Chapter 20
. Joo Hana, I’m Going to Crush You!
In the corner of a café not far from DK Foods’ headquarters,
Chae Soo-hwa sat across from a man in a neat suit, wearing a long red dress.
She brushed back her wavy hair and stared at him intently.
“Hey, Goo Dong-geun. Is this such a hard question to answer?”
“…”
Goo Dong-geun kept shaking his leg as if his seat was uncomfortable.
Looking frustrated, Chae Soo-hwa leaned forward.
“Hey! What do you know? Hurry up and talk! What’s there to think about?”
“Knowing your personality, of course I have to think about it.”
Her eyes widened in mock surprise.
“Oh my, what’s wrong with my personality? You’re not mistaking me for someone else, are you?”
“Wouldn’t it be harder to mistake you for someone else?”
At his words, she curved her eyes into crescents and smiled sweetly.
“Well, well. Look at you talking back. Remember how you followed my friend Hye-jung around saying you liked her and got slapped? I barely stopped her from reporting you as a stalker. You know she even wrote up a criminal complaint, right? I stopped that too.”
At the sudden mention of a dark past, Goo Dong-geun’s face went pale.
He straightened his back like a meerkat and glanced around nervously in case someone overheard.
“That was years ago! And I was innocent! I never followed her around! She confessed to me, and when I turned her down…”
“Does the truth even matter? If you’d been reported and sued back then, your life would’ve been ruined. Her dad works at the National Tax Service. If they’d been serious, even your uncle’s company would’ve been in big trouble.”
“…Thanks. I really do appreciate that. But…”
Her smile vanished into a flat expression.
“Dong-geun, have you ever heard the saying, ‘Never help a black-haired beast’? It means don’t help an ungrateful human—like you.”
The exact phrase was ‘Don’t take in a black-haired beast’, but Dong-geun didn’t know it anyway.
“…”
“If you don’t want to tell me, fine. I’ll just go whine to my dad that you won’t help me over something so trivial.”
“A—ah, no, you can’t do that.”
Goo Dong-geun was her cousin—technically, her maternal cousin.
They’d grown up seeing each other often, so he knew exactly how much of a doting father Chae Kwon-joo was.
Even after losing his wife, Kwon-joo had looked after his sister-in-law’s family like his own.
He’d even given considerable help to Dong-geun’s father’s business.
If Soo-hwa exaggerated and tattled to him, it could put his parents in an awkward position.
In the end, Dong-geun surrendered. With a long sigh, he answered her question.
“I think it’s Deputy Joo Hana from the Food Planning Team.”
“It’s either her or it’s not. What’s with ‘I think’?”
“I saw them coming to work together.”
Soo-hwa gave a short laugh of disbelief.
“Hey, they work at the same company. Their commute could just happen to overlap. This is why lifelong singles never get it.”
Her jab made him sulk.
“I saw them several times—coming out of the subway together.”
“What time? Around six in the morning?”
“Yeah. If you take the first train from Sindorim, you arrive around then. But… they said they’re not dating. I asked directly.”
Of course, when he asked, she’d yelled, ‘Are you crazy?!’ and hit him, but he’d still gotten the answer he wanted—they weren’t dating.
Soo-hwa rested her elbows on the table and leaned in.
“Hmm… so they might be in the talking stage. What do her parents do? Is she, like, a third-generation chaebol?”
“No.”
“Daughter of some big-name CEO? Rich? Lots of real estate?”
“Pretty sure it’s none of those.”
Dong-geun had met plenty of wealthy daughters himself.
Hana was cute and lovable, sure, but she didn’t have the vibe of a rich girl at all.
Her clothes, shoes, and bag were all non-luxury brands. Recently, he’d overheard her bragging about buying four hoodies for 39,900 won from a home shopping channel.
And the fact that she packed her own lunch every day? Definitely not rich.
Soo-hwa folded her arms, nodding slowly.
“Really? Then maybe her parents are high-ranking officials?”
