AER 3

Chapter  3

**Early one quiet morning.**

All the full-time baristas had gathered in one place. With the café’s staffing reorganized, they wanted to prove their skills through a menu renewal. Store manager Lee Young-hoon in particular felt a heavy burden. The thought that he had to show ability matching his treatment made him restless.

But the small café he had run and this office café were different from the start in scale. The systems already in place were different too. Still, a barista champion couldn’t just keep making factory-style coffee forever.

“Ssanghwa-cha?”

Young-hoon looked at Hye-ryeon and repeated the question. The original staff murmured quietly among themselves.

But the people who had come with them from the beginning looked at Hye-ryeon with eyes full of trust.

“Yes. Most of the main coffee drinkers are young people, after all. The executives still find ordering coffee awkward.”

“That’s true, but…”

Young-hoon made a thoughtful sound.

“A few days ago an executive came early in the morning. He seemed to have drunk too much the night before and was looking for something good for a hangover. He said he didn’t want anything artificially sweet. Nothing came to mind, so I just gave him plain water, and…”

The staff were already listening closely to Hye-ryeon’s story.

“He asked for ssanghwa-cha. Said he missed the old-style tea rooms.”

The regretful face of that middle-aged man was still vivid in her mind.

“Would there be demand?”

Young-hoon’s previously soft expression grew a little more serious.

“Even if it’s not a lot, isn’t it worth trying? That’s what new menus are for.”

Eun-chan, the colleague who had come with them from Haebangchon, spoke up.

“And the recipe?”

Young-hoon looked at Hye-ryeon again.

“I’m buying the medicinal ingredients myself and researching it separately. Once I’ve got the taste right to a certain point, I’ll report back.”

“Claim the expenses separately. Any other menu suggestions?”

Young-hoon looked around at the other staff. Only silence answered him.

To lighten the heavy atmosphere, Eun-chan playfully brought up cocktails.

“Hong Eun-chan.”

Young-hoon warned him, and he promptly shut his mouth.

“If the ssanghwa-cha goes over well, we could also consider jujube tea or a shaved ice made with domestic red beans.”

When Hye-ryeon offered another opinion, everyone nodded as if there were no particular objections.

“How about approaching older customers with familiar drinks first, and eventually introducing specialty tea coffees?”

Just as Young-hoon clapped and said “Good,” his phone, resting on the bar, vibrated for a long time. The expression on his face as he took the call gradually darkened.

After hanging up, Young-hoon dismissed the other staff and called Hye-ryeon aside.

“What’s wrong?”

Hye-ryeon asked with her characteristic blank face. Young-hoon looked at her with an awkward expression.

“You know there’s a VIP lounge at NK, right?”

“Yes. That’s the place Senior… no, I’m sorry. The place the manager is in charge of.”

“I think you’ll have to go up there today.”

Young-hoon’s voice was heavy as he said it.

He was a well-known barista in the industry. With his flashy award history, that was only natural. The café he ran had been doing well, and everything had seemed perfect.

But last year, when his father was diagnosed with cancer, everything collapsed. His younger brother’s study-abroad tuition, his mother’s living expenses, and his father’s hospital bills all fell on him.

The Haebangchon café had been doing reasonably well, but it wasn’t enough to cover everything. After paying staff salaries and rent and giving money to his family, all that was left was a negative bank balance.

On the day he was about to call his younger brother and tell him to give up studying abroad and come home, NK’s Do Seong-woo came to see him.

He offered an annual salary exactly twice the café’s one-year net profit.

On top of that, he said he would scout the whole team under good conditions. There was nothing more to ask for.

Young-hoon knew that NK was the family of the man Hye-ryeon had loved passionately, but enough time had passed that he simply thought of it as a coincidence.

No. He had forced himself to think of it that way.

The truth was that, beyond money, weighing other things was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

“No. I’ll talk to them again.”

Young-hoon covered his eyes with his hands as he spoke.

He had never seen Do Ji-wan in the VIP lounge yet, but he had an ominous feeling. The person higher up who had specifically requested Hye-ryeon was almost certainly that man.

“It’s fine. I’ll go.”

Hye-ryeon said flatly.

“At least let me say something—”

“No.”

She brushed off her apron with a few sharp pats and looked straight up at Young-hoon.

“Just pray that I don’t make any mistakes in front of the important people.”

“Mistakes? Come on.”

In terms of pure skill, Hye-ryeon could have swept awards at any competition. But she had never been interested in trophies and devoted herself entirely to the work on the floor.

“Should I go now?”

Young-hoon’s chest ached. He had been secretly in love with Hye-ryeon for a long time. He reluctantly nodded slowly.

Then Hye-ryeon smiled faintly instead, telling him not to worry.

Receiving that rare, smiling encouragement from someone who almost never smiled only deepened Young-hoon’s self-reproach.

***

When she went to refill the coffee machines on each floor with beans, she took the elevator. It was usually part-time work for the non-regular staff, but as a manager she needed to know every small task, so she had taken it on for a while.

It was peak work hours, so the spacious elevator was quiet.

But the high-speed elevator stopped at the 14th floor instead of the destination.

*Ding.* An alarm sounded, followed immediately by a man’s cheerful voice.

“Please go up first! I’ll just grab the contract I left behind and catch up right away!”

“Secretary Ahn’s boldness is what I like. Even when he makes a mistake he announces it so everyone can hear. Why not just broadcast it on a loudspeaker while you’re at it?”

