Chapter 19 — A Candy That Tasted Bitter

Seol-hee hastily shoved her notebook into her bag.

"Wh-when did you…."

Her voice trailed off, stunned. How long had he been watching her? She'd been so absorbed that she hadn't even noticed him approaching.

Do Yi-hyuk, faced with her obvious startle, floundered. It was his own fault for being careless.

"Did I scare you? That wasn't my intention. I'm sorry."

Seol-hee steadied her racing heart. "It's fine. It just caught me completely off guard."

She hadn't looked at the man properly yet. His sudden appearance had been startling enough, but once she'd learned who he was, things became far more awkward. When she'd run into him at the company, he'd simply been a kind stranger who'd helped her. And then, out of nowhere, he'd turned out to be her boss.

Reading her discomfort, Yi-hyuk spoke up carefully. "And… you were pretty shocked the day of the meeting too, weren't you?"

Only then did Seol-hee's eyes lift to his face.

"I never properly introduced myself, after all." He confessed it outright. "I kept waiting for the right moment, but the timing never seemed to come. That wasn't meant to startle you either."

Yi-hyuk glanced at her apologetically, his gaze lowered. It was true he'd concealed the fact that he was the Chairman. But she had no reason to feel sorry toward him for it. They weren't anything to each other, after all. Just a few chance encounters — perhaps, long ago, two people who had brushed past each other once.

"It's quite all right."

Seol-hee's voice was stiff. The biggest reason the man unsettled her was that he and Dong-chan knew each other. Worse, the fact that he belonged to the same political world as Jin Dong-chan made his very existence feel like a weight on her shoulders. Someone she'd felt curiosity and gratitude toward had grown distant over that single revelation. Political families — these days she disliked anyone from one. She was sick to death of them. Honestly, she wanted no entanglement whatsoever. The memory of Dong-chan and In-ok, who had sacrificed people without a flicker of conscience to feed their own ambitions, only sharpened that resolve.

Yi-hyuk wrestled with what to do about the sudden chill in her manner. It didn't seem as though her guardedness came solely from his hidden identity as Chairman. How could he break through her defenses? Then a good idea struck him.

"By any chance, do you need a lawyer?"

He tipped his chin toward her bag — or more precisely, toward the corner of the notebook peeking out of it. Seol-hee figured there was no point hiding it now that he'd clearly read everything she'd written there.

"Yes."

"Hmm. Well, that's something I might actually be able to help with."

Seol-hee tilted her head, her expression plainly asking why on earth he would want to help her. They'd been through a fair bit together, but still — why bother?

Reading her face, Yi-hyuk hurried to add, so she wouldn't misunderstand, "Strictly speaking, it wouldn't be me helping you. The Shinwol Foundation runs a free legal consultation service."

Seol-hee's eyes lit up. All the awkwardness from moments ago evaporated as she leaned in. "There's a service like that?"

Her instant reaction nearly drew a laugh out of him; Yi-hyuk barely managed to keep it down as he explained, "As far as I know, it's been run by the HR team since last year as part of the employee wellness program."

Seol-hee's heart thumped. Free legal advice — to her strapped finances, it was a godsend of a piece of information. A smile had just touched her lips when she felt the man's eyes fixed steadily on her, and her face hardened instantly, as if she hadn't just been beaming.

"Thank you for the information."

At her dramatic change of expression, Yi-hyuk swallowed the ache in his chest and let it go. Without giving him any opening to say more, she rose from her seat as though her business here was finished.

"Then I should be going. Lunch break's almost over."

Hiding his disappointment, Yi-hyuk nodded. "Of course."

With a curt bow, Seol-hee quickly gathered her things and slipped out of the convenience store. Watching her scurry off as if fleeing from him, Yi-hyuk popped a candy into his mouth and propped his chin on his hand.

"Ha. What am I going to do with her. I think she's properly got it in for me."

He fiddled with the candy stick in his pocket. "I wanted to give it to her, too."

Even with the candy in his mouth, a bitter taste lingered. Through the glass window, he watched her receding figure until she was completely out of sight.

Before returning to the office, Seol-hee stopped by the HR department to confirm whether the legal consultation program really existed. Just as Yi-hyuk had said, it was running as an employee benefit, and she came away with a single-page guide outlining the details.

So this is what it's like to work at the Shinwol Foundation — perks I never even knew existed. She walked back into the planning office, reading the guide carefully. "The consultations are through an outside law firm, huh. I wonder if I could book one on the weekend."

