IIMFL 02

Chapter 02

“Well then, good work.”

Leaving the frozen Eun-seok behind, Moon-young casually turned around and headed for the Quality Management Team.

His official start date was tomorrow, but since he was already at the company, he figured he might as well greet his team members in advance.

“What brings you here?”

Just then, Sun-hwa, who had returned from her external meeting, spotted Moon-young standing in front of the office and spoke to him.

When Moon-young introduced himself, Sun-hwa made a fuss loud enough for all the working team members to hear.

“The new Team Leader?”

At those words, all eyes in the team turned in unison to one spot.

Eun-jae, who had been copying documents, was no exception.

“Come in, Team Leader.”

The moment Moon-young entered the office, guided by Sun-hwa, Eun-jae froze completely.

Unable to process the reality of the situation, she couldn’t even blink.

As Yoo-jin from HR had said, the new Team Leader was strikingly handsome.

She could already hear some employees chattering in the hallway, presumably having heard the rumors and come to see for themselves.

*’No way.’*

A slight twitch ran beneath Eun-jae’s eye.

For her, the new Team Leader’s first impression wasn’t so much about his stunning looks as it was about sheer shock.

Swallowing dryly, Eun-jae turned her body away and bit her lower lip hard.

Anxiety washed over her in that moment—the thought that the dream she had dismissed as nonsense at dawn might have been a prophetic vision of this very situation.

“Eun-jae, what are you doing? Come here.”

The employees who had been working gathered in one spot.

It was Sun-hwa who pulled the frozen Eun-jae over.

Eun-jae kept her head deeply bowed, staring blankly at her own feet with a dazed expression.

*’No, right? It can’t be. There’s no way. It must be someone who looks like him.’*

Just as she was denying reality all by herself—

Moon-young’s refined voice landed clearly in Eun-jae’s ears.

Like a death sentence.

“I’m Lee Moon-young, the Team Leader newly assigned to the Quality Management Team.”

At the familiar name, Eun-jae’s eyes squeezed shut.

A face with delicate features—neatly arranged yet distinct eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth.

When he smiled, he looked gentle overall, but when his lips were pressed firmly together, he gave off a slightly cold impression.

That was the image of the boy Lee Moon-young that Eun-jae remembered.

*’Lee Moon-young? The real Lee Moon-young?’*

Eun-jae carefully observed Moon-young, who had yet to notice her.

He had broad shoulders, a relatively narrow waist, and was tall.

The body hidden beneath his slim-fit suit looked toned even just from the visible lines.

The face that once had a hint of boyishness was now that of a full-grown man, his overall vibe having matured.

The man from her dreams was truly right before her eyes.

And he had appeared as her workplace superior.

“I’m Assistant Manager Han Sun-hwa. Nice to meet you, Team Leader.”

“I’m Senior Lee Jung-hoo. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Kang Won-ho. Nice to meet you, Team Leader.”

It was an unusually young appointment for a Team Leader, likely rare across the entire department.

As Moon-young exchanged greetings with each team member and gradually closed the distance, his gaze finally reached Eun-jae.

It felt as if the ground beneath her feet was collapsing and her blood was running cold.

Eun-jae gently bit the soft flesh inside her mouth.

*’Don’t panic. Ten years have passed, so he won’t recognize me. And even if he does, I have a weapon to cover myself.’*

All she had to do was play dumb.

Having reached that conclusion, Eun-jae forcibly pulled her lips into a smile and looked at Moon-young.

But the moment their eyes met, Eun-jae felt a wave of immense anxiety.

*’What? Did he recognize me right away?’*

The warm smile like spring sunshine that had been on Moon-young’s face vanished in an instant.

Seeing him stare at her with a rigid, hardened expression, Eun-jae swallowed hard.

“You…”

Moon-young, who had been a few steps away, closed the distance to Eun-jae in one stride.

—

Eun-jae, thinking she needed to strike first before he could continue, quickly bowed her head.

“Hello, Team Leader! I’m Jung Eun-jae from the Quality Management Team!”

Her loud, enthusiastic voice, like a boot camp private full of energy, startled the team members.

As if on cue, they all looked at Eun-jae.

“Whoa. Eun-jae, why are you so spirited with your greeting?”

“Right. When you greeted me this morning, you were like a weak little chick.”

“She must be getting a burst of energy from the Team Leader being so handsome.”

Despite the team members’ jokes, Moon-young didn’t smile at all.

It seemed like all his attention was focused solely on Eun-jae.

