“You got a job?”
The plastic bag fell from Jae Wook’s hand, too shocked. It seemed strange that ‘getting a job’ was such a surprising thing.
“Yes. I can’t keep imposing on the landlord. For the meals I’ve had so far, I’ll calculate 8000 won per meal based on standard prices, raw materials, hourly wages, and estimated opportunity costs. Don’t worry about the count, I’ve kept track.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Jae Wook snapped irritably as he picked up the fallen plastic bag. Inside was bright red pork.
“If you’re not satisfied with the unit price, we can negotiate-”
“No, forget it. If you needed money, I would have asked for three years’ rent upfront.”
He tossed the pork into the sink and started chopping kimchi. Soon, the small kitchen was filled with the spicy aroma of kimchi stew.
“Well done.”
“Pardon?”
Jae Wook’s voice was hard to hear over the chopping sound.
“I said well done!”
“If it’s well done, it’s well done. Why are you shouting?”
“Because it seemed like you didn’t hear me!”
Jae Wook grumbled as he set down the pot of kimchi stew. Fresh cucumber and carrot were also placed alongside ssamjang.
“Grandma will be thrilled to death seeing you employed.”
“…”
This is Jo Seo Ha’s life. Though unwillingly borrowing her body, Seo Ha didn’t want to know that story as she hadn’t borrowed the past.
“The kimchi stew is a bit bland. Can’t it be spicier?”
“She’ll like that you can eat spicy food well. She’ll like that you’ve suddenly become smart and talk back. So where’s the company? What do you do there?”
“I’m still an intern. It’s called Kang Yoon Company, they make clothes.”
Jae Wook’s busy spoon suddenly stopped mid-air.
“Kang Yoon? Did you just say Kang Yoon? The clothes-making Kang Yoon?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
Jae Wook stared blankly at Seo Ha, spoon still in hand. He seemed to have a lot to say. He also seemed to be forcibly holding back all those words.
Memories and questions that had risen and faded several times resurfaced.
The early winter night already dark all around. Hair disheveled and flying wildly. Eyes staring emptily at the windshield. And the red brick in hand.
That night, why did Jo Seo Ha jump in front of my car holding a brick?
“Do I have something with Kang Yoon?”
This was Jo Seo Ha’s past and also Yoon Seo Ha’s past. But Jae Wook, who clearly knew something, only moved his stopped spoon instead of answering.
“There’s nothing. Just eat your vegetable scraps.”
“There is something. Is it good? It’s not good, right?”
“I don’t know. Am I your guardian? I’m your landlord.”
It seemed there would be no gain in probing further. Seo Ha kept her doubts as she crunched on a finger-sized cucumber dipped in ssamjang. Jo Seo Ha’s face reflected in the spoon looked especially unfamiliar and lonely today.
[This is the timeline separator]“Navy blue Wolnam skirt. Horrible.”
Seo Ha set out for her first day of work wearing a neatly ironed outfit that was horrific from a designer’s perspective. It was an incredible journey having to take a village bus she’d never thought of riding in her life, then transfer to the subway.
“Get in.”
So Jae Wook’s offer was slightly appreciated.
“Don’t you have deliveries?”
“Finished them all at dawn. I’ll drop you off and go out again in the evening.”
“Then based on today’s gas price and hourly wage calculation-”
“Cut that out, will you?”
“Then I’ll take it as noblesse oblige.”
“What? Isn’t that a Naver webtoon title?”
“I mean I’ll gratefully accept your kindness.”
“The girl hits her head and starts using difficult words.”
Jae Wook grumbled non-stop but opened the truck door and helped Seo Ha climb in. It had smelled strongly of cigarettes last time, but was better today.
“You can drop me off just up ahead there.”
The fruit truck arrived in front of the company after breaking through traffic. Seo Ha hopped down from the truck, bowed her head deeply in gratitude, then headed for the main entrance.
Lee Seung Oh and Lee Ji Soo were watching this scene.
“There’s an employee commuting by truck.”
They had been chatting while sitting in the CEO’s office chair, looking outside. Ji Soo craned her neck to look down at Seung Oh’s casual remark.
“…?”
It was too far to make out the face.
“They’re wearing strange clothes. Looks like an old grandmother’s skirt.”
But the presence of the navy blue Wolnam skirt fluttering like a flag in the wind was clear even from this distance.
“Didn’t you wear clothes like that before, honey?”
“Did I? Hehe.”
“You said your mother bought it for you. Not that color, but a brighter… blue?”
“You remember such things.”
Ji Soo hopped down from Seung Oh’s lap.
Of course she used to wear clothes like that. She made bags with the sewing machine at school and collected scraps of fabric discarded by classmates to make graduation projects because she couldn’t afford fabric.
It was a miserable poverty.
“I’m going. It’s time for work.”
“Work hard today too.”
“Okay. I love you, oppa.”
“Me too.”
Lee Seung Oh rescued Ji Soo from that swamp of poverty. He gifted Ji Soo the life of Princess Seo Ha that her mother used to talk about with lament, and let her live in a luxury apartment with white marble floors instead of a moldy rooftop room.
-‘The scariest thing is, you know. Yoon Seo Ha suddenly opening her eyes and sitting up like this.’
The one who feared that event that might happen someday the most was actually not Seung Oh, but Ji Soo.
