Chapter 34: The Danger of Feeling Safe

“Manager, please have this.”

Jihwan held out a red ginseng stick with a hollow look on his face. Kangeun, who had been leaning deep into her chair, took it with a dry laugh.

“Thank you. It’s hard for you too, isn’t it, Jihwan?”

“Ugh……. I shouldn’t have applied for the Korean business support. I should’ve just stayed in Italy.”

Kangeun chuckled at Jihwan’s groaning. He was right. The working environment in Italy had been much better; there, overtime was non-existent and the work was relaxed.

However, Kangeun didn’t regret coming to Korea, no matter how difficult it was. Because she had met Siheon again. That alone was more than enough justification for her return.

Kangeun had developed a new goal. She wanted to show Siheon what a cool Noona she had become. She still felt bad about panicking during the first meeting and failing to give her presentation.

“Let’s just endure it a little longer. It’ll get better once the first store opens. We’ve already posted the job listings, too.”

“Yes. Are you not leaving yet, Manager? I feel bad leaving while you’re still here……”

“I need to stay a bit longer. I’m expecting a call from headquarters, so I’ll leave after I handle that. You head off first, Jihwan. Go home early and have a delicious dinner.”

“Got it! Have a good weekend, Manager!”

“You too, Jihwan. Have a wonderful weekend.”

It was Friday, the end of the week. The fatigue of the past seven days had piled up. Kangeun, too, had intended to leave early today and get a good night’s rest at home.

“Umm…….”

As Jihwan left, Kangeun massaged her stiff shoulders and scanned the empty office, her gaze stopping in one place. The door to the Branch Director’s office had been closed all day.

It was fortunate that Hyunwoo was busy. He was spending his days without a moment to spare, moving between Jongno, where the first store would open, and the main branch of the HK Department Store, where the second would be. Kangeun was just as busy, supporting the field team with Jihwan.

[It seems we need to have a proper talk.]

That was on Monday, so it had already been quite a while. The next morning, Hyunwoo had picked her up with a somewhat stiff expression. They hadn’t shared any meaningful conversation on the way to work. Moreover, there had been no work-related dialogue. That morning, Kangeun had wondered if there was even a need to commute together like this.

Since then, she hadn’t seen Hyunwoo properly until today. He had been busy visiting sites and handling situations during work hours, and it seemed he had been attending business dinners with the Hyungyeong Commerce Sales Director in the evenings.

“Is this…… fortunate?”

He had said he had something to tell her. Kangeun didn’t even want to guess what it might be. She felt relieved that they had been too busy to talk, but at the same time, she felt uneasy. She felt like a child who had put off her homework.

“I just want to work.”

Kangeun liked her job. She wanted to immerse herself in her work without any other worries or concerns. To do that, she needed to clearly define the line between her and Hyunwoo.

The time for the call from headquarters was drawing near. As Kangeun watched the clock on her monitor, her posture gradually slumped, and soon, her eyes, resting on her desk, began to blink slowly.

“Go Kangeun.”

“Umm…….”

“Let’s go home.”

“Yeah…….”

“I’ll make you rolled omelets.”

At the tender voice tickling her ears, Kangeun lifted her sleep-heavy eyelids with difficulty. Even in a situation where she couldn’t distinguish dream from reality, she beamed.

“Let’s go. Hmm?”

Focus returned to Kangeun’s eyes at the touch of a hand gently wrapping around her shoulder to lift her up.

“Oh……?”

It was Siheon. Kangeun’s eyes widened as she stared blankly at him, smiling down at her. Realizing it was reality, she turned her head to check the clock.

“Ah…….”

Fortunately, not even thirty minutes had passed. But the time for the scheduled call with the support team at headquarters had already gone by.

“Do you have a lot of work left?”

“Ah……, wait a second.”

Kangeun checked for missed calls and opened her inbox with a hollow expression. In that time, an email had arrived from the person in charge at headquarters, saying they couldn’t process Kangeun’s request within the day, so she would have to wait a little longer.

“What is this…….”

“Why?”

“I think I’ve gotten used to Korea already. Seeing how slow the headquarters support team is, I feel so frustrated.”

Kangeun, who had answered him nonchalantly, realized belatedly that Siheon had come down to her office, and her eyes rounded in surprise.

“But why did you come here?”

“You said there was absolutely no overtime. I saw the lights were on in the office, so I came by just in case.”

“What if someone else was here?”

“Then I’d just greet them. It’s not like only Tenuto Coffee is here, so what’s the harm?”

At Siheon’s carefree answer, Kangeun laughed and stretched. She figured it was time to leave for the day.

“So, you were about to head home, but you turned back?”

“Yes.”

“You should have just gone home and rested. Why bother?”

“To kidnap Go Kangeun.”

He looked exquisite in a dark navy coat over his suit. Looking at him, perfectly fitted in his suit, she couldn’t find a trace of the teenage Yoon Siheon who used to wear the cheap clothes she’d bought him.

