Brother, You're Mistaken (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
“I’m sorry, Representative! I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Flustered, Hye Ju vigorously rubbed Joo Won’s chest with her sleeve. It wouldn’t erase the lipstick stain, but she had to do something.
“Oh dear, what should we do? If you take it off, I’ll wash it and return it to you. Do you have a spare shirt in your office?”
Despite the commotion, Joo Won stood perfectly still, his expression unchanged. Hye Ju, on the other hand, was completely rattled. Even in her panic, she distinctly felt the firmness beneath her hands.
Why won’t it budge even when I push? And why is there such a contour here?
Only much later did she realize she’d been smearing the lipstick further and kneading his chest the entire time.
“Oh Hye Ju.”
“Yes?”
Joo Won’s piercing gaze bore down on the top of her head. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes spoke clearly enough:
“Could you stop touching me already?”
Hye Ju flinched and stepped back.
“Anyway, I’m really sorry…”
A single thought crossed Hye Ju’s mind as she accidentally ruined Joo Won’s shirt yet again.
“How much does that dress shirt cost? He wouldn’t actually ask me to pay for it… would he?”
She shot Ruby a sidelong glare. Ruby, looking equally flustered, quickly averted her eyes.
Even amid all this chaos, Joo Won remained silent—only giving his crumpled shirt a slight shake.
“Since it’s a happy day celebrating my victory over my younger sibling, I’ll treat everyone to coffee. I’ll have it delivered to your desks, so please return to your seats and prepare for afternoon work.”
“Ohh! Our Representative is truly generous. The best!”
The employees, who had been nervously bracing for reprimand, cheered with relief. Joo Won offered a brief, practiced smile before turning to Hye Ju.
“And Oh Hye Ju, please come with me.”
“Why me?”
Is he really trying to kill me? Hye Ju kept her head bowed low, wiggling her toes inside her shoes.
“Taiyang Foods has replied.”
“Really?”
Hye Ju immediately lifted her head.
The long-awaited response had finally arrived. Forgetting her fear from just a second ago, she answered briskly.
“Yes, I’ll head up right away!”
Back in his office, Joo Won changed his shirt.
Since he often wore white dress shirts, he always kept a couple of spares in the office—but this was the first time he’d changed clothes in broad daylight.
“Oh Hye Ju, seriously.”
He looked at the discarded shirt, clearly marked with a lipstick stain. Was it red? No, slightly more orange-toned.
Joo Won held the shirt up quietly.
Unlike Seung Won, who wouldn’t bat an eyelash even if he lived in a pigsty, Joo Won was extremely fastidious. He always kept his clothes and cosmetics neatly aligned in their designated places, and his weekend routine began with washing his bedding the moment he woke up. Naturally, he found other people’s bodily fluids deeply unpleasant.
Yet, strangely, this shirt marked by Hye Ju’s lips didn’t feel dirty at all.
“No day goes by without Oh Hye Ju causing some kind of trouble.”
Joo Won chuckled softly as he folded the shirt and placed it into a shopping bag.
Hye Ju, who had said she’d stop by the restroom, still hadn’t returned. Joo Won leaned his chin on his hand, waiting for the door to open—and found himself smiling faintly again.
“Did Oh Hye Ju really pick me?”
He recalled the popularity vote just moments ago.
Why had he felt so nervous? Those few seconds outside the break room, waiting for Hye Ju’s answer, had felt endlessly long.
He’d been genuinely happy the moment he heard his name from her lips.
Now, thinking back, he wasn’t sure if it was something to be happy about—but decided it was simply his competitive nature talking.
Knock knock knock.
“Come in.”
Hye Ju entered. Her lips looked slightly damp, as if she’d just brushed her teeth, and she’d reapplied coral-colored lipstick. Joo Won deliberately tore his gaze away from her mouth.
“Having fun with the other female employees?”
Joo Won asked, perched casually on his desk.
He called me for the Taiyang Foods matter, yet brings this up instead?! Can’t he just let it slide? Hye Ju, annoyed by his pettiness, replied sulkily.
“Just ignore my answer from earlier. I didn’t mean it.”
“Why so serious all of a sudden?”
“Because it’s serious enough to be serious about.”
“Anyway, don’t show it at work. I can’t control how you feel, but still.”
Whoa!
Just as she thought—sure enough—the moment Kang Joo Won walked in, he clearly misunderstood the situation.
“Seriously, it’s not like that at all! You know I’m dating Da Hee and Seung Won, right? How could I possibly pick Seung Won in front of Da Hee?”
“So you actually intended to vote for Kang Seung Won?”
“Of course. I’m into the puppy-eyed type.”
“You mean the kind who eats whatever you give them, goes wherever you say, and whines for hugs at every opportunity?”
“Plus, they follow you to karaoke without a word of protest.”
“You’re surprisingly petty.”
“I’m openly petty.”
“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind next time.”
Hye Ju instinctively started to say “Yes,” but suddenly paused.
Did Kang Joo Won just imply he’d try to match my preferences?
…Why?
She almost got confused for a moment, but the thought didn’t last long.
“Let’s get down to business now.”
Joo Won brought over his laptop. Hye Ju instantly snapped back to attention and sat up straight.
“Could I see the reply from Taiyang Foods first?”
“Yeah.”
A long reception table sat in the office. Hye Ju assumed Joo Won would sit across from her, but instead, he chose the seat right beside her.
Thud. She felt the weight on the sofa, caught a whiff of his cologne, and sensed his body heat through their slightly touching shoulders.
No matter how hard she tried not to, she couldn’t help but tense up. His low voice came from right beside her.
“Take a look.”