“Jung Eun-jae?”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“Your name is Jung Eun-jae?”

“Yes, precisely. Jung, Eun, Jae.”

Lips pressed firmly into a straight line.

Eun-jae knew this face of his.

It was the expression he made when something didn’t sit right with him.

“Did you, by any chance, go to Taesung High School?”

“No. That’s a school I’m hearing for the first time. I graduated from Seongcheon High School.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes.”

If you’re done greeting, go. Go far away!

Unaware of Eun-jae’s inner scream, Moon-young remained standing there blankly.

His gaze, as if measuring something, swept from her round forehead down to the tip of her chin—it was sharp.

A persistent stare, as if trying to see right through to her very thoughts.

“…Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something you wanted to say?”

“No. It’s just that Eun-jae looks a lot like someone I know.”

“Haha, is that so?”

“Yes. You really do resemble her a lot.”

“My face is pretty common, isn’t it? Don’t you think so, Senior?”

She asked Jung-hoo standing beside her, but he just stared back at her with a bewildered expression, as if to ask why she was suddenly putting him on the spot.

An awkward silence passed.

The answer to Eun-jae’s question came not from Jung-hoo, but from an unexpected source.

“Now that I look again, maybe you’re right.”

Eun-jae felt relieved at Moon-young’s softly murmured words—but only for a moment. Just as he was about to turn away, another bombshell dropped from his lips.

“By any chance, which employee went to the Purchasing Team earlier?”

“If you mean the Purchasing Team, Eun-jae went.”

Seeing Eun-jae hesitate to raise her hand, Sun-hwa answered for her.

Moon-young’s gaze returned to her.

She had only said what needed to be said, but because the other person was Moon-young, she inexplicably felt cowed and found it hard to meet his eyes.

Just as Eun-jae, head bowed, was staring quietly at Moon-young’s sleek straight-tip dress shoes—

“You did well. From now on, keep speaking up clearly about anything that’s wrong.”

An unexpected compliment fell from above her head.

When she looked up and met his eyes, Moon-young painted a kind and gentle smile on his lips.

*’Liar. Con artist.’*

There was a time when she liked that smile, but not anymore.

Eun-jae clenched her fist invisibly.

“Well then, I’ll be going now. You all were in the middle of work, so let’s end the greetings here.”

“Team Leader, aren’t we having a welcome party?”

“My official start is tomorrow. I just stopped by today since I was already at the company to say hello. If we absolutely have to have one, let’s do it after work tomorrow. Go back to your work.”

After finishing his greetings, Moon-young paused at the entrance before leaving the office and looked back at Eun-jae once more.

He looked like he had something to say, but in the end, he left without another word.

“Alright, everyone, let’s get back to work.”

The team members all returned to their seats, and Eun-jae also gathered the copied documents and sat down.

There was a mountain of documents to organize piled up before her, but the contents wouldn’t register in her mind.

Repeatedly flipping through the papers mechanically, she let out a heavy sigh and buried her face in her hands.

*’Lee Moon-young as my Team Leader. Is this for real?’*

The worst possible problem had crashed into Jung Eun-jae’s life.

—

***

—

“Unnie!”

The door burst open without a knock.

Eun-jae, sitting cross-legged with her back straight and eyes closed, slowly opened her eyes.

Hee-won, who had just gotten home, was staring at her in disbelief.

“Unnie, what are you doing?”

“Meditating.”

“Does that actually calm your mind?”

“Sort of.”

*But not today.*

Eun-jae looked up at Hee-won with a face that couldn’t hide her troubled feelings.

“You just got home? Why are you so late?”

“I was working on an assignment. I’m so tired I could die.”

“Then hurry up and wash up and rest. Why are you in my room?”

Hee-won closed the door, came inside, and plopped down right next to Eun-jae.

Not only that, she linked her arm through Eun-jae’s.

It was something she did when she had a favor to ask.

“Unnie~”

There it was. Even using that nasal tone?

Eun-jae pretended not to know, even though she did.

“Why?”

“Give me some allowance.”

“Didn’t you do a part-time job behind Mom and Dad’s back last month? What do you need money for?”

“I did a short-term part-time job because there’s something I really want to buy, but I’m a little short. Hmm? Unnie~”

Eun-jae let out a soft laugh at Hee-won’s antics, hanging on her arm and pulling out all her aegyo skills.

“How short are you?”

“Just 100,000 won.”

Eun-jae was especially weak to her younger sister, Hee-won.

