MWFL 13

13. A Single Condition

Soo-hee’s face, stiffened beyond all recognition, slowly began to flush bright red.

At the same time, Dong-goo’s panicked face turned completely pale.

The woman right in front of them was the daughter of a man who boasted a powerful presence in South Korea. Because of that, he couldn’t help but worry about the inevitable aftermath that might blow in.

Yet Shin-woo—who couldn’t care less about any of that—simply left the woman behind and started walking his own path.

“Ah. Hyung. Wait…”

Left stranded with Soo-hee, Dong-goo made a move to grab Shin-woo, only to quickly give up.

“I’m so sorry. It seems there was a mistake on my end during the communication process with Player Cha Shin-woo.”

He felt it was right to first apologize for the tangled situation to someone who had just suffered such a humiliation.

The woman’s gaze—which had been relentlessly following the retreating Shin-woo—finally turned to Dong-goo.

Her eyes, framed by her flushed face, had settled down icy cold.

“Hyung—no, Player Cha Shin-woo—seemed to react a bit sensitively because this wasn’t the schedule he had in mind. I apologize on his behalf.”

He didn’t think saying something like this would make her understand Shin-woo’s behavior, but he had to say something for the time being.

Taking a slow breath in, the woman curled up her tightly set lips into a smooth arc.

“It’s alright. That happens.”

She then threw out an unexpected answer.

“It’s not like Oppa acting like that is anything new. I just have to understand, I guess.”

As if to prove it wasn’t a lie, Soo-hee’s eyes sparkled with a gentle, kind energy.

“Still, I’m truly sorry. I’ll reach out to the Chairman’s secretarial office myself to explain the situation and apologize.”

“Don’t bother. I’m heading up to see my dad right now anyway, so I’ll tell him myself.”

“Even so, it’d be better if I explained it directly…”

“Are you saying that because you’re worried I’ll say something bad?”

His eyes wide, Dong-goo frantically waved his hands in the air.

“No, not at all! I just thought it was proper courtesy to handle it that way.”

“Oppa and I haven’t just known each other for a day or two. Do you really think I’d do something like that? Don’t worry about it.”

Speaking in a voice as kind as her expression, the woman let out a slightly deeper smile. Relief seeped into Dong-goo’s heart, which had been filled with worry a moment ago.

“Hurry up and go on. Oppa must be waiting for you.”

“Yes. Thank you. I’ll see you next time.”

Dong-goo bowed his waist low in greeting. He then moved in a hurry to catch up with Shin-woo, who had already vanished inside the building.

Standing in front of the elevator, Shin-woo looked at Dong-goo as he arrived out of breath.

“What took you so long? Pick up the pace.”

Unlike Dong-goo—who was flustered to the point of feeling a chill down his spine—Shin-woo wore a completely calm expression.

“Hyung!”

“If you’re going to spout useless nonsense, keep your mouth shut. What floor is the agency on?”

Shutting down the words he didn’t want to hear, Shin-woo stepped right onto the elevator that had just arrived.

Swallowing the countless words stuck to the tip of his tongue, Dong-goo stepped onto the elevator as well. He then pressed firmly on the button for the 5th floor, where the agency offices were located.

. . .

Sitting at her desk in the office handling a work call, Ha-rin casually threw her gaze out the window.

Out in the hallway, several employees were gathered together, whispering while staring at a single spot.

Without paying it much mind, she pulled her gaze back and focused on her call.

By the time she finished the call about ten minutes later, the group of employees gathered in the hallway had already dispersed.

Just as she was about to get back to work, an employee walked into the office.

“Director! I heard Player Cha Shin-woo is here!”

She then announced a completely unexpected situation.

“Wow. Seeing him in person is no joke! I had no idea he’d be that handsome.”

“I just ran into him in the hallway a second ago, and his physique is seriously perfect! He’s hands down the best out of all the athletes I’ve ever seen.”

The employees shared their impressions of seeing Cha Shin-woo in the flesh with excited voices.

“Player Cha Shin-woo is here?”

It was Team Leader Lee Ki-soo, not Ha-rin, who asked the employee.

“Yes. He arrived a little while ago and went straight into the CEO’s office.”

Wearing a serious expression, Ki-soo bolted out of his seat and looked over at Ha-rin.

“Director Ju. Did you know Player Cha was coming today?”

The employees’ eyes immediately turned to Ha-rin all at once.

“No. I haven’t heard anything about it.”

When she shared the truth, Ki-soo’s face instantly darkened even further. Ha-rin knew exactly why Ki-soo was showing that kind of reaction.

Contract termination. He knew there was only one reason why Cha Shin-woo would come all the way here without giving his manager, Ha-rin, any prior notice.

“Team Leader. Why?”

“Did something happen with Player Cha Shin-woo?”

