...She's Cute
A strange smile tugged at the corner of Seo Taek’s mouth.
Kim Woojin’s and Seo Taek’s gazes collided sharply in the space between them. Seo Taek’s eyes were far too deep and icy to belong to an ordinary handsome man. They carried an obsessive intensity, as though trying to bore straight through to the innermost parts of Woojin’s soul.
“Oh my, it looks like the Executive Director is looking over here!”
“No, he made eye contact with me! This is huge……”
The female employees behind them squealed, each insisting the glance had been meant for her. But Woojin knew the truth with absolute certainty. Amid the throng of people, Seo Taek’s gaze had been locked on him alone, without a single inch of deviation.
Woojin felt a peculiar pressure alongside his confusion. Why would the executive director of a colossal enterprise—one he should never have had any connection with—stare at him, a total stranger, with such a meaningful look?
So that’s Kim Woojin……
Seo Taek studied Woojin’s face, absorbing every detail as if dissecting it. After confirming what he saw, he left only a curt “Good work” before vanishing with his secretaries in tow.
A few minutes later, on the rooftop of Daehyeop Construction.
Yoon Seongmin and Seo Taek stood side by side, cigarettes lit. The fierce wind scattered the smoke the moment it left their lips.
Yoon Seongmin broke the silence first. “Now that you’ve seen him yourself, what do you think?”
“……He’s very handsome.”
“If you knew the two of them were dating, you’d understand my feelings a little better.”
The two men let out simultaneous chuckles and exhaled smoke, as though they had rehearsed it.
“How is that man being handled?”
At Yoon Seongmin’s question, Seo Taek answered calmly. “Avoiding dismissal will be difficult. His usual behavior and reputation within the company were already rock-bottom. On top of that, Woojin was clever enough to set the board so the man willingly walked into his own trap.”
Seo Taek offered Yoon Seongmin a faint smile. At that moment, Yoon Seongmin suddenly bowed deeply toward him.
“Thank you. For granting my request.”
Startled, Seo Taek quickly grabbed Yoon Seongmin’s arm and pulled him upright. “Please don’t do that! Lift your head, Chief Yoon. Compared to what my father did to you and Seoyeon, this is nothing. Besides, that man was bound to be removed eventually. I simply moved up the timetable a little.”
“Still, for you to come running the moment I made such a shameless request……”
“How could I possibly refuse your first request?”
When Yoon Seongmin finally raised his head, Seo Taek’s expression eased with relief. Silence settled between them once more. No words were exchanged, yet the quiet was thick with regret and sorrow.
About five minutes passed. Yoon Seongmin spoke again, carefully. “Truthfully, you don’t need to concern yourself with this, Executive Director. You already know that, don’t you?”
“She was going to be my wife. Even if it meant turning my back on my family, I should have protected her.”
Yoon Seongmin smiled bitterly and patted Seo Taek’s shoulder. “To be honest, at first I resented you quite a lot. I blamed you for meeting someone from the Haerim family and causing our child so much suffering.”
Seo Taek lowered his gaze to the ground. Guilt crushed his chest. He, too, had once thought the same thing. If only I hadn’t been born the son of Haerim. If I had been an ordinary man…… would you still be smiling by my side, Seoyeon?
Yoon Seongmin continued. “But once I regained my reason, I realized you had simply loved our Seoyeon. That was all.”
The tips of Seo Taek’s fingers trembled faintly. The burning cigarette filter had nearly reached his knuckles, yet he seemed to feel no heat.
The eldest son of the household his own father had destroyed. Seoyeon’s older brother. The one person who deserved the sharpest resentment. Hearing from that very person that he had “only committed the sin of love” made Seo Taek feel as if his heart had dropped to the floor.
“……It’s my fault. I should have been stronger.”
Seo Taek turned his head and stared at the distant sky. He wasn’t shedding tears, but the effort of suppressing his emotions had turned his jaw to stone. Only the red rims of his eyes revealed how brutally he was crumbling inside.
Yoon Seongmin silently gripped Seo Taek’s shoulder once, tightly. A sense of solidarity heavier than any words of comfort passed between them.
“If your guilt is truly that great, may I ask one more favor?”
Seo Taek steadied his shaky breath and managed to compose his voice. “Speak. I’ll do anything.”
“Please prevent Employee Kim and Employee Seo from ending up like you and our Seoyeon. Help those two avoid being trapped in the same cycle of tragedy.”
