EHR 05

Chapter 05

***

“Uuuugh.”

The dream was wild, chased by black shadows. Minho’s proposal, the ex-husband who appeared out of nowhere.

Yesterday had been nothing but a nightmare for Jaekyung.

As she heaved rough breaths, the alarm rang. Bolting upright, Jaekyung quickly pressed the button on the phone clutched in her hand.

Pulling back the towel and revealing her face, she saw several people lying in the corner of the jjimjilbang.

Last night, despite the man’s insistence that she couldn’t leave the building, Jaekyung had run toward the security office door.

*

“You need to verify your identity to leave.”

*

Perhaps her appearance, held back by two security staff, had been pitiful.

The man watching from the building’s entrance had flicked his fingers, granting Jaekyung permission to leave the building.

*

“Seo Jaekyung, go to school in the morning.”

*

She didn’t even want to recall how she’d arrived at the jjimjilbang, and shuddering, she checked the dozens of missed messages.

Where is Dad, that there’s no call from him?

[Ms. Seo, who is that man? He looked totally handsome in the photo. An ex-boyfriend? Or two-timing? They said it was a love triangle yesterday and posted photos in the group chat—everyone’s in an uproar.]

Fellow assistant teacher Kim Juyoung sent her a screenshot of the conversation posted in the teachers’ group chat.

Seeing the photo, Jaekyung was startled.

“What is this.”

Several photos had been taken: Minho’s retreating back as he left in anger, Jaekyung’s face, and Yoo Gam’s suit as he stood beside her.

Hurriedly entering the group chat with over a hundred people, the original photos had been deleted. But someone might spread them again.

[He was someone I know, along with my boyfriend.]

Anxious, Jaekyung texted Juyoung. Rumors spread in an instant, so for now she pretended not to know and deflected.

*

Arriving at school, Jaekyung couldn’t wear the same clothes as yesterday, so she took off her sweater. Wearing only a blouse and jacket, she quietly entered the meeting room through the back door.

It was the school’s founding anniversary, so students weren’t in attendance, and the school—with only a teachers’ meeting—was quiet.

Several teachers whose faces she only vaguely recognized looked at Jaekyung with puzzled expressions. Among them, the most surprised was the vice principal.

“The chairman has arrived. But how is Ms. Seo coming in together with the chairman?”

Murmuring could be heard among the teachers. Jaekyung turned around, thinking something had gone wrong.

Yoo Gam, who had chased her in her dreams, was looking at Jaekyung with a calm expression, as if nothing had happened.

Unlike Jaekyung, who was haggard from suffering nightmares and being unable to sleep at the jjimjilbang, Yoo Gam was immaculate, like someone who had slept soundly.

“What’s your relationship with the new chairman, that you came together?”

“Did you see the post about Ms. Seo in the group chat?”

At the low murmuring that spread, Jaekyung’s face flushed in an instant.

Yoo Gam’s cool gaze slowly turned to the vice principal and the teachers.

“I’m Chairman Do Yoo Gam. There are many I’m meeting for the first time.”

The words that had been trailing off stopped at once.

Yoo Gam’s hand naturally touched Jaekyung’s back.

“This is Ms. Seo Jaekyung, the chairman’s direct secretary. She’s had a position change, so please help with the handover.”

Yoo Gam leisurely passed by the teachers.

“I look forward to a completely different side of Uitae Foundation going forward.”

At the chairman’s threatening-like greeting from the podium, the vice principal’s face stiffened.

“These days private school foundations are noisy because of budgets. Let’s start with an audit to see if Uitae Foundation is being run well.”

Everyone watched the new chairman’s mood.

Jaekyung, sitting at the very back to keep as much distance from Yoo Gam as possible, was uncomfortable with the teachers’ glancing gazes.

When the principal’s opening ceremony speech ended, Jaekyung rose from her seat.

Out in the hallway, breathing the cold air, she felt a bit better. Swoosh—she heard the door open behind her.

“Running away again?”

Turning around, it was Yoo Gam.

“Following me all the way here looks like stalking. You’re going too far. And what am I supposed to do when you announce I’m your direct secretary?”

Jaekyung looked at Yoo Gam resentfully, on guard.

“It’s natural to issue a personnel appointment notice.”

Yoo Gam looked at Jaekyung with an unruffled gaze.

“And it’s not stalking. The reason Seo Jaekyung left, the time I was abandoned—I’m going to recover all of it.”

“What recovery, at this point?”

“I’ve become curious about why you took the money and left. So you don’t go elsewhere and pull scams, I thought I’d do some justice too.”

