EHR 14

Chapter 14

“I was just trying to help since you hurt your ankle earlier.”

Jaekyung, standing beside them, hurriedly mediated between the two.

“Chairman, it’s a misunderstanding.”

Yoo Gam didn’t even glance at Jaekyung, who was defending Teacher Choi.

“It’s not a misunderstanding.”

Yoo Gam raised his wrist to check his watch, then looked at the math teacher again. The second part of the performance in the auditorium had just ended.

“Contact after regular work hours is clearly a personal meeting.”

His cold gaze and tone clearly showed Yoo Gam’s displeasure.

The embarrassed math teacher scratched his head and quickly disappeared.

Jaekyung alternated her gaze between the retreating Teacher Choi and Yoo Gam standing coldly.

“Why did you go that far? What did Teacher Choi do wrong?”

Yoo Gam, both hands shoved in his pockets, looked down at Jaekyung indifferently.

“Whew, I warned you earlier.”

“…What warning?”

“Don’t create unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Under the light, Jaekyung’s face flushed red.

“Managing Director, you’ve worked hard.”

Managing Director Jin Heeyeon, having arrived at the airport, got into the waiting vehicle.

“How is Director Do? Did the school event go well?”

Heeyeon, returning from a few weeks of business in Europe, checked on matters concerning her son first.

“Director Do seems to be paying a lot of attention to school affairs. Several media outlets also covered it.”

Managing Director Jin examined the documents handed by the employee.

When her son said he would go as the chairman of the Uidae Foundation, she had felt uneasy, but since he said he didn’t want to be involved with the headquarters at all, there was no other choice.

Was it that he didn’t want to work under his mother?

Since he had returned to Korea after five years, she planned to let him do whatever he wanted for now.

“But the woman next to him… who is she?”

They had arranged for him to meet the daughter of Minister Han soon, but the shadow of the woman attached to her son’s side bothered her.

“Isn’t she a secretary? I’ll check.”

“Wasn’t Chief Secretary Kwon handling all the schedules? Tell him to be careful not to get caught up in unnecessary gossip.”

Since bringing up the marriage topic, she had called several times, but her son cut her off with the excuse of being busy.

“Are you in good contact with Director Do?”

“He’s in a meeting right now. I’m in continuous contact with Chief Secretary Kwon.”

After ending the contract marriage and sending that girl out of the house, her son—for some reason—abruptly stopped taking his medication despite the doctor’s objections.

Since then, he hadn’t listened to his mother at all, and she wondered if she should change this hospital too—she couldn’t even remember how many times he’d switched since returning from studying abroad.

“I’m thinking of sending someone to the Uidae Foundation. Look into it.”

“I’ll find a suitable person who reports well.”

If her son wouldn’t answer calls, the only way was to send someone from Managing Director Jin’s side to watch over Yoo Gam at the foundation.

She must not make the same mistake as five years ago.

Since the gymnasium incident last night, when a crow had sat on the voltage regulator and caused a power outage, Jaekyung had been keeping her distance from Yoo Gam.

Ever since she saw him corner Teacher Choi, who had come to help her, she had been enduring Yoo Gam’s questions with short answers.

Moreover, perhaps because of the memory of being pressed close, the office where the two of them were alone was suffocatingly silent.

An email icon appeared on the right side of the monitor. When Jaekyung clicked her inbox, a file related to internal audit had arrived.

[Foundation Event Expense Execution Details]

The sender was anonymous.

When she clicked the attachment, numbers caught her eye.

Event name, outsourcing company, unit price. As she scrolled without much thought since there was nothing unusual, her hand froze.

She noticed that the numbers repeated at a certain point.

Screenshots comparing before and after files where event item unit prices had been manipulated, repeated contracts with relatives’ companies, a pattern summary table of partial false deductions from contract teachers’ salaries.

The approval line was… all the vice-principal’s name.

Jaekyung swallowed her breath at the unusual tension.

If this was what Yoo Gam had told her to look into, who sent it? It couldn’t be a coincidence. Someone who knew Jaekyung must have sent it on purpose.

Jaekyung quickly transferred the vice-principal’s documents to the USB she usually carried.

The moment she pulled out the USB, it was pushed by the pile of files next to it and fell to the floor.

Thud.

In the office where the afternoon sunlight came in, a ripple like a water droplet spread.

As Jaekyung bent down to pick up the USB that had fallen under the desk, Yoo Gam also lowered his head from the opposite side.

The narrow darkness under the desk brought back the sensations and memories of their marriage, but Jaekyung pretended not to notice Yoo Gam’s cool gaze.

As she reached out to grab it, Yoo Gam’s fingertip lightly brushed hers. Thinking of last night, just the skin contact made her heart pound.