The owner of the low, sarcastic voice stepped into the elevator, and Hye-ryeon unconsciously took a step back.

Ji-wan stood with his back to her as if he hadn’t seen her at all. In Hye-ryeon’s field of vision was the broad back of a man in a navy suit.

In that instant, all the air in the space seemed to tilt toward him, pressing down heavily on Hye-ryeon. As she tensed her jaw to endure the pressure, he spoke without the slightest movement.

“Is the work manageable?”

The cave-deep voice instantly dominated the space.

“Thanks to you.”

Hye-ryeon pulled out the composed voice she kept stored inside her. But she was by no means calm. Her heart pounded violently while her whole body stiffened.

“Good.”

She couldn’t see his expression, so it was hard to gauge what he was thinking.

Just as Hye-ryeon swallowed dryly, *ding*—the alarm sounded.

16th floor. The floor with the VIP lounge.

Ji-wan held the open button and jerked his chin for her to go first. Hye-ryeon gave a short bow and hurried out.

She could feel Ji-wan’s gaze sticking to her back like a bur. The inside of her shirt grew soaked with sweat.

*Stop it. Ji-wan, stop it.*

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and opened them again. In that instant she lost her sense of direction. In the brief hesitation, Ji-wan tightly grabbed her wrist.

“This way.”

And he pulled her straight into the lounge. For a moment his scent washed over her like a wave and made her dizzy. She was drawn along wherever he led.

Ji-wan pushed open the heavy arched door. An elegant interior spread out, and he kindly pointed toward the barista area.

“The kitchen is over there.”

But the nuance was anything but kind. The strength with which he gripped her wrist hard enough to hurt said enough. The contact point felt hot enough to cause a mild burn.

“Could you… let go of this?”

When Hye-ryeon twisted her wrist slightly, Ji-wan raised both hands as if he had forgotten.

“Excuse me.”

One corner of Ji-wan’s mouth curled up languidly. The touch had clearly been deliberate. Hye-ryeon was learning firsthand how exhausting it was to have a sly, shameless man as an enemy.

But…

To her, Do Ji-wan was simply Do Ji-wan. To him she might be nothing more than a woman from the past, but to Hye-ryeon it was not the same.

No matter how much he despised her, her narrow heart was still full of Do Ji-wan. She would never be able to show it in her lifetime, yet she still loved him.

“Well then.”

Hye-ryeon bowed again and headed to her station.

A little later the bespectacled man who was supposedly his secretary came in. The two of them seemed to be talking about work.

Hye-ryeon tried not to listen and focused on her own tasks. She checked the locations of the unfamiliar equipment, double-checked the settings Young-hoon had prepared, then picked up the menu and waited.

Heat still rose from her wrist. Emotions surged like rough waves, but she forced them down and stayed composed.

Soon the lounge door opened. A man with a rather stern impression entered. Ji-wan stood and shook his hand.

“It’s been a while, Managing Director Park.”

“For just one contract, even the division head comes in person? This is putting a lot of pressure on me.”

The man laughed heartily as he clasped hands.

“I came running so you’d feel that pressure. You’ve heard, haven’t you? That I’ve got a lot of things going on.”

Managing Director Park laughed as if he found Ji-wan’s characteristic bluntness amusing.

“As expected of a young man—full of fighting spirit!”

“Let’s order drinks first.”

Ji-wan raised his hand.

Hye-ryeon approached, bowed briefly, and placed the menu on the glass table.

Managing Director Park ordered misutgaru; Ji-wan, as always, ordered espresso.

“Yes, understood.”

Hye-ryeon withdrew calmly and returned to the kitchen. Coffee was her major; regular drinks were her minor. Still, she was relieved it was a relatively easy misutgaru order.

While she prepared the drinks, the men’s conversation drifted over. Even though she tried not to pay attention, she couldn’t help straining her ears.

“I heard about it. The large-scale restructuring.”

“For a struggling company to innovate, it has to endure that kind of pain. It’s heartbreaking.”

“I’m just afraid I might end up in pain myself.”

“Nonsense.”

“You never know.”

“Managing Director Park is the person NK’s automotive business restructuring needs most. Should I prostrate myself for you to believe me?”

Across a single contract, the men continued a conversation that sparked with tension.

“Oh my, Division Head, and your jokes too.”

“I’ll help you unfold your abilities to the fullest. Please become the new light of NK, Managing Director.”

Ji-wan slid the still-unsigned contract toward Managing Director Park.

“Once NK Automotive’s status rises, the chairman will never forget Managing Director Park’s contributions.”

With confident speech he neutralized the other man’s doubts and emphasized a hopeful future. Eventually Managing Director Park took out his seal.

At a glance it looked as if he were praising Managing Director Park, but in reality it was the picture of a man who had taken the bait Ji-wan threw and was obediently following along.

Only after watching the seal being stamped did Hye-ryeon lift the tray.

She recognized that the Ji-wan who had always been unusually shrewd even as a child had grown into quite the capable operator.

“By the way, even the female staff who make the coffee at NK are something special.”

Managing Director Park scanned Hye-ryeon with admiring eyes.

She was uncomfortable, but she couldn’t show it.

“Please enjoy.”

She gave the obligatory greeting and turned away, when behind her Ji-wan’s voice, stripped of any laughter, was heard.

“Managing Director Park.”

“Yes, yes, Division Head.”

“In a world where it’s so easy to make careless remarks these days—”

Ji-wan’s voice, resonating like a cave, was extremely chilling.

“It would be best if you refrained from comments like the one you just made.”