A Face She Shouldn't Know

The person who stepped out of the elevator was Jin Seo-ah, now on her second day of work.

"Good morning, Manager An."

Seo-ah bowed politely to Ji-sun.

Ji-sun, for her part, only gave an awkward nod.

"Ah, yes……"

"Wow……"

Even in low heels and a forgettable black pantsuit, Seo-ah wore the clothes like they were alive on her — beautiful enough that even the female HR staffer couldn't tear her eyes away.

Ji-sun shot the woman a disapproving look and cut in abruptly.

"Aren't you taking the elevator, Assistant Manager?"

"Oh! Yes, yes."

Once the employee had boarded the elevator and vanished, Ji-sun hurried back to her desk and sat down. Seo-ah followed suit and settled into her own seat.

But for some reason, she could feel a prickling gaze from beside her. Ji-sun wasn't saying anything in particular — she just kept studying Seo-ah, again and again.

Why is she staring at me?

Just then, the elevator chime rang out once more. Moments later, two figures appeared from around the corner by the entrance to the Director's office.

Ji-sun recognized them at once and sprang to her feet with a deep bow.

"Good morning, CEO! Deputy General Manager Sung Su-ji!"

The... CEO?

Startled by the sudden arrival of these new figures, Seo-ah bowed along with everyone else. And as she straightened up, she noticed the woman standing behind the CEO.

In that instant, something Ji-sun had said came back to her — and Seo-ah froze.

Sung Su-ji? Did she say Sung Su-ji?

The thought struck her as strange, and Seo-ah blinked several times. But no matter how many times she looked, the woman behind the CEO had a face Seo-ah knew. Naturally so. Because that woman was Jin Se-yeon — Seo-ah's own cousin.

With trembling eyes, Seo-ah studied Sung Su-ji's face. Look again and again as she might, this was no lookalike. It was Se-yeon, plain and simple.

"A new face, I see?"

The CEO addressed Seo-ah directly. His excessively cheerful expression only made his sanpaku eyes stand out all the more. This was Tae-kyung's older brother — Kang Han-kyung.

At his pointed attempt to acknowledge her, Sung Su-ji turned her gaze. And the moment their eyes finally met — Se-yeon's chest and shoulders drew up and went rigid in a heartbeat.

"……!"

One look at the blood draining from Se-yeon's face told Seo-ah everything.

It IS Se-yeon!

Yet Se-yeon's reaction — as if she'd seen a ghost — made it impossible to greet her openly.

"A pleasure to meet you, CEO. I'm Jin Seo-ah, the new intern."

After bowing to Han-kyung, Seo-ah turned her gaze to Se-yeon and offered a light nod of greeting. But Se-yeon didn't return it. No — she didn't seem to have the composure to.

Just then, Ji-sun interjected.

"I'll call the Director's office for you."

She had barely picked up the receiver when Tae-kyung appeared, fresh from the morning meeting, flanked by executives.

"Busy already, Director Kang."

Han-kyung spotted his brother first and made a show of greeting him. Tae-kyung stopped, his expression souring.

"Yeah, well."

With that curt reply, Tae-kyung turned to the executives and thanked them for their hard work. Han-kyung, by contrast, couldn't even be bothered to return their bows — he merely flicked his eyeballs in their direction. The brothers could hardly have been more different.

Once the executives had all dispersed, Tae-kyung glanced at his wristwatch, checking the time. Then his narrowed gaze lifted to Han-kyung.

"What brings you here so early in the day? You didn't even show for my appointment ceremony, and now you appear out of nowhere after two months?"

Standing before his brother, Tae-kyung held his head high — his eye level a good handspan above Han-kyung's. Under that deliberately condescending look, Han-kyung's mouth twisted into a scowl.

"Don't tell me you're still holding a grudge? I even sent you a plant as an apology — maybe it was a bit smaller than I thought?"

The plant in question sat squat and enormous beside Ji-sun's desk. Tae-kyung's eyebrow twitched as he eyed the leaves of the nameless monstrosity.

"You're right. It's so small I can barely see it."

With that dripping sarcasm, he shook his head and looked away from the plant, then let his gaze travel between the two uninvited guests standing before him.

He appeared indifferent, but both of them were acutely aware of Jin Seo-ah — the woman with open hostility, and the male in heat with naked curiosity over the new face.

Han-kyung in particular didn't bother hiding the lecherous gleam written plainly in his eyes.

Ha. Tae-kyung scoffed and twisted his mouth into an unmistakable sneer.

"Careful, CEO — your eyes are about to pop out."

He crooked his index and middle fingers and waved them in front of his own eyes, then turned to Seo-ah as if nothing had happened.

"That's CEO Kang Han-kyung. My older brother."

"Yes, I just greeted him."

"Good. And this is the CEO's secretary, Deputy General Manager Sung Su-ji."

As Seo-ah turned, Se-yeon straightened her posture and broke into a smooth smile, as though the last few minutes had never happened.

