Chapter 3
The New Company
What? What is this guy saying now?
My mouth fell open at Lee Junseo‘s sudden attack.
When I finally came to my senses, I saw that Gu hyeongdo was reacting similarly.
This is no time for this.
“W-what, seriously? No, Park Chaewon, you…”
“What? Did you think you were the only one who could two-time?”
At my counterattack, old man’s shut his mouth.
Junseo had one eyebrow raised and was looking at me.
Ugh. This is exactly why I didn’t want to say anything.
This is embarrassing.
I placed my free hand on my hip and let out a sigh.
Part of me wanted to agree with Junseo, but I couldn’t do that.
For one, we weren’t actually dating.
And I didn’t want to become the same kind of person.
“It’s a lie. Assistant Manager Lee Junseo, unlike some people, knows what conscience and manners are. I’m here because I work at this company.”
I said that and pointed to the ‘SJ’ spelling on the building we were standing in front of.
Old man’s mouth dropped open.
When he looked at Junseo, Junseo just shrugged his shoulders.
“T-then why did you say girlfriend…?” old man’s asked, sounding wronged.
Why do you think?
I was about to say that Junseo was just trying to help me out.
But Junseo spoke before I could.
“We could date. After all, Ms. Park Chaewon isn’t seeing anyone right now, is she?”
This guy, seriously.
I lifted the hand from my hip and pushed Junseo away.
Get lost.
But Junseo didn’t budge an inch; instead, he looked at me as if he found this amusing.
Old man’s, his mouth still agape, stared at me and Junseo before finally speaking to me.
It seemed he had decided to ignore Junseo‘s last remark.
“Y-you… here… Minhee works at a company here.”
Who’s Minhee?
My gaze met Junseo‘s.
But the next moment, I realized that was the name of Old man’s, fiancée.
I work at the same company as his fiancée?
Junseo asked Old man, “Where does she work?”
“Here. Wizard.”
Wizard?
I reflexively checked the sign in front of the office building.
Three different companies shared the building.
SJ occupied the most floors, but from this floor up to four floors were used by a company called Wizard.
Ah, I see.
Luckily, it seemed we weren’t in the same company. I spoke nonchalantly.
“I’m at SJ.”
Old man let out an “Ah,” his mouth opening and then closing.
He seemed to be calculating that since the companies were different, he might not have to worry about me running into his fiancée.
But it was the same building. They could bump into each other coming to or from work.
Not that I had any intention of doing anything if we happened to meet.
“Just saying this in case.”
Old man opened his mouth again.
I had started to turn toward the building but stopped at his words.
He continued,
“Behave yourself.”
What?
For a moment, I didn’t understand.
Behave how?
Old man went on, “It seems you haven’t been here long. Minhee has been here for years. So, behave. Don’t cause Minhee any unnecessary…”
What the hell, you bastard?
I felt sparks flying from my eyes.
I’m the one who should be saying that.
But before I could step toward him, Junseo strode right up to him, leaned in, and said,
“Say that again.”
I saw Old man’s body stiffen.
Junseo pressed closer.
“I said, say it again.”
Old man staggered backward as if trying to escape Junseo.
I quickly approached the two to stop Junseo.
Lunchtime was ending, and people were starting to stream into the building.
Fortunately, perhaps conscious of the stares, Old man just turned and fled.
Or maybe he was just genuinely scared of Junseo.
“Two-timer?”
After Old man ran away, Junseo looked at me and asked.
I saw Old man, while dodging a car, drop the coffee he was holding.
Oh dear, what a waste.
I turned to see if my colleagues were still there.
Luckily, it seemed the three of them had already gone up.
“Can you keep it a secret from the others?”
I really didn’t want this getting around.
Especially since Old man’s fiancée worked in the same building.
Junseo said nothing until I had taken a sip of my coffee.
Isn’t the normal response just ‘okay’?
When I looked at him, he spoke as if he’d been waiting.
“Explain what happened, and I will.”
