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Chapter: 14
“Then use it and return it afterward.”
She no longer had time to play along with his jokes. Giving him a casual reply, she quickly picked up the bag she had set beside her.
Stepping back a little, Haeru slowly looked Muhyeok up and down from head to toe before nodding in satisfaction.
“Perfect. Let’s go!”
The two of them hurried out of the house.
Muyeon had gathered several restoration experts the previous night, desperately trying to repair the damaged painting, but it was useless.
“Ah… this is driving me crazy.”
A female employee standing beside him with her hands clasped together lowered her head like a criminal and spoke in a tiny voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“Of all ways to damage it…”
The painting had been torn diagonally in every direction, as though a violent storm had ripped through it.
“I’m really sorry…”
“Enough! Stop apologizing.”
Muyeon’s voice turned sharp.
“I’ll compensate you…”
Jihyun looked as if she were about to cry. While working, she had lost her balance and fallen, and the sharp utility knife she had been holding had slashed the artwork beyond repair. She cautiously asked,
“I’ll pay for the damages…”
“What damages? Even if you worked your whole life, you couldn’t afford to repay this! Since it’s your first mistake, I’ll handle it. Just don’t let something like this happen again. Understand?”
“Yes… Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Jihyun bowed over and over in gratitude.
Patting her gently on the back, Muyeon headed toward the stairs.
No matter how much he thought about it, the painting simply couldn’t be restored.
Realizing there was no other choice, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and called the contact saved as Lee Kanghoon.
“Hello?”
“What’s up?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I tore your painting. I’m really sorry.”
“What?! Which one?”
“…The Girl Under the Umbrella.”
“…Ha…”
Lee Kanghoon was Muyeon’s friend and a world-famous painter.
His paintings had become internationally renowned, and every new work sold almost immediately. However, among all his works, The Girl Under the Umbrella, painted three years earlier, was the one piece he refused to sell despite countless buyers lining up for it.
He insisted it was a special painting that he would keep for the rest of his life.
The painting depicted the back of a young girl holding a yellow umbrella on a rainy day.
She was shielding a wounded, hurting child beneath the umbrella. The colors were delicate and beautiful.
The reason Kanghoon treasured the painting so much was because it held precious memories.
To him, it was filled with warmth.
“I’m sorry…”
“I told you if anything happened to that painting, I wouldn’t do business with you anymore.”
Kanghoon’s normally gentle voice was unusually sharp.
“Come on…”
“That’s enough. I’m hanging up.”
Though Kanghoon was usually known for his easygoing personality, the devastated man replied with the decisiveness of a blade.
Because he was someone who always kept his word, Muyeon hurriedly shouted,
“Hey! Wait! Then… Haeru! That’s right! I’ll introduce you to Haeru! Didn’t you always want to meet Haeru? Wouldn’t that make up for it?”
“What? Yoon Haeru?”
Kanghoon, who had been seconds away from ending the call, suddenly sounded interested.
“Yeah. Haeru!”
Silence followed the mention of Yoon Haeru.
“So? What do you think?”
After a moment, Kanghoon answered.
“Fine.”
“Really? Yes! Then I’ll set up a meeting and text you. That means you’ve forgiven me, right?”
“Do whatever you want.”
After saying that, Kanghoon ended the call.
There was actually a reason why the name “Yoon Haeru” affected him so much.
She was the very person who inspired his art.
The girl in the painting that had just been torn apart was none other than her.
During their school days, he had first met Muyeon through a violin club. The two became close, and Kanghoon often attended gatherings with him.
Whenever he waited for Muyeon before club meetings, one particular girl always caught his eye.
She always obeyed traffic signals, pushed the cart of an elderly woman collecting recyclables, and never ignored trash lying on the roadside.
That girl was Haeru.
Watching her always filled Kanghoon with warmth.
Still, he only admired her from afar for a long time before they ever spoke.
When he was in high school, his mother passed away.
He wanted to die.
One rainy day, consumed by despair, he walked across a long overpass without an umbrella.
Everyone who saw him in his soaked school uniform avoided him as though he were insane.
Then, at that moment, a yellow umbrella appeared above his head.
It was her.
“Hic… Who are you?”
“Just someone passing by.”
“Then… keep walking.”
“I was passing by anyway… and my umbrella is big enough.”
Her tone was dry, yet he felt warmth from her words.
Without saying anything else, she quietly walked beside Kanghoon, whose face was soaked with rain—or perhaps tears.
Even though they were headed in different directions, she silently accompanied him all the way to his house.
After that day, he repeatedly waited outside her school just to see her again.
