LWD 13

Chapter 13 Break It and Throw It Away

On the way home, Ye-won acted as if she did not even want to deal with him.

She sat close to the car window and only looked outside. Even when he spoke to her, she either did not answer or gave only a faint “Yes” or “No.”

He was a man she could not handle if she got involved with him through either words or looks. His words were annoying, yet they made her heart flutter. His smile was unpleasant to look at, yet it captivated her. His arrogant attitude made her blood boil, yet her heart raced.

Ye-won wanted to tear out the heart that was becoming so shaken by Kang Jae-ha.

After giving a few short laughs at her cold attitude, Jae-ha went along with her silence for the rest of the journey.

Soon, the car arrived in front of the officetel.

Ye-won wondered whether she should bring up what she had failed to finish saying earlier. In the meantime, Jae-ha got out first and opened the car door for her.

“Secretary Song, thank you.”

After exchanging a brief greeting with the secretary who had driven the car, Ye-won got out. Then a sudden question came.

“Do you live here alone?”

Without thinking, Ye-won answered “Yes” when Jae-ha asked while looking at the officetel building. She immediately regretted it. A man who had barged into her workplace like it was nothing probably would not hesitate to come all the way to her home either.

Ye-won strengthened the resolve she had made in the car and stood facing Jae-ha.

“I didn’t finish telling you everything earlier.”

“What?”

“I hope you won’t come looking for me anymore.”

“Are you worried because I know that you live here?”

“Yes.”

Jae-ha raised one corner of his mouth and smiled.

“Interesting. Now I’m even being treated like a stalker.”

That was not exactly what she meant, but it was not a completely wrong interpretation either. He had approached a woman every day for three days, and today he had even forced her into his car.

Ye-won answered coldly.

“If you feel wronged, then you can simply stop doing it.”

Jae-ha tilted his head slightly to the side.

This time, his gaze toward Ye-won was gentle, as if soothing an angry child. His words, however, were strangely polished and gentlemanly.

“I think there must be something wrong with my ears. What Ms. Shin Ye-won says doesn’t sound the way it should. Maybe there’s something wrong with my head too. Since I can’t seem to interpret your words literally.”

She had run away, become shaken, and shown such reactions, so it was true that she had given him room to misunderstand her. Since his interpretation was not completely wrong either, her heart sank.

“I have plenty of that interest and affection you say you don’t have for me, Ms. Shin Ye-won. I want to see you again. Often, if possible.”

His words could be interpreted in many ways. Was he talking about social friendship, or was he talking about a relationship between a man and a woman?

Instead of asking which one he meant, Ye-won simply frowned. Jae-ha immediately understood and gave her the answer.

“Of course, as a man.”

Jae-ha’s words struck somewhere deep inside her, and he looked down at her.

Ye-won hated this.

The height that made her have to look up at him, his chocolate-colored eyes with a sensual light in them, and that relaxed smile he wore after making her heart race.

Her heart was pounding, but Ye-won desperately tried to strengthen the disgust inside her.

What is there between us besides sleeping together for one night in the past? Is he taking me lightly because I was an easy woman back then? Is he just going through a phase where he needs a woman for sex?

Instead of the curses she could not bring herself to say, she chose a short and firm statement.

“I have no intention of meeting you, Director.”

There was no way. She would never meet Kang Jae-ha as a man.

“I’ve heard something along those lines three times today alone.”

So it must really be true.

After muttering something that somehow struck a nerve, Jae-ha spoke politely.

“I won’t force you. I promise I won’t do anything that Ms. Shin Ye-won doesn’t like.”

She had heard exactly what she wanted to hear.

Ye-won looked at him firmly, as if giving him one final warning. She wanted him to give up his interest and affection and keep his promise.

As if he understood, Jae-ha took one step back.

“Contact me whenever you feel like it, Ms. Shin Ye-won. I’ll wait.”

The man turned around and opened the car door. Ye-won delivered her final blow.

“There will be no reason for me to contact you.”

Never, absolutely never, would she contact this man first.

Kang Jae-ha did not know.

He did not know how deeply that one night seven years ago had remained as a painful regret in Ye-won’s heart.

She had been buried up to her head in the ashes left behind by a fire she had started without thinking. To escape that grave of ashes, she had struggled desperately with all her strength.

It was not comfort or compensation that she needed.

She simply wanted this man to know nothing. She did not want him to appear in front of her and dig up those old wounds again. Even just looking at the man she had happened to meet again was painful.

So stop. Just stop here.

At Ye-won’s firm reply, Jae-ha turned his head.

“Are you sure?”

The man left with a smile still on his face.

The Daesan Electronics headquarters was a skyscraper standing tall in the center of Seoul.

The 48-story building had a modern and sophisticated exterior. The Global Marketing Center, which occupied the entire 24th floor, was considered the heart of Daesan Electronics, a top-class global company.

All three sons of Chairman Kang Dae-beom had passed through this place. Following his late eldest brother, his second brother, who was currently the chairman of Daesan Life, had also worked here for two years in the past.

And now, Jae-ha was its actual head.

Jae-ha’s workday started around eight in the morning, but there was no fixed time for it to end. Working late and staying up all night were normal for him, and he often went on business trips.

This morning’s schedule had been in Jeju. When he returned to headquarters around lunchtime, a mountain of documents waiting for his approval was piled up on his desk.

The workload was enough to make anyone feel suffocated, but Jae-ha enjoyed his work.

