“Rebellion, you say.”

Si Heon finally burst into laughter. He couldn’t remember when he last heard the word rebellion, but it seemed like an apt comparison in its own way.

“Fine. I’m the fool for coming to talk to you.”

Si Yeon touched her forehead as if she had a headache, then glared at Si Heon.

“Alright, go ahead and do as you please.”

Si Yeon’s voice lowered as she glared at Si Heon. After finishing her cold words, Si Yeon turned abruptly and left the office.

No matter how she thought about it, the reason Si Heon wanted to meet that Jin So Yi woman was obvious. He must be trying to provoke their mother to quickly return to Cha Han Media.

So there was really no need to worry that Si Heon might actually marry that woman.

But as the dating rumors spread more and more and became the talk of the town, she felt she could no longer just stand by and watch.

She even felt sorry for that Jin So Yi woman who seemed blissfully unaware that she was being used by Si Heon.

Due to her own quick temper and hot-blooded personality, she couldn’t bring herself to speak calmly, but she had tried to reason with him in her own way.

To quickly end the relationship with Jin So Yi, and write a brief official apology.

Since the managing director position at Cha Han Media was still vacant, if he showed even a little pretense of apologizing and reflecting, wouldn’t their parents have a change of heart?

She was going to say that if he just pretended to apologize this once, she would take his side too.

Of course, contrary to her intention to have a calm conversation, her anger flared up first, but she never thought he would be this unreasonable.

Si Yeon clenched her fists for a moment, her lips trembling, then exhaled calmly.

“Fine, Cha Si Heon. Go ahead and do as you please. There are plenty of other ways.”

Since it seems impossible to reason with you, I’ll have to meet Ms. Jin So Yi myself.

As she got on the elevator, Si Yeon kept muttering to herself, huffing and puffing. The waiting secretary glanced nervously and pressed the button.

[This is the timeline separator]

After Si Yeon left the room, Si Heon adjusted his posture and stared at the monitor again.

The managing director position at Cha Han Media was still vacant after Si Heon had stepped down. Si Heon wasn’t particularly attached to the position itself.

He had been steadily preparing for the OTT business since his appointment, and it was just about to take its first steps. He couldn’t let someone else take credit for that work.

The three media management specialized solutions self-developed by the CEO of Danbi Media are software that have consecutively obtained GS certification grade 1.

With MAM (Media Asset Management) and RMS (Remote Management System) optimized for OTT platforms, maintenance costs are not high.

So shareholders had huge expectations for the performance of the new OTT business to be launched through the platform ambitiously prepared by Cha Han Media.

But now it looked like that achievement was about to be blown away.

Si Heon leaned his head back on the chair headrest and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

In any case, the situation had been driven to this point because of his mother, Madam Kang Yu Kyung.

Yu Kyung said that to have the qualifications to become the next head of Cha Han Media, one needed to be able to respond flexibly in any situation, and told him to comply with the employees’ demand for an apology.

If he didn’t like that, then marry Yeon Ri Na and secure a strong background.

He thought that establishing a foundation in Cha Han Media and setting up the framework for management was entirely his responsibility.

He had never even considered Yeon Ri Na’s background, and had no desire whatsoever to offer an insincere apology for an unreasonable reason.

Above all, his tightly closed eyes twitched again at the thought of how ridiculous his mother’s scheme was to push for marriage with Yeon Ri Na over such a trivial matter.

Yu Kyung knew well how ambitious Si Heon was about Cha Han Media. Her intention to use that point to arrange a marriage with Yeon Ri Na was blatantly obvious.

Si Heon had no intention of falling for it. Neither the marriage nor Cha Han Media. He resolved once again that he would ultimately achieve everything according to his own will.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Ms. Jin! Did you go to dinner with the CEO yesterday?”

Having arrived a bit late after stopping by the CEO’s office first thing in the morning, it was almost 9 o’clock when So Yi entered the office. Though the article had been taken down quickly, quite a few people seemed to have seen it in the meantime.

As soon as So Yi entered, employees flocked around her as if they had been waiting.

“Did you go to Asher?”

“Are you really dating? With our CEO?”

No, we’re fake dating.

Swallowing the words she couldn’t say out loud, So Yi gave an awkward smile.

“Everyone back to your seats! It’s time to start work, what are you doing!”

Team Leader Kwak yelled loudly from a distance, seemingly displeased with the commotion caused by So Yi’s arrival.