Seeing her grin and hold up ten fingers, Eun-jae eventually reached for her wallet.

Generously pulling out four 50,000-won bills, Hee-won gave a thumbs up and cheered, “Our unnie is the best!”

“But unnie, why were you suddenly meditating? Did something bad happen?”

The sound of flowing water and chirping birds faded away.

Eun-jae turned off the Bluetooth speaker, leaned against her desk, pondered for a moment, then tilted her head.

“Hee-won.”

“Yeah?”

“After ten years, a lot of things change, but especially faces change a lot, right?”

“Of course. Ten years is enough time to change your whole identity. You change by losing weight, by makeup, by plastic surgery, even just by changing your style.”

“Do you think I look a lot different from ten years ago?”

“Definitely. You’ve totally transformed.”

“Then how did he recognize me?”

“Who?”

“That bastard.”

“Huh? That bastard?”

A heavy silence fell over the room for a moment.

Seeing Eun-jae acting differently than usual, Hee-won’s face grew serious too.

She stuffed the bills she’d received as allowance into her pocket and stared at Eun-jae intently, then suddenly scrunched up her expression.

As if something had clicked, Hee-won jumped up from her spot and shouted.

“What? You don’t mean that bastard showed up again, do you?”

“Huh?”

“That bastard! The one who made you cry back then!”

Startled, Eun-jae finally had an ‘oh no’ look on her face.

She had momentarily forgotten how sharp Hee-won was.

“No, it’s not.”

“It’s not, my foot. You suddenly bring up faces from ten years ago, and who else would you call ‘that bastard’? It’s him, isn’t it?”

Though they had become sisters through their parents’ remarriage, the two were closer than biological sisters.

Hee-won, who had always followed and liked Eun-jae especially from the beginning, would go to any lengths when it came to Eun-jae’s affairs.

Once, Eun-jae had been injured and hospitalized, and somehow Hee-won got word of it—she came running to the hospital wielding a bamboo sword.

It had happened during her university days, and while it was true she’d been injured due to trouble with a senior, it hadn’t been an intentional accident.

But Hee-won was furious.

—

*’Who touched our unnie!’*

—

Hee-won, who was fifteen at the time, had been attending a kendo academy.

Judging by the momentum with which she’d come running with a bamboo sword in hand, one might have thought she was a martial arts master, but sadly, the belt tied around Hee-won’s waist was white.

“Pfft.”

Suddenly remembering that incident, Eun-jae burst out laughing.

The troubled feelings from moments ago vanished like a lie.

“Why are you suddenly laughing? Don’t just laugh, answer me. Did that insolent bastard really show up again?”

Insolent bastard, huh.

Hee-won’s assessment of Lee Moon-young was rock bottom.

“It’s not like that.”

“Really?”

“I told you.”

“Then why did you suddenly bring up faces from ten years ago?”

“I ran into an old high school classmate by chance, and they recognized me right away. So I wondered if I hadn’t changed at all since then and opened my yearbook—and then I got hit with a wave of cringe.”

“Ten years ago would be your second year of high school, unnie. You’re not talking about the school you went to before we moved, are you?”

“Yeah. No, it’s not.”

“Well, that’s a relief then.”

It was a quick improvisation, but it seemed like a fairly plausible excuse.

Fortunately, Hee-won dropped her suspicion.

She glanced at the yearbook on the bookshelf, nodded in agreement with Eun-jae’s words.

“When I graduated, they retouched everything with Photoshop, but for your year, the photos came out so honest. I’m glad it’s not what I thought, but if that bastard ever shows up in front of you again, tell me. I won’t let it slide.”

“How are you going to punish him?”

“I always have about ninety-nine methods prepared, so don’t worry.”

Even knowing it was just bravado, Eun-jae’s mood quickly lifted at Hee-won’s words.

“Alright, go wash up and rest now.”

After Hee-won returned to her room, Eun-jae was left alone. She sat in front of her vanity and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Ten years had passed.

She couldn’t help her face, but so many things had changed over that long time.

Her last name changed with her parents’ remarriage, and at the same time, she’d stubbornly even changed her given name.

Besides that, an only child like her had gained a younger sister five years her junior.

Other than her face resembling the past, there were far too many differences.

“You bastard. Showing up in front of me again now?”

And with such a composed face at that?

Eun-jae ground her teeth and raised her eyebrows.

“For now, let’s pretend I don’t know. If I just keep denying it until the end, what’s he going to do about it?”

Deny it.

She was a completely different person from the ‘Yoon Da-eun’ of the past