EHR 07

Chapter 07

“Ms. Kim, hello.”

Ms. Kim had a bright, sociable personality, so she was always happy to see Jaekyung.

“Are you feeling okay? It’s natural to be worried.”

“I was less flustered because you told me in advance, Ms. Kim. Thank you for texting me.”

“Thank me? Love for fellow teachers is love for the country. I’m on my way to lunch—let’s go together.”

“I’m still working.”

Perhaps they were about to do construction on the enormous school garden that was Uitae Foundation’s landmark—Yoo Gam was surrounded by company staff and the vice principal.

Focused on work, he hadn’t yet noticed that Jaekyung was standing at a distance.

“Ms. Seo and the chairman. There’s a rumor going around that you two aren’t just ordinary—is it true? That’s why you were hired as secretary—it’s being talked about in other group chats too.”

“I’m just a temporary worker helping out for a bit.”

If it weren’t for Juyoung, she wouldn’t have known where the rumors circulating the school originated, so it was better to know.

“Ah, really? Ms. Seo is sharp, so you might get converted to a permanent position. It’s still a secret, but I might get hired as a regular teacher.”

“Really? That’s really great.”

Jaekyung congratulated Ms. Kim—always diligent and warm—with a bright smile. She had been struggling with her father’s hospital bills, so it was good news.

“It’s not confirmed yet. There’s only one spot, but I really hope I get it.”

“I had a feeling you’d make it, Ms. Kim, with how hard you work.”

“I wish we could both get hired as regular teachers. If another posting comes out, I’ll contact you right away. I know someone in the administrative office.”

“It’s okay.”

Spending time with the children suited her better than she’d expected, and she had dreamed of becoming a teacher, but she had no intention of working at Uitae Foundation, where Do Yoo Gam was chairman.

The moment she smiled warmly at Juyoung, her eyes met Yoo Gam’s.

“I’ll head out first today. Let’s have lunch together sometime. I’ll contact you.”

Jaekyung, wiping the smile from her face, greeted Juyoung and walked toward Yoo Gam, who hadn’t taken his cold gaze off her.

“Sneaking off again?”

“I’m sorry. If you have instructions, please tell me.”

At Jaekyung’s polite attitude, Yoo Gam didn’t nitpick further and focused on his work again. Secretary work was several times harder than teaching, but she had to adapt to survive.

*

Yoo Gam, who had been monitoring Jaekyung with ice-cold eyes without rest, and Chief Secretary Kwon left on a business trip for an external meeting.

Jaekyung let out a sigh, gazing indifferently out the window at the schoolyard of her alma mater, now emptied of students’ chattering after classes ended.

The red camellia, the school flower of Uitae Foundation, established by KE Group Chairman Do Uitae.

Patience, diligence, integrity.

It was a symbol that also suited Chairman Do’s management philosophy—he had built his business from the ground up after losing both his wife and child.

As she took in the unusually lush spring buds as if bewitched, that day suddenly came to mind, as if by coincidence.

*

First year of high school, around this time in March.

It was the day Jaekyung had left school early to go to the hospital.

Beneath the camellia tree covered in brilliant red petals, as if sparks were flying.

Was it around there that she had found the collapsed male student?

*

“Hey, are you okay?”

Jaekyung, who seemed to have caught the flu—breaking into cold sweats and dizzy—wasn’t in any condition to support anyone either.

*

“Don’t tell…… anyone.”

*

Jaekyung, staggering with a high fever, grabbed the boy’s hand. It was cold as ice.

*

“Let’s go to the hospital. You could die.”

*

Jaekyung, dizzy as if she really would die, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and blinked. Her vision was blurry, and she couldn’t see the boy’s face well.

*

“It’s okay…… even if I die.”

*

Was she hallucinating because it hurt so much? The child, whose face she couldn’t even remember, vanished like smoke.

She might run into him by chance. She had lingered beneath the camellia tree several times, but she didn’t try hard to find him.

It was a faint old memory that surfaced whenever she saw a camellia.

Would he still be alive?

Pointless thoughts. ……She should work.

Stretching once, Jaekyung looked at the monitor again.

Working alone in the chairman’s office with a feeling as light as if a lump had been removed, Jaekyung turned her eyes from the monitor to the window.

It was raining—raindrops tapped on the window, and everything around was dark.

As Jaekyung prepared to leave and opened a drawer, she saw the marriage certificate with her signature on it.

It was only her first day of work. The breath she had held all day escaped in a long sigh.

If she finished the work quickly, she could resign even before three months. And she could divorce.

*

“I’ll work as your secretary, so please—as you said—clear up both the penalty and the marriage as if it never happened.”

*

She had been stubborn because of Yoo Gam and the vice principal, who kept bringing up penalty fees and audits.