Yoon Seongmin’s request was a reminder of just how good a man he was, and how deeply he had loved his late sister.
Seo Taek answered with a faint smile. “Of course. Even if you hadn’t asked, I would have done so anyway.”
—
A few days after Seo Taek’s visit to Daehyeop, Choi Juim met the fitting end of dismissal.
Woojin believed all his hardships were finally over. He had no idea it was merely the beginning of a far greater storm.
……
Lunchtime.
It had become routine for Woojin and Ihwa to avoid the eyes of their colleagues and eat separately. As Woojin was leaving the cafeteria, he happened to run into her.
With the obstacle named Choi Juim now gone, he wanted to restore their relationship somehow. Gathering his courage, he approached her.
“Seo Ihwa.”
It had been a long time since he had called her by her actual name instead of the contractual “Ms. Gap.” Ihwa stopped walking and turned her head.
“What is it?”
Her response was cold, but better than being completely ignored. Woojin took one more step closer and spoke cautiously.
“I’m sorry. For lying to you last time.”
“It’s fine. That relationship is already over, so what exactly are you trying to achieve by saying that now?”
Ihwa immediately turned to head back toward the office. Woojin desperately caught her wrist.
“Wait. Even if the contract relationship is over, can’t we at least go back to how we used to be?”
Slap!
Ihwa violently shook his hand off.
“Just because we did a little contract dating, you seem to think we actually became close. Don’t delude yourself. After stabbing someone in the back like that and ending things, did you really believe we could have a good relationship?”
Her reaction was even sharper than before. Woojin almost thought it would have been better if she had simply ignored him. But she was the colleague who sat right next to him. He couldn’t endure this awkward, uncomfortable atmosphere any longer.
“So are we just going to keep being uncomfortable like this? While you keep receiving those stinging looks from people you despise?”
“I’m not uncomfortable at all. Seems like it’s only you who’s bothered.”
Her confident reply made Woojin swallow a dry laugh. She really is an artist when it comes to making people angry.
But he wasn’t the type to back down here. He deliberately responded even more calmly.
“Yes. I’m extremely uncomfortable. How about showing me just a little consideration?”
The straightforward approach seemed to catch Ihwa off guard for a moment, but she soon shot back with a displeased expression.
“Why should I? Why exactly should I have to consider Employee Kim?”
“We’re colleagues who joined at the same time.”
Ihwa’s voice rose, as if she found the notion absurd. “Colleagues who joined at the same time? Does that put food on the table? Does being a colleague mean I have to coddle and baby you?”
“You really are cold, Ihwa. We used to drink beer together once upon a time…… I miss those days.”
For a second, Ihwa’s eyes wavered violently. Her pale face flushed bright red in an instant. With an expression tangled with embarrassment, anger, and shame, she whirled around. The sharp clack of her heels was almost violent as she stormed toward the company building.
Woojin stared blankly at her retreating figure, then unconsciously covered his mouth and muttered to himself.
“……How cute.”
The moment the unfamiliar word left his lips, Woojin froze on the spot. How cute? Have I lost my mind, Kim Woojin?
He began running a thorough self-diagnosis—wondering if he was sick somewhere, or if his brain had been pickled by extreme overtime stress. Had all the time they spent together built into affection? Or had he simply been tamed by this brutally cold woman?
But the more he tried to deny it, the more clearly Ihwa’s reddened ears and trembling, flustered eyes replayed in his mind.
In truth, he had known all along. Every single calculated move—cooperating with Yoon Seongmin to push Choi Juim into the pit, enduring humiliation, volunteering for overtime—had always ended with Seo Ihwa at the center. Her spilled tears, the wounds she had received, the peace she needed to reclaim. For that one thing alone, Woojin had not hesitated to dirty his own hands.
The realization that he, who had always been numb to other people’s pain, had spent his time watching only one person’s expression hit him like a heavy wave.
Was it the possessive desire of being the only one to witness that clumsy, fragile moment hidden behind her cold mask? Or had it been the madness that made even that mask seem lovable?
Woojin felt an unfamiliar heartbeat near his chest and swallowed a hollow laugh.
The moment he realized that Seo Ihwa—who had seemed like an eternal snow-capped mountain, cold and haughty—was actually someone who would stomp her feet at the smallest spark, his world had already begun to collapse.
And at last, Woojin reached a conclusion he could no longer deny—an inescapable checkmate.