Flex Time (6)
Whenever Han Se-ah left the house late at night, I would sit alone worrying.
Was she perhaps snuggling in the arms of some strange man after drinking? Or enjoying a secret affair with a male actor while claiming it was for night filming? It would have been nice if it was just my imagination.
Only after secretly tailing her and seeing the embarrassing sight did I shed tears of blood and regret it. After that, I gave up on following her.
If I had to calculate it, she would surely flip my insides out by saying, “Are you crazy? Are you my stalker? I can’t live with you anymore. Let’s divorce!” It would have been better if she had left quietly and just lived showing off her chaebol lifestyle.
The fact that she came looking for me to flaunt the wealth she had obtained was truly a foolish act. This time, I would firmly tell her: don’t even think about interfering with me. Even if you do, you’ll only end up getting hurt.
And there was a need to warn her once in a while. It was fortunate now that the other party was clumsy, but I couldn’t always be on guard against being followed.
I tried to make my footsteps as silent as possible as I left the elevator lobby. But contrary to my expectations, Oh Seung-won was nowhere to be seen.
‘I must have seen him get on at the 46th floor.’
As I approached the corridor to the suite, I heard someone talking on the phone and quickly hid my body.
“Yes. Yes. No one has come out of the suite yet. The person here is definitely the one.”
It was Han Se-ah’s secretary, Oh Seung-won’s voice.
“Huh? The parking lot now?”
Oh Seung-won’s voice sounded somewhat urgent. Since I couldn’t know which suite I had entered, he was probably anxious. He would be scolded if he missed me.
“Tsk. Poor guy. Why did he have to be assigned to Han Se-ah. He was probably going to do the same things to his secretary that he did to me.”
Although Oh Seung-won’s situation was pitiful, I couldn’t sympathize with the person who was following me.
I silenced my footsteps so he wouldn’t notice and returned to the emergency stairs to explain the situation to attorney Jeong Ji-hyun.
“Huh? My ex-husband came here? No, why?”
“His obsession is pathological. It seems he came chasing me after learning that I had gone to a hotel suite with a woman.”
“Ah… No, how did you know that?”
No time for long explanations. Han Se-ah would burst in soon.
“I’m sorry, but it would be better for Attorney to go down to the lower floors and use the elevator.”
“What about the client?”
“If you don’t settle the deal today, she’ll follow me again. There’s no reason for me to back down in a situation where we’ve already broken up, right?”
“Of course. But…”
“Don’t worry about me. Please go down first. I’ll contact you as soon as you arrive at the lobby.”
As I turned towards the emergency exit, Jeong Ji-hyun grabbed my arm.
“I’ll help too. It’s also my responsibility for causing you to be misunderstood.”
“I might get bad news if we stay together, because that woman’s personality isn’t normal…”
“I know. So let’s go together! You need to know who the other person is to properly respond when we have to defend in the future.”
I couldn’t refuse her firm attitude.
“Alright. Then, let’s end the situation as quickly as possible.”
“Yes!”
Jeong Ji-hyun stood next to me with a determined expression. Then she crossed her arms.
“Since we’ve been misunderstood, I’ll act like a girlfriend.”
“Ah… yes.”
It seemed like she was putting on an act that Han Se-ah would easily see through, but since she was already angry, she couldn’t see it. Half worry, half excitement.
When we left the elevator lobby, no one was there yet. Attorney Jeong and I stood silently leaning against the center of the elevator hall.
Among the six elevators, the central one kept rising without stopping.
A moment later.
Ding-
The elevator arrival chime sounded, and the doors opened. Through a very small gap, a familiar silhouette appeared.
‘Han Se-ah!’
I turned my head pretending not to see Han Se-ah, looked at Jeong Ji-hyun, smiled brightly, and asked with bated breath.
“Ready?”
Jeong Ji-hyun’s eyes sparkled as she answered with an exceptionally pretty smile.