But the sight of his brother's secretary looking so unusually stiff made Tae-kyung's eyes narrow.

Sung Su-ji — a woman who clung to Han-kyung's side like a shadow. He didn't know since when, exactly, but ever since his own return, she had appeared without fail at every family gathering held at Seonglimjae, the family estate. Worse, the way she carried on right in front of his sister-in-law without a flicker of shame — the woman was utterly ruthless.

And yet now, that same brazen woman was thrown off by Jin Seo-ah, whom she'd met for the first time today?

On reflection, though, it made a certain sense. At this very moment, all of Han-kyung's attention was fixed on the strikingly pretty intern, Jin Seo-ah.

"An intern picked up by the Director of the Future Strategy Division on her very first day of employment. Meeting a boss this intense right out of the gate — I almost feel sorry for you."

"Not at all. I—"

The moment Seo-ah opened her mouth, Tae-kyung cut her off.

"Why would the CEO need to feel sorry for you? She's sharp enough that I handpicked her myself."

In that instant, unseen by anyone, Se-yeon's eyes wavered.

Handpicked? Kang Tae-kyung handpicked her?

And Han-kyung's eyebrows drew up toward the center of his face.

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

Tae-kyung's answer was ice-cold. But whatever it was, Han-kyung found it endlessly fascinating — he curled his lips upward in a knowing smirk, clearly enjoying himself.

"Didn't know my little brother had an eye for spotting such pretty talent."

At Han-kyung's insinuating gaze and unsubtle words, Tae-kyung's brow twisted.

I told you to keep your hands off, and you just don't get it, do you?

Coming from a man who treated women like disposable goods, it was nothing new — but his brother's refusal to heed even a warning shot made Tae-kyung's teeth grind.

At the look on Tae-kyung's face — as if he were chewing down a mouthful of curses — Han-kyung's lips stretched into a long, satisfied grin. How entertaining.

Just then, Se-yeon broke into the brothers' silent war of nerves.

"Though I have to wonder — an intern personally chosen by the Director, now serving as his secretary? That could become a real problem down the line. Did you properly vet the selection process, I mean……"

Every eye in the room swung to Se-yeon. A glint of intrigue entered Tae-kyung's gaze.

"Ah. So intern Jin Seo-ah is a parachute hire?"

Se-yeon's silence was a wordless confirmation.

"Deputy General Manager Sung, you really do keep one eye on Taeyu at a time, don't you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You don't seriously think I'd hire someone that thoughtlessly? Taeyu isn't some neighborhood grocery store."

Se-yeon couldn't manage a word — she could only glance nervously at her superior, Han-kyung.

"This was a candidate the Brand Strategy Office had been tracking since the paper screening. I poached her anyway, because the Future Strategy Division needed her. Why — is that against the rules?"

In an instant, the back of Se-yeon's neck flushed red. She knew perfectly well that his barb was aimed at her.

The truth was, Se-yeon had taken this reckless gamble precisely to send a message to Han-kyung: that intern has to go. What she had failed to account for, however, was the fact that Tae-kyung was not a man who left such gaping holes in his armor.

Seo-ah's hiring process was airtight. Instead of dropping her in directly as a parachute hire, Tae-kyung had routed her through the regular intern recruitment pipeline — and even his plan to write her a letter of recommendation had proved unnecessary, thanks to Jin Seo-ah's own abilities catching the Brand Strategy Office's eye. Every piece of it had been arranged so that not a single one of Han-kyung's cronies could find so much as a thread to pull loose in how Seo-ah had come to be hired.

Han-kyung, meanwhile, seemed to find his brother's reflexive defense of the intern far more entertaining than Se-yeon's flustered scrambling. Curling his lips into a round 'o', he drawled out a taunt.

"Did you just confess to poaching her? Right in front of the CEO?"

Pfft. Tae-kyung let out a short, irritated laugh that wasn't a laugh at all.

"That's what the words mean — the words. Why do you insist on taking everything so literally? Boring."

His exasperated gaze flicked between Han-kyung and Se-yeon.

"Besides, the Brand Strategy Office can't spare a single new body right now with all their internal messes. Everyone here knows that, so spare me the fiction, will you?"

The Brand Strategy Office was currently reeling from an operational-expenses embezzlement scandal that had erupted right on the heels of their recruitment drive. Work had ground to a complete halt, and they'd been forced to hand off the new hires they'd just brought on to other departments.

And Tae-kyung had seized the opening without hesitation. Quite naturally so — it was the golden opportunity to keep Seo-ah at his side.

Everything had gone exactly as intended. With nothing left between them now, one corner of Tae-kyung's mouth lifted in arrogant triumph.

"Come in for now. Manager An, some coffee."

"Yes, Director."

With that, Tae-kyung and Han-kyung disappeared into the Director's office.

The moment the door closed behind them, the color drained from Ji-sun's face.

The truth was — Ji-sun was a spy planted by Sung Su-ji.