Joo Won turned on the laptop and angled the screen so she could see clearly. Hye Ju nodded and leaned in.
“They’ve requested a meeting first. Wow, that’s amazing!”
“Seems your proposal really impressed them. They’d like to hold the meeting next week.”
“If things go well, we could secure the contract within the first half of the year.”
“If this deal goes through, it’ll be DataS Korea’s most important project this year. That means we absolutely must nail this meeting.”
Tap tap. Joo Won tapped the monitor.
“They proposed the meeting location—their headquarters at Taiyang Foods.”
“Isn’t Shinwoldo that island you have to take a boat to?”
“Since it’s an annual contract involving substantial money, it’s not a decision they can make lightly. It’d be less troublesome for us to go there, considering how many of their executives would need to travel otherwise.”
Joo Won pulled out his scheduler.
“Is the 11th okay for you?”
“Yes.”
Hye Ju mechanically answered while checking the scheduler—but then froze.
Why am I coordinating dates with the Representative himself?
A dangerous intuition suddenly overwhelmed her. She couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but she felt as though stepping onto that island would be like offering her neck to a wild beast…
“You’re not seriously suggesting just the two of us go, are you?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Dozens of objections swirled in her head, but her office-worker instincts kicked in, forcing her mouth to say the exact opposite.
“No, no problem at all.”
Joo Won simply nodded and closed his laptop.
“Then you may go.”
On the first day of Chobok, Seung Won and Da Hee were eating ginseng chicken soup.
Since Seung Won usually found taking care of himself too bothersome, Da Hee often cooked for him—and today, she’d gone the extra mile. She’d stuffed a plump chicken with ginseng, jujubes, and various herbal ingredients, simmering it into a rich medicinal soup. The seasoning was perfect.
“Is it good?”
Da Hee’s eyes sparkled as she eagerly awaited Seung Won’s reaction to his first bite.
Lately, Seung Won had often skipped dinner, claiming he’d lost his appetite—but he was grateful for Da Hee’s thoughtful effort.
“Yeah, it’s delicious. This tastes less like soup and more like restorative medicine.”
They’d been so busy with work lately that they hadn’t had a proper date. Ironically, when they were just friends, they used to meet every Friday without fail—but ever since they started dating, they’d barely found time for each other.
Da Hee couldn’t understand why development team tasks kept piling onto Seung Won alone. At first, she’d complained and even gotten angry a few times—but seeing how apologetic he always was, she couldn’t bring herself to nag him anymore.
After such a long time together, they had plenty to catch up on. As Da Hee placed a chicken drumstick on Seung Won’s plate, she brought up the recent popularity vote among the female employees.
“A popularity vote?”
Seung Won, who’d been quietly picking at his food, suddenly looked more alert.
“You actually did that? Sounds fun.”
Encouraged by his reaction, Da Hee grew even more animated.
“There were exactly eleven of us—female employees from both Business and Development. We rarely all gather, but for some reason, everyone ended up in the break room that day.”
“So who won?”
“Oh, feeling competitive already? Well, you guess.”
“You and Hye Ju would’ve voted for me, and since you get along well with Team Leader Uk, I’m probably guaranteed at least three votes, right?”
Only Seung Won could show this much confidence competing directly against Kang Joo Won.
If Joo Won was sharp and cool like a blade, Seung Won was warm like spring sunshine. Unlike Joo Won’s enigmatic, refined aura, Seung Won gave off a gentle, delicate impression. They’d reached that level where no one could objectively say who was more handsome—their appeal simply came down to personal preference.
“The only man in the world who wouldn’t back down even against Kang Joo Won himself.”
Da Hee felt deeply satisfied that such a man was her boyfriend.
“Aren’t you being overly confident? Sure, you look great to me—but when Representative Kang joined, the female staff’s reaction was no joke.”
“So who actually won? If I’m guaranteed three votes, the rest are crucial… Hmm.”
“Did you know Hye Ju didn’t vote for you?”
Seung Won’s chopsticks stopped mid-air. Da Hee had never seen the usual easygoing warmth vanish from his face so completely.
“Really?”
Seeing him put down his chopsticks entirely, Da Hee bit her lip. In that moment, his expression and actions confirmed what she’d secretly suspected all along.
“Yeah, really. Hye Ju voted for Representative Kang.”
“That can’t be… Why didn’t she pick me?”
Da Hee steadied her trembling heart and calmly resumed stirring her soup with her spoon.
“Is it really that shocking that Hye Ju voted for someone else? You two are just friends—you should be totally fine with each other having partners. Just friends.”
“…Right, of course.”
“Anyway, she voted for Representative Kang. Could it be because they spent a few days together in the Buddy Program and developed some kind of bond?”
Seung Won rolled his eyes as if she’d said something ridiculous.
“Nah, Hyung Joo Won is absolutely not Oh Hye Ju’s type.”
“How would you know that?”
“I’ve seen pictures of the guys she dated in college. Total nerds—all of them. The kind who clearly ranked top in their class, you know? Pale like glutinous rice cakes, kinda delicate-looking. Oh, and I think both of them wore glasses in college, too.”
Like you?
The words rose to the tip of Da Hee’s tongue, but she swallowed them with superhuman restraint.
This idiot knew Hye Ju’s preferences inside out, yet completely missed what was right in front of his eyes. A fool who hadn’t noticed her obvious feelings in ten whole years.
And because of that, Hye Ju wouldn’t want him to ever discover her great secret—that she liked him.
Because now, you’re mine. And I won’t let anyone take you.
“Aren’t you even curious who I voted for?”
Da Hee asked, deliberately adding a touch of playful coyness.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
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