* * *
Last night, Han Se-ah had stayed up all night because of Kang Minhyuk. To relieve her fatigue, she went to the massage room. Just as she was about to fall asleep, the vibrating sound “ji-ing” rang out, and when she checked, it was that Kang Minhyuk had gone to a hotel room with a woman.
“Are you crazy? Where does he get the money to go in and out of hotels like his own house?”
Her face was half-smiling as she must have seduced a rich, old woman with money. She must have been envious. Someone walking the flower path into the chaebol world with pride, but she couldn’t do that.
She would immediately go and tell Kang Minhyuk, that bastard, his shabby reality and mock him.
‘Even if you try your hardest to climb up, you’ll never reach my toes.’
It wasn’t because she was jealous. Because the person who ruined herself because of him, she had to make him understand this way so he wouldn’t act out unnecessarily.
“Anyway, I’ll be fired soon, so it’s better to go to the end and make a scene than to show me a miserable face. Hehehe.”
Han Se-ah acted as if she had become a great apostle of justice. She convinced herself. It was something she couldn’t accept herself that she was jealous of the man who had been thrown out to become a chaebol.
Han Se-ah called Oh Seung-won and warned him.
“Arrive soon, so find out where the two of them are. If they move to another place, grab them tight so they can’t go anywhere! Understand?”
She ignored the call and arrived at Noble Hotel. The short time it took to take the elevator from the underground to the 46th floor felt incredibly long.
‘If by any chance the woman with Kang Minhyuk is prettier and younger than I think, what then? No, there’s no way. It must be an old hag with money who had plastic surgery!’
Concern and speculation ran rampant, amplifying her anxiety. And the 46th floor arrived.
The elevator doors opened, and like fate, the two of them faced each other. Kang Minhyuk’s gaze, which had always been directed only at her, to an unknown woman, also to a young, fresh-faced woman exuding a sophisticated professional aura, remained with a bright smile.
Pereng- pengpeng peoeoeong.
It was as if a chain bomb exploded in my head, and then tinnitus started ringing in my ears. To not collapse. Grinding my teeth. Clenching my fists so hard that my artificial nails dug into my palms.
‘All… it’s all because of you.’
Madness flowed in Han Se-ah’s bloodshot eyes.
‘I was the one who was unfortunate… it’s all because of you!’
* * *
I thought she would scream and rush at us the moment she saw us, but unexpectedly she was calm. Turning my head towards the slowly opening door, I met her bloodshot eyes. The effort to maintain composure despite the mix of resentment and anger was visible on her face, which was quite pitiful.
‘Her ugly face has become even more messed up.’
As I stared at her without saying a word, attorney Jeong Ji-hyun, who was holding my arm tightly, pulled me back and said in a coquettish voice.
“Dear~ I don’t think she’s going to come down. Let’s just take the next elevator.”
“Huh. Okay.”
Srruk.
As the elevator door was about to close, Han Se-ah quickly pressed the open button multiple times to reopen it and walked out with a haughty expression. She stood right in front of me and called someone on the phone from somewhere.
At the same time, a bell rang from the corridor side.
“Department head, are you here? Uh… ? Hic!”
Oh Seung-won, the deputy manager who appeared after turning the corner, looked back and forth between Han Se-ah and me with an extremely surprised expression.
Han Se-ah crossed her arms arrogantly and asked her secretary in a nervous voice.
“Deputy Manager Oh. Is this man not our company’s employee?”
“Huh? Uh… yes. That’s right.”
Han Se-ah twisted the corner of her mouth and tilted her head, muttering loud enough to be heard.
“Even if it’s outside the company, isn’t it proper to maintain etiquette towards your superior?”
Etiquette? What a joke. When did she start caring about etiquette like that. It was absurd, but now I had to follow the rules of parachute superior and subordinate. I had to hold my position now to explode a flashy nuclear bomb behind.
Of course, that didn’t mean I would lose.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I pretended not to know on purpose.”
“What?”
