Was My Secretary from My Past Life a Traitor?
Han Yideun surged toward the penalty box, eyes locked on the opposing goalkeeper scrambling forward in panic. Without hesitation, he shifted his weight onto his right foot.
BOOM—!
The net rippled.
His shot, a cannonball tearing through the air, struck the far corner of the goal. A wonder goal that erased the memory of his tame header from his past life.
"GOOOOAL—!!! HAN YIDEUN!! He scores on his A-match debut!!"
"He dragged defenders down the pitch, shredded them all, and finished it himself! Is that really the physique and balance of a twenty-one-year-old?!"
Yideun, the scorer, fixed his gaze on a single point. He pivoted and sprinted toward the South Korean national team bench like a man possessed.
Stopping just short of the technical area line, directly in front of the stunned coach gaping with his mouth agape, Yideun threw himself onto the grass.
SHHHHRIIIIP—!
He carved through the dewy turf with a slick knee slide, then threw his head back. Locking eyes with the coach, he pointed at the tiger emblem stitched over his heart.
'Put me in for Qatar!!!'
A deranged celebration that looked like he was grabbing the coach by the collar and shaking him, demanding his World Cup flight ticket.
The bitterness of a promising player who'd had to swallow his pride on the Qatar bench in his past life—and the burning resolve to create a storm of butterfly effects in this life.
Second half, 40th minute against Hong Kong.
The score: 3-0.
The match was completely out of reach.
Not that Hong Kong was much to begin with—they couldn't even compare to China.
"Here we go, South Korea! They've earned a corner kick in the closing moments!"
"The Hong Kong players have lost all will to fight. At the center of it all is Han Yideun, who's been tearing the pitch apart since his substitution!"
The veteran taking the corner placed the ball near the flag and raised his hand sharply.
Two or three Hong Kong defenders clung to his jersey like octopuses, desperate to stop him.
'Get your hands off me, you bastards.'
The drop zone was exactly where he'd calculated.
THWACK—!
Yideun drove off the grass and launched himself into the air.
"Ah! Han Yideun! He's rising again!"
He tracked the ball's trajectory with ease, meeting it perfectly with his forehead.
WHAM—!
The ball slammed into the top corner of the net.
The net rippled!
"GOOOOAL—!!!! HAN YIDEUN! A MULTI-GOAL! He's sealed it!!"
"I thought he was dunking on a basketball court!"
"Today's Hong Kong defense is having a nightmare meeting a disaster named Han Yideun!"
Yideun landed with a smirk, turning around. Since he'd already done the knee slide screaming "Give me my Qatar ticket" at the stubborn old coach, he'd save the second celebration for something different.
His senior teammates swarmed him, patting his head and slapping his back.
"Damn, rookie! That header was filthy!"
"Nice pass, hyung!"
Yideun grinned broadly, exchanging hearty high-fives with his teammates.
BEEP—! BEEP—! BEEP—!
SCORE 4 : 0
South Korea's crushing victory.
And the end of Yideun's dazzling A-match debut—just 35 minutes on the pitch, and he'd already scored a multi-goal.
Lying back comfortably, Yideun picked up his smartphone from the side table again. He opened the messaging app and searched for a familiar name.
He tossed the message and hummed a tune. The single digit vanished instantly, followed by a rapid series of short vibrations.
A soccer ball had hit his head. A header goal! He chuckled.
Yideun burst out laughing at the reply laced with vicious curses. Then he realized—she wasn't his secretary anymore. Without thinking, his past-life habit had slipped out.
Her name was Seol Yeonjin. In his past life, the moment he became KFA Chairman, she was the first person he'd planted as his own man inside that rotten association. His secretary chief was Seol Yeonjin.
But in 2022, she was just a 21-year-old elite university student.
Her deep frustration radiated through the screen. Was this really the same Seol Yeonjin who'd been a career woman in his past life? Was this tiny kid going to become that corporate ace someday?
This is the charm of a second life, isn't it?
She was pissed because she couldn't go on her trip. So she was Seol Yeonjin, pissed about not going on vacation. He chuckled.
Even her name is fate-level perfect.
The future KFA Secretary Chief was currently having her soul ripped out by an irresponsible store manager while trying to earn vacation money.
Yideun giggled as he typed.
A drum and a sledgehammer. As expected, the sprout was extraordinary from the start. The way she casually typed that vicious line confirmed she was his past-life secretary chief. Even at a young age, she'd shown it.
Yideun laughed out loud and replied.
Yideun smiled again as he closed the chat window.
Vacation money. That pocket change—he could just transfer it from his account right now and be done with it.
Wait.
As he stared at the screen, stroking his chin, a sudden chill ran through his mind.
...Could that bold little girl be the traitor?
The one person who'd stood closest to him, knowing every schedule and private movement. If anyone could leak his exact location and timing while he was speeding down Olympic-daero in the rain at midnight to the dump truck, it would be the secretary chief.
A sprout of suspicion began to creep up in his chest like a poisonous mushroom.
But he quickly shook his head with a smirk.
"Eh, no way. Not her."
There was no reason for her to suddenly do something like that. Besides, when he thought about it, hadn't he been the one who dragged her into that filthy cesspool? He'd pulled a girl who was living a normal life into that muddy world.
In the end, hadn't he been the one who pushed her into that situation? He'd purely hired her for her ability, planted her as his man inside the rotten KFA, and shoved her into the middle of a blood-soaked political battlefield—hadn't he caused all that pressure himself?
If Yeonjin had really sold out his information, maybe it was for money or power. But money? He wasn't short on that, so that was ambiguous.
That left one answer: a terrifying threat to her own life, or her family's.
...Come to think of it, maybe I wasn't the only one in danger.
As that thought struck, the back of his neck stiffened. What had happened to Seol Yeonjin, his closest aide, after the day he was crushed by the dump truck? Those vicious old-guard bastards wouldn't have left her alone just because she was his right hand.
Maybe she'd been forced to hand over his schedule, tears in her eyes, unable to resist a terrifying threat. Or maybe...
She'd been silenced just like him—hammered into a drum and sunk to the bottom of the Han River, no one the wiser.
"Ugh, those damn bastards. It was a real mess."
Quietly replaying the past, it seemed he hadn't been the only one in danger during those terrible final moments. If anything, she might have been in more danger just for being near him.
Whether betrayal or blackmail, she'd only struggled to survive.
Before him, the 21-year-old Seol Yeonjin stood vividly, facing him. Beside her, the 28-year-old Seol Yeonjin looked at him.
Meeting their bold eyes staring straight at him, all that remained was an inexplicable sense of guilt.