Chapter 38
Everyone was excited by Sua’s bright expression.
“Wow, the enthusiasm of a rookie. Good, good. It sounds fun.”
“I was like that at first too.”
When Sua’s friend Chae-young spoke, Seong-hoon narrowed his eyes.
“Chae-young, you and our Ms. Sua are different from editors like me.”
Chae-young widened her eyes in a triangular shape at Seong-hoon’s words.
“When did you see our Ms. Sua? Seriously. Shameless. It’s our first time meeting today.”
“From today, she’s our Ms. Sua. I have a keen eye for people, so once I see them, I can tell if they belong to us or to someone else.”
“If you have such a keen eye, will you fail at choosing manuscripts?”
“What? What did you say? Are you saying that manuscripts chosen by someone as great as the sky would fail?”
Despite being referred to as great as the sky, Seong-hoon didn’t seem to feel bad at all. He teased Chae-young with a mischievous expression.
As Sua watched Chae-young and Seong-hoon bicker, a faint laugh escaped her lips.
“Why are you laughing, Ms. Sua?”
Why? Because… she had heard Chae-young talk about Seong-hoon several times. So the laughter just burst out.
Seong-hoon had become Sua’s supervisor starting from today, but when Chae-young first joined the company, she was Seong-hoon’s junior. So even though it was their first meeting, Sua felt familiar with him. Chae-young always complained about having a lot of work.
[Is he trying to turn me into a workaholic like him?]
At first, Chae-young only cursed about him, but every time she talked about Seong-hoon, Sua felt a strange pink aura.
[Seong-hoon senior bought me macarons yesterday. Why did he suddenly buy macarons only for me? I did say I wanted to eat them yesterday, but did he consciously buy them for me? No, and he even brought the pistachio flavor that I like. Maybe he didn’t know and just bought them anyway?]
[Yesterday, he even said it’s unfair if I keep eating my own shrimp fritters and gave me more. How cute.]
As Chae-young talked about these little episodes, she kept fiddling with her hair. Even the dull Sua couldn’t help but notice Chae-young’s liking towards Seong-hoon.
As she listened to their stories and watched them bicker, Sua’s laughter kept bubbling up.
“You two get along well, Seong-hoon senior and Chae-young.”
At Sua’s words, both Seong-hoon and Chae-young widened their eyes simultaneously.
“We get along well? Hey, Han Sua. Even if it’s a joke, don’t say things like that.”
“Why would we get along? Oh, he’s just a colleague I’m involved with because of work. There’s nothing to see once work is over.”
“It’s really not like that!”
Even though they looked better when they spoke in unison.
‘It looks really nice.’
But Sua couldn’t say that and just smiled awkwardly.
—
[There’s a lot of work, but the atmosphere among the staff is good, so it’s worth it.]
As Chae-young had described YoonDam Publishing to Sua at first, everyone at YoonDam Publishing, from the CEO to Seong-hoon, was a good person.
She had been nervous in the morning, but after the dinner and a couple of beers, she felt her body relax without realizing it.
‘Is it because of the alcohol?’
Laughing while listening to the seniors’ stories, she suddenly remembered Hyun-oh, who would be waiting for her at home.
She used to be the one who waited because there was always work. Now she felt complicated thinking that he was waiting for her.
“Whenever you’re ready, give me a call.”
A message she received from him when she informed him about the sudden dinner. Sua kept looking at that message several times during the dinner.
It was already 11 p.m. The dinner showed no signs of ending. Sua couldn’t leave first as she was the main participant, and everyone was having fun. But she couldn’t help worrying about Hyun-oh waiting for her.
“Um… I’ll make a quick call home.”
“Yeah, take your time.”
Leaving the voices of the people behind, she stepped outside the restaurant. As she walked a little further, intending to make the call in a quieter place, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist roughly.
The grip was so strong that it felt like he was squeezing her fragile wrist with all his might.
“Eek!”
Surprised, Sua’s eyes widened as she felt the forceful pull. The man holding her wrist was drunk, and although his face was redder than usual, it was a familiar face.
