Chapter 137
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 137
The meal continued in a quiet atmosphere.
It was Eun-seol who’d made it so.
The moment anyone tried to speak, Eun-seol’s glare would shoot toward them. It was impossible to open one’s mouth when her glistening, bloodshot eyes were cutting you off.
Dokyun shifted his gaze slightly to study Harim’s face.
Her left eyelid was bruised a deep purple.
It was from Eun-seol.
Dokyun offered a silent prayer for her, but then an inexplicable sense of kinship washed over him, and he continued eating, suppressing a few chuckles.
When he looked again, he saw Eun-seol continuously downing shots of goryangju [a strong Chinese liquor].
Her face was flushed bright red.
Only she knew whether it was from the alcohol or from shame.
As Dokyun was stealing glances at her, Eun-seol’s head suddenly snapped toward him. He flinched and quickly dropped his gaze to his plate.
“Th-This is delicious…” he mumbled.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
He wished someone would break the tension, but it was a task neither he nor Harim could accomplish.
If anyone was going to do it, it had to be Eun-seol. But seeing as she was wearing the most menacing expression he had ever seen on her, there was no chance she would allow it. The meal proceeded in silence.
After some time, a deep sigh escaped from Eun-seol’s direction, followed by her voice.
“…Just eat comfortably.”
Dokyun looked up at the sound of her words. The Eun-seol he saw looked haggard, as if she had given up on something.
For some reason, he felt a pang of sympathy for her, but then he remembered her reaction in front of the office and had to fight to keep from bursting into laughter again.
“I am eating comfortably. The food is quite good.”
“Of course it is. Do you know how much a meal here costs?”
That was Harim.
Despite the nasty black eye, Harim glanced nervously at Eun-seol and continued in a cheerful tone.
“This place has the best reviews of all the Chinese restaurants in the area. All the tables are in private rooms, so the boss is particularly fond of it.”
“Oh…”
Dokyun nodded at Harim’s explanation.
It was true. Unlike other restaurants, this one was composed entirely of private rooms, with no main hall.
“The owner here is smart. They targeted wealthy people who prefer private spaces.”
Harim said with a small giggle.
Dokyun chuckled along with her, then looked at Eun-seol.
She seemed to have little interest in the conversation, simply pouring herself another drink.
A mischievous urge rose in him again and his lips twitched, but Dokyun was a man who learned from his mistakes.
He had no desire to make the slowly healing bruise on his eye blue again.
He continued to eat, making small talk with Harim. After a while, a thought occurred to him, and he posed a question to Eun-seol.
“Ah, but if Eun-ah takes over the work, won’t she have less time to write?”
It was a natural concern for Dokyun.
To be more specific, he was worried that being buried in work would wreck Eun-ah’s release schedule or, worse, force her to go on hiatus.
Eun-seol glanced at Dokyun before jerking her chin toward Harim.
“That one can handle most of the day-to-day tasks. Eun-ah will only need to approve the core business matters that require her direct attention, so it won’t take up that much of her time.”
Dokyun’s gaze shifted to Harim.
The dazed look on her face as she blinked did little to inspire confidence, but she was the one who had been handling things in Eun-seol’s absence.
Finally convinced by Eun-seol’s words, Dokyun nodded. A short while later, the meal came to an end.
* * *
Two days passed.
Dokyun watched Eun-ah, who was standing in front of the department store with a tense expression.
She had been like this ever since he had relayed Eun-seol’s message that morning.
For some reason, the sight made him want to laugh. He took Eun-ah’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
“Don’t be so nervous. She’s a trustworthy person who’s worked with Eun-seol for years.”
Eun-ah squeezed his hand back and asked in a tense voice, “Y-Yes…”
Dokyun’s eyes fell on Eun-ah’s, which were peeking out from under her hat.
They were trembling and darting all over the place.
Letting out another laugh, Dokyun led Eun-ah toward the top floor of the department store, to Eun-seol’s office.
