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Chapter 06 …
In that instant, Doa’s footsteps came to a complete stop.
A chill ran down her spine hard enough to wipe away the summer heat in one shot.
Wait… was he talking to me?
On the day of the protest, there had been a few people who saw her face beneath the carefully prepared disguise.
The security guard who had grabbed and dragged her away, the secretary in the office, and the executive director of Hyunsin Department Store who had threatened her with enormous damages.
Slowly, very carefully, Doa turned around.
And froze on the spot.
The executive director of Hyunsin Department Store stood there perfectly straight, not a single wrinkle out of place, looking down at her.
“H-How are you here…?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask. What business do you have at our company this time?”
The man staring at her as if piercing right through her spoke again.
“Don’t tell me… you came to protest because of your ex-boyfriend again?”
Doa frantically shook her head.
“No!”
“Then did you at least come with an answer to my proposal?”
At those words, her heart dropped with a heavy thud.
Haa… right. The six-month contract relationship.
That was still a thing.
She really needed to give him an answer soon.
But that wasn’t why she had come here today.
After fumbling through her bag for a moment, Doa pulled out her rectangular employee ID card and held it out to Chagyeong.
“I-I came here for work!”
Then, belatedly, she quickly bowed her head in greeting.
“Hello, Executive Director. I know it’s late, but let me introduce myself. I’m Seong Doa from Abe Creative Team. We’ve been assigned to handle Hyunsin Department Store’s image advertisement campaign.”
For the first time, disbelief flickered across Chagyeong’s otherwise expressionless face.
“You work for Abe?”
“Yes. I came today for a meeting with the Hyunsin Department Store marketing team.”
“Then are you saying you came to a client company you were going to work with and caused that kind of commotion?”
“N-No, absolutely not.”
Doa waved her hands as she denied it.
“As you know, Abe originally failed the first bidding round. The first-priority company dropped out, so we only joined later.”
Her voice gradually shrank.
“When I came to protest, I had no idea our company would end up working with Hyunsin Department Store…”
And she definitely hadn’t known Gyeongjun would become the direct person in charge.
‘Can someone really have luck this bad?’
As she lamented her fate inwardly, Chagyeong suddenly asked,
“Come to think of it, the picket sign that day said your ex-boyfriend worked in the marketing team… Don’t tell me you’re working together this time?”
‘He’s like a ghost.’
Doa nodded.
“That must be difficult.”
It was a dry consolation completely devoid of concern.
“No matter how much you hate your ex-boyfriend, you mustn’t ruin the work. Keep your personal and professional matters separate.”
‘Excuse me?! What kind of person do you think I am? Even like this, I’m known both inside and outside the company as a professional who’s good at her job!’
Although she had once protested at her ex-boyfriend’s company, she would never mix personal emotions into her work.
“Of course I’ll do that!”
“Good. Then I’ll trust you. And have you decided about the proposal I made?”
Already overwhelmed enough, the sudden topic shift left Doa blank for a moment.
Of course she still hadn’t decided. Or rather, to be precise, she thought about it every day but couldn’t reach a conclusion.
“I’m asking whether you’ve decided if you’ll do the contract relationship or not.”
Chagyeong emphasized the point once more.
Doa truly couldn’t help agonizing over it.
It wasn’t even a real relationship, and if she only did the contract dating for six months, he’d erase the 220-billion-won lawsuit as though it never existed…
Sometimes she felt tempted to just accept it immediately, but suspicion kept surfacing from the corners of her mind.
‘Why me of all people? With that face and that wealth… okay, his personality seems seriously lacking, but still, there must be women lined up willing to do contract dating with him.’
If he had just been an ordinary man, the decision might have been easier.
But hearing that he was an executive director at Hyunsin Department Store, one of the country’s leading retail corporations, felt overwhelmingly burdensome.
Besides, it hadn’t even been long since things ended with Gyeongjun, so even if it was fake, she wasn’t eager to enter a new relationship.
As Doa struggled to answer because of the chaotic thoughts crowding her head, Chagyeong spoke in a gentle yet firm voice.
“It seems you still haven’t made a decision. Well, there’s still time.”
“…Yes.”
When Doa answered shortly while staring at the floor, a faintly playful smile tugged at the lips of the man who had seemed nothing but cold until now.
