The Youngest Granddaughter

Lee Jayeong.

A third-year employee.

From what I'd vaguely heard, her credentials were far too good to be wasted on Jinseong Planning, a bottom-rung affiliate of Jinseong Group.

She was what people liked to call a brainy beauty. The résumé was impressive enough on its own, but she was so lovely you could have believed she was a celebrity, and the men around the office seemed to make plenty of passes at her because of it.

Once a company dinner ended, Team Leader Park would strain every nerve trying to coax one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more drink out of her. It always came to nothing.

I'd already been married and divorced. I hadn't seen any reason to pay her special mind. Even so, when a KakaoTalk from a woman like that landed on a weekend, surprise was the only reasonable reaction.

I sent a reply.

Plans. I'd promised to take Yeju to a kids' café.

The evening. I'd promised Yeju snow crab.

And why, exactly, was she asking how I spent my weekend?

She kept at it like that. Refusing any further would have been the ruder choice.

I closed the chat and stared at Yeju, who was eating with sauce smeared all around her mouth. If I told her I couldn't buy the snow crab, she was going to be badly hurt.

"Yeju."

"Hmm?"

"How about we just go to the kids' café today, and I buy you snow crab tomorrow night?"

"…Yeah! Yeju's okay!"

Having other people's true feelings read themselves straight into my head was an uncomfortable thing.

"Jinyeong, did you promise her snow crab again?"

"Yeah. She liked it so much last time, I wanted to get it for her once more."

"It cost a fortune last time too."

"It's fine. I got a nice fat bonus at work."

So this was what people kept inside. There was a reason for the old line about the face and the heart not matching.

"But Uncle, where are you going tonight?"

"Uncle suddenly made plans with a friend. I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's okay! Yeju's stuffed from the braised kimchi, so I'm fine!"

Beside me, my sister went on, her eyes gone dark and suspicious.

"You're off to meet a woman, aren't you?"

"What woman…"

"Knew it. Your ears are turning red. So what kind of woman is it this time?"

"I told you, it's not like that."

"Yeah, right. I don't know who she is, but do it properly this time. A spouse has to be kind. No exceptions. Looks? Those last a moment. If you find someone who understands you and fits you, you grab them and you don't let go—"

One thing, at least, I understood with perfect clarity. I had not the faintest thought of dating—but even if I did, I would never breathe a word of it to my sister. This was exactly why you told a busybody nothing.

I got myself together and headed out.

After I married, I hadn't bothered buying spare clothes. Between the lump-sum deposit on the lease and Lee Somin bleeding me dry, there hadn't been money for it. Lately, though, I'd shot up two inches, so I'd bought something to wear to the office.

Taller really does make the fit come alive.

The place Lee Jayeong had named was a steakhouse in Cheongdam. I remembered it faintly. I'd taken Lee Somin there while we were dating, and a single tasting course had run past two hundred dollars. Back then I'd thought spending that kind of money on a girlfriend was simply what you did. Month after month it had been one installment on top of another, until I'd even broken the savings account I'd been building since I was a new hire.

Was Lee Jayeong that sort of woman too? All at once, I didn't want to face her.

When I made for the entrance, she was already standing there in a white two-piece and heels. The sight of her dropped my mouth open on its own.

Beautiful. Genuinely beautiful.

Two men were hovering in front of her. I watched from a distance and only went over once they'd backed off.

"Assistant Manager, you're here?"

"Those two just now—people you know?"

"Ah, men asking for my number. I'm so sick of it I could die."

"Happens often, then."

"Try every single day. Being pretty gets exhausting sometimes, I'll tell you."

Better this blunt than a performance, maybe.

"You must be hungry. Let's go in—I made a reservation."

Lee Jayeong offered a light eye-smile and led me inside. She ordered as naturally as someone who came to places like this all the time: steak, and a red wine to dress a Saturday evening.

I'd have taken soju over wine.

"Do you like steak too, Assistant Manager?"

"My ex-wife did."

"……"

Silence. She drained the water in front of her in one go, then picked the thread back up.

"I'm treating tonight, so please eat comfortably."

"Isn't this a little expensive for a treat? On an office salary…"

"It's fine, it's fine. One meal."

