ALRE 11

Chapter : 11

Unable to watch any longer, Dong-hoon twisted his body and looked at I-young.

“Why are you acting like this, Kang I-young? At least tell us the reason.”

“Haah. You don’t need to know. Just leave me alone, okay?”

“Don’t tell me… is it because your dad called last night?”

“What? My father called you?”

“Yeah. That’s why I told him we were in Gangwon Province.”

I-young swept back her hair and sighed. Even stealing required good teamwork, and her friends had failed her.

“I’m never going on a trip with you again.”

“I made a mistake? Don’t tell me you’re going home now because of that?”

Dong-hoon covered his mouth and rolled his eyes.

“Dong-hoon’s always been slow on the uptake. I-young, be understanding,” Hye-sun chimed in.

I-young knew well that the biggest problem was that she hadn’t told her friends to keep quiet.
She’d lashed out at Dong-hoon unfairly, but really, it was her own fault.

She sighed again and turned her gaze out the window.

“Ugh, I’m getting car sick. Feels like there isn’t enough oxygen in here.”

Mi-joo, who usually got carsick easily, was in the passenger seat gagging.

Startled, Tae-joo hurried to find a plastic bag and hooked it around Mi-joo’s ear.

After that commotion passed, the car finally grew quiet.

Dong-hoon stared at I-young’s face beside him and let out a faint sigh.

He couldn’t stop thinking about what the man she’d met on that arranged date had said yesterday.
It had left him in an awful mood.

That man… compared to someone half-baked like him, he was far too impressive.

Dong-hoon hadn’t even graduated yet—he wasn’t competition at all.
And even when he did graduate, it would take years before he could build a stable footing.

“Hey, Dong-hoon. Move over a bit. You’re squishing me.”

I-young grumbled as she pushed his body aside.
When her small, soft frame brushed against his arm, Dong-hoon’s face turned red.

“I-I told you, you should just sit on my lap…”

When he stuttered in embarrassment, I-young glared and barked back:

“No matter how small I am, if I sit on your lap, what about my neck? Am I supposed to stick it out the sunroof all the way home?”

“I-young, just come to the back. It’s comfortable here,” Cheol-min, who had been sitting alone in the cargo area, called out.

With all that bickering, they somehow arrived in Seoul before they knew it. Tae-joo finally shouted in exasperation:

“Hey, we’re here. Get out one by one. I’ll drop you off at the nearest subway station.”

One by one they got out, and I-young was the last to leave the car.

She waved goodbye to Tae-joo and walked toward her apartment.

The closer she got to home, the more her hands trembled.

Trying to suppress the growing anxiety, she opened the door—only to find Joo-sik standing stiffly like a stone statue.

At this hour, he should’ve been at work, but he had postponed going to the office just to wait for his daughter to come home.

I-young flinched at his intensity and instinctively took a step back.

Before coming home she had rehearsed thousands of times how she would explain, how she would beg for forgiveness…
But now that she was facing him, her mind went completely blank.

“Well, well. Running away?”

“Dad, I’m sorry. I lied. I actually went with my friends.”

In moments like this, admitting fault immediately was the best survival strategy.

“That so? Then when did you part ways with CEO Jung? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to set up that meeting?”

“Well… um…”

When she hesitated, Joo-sik pulled up CEO Jung’s number on his phone.

“Should I ask him myself?”

“Dad, I’ll tell you everything exactly as it happened. No lies, I promise.”

I-young dropped to her knees and shuffled close to him.

“All right. Let’s hear what my daughter has to say.”

Joo-sik sat on the sofa, ready to listen. I-young sat opposite him.

With a heavy sigh, she confessed everything—
from the arranged meeting to going to Daegwallyeong, not leaving out a single detail.

If even one thing sounded suspicious, Joo-sik was the type to call immediately for verification.

After hearing the whole story, he leaned back comfortably on the sofa.

“Kiddo, you don’t know what kind of person CEO Jung is, do you?”

“O-of course not.”

“You really are my daughter—always choosing the worst possible thing to do.”

Clicking his tongue, he shook his head.

Seeing his softened attitude, I-young cautiously let out a bit of her true feelings.

“And seriously, who gets married at my age? I’m not getting married.”

“You think men like him are easy to find?”

“He already has a girlfriend. She came with him yesterday.”

Joo-sik’s face scrunched up.

“No way. CEO Jung wouldn’t do that. Is that true?”

“Why would I lie? Yes, she was incredibly gorgeous.”

“There must’ve been a reason he was there. If it was for business, she’s probably an employee.”

She vaguely remembered him saying something about being on a business trip.

But still—

“No. When I asked if she was his girlfriend, he didn’t deny it.”

“Is that so… Well, I’ll look into that myself. For now, start working at the company. Stop hanging around with those useless kids.”

“I already am working there.”

She wasn’t officially an employee, but she helped at her father’s company whenever she had time.

“That’s not enough. Learn properly at a real company. You need experience in the field.”

“Then… there won’t be any more arranged dates, right? Right?”

“Right. So go work at the company I introduce you to.”

I-young had an excellent eye as an art major—
she was naturally talented at using art prints or art furniture as objets to create stylish spaces.

Knowing that, Joo-sik wanted to use this opportunity to put her to work properly.

After all, people should swim in large waters.

“Fine. I’ll get a job.”

“Good. But don’t ever pull something like this again.”

“Sorry. I won’t.”

“I’m going to visit Mrs. Choi now. Get some rest.”

“Okay. See you later.”

As he watched his daughter walk to her room, Joo-sik let out a small amused breath.

Rest up now, kiddo.
You’re going to be working your butt off soon enough.