Remembering herself shouting confidently when she had no grounds to be so bold, she wanted to hide in a mouse hole.

Shaking her head at the embarrassment, she was about to turn off the computer when she clicked on a file folder with the name of the vice principal—who disliked Jaekyung—listed as the person in charge.

*

“Check ten years’ worth of materials related to the vice principal, without missing a single one.”

*

Among the tasks Yoo Gam had assigned, he had said there were items to focus on regarding the vice principal.

Thousands of files spanning years—item shipments, faculty lists, school event schedules—were vast just in their listing. Jaekyung copied only the vice principal’s materials separately to a USB.

“Haa……. Let’s clock out first and finish looking at it at home.”

After finishing the security check and stepping outside the building, a text came from her father.

[Dad is sorry. I’ll try to resolve the seizure quickly.]

She called, but it didn’t connect. During lunch, she had gone to the security team to see her father, but couldn’t meet him—he’d gone out on field work.

Jaekyung’s hot sigh puffed white in the cold air.

The sky darkened with rain clouds. Unfolding her umbrella and about to step onto the stairs—

“Oh!…….”

The moment her foot slipped, a tight grip wrapped around Jaekyung’s waist. At the agile embrace, Jaekyung’s breath stopped for an instant.

“Are you hurt?”

Yoo Gam brushed back Jaekyung’s wet hair like they were close.

“No. I’m fine……. Thank you.”

She pushed away his firm body and stepped back.

In the damp air, it seemed even Jaekyung’s heated heart, breath, and time had stopped.

“About yesterday.”

Jaekyung looked up at Yoo Gam, who was looking down at her, with curious eyes.

“You said I told you to leave. Can you tell me why you disappeared?”

She hesitated over what to say first to a person who knew nothing—as if they were identical twins, or as if he had lost his memory.

“The contract fee wasn’t small. What did you do with it, that you’re still this obsessed with earning money?”

It was a contract fee that had already vanished.

She wasn’t ashamed of having her poverty exposed, so at the words interrogating the vanished money, Jaekyung was indifferent.

“Debt. I have a lot of debt.”

Perhaps because of the close distance with Yoo Gam, heat boiled through her whole body, and Jaekyung licked her parched lips.

“A lot of debt. So you seduced a doctor boyfriend too. And discarded me, who gave you money?”

“……That’s.”

It was a misunderstanding—where should she begin explaining? She didn’t trust this man enough to open her mouth pitifully.

“You’re exactly a gold digger.”

“Haa……. A gold digger?”

“What amount do you need this time, that you’re trying to coax another man?”

Jaekyung’s face turned white.

Because of her father, who had been a former host, just hearing the words “swallow, gold digger” made her uncomfortable, and she had lived more wary of men than anyone. It was so unfair it made her angry.

“Who did I coax? If you’re that suspicious, file the divorce papers right now. Why keep a gold digger by your side?”

“I’m not letting you go so easily, because it’s unfair.”

“What’s unfair?”

It was her mistake not to have kept the secret contract she’d written with Director Jin safe. She thought she had scanned it, so she searched the file folder, but not a single document appeared—perhaps she had already deleted it.

“It hurts my pride that all you could skim off me was a few pennies.”

It was a marriage contracted for money, out of mutual need.

Besides, she hadn’t even seen her husband’s face for ten months. Even this conversation was ridiculous. Because such things only happen between people who love each other.

“We…… aren’t a normal relationship.”

“Then let’s do the normal thing, as Seo Jaekyung wants.”

Yoo Gam, two steps below, and Jaekyung’s faces met at a similar height.

“Like other people—fight and keep living together, or break up.”

“I came as a secretary, not a wife. Exactly three months. And I’d be grateful if you let me go before then.”

“If I’m not satisfied with your work, you might not be able to shake off the penalty even after three months.”

“I’ll work hard.”

The first day of work hadn’t been easy, but Jaekyung answered firmly with sparkling eyes.

Yoo Gam, furrowing his brow as if something displeased him, approached closely, and Jaekyung’s body leaned back at the pressure of his face.

“Don’t overdo it. If you work noticeably hard, I don’t think I’ll want to let you go.”

“Yes. ……I’ll do it moderately.”

“You look disappointed. Want me to obsess over you? Seems you were hoping I wouldn’t let you go.”

A gold digger wasn’t enough—now she was disappointed?

Hearing the absurd claim that she wanted him to obsess and not let go, her pride was wounded, her head throbbed, and she shuddered.

“Of course not. Agh.”

Pulling away from Yoo Gam, she nearly fell backward.

Jaekyung’s body was caught in his arms.

“Don’t seduce me half-heartedly. If you don’t want to be called a gold digger.”

“…….”

“What will you do if a pushover falls for you?”