Chapter 4

The Mad Dog I Want to Avoid

When she returned to the office, she was confused by the atmosphere, which was even more chaotic than it had been in the morning.

“What’s going on? Why is the atmosphere like this? It’s been ages since lunch time ended.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked around the office.

She passed by the employees who were whispering with their heads together and was just about to enter her room when Han Yeo-jin, the fellow lawyer who had messaged her that morning, suddenly appeared and linked arms with Sena.

“Lawyer Gi! Where did you go?!”

She couldn’t exactly say that she had gone to deal with the bastard who cheated on her, so she made an excuse about having gone to an outside meeting. But Han Yeo-jin lowered her voice and led Sena into her room.

“It’s been ages since lunch ended. Why is everyone so worked up?”

“Hey. It was crazy while you were gone!”

“Why? Did someone cause some trouble?”

Seeing her cautious attitude, even closing the door, Sena became cautious too.

“You really didn’t know who was coming as the partner lawyer?”

“Ahhh…….”

Did they really have to announce it already? They could have waited until tomorrow. She had really wanted to celebrate alone today.

Since Han Yeo-jin had expected to become a partner lawyer before Sena, it was understandable that she might be jealous. Still, if Sena looked too happy, it would obviously hurt her feelings, so she put on an awkward smile and pretended to feel sorry.

“I’m sorry. You know me too. I really worked so har—”

“I heard he’s an alumnus of your school? You really didn’t know?”

“Huh? An alumnus of my school?”

Han Yeo-jin’s eyes were full of suspicion.

Sena made a face that seemed to ask what she was talking about, but then her expression relaxed.

Ah. She probably doesn’t know who it is yet. Maybe only his career information was announced.

However, the next question from her mouth made Sena’s mind complicated.

“I heard he’s a famous prosecutor. Why would a prosecutor like that leave his job and come here? You really don’t know anything?”

“Wait…… What? A prosecutor?”

“What? You really didn’t know?? The whole office went crazy because of the man who came as the new partner lawyer!”

Seeing Sena’s eyes widen at the unexpected word “prosecutor,” Han Yeo-jin finally stopped looking suspicious. She slapped Sena on the back and began telling her everything about the new partner lawyer.

“They say he’s thirty-five, and his face is even more amazing. I got a real treat for my eyes for the first time in a while. And he’s so tall. Every time he takes a long step, I feel like I can hear the wind. He should be greeting the directors in the representative’s office right now. Take a look when he comes out. If you’re three years apart, you probably know him too.”

Thirty-five years old. Former prosecutor. A man.

Thirty-two-year-old Gi Sena. Not me?

Gi Sena had worked for seven whole years, giving her body and soul to this firm. And some prosecutor she had never even heard of had taken the partner lawyer position?

Why?

What was I lacking?

Because I’m a woman?

Or because I don’t have enough experience?

Why me?!

Her widened eyes moved rapidly, but from what Han Yeo-jin was saying about the former prosecutor who had become the new partner lawyer, there seemed to be quite a distance between him and Sena.

“Don’t tell me I got screwed over?”

“Huh? Screwed over?”

Something had gone terribly wrong.

She had been absolutely certain that once today was over, the partner lawyer’s office upstairs would become hers.

Sena pushed Han Yeo-jin, who was blocking the door, aside and rushed outside. She ran upstairs, taking two steps at a time.

Then, with only the last step remaining, she crashed into a man coming down the stairs.

“Eek!”

At the dangerous moment when she almost fell backward, the man grabbed her forearm and stopped her from falling.

Thanks to his strength and his large hand, which seemed strong enough to easily overpower an ordinary adult man, she avoided a nasty fall.

But for Sena, thanking him was less important than seeing the face of the man who had taken the partner lawyer position.

What kind of bastard had come to take my place?!

She had to see with her own two eyes who this shameless man was who dared to come and steal her position.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was in such a hurry……!”

“I still don’t know if you’ve left your eyes somewhere.”

“……”

His eyebrows were perfectly straight, as if measured with a ruler, and his nose bridge was arrogantly high.

He was tall enough to compete with professional athletes, with broad, solid shoulders.

And his large hand was firmly gripping her forearm.

‘No. This must be a dream. This is impossible.’

An unfortunate relationship that had made her feel relieved because she thought she would never have to see him again after graduation.

A living witness to the dark past she wanted to erase.

‘If this is a dream, I need to wake up. Because this is a nightmare.’

Sena’s long eyelashes trembled.

Her violently shaking pupils, however, were still working perfectly.

She almost wished she couldn’t see anything.

But the expressionless face of the man who had caught Sena just before she fell was perfectly clear.

Ryu Kang-hyun. The mad dog she wanted to avoid.

“Sunbae……. Why are you coming out of there……?”

She should have asked why he was here, or whether he was the new partner lawyer, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Her mind went completely white, as if it had been shaken through a grain thresher.

Just then, the door to the representative’s office opened.

The directors, who had been coming out to have a late lunch with Gi Jang-su, stopped on the stairs when they saw Gi Sena and Ryu Kang-hyun standing there.

“Have you already met? With Lawyer Gi Sena, the pride of our law firm?”

“They said you were alumni. I guess you two know each other.”

“With a prosecutor from the special investigations department joining us as a partner lawyer, K Law Firm will be able to strengthen itself even further. I’m looking forward to it. Prosecutor Ryu Kang-hyun. Or should I say Lawyer Ryu now?”

As they passed Sena and Kang-hyun and walked down the stairs, Ryu Kang-hyun quietly made way for them.