There wasn’t much to explain.
I scowled at him.
But all I learned was that having a staring contest with a handsome man is very difficult.
“It’s a common story. Team Leader Old man was my onboarding buddy. He was nice to me. We had dinner a few times after working late. We were in that ‘some’ stage.”
“Doesn’t sound very common to me.”
I couldn’t tell if he was comforting me or mocking me.
Looking at his expressionless face, I sighed.
“I saw him eating with someone else by chance. When I asked who she was, he said she was his younger sister.”
“You believed him?”
“What younger sister goes, ‘Oppa, try this, ah~’?”
I said, holding out my coffee toward Junseo.
One of his eyebrows shot up, and then he burst out laughing.
“What crazy younger sister would do that to her oppa?”
“It could happen.”
Is he serious?
This guy clearly doesn’t have any sisters.
When I looked at him incredulously, Junseo shrugged and said,
“If it’s a younger sister who wants to mess with her oppa, it’s possible.”
“She’d need a strong stomach for that.”
“You have an oppa?”
His question came out of nowhere, leaving me momentarily bewildered.
Was I that obvious?
“Assistant Manager Lee Junseo, you don’t have any sisters, do you?”
“One younger brother.”
I knew it.
I nodded and said, >”Well, on my side, my mom has just one son.”
Junseo‘s eyebrow rose again.
He thought for a moment before bursting into laughter again.
“Hm, anyway, turns out she wasn’t just a girlfriend, but a live-in girlfriend. They’re planning to get married next year.”
“A fiancée, then.”
Exactly.
“Luckily, we were only in the ‘some’ stage, and once I found out, there was no reason to get closer, so I backed off.”
To be precise, I was the one who cut him off.
As soon as I found out, I prepared to change jobs and moved here.
I didn’t even say goodbye or exchange words with Old man, so my former colleagues probably noticed.
But no one asked me what happened.
Not even Na-eun, the colleague I was close with.
At the time, I wouldn’t have cared if they had asked.
I was that angry and couldn’t see straight.
But now that I’d successfully changed jobs and would no longer be entangled with Old man, my anger had subsided a bit.
Junseo nodded, then gestured toward the building as if to say let’s go in.
“You never thought about telling the fiancée?”
I did think about it. In the beginning.
But not now.
Walking into the building with him, I said,
“She’s a victim too, isn’t she? If they’re living together, it won’t be easy for her to just walk away like I did.”
“Ignorance is bliss?”
Junseo said that and smiled.
I pondered for a moment whether to be completely honest.
Ignorance is bliss… if Old man learns from his experience with me and never does it again.
But the biggest reason was different.
Having passed through the speed gate with Junseo‘s help, I stood in front of the elevator and spoke in a small voice.
“Honestly, I don’t think she’d believe me anyway. Something like a ‘some’ relationship… it’s just kindness, and he could easily claim I misunderstood his intentions.”
If Old man insisted that I had a one-sided crush on him, I’d just look like the weird one.
I hadn’t wanted to tell her when I was at my old company, and now that I’d moved jobs, the situation wasn’t going to change.
Especially since it was my first day in this building.
I whispered to Junseo again,
“I just started working here. I don’t want to get a reputation as a strange person.”
“Then why did you come here?”
Junseo asked quietly.
Huh? I looked up at him.
Maybe because of our height difference, he was leaning down toward me.
His unrealistically handsome face was so close that I was momentarily speechless.
I stared blankly at his face before realizing I must look like an idiot.
Why did I come here? To this company? I told you, I changed jobs!
I pretended my fluster was from the question, not his face.
“I told you. Because of Koo Hyung. The salary and benefits at this company were similar to my previous one.”
“Because the benefits were similar?”
“Uh, yes. That’s right.”
Junseo straightened up as if he understood.
As his face moved away, my mind calmed down a little.
That’s when I realized I hadn’t even checked what SJ’s benefits were.
It was too late to take it back now.
I glanced at Junseo once more and stepped into the elevator with the other people
