“So if I keep being single, know that it’s because of you.”

“I thought you hated the idea of dating a coworker.”

“There is a difference between hating it and being at a dead end.”

“You really say whatever…”

“That’s how I am.”

“Anyway, if you find a good person, you have to let me know.”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Just asking.”

Seung-Jae was in a good mood, while Na-Yool somewhat not so much. After refusing several times his invitation to take her all the way to her home with a perfunctory “You must be tired too, there’s no need”, she finally reached her house, 6 stations farther than the one Seung-Jae got off at.

“……”

She clearly had walked that street a bunch of times with no trouble, even at 1 am. Yet…

Maybe because of Si-Jin’s constant brainwashing topped by Seung-Jae’s additional remarks, Na-Yool kept looking around the empty alley.

Although it was deserted, in fact the main street was right at the corner, and there even was a convenient store just in front of Na-Yool’s apartment complex. In addition, there also was a fried-chicken place a few buildings away and a respectable bar, so was the place not sparsely bright with light until late at night?

However, Na-Yool could hardly ignore the anxiety coiling itself around her heart like a snake. She started noticing things to which she normally paid no mind. The dark gap between the buildings, the inconspicuous silhouette of a person in a car not lit on… like an illusion that every white middle-size car looked like Sang-Hoon’s.

“……”

Was it due to her lack of sleep? She kept feeling a chill down her spine, as if sensing someone’s shadow hiding in the desolated place… Her squinted eyes skimmed in all directions as her steps rushed to the apartment complex’s main door. Her finger pressed each dial key of the lock panel with small halts, as though nervously struggling to enter the right code.

“The door is unlocked.”

Even after coming in, Na-Yool’s eyes anxiously stared towards the outside while the door closed. Despite all the insignificant and harmless memories that Sang-Hoon had left behind, right now it did not seem incongruous at all that someone, him or whoever else, was lurking in the dark ready to spring out and barge in.

Just as the door closed with a click and Na-Yool had turned to go to the upper floor, a sudden ringing startled her. Panicked, she quickly retracted her feet which were about to climb up the stairs and reflexively glued herself to the wall, only to feel her own action quite ridiculous the next second. She slowly lifted her cell phone up to her eyes, resolutely facing the unknown fear and determined to immediately throw the phone away if a strange call number was to be displayed.

[President Kwon Si-Jin]

A deep sigh of relief released itself from her abdomen. With just that one call, waves of reassurance surged in her heart. Na-Yool leaned on the wall and slowly resumed walking up to her apartment floor as she picked up the call.

“Hello?”

‒Where are you?

“In front of my apartment. Almost in.”

Literally. She indeed was pressing the dial keys.

‒Did you part?

“What?”

‒With Lee Seung-Jae.

“We already parted a moment ago.”

‒What do you mean?

“What do you mean, Mr. President?”

Na-Yool’s body relaxed as she entered the room warmed by the boiler turned on. She adjusted the temperature as she mumbled a “I forgot to turn it off again” out of habit, when the slightly irritated voice on the other side sounded even more annoyed.

‒You stuck to Lee Seung-Jae to hang out together on your way back…

“I told you, we take the same train home.”

‒…but did you really go home alone?

While ‘stuck to Lee Seung-Jae to hang out together’ clearly voiced out a form of displeasure, his last question was closer to a fist of anger. Na-Yool rebutted with agitation.

“…Should I have brought him in then?”

Si-Jin smiled sharply as if he had heard something greatly offensive.

‒That would be fun.

“Your tone does not sound so amused, though.”

‒I’m not freaking amused.

Si-Jin’s attitude flipped, as natural as ever, bluntly affirming he was not having fun. All in all, she really could not figure him out… Na-Yool glanced down at her phone and pouted her lips.

‒Why does this bastard insist on leaving work with you if he is not even going to take you all the way back home?

“How could he, he does not even have a car. It’s just that we live in the same direction, and that we finished work around the same time…”

Some grumpiness clouded Na-Yool’s eyes. It was strange for him to be angry that Seung-Jae did not take her right to her apartment door, when Si-Jin himself hated the fact that they had left together. Because, at the very least, it meant that Na-Yool reaching home not alone was more important to him than his irritation about her leaving with Seung-Jae.

How could such a case not bring more wishful thinking? Na-Yool organized the clothes lying under her feet, in an attempt to ward any unnecessary thoughts off her mind.

‒He doesn’t even have a car, yet he dares? What a frugal bastard with nothing to show off.

“Saying it like that, it sounds like you are instead praising Lee Seung-Jae.”

As if he felt so too, Si-Jin remained silent for a moment.

‒You ride together for only two stations, that’s it. And walk up a few station stairs. But he would stick to you even like this just to exchange a few words with you, isn’t he cute?

“Really, what’s wrong with all of you… Seung-Jae does not like me!”

‒That’s what you want to believe.

“That is not what I want to believe, it is a fact. Do you know what he told me today?”

‒How would I know?

The voice was soft, but because it was, it rather sounded like a subtle “how dare I pretend to know the deep meaning of that guy’s words” grumbling. Of course, Na-Yool had become accustomed enough to Si-Jin’s vague way of speaking to ignore it.