Yeon-ha’s mind went completely blank for a moment.

‘What… did he just say?’

With her thoughts frozen stiff, Yeon-ha slowly parted her lips.

“Why… would you say something like that…?”

At her strained response, squeezed out from a completely empty mind, the corner of Tae-moo’s lips curved faintly upward.

“Because you have the kind of face that makes me want to see you cry.”

He looked at her with perfect composure, as though he had asked her an ordinary question, such as whether she had eaten.

Instantly, heat rushed to her face.

This was the kind of situation that would usually leave someone feeling humiliated. Such words were not exchanged casually; they were the kind spoken only between two people who had shared an intimate moment.

The world she lived in was far too harsh and crude for her to misinterpret his meaning.

As if expecting her to slap him, he calmly tilted his face towards hers without hesitating for a moment.

“Not sure whether you’re innocent…”

When she gave no particular reaction, the lifted corner of his lips slowly lowered.

“Or if you’re simply skilled enough to pretend you don’t understand even when you do. I can’t quite figure you out, Ms. Ji Yeon-ha.”

‘Is he testing me?’

Perhaps it was because of everything she had heard about him, but that was the first thought that sprang to mind.

He was a man known for keeping women at arm’s length.

By the age of thirty-five, someone born into a chaebol family would usually already have a wife and children. Yet Seong Tae-moo rejected every woman who approached him without hesitation. There had never even been rumors of his attending matchmaking events.

Therefore, if a man like him was saying something so suggestive, there must be another meaning behind it.

“…It’s not that I don’t understand.”

She did not know what he wanted from her, but since he would eventually notice anyway, she chose to admit it honestly.

Her flushed face had already revealed too much.

“Let’s just call you bold for now.”

Tae-moo lightly flicked the earpiece of the glasses hooked around Yeon-ha’s rounded ear with his index finger.

“Have we met before?”

From the moment he spoke those words, the hope swelling inside her chest expanded so violently it felt ready to burst.

“Forget I asked.”

“…Pardon?”

“No matter how much I think about it, no familiar face comes to mind.”

The certainty in his voice drained the color from Yeon-ha’s face.

Her heart pounded painfully.

She knew she shouldn’t be disappointed, but the idea that he had completely forgotten about her made her chest ache.

“If I cry… will I be allowed to stand beside you, President?”

Hoping she wouldn’t be forgotten this time, she asked the question softly.

The corners of his lips curled up again.

Yeon-ha clasped her hands together near her chest.

Tae-moo’s gaze drifted towards her trembling hands.

“Judging by how much you’re shaking, it seems like you’d cry the moment someone touched you.”

Tae-moo took off her glasses.

Without them, her beauty was even more striking.

After briefly examining the thick-framed glasses in his hand, he casually put them on.

When Yeon-ha wore them, they made her look plain and awkward.

But on him, they looked like nothing more than a stylish accessory.

Yeon-ha could only stare at him blankly.

Then Tae-moo’s hand reached towards her face.

His index finger lightly tapped her cheek, making the fine hairs on her pale skin prickle at the touch. His hand slowly moved upwards, as though tracing invisible strands, before gliding along the curve of her face and stopping beneath her eye.

“You have a tear mole.”

His finger pressed firmly against the mole beneath her eye, one that could not be hidden even beneath light makeup.

“I’ll decide after I see you cry.”

Ah!

Like a fool, she had exposed her reddened eyes and flushed face to his dark gaze.

The man who had told her to smile was now asking her to cry instead.

Yet only a few minutes had passed since she had stepped into the room.

The image of the man she had known at university had not faded over time. In fact, age had deepened his features, sharpening the masculine lines of his face and making him look even more mature.

But the Seong Tae-moo standing before her was still the same man who had once stolen her heart.

His hand, resting against the mole beneath her eye, gradually began to feel strangely intimate.

If he pulled away now, traces of her make-up would probably stain his fingertips.

But the touch did not linger for long.

As though he had never truly intended to make her cry, Tae-moo slowly withdrew his hand, and Yeon-ha gently closed her eyes.

Soon, moisture gathered at the corner of one eye.

Without even forcing herself to remember something painful, her life had already been steeped in tears.

When she opened her eyes again, she noticed that a single tear had escaped from one eye.

Her face burned with embarrassment.

The tear had fallen directly onto the swell of her chest.

As he stared unflinchingly at this humiliating sight, Yeon-ha hurriedly covered her chest with both hands.

She wanted to close her eyes, but the sound of his low voice stopped her.

“I’m… fairly satisfied.”

As though he had at least managed to amuse himself, Tae-moo smiled faintly.

He brushed away the tear gathered at the corner of her left eye with his finger before flicking it away lightly.

“It was entertaining.”

“……”

“You may leave.”

It seemed that she still did not meet his standards.

Swallowing her disappointment, Yeon-ha bowed politely and turned away.

Being able to stand face-to-face with him and exchange a few words had felt like a rare stroke of luck — something that she knew would probably never happen again.

At the parties where she had only ever caught distant glimpses of him, this would have been impossible.

As soon as she gathered the courage to approach him, he would turn his back, as he did to everyone else.