A moment later, after he knocked twice on the office door, a “Yes!” came from inside, followed by the click of the door unlocking.
“Ah, welcome. It’s been two days, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, well…”
After a brief exchange of greetings, Harim’s smiling gaze fell upon Dokyun and Eun-ah, and then to their intertwined hands.
“…Tsk.”
A faint clicking of the tongue. When Dokyun looked up, Harim was there, a bright smile plastered on her face.
She looked at the still-rigid Eun-ah and greeted her in a soft, friendly tone.
“My, you must be tired from the trip. This is our second time meeting, right?”
Eun-ah looked at Harim, who was offering a handshake, and nodded with a stiff expression before taking her hand.
“Ah, hello…”
Her voice was a tiny whisper, as if it were trying to crawl back into her throat.
Harim scratched the back of her head awkwardly, then burst out laughing. “Haha, wow, I always feel this way, but meeting the other bosses is always so awkward. Um, shall we have a seat?”
Dokyun nodded at Harim’s words and stepped inside, heading for the sofa to the left of the seat of honor, just as he had the day before.
Harim sat opposite him, which meant the seat of honor was naturally for Eun-ah.
But perhaps that seat was too much of a burden for her.
Eun-ah frantically glanced back and forth between the empty main seat and the spot next to Dokyun. Then, squeezing her eyes shut, she scurried over and sat down, pressing herself tightly against him.
Dokyun flinched at the unexpected development, then forced an awkward smile as Eun-ah clung to him, holding his hand.
Suddenly.
“Ha…”
A disbelieving scoff reached his ears.
When Dokyun looked toward the source of the sound, he saw Harim glaring at them, eyes wide and a vein throbbing on her forehead.
“The boss’s seat is in the middle, you know?”
“N-No, it’s okay… I-I have to be next to Honeybee…”
As Eun-ah spoke, pressing herself against Dokyun’s arm, Harim’s lips twitched.
Watching the exchange, Dokyun could feel the deep, simmering rage in Harim’s expression.
Suddenly, he recalled what Harim had said two days ago.
—It’s annoying enough having to work on the weekend when everyone else is having fun, but then I have to watch a couple’s date… Seeing you two so lovey-dovey, it’s enough to make a person sick, isn’t it?
A realization flashed through his mind.
‘Ah, this woman has probably never had time to date.’
She’d been so buried in work, cleaning up Eun-seol’s messes, that she couldn’t possibly have had time for a relationship.
Given the circumstances, it was only natural for her to be pissed off seeing someone else being so sickeningly sweet.
As the thought crossed his mind, a look of pity appeared on his face. Seeing it, Harim gritted her teeth with a sharp ‘Ppa-deuk’.
As was becoming routine, Dokyun flinched. His eyes darted around before he put on an awkward smile and spoke to Eun-ah.
“Um, Eun-ah. For now, you should probably sit in the main seat… You’re the owner here, after all.”
Well, not yet… but she will be, so it’s close enough.
He spoke with that thought in mind. Eun-ah flinched and whimpered, her eyes darting between him and the seat of honor.
“…Ah!”
With a small cry, she shot to her feet.
Dokyun tilted his head at her sudden action. Eun-ah met his gaze, gave him a small, smiling crescent with her eyes, and grabbed his arm.
“H-Honeybee, just a second…”
“Yes?”
“G-Get up for a moment.”
As she struggled to pull him up, Dokyun awkwardly rose to his feet. Eun-ah then pushed him down into the seat of honor and promptly plopped her own bottom onto his lap.
She nodded, looking satisfied.
“Th-This should work…!”
At that, the veins on Harim’s tightly clenched fist bulged.
“W-Wow~ The original boss is so clever…!”
“Hehe…”
It was a sarcastic remark, but Eun-ah, who was currently beaming in Dokyun’s arms, didn’t notice.
She simply took the words as a compliment and blushed shyly.