That can’t be. She’s been in a vegetative state for three years already.
Ji Soo was thinking hopeful thoughts as she left the CEO’s office, when she stopped abruptly. Kyung Jun was standing right in front of the door with his arms crossed.
“Wh-what is it?”
As always, Kyung Jun’s eyes held blatant contempt as he looked at Ji Soo.
“You’re in and out of the CEO’s office quite boldly from the morning, Team Leader Lee.”
“Wh-why, why?”
“You seem to be losing caution more and more. I’ll tell the CEO to be careful.”
“I-I came up early be-because new employees are starting today!”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Let’s be careful.”
No one in this company could treat Kyung Jun carelessly. He was called Director more than Secretary, and wielded greater influence than Lee Seung Oh in practical matters.
Among employees, there was even a joke that ‘without Director Ryu, the company would have gone bankrupt’.
“Hmph!”
Ji Soo, who still couldn’t accept that reality, snorted and went down to the design room.
[This is the timeline separator]The spacious design room was so full of all kinds of fabrics and materials that there was no room to step. Due to the dust that was more abundant than air, boxes of masks with filters were provided, but people often forgot about them as they became absorbed in their work.
I must have missed this place a lot.
Seo Ha stood like a stranger in front of the door she had passed through hundreds, thousands of times, looking at the place.
“Ah, intern?”
A busy employee discovered Seo Ha and asked. Judging by the faint dark circles under her eyes, she seemed to be a new junior employee who hadn’t been here long.
“Yes. I’m Jo Seo Ha, starting work from today…”
“Oh, sit over there.”
The employee vaguely pointed to a corner seat.
Seo Ha was very taken aback. How much effort had she put in to ensure mutual courtesy and respect within this office? How could they treat even an intern like this?
“Why are you standing there looking stupid? Go sit down, you’re in the way.”
Another unfamiliar employee snapped irritably. Seo Ha sat down at the seat assigned to her for now.
What is this? Is Kang Yoon really going bankrupt?
Amidst the confusion, a woman entered the office. At the same time, everyone except Seo Ha and the other two new hires stood straight facing the door and bowed.
“You’ve arrived, Team Leader Lee Ji Soo!”
Now it was beyond ridiculous, to the point of dizziness.
What’s with this atmosphere? Is this the military or what? Did a three-star general arrive?
Lee Ji Soo looked around the office, soon spotted Seo Ha, and approached with clicking heels.
“Oh my, our new employees. Nice to meet you.”
That brightly smiling face couldn’t look more benevolent.
“Everyone say hello. This is Hwang Joo Hee, here is Jung So Yeon. And Jo Seo Ha. Seo Ha is an intern, so everyone teach her well. Understood?”
Three years had passed since that day sitting in the cafe spewing venom. For Seo Ha, that stale day felt just like yesterday.
The anger she thought she had suppressed rippled deep inside. Seo Ha lowered her eyes to hide it, and noticed the shoes on Ji Soo’s feet.
They were Seo Ha’s shoes. She vividly remembered flying to France right after work to buy those limited edition shoes sold only to her.
“What are you looking at?”
Seo Ha raised her gaze at Ji Soo’s question.
She felt it again, painfully. The fact that Lee Seung Oh, and Lee Ji Soo, had stolen and ruined everything of Yoon Seo Ha’s.
“The shoes… are pretty.”
“These?”
Ji Soo casually looked at the shoes and smirked.
“Of course they’re pretty. They were the hottest design at Paris Fashion Week. I went through some trouble to get these.”
I’m the one who went through trouble to get those. How can you so brazenly lie after stealing what’s mine?
Seo Ha clenched and unclenched her fist without anyone noticing. Then she firmly established Jo Seo Ha’s character to push forward in this office.
“Really? Paris Fashion Week? Not Milan?”
An invincible character that no one could beat. The ‘clueless innocent’.
“Milan? What are you talking about?”
“Those are from Milan Fashion Week 2018, aren’t they? They caused quite a stir coming out last, don’t you remember?”
For the first time, she liked Jo Seo Ha’s ordinary and kind-looking appearance. There’s no sense of dissonance speaking so innocently with sparkling eyes like this.
“Jo Seo Ha, you seem to know a lot for an intern. But these are definitely from Paris Fashion Week. Right, Yoon Jung?”
“Yes. Paris Fashion Week 2018.”
The employee who seemed to have the sharpest instincts here quickly answered. Seo Ha made a subtle “hmm” sound through her nose.
“But it’s Milan… I think you’re mistaken, Team Leader. Did you buy them yourself in person?”
“Yes. I bought them myself in Paris.”
“Look at the bottom of the shoe. The artisan’s name and your name should be engraved in Italian in the middle of the sole.”
“Why should I do that?”
Ji Soo asked sharply. Not just the existing employees, but even the new hires who started with Seo Ha were quietly sweating.
Seo Ha completely ignored the hints from behind telling her to stop, and answered brightly:
“I could be wrong too. Interns are here to learn, so if I’m mistaken, you should teach me, Team Leader!”
__________
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation (Female-dominant)
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.
Synopsis:
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.
He even had his eyes on another woman.
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.
Su Mu expressed her disdain.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
She also wanted to embrace Xie Yi, who had silently stayed by her side in her previous life and committed suicide by taking poison after her death.
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.”
[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.
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