Sol Hee’s words lingered in my mind. Honestly, I was slightly tempted, but that was it. There were several weighty reasons why it absolutely couldn’t happen.

Eun Soo carefully turned her body, trying not to wake Sol Hee. She was just trying to find a comfortable position, but the more she adjusted, the more uncomfortable she became. As she grumbled inwardly about moving unnecessarily, she suddenly paused.

She should have stayed still when it felt reasonably comfortable. Indulging in greed would only lead to more discomfort.

Like her current distance with Joo Han.

Not as close as real friends, but not particularly tense or self-conscious either. A relationship where they wouldn’t feel awkward if left alone together, and were incredibly comfortable professionally.

It was a result achieved through much unspoken deliberation. So she couldn’t move any further from here. Whether the benefits Sol Hee mentioned were worth disturbing this peace was uncertain.

Moreover, if her face and name became known, her past would also be dragged out to some extent.

She had done all sorts of part-time jobs, so there were many people she’d met while working, college classmates, middle and high school peers…

Fragments of memories from her school uniform days flashed by. Suddenly, her breath caught as if her throat was being choked.

‘What if those incidents from back then became topics of discussion…?’

Her heartbeat gradually quickened. Eun Soo gripped the edge of the blanket tightly.

‘Right. Sol Hee brought it up because she doesn’t know about that…’

Eun Soo’s shoulders rose and fell heavily.

For a while, Eun Soo’s anxious, unsteady breathing finally calmed after a long time.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Oh, Manager Sun! Manager Sun! Look at this.”

Jae Rim approached Sun Kyung’s desk with her phone. As Eun Soo happened to be nearby, she also leaned in.

“Can you see? Our Instagram followers have increased dramatically.”

“Oh, really? What’s this about?”

Jae Rim explained with proud eyes.

“You know the furniture Choi Yoon Bin bought here recently? He posted it on Instagram and even tagged our store. And this was the immediate response.”

“Wow, really?”

Eun Soo took Jae Rim’s phone and scrolled through the pages. A photo of Bida’s furniture harmoniously placed in a Han River view apartment living room was posted on Yoon Bin’s feed.

The response seemed particularly enthusiastic, as Yoon Bin rarely used Instagram and almost never revealed his private spaces.

Especially when a comment mentioned that the Siesta chair was known to cost nearly 20 million won, it further piqued people’s curiosity.

“Look here… There are even a few news articles. The main keyword in all the titles is ‘Twenty Million Won Chair’, which is a bit much, but I guess that’s what sells in this world, right?”

“Can’t be helped. It would be nice if the articles also explained why it’s worth that much… Oh, but there’s a fight in the comments here.”

Sun Kyung, who was looking at the screen together, muttered as she read the comments.

“What’s with a chair costing twenty million won, it doesn’t even seem to be a famous luxury brand… If it’s vintage, isn’t it just something someone else used? Paying that much for that… Sigh, it’s frustrating. But there are some knowledgeable people in between. ‘Seeing that they brought in a ‘Marcel Medzsen’ piece, it’s not just following the vintage trend, they seem to have an eye for it.'”

“When we start bringing in Litiang furniture in earnest and become famous, people will have to pay even more, but they don’t know anything.”

As Eun Soo listened to Sun Kyung and Jae Rim’s conversation, one particular comment caught her eye.

[It might be a lot of money for ordinary people, but isn’t this just pocket change for an Instagram photo for these kids? When others are working hard to earn money, these kids who easily make money by selling their faces probably don’t even know how precious it is. I thought this one was different, but they’re all the same lol]

Sun Kyung, not noticing Eun Soo’s hardened expression, said,

“So this is the Choi Yoon Bin effect I’ve heard about.”

Jae Rim added,

“There were people asking if we had another Siesta chair exactly like that one. They also asked about similar or the same bookshelves and side tables. And even inquiries about whether Choi Yoon Bin comes here often and if he likes vintage furniture.”

“We can’t really answer that far, but it’s interesting nonetheless.”

Eun Soo silently agreed. She was so close with Yoon Bin that she sometimes didn’t realize his influence as a top star, but she would experience it like this from time to time.

“I should thank him properly.”

As soon as Eun Soo said this, Jae Rim brightened up.

“Tell him to come visit again! We should have taken a picture together then. I told my friends I saw Choi Yoon Bin, but no one believed me. It was so frustrating. They even cursed at me, saying if I was going to lie, I should at least show some effort by bringing fabricated evidence…”

“Well, maybe you should have lived more credibly in the past.”

Eun Soo returned to her seat, ignoring Jae Rim’s sharp gaze she felt on the back of her head. She immediately took out her phone and sent a message to Yoon Bin.

[You must be busy, but thank you for taking and posting the picture. I know how much your advertising model fee is, so I feel quite guilty getting this benefit for free lol. I’ll treat you to a meal next time!]

Since Yoon Bin doesn’t look at his phone while working, she thought it would take at least a few hours for a reply. She was about to put her phone away when, surprisingly, a reply came right away.

[Why are you worrying about model fees between you and me?] [Why is your reply so quick? Are you on a break?] [Waiting briefly in the car before filming. I was in a good mood because my home looked like a real home for the first time in a while, so I took a picture to show off. The two employees who came with Joo Han that time arranged everything nicely on their own.]

Come to think of it, Joo Han must have gone for the delivery himself.

Joo Han hadn’t said a word before or after going. So Min was the same, of course. That day, after seeing Yoon Bin, So Min had given a rather unusual answer, saying she didn’t really know who he was, but even if she didn’t know, he seemed like he’d be in entertainment.

