Chapter 6 (Part 4)

“So, you spent the night there? Just the two of you?”

Hae-jeong’s mouth hung open in shock.

In-ah casually replied as she took a spoonful of the gochujang stew Hae-jeong had brought.

“Yeah.”

“What, are you starting over then?”

“No.”

“No? No? You’re saying no? How does that even make sense?”

With her mouth full of steamed eggs, In-ah said,

“I’m planning to go to the U.S.”

“What? What kind of unexpected development is this?”

In-ah put her spoon down on the table with a thoughtful expression.

“If I stay like this, I feel like I’ll get dragged back.”

“Dragged back? To where?”

“To Jinwon.”

Hae-jeong tilted her head at In-ah’s cryptic words.

“Could you explain in a way I can understand?”

“I keep forgetting the fact that he left me and made my life unbearably hard.”

“Then just forget it.”

“No. He wasn’t honest with me until the end, and I haven’t forgiven him in my heart. Isn’t it ridiculous to just go back to how things were?”

Hae-jeong sighed, looking at In-ah with sad eyes.

“It’s not ridiculous. Not at all. So just go where your heart takes you.”

“Is there any guarantee that it won’t happen again? No, there isn’t.”

“What are you afraid of?”

In-ah picked up her spoon again and resumed eating. She muttered softly,

“There’s nothing like that. I’ve decided not to start over with him.”

Hae-jeong looked at In-ah with a complicated expression and then added some side dishes to In-ah’s rice.

***

A few days later.

Jinwon, looking as if something had made him angry, strode into the office and approached In-ah.

“Seo In-ah, could you see me for a moment?”

“Yes.”

After Jinwon entered the Team Leader’s office first, In-ah stood up from her seat to head there. The employees began whispering as they looked at her. In-ah sensed something was off.

Just then, Hye-yoon came running with her hair flying.

“Where are you going?”

“The Team Leader called me.”

Hye-yoon grabbed In-ah’s wrist and pulled her to the end of the hallway. After quickly checking their surroundings, she whispered in a low voice.

“Are you really going to the U.S. branch?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Where do you think? Everyone knows. They say you’re going to the overseas branch because you were harassed by Team Leader Jinwon.”

“Harassed? Harassed how?”

Hye-yoon, with a troubled expression as if struggling to put it into words, finally spoke.

“You know, forced…”

“What?”

In-ah was so shocked that she raised her voice almost to a scream.

“Shh!”

Hye-yoon urgently put a finger to her lips and looked around before whispering quickly.

“They say the company is sending you to the U.S. as a consideration.”

“What on earth are you talking about!”

When an agitated In-ah demanded an explanation, Hye-yoon grasped her hands with a sympathetic expression.

“You don’t have to hide it from me. I didn’t know the Team Leader was that kind of person either.”

In-ah couldn’t make sense of the situation at all.

***

“Seo In-ah!”

Jinwon, who had been waiting for In-ah to enter, opened the door to the Team Leader’s office and hurried her.

The employees openly stared and whispered about Jinwon and In-ah. Just then, Assistant Manager Jeong approached In-ah.

“Seo In-ah, can we talk for a moment?”

In-ah glanced at Jinwon and then followed Assistant Manager Jeong. Jinwon was about to call In-ah back in disbelief when Kang Cheol came running noisily from the other side and dragged Jinwon into the Team Leader’s office.

Kang Cheol, panting heavily, urgently asked,

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“The screen broke. What’s going on?”

Kang Cheol couldn’t answer immediately and just stared at Jinwon with a somewhat sympathetic expression.

“Where were you yesterday?”

“Yesterday? I was at a meeting.”

“After the meeting, what then?”

“Nothing else. Just say it.”

Kang Cheol asked again with a serious expression.

“Was the meeting at that beach resort? The one Jinseong Group acquired?”

“Yes.”

Kang Cheol turned his head with a look of dismay, closing his eyes tightly.

“With who?”

“With Seo In-ah. Why are you asking?”

“Did you spend the night there?”

“…….”

Jinwon couldn’t grasp what Kang Cheol was talking about. He quickly tried to understand the situation in his head.

Kang Cheol, as if his legs had lost strength, slumped into a chair and muttered.

“Why did you do that, man?”

At that time,

Seong-tae was in the Director’s office. Seong-tae, looking relaxed, was brushing the leaves of a plant by the window.

