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Chapter 3 …
Doa was startled and quickly lifted her head.
‘Uh… that man. He’s the one I saw in the lobby.’
Among the men dressed in suits, he had stood out immediately with a height at least a head taller than everyone else and overwhelmingly perfect proportions.
Doa clearly remembered even the moment he had clicked his tongue at her indifferently.
‘Do they hire employees here based on looks or something?’
They had definitely said that the “Executive Director” wanted to see her, but no matter how she looked at him, the man seemed far too young.
An executive director was usually a position for someone at least in their fifties, so he was probably just a secretary or assistant working under the real executive.
Even seeing him again now, his face was astonishingly handsome.
With a smooth face like a sculpture, sharp nose bridge, perfectly full lips, and captivating eyes that drew people in, he looked as though he had been born solely to enchant others.
‘No, wait. This is not the time for me to be admiring some guy’s appearance.’
Scolding herself inwardly, Doa glanced toward the entrance.
Since the secretary had entered first, the real executive director would probably come in soon.
But strangely enough, no one entered after the man.
Instead, he leisurely sat down across from her and spoke in a firm yet calm voice.
“I’m Yoon Chagyeong, Executive Director in charge of Global Operations at Hyunsin Department Store.”
“……Excuse me?”
Doa’s eyes widened into circles.
No way.
This handsome man was the executive director?
The man before her looked far too young.
His sharp features, cold impression, and immaculate suit were completely different from the image she had imagined for an executive director.
‘Why does someone like this want to see me…?’
While anxiety and confusion swirled through her mind, the man spoke first.
“You are aware of what you’ve done, correct?”
His expression showed no emotion, and his voice was chillingly cold.
For a moment, it felt as though the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees.
Without realizing it, Doa shrank her shoulders tightly.
“Y-Yes… I’m really sorry for causing a disturbance. I was just truly desperate… It won’t happen again.”
“That’s obvious. The issue is, how do you intend to compensate for the damages?”
“……C-Compensate?”
Doa repeated blankly.
Compensate?
Did she scream so loudly that she damaged the employees’ eardrums?
Or had the lobby floor cracked or something?
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure it out.
Wiping away cold sweat, Doa carefully spoke.
“Um… what kind of compensation are you talking about exactly? I admit I caused a disturbance in the lobby, but I don’t think it was serious enough to require damages…”
“That’s your opinion.”
At the same time, the man casually slid a sheet of paper toward her.
Doa slowly reached out and grabbed it.
[Claim for Damages]
……
*Total Amount Claimed: 225,000,000,000 won
‘O-One, ten, hundred, thousand… wait, what? Twenty-two point five billion?’
Doa froze while holding the document.
She reread it once, twice, more than three times, but the number remained the same.
‘T-This is real?’
Her vision spun.
Her mind went blank, and her mouth became completely dry.
Barely managing to keep herself together, Doa asked in a trembling voice:
“Um… y-you’re not joking right now, are you?”
The man curled one corner of his lips mockingly.
“Do I look like someone with enough free time to joke around with you?”
N-Not joking?
Even twenty-two million won would have been suffocating, but twenty-two point five billion?
If this hadn’t been the office of a Hyunsin Department Store executive director, Doa would have assumed the man in front of her had completely lost his mind and run away immediately.
But this was the executive director’s office at Hyunsin Department Store.
And the man before her really was an executive director of this company.
‘Calm down. Calm down.’
They said that even if you were dragged away by a tiger, you could survive if you kept your wits about you.
Repeating that to herself countless times, Doa steadied her heart and cautiously spoke.
“U-Um… that amount just feels a little… unrealistic no matter how I think about it. All I did was use a megaphone a little… Of course I know I was wrong, but isn’t it a bit excessive to hold a board meeting over something like this…?”
Doa pointed directly at the most absurd item on the document.
Her voice was small, but in her own way, it was a courageous protest.
“And… why is the cancellation of the contract with Moer supposedly my fault? I didn’t do anything serious enough to break a contract…”
Even Doa, who had no interest in luxury brands, knew the name Moer.
It was famous for bags that cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of won, yet people still said they were impossible to buy because demand was so high.
“Today was the day the final entry contract with Moer was supposed to be completed.”
After letting out a short sigh, the man continued.
“It was essentially at the stage where only signatures remained, and at that exact moment, you stormed in holding a megaphone.”
As the image of herself rampaging through the lobby with a megaphone flashed through her mind, Doa’s face instantly turned red.
But embarrassment wasn’t the issue.
“After witnessing your disturbance, Moer’s vice president said they wanted to reconsider the contract.”
Doa was momentarily speechless.
How could the timing possibly become this twisted?
Her head began throbbing painfully.
“But still… isn’t it difficult to say it’s entirely my fault? There could have been other reasons too…”
Before she could even finish, the man cut her off firmly.
“No. It is your fault. If you want evidence, I can show you all the call records, emails, and conversations leading up to this point. In fact, your responsibility is perfectly clear, but considering various circumstances, we are only demanding compensation for 50% of the damages.”
“What? What do you mean—!”
“As a result of the Moer contract falling through, the total damages we suffered amount to 450 billion won. Do you understand now that we are already being generous toward you?”
Her mouth fell open.
She wished this were a dream.
No, not even a nightmare could be this terrible.
“B-But that’s way too exaggerated…!”
“If you’d prefer, we can take this to court. Is that what you want?”
A l-lawsuit?
At that single word, Doa’s mind instantly turned blank.
A courtroom battle between a major corporation and an ordinary citizen like herself.
That was something you only saw in movies or dramas.
She could vividly picture herself becoming completely ruined while being dragged through endless lawsuits.
In the end, there was only one thing she could do in this situation.
Clasping both hands together against her chest, Doa spoke to the man in a desperate voice.
“I’m truly sorry…! B-But I really had my reasons… If you would just give me a chance to explain—”
“I’m not interested in your circumstances.”
The man cut her off sharply.
“T-Then what am I supposed to do…? Forget 220 billion, I don’t even have 20 million won!”
Despite Doa’s desperation, the man merely looked down at her with indifferent eyes.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“Just by looking at you, it’s obvious collecting 220 billion won from you would be impossible.”
At his words, Doa nodded her head frantically.
“But I do want to hold someone accountable.”
“Then… couldn’t you lower the amount a little?”
If he drastically reduced it, maybe around 2 million won?
Of course, even that was still an enormous amount of money to her.
At that moment, as if he had read her thoughts straight from her expression, the man sneered.
“And how much exactly could you pay if I lowered it? It would probably be such a meaningless amount that it wouldn’t matter anyway.”
‘D-Do you know how precious 2 million won is?!’
This was exactly why rich people were the worst.
While Doa silently cried inside, the man suddenly lifted his head as though he had made up his mind.
“Then let’s do this. If you solve a troublesome problem I’m dealing with, I’ll let this matter end here.”
“……Me?”
Something even a corporate executive director couldn’t solve, and I’m supposed to handle it?
“Do I even have the ability to do something like that?”
“It’s enough as long as you’re a woman.”
“What? What kind of thing is that supposed to be?”
At that moment, words even more shocking than the 220 billion won came out of the man’s mouth.
“Let’s enter a contract relationship. Just for exactly six months.”