Yoo Gam’s pitch-black eyes glittered darkly.

“I plan to find out one by one and collect properly.”

Was he telling her to return the money he’d given back then?

At Yoo Gam’s incomprehensible words, her head throbbed.

“Then, ……let me keep my teaching position on the condition that I work as your secretary.”

“A request for concurrent positions. If you sleep in one bed with me, I’ll allow it.”

One bed? He really must be crazy.

“That’s called sexual harassment.”

“It’s being a loving husband. Asking my wife to sleep in one bed.”

Jaekyung was momentarily dumbfounded, and irritation surged. It seemed better not to engage in conversation at all.

*

If he hadn’t been called away first by an urgent faculty summons, Jaekyung might really have fled to a classroom unable to hold back.

With Yoo Gam gone, she could at least breathe.

It was when Jaekyung, having briefly stopped by the restroom, was re-entering the meeting room.

“Ms. Seo.”

The vice principal called Jaekyung urgently from the end of the hallway with a displeased gesture.

“Yes. Vice Principal.”

“You’re not really thinking of being a secretary, are you? What’s your relationship with the newly appointed chairman? A formal complaint already came in from a parent this morning. Tsk. I tried to help Ms. Seo, but it won’t work now.”

“What complaint?”

She didn’t know what he meant by trying to help, but the vice principal had clearly misunderstood.

“They say an unmarried teacher was hanging around with men late at night, and not just one man?”

“That’s really a misunderstanding.”

She tried to explain the situation, but he wouldn’t listen to Jaekyung.

“Misunderstanding, what misunderstanding. There are even photos. What did you say to the chairman that made his expression like that? Was it you who posted on the board too? I didn’t think you were like that. I guess you’re the type with problematic conduct who stabs people in the back.”

Following the accusation about a board post she hadn’t even written, another interrogation full of prejudice.

It was absurd. Jaekyung clenched her fists tightly.

“Yes. ……I’m going to be the chairman’s secretary. And if I’ve truly done something wrong, I’ll take responsibility.”

Since she had no choice anyway, she wanted to at least clear the suspicion that she wasn’t the one who wrote the board post.

“The foundation will send an audit team right away. They’ll verify your marital status, residence, and overall lifestyle, so be aware.”

“An audit team? Verify my residence? That’s an invasion of privacy.”

“Privacy, you say. If you have complaints, just pay the penalty and resign.”

After the grade-level head escorted the furious vice principal away, the pale Jaekyung returned to the meeting room and plopped down.

The teachers’ gazes subtly glanced at Jaekyung.

“Doesn’t the chairman look like a celebrity? So handsome. Ms. Seo is the chairman’s secretary—she’s really been promoted.”

“She’s an assistant teacher, isn’t she? I’ve seen her before. As expected, you have to line up like a fox.”

“I didn’t even see a secretary recruitment posting……. Being young and pretty is a skill, I guess.”

“KE Group’s heir—I guess the chairman’s taste in women is that kind.”

Someone beside her giggled and threw out a joke.

The moment Jaekyung made an awkward expression, her eyes met Yoo Gam’s—when had he returned to the meeting room. Yoo Gam, who had been sitting at a table apart, set down his water glass.

Tak—the sound of marble table and glass colliding rang out unusually loud.

“That’s exactly my taste. To those of you commenting on and objecting to my personally selected secretary’s personnel appointment—was my introduction earlier perhaps insufficient?”

At the low voice that could be heard clearly, everyone’s eyes went wide.

“Ah, Chairman. That’s not what we meant. We were just…….”

“I don’t take comments touching my people as jokes. That’s a challenge to me.”

Jaekyung subtly glanced at Yoo Gam’s face as he sat diagonally across at the opposite table.

Even at the man’s words, which sounded like he was taking her side, she didn’t feel particularly grateful.

It was clearly only the second day she’d seen his face.

*

“I’ll protect you.”

*

Yoo Gam’s dry gaze—neither smiling nor angry—felt familiar enough to bring back memories of their married life five years ago.

“Ms. Seo Jaekyung, follow me to the chairman’s office.”

Yoo Gam’s summons was welcome at a time like this. Jaekyung rose from her seat.

Yoo Gam, walking ahead down the hallway, turned around.

“Seo Jaekyung. If you don’t have the confidence to tell people to shut up, don’t keep trashy rumors to yourself.”

Jaekyung looked up at him quietly with glass-like, transparent eyes.

“To the chairman, ……may I say shut up?”