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Chapter 6 …
“Haa…”
Letting out a deep sigh, Yeonwoo kept glancing around in every direction.
Making sure no one saw them, she tightly held onto Mugeol’s wrist as she led him to the emergency stairwell.
Throughout the entire walk, Mugeol had simply allowed her to drag him along without resisting.
“Mr. Kang Mugeol. I’m pretty sure I wrote my contact information down for you that day.”
Even while breathing heavily, Yeonwoo continued nervously checking both the upper and lower landings of the stairwell.
Watching her restless eyes dart around, Mugeol somehow looked as though he was desperately holding back a laugh.
Seeing that, Yeonwoo’s eyes widened.
“What is it? Are you… laughing? Right now?”
Only then did Mugeol, who had been pressing his lips together with an odd expression, finally speak.
“No.”
“…?”
“I’m holding it back… right now.”
“Trying very hard.”
At his answer, Yeonwoo’s eyes grew even bigger.
Still staring directly down at her, Mugeol’s lips slowly curved upward.
As if he found it fascinating that someone’s eyes could actually get even bigger than they already were.
“Excuse me, Mr. Kang Mugeol.”
“I know.”
“I know that Ms. Chae Yeonwoo isn’t the kind of person who would run away without paying for my pants.”
“But then why did you come all the way here? I was waiting for you to contact me.”
How had he found this place?
Why had he come looking for her?
Had he actually waited in front of the company until she came to work?
Question after question flooded her mind.
“Were you only waiting because of the pants?”
“…What?”
The unexpected question caught her completely off guard.
Without changing his expression, still wearing that lazy smile, Mugeol asked,
“I was wondering whether the only reason you were waiting for my call… was because of the pants.”
“Well… yes?”
“Was there perhaps… another reason?”
His follow-up question left Yeonwoo staring blankly.
While looking straight into her dark eyes, Mugeol slowly lowered his gaze.
Following his eyes, Yeonwoo’s gaze also drifted downward.
“Ah.”
Only then did she realize she was still holding onto his wrist.
She immediately let go.
“For example… maybe you were curious about how I was doing.”
“That wouldn’t make sense… We only met for the first time that day.”
“Then perhaps… you simply wanted to see my face one more time.”
“That’s…”
“I did.”
For a moment, Yeonwoo’s tightly closed lips slowly parted.
“I found myself thinking about you from time to time after that day, Ms. Chae Yeonwoo.”
“Then why… didn’t you contact me? You needed to get reimbursed… for your pants.”
She looked at him with complete confusion.
“I couldn’t.”
“…?”
“If I used up that excuse…”
“…?”
“I wouldn’t have any reason to see your face again.”
Excuse…?
Those two words lingered heavily in Yeonwoo’s ears.
“So I decided to save it.”
“I was going to use it only when I really wanted to see you.”
“What?”
“But fortunately…”
“I found a much better excuse.”
“…”
“One that lets me keep seeing your face from now on.”
With those words, Mugeol reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and held out an employee ID card toward her.
Yeonwoo, who had been absentmindedly staring at his face, lowered her eyes to the badge.
“Huh?”
A Roydi Group employee ID…?
The moment she saw it, she froze.
“This…”
She carefully accepted the badge.
Kang Mugeol — Employee — Management Planning Team
She was startled once by seeing his name on an employee ID with the exact same blue border as hers.
Then she was startled a second time.
“M-Management Planning?!”
He was in the same department as she was.
Her wide eyes remained fixed on the badge before slowly lifting toward Mugeol.
“Wait… You work here? In the Management Planning Team?”
Mugeol nodded slightly with an unreadable expression.
“Yes.”
“I’m on the same team as you, Ms. Chae Yeonwoo.”
“…How did you know I was in Management Planning?”
Slightly on guard, Yeonwoo tightened her grip on his employee ID.
Seeing her openly suspicious expression, Mugeol let out a faint chuckle.
“I believe I picked up your employee ID earlier.”
“I saw it then.”
As he spoke, he casually took his ID card back from her hand.
“Ah…”
Only then did all the pieces finally click together.
Lowering her chin slightly, Yeonwoo nodded in understanding.
“I’m sorry.”
“I misunderstood.”
As she hurriedly apologized, her fair cheeks turned bright red.
“No.”
“It was a misunderstanding anyone could have made.”
“But I’m a little surprised.”
“Surprised?”
“I didn’t realize I looked like the kind of man who would obsess over getting reimbursed for a pair of pants.”
