Chapter 4
Seung-ah and Mi-yeon both worked in the General 1 Team of the Myunglim Pottery General Department. Every morning after clocking in, they usually shared a short tea time, and today’s topic of conversation was Yoo-jin.
“They told you to move out? You just moved in—how long has it even been?”
Startled, Mi-yeon asked hurriedly.
“So are you going to leave?”
“No. I signed a contract fair and square. Why should I?”
“But will you be okay seeing your landlord’s face every day after he told you to vacate the place?”
“What else can I do? I’ll just have to endure it. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”
Mi-yeon stared quietly at Seung-ah for a moment, then spoke again.
“Is it because that’s the house you lived in as a kid? You must think about the memories with your family and all that. Is that why you want to stay?”
Seung-ah slowly nodded.
“Once I stepped back into that house, so many thoughts came rushing in. Peaceful days before my father passed, happy memories… It feels like I came home after being away on a long journey.”
If only Father’s business hadn’t failed, the whole family would’ve kept on living happily there.
But when his business went bankrupt, the shock was too much, and he collapsed and passed away.
The house was seized, and the remaining family members were practically thrown out.
Now, more than ten years later, she had set foot there again—it felt like fate.
At least, until Han Yoo-jin showed up.
Mi-yeon pursed her lips.
“And today’s presentation—you’ll be okay with all that on your mind?”
“What are you even saying? Do I look like the type to let something like this mess up my work?”
“Fine, fine. Just put the house out of your head for a bit, and later make sure the Director is really impressed—”
“Oh! Assistant Manager Park Mi-yeon!”
A loud voice broke in. It was Manager Kim Moo-chil.
He loved to gossip and had just come back from chatting away with some other colleagues.
“That guy who gave you a wedding invitation yesterday—Manager Kim Tae-jun.”
Today’s hot topic was Seung-ah’s ex-boyfriend, Tae-jun.
“What? Ah, yes.”
“He’s marrying the daughter of the president of Sungjin Department Store, right? Everyone’s talking about it.”
Sungjin Department Store?
Oblivious to Seung-ah’s sharp gaze, Moo-chil rambled on.
“Manager Kim must’ve saved a country in his past life. I heard his father-in-law-to-be already bought him a luxury apartment.”
“That president, you mean?”
“Exactly!”
She had heard that the bride’s family was wealthy, but she hadn’t known she was the heiress of Sungjin Department Store. She only learned her name yesterday from the invitation.
‘Some people are on the verge of being kicked out of their homes, while others are the talk of the town. What a life.’
She could feel Mi-yeon glancing at her nervously. Seung-ah brushed it off with a quick “Mm, yeah” and returned to her desk, leaving the chatterbox Moo-chil for Mi-yeon to handle.
Trying to clear her head of thoughts about Yoo-jin and her ex, Seung-ah opened her email to download the revised presentation file she had worked on last night.
And then froze like a statue.
‘The PPT… why isn’t it here?’
Her mind spun frantically. What had she done before falling asleep yesterday? She had met with her landlord, Mr. Han, then returned to her room and worked. Before bed…
She vented her anger, cursing out Mr. Han, hugging her favorite teddy bear on her lap.
She should have uploaded the revised file to her personal email. She must have.
But it wasn’t there. The empty inbox screamed at her:
“You didn’t send me the file! You closed the laptop and went to bed!”
‘Ha… what do I do?’
Normally, she was meticulous with files—backing them up on USBs, external hard drives, multiple copies depending on importance.
But to make such a mistake now…!
In just two hours, she had to give a presentation to the Director and the whole team about the special exhibition.
‘I’ll have to bring my laptop.’
She couldn’t waste time. Seung-ah jumped to her feet.
After telling Mi-yeon she’d be gone briefly, she hurried to the elevator.
As she quick-stepped like a sparrow, a too-familiar voice called out again.
“Assistant Manager Choi!”
Oh no. It was Moo-chil again.
“Where are you rushing off to?”
“Ah. Manager.”