A troubled smile spread across Dokyun’s face, and Harim’s teeth ground together again with a grating ‘Ppoo-deu-deuk’.
“Well then…! Shall we get to work now?”
Her voice was tightly suppressed, as if it could explode at any moment.
Dokyun, observing the situation, quietly closed his eyes and cleared his mind.
‘If I just stay quiet, I’ll be halfway there.’
He needed to keep his head down.
* * *
Harim watched Eun-ah, who was looking over the documents she’d presented and nodding slightly.
‘She’s smart, but…’
In a way, it was to be expected. As the original personality of that boss, there was no way she could be unintelligent.
In terms of comprehension, insight, and speed of thought, she even felt superior to the boss, but…
“H-Honeybee… Try this, too.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Hehe…”
…that sickeningly sweet behavior of hers was really getting on her nerves.
‘Fuck…’
They had been like this ever since the work discussion began.
The moment she brought out refreshments, they would pause their review of the documents to feed each other, creating a disgustingly sweet atmosphere.
Then, when Eun-ah got tired of looking at the papers, she would lean against the man and nuzzle her head into his chest.
It was a gut-wrenching display, behavior that made her want to punch a wall.
How could she not be furious, watching them lost in their own little world, when she couldn’t even date freely for fear of work cropping up at any moment?
‘Ah, fuck it!’
Feeling a deep rage boiling inside her, Harim gritted her teeth again.
‘No, I have to endure it. She’s the boss, right? The cash cow? Harim, you can do this. You can endure it!’
Harim closed her eyes and calmed her mind.
Yes, she had to endure. Where else could she find a boss who threw money at her like this one did? A boss who kept her bank account overflowing?
Hadn’t this job given her a privately owned house in the middle of Seoul, a foreign car, and all sorts of luxury goods?
If she quit because she couldn’t stand this, her profligate spending habits would bury her in a mountain of debt.
‘…Wait a minute.’
Suddenly, a suspicion popped into Harim’s head.
What if all of this was the boss’s plan?
What if she deliberately showered her with money to make her spending habits extravagant? To make it so she couldn’t even think of working anywhere else?
And by doing so, ensuring she couldn’t quit even in a situation like this?
It was a baseless speculation, but considering the boss’s meticulous nature, she couldn’t dismiss it as a complete joke.
She mulled over the suspicion for a moment, then looked at the two, who had now tossed the documents aside and were once again being lovey-dovey. Feeling her stomach twist into knots, she spoke up.
“Um, Boss? This is the next one…”
“Ah, yes…”
Harim watched Eun-ah take the documents from her, then fixed Dokyun with a hard glare.
It was a look filled with the unspoken command to get out.
Fortunately, the man was quite perceptive and immediately understood her intention, nodding with an embarrassed look.
“Eun-ah.”
“Y-Yes…”
“I’m going to step out for a bit. I feel like I’m being a distraction while you’re trying to work.”
“N-No, you’re not…”
Would it be an exaggeration to say she wanted to land a single punch on that teary face?
Harim felt her insides churn again as she half-listened to the ensuing conversation.
“How could I do that? Hmm? Let’s finish work quickly and go home to eat.”
“Y-Yes…”
“Hmm, I’m craving a steak made by you… Could I ask you to make one?”
“O-Okay!”
Eun-ah’s expression brightened instantly. Only after Dokyun nodded and stood up from his seat did Harim’s expression finally lighten as well.
A moment later, after confirming that Dokyun had left the office, Harim turned her gaze back to Eun-ah.
The moment she was left alone, her face fell and her lips jutted out in a pout, which made Harim’s stomach twist all over again.
Forcing down her boiling anger, Harim spoke to Eun-ah.
“Alright, shall we get back to work?”
“Yesss…”
Her reply was listless, completely drained of energy.
Harim felt her eyes squeeze shut.
As she’d always suspected, the people were definitely harder to deal with than the work.