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Chapter: 02
The elevator doors closed right in front of Haeru.
She could only frown as she stared at the doors sliding shut.
The words “He’s a married man” had left her completely speechless.
She had unknowingly had an affair because Kim Taejun had deceived her, but an affair was still an affair. Fear gripped her heart.
…How… did they find out?
She had never intended to tell the company. Although she was the victim, she didn’t want to become the office gossip as the woman who had an affair.
But judging by the sideways glances from everyone at work, the rumor had already spread throughout the company.
Pulling herself together, she hurried up to the executive secretary’s office.
The whispered conversations around her made her bite her lower lip tightly.
She had never been the type to fear anything, yet her heart pounded uncontrollably.
The moment she sat down, her hands hurried to work.
The company’s anonymous message board was already overflowing with posts about Yoon Haeru.
The four most recent pages were filled with people condemning her immorality.
[The immoral employee should be fired!]
[You should never go after a married man.]
[She always acted like she was so righteous.]
Every single post was about her.
As she flipped through the pages, she stopped on the fifth one.
The company president, who had always trusted her, had resigned due to poor health, leaving the president’s position temporarily vacant. She had no idea who she was supposed to appeal to in order to clear her name.
She sat there blankly, unable to focus on work, when a neatly dressed employee opened the secretary’s office door.
“Chief Secretary Yoon Haeru, do you have a moment?”
Everyone in the office looked up.
It was an employee from the company’s Ethics Committee.
She swallowed hard, trying to hide her nervousness before slowly standing.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Although it felt as if a war were raging inside her, she acted as though nothing had happened.
The two entered a small meeting room.
Separated by two desks, they sat facing one another.
The stiff chair only made her body tense even more.
She felt like a criminal who had been arrested and brought in for interrogation.
The employee typed steadily on a white keyboard without looking at her before asking coldly,
“Are the rumors true?”
“No. They aren’t.”
“What exactly wasn’t true?”
The employee finally looked up.
The moment their eyes met, the typing stopped.
“I didn’t know Kim Taejun was married.”
“How could you possibly not know?”
Feeling utterly miserable, Haeru bit the inside of her lip. She cleared her throat to keep herself from crying before answering calmly.
“He deceived me. Kim Taejun lied to me… for three years.”
The employee tilted their head slightly while looking back down.
“Mr. Kim gave a different statement.”
She frowned.
Don’t tell me… After claiming he lied because he loved me for three years, now that everything’s been exposed, he’s lying again to save himself.
No… surely he isn’t that much of a piece of trash.
“What did he say?”
“He stated that you knew he was married from the beginning three years ago and continued chasing him like a stalker.”
“What?!”
Haeru’s face twisted in disbelief.
She leaned forward and slammed both hands onto the desk.
She was never someone who raised her voice, even when angry.
But this time she couldn’t help it.
“Is that not true?”
The employee asked the question as calmly as a machine, unaffected by her outburst.
“Of course not! Kim Taejun approached me while hiding the fact that he was married. I was simply dating someone who deceived me for three years. I only found out yesterday, and we’ve already broken up.”
Even after speaking until her neck turned red, it seemed her desperate explanation hadn’t gotten through.
“We’ll determine that after our investigation. We’ll find out whose story is true.”
The questioning went on for a long time.
She exhausted herself searching for every bit of evidence proving they had been dating while defending herself.
She had lost her phone several days earlier, so most of their photos together and text messages were gone.
Still, she showed them every piece of evidence she had left.
The employee’s response, however, remained lukewarm.
There simply wasn’t enough evidence.
By lunchtime, Haeru returned to the office completely drained.
She felt like a balloon with most of the air let out.
As soon as she entered, the employees who had been whispering together immediately fell silent.
They exchanged glances before all leaving together for lunch.
The only one who stayed behind was Secretary Lee Eunhye, who had always been closest to Haeru and had worked alongside her serving the company president.
“What happened?”
Eunhye hurried after her as she asked.
“I was deceived. I didn’t know Team Leader Kim Taejun was married.”
“What? Really?”
Eunhye covered her mouth in shock.
Kim Taejun had always acted like such a decent man that very few people would believe Haeru’s story.