If Jae Rim had gone, it would have been quite noisy. Eun Soo smiled slightly at that thought and continued her reply.

[If you need anything else, come and look anytime. Come and visit even if you don’t need anything.] [Okay. I’ll come to see you. I’m going into filming now.] [Alright. Do well, and let me know what you want to eat and when your schedule is free!] [Got it.]

Eun Soo put down her phone and adjusted her posture with a somewhat lighter heart.

It was amazing that she was still connected with Yoon Bin like this. In fact, he became a top star right after his debut, so it wouldn’t have been strange if they had naturally drifted apart due to his busy schedule.

There was actually quite a long period when they couldn’t meet, but then he would contact her casually as if nothing had happened. The more she realized how difficult it must be to do that while living as Choi Yoon Bin, the more grateful she felt.

‘Next time, I really must treat him to something delicious. Crowded places would be uncomfortable for him, so where would be good…’

After mentally listing a few places, Eun Soo shook off her thoughts and started to focus on work again.

The day passed like that, and it was past quitting time.

Jae Rim had already left, but Sun Kyung and Eun Soo remained in the office. With the Litiang meeting approaching, Eun Soo was voluntarily working overtime, and Sun Kyung said she had work to finish by tomorrow.

Eun Soo gulped down what must have been her umpteenth cup of coffee for the day and stared intently at the monitor.

‘I must win this contract no matter what. If only this works out…’

From now on, you can officially meet Litiang’s furniture at Bida.

Just imagining the day when they could display such a caption made her heart flutter.

She hoped that Litiang furniture, which was gradually becoming known starting with a small group of enthusiasts, would gain recognition and establish itself like those furniture brands or furniture designers whose names everyone knows now. She wanted Bida to be at the center of that process.

Eun Soo, who was rummaging through her drawer, looked over towards Sun Kyung.

“Manager Oh, do you have a stapler?”

“Ah, yes.”

Sun Kyung, who had just stood up with a stack of documents, answered.

“It’s in the first drawer of my desk.”

“Okay, thank you.”

As Sun Kyung left her seat with the documents, Eun Soo headed towards Sun Kyung’s desk.

“Here it is. Wow, even the drawer is so neat… Oops.”

As soon as she opened the top drawer and found what she was looking for, Eun Soo accidentally bumped the mouse on the desk as she straightened up. The monitor brightened suddenly, revealing the screen Sun Kyung had been working on. It was the employees’ salary statements.

Although she generally knew how much everyone was paid, seeing it outright was a different matter, so she was about to avert her eyes and move on when something caught her attention. Eun Soo, who looked back unconsciously, frowned.

“500,000 won…?”

Joo Han’s salary looked strange. It seemed like something was wrong, but it was Sun Kyung’s area of work, so it felt awkward to ask.

Sun Kyung, who rarely made mistakes, would probably fix it right away. Just as she thought that and turned around, she met eyes with Sun Kyung, who had somehow come to stand behind her.

“Ah, here…”

She was about to thank her for the item she had asked to borrow, but Sun Kyung hesitated with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“Um, the CEO told me not to say anything…”

“About what?”

Sun Kyung awkwardly stood in front of the monitor as if to block it.

“About the CEO’s salary cut. He was worried it might concern the employees, so he asked me to handle it quietly for a while…”

“Ah…”

Eun Soo stepped back.

“I understand. I didn’t mean to see it, it just happened… I’m sorry. Anyway, I’ll pretend I didn’t see it.”

Eun Soo returned to her seat hurriedly after an awkward smile. She tried to pretend to work normally, conscious of Sun Kyung, but couldn’t concentrate.

Are things that bad? Since when?

It wasn’t something she could ask Sun Kyung about, and certainly not Joo Han. From Eun Soo’s perspective, who tended to gauge sales more by feel than by the numbers on paper, she thought things were actually getting better.

Thinking about it a bit more, sales weren’t great before. Nevertheless, they had to go abroad to buy goods, and there were container costs and…

“Ouch.”

Eun Soo flinched and looked down at her hand. The tip of her finger, which had been fiddling with the document paper absent-mindedly, had been cut and blood was seeping out.

Suppressing a sigh, Eun Soo roughly wrapped a tissue around her stinging finger and pressed it firmly.

“Manager, aren’t you going home?”

A while later, Sun Kyung, who had put on her bag and stood up, looked over at Eun Soo and asked. Eun Soo smiled.

“You go ahead. I’ll finish this up and then leave.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow then.”

After Sun Kyung left the office, Eun Soo, now alone, leaned back in her chair. She had actually finished her work a little while ago, but didn’t feel like going home lightly.

After sitting for a long time, she got up. After tidying up the office and turning off the lights, she went down the stairs. The lights on the first floor showroom were already off, but a faint light was shining from the basement.

Hesitating, Eun Soo carefully went down the stairs. The light was on, but there was no sound.

As she entered the basement, she saw Joo Han sleeping stretched out on the daybed. He seemed to have fallen asleep while trying to take a short rest, still wearing his work apron.

On the workbench, five or six drawers that had been finely sanded were neatly arranged, and below was a drawer frame that similarly revealed the natural grain of the bare wood. After two or three oiling processes and finishing touches, it would look as good as new.

Eun Soo stared down at the sleeping Joo Han.

The shadow of his eyelashes was particularly dark on his long, slanted eyes. His eyes tended to look cool, so his expression seemed much gentler when they were closed.

‘Why do you…’

A new question suddenly bloomed in Eun Soo’s mind.