I should have found him a little sooner. No, I shouldn’t have turned my gaze away from Doyul in the first place. If I hadn’t done that…
In a taxi heading back to Seoul, holding Doyul who was sleeping with his head on my shoulder, I had to suppress the boiling anger. The anger towards myself for not keeping the promise to protect.
Monday morning commute. People didn’t hide their curiosity. It was blatant and rude, but I didn’t want to react to each one.
“They’re not asking anything.”
Eating together with team members at the company cafeteria, I was the first to open my mouth in an atmosphere no different from usual.
“To be honest, it feels a bit betraying.”
“Kkum! Hm! The soup is salty today.”
When the youngest, Mr. Jang Woosuk, opened his mouth, Researcher Lee Kyunghoon and the team leader tried to block his mouth by coughing, but Mr. Jang Woosuk continued to speak without caring.
“Please tell them that you two are dating. I didn’t even know that, and Chanhyung praised him like that. How much did you dislike me?”
“Well…”
“Yes, I know. There’s nothing good about the company spreading rumors. Still, I can’t help feeling betrayed.”
Mr. Jang Woosuk, who graduated from the same school as Researcher Jung Chanhyung, had praised him a lot when the scandal broke out between him and Researcher Jung Chanhyung. With a fresh expression that didn’t match his size, Mr. Jang Woosuk, with a spoonful of soup in his mouth, said,
“The soup isn’t salty?”
looking at Researcher Lee Kyunghoon.
Good people.
Even though I had to consider changing jobs again because of the somewhat noisy atmosphere and the burdensome Doyul at the company, I didn’t want to do so because of these people.
The team leader, who tried hard to speak Korean a little awkwardly, Researcher Lee Kyunghoon, who was quick-witted and liked making friends, and the youngest who was not very aware but kind and charming – I liked them all.
“Thank you.”
I expressed my gratitude and started eating.
“Then, Mr. Ji will buy coffee today.”
I nodded at the team leader’s words.
With little time left for lunch, we went up to the in-house cafe. Although the youngest, who had decided to eat expensive drinks and desserts, grumbled, no one in our team paid much attention.
When our team arrived at the cafe, the gaze of people was a bit different from usual. Exactly, it was directed not to our team but to me. Ignoring them, I turned my gaze to the menu to place an order.
“Ah, Ji Seojun Researcher. You became a star when you came to the company today. No, were you a star from the beginning?”
Researcher Sikyiwon from another team approached and spoke. Rather than saying he approached to talk, it was more like he came to pick a fight, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I just greeted him lightly and started looking at the menu again.
“Hey, isn’t it scary? Kim Manager’s face was completely smashed. He doesn’t have a face like that, did he exercise?”
“Yes. I exercised. Since I was young, I learned taekwondo, boxing, judo, jiu-jitsu to beat those bastards who crossed the line. I learned whatever I could. Fortunately, I stopped before winning any championships. I can only hit as much as before killing someone. I don’t know how lucky I am.”
With my answer, the startled Sikyiwon Researcher stepped back.
“Fortunately, I stopped before winning any championships. I can only hit as much as before killing someone. I don’t know how lucky I am.”
The inside of the cafe fell silent in an instant.
“And sometimes, when I see people speaking ill of my girlfriend, I lose my temper a bit. So, be careful. I’m a bit of a crazy guy.”
“Haha. No, you’re good at jokes, Mr. Ji.”
“Now, did that sound like a joke?”
The hands of the cafe staff making drinks stopped, making the surroundings very quiet. It was so quiet that you could hear the sound of Sikyiwon Researcher swallowing.
“Careful, don’t talk about my girlfriend lightly.”
I forcefully spoke the last words, looking around the cafe. People who met my eyes quickly avoided eye contact.
Smiling at the stammering Sikyiwon Researcher, I turned my head and said to the counter staff,
“Three iced Americanos, and… Mr. Uiseok, what did you say?”
“T-t-tophé-nut latte, with low-fat milk…”
“Did you hear that? Three Americanos and that, please.”
I handed my card to the bewildered cafe staff.
“Hello.”
“Oh, yes.”
The person who greeted me with a bright smile was a female colleague from the same team as Doyul. She was there on the way out of the data room at the Seoul headquarters.
“Oh! The scars on this hand, did they happen at that time?”
The white woman, who saw the small scar on my hand, covered her mouth with both hands and looked pitiful.
“It’s nothing. By any chance, do you have something to tell me…?”
“Oh. That… It happened during the workshop.”
My body reacted sensitively to the word ‘workshop.’ Unintentionally, I exuded a sharp energy, and the white woman shivered.
“At that time, I regretted a lot, thinking if I had been next to the manager, such a thing wouldn’t have happened… It’s so regrettable.”
She lowered her head gracefully and took a small breath.
“It stopped at an attempted assault, but I think the manager was very surprised, and you must have been too.”
“Yes. Thank you for worrying.”
“No! Of course, I should worry. If you ever need help, please feel free to contact me.”
“Just saying that is enough. I have to go now.”
“Oh! Yes. I was holding on without realizing. Then, I’ll wait for your call.”
Passing her, I headed to the end of the corridor towards the elevator. The white woman, who was still standing in the corridor, looking at me, remained there until I got on the elevator.
This place was set up for research materials and a simple lab, not the floor where ordinary office workers came. She was a junior of Doyul I happened to meet there.
My instincts sounded the warning signal.
After that, I coincidentally saw her again after Doyul reported Manager Kim to the internal complaints department.
On the day I had to visit the research institute in the province, I parked my car in the company parking lot long after working hours, following the manager’s belated order to make a report.
“That woman…”
When I parked my car, the woman who quickly passed in front of it was a white woman. Her expression, which I couldn’t usually see, nervously boarded a car. The tinted windows were so dark that I couldn’t tell who was inside.
“7998.”
It was a coincidence that an easily memorable license plate caught my eye. And not long after that, I found out that the car with that number was Manager Kim’s from the HR team.
Could it be her?
The person who spread malicious rumors about the company and posted on the anonymous bulletin board. There was no concrete evidence, but intuition pointed to her as the culprit.
Alone at the company, I read and reread the post she had uploaded to the anonymous bulletin board.
It was vaguely written, but it detailed our meeting, mine, and Jung Chanhyung Researcher’s, with her. As if she had seen it firsthand.
I thought I should check her reputation first, so when I raised my phone, Doyira called.
“What’s up?”
Hey! Where are you?
Before I could finish my sentence, Doyira asked about my location. My heart began to pound at the urgency in her voice.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
