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Chapter 07 …
“Seong… ugh, Seong Doa! How dare you—where do you think you’re going, ughhh…!”
Gyeongjun struggled to push himself up while leaning against the wall. His face had turned a sickly ash-gray color.
Doa’s mind went completely blank.
‘Did I just kick… that thing of his?’
Doa had absolutely no intention of kicking a man’s private parts.
But it seemed her brave and righteous right foot had been unable to endure his irritating words.
“I-It wasn’t intentional!”
She said that, but strangely enough, she also felt a bit refreshed inside.
Of course, at the same time, she worried about what would come later—he was the type to overreact dramatically and hold grudges for a long time.
Well, what could she do? It had already happened.
“H-Huh…! You… you think I’ll just let this go after something like this…?!”
Doa secretly brushed her “tainted” right foot on the ground and quickly left the meeting room, leaving behind Gyeongjun, who was spouting obvious villain-like lines.
Doa rubbed her eyes as she picked up her phone, woken not by her alarm, but by a KakaoTalk notification.
The moment she turned on the screen, Gyeongjun’s message came into view.
[Wedding-Item Highway Robber: I’m going to request the security team’s CCTV footage, and once I secure it, I’ll immediately send an official document to your company. Prepare yourself for assaulting a client as an agency employee.]
“……Wow, seriously unbelievable.”
Doa buried her face in her pillow, then shot upright again, unable to contain her frustration.
“No, who is threatening who here? He’s the one who did something to me first, and now he’s acting like this just because his tiny little… thing got kicked?!”
Even while she was fuming in indignation, morning time kept moving forward.
“Ha… still, I have to go to work.”
With no other choice, Doa went into the bathroom, got fully dressed and made up, then headed out for work.
The internal battle in her head that had started early in the morning continued even on the crowded commute.
‘What if he actually reports it? He’s a bad guy, sure, but is he really that awful… maybe not that far?’
That was the Gyeongjun “moderates,” arguing in her head.
And then there was the Gyeongjun “radicals,” shouting:
‘Are you even serious right now? A guy who isn’t that bad wouldn’t have stolen over 30 million from you and tried to settle it with just 2 million. He’s already the worst. Completely beyond redemption.’
“Ugh… my head’s going to explode.”
Doa pressed her temples as she walked into the office.
Even if she had personal problems, showing them at work was something only amateurs did. She forced a smile and greeted everyone energetically.
“Good morning!”
“……”
“……Uh, Doa-ssi, you’re here?”
“H-hello…”
But the office atmosphere felt different from usual.
Her coworkers seemed oddly stiff when dealing with her.
Confused, Doa sat down and asked her seatmate, Yoonmi.
“Did something happen today? Everyone seems a bit tense.”
“Ah, Do… Doa-ssi! N-no, nothing happened.”
Yoonmi quickly turned away and hunched over her desk like she was trying to merge into her monitor, furiously typing on her keyboard.
Her behavior felt suspicious.
‘Well… it probably isn’t anything.’
Though she felt uneasy, Gyeongjun’s issue was still more pressing, so she tried to ignore it.
Just then, a company messenger popup appeared at the bottom-right of her monitor.
The moment she read it, Doa was completely shocked.
[Kim Hyejeong, Assistant Manager: I don’t think Doa-ssi is that kind of person no matter how I think about it, so I’m asking… Doa-ssi, do you happen to have a crush on Nahi-ssi’s boyfriend? I mean Hyunsin Department Store’s Woo Gyeongjun.]
The day before, right before leaving work, Nahi had been fixing her makeup while looking into a desk mirror.
Since she didn’t have a date planned with Gyeongjun today, she intended to go straight home.
At that moment, she heard coworkers talking behind her.
“Doa-ssi, want to have dinner together today? How about a drink?”
Nahi’s hand holding the puff paused for a moment.
Those women always invite her first before me.
With a sour feeling, she tapped the puff harder, and then she heard Doa’s voice.
“Sorry. I’m not feeling well today. I’ll head out first.”
