Brother, You're Mistaken (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5
“What’s up with Kang Seung Won?”
He sometimes stopped by unannounced when he happened to pass by and got hungry, but given the circumstances, she couldn’t exactly welcome him warmly.
Hye Ju opened the door and greeted him with an awkward expression.
“What brings you here so late at night?”
“Let’s eat pig’s trotters.”
Seung Won smiled and waved the bag he was holding.
“Pig’s trotters at this hour?”
“Pig’s trotters are meant for nighttime, not daytime.”
While Hye Ju hesitated slightly, Seung Won pushed past her through the doorway. Without a trace of awkwardness, he set out the side dishes and, as naturally as pulling out an emergency medicine kit, retrieved a bottle of soju from the balcony.
“Sit wherever you’re comfortable.”
Is this your house?
Hye Ju stood still, dumbfounded, then finally broke into a quiet laugh.
“Is it spicy pig’s trotters?”
“Duh. Would I bring anything else? Just tear open the chopsticks for me.”
Seung Won was a talent who’d graduated from a prestigious domestic university’s computer engineering department. Since childhood, he’d shown exceptional aptitude in math and physics, often labeled a genius. The problem was that his brilliance was strictly confined to those areas.
“How old are you that you still can’t split disposable chopsticks? I can’t keep doing it for you forever—you should start practicing.”
It had been over four years since she’d first started splitting chopsticks for him, as his attempts always resulted in uneven halves. He took the neatly split pair from her and stared at her intently.
“Anyway… I’m sorry.”
Normally the one making silly remarks, his sudden seriousness left her unsure how to respond. As Hye Ju chewed silently on her meat, he continued earnestly.
“My brother has his reasons. He once went through severe stalking.”
She nodded slowly.
“I can’t go into details, but that trauma made him extremely sensitive about stalking. Not that I’m saying you’re a stalker or anything.”
Having nothing to say, Hye Ju just chewed quietly on her pig’s trotters.
“Anyway, I’m sorry. I’ll apologize on his behalf.”
She mechanically chewed, then finally managed a reply only after downing a shot of soju.
“Why are you apologizing? It’s fine. I’m partly to blame too.”
“Oh, and you forgot to take this.”
Seung Won fished something out of his pocket—her compact powder and lip balm from the hideout.
“Oh, thanks.”
Hye Ju’s face flushed. This meant Seung Won knew the contents of her bag that night when she’d run into Kang Joo Won.
Yet considerately, he never pressed her about what exactly had been in her bag that night. Nor about the obvious love confession song.
‘He’s always been like this.’
Seemingly careless but deeply thoughtful, sloppy yet sincere. He looked like someone immersed in games every day, yet carried deep thoughts inside.
‘He knows I didn’t want to talk about the things I took from the hideout that day.’
She was grateful for his consideration.
“Did you come all this way just to say that? Going to the police station once isn’t a big deal. I’m fine.”
“I’m relieved to hear that.”
But after a brief silence, his next words made Hye Ju’s heart drop like a stone.
“I’ve got more to say, Hye Ju.”
Seung Won, usually carefree, occasionally turned serious. Hye Ju knew this moment had finally arrived.
“Don’t try to set a sappy mood—that’ll just give me the creeps.”
She tried hard to lighten the awkward atmosphere, but her chest tightened unbearably.
She didn’t want to hear it. But still.
“You already know, right?”
To his question, Hye Ju replied,
“…Yeah, I know.”
She had no other answer to give. Seung Won gave a dry smile.
“I knew something felt different.”
“How was it different?”
“It felt like Oh Hye Ju of all people was tiptoeing around me—ignoring our calls, staying silent in the group chat.”
For some reason, that “us” stung more than she expected.
‘We used to be three.’
Now, in a relationship that had split into two and one, Hye Ju felt utterly like an outsider.
“Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
“What? Why should I congratulate you! I’ve lost two drinking buddies!”
“That’s kind of hurtful. Just because Da Hee and I are dating doesn’t mean we’re not friends anymore.”
“This year, we won’t even get to spend Christmas together.”
“So what? We can just spend it together anyway.”
“I don’t want to be the clueless third wheel. Ugh, couple’s paradise, single’s hell!”
Seung Won fumbled through clumsy reassurances—saying she’d find a boyfriend soon, that their friendship would never change.
Each time he refilled her soju glass, sadness rose along with it, leaving Hye Ju miserable—but she held it in desperately.
‘I need to congratulate them… I can do it. I have to.’
She couldn’t sit there with a gloomy face when her two dearest friends cared so deeply for each other.
To keep from losing them, to avoid being left alone, Hye Ju smiled again and again.
The sadness she’d carefully stacked away finally burst out only after Seung Won left.
“Huhh….”
