Chapter 18
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Seo Na-yeon's Rookie Days
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"Alright! Let's welcome our new hire, Seo Na-yeon!"
The new employee welcome dinner was held at a barbecue joint across from the office.
"Here, have a shot... I'm Assistant Manager Kim Cheol-ho!"
"Oh, drop the formalities, haha."
"You sure? I heard you're the boss's acquaintance."
"Just middle school classmates, that's all."
The president Kwak Young-cheol, four dealers, and one accountant. In this small male-dominated office with five guys and one woman, the addition of a new female employee had everyone in high spirits.
Even if she wasn't great at the job, Seo Na-yeon was S-grade in looks and figure. The male staff in their twenties and early thirties welcomed her a bit overly enthusiastically, and her deflated confidence from her first taste of office life slowly recovered thanks to their kindness.
"Come on, Na-yeon, down this shot."
"Ah, Oppa, I'm weak with booze these days. More than that, sorry I'm so bad at work."
"Nah, it's fine. Da-hye's handling everything anyway. Don't sweat it."
President Kwak Young-cheol treated her like an old friend, looking out for her and patting her back, so as Na-yeon got tipsy from the booze flowing freely, her mood skyrocketed from rock bottom.
"As the newbie, I'll pick a song and sing one!"
"Ooh! Na-yeon, you're really good!"
"Sing! Sing!"
Plus, though her delinquent days were short in middle school, she was originally a tough girl type. She'd been around booze and fun early on, a veteran(?) in this arena, so she was a pro at livening up drinking parties.
Everyone was having a blast.
Everyone except Oh Da-hye, who sat there stone-faced, quietly munching on side dishes.
"President, I need to use the restroom..."
"Yeah, go ahead."
As soon as Oh Da-hye stepped out, the drunk Seo Na-yeon recalled getting chewed out by her earlier that day and subtly started badmouthing her.
"Oppa, why's Da-hye always got that sourpuss face?"
Middle-school-level crude language.
Kwak Young-cheol nearly blurted out, 'Because you're fucking useless at work...', but since he had his own agenda, he played along with Na-yeon's gossip.
"Oh Da-hye? That bitch is always like that. No matter what I tell her to do, she's got that shitty frown every damn time."
Kwak Young-cheol didn't like Oh Da-hye much. Why?
Honestly, it boiled down to her below-average looks and stubby build. He'd always hired accountants based on how nicely shaped their asses were, not ability. But after constant quits due to sexual harassment issues and the place gaining a rep as a toxic workplace, he'd tearfully hired Oh Da-hye as a last resort.
She was good at the job, but he wanted to fire her ASAP because of her ugly face and perpetual scowl. He'd planned to axe her as soon as Seo Na-yeon showed even a shred of competence... but Na-yeon's disastrously inept skills meant Oh Da-hye's tenure was getting extended.
"She's rude as hell normally too. Just trying to spare your feelings."
Assistant Manager Kim Cheol-ho piled on, clearly harboring his own grudges.
"From what I hear, she's into feminism or something."
"Feminism?"
"She looks the type, kekeke."
"Hey, watch it if Da-hye hears you."
The male employees' image of Oh Da-hye was so bad it even shocked Seo Na-yeon. She inwardly thought she could win them over, gossiping about Da-hye and blending right in with the veterans.
A few days passed like that. Seo Na-yeon was still horribly bad at her job and slow to learn, but... she was starting to fit into the office vibe and figured she wouldn't get fired even if she sucked. In other words, she'd gotten cheekier.
"Na-yeon, did you sort those documents I asked for earlier?"
"Oh? Sorry~ I was busy with something else..."
"Something else?"
"Yeah, Da-hye, don't make Na-yeon do it. You handle it."
"Pardon? But..."
"I told Na-yeon to run an errand earlier."
"..."
She'd come in as a newbie, but Oh Da-hye still handled 100% of the accounting work.
With President Kwak Young-cheol blatantly playing favorites and shielding her, even as the junior, Oh Da-hye couldn't push back much despite being senior. She was competent but no match for Seo Na-yeon in office politics.
Seo Na-yeon's "work" mostly consisted of scrolling her phone and coasting on salary. At best, she'd chat idly in the president's office or flirt with the other guys.
"Na-yeon, brew some coffee for the client lounge."
"Got it, Oppa~"
And when male clients came, she'd serve coffee with a subtle charm offensive—that was it.
Of course, wearing skirts so short her thighs peeked out, and with one loop around the room, all eyes went straight to Na-yeon's rear, so it was plenty useful.
"President Kwak, your new accountant's a real looker, huh?!"
"Heh, right?"
"I've been coming here more often just to see her, kekeke."
"Enjoyed the eye candy? Buy one then. Got some good stock in lately."