The employees—unaware of the circumstances surrounding Shin-woo’s contract—asked in curiosity.

“No. It’s nothing. Everyone, back to work.”

Quickly fixing his expression as he answered, Ki-soo walked over to Ha-rin.

“Was there really no mention of anything? You really don’t know why he suddenly came by?”

Ha-rin locked eyes with the man, who was whispering at a volume meant only for her ears.

“I don’t know for sure, but I do have an idea.”

“Is it… what I think it is?”

“Probably.”

As if saying that absolutely could not happen, deep creases crumpled Ki-soo’s brow.

“Ah, no way. Still, it’s only normal to give Director Ju a heads-up first.”

He might actually be terminating it because of me, though.

“We’ll find out if we wait. Won’t the CEO call you in soon, Team Leader?”

Hiding her inner thoughts, she answered calmly.

“Yeah. We’ll find out if we wait. It might not even be because of what we’re expecting.”

Even as he said those positive words, the anxious look on Ki-soo’s face didn’t fade away.

That reaction alone was enough to make her realize once again how important the contract with Cha Shin-woo was on a company level.

Setting aside the orders from the higher-ups, it didn’t change the fact that Cha Shin-woo was a player every agency was dying to sign.

In fact, most agencies were actively setting their sights on signing him.

Yet Ha-rin’s wish for Cha Shin-woo to terminate the contract remained completely unchanged.

Yeah. This actually works out great for me.

Coming to a self-centered conclusion, she was about to focus back on her work when her gaze fell onto the little stone sitting on her desk.

“Guess I won’t be needing you anymore, Cha-dol.”

The time had come to end her brief encounter with the little guy she had even given a name to.

“Thanks for everything.”

Without any lingering regrets, she swept Cha-dol into her hand and dropped him straight into the trash can under her desk.

Rrrrr. Rrrrr.

Right at that moment, the intercom phone rang.

It was a call from the CEO.

. . .

Walking down the hallway connected to the CEO’s executive suite, Ha-rin slowly took a deep breath.

She had expected him to call Team Leader Ki-soo, or perhaps both of them together, but the CEO had called only Ha-rin.

Was he going to scold her for letting things get to this point? Or was he going to order her to hold onto Cha Shin-woo no matter what it took?

Picturing the expected scenarios, she organized her responses in her head. Right then, she realized Cha Shin-woo might not have left just yet.

“Is he going to demand an apology for acting so rude and unpleasant?”

This time, she started predicting Cha Shin-woo’s reaction.

“If he wants an apology, I’ll give him one. If he’s terminating the contract, doing at least that much is a given.”

Who am I to argue? Steeling herself to bow down completely, she came to a stop in front of the CEO’s office door.

Knock, knock.

Upon knocking on the door, the CEO’s voice telling her to come in sounded out shortly after.

“CEO, sir. Did you call for me?”

Opening the door right away, she stepped inside and spoke in a polite tone.

Seated at the table placed right in the middle of the office were Cha Shin-woo, Dong-goo, the CEO, and the Vice President.

“Director Ju. Welcome. Come on over and take a seat.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ha-rin threw a puzzled look as she walked over to the empty seat next to the Vice President.

If contract termination had been brought up, the atmosphere around the CEO and Vice President should have been heavy. Yet the expressions on their faces looked even more excited than usual.

What on earth did they talk about?

Her certainty about the contract termination started to flicker bit by bit.

As she sat down, her gaze naturally locked with Shin-woo’s, who was sitting directly opposite her.

Leaning back against the chair’s backrest in a relaxed posture, the man was staring intently at her with unreadable eyes.

“I heard Director Ju went through a lot of trouble because of Player Cha all this time. He feels quite sorry about it.”

…He went through what? Sorry?

He’s not the type of person to feel that way.

Putting strength into her brows—which were on the verge of scowling without her realizing it—she looked at the CEO.

“Can you really call it trouble? It’s just duties I naturally ought to carry out. But why did you call for me, sir?”

Delivering a cookie-cutter answer, she jumped straight to the point.

“It’s nothing else—we decided to rewrite Player Cha Shin-woo’s contract.”

“Pardon? Rewrite the contract?”

Not terminate it? Swallowing the rest of her words, Ha-rin’s eyes wavered slightly.

“Yes. He likes the other terms because our operations team and legal team already pitched the absolute best conditions in the industry, but he asked to add a single condition.”

Finishing his sentence, the CEO let out a smile that was bright enough to make her uneasy.

“What kind of condition is it?”

“I’ll tell you that myself.”

Shin-woo’s voice cut in out of nowhere, drawing Ha-rin’s gaze over to him.

Right as their momentarily broken gazes locked together deeply once again—

“The condition is that Director Ju Ha-rin drops all her other players and manages me exclusively on her own.”

Words that completely shattered Ha-rin’s wish reached her ears.