“Did the president approve you?”

After leaving the president’s office, Yeon-ha shook her head at Manager Kang’s question.

“I think… someone else should come instead.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate.”

“Yes… I’ll be going now.”

Manager Kang passed Yeon-ha, knocked on the heavy office door, and stepped inside.

Yeon-ha slowly started to walk away.

Then she had a thought, causing her sluggish steps to halt instantly.

“Ah, my glasses!”

She hurriedly turned back, but the door had already closed.

***

“These are the shortlisted candidates who meet the requirements. Shall I arrange interviews?”

“Send a notice to all subsidiaries saying the position has been filled.”

“…Pardon?”

Manager Kang’s eyes wavered at the unexpected response.

Turning his chair slowly beneath his weight, Tae-moo looked directly at him.

“I’m taking Ms. Ji Yeon-ha with me.”

“Ah, yes! I’ll make sure everything proceeds without issue. However…”

Manager Kang hesitated, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“What is it?”

The face meeting Manager Kang’s confused gaze remained perfectly calm.

“…The glasses you’re wearing, President. Aren’t they Ms. Ji Yeon-ha’s?”

“Ah, these.”

As though only just remembering, Tae-moo lightly touched the frame as if he were about to remove them.

“I’ll return them to Ms. Ji Yeon-ha myself.”

In other words, don’t worry about it.

Even Manager Kang, who is now in her forties, would sometimes lose focus because of his otherworldly beauty.

If he hadn’t seemed almost devoid of humanity, he would have been perfect.

Instead, he had a temperament sharp enough to cut through steel.

“Understood. Then I’ll prepare the outfit Ms. Ji Yeon-ha will wear.”

“I’m sure Manager Kang will handle it appropriately.”

His pitch-black eyes fixed on her with the intensity of a camera lens, instantly causing her to stiffen up.

The only emotion visible in those unreadable eyes was distrust.

Despite having worked alongside Tae-moo ever since he took charge at Yuseong Mirae, Manager Kang had never fully trusted her.

“At the very least, you trust my work, don’t you? I’ll report the progress along with your schedule before you leave work.”

Unable to bridge the gap with a man who never let anyone get close to him, Manager Kang devoted herself solely to fulfilling the role of an efficient subordinate.

As soon as she had left the office briskly, Tae-moo took off his glasses, placed them on the table and lightly tapped the corner of his lips with his index finger.

“So she really cried.”

Despite trembling so badly, she found the courage to speak her mind.

Ji Yeon-ha met his standards perfectly.

Her skill was beyond reproach and she understood the atmosphere of the situation and precisely what he wanted from her.

“And her adaptability is excellent.”

If her tearful face had not been so beautiful, he would have replaced the female simultaneous interpreter with a man.

The protocol secretary, who claimed she could no longer work due to appendicitis, had actually been acting on his mother’s orders and was constantly searching for opportunities to seduce him.

After several months, she lost control and shamelessly brushed against his thigh.

Following that incident of harassment, Tae-moo fired her without hesitation.

He only buried the matter because he did not want rumors to spread before such an important event. It had never been an act of mercy or pity.

The emotions in Ji Yeon-ha’s eyes whenever she looked at him as a man had also been painfully obvious.

Yet perhaps because her gaze lacked the desperate desire to possess him, she was different from the countless other women he had encountered.

Even Tae-moo, who had spent his entire life reading people, could not define the strange emotion hidden within her eyes.

“We’ll see how this turns out.”

Since she did not make him feel uncomfortable, he decided to keep her close and observe her.

However, his curiosity only lasted a moment.

Tae-moo was the type of person who even rested according to a strict plan.

Sliding his glasses into the pocket of his suit, he pushed Yeon-ha from his thoughts almost immediately.

***

“Ms. Ji Yeon-ha!”

The moment Yeon-ha stepped into the management support office, its employees crowded tightly around her.

These were the same colleagues who had barely acknowledged her before, and their sudden excessive interest made her lower her head in confusion.

“Assistant Manager Moon said you’re unbelievably pretty?”

“Come on, let us see your face.”

“We want to see too. Take off your glasses. It’s not that hard, is it?”

Their forceful words stabbed sharply against the top of her head.

“Ms. Ji Yeon-ha.”

A man’s hand touched her tense shoulder.

Startled, Yeon-ha flinched violently.

“Ah, sorry for scaring you. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Assistant Manager Park awkwardly pulled back the hand he had placed on her shoulder.

“It’s not making you uncomfortable, right? I just wanted us to get closer.”

Yeon-ha had never sought attention from others.

But whenever she acted according to her true feelings, all she received in return were cruel and unpleasant words. This had always been the pattern with the countless people who had come and gone in her life.

The weight of other people’s attention had not changed.

Yet, perhaps because she had just endured the overwhelming presence of a far more intimidating man than anyone here, the stares no longer felt quite so unbearable.

Slowly, Yeon-ha lifted her head.

“……!”

Several seconds of breathless silence followed.

No one could bring themselves to speak.

Then, amid the stunned silence, a low murmur of admiration could clearly be heard throughout the office.

“Wow… Ms. Yeon-ha. You really…”