The Manager's Discovery
The doorbell rang three times.
“Han Seoyun-ssi.”
Park Mijin’s voice came from beyond the front door.
“I know who’s inside. Open the door.”
Seoyun was still hiding behind my back.
I turned around in disbelief.
“Why are you hiding?”
“Because I’m scared.”
“She’s your manager.”
“That’s why I’m scared.”
“I didn’t think you’d be scared.”
I hadn’t even known that Park Mijin existed until just now.
Yet here I was, a man hiding a super-popular idol in my apartment.
And on the table was a pregnancy test kit.
Anyone looking would see an undeniable situation.
The doorbell rang again, longer this time.
“Kim Minjae-ssi.”
She called my name too.
“If you don’t open the door in ten seconds, I’ll call the security team.”
“How did you know my name?”
Seoyun pushed me toward the door.
“Open it already.”
“You open it!”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Don’t use that as a magic word!”
Finally, I went to the front door.
I debated hiding the pregnancy test on the table, but it was too late.
If I hid it, it might look even more suspicious.
I opened the door with a trembling hand.
In front of the door stood a woman in a suit.
Short hair.
Sharp eyes.
In one hand, a phone; in the other, car keys.
She scanned me from head to toe.
“Kim Minjae-ssi?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s Seoyun?”
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I shifted my body slightly to the side.
The gazes of Seoyun and the manager behind me met.
“Hello.”
Seoyun waved awkwardly.
Park Mijin’s eyebrows twitched.
“Why aren’t you picking up calls?”
“It’s a holiday.”
“If it’s a holiday, you can disappear after going to the hospital?”
“I didn’t disappear.”
“No one at the dorm, no one at the family home, no calls. What else could this be but disappearing?”
“Running away?”
“Han Seoyun.”
“I’m sorry.”
Seoyun immediately lowered her head.
Even a top idol couldn’t do anything in front of the company manager.
Park Mijin sighed and came inside the house.
And she discovered the items on the table.
Pregnancy test kit.
Medical confirmation document.
Her movements stopped.
It seemed the air in the room stopped too.
“... What is this?”
Seoyun answered.
“You know what it is when you see it.”
“I’m asking why it’s here.”
“It’s mine.”
“I see.”
Park Mijin slowly nodded.
“So it’s yours.”
The reaction was calmer than I expected.
I felt a bit relieved.
Apparently, a large agency manager doesn’t get shaken by anything.
“Yours?”
Park Mijin shouted.
“Why are you using a pregnancy test!”
I flinched in surprise.
She wasn’t calm at all.
Park Mijin picked up the test kit.
Her face turned pale white upon seeing the two lines.
“This must be defective.”
“Manager.”
Seoyun pointed to her belly.
“I got pregnant.”
Park Mijin didn’t say anything.
She opened and closed her mouth several times.
Then suddenly looked at me.
“You?”
“No.”
“I haven’t even asked anything yet.”
“I can guess from the atmosphere.”
“I asked if Seoyun’s child’s father.”
“Absolutely not.”
At my firm answer, Seoyun tilted her head.
“You don’t need ‘absolutely’.”
“I do!”
Park Mijin’s eyes sharpened.
“How long have the two of you been together?”
“We haven’t met.”
“Since elementary school.”
“That’s not the same thing!”
“Then have you ever slept together?”
“No.”
Seoyun raised her hand.
“We’ve slept in the same bed.”
“Why do you keep making misunderstandings!”
“It’s the truth.”
Park Mijin pressed her brows.
“Wait a minute.”
She took a deep breath.
“Seoyun. Answer my questions without joking from now on.”
“Okay.”
“Have you had a relationship with this man?”
“No.”
“Other men?”
“None.”
“Then how did you get pregnant?”
Seoyun’s gaze went below my waist.
That was ominous.
“Pants.”
“Don’t say it.”
I hurriedly interrupted.
Park Mijin asked.
“What pants?”
“It’s not really important.”
“I’ll decide.”
“It’s really not important.”
“Kim Minjae-ssi.”
Park Mijin smiled.
Her eyes weren’t smiling at all.
“The advertising penalty alone is at least 10 billion won right now.”
“...”
“If you add drama, world tour, group contract, how much do you think it would be?”
“I’ll explain.”
Money makes people tell the truth.
Even 10 billion could create truths that don’t exist.
I explained the events from a month ago as euphemistically as possible.
Seoyun came to my house.