But before he could even gather the courage to speak to her, he left to study abroad in France.
Years passed.
Not long ago, he saw her again at Muyeon’s birthday party.
She was even more beautiful than he remembered.
His heart secretly fluttered.
Although Haeru had been drunk and they hadn’t spoken much, he wanted to see her again someday.
She was the reason he had returned to Korea.
And she was the person he had been most curious about since coming back.
Kanghoon completely forgot that his treasured painting had been ruined.
His heart was filled only with anticipation.
After arriving at the company, Chae Muhyeok spent the entire morning practicing the speech Haeru had prepared for him.
When the time came, he headed to the conference room.
Many employees had already gathered.
He stepped onto the stage.
Standing against the wall of the aisle to the right, Haeru watched him closely.
Please don’t make a mistake…
She was far more nervous than he was.
Without the slightest hint of anxiety, Muhyeok began speaking.
“Company policy says we shouldn’t discuss private family matters here. However, I know there are already many rumors about me, so I’d rather clear everything up.”
He was well aware that employees had been calling him a nepotism hire on the company forum.
“I earned this position through my own ability. I know some of you don’t believe that. I’ll prove it with results. If my results are unsatisfactory, I’ll take responsibility and step down.”
It was short.
Powerful.
Whispers immediately spread through the room.
In truth, none of this was in the speech Haeru had written.
She had wanted him to appear more humble and had carefully prepared every word for him.
He had seemed to practice it all morning.
Yet the moment he stood on stage, he ignored every line she had written and spoke only what he wanted.
Watching from below, Haeru frowned.
With her arms crossed, she glared at him.
Then someone suddenly spoke to her.
“Hello.”
“Yes… hello…”
She casually turned to greet the person.
The instant she saw his face, however, her expression froze.
Standing before her was Kim Taejun.
I clearly erased our connection with the eraser. Then how does he still know me?
Remembering how badly she had been criticized before, her heart sank.
“I’ve noticed you for a while now. You’re so beautiful.”
This lunatic.
She frowned.
You already have a son, and you’re still trying to flirt with me, Kim Taejun?!
Even after she had erased their connection, he was still approaching her.
It disgusted her.
What a scumbag.
A chill ran down her spine.
“Oh… okay.”
She answered coldly and turned her attention back to Muhyeok’s speech.
But Taejun didn’t leave.
Instead, he held out his phone.
“Could I have your number…?”
She frowned.
At that exact moment, her eyes met Muhyeok’s.
His expression instantly froze.
He stood there without saying a word.
People immediately began whispering again.
Startled, Haeru quickly looked around him, wondering if something had gone wrong.
Even Taejun shifted his gaze toward Muhyeok on the stage.
Still staring directly at Haeru, Muhyeok slowly tightened his grip on the white speech script lying on the podium.
The paper crumpled violently in his hand.
A moment later, he leaned slightly toward the microphone.
“I’ll end my speech here.”
The words shocked everyone.
He had suddenly cut his speech short.
The conference room immediately erupted into noisy chatter.
He had started with such confidence.
Yet he hadn’t read a single sentence from the speech Haeru had prepared.
Growing worried, she caught his eye and silently mouthed,
“Why?”
while shrugging her shoulders.
But apparently, he wasn’t finished.
Even after saying he would end the speech, Muhyeok neither let go of the microphone nor took his eyes off Haeru.
The room gradually fell silent.
Everyone noticed that he remained on stage, staring toward the right aisle where Haeru and Taejun were standing.
Once complete silence settled over the room, his deep voice echoed through the speakers.
“And Secretary Yoon Haeru… come with me immediately.”
The moment her name rang through the microphone, Haeru’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
His angry voice calling her by name stunned everyone.
Naturally, every eye in the room turned toward her.
The newly appointed president had interrupted his own inauguration speech just to summon his secretary in obvious anger.
Who wouldn’t be curious?
Haeru flinched under the countless gazes surrounding her.
After glancing around awkwardly, she nodded.
“Y-Yes. Understood.”
Even Taejun, who had been asking for her number, could only stare blankly as she hurried away.
After the inauguration ceremony ended, Haeru quickly followed Muhyeok to the president’s office.
The room was filled with a cold, tense atmosphere.
Despite ordering her to follow him, Muhyeok didn’t spare her a single glance.
He sat behind his desk with his head lowered, rapidly flipping through documents between his thumb and index finger as though buried in urgent work.
Standing silently before the desk, Haeru finally broke the suffocating silence.
“Why did you come down like that?”
Still trying to suppress his anger while looking through the papers, a deep crease formed across Muhyeok’s forehead.