“He was in a bad mood yesterday too, seems like he’s in a bad mood again today.”

Hye Na, sitting next to So Yi, grumbled quietly.

“Jin So Yi! Come here for a moment.”

Team Leader Kwak seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today. Though he had excellent work performance and team building skills, some team members struggled with his severe mood swings.

“Ms. Jin. Last month’s compensation processing report, still not done?”

Team Leader Kwak asked sharply, his face deeply furrowed with displeasure.

“You said that was due this Friday. Because I wouldn’t have time since I was traveling.”

So Yi furrowed her brows slightly.

Though she had broken up with her boyfriend, when she mentioned that she would still go on the trip alone, Team Leader Kwak had clearly told her not to worry and given her plenty of time until the report submission deadline.

He was all smiles when he extended the deadline, but now why was he suddenly acting like this?

“That meant by Friday at the latest! All the other team members have already submitted theirs and we’re just waiting to report upstairs, but we can’t because of you.”

Then you should have told me to submit it right after I got back from my trip.

Instead of speaking, So Yi clenched her fist tightly and forced a smile. Saying anything would only further irritate Team Leader Kwak.

“I’ll submit it today.”

“Did you check the rejected items among those you submitted for approval before your vacation, So Yi?”

“There weren’t any rejected items though?”

As So Yi opened her eyes wide as if to ask what he meant, Hye Na answered from behind her.

“Team Leader! I revised and resubmitted those for approval instead!”

Team Leader Kwak’s already twisted eyebrows contorted even more fiercely.

“Is that so?”

But he didn’t seem to have anything more to say.

“Go and get to work now.”

So Yi bowed her head to Team Leader Kwak, who turned his head abruptly to look back at the monitor irritably, and returned to her seat.

[Yoo Hye Na/Assistant Manager] : What’s wrong with him?

Hye Na sent a message as soon as So Yi turned on her computer.

[Jin So Yi/Assistant Manager] : I don’t know. He seems to be in a bad mood today.

Muttering under her breath that this wasn’t the first time Team Leader Kwak had acted like this, So Yi was about to prepare for work when another message arrived on her monitor.

[Cha Si Heon/CEO] : Let’s meet briefly after work today.

It was Si Heon.

[This is the timeline separator]

“As you know, after the passage of the three data laws the year before last, laws related to personal information protection in the data market have been further strengthened. Accordingly, the program developed by our Hi-Tech is designed to manage customer information and personal data handled by each institution more safely and systematically.”

The marketing planning team leader who came as a representative from the venture company Hi-Tech spoke with a confident voice.

As he pressed the projector remote button, a well-organized system structure and specifications of the program appeared on the large screen at the front of the conference room.

“… Thus, the program not only detects anomalies in real-time but also collects and stores access logs for each employee.”

As the team leader finished his presentation, Si Heon nodded with a satisfied expression. Hi-Tech was already the company selected in the bidding held in the morning, so this introduction was just a formality.

“Sounds good. Let’s make the contract.”

Si Heon’s deep voice resonated clearly in the conference room. The team leader smiled brightly and looked at another employee standing next to him. The waiting employee quickly placed the contract on the table.

After accepting the position of CEO of H Telecom, Si Heon first put his hand to the task of overhauling the computer system.

He had heard that when a recent customer information leak incident occurred, it took nearly two months to find the employee who leaked the personal information.

The employee in question, who belonged to the IT team, knew the vulnerabilities of the system managing personal information access history and had been using this to leak information multiple times.

Two months is more than enough time for leaked information to spread widely not only domestically but also to China, the Philippines, and Thailand.

As such, Si Heon decided to proceed with the overhaul that had been postponed every year due to budget issues. After returning from Italy, Si Heon immediately put out a tender notice and quickly proceeded from bidding to contract as soon as he took office as CEO.

He was especially satisfied with Hi-Tech’s program as it was a personal information protection solution he had already been eyeing.

“Then let’s implement and test the system within this month. And start beta service from next month.”

After finishing the contract, Si Heon checked his watch as he left the conference room. It was almost quitting time.

“Go home first.”

Si Heon told Jang Woo who was following behind, while stretching his neck this way and that. His neck was stiff from consecutive meetings with bidding companies all day since morning.

“What about you?”

Jang Woo asked curiously, knowing that he definitely had no other plans after work. Si Heon took out his phone from his jacket’s inner pocket and answered in an indifferent voice.

“I have a date.”