Si-wan, after all, was the son of DK Foods’ Do Myung-jin. With his own wealth, her background might not matter much.
“No. Her dad used to be a cop. Now he runs a snack shop.”
“Huh? A snack shop? Like as a hobby?”
“Don’t think so…”
The more she asked, the worse her mood got.
“So she’s not rich, not powerful… Then she must be stunningly beautiful?”
If it wasn’t money or status, the only thing left was looks.
“Well… that depends on your standards.”
“From the way you said that, she’s probably not a knockout. Got a picture?”
With a reluctant sigh, he fiddled with his phone.
“A group photo from a team dinner…”
The moment the picture popped up, Soo-hwa snatched the phone from his hand.
“Which one? It’s not this older woman, right?”
The “older woman” was Team Leader Oh Ah-young—who would’ve wailed if she’d heard that.
Most of the other women were unremarkable, but one round-faced, cute-looking woman stood out.
She was better than the others in the photo, but aside from her cuteness, not much else.
Half in disbelief, Soo-hwa pointed at the screen.
“Don’t tell me it’s this one in the hoodie?”
“Yeah, that’s her. But honestly, the photo doesn’t do her justice. She’s prettier in person.”
“…Wow. Unbelievable.”
Barely any makeup.
An unfashionable silver-rimmed pair of glasses that covered half her face.
Hair tied up in a way that screamed I didn’t try.
And a hoodie? To the office?
Soo-hwa was so dumbfounded she couldn’t even speak.
She herself had celebrity-level looks, enough wealth to rival most respectable families, and her family’s SCH Financial was high in the banking hierarchy—meaning she had influence too.
An only daughter from such a family!
So why on earth was he interested in this woman instead of her?
If Joo Hana had more wealth, more power, or even unmatched beauty, she could’ve understood.
“That woman’s really annoying me. I’d better get rid of her.”
At her venom-laced murmur, Dong-geun’s face turned ashen.
“N-noona… You’re not going to hurt her, are you?”
“Hurt her? No, I’m going to be nice to her.”
“…Huh?”
How could she call it “being nice” after saying the girl annoyed her?
With a charming smile, she met his eyes.
“To gaslight someone, you have to become their best friend first, right?”
“G-gaslighting? That’s a crime!”
She gave a little laugh.
“Oh, please. I’m just going to separate her from Si-wan oppa and introduce her to a great guy. You said they’re not even dating yet.”
Sure, the separation would involve a few schemes and tricks, but there was no need to tell loose-lipped Dong-geun that.
“No way!”
“What do you mean, no?”
Face flushed red, he dropped his gaze to under the table.
“Introducing her to another guy… I don’t like that.”
She studied him quietly.
DK Foods’ workday started at nine. She knew Si-wan was the type to go in early, but Dong-geun wasn’t.
When he kept his mouth shut, a smile spread back across her face.
“Don’t tell me… you like this Deputy Joo Hana?”
“…”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“I don’t care. Just don’t mess with Hana-sunbae. She’s a good person.”
Sure, she nagged him, ignored his texts, and told him to buzz off whenever he came near—but deep down, she was good.
Soo-hwa covered her mouth like some noble lady in a webtoon and laughed.
“I told you I’d be nice to her, dummy. So, for your sake, I’ll just focus on taking her away from Si-wan oppa.”
Relief lit up his face.
“R-really?”
“Mm-hm. Now you can go. I know her face, so I’ll handle the rest.”
As he shuffled out of the café, Soo-hwa watched his back with a mocking smile.
“You really don’t know your place, do you? Tsk, tsk.”
How could someone like Goo Dong-geun hope to win a woman who’d been involved with Si-wan?
Sure, his background wasn’t bad and he was decent-looking…
But the gap between him and Si-wan was enormous.
If Dong-geun was imported chuck-eye roll from Australia, Si-wan was premium Korean Hanwoo ++ ribeye.
Not even comparable.
With a wicked smile, she murmured to herself—
“Joo Hana. How dare you touch what’s mine? I’ll smash you to pieces.”
