The Dream of the Vice President
"I see. Anyway, I'll help you out as much as I can."
"...It feels a bit strange getting help from my secretary."
"Is now really the time to be worrying about that?"
While they spoke, Jia kept thinking and thinking. She wondered if there was anything she could do to help, too. But all she could do was translate foreign languages into Korean, or interpret Korean into other foreign languages. What use is this? she thought with a deep sigh.
"Master. I... don't I have any work involving meeting foreigners?"
"No. You don't. You're not in the overseas department."
"..."
"Why?"
"...I want to do something for you, too... but there's nothing I can do..."
Right. Her ex-husband was having a pleasant conversation with another woman, so it was only natural for her to feel impatient. So, all he could say was,
"Just do the housework. That's helping me."
"...No, that's a given, but..."
"And," he said, deciding he should be honest, "don't get on my nerves, and don't hold back too much either. I'd like it if you could find a middle ground and act accordingly."
"..."
"The person known as Seo Jia still remains in my memory as someone too extreme. If things didn't go your way, you'd ask for a divorce... and when you were angry, you'd swear in such extreme ways, as if you couldn't control yourself. That's how you were, right?"
"...That's right. I... was."
"Of course, because those old memories remain, I haven't kicked you out yet and am letting you stay here. Even though you made things so hard for me and made my life miserable, there are still good memories left to balance it out. That's why I'm not kicking you out. So,"
"I hope you act in a way that leaves only good memories."
Eunbyul looked at him with envious eyes as he said that. Once again, those 'good memories' were something she didn't have.
"I... calling you 'you' feels a bit off. Noona, um."
"Please, speak comfortably."
"Right. I think I did well enough without any shortcomings while I was dating you and even during our marriage. Of course, from your perspective, I might have been lacking... but I did the dishes on my own, and I kept my shoes organized when I came home. And on weekends, I'd dust the cushions and blankets... I did the laundry whenever you asked. The same went for cleaning the bathroom."
"...That's true."
"I think I did my best. So perhaps, the reason I wrote the divorce papers without hesitation the moment you asked for a divorce was because I had done my best... and I knew that trying any harder wouldn't change anything. So I thought it was time to stop. When I do that, I... have no lingering regrets."
"..."
"In fact, after I divorced you, I never reached out to you first. Never asked to meet up."
"You didn't even talk to me, either."
"Right. I think that's the greatest thing I learned during the time I spent with you. That if you love someone with all your might—setting aside the calculations of loss and gain—and just love them to the best of your ability, you won't have any regrets regardless of how it ends."
Jia sympathized with his words to some extent—no, quite a lot. Every time she did something, at some point—especially from the moment the company, her friends, and acquaintances started worrying about her marriage when it wasn't even their business—she had started thinking about whether she was losing out, or whether doing this would put her in a superior position. She reflected on the strange idea she had held: that if she allowed herself to lose even once in her relationship with her husband, she would fall endlessly, and eventually, the marriage would end.
On the other hand, listening to what he was saying now, she remembered what her ex-husband had lacked during their marriage. Seeing as she couldn't recall anything no matter how hard she tried, Jia, who truly thought his words were correct, nodded from time to time as she listened.
She realized that the reasons she had shouted at him or insulted him for being lacking or insufficient were, in fact, simple reasons when she thought about it. While others might have thought a 10 was appropriate, she had demanded 50, 70, or 100 points from him, almost like she had mysophobia. The problem was that this was a case of 'rules for thee, but not for me.' She hadn't applied those standards to herself, only to her ex-husband.
"So, if you start doing your best from now on to change your personality and behavior, and try to cherish me, then... wouldn't it be possible for us to have a relationship that isn't worse than that of strangers?"
When he said that, she nodded. And then, he spoke to the two women,
"Let's sleep now. It's too late."
"Yes, you worked really hard today, Senior."
"Mm-hmm..."
Eunbyul said in a sweet tone. She seemed already lost in sleep. And Jia said,
"...It feels like this when I'm proud of my ex-husband."
"Why."
"Just... it's a shame, I feel sorry, I'm angry at myself... and I had such poor judgment of character..."
It looked like she was about to cry again. So, after much deliberation, he adjusted Eunbyul's sleeping position and then gently hugged Jia.
