Upon hearing the secretary’s words, Do Jun moved his lips without any hesitation.

“I’ll meet with her directly tomorrow.”

After hanging up the phone, Do Jun’s expression darkened. He sat blankly on the sofa without entering the bedroom. Belatedly, his eyes fell on the wedding photo hanging on the wall. For a brief moment, he had been captivated by the sight of Ga Eun in her wedding dress.

There was a time when his heart raced at Ga Eun’s shyness, unable to properly meet his gaze. Do Jun was lost in thoughts of Ga Eun before leaving the house in the early dawn.

Ga Eun barely opened her eyes at the sound of her phone alarm. She got up from bed and went to the living room. Do Jun was nowhere to be seen, having already left for work.

‘Was I too harsh yesterday?’

Ga Eun felt uneasy as she recalled pushing Do Jun away yesterday. But knowing that distancing herself from Do Jun was the only thing she could do now, she tried to steady her wavering heart.

Ga Eun hurried to the bathroom. As she wet her hair with hot water, it felt as if the emotions that had heated her heart were dissolving and washing away down the drain. Ga Eun thought about what she could do right now.

Last night, she had received an email about an emergency shareholders’ meeting. The agenda was about disciplinary action against her for ruining Ja Young Fashion’s fashion show without any consultation with the company.

Seeing that email, Ga Eun wasn’t too shocked as she had already anticipated such a thing happening. Rather, Ga Eun’s purpose became more firm.

To cut off all of stepmother Lee Yun Sook’s allies within World Group. To perfectly gather evidence of Lee Yun Sook’s illegal slush funds and make her pay for her crimes.

And to make her pay for the sin of falsely claiming that Ga Eun, Yoon Gi Cheol’s biological daughter, was an adopted child, forcing her to live a miserable life.

As thoughts of her stepmother surfaced, Ga Eun felt the emotions clouding her mind settle, allowing her to regain her rationality.

Ga Eun entered the dressing room and chose a striking red suit. She knew well that all attention would be on her for ruining Ja Young Fashion’s fashion show.

And she had anticipated that Ja Young Group would try to find her weakness and attack her somehow.

After changing clothes and applying heavier makeup than usual, Ga Eun quickly left the room. Before heading to the front door, her gaze fell on the framed wedding photo on the wall.

The memory of taking that wedding photo came back as vividly as if it had just happened.

“Bride and groom, could you please stand a little closer together?”

Only on their wedding day was Ga Eun able to see Do Jun’s face, who had been too busy to meet before. There was a time when just seeing his face made her heart race, enough to forget about the scandal with Seo Yu Jin.

However, even after marriage, Ga Eun often witnessed Do Jun together with Seo Yu Jin.

The reasons varied. Ji Do Jun met her for company business, or because of gatherings with mutual friends. Ga Eun didn’t have the courage to ask Do Jun about his feelings.

She was afraid to hear him say that he loved Seo Yu Jin.

Ga Eun, recalling the past, deliberately tore her eyes away from the wedding photo and left through the front door. Do Jun’s feelings no longer mattered to Ga Eun.

As she exited the apartment building, she saw the driver still waiting for her.

“Good morning.”

Ga Eun greeted the driver casually as she got into the car. After learning that Do Jun had assigned someone to monitor her, she decided to act as if she was still under Do Jun’s control.

The young driver, unable to hide his true feelings, pouted at Ga Eun’s greeting.

“What if you suddenly leave without saying anything? Do you know how much I was scolded by Director Ji?”

The driver’s brow furrowed as he mentioned the incident when Ga Eun had snuck out to attend the Ja Young fashion show without his knowledge.

“I won’t do that again. I’m sorry if I caused you trouble.”

The driver’s face filled with bewilderment as Ga Eun apologized so easily.

“No, it’s not that. I’m sorry for daring to reproach you, madam. I didn’t mean to receive an apology…”

Ga Eun couldn’t help but smile at the driver’s naive demeanor.

She wondered what kind of request Do Jun had made when assigning him as her driver. Staring at the flustered driver’s face, Ga Eun moved her lips as if to probe his thoughts.

“Did Director Ji Do Jun tell you to monitor me?”

Unable to hide his emotions, the driver immediately stumbled over his words when Ga Eun hit the mark.

“No. The director wouldn’t ask me to do such a thing, would he? I think you’ve greatly misunderstood, madam. Did I make some mistake?”

Ga Eun could tell immediately from the driver’s clumsy expression.

That Ji Do Jun had tried to track Ga Eun’s movements through the driver. But when the driver, contrary to his intentions, acted too naively and lost track of Ga Eun, she figured that Do Jun would have assigned a professional to follow her.