"Haha, well now."
The middle-aged presidents who dropped by often via Young-cheol's family connections and boosted sales reacted especially hot. Kwak Young-cheol intentionally had her serve them coffee, and since Na-yeon was good with people, she chatted them up eagerly. She had to be useful somewhere to offset her work incompetence.
And Seo Na-yeon handled this kind of task pretty well.
Of course, Oh Da-hye's gaze toward Na-yeon's obnoxious antics grew colder with contempt, but Seo Na-yeon stopped caring and instead cozied up more to President Kwak Young-cheol.
No reason to buddy up with Oh Da-hye, who was basically office outcast anyway—classic female office scheming kicked in.
"Na-yeon, wanna knock off early and grab a drink? New wine bar opened at Rotary— their snacks are killer."
"Really? Sounds good, but... what about Da-hye?"
"...I'm fine. You two go ahead."
"You sure?"
"...Yes."
"Cool. Da-hye, stick around and wrap up. Thanks~"
Like that, the newbie got used to dumping daily tasks on her senior Oh Da-hye and sucking honey, so it was hard to turn down President Kwak Young-cheol's daily drink invites.
Originally, Kwak Young-cheol had been intimidating to Seo Na-yeon. Her old delinquent senior from middle school was now her husband's boss, and the husband was suddenly playing loyal retainer, ready to take the fall for the boss and go to prison. What wife would like that?
But reality was reality. No matter how much of a deadbeat the husband was, once he went to jail, household finances would get dire. And for Na-yeon, who'd never held a proper job, it was even more daunting.
So Young-cheol's job offer was a godsend. Obvious ulterior motives or not... she couldn't just quit.
Why? Because working these past few days had brutally shown her how utterly incompetent she was at office work.
'I just can't hack a normal office job.'
No skills, dropout after middle school—she was getting office salary for basic errands. It was pure honey-sucking bliss.
Of course, his increasingly blatant moves to bed her were obvious... but she could just grit her teeth and bear it.
"Nice vibe here, right?"
"Yeah, never been to a place like this."
So flattering him at an overpriced wine bar that didn't suit her at all, matching his boasts and ego-stroking, was no big deal.
"Oppa, you added another business?"
"Really? Besides used cars?"
"Yup. The old man's energy's fading, handed me about half."
Kwak Young-cheol, desperately flashing cash and success.
He looked like a literal toad, a fat slob... but it wasn't empty swagger—he was genuinely loaded, so his words carried weight.
Could money create its own appeal? As Na-yeon got tipsier, the toad-like puffy face started looking somewhat maturely charming.
...On second thought, up close, he was kinda tolerable.
Compared to her handsome but utterly useless husband Kang Tae-gu, wasn't a capable toad like Kwak Young-cheol the better man?
These thoughts kept creeping in.
"What kind of business?"
"See that motel right across the street? That one."
"Whoa, really? Looks like seven stories...?"
"Doesn't look it, but land's cheap here. Cost me about 30 billion won?"
His tone was like bragging about a new toy, but a 30-billion-won motel... Na-yeon had never dreamed of touching that kind of money.
Ah, this is flirting with stacks of cash.
Dazed, Seo Na-yeon gulped down her wine like her throat was on fire.
Of course, even the used car lot was worth tens of billions... but motels were known as solid cash cows.
'Damn, he's really loaded...'
Rationally, no attraction to his looks, but impossible to ignore his wealth. Versus the handsome guy to her taste but incompetent Kang Tae-gu.
She couldn't stop wondering, 'What if I'd gotten pregnant with Kwak Young-cheol's kid? How different would my life be?'
Her mouth soured, and she overdrank faster than usual. Meant to soothe her burning gut, but to Young-cheol, it looked like a green light.
Three hours later.
The lively drinking session turned to wrapping up. Na-yeon, who'd gone overboard past her limit, kept nodding off onto the table.
"Hehe, you were pounding them too hard. Time to head home, Na-yeon."
"Aaaang... just one more shoooot?"
"No more. Get up."
Actually, it was exactly the scenario Kwak Young-cheol wanted.
Especially with her drunk body clinging to him, getting him all heated...
"How about we inspect my new business and grab one more there?"
"Eeeh? Buuusiness?"
"Told you earlier. That motel's mine. We'll get a room and have just one drink. Got it?"
"Uuung... but Hyun-seong's waiting... hic!"
That damn kid. These past days, he'd pushed for more, but she always used the son excuse to stop short.
"It's fine. High school senior's basically grown."
"Eeven sooo..."
"Just one more, right? Wash up comfy and we'll drink."
With that, Kwak Young-cheol half-dragged the wasted Na-yeon across the street to his own motel.