Sena’s face filled with despair.

“We can catch up later. Let’s have lunch first, Lawyer Ryu Kang-hyun.”

Gi Jang-su, aware of Sena’s laser-like glare, patted Ryu Kang-hyun on the shoulder as he walked down the stairs last.

“Ah……!!”

Sena almost called him “Dad” instead of “Representative” when she saw Gi Jang-su pretending not to know her and walking past.

She quickly shut her mouth and glared at the back of her father’s head while breathing heavily.

Gi Jang-su gave a small sigh and turned around. Then he silently mouthed the words, “Later.”

Instead, that sight made her feel even more miserable.

It felt like she had been betrayed by her own father.

She wanted to scream and stomp her feet, but there were too many people watching.

Besides, Ryu Kang-hyun was still standing beside her like a huge old tree.

“We’ll introduce ourselves properly tomorrow, Gi Sena.”

The low, deep voice sounded right beside her head, making her shoulders flinch.

Then came a short laugh that seemed to follow it.

It was a faint laugh that could barely be heard, but in Sena’s ears, it echoed loudly as if a gatekeeper from hell were laughing at her and saying,

“How dare someone like you think you can take this position?!”

After returning to her room, Sena couldn’t hide her emptiness and slammed her head against the desk.

It wasn’t a dream.

Her forehead hurt, but the forearm that had been caught in Ryu Kang-hyun’s grip was still aching too.

Only an hour ago, she had been crying because of one man.

And now she had to shed tears because of another man.

Just how terrible was her luck today?

The horoscope she had read that morning had clearly said she would meet a new person.

So the new person had turned out to be an unfortunate relationship.

Sena slightly twisted her wrist and checked the time.

Then she opened the very bottom drawer of her desk.

The rose-gold foil wrapping shone even more beautifully under the desk lamp.

It was a bottle of Dom Pérignon Vintage Rosé that she had spent a fortune on for today.

She had planned to finish the day in a beautiful hotel room, floating rose petals in the bathtub, filling an elegant champagne glass with the pink drink, and humming happily to herself.

That plan had been completely destroyed.

To make matters worse, the hotel employee had told her that same-day reservations could not be canceled, so she had no choice but to go to the hotel after work, even though she felt like crying.

The night view outside the window was beautiful, and the room was a little more expensive than the others because of it.

Sena lay on the bed, holding the thin neck of the Dom Pérignon without even using a glass, and drank the entire bottle.

Of course, the bathtub, which was far too large for one person, remained completely dry until morning.

There were no rose petals either.

Only the painfully white silk sheets and pillow were soaked and messed up.

Because of the terrible hangover pounding in her head and her swollen eyes, Gi Sena was in a terrible mood from the morning.

“Ah……. I feel like I’m dying……. Ugh……”

She buried her head in the pillow and rubbed her face against it for about ten minutes.

Finally, Sena managed to get out of bed with her heavy head.

Her stomach was churning.

For a moment, she wondered whether it was because of the alcohol she had drunk yesterday or because she had fallen just before reaching her goal.

The answer was both.

As she staggered toward the minibar, her foot kicked an empty champagne bottle.

She kicked the completely empty bottle away, having finished every last drop, and took two cans of drinks from the refrigerator.

She massaged her swollen eyes with the cold surface of the cans before lying back down on the bed.

After staring blankly into space for a while, she let out a bitter laugh.

“Haah……. Those damn old men! How hard did I work to build all this up?!”

The directors who owned shares in K Law Firm had obviously schemed against her.

“When I was making them money, they kept praising me, saying I was doing a great job. But when it came time to give me the title of partner lawyer, they probably said ridiculous things like, ‘She’s a woman, so she can’t do it,’ ‘She doesn’t have enough experience yet,’ or ‘We need another lawyer who can deal with corporations and has strong business skills.’”

It was such an obvious story.

There was a reason people called it the glass ceiling.

“Why don’t they just sit around and live off the dividends they get every month?! Do they have any idea how much money I bring into this law firm?! I account for a full ten percent of the firm’s revenue! And they reject me?! Those smooth-talking snakes!”

In a law firm with nearly a hundred lawyers, making ten percent of the total revenue alone was practically proof that she was qualified to become a partner lawyer.

It was already irritating enough that lawyers who had once been at the top had grown older and become equity lawyers or directors, taking home huge annual salaries even when they barely managed to take on one case a month.

And they were still greedy for more money.

That made them even more unpleasant in her eyes.

The perfect opportunity to become a partner lawyer had disappeared, so there was no way she could avoid feeling completely lost.

“When will another position even open up……?”

It felt as if a train that had been rushing toward its destination had suddenly derailed, causing both her body and mind to collapse.

“Ah! This is so annoying!!”

Why now?

Why at this exact moment?

And why did that man have to appear?!

She had never imagined that the unfortunate relationship she thought was over would continue again.

Whenever she remembered the runny-nose confession incident and how Ryu Kang-hyun had tormented her for more than a year after that, her face became so hot from embarrassment that she felt like she could jump out of bed even while sleeping.

She had expected him to go straight to the Judicial Research and Training Institute, but for some reason, Ryu Kang-hyun had postponed his graduation until then.

So Sena had been forced to run into him in the classroom again and again.

Every time, the shame came rushing back, and even on cold days, sweat would trickle down her back.

“Still, that bastard really knew how to get on my nerves with that clean-cut face.”

To Gi Sena, the man named Ryu Kang-hyun was like a clothing tag that kept poking the back of her neck even though she was fully dressed.