“Frankly, isn’t that true? What else would a man and a woman do together in a hotel during the day? Naturally…”
Releasing attorney Jeong Ji-hyun’s arm, which was awkwardly gripping mine, and naturally putting my arm around her shoulder. I deliberately put on the most lecherous gaze possible and looked at Jeong Ji-hyun. To let Han Se-ah feel the intimacy between the two of us. But even Jeong Ji-hyun, who knew it was an act, flinched when she saw my eyes. It seemed my acting was at a high level.
I equipped that gaze as it was and looked back at Han Se-ah and Oh Seung-won.
“Isn’t that right, Deputy Manager Oh.”
“Huh? Ah, no. We’re not like that.”
“Oh Deputy! Don’t make excuses in a cowardly way!”
Oh Seung-won, who was cornered by Han Se-ah’s shout. Sigh~ It’s really pitiful, I can’t watch.
I looked straight at Han Se-ah and asked.
“If it’s not that, did you come to the love scene because you were blinded by jealousy after following my ex-boyfriend?”
“What, what? Jea~lous~? Haha! Me, a chaebol? Are you crazy?”
“Ah~ Then, you had an ex-boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend? Of course there’s no way there is!”
“Then, why did you come here?”
“……”
Han Se-ah, perhaps not having prepared a suitable excuse, sharpened her eyes that were torn and pouted her lips.
“If your business is done, please step aside. We’re quite busy.”
Han Se-ah couldn’t decide whether to do this or that and stood there, glaring at me as if she was about to shoot lasers from her eyes.
“Ah, if you’re worried that I might spread rumors at the company, don’t worry. Let’s consider today’s incident as if we didn’t see each other. Then, please enjoy slowly.”
Ding-
The elevator arrived at a good timing. I held Jeong Ji-hyun’s shoulder and acted affectionately as I entered the open elevator door. Watching Han Se-ah, who was fidgeting and glaring at me until the elevator door closed, how satisfying it was. I had forgotten that I almost knew attorney Jeong Ji-hyun.
“Hey, hey. C-client?”
“Yes?”
“Y-your distance is too close.”
“Ah, sorry.”
I quickly lowered my hand from her shoulder and stepped back one step.
“Thank you for helping.”
“No. I said I would help. But what now?”
“What?”
“I couldn’t give a warning not to follow.”
Hehe.
I answered with a small laugh.
“It’s fine. It’s the same as doing nothing.”
Since I had been humiliated in front of people, she would be quiet for a while. If she tries to follow again, I’ll quietly warn from behind then.
‘If you keep bothering me, I’ll spill everything about the hospital you had surgery at.’
Han Se-ah doesn’t know, but the dermatology hospital I’m going to now is actually the one where Han Se-ah had her plastic surgery. I wasn’t sure which hospital it was, so I went around to different places, and my younger sister suffered a bit. But because she said she would cover the hospital treatment fees, she went happily. Thanks to that, my younger sister’s face became as white as snow. Since I don’t know what Han Se-ah will do from behind, it would be better for me to have at least one weakness as a minimum. I don’t want to use despicable means if possible. But if the other party comes out despicable, I can’t just talk about morality and ethics like a gentleman.
By the way, are elevators AI these days? How did it arrive exactly on time? Amazing.
Ding-
The sound of the elevator arriving at the lobby made me snap out of it. I remembered that I hadn’t mentioned anything about the matter I needed to discuss with attorney Jeong Ji-hyun.
“Attorney, are you busy in the afternoon?”
“Ah. No!”
“I was planning not to talk about work on weekends… I’m really sorry. It’s really important to me.”
“No need to apologize. If it’s important to the client, it’s important to me too.”
My attorney returned to her usual sharp self. I felt guilty that I had exposed my information to this good attorney for a short time.
“By the way, do you like anything?”
“Huh?”
“Chiwitang isn’t your taste, right? You seemed to eat it poorly earlier. Ah! You said you like coffee, right? How about going to a cafe?”
Jeong Ji-hyun’s expression brightened brightly. As if matching the rhythm with her smile. A four-leaf clover on her delicate earlobe sparkled with fine light.
“Yes!”