Chapter 7

It was the hellish morning rush hour.

The first-floor lobby was packed with employees waiting for the elevators.

“Oh? Assistant Manager! Good morning!”

A familiar voice reached my ears.

It was Kim Ji-eun, the youngest employee on the Marketing Team.

“Oh, good morning, Ji-eun.”

I greeted her with a forced smile.

Thanks to my 500-meter full-speed run, beads of sweat had formed on my forehead.

“Oh my gosh, look at you sweating. Are you really hot?”

“Uh, yeah. The weather is kind of… humid. Haha.”

That was a lie.

Far from being humid, Seoul’s humidity today was a comfortable 30 percent.

Ding.

The regular elevator doors opened with a chime.

People poured inside like a rising tide, and I was swept along with the crowd and pushed into a corner.

It was packed so tightly that there wasn’t even enough room to breathe, like sardines crammed into a can.

“Excuse me.”

Just as the doors were about to close, a man wearing a black suit stepped inside.

“Gasp. It’s Executive Director Kang.”

The atmosphere inside the elevator instantly froze.

Every employee held their breath and pressed themselves against the walls.

I’m screwed.

Of all places, we had to be trapped together in this tiny elevator.

I lowered my head as much as possible and tried to hide behind the person in front of me.

But he found me as if he had some kind of sixth sense.

“Assistant Manager Lee Da-eun.”

“Yes, yes, Executive Director.”

“Is the Marketing Team’s 10 a.m. meeting preparation going well today?”

He asked the completely professional question with an expressionless face.

“Yes. I’ve finished reviewing the materials.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it. Check again for any typos.”

I nodded and looked straight ahead again.

It was a perfect performance as a boss.

No one would ever imagine that just this morning, I had been tying his necktie for him.

The distance between us felt strangely disappointing.

At the same time, it reminded me of our real relationship, which made me feel bitter.

When the elevator display reached the 15th floor, several people got off.

More people immediately pushed their way inside.

A large male employee standing in front of me was suddenly pushed backward.

“Whoa!”

I was about to get crushed.

There was nowhere for me to move.

Just as I was about to be squeezed flat, a black shadow appeared above me.

Kang Seo-jun placed both arms against the elevator walls, creating a solid barrier around me.

“……”

He didn’t even look at me.

With his brows slightly furrowed, he blocked the people pushing in with his body.

He looked as though he absolutely hated having physical contact with other people.

But because of him, a small safe space about a hand’s width appeared in front of me like a miracle.

A faint sandalwood scent came from the firm chest right in front of me.

I could see the veins standing out on the arm that was trapping me safely inside.

…Is he protecting me?

No.

He probably just wanted to create some space because he himself hated being crowded.

Even as I told myself that, I couldn’t stop my heart from sinking.

In this cramped, suffocating space, the only place where I could breathe was the space he had created.

For some reason, that made me feel strangely safe.

Soon, the weekly meeting of Marketing Team 1 began.

The atmosphere was tense.

Kang Seo-jun was famous for turning into the Grim Reaper during meetings.

“Team Leader Park. Your data analysis is exactly the same as the one from two years ago. Did you just copy and paste it?”

“Ah, well…”

“Redo it by today.”

Team Leader Park immediately backed down.

Then it was my turn.

With trembling hands, I flipped through my presentation materials.

“This is the proposal for launching our new brand…”

The presentation went smoothly.

But I made a mistake on the final page.

A typo.

The budget should have been 50,000,000 won, but one zero was missing.

“Assistant Manager Lee Da-eun.”

Seo-jun’s voice cut sharply through the room.

“Are you planning to hold the launch party with five million won? Even a neighborhood festival would cost more than that.”

“I-I’m sorry! It’s a typo.”

“Numbers are basic. How can I trust and approve a proposal that doesn’t even get the basics right?”

His criticism was harsh.

The team members looked at me sympathetically.

Their faces seemed to say:

The Executive Director really has no blood or tears in him.

Honestly, I felt hurt.

This morning he said he liked my tie, and now that we’re at work, he’s acting like he’s going to eat me alive.

As expected, he was a cold-blooded man who separated work and personal life with a knife.

“I’ll correct it.”

I lowered my head and sat down.

My face was burning with embarrassment.

If there had been a hole in the ground, I would have wanted to hide inside it.

While I was cooling my hot cheeks with my hand, a company messenger notification popped up at the bottom of my laptop screen.

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: Lift your head.]

……?

I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I had read it wrong.

He was chairing the meeting and staring at the screen at the front of the room.

With one hand, he casually tapped away at his keyboard.

Another message appeared.

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: You look like you’re about to dig a hole in the ground because you got scolded. If you’re going to earn your keep, take care of your mental strength first.]

