It Turns Out the Boss Was Hari Noona
It turned out the boss of the place where I worked was Hari noona. Before enlisting, I’d done a brief stint as a fitting model. Looking back on those memories now, it really had been a strange experience.
“Um…”
“…?”
Back when I was still in high school, someone called out to me while I was on my way home after running a simple errand. She had a camera slung over her shoulder, an intellectual air about her, and the graceful beauty of a refined woman. Anyone who saw her would immediately assume she was a photographer. She held out a business card to me.
“I work in this industry. Would you be interested in modeling?”
Street casting. That’s exactly what had happened to me.
I’d been through this a few times before, so I examined the card. Riha Shopping Mall? I’d never heard of it. Compared to the other cards I’d received, it had far less name recognition. Yet for some reason, it caught my interest. As if it were fate.
“What exactly would the job involve?”
“Are you interested?”
“Yes. A little.”
At my answer, she must have sensed her chance and began trying to persuade me. I was already planning to do it anyway. But I had one condition.
“I’m still a high school student. Would it be possible to start after I finish the college entrance exam?”
“What? You’re a high school student?”
She looked slightly flustered.
“Are you really in high school?”
“Yes. Here.”
I pulled out my student ID and showed it to her briefly.
“…You really are.”
She must have thought I was lying because I didn’t want the job.
“All right. Contact me after the exam, then.”
“Okay. I’ll be going now.”
After we parted ways, I called her once the exam was over. The photographer noona had been so shocked that I actually followed through that it was almost funny. Looking back now, I realize how lucky I was. After all, it had grown into an incredibly successful online shopping mall.
“I’ll contact you after I finish my military service.”
“Got it.”
Leaving behind the photographer noona, who looked disappointed to see me go, I headed off to the army. That noona turned out to be Yoon Seolah, the one who had called me yesterday.
That was why, on this Sunday, I was once again starting the fitting model job I had done before enlisting.
Click!Click!
My body instinctively shifted poses at the sound of the shutter. Since it was work I’d done before, my muscles reacted faster than my brain. Before long the shutter clicks stopped, signaling that the shoot was over.
“Good work today, Yeonwoo.”
The photographer whose appearance hadn’t changed much in two years aside from a more mature aura—Yoon Seolah. Seolah noona walked over to me.
“Not at all. You worked harder, noona.”
“What did I even do?”
Noona ruffled my hair.
“Your white hair is still as charming as ever.”
“…You think so?”
“Yeah. If you hadn’t gone into the military, you’d probably be a famous model by now.”
“It’s not that big a deal.”
“It absolutely is.”
It wasn’t false modesty. I genuinely meant it.
“How did the shopping mall grow so much?”
It had been reasonably popular before, but the change was dramatic while I was away. It had even expanded overseas and started appearing in news articles.
“Our CEO is a bit of a superhuman.”
“Now that you mention it, you said the CEO was coming today, right?”
“Yeah. She should be here soon.”
Noona spoke casually, as if they were quite close.
“You two must be pretty friendly.”
“You know I graduated from your university, right?”
“Yes. You mentioned it before.”
“She goes there too. Truth is, even though I’m the photographer, we started the company together. She handles most of the actual work, though.”
“Really?”
It was the first I’d heard of it.
Looking forward to this.
After being discharged, this was my first time seeing Seolah noona again, but I’d never met the CEO at all. On my very first day I had actually mistaken Seolah noona for the CEO. She had laughed so hard when I called her that. Even thinking about it now made me embarrassed.
Beep-beep!
“Oh, there she is.”
At the sound of the office door lock opening, I naturally turned my head.
Clack. Clack.
A woman in a suit and high heels walked in. Her figure was impossible to hide even beneath the jacket. She wore a mask and sunglasses as if trying to conceal her identity—the CEO.
“…?”
Her steps were elegant, and something about them felt strangely familiar, like I had seen them before.
The CEO and Seolah noona exchanged a few words.
“Seolah.”
“Yeah. Can I head out now?”
“Yes. I’ll call you later.”
“Got it. Yeonwoo, I’ll go on ahead?”
“…Uh, yes? Sure.”
Seolah noona gathered her belongings and left through the same door the CEO had entered.
“…”
“…”
Now it was just me and the CEO. Perhaps because it had been so long, a slightly awkward tension filled the air.
Still wondering why she felt so familiar, I spoke first.
“It’s been a while, CEO.”