“I thought you were a quiet cat, but you’ve jumped right onto the stove. You’ve got quite the jumping ability. Ah~”

With a sly smile, Seong-tae sank deeply into the sofa.

Seong-jun, expressionless, was sitting at the desk and looked up at Seong-tae indifferently.

“You don’t know anything about it?”

“Of course not. I told you I’m an innocent witness. Shouldn’t a brother trust his younger brother’s words?”

Seong-jun shifted his gaze back to the monitor. Seong-tae, smirking, watched Seong-jun’s face.

“That woman, she had a scandal with you too, right?”

Seong-jun’s finger, hovering over the mouse, paused momentarily. Seongtae, looking intrigued, stretched his legs and placed them on the table, continuing to speak.

“What is it? What’s her charm? I’m really curious.”

Seong-tae glanced at the silent Seong-jun and stood up.

“Let’s see, let’s see. I want to see the face of the woman who ensnared two men.”

As Seong-tae opened the door to the Director’s office, he hesitated. Seong-jun pushed the door closed with his palm.

“Restrain yourself.”

At Seong-jun’s low tone, Seong-tae flinched.

“You’re always reckless. But now you’re being even more reckless.”

Seong-tae, who had momentarily recoiled, quickly retorted with sparkling eyes.

“It’s not recklessness; it’s decisiveness. Have you ever seen anything get resolved by being as reserved as you?”

Seong-jun, seemingly suppressing his anger, closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“To get rid of trouble, you have to act like me. Set traps! Plan strategies!”

In his excitement, Seong-tae suddenly looked surprised.

“Wow—this time, even the heavens helped me, you know? The rain was pouring so much, I almost didn’t need to cut the power.”

“You said you were a witness.”

“Oops! My mouth slipped, didn’t it?”

Seong-tae laughed shamelessly, twitching his eyebrows.

“Even without such tricks…”

“It’s fun. How can you live without such fun in life? Right, brother?”

In-ah, sitting across from Assistant Manager Jeong in the conference room, looked at an anonymous post on the company community through her laptop.

The post detailed a scandalous rumor that In-ah and Jinwon had spent the night together at the old, empty beach resort. The post included provocative and detailed descriptions, claiming In-ah’s moans were drowned out by the sound of pouring rain.

The issue was that the post suggested the incident was not due to a romantic relationship but due to coercion from a superior-subordinate relationship.

The previous night, there had indeed been only the two of them at the resort, struggling to escape isolation.

How on earth did this person witness them and concoct such a heinous rumor?

“The entire post is a lie. An utterly ridiculous lie.”

“You’re saying there’s not a single truth to it?”

“Of course. We went to the resort for a meeting and got stuck because the car broke down in the heavy rain.”

“So the fact that you spent the night at the resort is true?”

“That was an unavoidable situation.”

Assistant Manager Jeong recorded In-ah’s statements.

“The company cannot overlook this without verification, so I’m asking for confirmation.”

In-ah nodded.

“I’ll report it as you said, but there might be further investigation by the company. Be aware of that.”

***

Even after work, In-ah couldn’t calm her agitation easily.

Who on earth could have done such an unfounded thing?

In-ah bought an armful of snacks and piled them like a mountain on a table outside a convenience store, starting a binge.

As she continuously stuffed snacks into her mouth, trying to figure out how to catch the culprit, a drink was placed in front of her with a ‘thud’. Looking up, she saw the handsome convenience store part-timer.

“Drink this while you eat.”

“Thanks.”

In-ah smiled brightly. She had become acquainted with the part-timer after clearing up the misunderstanding that she was married.

“What brings you here today? You’re not drinking soju.”

“If I drink on a day like today, who knows what I might do. So I’m not drinking.”

The part-timer laughed as if entertained.

“What kind of day is it?”

In-ah shoved a handful of snacks into her mouth and replied,

“A day where I feel like I’m going to go crazy with anger.”

The part-timer smiled at the mountain of snacks.

“Looks like you are really angry today.”

Lost in thought, In-ah asked the part-timer a question.

“Suppose you say to the arsonist, ‘You set the fire, didn’t you?’ They won’t admit it right away, will they?”

“I suppose not?”

“But in that situation, could you find out why they set the fire?”

“Hmm…”

The part-timer, with a serious expression and furrowed brows, spoke after a moment.

“You’d have to catch the culprit’s weak spot.”

“Right? If their weak point is their neck, you have to grab it and not let go, right?”

At In-ah’s fierce expression, the part-timer stroked his neck and said,

“I guess so?”