Ga Eun kept her lips tightly sealed, organizing her thoughts until the car arrived at World Group headquarters. The driver sweated nervously throughout the drive, trying to gauge Ga Eun’s mood.

“Don’t worry. You didn’t do anything wrong. Thank you for driving me.”

Ga Eun smiled brightly at the driver in understanding and quickly got out of the car.

As she entered the headquarters building, she heard the voices of employees whispering as they looked at her. The employees thought she was Lee Yun Sook’s biological daughter, so they would find it strange that she had attacked her aunt’s company.

“I mean, what’s she trying to do by messing with her aunt’s company?”

“Right? I wonder if some kind of power struggle is happening within World Group.”

Ga Eun ignored the employees’ whispers and quickly stepped into the elevator. As she got off on the 5th floor where the large conference room for the emergency shareholders’ meeting was located, her heart raced with tension.

It felt like entering a battlefield alone without any allies.

As Ga Eun opened the door to the conference room and entered, the whispering shareholders immediately fell silent. Ga Eun scanned the faces of the executives seated. They were all people who had sided with Lee Yun Sook.

Seeing Ga Eun’s face, Yun Sook spoke to her with feigned concern.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you had consulted with your mother before taking action, would it?”

Ga Eun ignored Yun Sook’s reproachful words disguised as concern and took her seat. Once Ga Eun was seated, the moderator directly announced the start of the emergency shareholders’ meeting.

“This shareholders’ meeting has been called to discuss disciplinary action against Team Leader Yoon Ga Eun for causing trouble at the recent Ja Young Fashion show.”

Yun Sook wore a meaningful expression, as if seeking great revenge on Ga Eun who had meddled with Ja Young Fashion and then spent time dating Do Jun.

However, even though she was sitting in a shareholders’ meeting discussing her own disciplinary action, Ga Eun appeared relaxed.

Seeing such a confident demeanor, Yun Sook was struck with an ominous feeling.

“What was your reason for attacking Ja Young Fashion without any consultation with World Group? Do you have clear evidence that they really copied Team Leader Yoon Ga Eun’s designs?”

Following Managing Director Kim Woo Jin’s words, another executive added to the attack on Ga Eun.

“From what I’ve learned, CEO Lee Ja Young is uninvolved in this matter, and it was carried out independently by a single employee. I don’t understand why you made such a fuss by involving the media when this could have been resolved quietly.”

The situation unfolded exactly as Ga Eun had anticipated. It was a response that didn’t deviate at all from her expectation that they would choose the lowest-ranking employee to pin all the blame on and then assert Lee Ja Young’s innocence.

Ga Eun, who had been quietly listening to the executives’ words, finally opened her mouth.

“Do you really think this is something a mere deputy manager could do alone?”

The managing director’s expression faltered at Ga Eun’s rebuttal. The reason Ga Eun could be so confident in this emergency shareholders’ meeting where she had no allies was because they thought she must have another weapon.

Ga Eun calmly watched as Lee Yun Sook’s minions within World Group exchanged glances among themselves.

“Deputy Manager Moon has confessed that she did it alone and said she would take responsibility for everything and resign. What more do you need?”

Ga Eun couldn’t help but laugh in front of them at the managing director’s brazen excuse.

“How can you place such a heavy responsibility on just one deputy manager? Isn’t the CEO position there to resolve such incidents on behalf of everyone when they occur?”

For a moment, silence fell over the conference room at Ga Eun’s words. Assessing the atmosphere, Yun Sook spoke up harshly, as if she could no longer stand by and watch Ga Eun’s attacks.

“Do you know how much uproar your solo action has caused in the media? World Group’s name is constantly on journalists’ lips, saying we’re having a power struggle. Why should we suffer this humiliation?”

Before Yun Sook could finish speaking, Ga Eun cut her off and continued her own words.

“I understand that World Group’s stock has risen by 15% due to its image as an honest company. Moreover, I’ve heard that clothes made by World Fashion are selling out in real-time with no inventory left. What losses exactly has World Group suffered because of me that you’ve created this meeting?”

Yun Sook was at a loss for words at Ga Eun’s actions, having prepared so much in such a short time. The current Ga Eun felt like a completely different person compared to before. Feeling that the situation was unfavorable to her, Yun Sook insisted on holding a vote.

“The will of the shareholders and executives is one. As a result of this disciplinary action, Team Leader Yoon Ga Eun, please take responsibility by submitting your resignation and leaving World Group. If you continue to resist, we’ll have no choice but to decide by vote.”

Ga Eun knew that if a vote were held, she would be fired. If she were unfairly dismissed, she had plans to confront Yun Sook through other means.

Just as the vote was about to proceed, someone abruptly opened the door and entered.

“It doesn’t seem like all the shareholders are present.”

Ga Eun’s gaze turned towards the source of the voice.