Even Haeru herself, who had loved him, hadn’t believed it at first and had checked over and over again.
“Yes.”
“…Come on, let’s go eat first. We can talk while we have lunch.”
“I don’t really have an appetite…”
As Haeru hesitated and leaned back, Eunhye placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her forward.
“Senior, times like this are exactly when you need to eat!”
Holding back the tears threatening to spill over, Haeru allowed herself to be led toward the lobby.
After taking the elevator down, the two slowly walked across the quiet lobby.
Just before they reached the exit, a loud voice echoed through the building.
“Hey! So you’re the bitch!”
Kim Taejun’s wife, who had been sitting on one of the lobby sofas, stood up.
Beside her was a large, intimidating woman who shouted as she marched toward Haeru.
Everyone’s attention instantly turned toward them.
The larger woman reached Haeru first and grabbed a fistful of her hair with one hand.
She yanked so hard that sharp pain shot through Haeru’s scalp.
The quiet lobby erupted into chaos.
“Ah! What are you doing?!”
“You! Couldn’t find your own man, so you had to wag your tail at someone else’s husband? What if my brother-in-law had actually fallen for you?!”
The woman was Taejun’s younger sister-in-law.
Despite wearing a modest beige dress, she behaved like a street thug.
“Please let go first. I really didn’t know.”
“What do you mean you didn’t know?! You shameless bitch!”
Standing in front of Taejun’s wife, who covered her face with both hands, the woman shook Haeru violently by the hair.
Eunhye rushed over to stop her, but Kang Okjin was surprisingly strong, as though she regularly exercised.
The moment Eunhye grabbed her, Okjin swung her arm, knocking Eunhye onto the floor.
By then, Haeru’s scalp was throbbing.
She could even see several strands of her own hair scattered across the floor.
“Ah! I said that’s not true! If you want to blame someone, go after that bastard instead!”
Everyone watching froze in shock.
It was rare for Haeru to ever raise her voice.
“Why is my brother-in-law a bastard?! You’re the one who tried to seduce him! He didn’t even fall for you, so why are you calling him a bastard, you bitch?!”
Something was clearly wrong.
But as the saying went, the loudest voice always won.
People began pointing at Haeru while whispering among themselves.
Just then, a man suddenly appeared.
He grabbed Kang Okjin’s thick wrist and twisted it away.
With a cry of pain, she released Haeru’s hair and stumbled backward.
“Ow! Hey! Who the hell are you?! Let go!”
“That’s enough.”
A deep, commanding voice rang out.
Still clutching her aching head with both hands, Haeru looked up.
Standing before her was a broad-shouldered man well over six feet tall.
His powerful frame stretched the dark navy suit he wore.
His arm bulged with strength as he restrained Kang Okjin.
“Aah! Let go!”
Still screaming, Kang Okjin struggled.
The man shoved her wrist aside.
She staggered backward, nearly losing her balance before barely catching herself with both arms.
“Leave quietly. Right now.”
His voice became even colder.
“Who do you think you are?! Ah… what? Don’t tell me you’re another man this woman seduced?”
Okjin stood crookedly, awkwardly folding her arms that still wouldn’t straighten properly.
She nodded to herself as though she were a detective who had just uncovered corruption.
The man tilted his head slightly and let out a long sigh.
His brow furrowed.
“I can’t promise I wouldn’t fall for someone flirting with me… but not everyone is like you.”
He had remained polite until now.
But after Kang Okjin crossed the line, he abandoned all courtesy.
“What?!”
Her cheeks flushed red with anger.
She punched him lightly in the shoulder.
“What did you just say?!”
“I was foolish to think reason would work.”
“What?!”
Okjin shouted again and jabbed his shoulder several more times.
The man didn’t budge an inch.
Instead, he turned his head toward the security guards and gave them a silent signal.
They immediately rushed over, greeted him respectfully, then dragged Kang Okjin and Taejun’s wife out of the company building.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me! We didn’t do anything wrong! That bitch is the guilty one!”
Okjin screamed until the very moment she was forced outside.
Once the lobby finally fell silent, the man standing before Haeru slowly turned around.