We used to talk quite comfortably. Now that she was in such a high position I wasn’t sure what tone to use, but acting the same as before felt like the right choice.
The CEO, still wearing her sunglasses like always, called my name.
“Yeonwoo.”
Huh? It wasn’t the first time the CEO had said my name. She used to call me after work, when giving advice, or when we walked somewhere together. But the feeling this time was completely different. The familiar, gentle voice sounded exactly like one I had heard only yesterday, reminding me of someone.
“Hari noona…?”
Yes. It was the voice of Hari noona, the one I had spent half a day with yesterday.
Once I thought that and really looked, the way the suit fit her matched the one Hari noona had worn yesterday perfectly.
“It is you, isn’t it, Hari noona?”
I asked hesitantly, but I was already certain. The voice that called my name, the height that clearly exceeded 170 centimeters, the overall aura—everything had stayed in my mind. There was no way I wouldn’t recognize her after seeing her just yesterday.
Swoosh.
The CEO took my hand in her beautiful one. The touch was so soft I never wanted to let go. With her other hand she removed her mask, revealing a lovely lower face that was beautiful even without seeing her eyes. Then she took off the sunglasses, and a pair of stunning red eyes—rare in this world—stared straight into mine.
Whoa…
It was definitely the same face I had seen yesterday, yet it felt brand new. The black jacket, the pure white blouse, and the black suit pants gave her an air of mature sophistication and breathtaking beauty. I had thought something similar before, but today the impression was even stronger. It felt like she had decided to put an end to something today.
Hari noona set the mask and sunglasses on the nearby desk and gave a faint smile.
“You caught me.”
The way she smiled so softly and spoke with clear relief was incredibly cool. It was such a subtle smile that it was barely noticeable, yet realizing it made the moment feel almost dangerously charming.
“…”
I had guessed correctly, but the situation was so unexpected that I froze up.
“…You’re the CEO, noona?”
“Yes. Look at the mall’s name.”
Riha Shopping Mall. As I stared at it and thought, something finally clicked.
…Aha.
It was backwards. Hari noona’s name spelled in reverse became Riha Shopping Mall.
To think the boss of the place I had worked at was Hari noona. It was the kind of thing I wouldn’t believe even if it were a novel.
That realization brought a flood of thoughts.
Then the clothes at noona’s house…?
She must have known my measurements because she was the CEO and had bought them for me.
…Has she been watching me since two years ago?
My connection with the CEO had begun when I was nineteen, right after the college entrance exam. The whole thing felt confusing.
“Let’s sit down for a bit. There’s a lot I want to tell you.”
“Yes…”
I trailed off, still struggling to accept that this was real.
Hari noona and I sat side by side on the sofa right next to us. She never let go of my hand. I waited with a pounding heart for the words that would come next.
“Yeonwoo.”
“Yes, noona.”
“Were you surprised?”
“I was a little, but I’m okay. When I think about it, there were a lot of similarities.”
The CEO from two years ago and Hari noona. There were several clues that could have told me they were the same person.
“Still, you must have a lot of questions.”
“…An unbelievable amount.”
Most of what I wanted to know had been brushed aside with the words “It’s Sunday,” so I had accumulated quite a few questions. Would I finally get answers today?
“I’ll tell you everything today.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. I planned to tell you today from the beginning.”
The fact that she had specifically chosen Sunday made it clear this had all been arranged from start to finish.
“Just a moment.”
Noona released my hand and stood up.
“Ah…”
The hand I had wanted to keep holding was gone, and the disappointment left me speechless.
“Don’t make that face. What would you like to drink? This might take a while.”
“…Strawberry juice, please.”
“Strawberry juice? Got it.”
Hari noona walked to the refrigerator, returned with a strawberry juice and a canned coffee, and sat down again. When she took my hand once more, a smile naturally spread across my face.
With a satisfied smile, noona asked,
“Hehe. It’s going to be a long story. Is that all right?”
“It’s fine.”
“I’ll start from when I was little. It’ll be easier to understand that way.”
I wanted to hear every single word. Stories about the person I liked that I had never known. Stories from her childhood. I would have paid money to listen. No matter what she said, I planned to focus completely and learn everything I could about her.
“…”
Hari noona stared at me intently. It reminded me of yesterday in the elevator, when our eyes had met. The look in her eyes as she gazed at me revealed her desire far more clearly than it had the day before.
Love. The emotion I had told myself wasn’t real, that I had dismissed as a misunderstanding. As she began to speak, that feeling started to shine openly in noona’s eyes.