Took a shower.
Wore the pants I told her not to wear.
And fell asleep.
Park Mijin listened silently.
After the explanation, a long silence followed.
“So.”
Park Mijin opened her mouth.
“The pants that might have Seoyun’s body fluids on them, Seoyun slept in them?”
“You don’t need to be that precise.”
“And she got pregnant a month later?”
“We know it’s unbelievable too.”
Park Mijin looked at Seoyun.
“Do you really think that’s the cause?”
“There are no other causes.”
“If pregnancy happens like that, where are the children without fathers in the world!”
“I thought so too, but it worked out.”
Even Park Mijin covered her head.
I felt an odd sense of kinship.
At least there was one normal person in this house.
Park Mijin paced the living room for a while.
Then took out her phone and called someone.
“Director. It’s me.”
Her expression hardened as she listened to what the other side was saying.
“I’ll be there right away. Clear the examination room.”
After hanging up, Park Mijin looked at us.
“Both of you, follow me.”
“Where?”
“Hospital.”
Seoyun tried to pick up the potato chips on the sofa.
Park Mijin hit her hand.
“Don’t eat. We have to do the test.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Is your hunger important right now?”
“Pregnant women should eat well.”
“If you say that one more time, I’ll remove the dressing from the dorm fridge too.”
Seoyun quietly put down the potato chips.
Scary threat.
...
The place we arrived was a small obstetrics clinic in Gangnam.
The door was locked.
No patients in the waiting room.
Park Mijin must have cleared everyone out in advance.
Seoyun immediately went into the examination room.
I sat on the corridor chair, biting my nails.
Park Mijin sitting next to me asked.
“Really, nothing happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Not because of alcohol or drugs, right?”
“That day, I boiled ramen and slept on the sofa.”
“Are you saying Seoyun is lying?”
“She’s not the type to lie.”
At my answer, Park Mijin looked at me.
“You’re confident.”
“Because I’ve known her for 15 years.”
Seoyun cries if you take away her food, gets angry if she loses a game, and can’t hide her expression in front of people she doesn’t like.
She wasn’t the type to lie well.
A short while later.
The examination room door opened.
The doctor came out with Seoyun.
Park Mijin stood up.
“What happened?”
The doctor looked at the three of us in turn.
“Pregnancy is confirmed.”
Park Mijin’s face hardened.
My vision darkened.
Seoyun just stroked her belly and nodded.
“So I was right.”
“However.”
The doctor continued.
“There are some strange points.”
“What do you mean?”
“The estimated pregnancy period is about a month ago. Almost matches the date Seoyun mentioned.”
Both Park Mijin’s and Seoyun’s gazes turned to me.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“And we checked the blood test results.”
The doctor looked at the documents.
“The values differ greatly from normal pregnancy.”
“Is there a problem with the baby?”
Seoyun’s voice trembled for the first time.
The doctor shook his head.
“I can’t judge that right now. Rather, it’s the opposite.”
“Opposite?”
The doctor hesitated for a moment.
“The cell division rate is faster than normal.”
Silence fell in the corridor.
“What does that mean?”
The doctor handed me the documents.
“I haven’t seen this case before, so I can’t give a definite answer. But there is one thing I need to confirm.”
The doctor’s gaze turned to me.
“Kim Minjae-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Can I take blood?”
“Why my blood? Are you saying it’s my DNA?”
“We have to test it.”
I looked at Seoyun.
Seoyun thought for a moment and nodded.
“So it’s your child.”
“I haven’t even done the test yet!”
“Otherwise, there’s no reason to draw your blood.”
“I’m drawing it to check!”
Following the nurse’s guidance, I entered the blood draw room.
A needle was inserted into my arm, and red blood filled the small tube.
It said the test would take two hours.
We waited for the results in the empty waiting room.
Seoyun leaned her head on my shoulder and fell asleep.
Park Mijin kept rejecting company calls.
Finally, the doctor appeared with an envelope.
“The results are out.”
I jumped up from my seat.
“What happened?”
The doctor alternated between the documents and my face.
“The fetal DNA and Kim Minjae-ssi match.”
Something broke in my head.
“99.99 percent?”
“The possibility of establishing a parent-child relationship is 99.99 percent.”
Seoyun woke from sleep and rubbed her eyes.
“See.”
And casually grabbed my arm.
“I told you I’m your daughter, Dad.”
“How can a child be born from pants!”