“I’m sorry, but……”

Yoo Gam, ignoring her, covered Jaekyung’s hand. Startled, Jaekyung hurriedly pulled her arm back, but Yoo Gam didn’t budge.

“Chairman. I’ll… pick it up.”

“Go ahead. Is there a problem?”

“Please move your hand.”

“I will.”

Contrary to his words, neither Yoo Gam’s gaze nor his hand left Jaekyung. He was frighteningly close. It felt like Yoo Gam’s breath was touching the back of her hand.

“Mistakes during work are fine.”

Yoo Gam spoke in a low voice.

“…As long as you’re careful with emotions outside of work.”

“Emotions?”

“Like trembling over nothing right now. Or hastily retreating to avoid someone.”

“I-I wasn’t trembling.”

Jaekyung received his ice-cold gaze with bold eyes.

“Even now?”

Because of the cold sensation rubbing and sweeping across, the back of Jaekyung’s hand rustled with chill.

“You might not have known. This is what emotion is.”

“Emotion is something you should be careful about, Chairman, not me.”

“I know you’re a gold digger, so I’m always careful.”

“Haah……”

A gold digger again…

Jaekyung felt offended by the absurd speculation and slander. In the small space under the desk, Jaekyung’s displeasure was clear enough for Yoo Gam to notice.

Click. The door opened and footsteps were heard.

“Chairman! Where are you… What are you doing under there?”

At Chief Secretary Kwon’s voice, Jaekyung quickly grabbed the USB and pulled away from Yoo Gam’s hand.

“Chief Secretary Kwon, you’re here? I dropped something, and the Chairman helped me.”

“Ah. I see? It’s time for your meeting.”

Yoo Gam, who had stood up before she knew it, gave Jaekyung a cold glance and left without a word.

Click.

As the door closed, Jaekyung hid the USB filled with the vice-principal’s information in her bag and let out the breath she had been holding. She was increasingly feeling the limits of living in the same space.

—

It was when she had been buried in a pile of documents that wouldn’t shrink no matter how much she read and checked, working without moving for hours.

Chief Secretary Kwon, having returned to the office, approached Jaekyung’s desk.

“A Jeju Island business trip?”

At the sudden notice, Jaekyung’s eyes went wide.

“I have support work at the headquarters. It’ll be inconvenient, but Secretary Seo, please accompany me.”

Jeju Island could be a day trip, but a business trip with just the two of them was clearly dangerous.

After yesterday at the gymnasium and just now under the desk, keeping distance from Yoo Gam was the best option.

“For a school trip destination, a teacher would be better than me.”

“But you were an assistant teacher, Secretary Seo. Anyone would say you’re the right person.”

She couldn’t think of a reason to refuse.

“It’s a day trip, of course, right?”

“Just a moment?”

Chief Secretary Kwon leisurely checked the schedule.

“He said he’d visit twenty places in total, so a day trip will be difficult. It’ll take two days, so you’ll probably need to stay one night.”

At Chief Secretary Kwon’s words, Jaekyung’s pupils shook in surprise.

“Twenty places?”

Combining meeting time and travel time per company, even at the fastest, it would be at least an hour each.

Given the persistent nature of Do Yoo Gam, there was no telling how long the meetings would drag on.

—

*’There will be a time when we need to go to the Jeju farm together.’*

—

Had he planned all of it to drag her to Jeju Island after feeding her unusually delicious tangerines?

Just being stuck in one office together was anxiety-inducing and suffocating—and now he wanted her attached to him throughout the entire business trip?

Just imagining it, a slight fever rose. Of course, she would use a different room, but one night was problematic.

“My dad says I can’t stay out overnight, so accompanying on the business trip will be difficult.”

Just then, Jaekyung’s phone rang. It was a call from her dad, who had been out of contact, as if he had been eavesdropping on his daughter’s conversation.

“You saw, right? My dad is very strict. He’s also very interested in my schedule.”

Jaekyung showed the screen that read “Dad” to Chief Secretary Kwon and answered the phone as if to show off.

“Yes. Dad. I’m at work, what’s the matter?”

—Do you happen to have money?

Seojun’s urgent voice rang loudly in the quiet office.

Could he be being chased by loan sharks again? As always, money was the problem.

He didn’t even know that Jaekyung had been dismissed from her contract teaching position and had become her ex-husband’s secretary, yet he was asking to borrow money. A frustrated sigh escaped her.

Jaekyung pretended not to hear and changed the subject.

“Dad, I’ve been assigned a business trip, and it’s an overnight stay. So it’s difficult……”

—Don’t worry and just go. They’ll give you a business trip allowance, so ask for it in advance. How many days are you going? Can’t you extend the dates?

Jaekyung lowered her dad’s voice by pressing the volume button.