Private Secretary — Chapter 9
Lee Seol stared at Taesan as if spellbound, seeing a side of him she had never noticed before.
Taesan’s expression was complex—anger, jealousy, and sorrow all tangled together.
The man gazed up at the white ceiling as though organizing his thoughts, and Lee Seol held her breath, afraid that even the slightest sound might disturb him.
Taesan was the first to move.
His gaze, which had been wandering elsewhere the whole time, suddenly turned toward her. Startled, Lee Seol averted her eyes like a girl caught secretly staring at the senior she had a crush on.
“I want to ruin that marriage,” he said quietly. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“…Pardon?”
“If I wanted that woman’s marriage to fall apart… could you make it happen?”
The unexpected question froze Lee Seol on the spot. Amused by her reaction, Taesan let out a small chuckle.
“Why are you so surprised? You’ve done everything I’ve asked of you so far.”
Setting his glass down on the table, Taesan leaned his body toward her.
He was still on the sofa while Lee Seol stood below it, yet for some reason the air between them grew so tense that it felt hard to breathe.
“Are you serious, sir?”
“If I were… what would your answer be?”
Looking at his face—still faintly smiling—it was impossible to tell whether he was joking or being sincere.
Moistening her dry lips with her tongue, Lee Seol answered honestly.
“…I’m willing to do anything you ask of me, Director. But I don’t want to become someone who ruins another person’s life.”
Since she had already been praised for her blunt honesty before, she decided she might as well be a little more shameless.
When Lee Seol refused him outright, Taesan laughed again as though he had expected that answer all along.
But this time, even his laughter seemed strangely bitter, making her chest ache for reasons she couldn’t explain.
“If you had said yes, I was planning to fire you. So that’s a relief.”
He shrugged before his expression turned serious again.
“From now on, if I ever give you an irrational order like that—something completely unacceptable—refuse firmly. Say you won’t obey.”
“….”
“You handle every difficult task so well that it makes me want to ask you to do ridiculous things too.”
As if the alcohol was finally catching up to him, Taesan suddenly tilted his head unsteadily.
Before Lee Seol could even reach out to steady him, the man collapsed forward, resting his head against her shoulder.
“Director?”
“……”
“Director.”
“……”
“Director Kang Taesan.”
There was no response at all, even when she called his name.
Lee Seol cautiously grabbed his arm. It was warm—and solid.
But why on earth was her heart pounding like some kind of pervert’s?
Her mind told her she should gently lay him down on the sofa, yet her body remained stiff, unable to move.
It had been a long time since she had been this close to a man, and the tension seemed to be getting to her.
Soon, however, Lee Seol poked her own leg sharply, trying to snap herself back to her senses.
Why am I nervous? This is work. Work. I’m taking care of my boss.
Scolding herself internally, she held his shoulders as if supporting him and slowly stood up.
But the man’s body, completely limp from losing consciousness, was far heavier than she had expected.
She had only intended to lay him down on the sofa, but Taesan’s head tipped backward and his weight shifted abruptly.
“Ah—!”
Her unstable posture collapsed, and before she could even swallow the scream rising in her throat, Lee Seol fell forward.
Her nose slammed into his chest.
Dazed by the throbbing pain, she couldn’t lift herself right away and froze there for a moment.
When she finally steadied her twisted foot and raised her head, the man was still lying there with his eyes closed, looking as though he were dead to the world.
Even after all that, he’s still not waking up.
She felt relieved that he hadn’t witnessed her embarrassing stumble—at least for a moment.
Then suddenly she realized the position she was in, practically wrapped in Kang Taesan’s arms, and her breath caught.
“Am I crazy?!”
Scrambling, she braced her hands against the sofa and hurriedly pushed herself out of his embrace.
Once she regained her balance, Lee Seol found her gaze drifting toward Taesan’s face without realizing it.
Perhaps because he was silent now.
The sleeping man looked dignified—and surprisingly handsome.
The curve from his forehead down along the bridge of his nose to his chin was impossibly perfect.
Without thinking, Lee Seol lifted her finger into the air and traced the line from his forehead to his chin.