She decided she'd call whenever she had a spare moment.

Perhaps because she'd hurried back, the office was completely empty. Hoping to brush her teeth before the bathroom got crowded, she opened the bottom drawer of her desk.

"Um… excuse me."

Seol-hee looked up at the voice right beside her. Dayoon had slipped in at some point and stood there, hands clasped together, fidgeting as she worked up the courage to speak. Seol-hee straightened quickly. Since joining the company, she hadn't yet had a proper conversation with Dayoon.

"Oh, yes. Is there something you need me to do?"

"No, it's just… here."

Dayoon held out a Cheonsang Trading King-Size Sausage from the convenience store — not the regular size, the king size. "About earlier… thank you."

She was evidently referring to what had happened that morning. She couldn't quite meet Seol-hee's eyes, kept glancing at her furtively, and looked somehow uneasy about it all. Seol-hee wondered if she was simply shy, or more easily embarrassed than most — but Dayoon kept glancing toward the entrance like someone with a secret she didn't want discovered.

Before the girl could grow any more anxious, Seol-hee accepted the sausage quickly. "Thank you. I love the king-size ones, too."

It was then, as she looked down to take it, that Seol-hee's eyes caught Dayoon's wrist. Her shirt sleeve was rolled up past it — she must have arrived earlier and brushed her teeth first — and beneath the rolled cuff was a bruise, dark blue. It didn't look like the kind made by bumping into something.

"Um…."

Dayoon began hesitantly, as if there was something more she wanted to say. Seol-hee lifted her gaze from the wrist where it had briefly lingered.

"Weren't you… supposed to have lunch with the others from the other team?"

She'd apparently noticed Seol-hee alone at the convenience store.

"I did on my first day, but I think I prefer eating by myself."

There was no need to force herself to fit in with people she didn't click with. This life, she wanted to live differently. No matter who it was. Straining to endure and accommodate only meant the other person never understood — worse, they came to see it as their natural right. Just like Dong-chan and In-ok had.

Just then, a familiar voice drifted in from outside the office.

"That's our Assistant Manager Yoon for you — that's what you get for knowing exactly how to please the Director."

Startled, Dayoon darted into her chair and ducked behind the partition where her desk sat. Seol-hee greeted Im Team Leader and Ye-jun as they walked in. The two returned the greeting with a brief nod before heading into the lounge, picking up their endless conversation right where it had left off.

Seol-hee picked up her toiletry kit and headed for the bathroom as if nothing had happened. What on earth is that bruise? Even as she walked, the mark on Dayoon's wrist kept nagging at her.

Before the end of the workday, she made time to stop by HR and book a legal consultation appointment. They said it's thirty minutes per session, so I should plan out my questions in advance and make every minute count.

Because of her detour to HR, the lobby after hours was quieter than usual. Seol-hee had just slipped out of the main entrance when a commotion rose behind her. Wondering what was going on, she turned her head — the Chairman's secretary she'd glimpsed in the meeting room earlier was hurrying out of the building alongside Do Yi-hyuk, heading toward a waiting car.

Seol-hee stood and watched them for a moment. Yi-hyuk, just lifting his leg into the back seat, suddenly turned his head toward where she was standing. Startled out of her daze, Seol-hee flinched, gave a slight bow in greeting. He drew a smile at the corner of his mouth.

She whipped her head away and quickened her pace. The sedan carrying the man glided past her side. Through the slightly lowered window, Yi-hyuk's profile slipped by.

Vvvrm—

Right then, the phone in her pocket buzzed as if on cue. Seol-hee, still watching the car pull away, drew her phone out and glanced down absently.

Her steps stopped.

The number wasn't saved in her contacts — but the last four digits looked familiar. It was Do Yi-hyuk. What was his intent, being so familiar with her? From his position, texting a rank-and-file employee to watch herself on the way home was hardly standard behavior. Above all, he'd approached her without hesitation at the convenience store. He'd even apologized for not revealing his identity sooner.

Why does he keep trying to come closer to me? Whenever she pulled away, it felt as though he followed in her footsteps, circling just within reach.

Seol-hee slipped the phone back into her pocket. A few coincidences had made for a fleeting connection, nothing more. If she kept her distance, he would naturally drift away too. That was how it had to be. There was something she absolutely had to do in this life. She needed to focus on that and nothing else.

Head held high, Seol-hee strode forward — doing her best to erase all thought of Do Yi-hyuk and his persistent knocking at the door of her resolve.