The bottle of red she'd ordered was past two hundred and fifty ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dollars on its own. How did someone living on an office worker's paycheck order something that expensive without so much as a blink?

I'd come because my junior said she wanted to repay a debt by buying me dinner, and I had no shameless plan to eat for free. I'd meant, as her senior, to cover the meal myself. Already my wallet was starting to strain.

A little later a thick steak and a bottle of wine came up onto the table. Tok, tok. I cut into it with a practiced hand, speared a piece, and put it in my mouth.

It is good. Expensive really does taste better.

"Shall we have a glass? It's Saturday night."

"Sure."

And in that moment, Lee Jayeong's heart began to reach me.

…Huh?

I only knew how to cut a steak and drink wine because Lee Somin used to make me eat the stuff endlessly so she could post it on Instagram. What was this about experienced hires?

What on earth was she thinking in there?

I had my ears pricked, trying to catch whatever came next, when she spoke.

"I don't think I thanked you properly last time. Thank you, Assistant Manager."

"Not at all. I never had warm feelings toward Team Leader Park to begin with. I just saw my chance and landed a hit."

"Do you know how cool you were? Even among the staff, people are saying they see Assistant Manager Ju differently now. The praise is everywhere."

"Haha… More than that, I'm worried Team Leader Park might sue."

"That won't happen, so please don't worry."

"Sorry?"

Pulled strings at the company. What was that supposed to mean? One cryptic line after another.

"Team Leader Park has a career to keep, too. He won't try to blow this up by filing a lawsuit."

"…If that's the case, that's a relief."

I let my eyes drift aside.

A Chanel bag sat at the edge of her side of the table. She had never once carried it to the office. It was the bag Lee Somin had said she wanted when I proposed, so I knew the price exactly.

Thirteen thousand dollars. No matter how I turned it over, it was not a bag a third-year employee could carry.

Her inner thoughts had me read with perfect accuracy. And what came next was more shocking still.

…?

"Cough— cough—"

"Are you all right?"

It was as if I'd choked on her thoughts. I couldn't stop coughing.

"Here, have some water."

I drank what she handed me and settled my insides. Then, again—

Did I hear that right?

Jinseong Group was the group our own Jinseong Planning belonged to as an affiliate. And the youngest granddaughter of that group meant one thing: the royal family of Jinseong.

Then everything explained itself. The audit wrapping up so neatly, and the complete lack of any move from Team Leader Park's side until now—the reason was sitting across from me.

Restaurants this expensive were probably no more to her than a corner shop was to the rest of us, the sort of place you dropped into for a humble bowl of gukbap, rice sunk in hot soup. And that handbag—she hadn't left it at home because it was too precious for the office. She'd left it at home to manage the image she kept there.

And I had compared the youngest granddaughter of Jinseong Group to Lee Somin.

I was out of my mind.

The more pressing question was what I was supposed to do with the situation in front of me. The way ahead went dark.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes. Thank you."

I'd always pictured chaebol families as cold. What I felt from Lee Jayeong was warmth more than chill.

She looked me straight in the eye, then opened her mouth again.

"Assistant Manager."

"Yes?"

"Are you seeing anyone right now?"

"…… You know I'm divorced, right?"

"Of course. Is there anyone at the company who doesn't?"

"I'm divorced. There's no way I'd be seeing someone."

"Hmm. In this day and age, is a divorce really a flaw? I don't think so."

"That's because you're more open-minded than most, Jayeong. Plenty of people aren't. And more than anything, having already been through a divorce, I don't even have the thought of meeting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠someone again."

The moment I finished, her heart reached me once more.

So.

Right now, Lee Jayeong liked me.

It was absurd. She was younger, she was beautiful, and on top of that she was the youngest granddaughter of the conglomerate ranked fourth in the country. What could she possibly lack that she'd fall for a divorced man?

Reading her thoughts left my head spinning. I lifted the wine glass and drank in long gulps, trying to settle myself.

What kind of thoughts was she having?!

"Pfft—!"

I sprayed the wine I was drinking straight across Lee Jayeong's face. The white two-piece bloomed red, and the wine ran down her cheeks in thin red lines.

"Wh-what is this…"

"I'm sorry, Jayeong!"

Sorry as I was, my conscience was clear. That spray of wine was entirely her fault!