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: The content of the proposal wasn’t bad. Fix the typo and submit it again.]

And then the final message.

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: I’m sending this because you need to think about tonight’s dinner menu. Don’t misunderstand.]

I stared blankly at the monitor before cautiously raising my head.

He was still looking seriously at the presenter’s materials.

He acted as if I didn’t even exist.

But his indifferent profile no longer looked as cold as before.

He gives me medicine after making me sick…

I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling.

Those dry little messages were actually more comforting than a long speech of sympathy.

They were very much like Kang Seo-jun.

As soon as I left the meeting room, I heard a voice behind me.

“Assistant Manager, are you okay?”

It was Choi Do-jin, a new employee on the same team.

He looked at me with gentle, puppy-like eyes.

His innocent expression was enough to make anyone let their guard down.

My frozen heart melted a little.

“Wow… wasn’t Executive Director Kang being too harsh? I got angry just listening to him.”

Do-jin glanced around and handed me a piece of chocolate.

“Here. Get some sugar into your system. Looking discouraged doesn’t suit you, Assistant Manager.”

“Thanks, Do-jin.”

I smiled bitterly and accepted the chocolate.

Apparently, Kang Seo-jun had seen me accepting it.

At the end of the hallway, his cold gaze briefly passed over us.

Without saying anything, he disappeared into the elevator with Secretary Kim.

…Am I imagining things?

It looked like he was glaring at us.

After work, we met at a large supermarket near the house.

For security reasons, we traveled separately and met in the supermarket parking lot.

“You said I could buy the best ingredients. If I’m making beef radish soup tomorrow morning, I need Korean beef brisket.”

“Buy whatever you want. I don’t care even if you buy the entire supermarket.”

Kang Seo-jun answered indifferently and took the cart from me.

He pushed it himself.

But his outfit was unusual.

The black suit and black coat were fine.

But he was also wearing a pair of pitch-black sunglasses that covered almost half of his face.

“Executive Director…”

“What?”

“This is indoors.”

“And it’s nighttime.”

“If we run into employees, it’ll be troublesome. Maintaining security is important.”

“That’s even more noticeable! You look like a celebrity with a serious celebrity complex.”

People passing by kept glancing at us.

I could hear whispers.

Who is that?

Is he a celebrity?

Instead of hiding us, the sunglasses were drawing even more attention.

“Please take them off. I’m too embarrassed to walk around with you like this.”

“No. Protecting my identity comes first.”

He stubbornly adjusted his sunglasses.

Then he headed straight for the meat section.

“Ma’am, what’s the most expensive meat you have here?”

The elderly saleswoman looked confused at the sight of a third-generation chaebol heir choosing Korean beef while wearing sunglasses indoors.

“My goodness, young man. Don’t your eyes hurt? Can you even see the color of the meat?”

“…I can see perfectly. This is 1++ grade, right?”

He seriously inspected the marbling.

I finally burst out laughing.

“Pfft! Hahaha!”

“Don’t laugh. I’m being serious.”

“No, it’s just too funny! You always act so sophisticated, but seeing you like this in a supermarket…”

He suddenly stopped at the sound of my laughter.

I could feel his gaze staring straight at me through the sunglasses.

“…You look better when you laugh.”

“What?”

“You were looking like you were about to cry during the meeting earlier.”

He casually said it and tossed a pack of Korean beef into the cart.

“I was strict because we need to keep work and personal matters separate. But you’re doing more than enough to earn your keep, so don’t worry.”

Ah.

The messenger.

He hadn’t simply been teasing me.

He had actually been trying to make sure I didn’t lose confidence in myself.

My heart felt warm.

The more I get to know this man, the more unexpected sides he has.

“Thank you for comforting me.”

I murmured quietly.

He pretended not to hear and pushed the cart toward the vegetable section.

“We need radish too if you want the soup to taste refreshing.”

He still looked ridiculous wearing sunglasses indoors.

But somehow, his back as he walked ahead of me looked reassuring.

I followed him and matched his pace.

We weren’t holding hands or linking arms.

But walking side by side with the cart between us wasn’t so bad.

For a fake married couple’s supermarket date, it was actually pretty nice.

But the moment we reached the checkout counter, that pleasant feeling disappeared.

“I’ll ring you up. That comes to 485,000 won.”

Gasp.

A few packs of Korean beef had somehow turned into nearly 500,000 won in groceries.

My entire monthly food budget had just disappeared in a single shopping trip.

I stared at the number on the checkout screen with my mouth hanging open.

Seo-jun, however, didn’t even blink.

He simply handed over the black card.

“Single payment.”

Watching his completely unfazed profile, I suddenly remembered.

Oh, right.

My husband is a chaebol.

A life worth 300 million won might actually be quite well-fed and comfortable after all.