Just then—
Perhaps uncomfortable in his position, Taesan shifted slightly.
Startled like someone caught doing something mischievous, Lee Seol jumped back in alarm.
Feeling that staying in the same space any longer might be dangerous, she quickly began tidying up.
She returned the scattered items on the floor to their proper places, then brought a pillow and blanket from the bed and placed them on the sofa.
Holding Taesan’s head, she gently laid him on his side. His body moved limply as he settled against the pillow.
After covering him with the blanket, Lee Seol cleared away the nearly empty bottle of whiskey and the empty glass.
Then she gathered her belongings and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
The room itself wasn’t hot, but her heart was racing from everything that had just happened.
And now, even looking at Taesan’s face made her heart beat faster again.
“What’s wrong with me, seriously…”
Watching him from a distance, the sorrowful expression he had shown earlier naturally resurfaced in her mind.
Just as movies become more interesting when there’s an unexpected twist, people also become more fascinating when they reveal sides you never anticipated.
Seeing someone who seemed like he would scoff at love actually suffering from heartbreak was strangely intriguing.
A man like Kang Taesan had flaws. There were things he longed for but could not have. There was emptiness in him.
Now that she had learned that, Lee Seol quietly revised the judgment she had made about him until now.
She wasn’t sure whether this was romantic interest.
But one thing was certain—Kang Taesan no longer felt as intimidating as he once had.
Lee Seol suddenly remembered a passage she had once read somewhere.
Humans can’t help but love other humans because we are all imperfect.
At the time, she hadn’t understood those words.
But now… she felt she might finally relate to them.
Because of Taesan.
* * *
All the way home, Taesan’s words and the loneliness on his face refused to leave Lee Seol’s mind.
It felt like a lingering aftereffect of confronting a side of her boss she had never imagined.
At first she thought it was simply because she felt sorry for him.
But when she realized she still felt gloomy even after showering and lying down in bed, confusion set in.
Kang Taesan was the one suffering from heartbreak.
So why did her heart feel heavy too?
“Stop thinking about it. Sure, it was surprising that he said something like that, but so what? Why am I obsessing over it like this?”
Staring at the ceiling, Lee Seol muttered the scolding words to herself.
She closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep early, but all sorts of random questions kept bubbling up in her mind.
Just what kind of woman was the one her boss had liked for so long?
Even from her striking appearance alone, it seemed easy to understand how he might fall for her.
But somehow, it felt like there had to be something more to her than that.
What kind of charm did she possess to make a man who seemed like he wouldn’t bleed even if pricked with a needle think about marriage?
Kang Taesan of all people turned out to be a man devoted to only one woman? What a twist…
Realizing sleep was hopeless now, Lee Seol eventually picked up her phone and opened a portal site.
When she searched the woman’s name, a profile surprisingly appeared.
From the photo, it was definitely the same person. She was currently serving as a division director at a major cosmetics conglomerate—and a fourth-generation chaebol heir.
Lee Seol searched to see if any news about the marriage had been reported, but perhaps it was still confidential.
Not a single article existed.
Then who on earth is the groom?
To Lee Seol, Taesan himself was already an incredibly impressive and perfect man.
Yet she was choosing to marry someone else.
Just how extraordinary must that man be?
“…But what’s wrong with me?”
Since when had she been this interested in someone else’s life?
Why was she trying to dig into someone else’s private affairs?
Have I gone crazy? Working with crazy Kang Taesan must be driving me crazy too.
Though she belatedly snapped out of it and set her phone down, sleep still wouldn’t come.
* * *
Bzzzz— Bzzzz—
She didn’t know when she had fallen asleep, but she woke up to the vibration of her phone.
Thinking there was only one person who would call her out of the blue like this, she checked the screen.
She expected it to be Taesan.
Instead, an unfamiliar number starting with 010 appeared.
What?
“…Hello, this is Han Lee Seol.”
A voice came from the other end.
“I’m sorry for calling you so suddenly without warning. This is Kang Taesan’s father speaking.”
Sleep vanished instantly from her eyes.