His beady, glistening eyes widened as he approached.
“Today’s presentation—everything ready?”
“Of course.”
“You know those new product samples for this quarter? Set them up in the meeting room. The Director will want to review them right after the presentation. Compare them to past bestsellers, that’ll be perfect.”
Now?
He was just trying to look good for the Director, so nothing she said would change his mind.
Her plan to dash home had already hit a snag.
‘What do I do?’
She couldn’t ask another employee for help.
From picking which past products to display, to arranging them on the tables—everything had to go through her.
‘Ugh. No one can help…’
No, not no one. There was someone else at the house right now.
The man who had shocked her by showing up in the bathroom and scared her stiff by demanding she vacate—her landlord, Han Yoo-jin.
That’s it! This was all his fault anyway. Because of him, she made a mistake she never would have otherwise.
So the least he could do was a little errand—like bringing her laptop.
And hadn’t he kindly given her his number yesterday?
Blaming everything on Yoo-jin, she grabbed her phone. But when it came time to press call, she hesitated.
‘Yesterday I didn’t exactly make a good impression.’
She remembered scolding him furiously not to squash her teddy bear.
But if she didn’t get the laptop, she’d be stuck using the incomplete draft.
And if she gave that presentation in front of the Director—
‘What, did you earn your career playing cards?’
‘How dare you shove this half-baked nonsense at us!’
Moo-chil would rip her to shreds.
“Ugh! Just imagining it…”
Her body shuddered like a vibrating phone.
Better to beg Yoo-jin for help than endure Moo-chil’s spittle-flying rage.
Rrrrr. Rrrrr.
She called several times, but only got the empty dial tone.
‘Still sleeping?’
Maybe he’d gone to bed late with the time difference. Please, just pick up…
In her desperation, Seung-ah started typing a text at lightning speed.
This is Choi Seung-ah. I’m terribly sorry to impose, but it’s urgent. If you have time, could you please bring me the laptop on my desk? I urgently need the files inside. Please, I’d be very grateful. Let’s meet at the entrance to Jungnim Square.
Her feet carried her toward the meeting room even as her eyes kept darting back to her phone.
No reply. Not even read. Her stomach burned.
Mr. Han Yoo-jin, I’m really desperate here. Could you please reply? I beg you.
Yoo-jin grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.
As the cold water soothed the fatigue from jet lag, his phone pinged with a text alert.
He glanced at the screen, and his brows furrowed.
“Ha! Unbelievable. Do I look like her secretary?”
After giving him such an awkward scolding yesterday over a teddy bear, now she was asking him for a favor?
He almost ignored it, planning to relax and watch the news. But then he paused.
“No… wait.”
A crooked smile tugged at his lips.
‘The laptop… she said it’s on the desk, right?’
He went upstairs into Seung-ah’s room.
As expected, it was plastered everywhere with images of predatory carnivores.
He reached for the laptop but then picked up the teddy bear sitting on the desk.
The eyes, the tiny little features—they reminded him of someone.
A pale face, round big eyes, a sharp nose, and tight little lips…
“Looks just like the owner.”
Chuckling, Yoo-jin left the room.
“I’ll bring it to you.”
When the call with Yoo-jin ended, Seung-ah felt like she was flying.
He had so readily agreed to help!
‘Of course. He’s the grandson of our generous Madam Geum Il-bong. He’s got good character.’
Yesterday, he must’ve been shocked too—walking into his house and finding a stranger living there.
That’s probably why he told her to move out.
‘Once we live together a bit, we’ll get used to each other. Just one year—we can manage that, right?’
She decided she would cook extra meals to share with him, maybe even take on the house cleaning.
She practically skipped to the meeting place, but then another call came.
“I’m already here!”
Her voice bubbled with cheer. Yoo-jin, however, was calm.
“More than that, Ms. Choi Seung-ah, I have something to ask of you as well.”
“Right now? I don’t have much time.”
“Not right now. But within the next two weeks—please vacate the room.”