After hanging his ID back around his neck, Mugeol smiled calmly.
“The kind of lunatic who’d even show up at someone’s company over it.”
“No!”
Yeonwoo frantically waved both hands.
“Absolutely not!”
“I never thought that.”
“That’s why I was so surprised.”
“And…”
“…”
“It was only natural for me to misunderstand.”
“I never, ever imagined that you’d be joining this company, Mr. Kang Mugeol.”
That was the truth.
She had never imagined that the man rumored to be Jung Jiyoung’s prospective marriage partner would actually be a new employee at Roydi Group.
If anything, it would have made more sense if he had been the chairman’s son.
From what she’d heard, he came from a wealthy family.
She figured perhaps he came from one of those rare business families that, despite their wealth, didn’t interfere with their children’s careers.
Then suddenly another thought crossed her mind.
What if… he really is Chairman Kang’s son?
Come to think of it…
They did share the same surname.
But…
“Isn’t the chairman’s son still overseas?”
“Oh, the eldest son? Didn’t he basically settle down over there? We haven’t heard anything about him since he moved to New York as a kid.”
“I heard he’s completely in charge of the New York branch now. They say he even got married over there.”
“Right. I heard the marriage rumor too. Actress Yeon Sujeong, wasn’t it? Supposedly she was his first love.”
“They even say he rooted himself in New York because his family opposed the marriage. He’s completely whipped.”
That was the story she’d overheard during Roydi Group’s new employee orientation a few days ago.
Unlike the chairman’s other children, there wasn’t even a single photograph of the eldest son on any internet portal, and even his name had never been made public.
He had moved to New York when he was very young and had become the person in charge of Roydi’s New York branch.
There were even rumors that he had settled down there after marrying a famous actress.
Some even claimed he had given up returning to Korea entirely in order to marry the woman his family opposed.
…Yeah, no.
That can’t be it.
If the famous eldest son of Roydi Group had really returned to Korea, there was no way everyone would be this quiet about it.
The office would have been buzzing with people saying,
“Did you hear? The chairman’s eldest son came back!”
As Yeonwoo drifted off into thought in the middle of speaking, Mugeol quietly watched her.
“Why couldn’t you imagine it?”
he asked with the same unreadable expression.
“Do I really look like someone who wouldn’t work?”
Finishing her thoughts, Yeonwoo answered expressionlessly.
“You just… seem like someone who suits being an executive more than an ordinary employee.”
“…”
“Well then…”
“Take care.”
She gave him a polite bow and turned to leave the emergency stairwell.
Just then—
“Let’s get along well from now on, Ms. Chae Yeonwoo.”
At his greeting, Yeonwoo responded with nothing more than a polite, customary smile.
* * *
As expected, the first day at work was complete chaos.
Like every new employee, Yeonwoo spent the entire morning trying to adjust to her team’s atmosphere while learning her duties.
She barely had time to breathe.
Before she knew it, it was lunchtime.
Together with the other new hires, she headed to the company cafeteria.
The new employees, who had spent the entire morning staring stiffly at their monitors with tense expressions, finally seemed to relax once they entered the cafeteria and immediately began chatting away.
“Man… I was seriously on edge. Everyone else too, right?”
“Don’t even ask. I thought my shoulders were going to cramp from all the tension.”
“Yeonwoo, you were sitting closest to the team leader. That must’ve been torture. Your face looked completely frozen.”
“Hehe. Are you okay?”
Just as Yeonwoo sat down with her lunch tray, her fellow new hires looked at her with sympathetic smiles.
She laughed awkwardly and shook her head.
“I was even more nervous than during my interview.”
Everyone laughed in agreement.
At that moment, Seohee, the most outgoing member of the group, casually looked around the cafeteria before lowering her voice.
“But seriously… isn’t that guy unbelievably handsome?”
The moment she said it, everyone at the table stirred.
Apparently, they had all thought of the same person.
“There wasn’t anyone that good-looking during orientation, right?”
“You mean him?”
“Mr. Kang Mugeol?”
“Yes!”
“Where did he suddenly come from?”
“I swear there’s a spotlight shining only on his seat.”
“I think going to work every day would make me so happy.”
Everyone took turns admiring Mugeol’s appearance.
Then—
Clack.
“…?”
“…!”
A lunch tray was placed on the empty seat directly across from Yeonwoo.
“Mind if I sit here?”
It was none other than the center of their conversation—
Kang Mugeol.