That made her feel both proud and sad. She was grateful he had grown up so well, but at the same time, it felt like he wasn’t the Siheon she knew.

“Fine. I’ll let myself be kidnapped. Let’s go.”

Kangeun left the office with Siheon. The office building in the late evening was even quieter than usual. Perhaps many departments had already left early for team dinners.

“Siheon-ah, what are you doing this weekend? Do you have any special plans?”

Although Kangeun was Korean, she was essentially a foreigner now. Since she had no family to spend time with, the long holiday was just a long break for her.

Since the Italian headquarters didn’t work on weekends, she had no work-related matters to worry about. So, Kangeun had no plans for this weekend. She had been thinking of resting well, watching her favorite movies, and if the weather wasn’t bad, visiting various places in Seoul by herself.

“I think I’ll be busy.”

“Ah…….”

At the mention of him being busy, a sense of disappointment washed over her first. Only then did Kangeun realize that she had subconsciously expected to spend her holiday with Siheon, and her face turned red.

Well, unlike her, he had family. He probably had friends, and maybe even a girlfriend. Either way, he must have someone to spend the weekend with.

A girlfriend…….

Kangeun suddenly wondered if Siheon had a girlfriend. If he did, she wanted to see what kind of person she was. She thought a bright and cute person would suit him well. It would be nice if it were someone he could look at and smile comfortably with.

Kangeun, who was thinking such things, laughed as she realized she was holding Siheon’s (potential) girlfriend to an increasingly strict standard. It was only a few days ago that she had been so happy to meet her younger brother again, but now she was already acting like a sister-in-law.

A girlfriend, he must have one. It’s impossible he doesn’t. Look at how magnificently Siheon has grown.

Kangeun looked up at him, turning away from the bitterness she felt in her mouth. She hadn’t seen Siheon for the past few days. It was because they were both busy and their schedules hadn’t aligned. Moreover, Kangeun had been staying in the office, ordering in lunch and working, so they hadn’t run into each other by chance.

Instead, the two of them called and messaged each other several times a day. They would eat or tidy their houses while on the phone. They would fill the awkward silences by staying on the line until they fell asleep.

In the process, she naturally came to know who his grandfather was. Chairman Cha Mooyoung of the Hyungyeong Group, one of the top three in Korea by asset value. His only grandson was none other than Cha Siheon—the Siheon Kangeun knew.

She also learned that his biological father had been bedridden for a long time and had passed away a few years ago. When she comforted him, saying how hard it must have been, Siheon had only smiled.[Aunt Miryeong’s words were true.]
[……What?][About you. Seeing you like this, you really look like them. Like the photos of your grandfather or your father when they were young.][……That’s not a very pleasant thing to hear.]
[Why……?][Just because. Ah, Noona, did you watch that movie?]

It really didn’t seem like something he enjoyed hearing, as Siheon would change the subject whenever the talk turned to his grandfather or father. Watching him like that, Kangeun could understand. Even though Siheon didn’t say it, his past nine years couldn’t have been entirely comfortable.

It couldn’t have been easy to live with a father and grandfather he only met when he was nearly an adult. Kangeun, guessing Siheon’s inner heart, never brought up his family again after that.

“What about you, Noona? Is there anything you want to do on the weekend?”

“I think I’ll just eat well, rest well, and sleep as much as I want throughout the holiday. I’m waiting for an answer from headquarters, but it won’t come over the weekend. So just lounge around……”

Siheon, having heard that far, reached out and pressed the button ‘1’ on the elevator panel. He had canceled the stop so the elevator wouldn’t stop at the 1st floor where Kangeun was supposed to get off.

“Oh, why……?”

“You said it’s not urgent. Staying as we are, there won’t be any problems with keeping your plans.”

“Huh?”

“You said you’d eat well, rest well, and sleep as much as you want.”

“Yes.”

Before she knew it, the elevator stopped at the basement level 1, the exclusive parking lot for employees. When the door opened, Siheon extended his hand toward Kangeun with a gentle smile.

“Let’s go.”

Kangeun’s lips curled into a smile as she looked up quietly at Siheon, who offered his hand without any further explanation. It was a smile identical to the one Siheon was wearing right now.

“You really did come to kidnap me.”

“I told you.”

Siheon’s somewhat enigmatic behavior only looked cute in Kangeun’s eyes. So, without any anxiety or suspicion, she handed him the shopper bag containing her laptop. Siheon tilted his head. One eyebrow arched, as if displeased that he was holding something other than what he had expected.

“……What is this?”

“It’s heavy. Carry it for me.”

“Hah……. Go Kangeun.”

“Have I ever worked you to the bone while raising you? I heard that with other people, running errands for ramen is basic, and they make their younger siblings do all sorts of things. Since I’ve seen you grown up this well, I want to enjoy the benefits now. Where is your car?”

Kangeun stepped out of the elevator with a light gait. Laughter followed from behind her. Kangeun quite liked that, so she didn’t look back. Even without knowing where Siheon’s car was, she felt a tingling sensation at the corners of her lips the entire time she walked ahead of him.