He had become an executive-level division head at the age of thirty-two in a huge company where outstanding executives led more than 100,000 employees. He had not earned the position simply because he was the chairman’s son. He had achieved remarkable success in the American market, allowing him to take the position without opposition from the organization.

The work that had begun at the airport before dawn continued in his office until evening.

Because there were so many documents to review, he saved time by having a sandwich from the secretary’s office for dinner.

He had planned to leave work around eight in the evening, but several unexpected matters came up. The one taking the most time was happening right in front of Jae-ha now.

It was a meeting with Manager Hwang Seon-gil, who was in charge of the Greater China Marketing team and was unhappy about being transferred to another department.

“Director, the decrease in Daesan Electronics’ market share in China is not so much due to the limitations of our marketing as it is because of the Chinese government’s policy of excessively protecting domestic products…”

Jae-ha listened to that nonsense, which had already been going on for ten minutes, while reviewing the remaining documents.

Who did not know that the Chinese economy moved according to the Communist Party’s direction?

He had found countless weaknesses in the existing marketing strategy, but those could be handled through organizational changes and strategy revisions.

The problem was that this man had chosen the wrong side.

He had been acting as a pawn for Jae-ha’s half-brother and rival, President Kang Jae-seok of Daesan Life.

When Jae-ha first learned about it, he had let him live with it. He thought that no matter how much that incompetent man showed off, he was still within the palm of his hand.

He had also considered the image he presented to his half-brother. His brother would only leave him alone if he thought Jae-ha was a harmless cat. If he realized that Jae-ha was a tiger cub that would someday swallow the entire Daesan Group, he would scheme to cut off his legs before he could even show his claws.

Six months.

That was all the time that had passed since Jae-ha had taken his position at headquarters.

It was still time for him to keep his head down. Chairman Kang Dae-beom’s intention was also for him to focus on internal organizational restructuring for the time being.

So Jae-ha had planned to watch a little longer. But Hwang Seon-gil had crossed the line by not only running his mouth but also handing a confidential project proposal to his half-brother, Kang Jae-seok.

So Jae-ha had found a small mistake and transferred him to the Waste Recycling Department. And now, the man had come all the way here to complain.

“Of course, I know that there are some things I failed to look after. But at most, wasn’t it just a translation mistake?”

One of Hwang Seon-gil’s main duties was supervising the Chinese interpretation and translation team.

However, several incorrect translations had recently been found in marketing materials sent to the Chinese branch.

Normally, it was the kind of mistake that could simply be corrected. If Hwang Seon-gil had possessed enough intelligence to know whom he should be loyal to, Jae-ha would have let it go with a warning.

His brain is useless, but he has no fear?

Even on a battlefield, a soldier like that ends up losing his head.

“I really thought about this for many days before coming to see you, Director. Being told to go to a department completely unrelated to my area of expertise… No matter how much I think about it, I cannot shake the feeling that this punishment is too severe. Please reconsider.”

Hwang Seon-gil bent his waist so deeply that his face nearly touched his knees.

What a polite old man he was to a boss seventeen years younger than him. If he had put that much effort into his work, he would not have made enough mistakes to have his desk taken away.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Jae-ha raised his eyes from the document.

“I’ve heard you well.”

It was kind and polite, the attitude Jae-ha still maintained as his superior.

“It seems you’re very unhappy about being transferred to another department.”

“It’s not exactly dissatisfaction…”

“I understand. You believe the punishment is too severe compared to the mistake you made.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Looking at Hwang Seon-gil, who had his hands neatly clasped together, Jae-ha raised the corners of his mouth.

“I believe Manager Hwang is a valuable asset to our Daesan Electronics. That opinion hasn’t changed. But can we just keep an asset oiled and running without stopping? There are times when you have to put it in a safe and keep it carefully.”

“Ah…”

“That’s what this is about. I’m giving you time to focus on improving yourself in another department.”

The convincing explanation made Hwang Seon-gil close his mouth.

At that moment, an alert sounded from Jae-ha’s smartphone. It was a message from Secretary Song Yoon-gi.

-Director, I’ve just sent the information I investigated to your email.

It was the email Jae-ha had been waiting for all day.

Instead of having Secretary Song stay by his side all day, Jae-ha had given him a personal assignment.

It was information about Shin Ye-won.

He was eager to open it immediately, but Seon-gil started arguing again.

“To have me go to the Waste Recycling Team, of all places…”

“It’s the department that puts Daesan’s green management philosophy into practice.”

“It’s not that I don’t understand the importance of that department. But according to past practice, we’ve never punished anyone for a translation mistake. It seems you don’t know because you haven’t been at headquarters for very long, Director. Such a punishment over one small mistake is unprecedented…”

“Because I don’t know?”

“Yes. It was simply a mistake made by a person, not a machine.”

Jae-ha had treated him gently because the man had politely bowed his head.

But he could feel the man slowly becoming bolder because he thought a young boss would be easy to deal with.

Now was the time to step on him little by little and kick him out.

“It was a decision made because you are a person, not a machine. If you were a machine…”

Jae-ha smiled and stared directly at Hwang Seon-gil’s face.

“I’d break you and throw you away.”

At the word “break,” said with emphasis, Seon-gil’s expression hardened.

“Don’t you think so?”

With a smiling face, Jae-ha pressed the intercom and called the head of the secretary’s office.

“Manager Hwang is leaving. Please escort him out.”