In her apartment filled with the pungent aroma of spicy pig’s trotters, Hye Ju burst into tears.
“Why am I like this, really….”
No matter how hard she bit her lips or pinched her nose to hold back sobs, she couldn’t stop. Covering her mouth, she hiccuped softly, then finally collapsed onto her bed, crying uncontrollably.
Be happy, my friends.
Goodbye, my first love.
She’d firmly resolved to wish Seung Won and Da Hee happiness, but watching them up close proved far more painful than she’d imagined.
It wasn’t bitterness over her unrequited feelings ending, nor resentment at having “lost” Seung Won. It was the constant fear that if her feelings were exposed, their trio could never go back to how things were. And then there were those sudden surges of envy—and just a hint of resentment.
When she caught them exchanging secret glances in the office, when the once-chatty group chat fell silent, when both of their faces lit up simultaneously while fiddling with their phones—it always felt like she’d instantly been cast out from the trio.
Da Hee tried even harder to look after Hye Ju, insisting on shared dinners after work and coaxing her to join weekend outings for Pyongyang cold noodles with the three of them.
Each time Hye Ju politely declined, Da Hee would pout and look so hurt that Hye Ju eventually gave in a few times—but witnessing their subtle affectionate exchanges made her lose weight steadily day by day.
‘At this rate, I’ll really waste away and die.’
She needed some groundbreaking distraction, but life continued its monotonous cycle. Just as she grew weary of constantly stealing glances at them throughout the day, Kang Joo Won joined the company.
Kang Joo Won’s arrival stirred up the otherwise routine office.
“Have you seen the new director? Wow, he practically glowed walking down the hall.”
“He studied in the U.S., right? His presence is on another level. I rode the elevator with him earlier—I felt like a tiny shrimp standing next to him.”
“He’s Kang Seung Won’s older brother, isn’t he? Seriously, how did that family end up with such superior genes for both brothers?”
His popularity reached near-syndrome levels. Partly because it was a small company where news spread fast, and partly because every employee was under forty—making them especially curious about the new, single director.
Bong Bong Research was a startup with around one hundred employees. Originally founded with just fifteen staff, it had grown rapidly and was eventually acquired by Datas, a massive U.S.-based mobile analytics platform. This led to a complete overhaul of leadership, and the company relaunched as “Datas Korea.”
Director Kang Joo Won had previously made a name for himself as COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Datas headquarters in the U.S.
After graduating early from an Ivy League school, he joined Datas immediately and simultaneously completed his MBA—achieving an unprecedentedly fast promotion within the company.
For someone to reach COO before turning thirty, even in America’s youth-driven venture culture, spoke volumes about his exceptional talent.
“I’m Kang Joo Won. Mobile, data, research—these are all words packed with future potential. Unlike traditional research firms relying on phone or internet methods, Datas continuously innovates mobile-based survey systems. The future of evolved research—I look forward to building it together with you.”
His confident demeanor on his first day thoroughly captivated the staff. The hotshot manager flown in from America electrified everyone with his charisma.
“Director Kang Joo Won isn’t even thirty yet, right? His competence is insane.”
“He’s the guy who never once lost the top spot at an Ivy League school.”
“If you combine IQs, Seung Won and him must hit 300. Who wouldn’t want one of those brothers? I’m already jealous.”
Datas maintained the flat, free-spirited organizational culture typical of startups. Its hundred-odd employees were spread across three building floors, with no formal job titles—everyone simply addressed each other as “so-and-so.”
Even executives had no personal assistants and avoided unilateral decisions. In other words, joining as “director” didn’t grant him special privileges over the staff.
Still, some viewed Joo Won—parachuted in from U.S. headquarters—with suspicion. These were founding members of Bong Bong Research. To them, Kang Joo Won was the man who’d pushed out their long-standing leadership to claim the director seat. From day one, they voiced complaints.
“Well, a flashy résumé doesn’t guarantee good performance. Real work is different.”
Yet exactly one week later, their criticism vanished. The results Joo Won delivered in his first week of hands-on work were simply astonishing.
He closed a six-month-stalled contract with a single meeting and solved a technical issue the dev team had struggled with for over a month. Everyone was stunned by his bold drive and unimaginably fast execution.
Just one week.
That’s all it took Kang Joo Won to instill in everyone the firm belief that Datas Korea would rise as the nation’s top data analytics platform.
Amid the company’s whirlwind transformation, Hye Ju herself was swamped beyond breathing room. The acquisition had triggered massive restructuring, leaving her with endless tasks.
Ironically, that suited her just fine. She’d dreaded awkward encounters with Joo Won at work—but their mutual busyness made face-to-face meetings rare.
But the peace didn’t last long. The new director finally appeared at the company dinner.
And it happened today—of all days—when the business and development teams were gathered together.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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