At first, she couldn’t see clearly due to the shadows, but as his face became more visible under the streetlight, she recognized him.
Someone familiar but now more frightening.
“Who are you?”
Was he just a drunk passerby?
“Oppa…”
Sua’s voice whispered his name like a sigh. It was her older brother, Jiheon.
“What are you doing here at this hour?”
Through the lively noise of the pub, Jiheon’s shaky voice was audible. Despite the late hour and his visibly flushed face under the pouring lights, whether due to excessive drinking or not, the stench of alcohol was so strong that it made Sua’s nose wrinkle.
“What are you doing here, oppa?”
Sua asked, but Jiheon didn’t seem pleased with that and yelled back.
“What are you doing here, huh? You! Answer my question first.”
Jiheon forcefully grabbed Sua’s wrist and shook it. His grip was so tight that his nails dug into her delicate skin. Faint marks were starting to appear.
“Ouch, let go.”
Despite Sua’s demand, Jiheon didn’t respond.
“Answer my question first. Are you out here drinking alone with friends at this hour? Where’s Hyun-oh?”
“…Hyun-oh is at home.”
The fact that Hyun-oh was at home was a rare occurrence. Sua didn’t want to show this side of Jiheon to him. It was a shame for the family.
She remembered what Hyun-oh had said in Gangneung.
“Your father has been too harsh on you, Sua, ever since you were young.”
Since she was young, Sua had always been the first target of her father’s scolding. He had witnessed such scenes from a young age, which made him feel sorry for her. Just knowing that fact was painful enough, but if Hyun-oh were to see how Jiheon treated her…
“Let go of me.”
With a bit of courage fueled by alcohol, Sua twisted her body to break free from Jiheon’s grip.
“I just came out for a drink with friends for a bit.”
The fact that she had secretly gotten a job at the company was a secret. It was absurd for the heiress of a conglomerate’s daughter to suddenly start working at a small publishing company.
It wasn’t her original career, but a new job. Naturally, Jiheon would have doubts, and if Jiheon and the family found out that she was planning to divorce him, it would cause a huge commotion.
He would do whatever it takes to prevent them from getting divorced. So, she had to keep it a secret until she finished her contract in three months.
“What? Friends?”
Jiheon’s voice grew louder at Sua’s reply.
“So, you came out for a drink with friends at this hour? You, calling them friends? Drinking?”
“…Why can’t I drink? I’m an adult too.”
“Are you in your right mind, wandering around drinking until almost midnight like a housewife? Are you?”
After coldly responding to Jiheon’s phone call when she was in Gangneung, she had received numerous texts and calls from him.
“Sua, pick up the phone. I’m having a hard time at work right now.”
“It’s not just for my own good. If my work goes well, my mother and our family will be happy.”
“Hey, you’re a bad girl. Is it good for you to live alone like this?”
“No, pick up the phone.”
“Damn it, can’t you listen?”
She had deleted almost all of the abusive texts and blocked his calls one by one. There were some words she didn’t want to recall.
In response to Sua’s unexpected words, Jiheon blinked in surprise.
“What?”
“I said, I didn’t pick up because I’m in my right mind. Why did you borrow money from Hyun-oh?”
“That… Well, we’re family.”
“If you’re family, does that mean you can just borrow money?”
Even if they were considered family.
With a sneer in her mind, Sua continued.
“Where’s the law that says family members have to give each other money? And why did you come here like you were left in his care, asking for money?”
Sua had always been sacrificial towards her family.
She went to college as her parents told her, and she even did so when she got married to Hyun-oh. Even though she married Hyun-oh as if jumping off a cliff without fear, if the partner had been someone other than Hyun-oh…
Perhaps she would have followed her father’s words and married someone like Mr. Choi from Lotte Company.
So, if Jiheon’s request was directed towards Sua herself, she would have done anything to fulfill it. Because she knew it was a path not for Jiheon, but for her alone.
But now she absolutely couldn’t understand it.
The target of Jiheon’s request was none other than Hyun-oh.
That was something she couldn’t allow.