“But did you know this?”
“…Know what?”
“Our legal team has already finished preparing the lawsuit. So if you intend to choose the lawsuit route, Miss Seong Doa, you’d better hurry as well.”
“T-The lawsuit?”
The instant the word pierced her ears, Doa’s eyes widened dramatically.
She quickly snapped her head up, but Chagyeong had already left.
“If it’s a 220-billion-won lawsuit, the filing fees alone would exceed 700 million won. And if you hire lawyers on top of that…”
“Seong Doa.”
“Ah! You scared me!”
Doa, who had been calculating lawsuit costs behind the projector, nearly jumped when Nahui’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Did you commit a crime or something? Why are you so startled?”
“A crime? The people who committed one are you and Woo Gyeongjun, not me.”
After answering firmly and trying to leave, Doa’s wrist was suddenly grabbed by Nahui.
“How do you know the heir of Hyunsin Department Store?”
“What? What are you talking about? How would I know someone like that?”
“I saw you talking with him in the lobby. For quite a while too.”
At that moment, Chagyeong’s face rose in Doa’s mind.
Wait… was she talking about the executive director of Hyunsin Department Store? He was the heir?
It wasn’t strange at all. Third-generation chaebol heirs working at their fathers’ or grandfathers’ companies was common enough.
Actually, now she finally understood how someone his age could already be an executive director.
Still, executive director was already troublesome enough, but the heir too?
If I say no to the contract, won’t he really sue me?
As Doa pressed a hand to her aching head, Nahui pouted impatiently.
“If someone asks you something, you should answer. I asked if you know the heir of Hyunsin Department Store.”
“Don’t say ridiculous things. Move if you’re just going to talk nonsense. I have work to do.”
“…Hmm. Well, I guess someone like you wouldn’t know a chaebol family member anyway.”
‘Even if I did know him, why would that concern you?’
Doa wanted to snap back in disbelief, but with her business finished, Nahui simply turned around and returned to her seat.
The meeting went surprisingly smoothly.
Gyeongjun picked a few fights during it, but his own team leader stepped in and stopped him instead, allowing Doa to finish her presentation safely.
“Thank you for your hard work, everyone. As mentioned, please revise the main copy and overall visual tone once more. And Online Team, please pay particular attention to the short-form video planning.”
Once the Hyunsin Department Store marketing team leader left the meeting room first, the employees from Doa’s company also slowly began packing up.
Doa was planning to leave as soon as she packed up her laptop.
But suddenly, Gyeongjun—who she thought had already left—appeared, called for her, and abruptly dragged her toward a secluded corner where nobody was around.
“What is it?”
“You seriously not going to take the two million won?”
Ha!
So that’s why he dragged her here?
Doa was dumbfounded, but at the same time, seeing right through Gyeongjun’s intentions only made her angrier.
He wanted to settle the wedding-fund issue as quickly as possible, but he hated spending money, so he was trying to wrap everything up with just two million won.
“I already told you. I’m getting back every last bit of my 32.7 million won wedding fund—not even a ten-won coin will be missing.”
“You’re really unbelievably persistent. I told you already, legally I’m not obligated to return any of it since you gave it voluntarily.”
“Voluntarily, my ass. If you hadn’t scammed me with promises of marriage! Hah, forget it. I’ll get it back somehow, so stop pulling this crap.”
As Doa turned to leave, Gyeongjun sneered.
“Yeah, do whatever you want. But if you try ruining my image again, I’ll sue you immediately too.”
At the word “lawsuit,” Doa’s shoulders flinched.
The expressionless face of the executive director who had spoken about filing a 220-billion-won lawsuit against her flashed through her mind.
Seeing her reaction, Gyeongjun mistakenly assumed his threat had worked and became even more arrogant.
“What, you thought barging into the company and causing a scene would change something? You probably think you’re the victim, but someone like you who can’t even communicate properly, who’s stubborn, and doesn’t have a single feminine qua—”
THUD—!
“GAAAAAH!!”
Mid-sentence, Gyeongjun’s eyes bulged from the sudden impact, and his body twisted violently like a squid thrown onto a gas stove.
Doa’s gaze slowly shifted back and forth between that area of Gyeongjun’s body… and the tip of her own foot.