"From now on, just do well. ...If there's an event like that, you'll have to come when a spouse is required to attend."
"Thank you."
"Let's sleep."
"...Sleep well. Deeply."
How long had it been since he last had a dream? He experienced something peculiar when he dreamed. For a moment, he felt as if he couldn't breathe. However, it didn't last long. As the movie theater hidden deep within his sleep began its screening, his breath finally opened up, and he could feel the dream. And this time,
"So you were here."
This time, the 'he' in the dream spoke first. As expected, the woman whose face remained unseen was standing in front of him, leaning slightly against a wall.
"So, are you planning to put the women on trial instead of me this time?"
"..."
It seemed connected to the previous dream, yet somehow not. The last woman who had mentioned some sort of crime.
"No, that's not the intention behind what I said."
"If not, then what? You say you gave them an opportunity, but that is..."
"..."
"It's just an opportunity to keep working at the company; I don't want to meet you privately."
This time, the relationship between the 'me' in the dream and this woman seemed truly terrible. Saying he didn't want to meet her privately meant that his affection had fallen as far as it could go.
"I, I was deceived. Please believe me. You know, my father..."
"What about your father."
"My father deceived me. He said if I wanted it so badly, I should make it my own... and to do that, I had to drag you down to the bottom. So..."
"Are you calling that — right now...?"
Of course, the words were slightly broken or sometimes completely inaudible, but since he couldn't recognize that it was a dream, the dream continued to play.
"Don't stay here, come to my room."
"I don't know what kind of scheme you'll pull if I go, so how can I?"
"..."
"Do your job. ...I wish you wouldn't contact me personally."
"B-but, Vice President, it's not like that..."
"If you're still thinking about coming into my house, give it up. If I had made a mistake, if other —-s hadn't helped me, I would have died. ....Because of you."
He didn't know what the situation was, but he was speaking truly coldly. The 'him' in the dream, who spoke without even listening to the other person, felt like a completely different person to the 'him' in reality. And besides, Vice President? Was he going to be promoted to Vice President or something? There was still one step between them, the Executive Director (Senior Managing Director) position, left.
And even if it was just one step, if his father still looked down on him and gave him the position of 'Executive Director-equivalent' (Managing Director), then after working there for another 6 months gave him 'Assistant Executive Director,' and only after a year gave him the 'Executive Director' position, this wasn't something that would end in just one step. What kind of Vice President? Unless this was a story set quite some time in the future, this was... ...? Time, a story set quite some time in the future?
While he was thinking simultaneously as he dreamed, the mysterious woman in front of his eyes hurriedly grabbed his wrists with both hands and said pleadingly,
"Dying? That's not it, it's not like that, it's the truth. Vice President, I was out of my mind. Really... I really was."
"...I wanted to try it too. I was always waiting for the Vice President's call. The call was more important than the bonus you gave me for resolving the lawsuit well."
"You just need to... you just need to apologize accurately, right? Yes? I'm sorry for blackmailing you using the fact that I visited your office and saw you doing it with your secretary. I really didn't mean to demand money, no... as soon as I saw it, I just wanted to do it too."
"Seeing that secretary riding on top of you looked so good..."
"I'd only seen things like that in videos, and I was so curious about it... I couldn't stop thinking about it even when I got home, or when I woke up and went to work... Yes? So how could a person stay sane without going crazy? But I couldn't just walk into the Vice President's office and say I wanted to do it too, so I thought if I blackmailed you subtly, maybe an opportunity to do it with me would come along..."
This bitch must have been a blackmailer too. Only then did the body of the woman he didn't know begin to be revealed. First of all, she was wearing jeans on the bottom. But could you really wear jeans that comfortably at the company? Women usually wear suits... Anyway. And on top, she seemed to be wearing only a green short-sleeved t-shirt. Perhaps that was why this woman also had quite a bust. Since her breasts were accentuated, it seemed they were quite large, considering the outline was captured like this even though the clothes weren't intended for that. However, he soon had to give up on focusing on her clothes. Because the conversation that followed shook his thoughts.
"So you reported me, to the prosecution."
It seemed he really had to see this bitch's face. Otherwise, I... the prosecution... ...