“Oh? Then go home and rest. We’ll eat among ourselves.”
So Doa wasn’t coming?
Nahi smiled faintly and turned toward Yoonmi, who had first suggested it.
“Can I come too?”
“Sure, Nahi-ssi can join.”
Normally she wouldn’t have gone, but today was different. Because Doa wouldn’t be there.
It was a chance to subtly talk behind Doa’s back.
‘Talk back properly for all the effort I’m putting in.’
But despite Nahi’s efforts, her coworkers always defended Doa, saying things like “I don’t think Doa-ssi is that kind of person” or “No, Doa-ssi wouldn’t do that.”
What should she say this time?
She had already mentioned seeing Doa taking office supplies home before, and rumors about her talking behind coworkers’ backs hadn’t worked either…
What else was there?
Even at the pub, Nahi kept thinking only about badmouthing Doa when someone asked her:
“Nahi-ssi, does Doa-ssi have a boyfriend right now?”
“Pardon?”
“I was passing behind the document room after the meeting today, and I saw Doa-ssi with Woo Gyeongjun from Hyunsin Department Store.”
“The two of them?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t hear clearly since it was far, but they seemed like they were arguing a bit. They were even speaking informally. But why would we argue with a client? And even speak informally like that.”
“Wait… are you talking about Woo Gyeongjun, the project manager?”
“Yes, that guy. Since you’re Doa-ssi’s college classmate, I thought you might know something.”
That stupid Woo Gyeongjun!
Is he trying to spread rumors that he and Doa used to date? Is he going to expose everything that happened so far?
Grinding her teeth, an idea suddenly flashed in Nahi’s mind.
‘…Wait. They looked like they were a couple? This might actually be an opportunity.’
After running multiple rapid scenarios in her head for a few seconds, Nahi made her decision and lowered her head.
“I’ve never heard that Doa-ssi has a boyfriend… Huh? Nahi-ssi, why are you lowering your head? Are you okay?”
“Nahi-ssi? Are you sick?”
When she lifted her head again, her eyes were completely wet with tears, shining.
“Nahi-ssi, are you crying? Why suddenly?”
Nahi stayed silent for a moment, then spoke as if she couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“…Actually, since he’s a client, I hid it until now, but Woo Gyeongjun and I… are getting married.”
“WHAT?!”
Everyone’s eyes widened at the same time.
Nahi took a breath and continued carefully.
“And… I couldn’t say anything because of Doa either. Even though she knew Gyeongjun and I were engaged, she kept contacting him and following him… almost like a stalker.”
The table erupted into murmurs.
“What? But aren’t they friends?”
“No way… is she trying to steal her friend’s boyfriend?”
One coworker asked bluntly:
“So Nahi-ssi is saying Doa-ssi likes your boyfriend? Even knowing he’s your boyfriend?”
“…Yes. Because of that, even coming to work recently has been really hard for me. She even threatened me not to meet Gyeongjun…”
sob!
She acted with all her strength. But the employees still looked uncertain.
At that moment, Hyejeong, who was close to Doa, spoke up.
“Sorry, but I can’t really believe what Nahi-ssi is saying. Haven’t you said bad things about Doa-ssi more than once before? Most of them were misunderstandings. Isn’t this just another mistake?”
Fortunately, before she could respond, another employee beside her shook their head.
“Assistant Manager Kim, if Nahi-ssi is mistaken, then why were Doa-ssi and that manager speaking informally while arguing? They must know each other.”
“They might know each other. But that alone doesn’t prove Doa-ssi is stalking Nahi-ssi’s boyfriend.”
Nahi quietly pulled out a necklace hidden under her blouse. At the end of it was a platinum ring set with a transparent diamond.
“Actually, it’s not just me and Doa-ssi. Gyeongjun-ssi and I are college classmates too. We stayed close even after graduation. The problem is that Doa still can’t accept that Gyeongjun-ssi and I are in a relationship. Even after seeing this engagement ring.”
“Are you saying Gyeongjun-ssi might have given her some kind of opening?”
