“Miss Hae Yeon, let’s go taste test the quality samples.”

Lee So Jung, the assistant manager, tapped on the desk, calling out to Hae Yeon who was staring at the monitor. It was her third day at work. Upon hearing that Hae Yeon had various computer program certifications and was proficient in Excel, the management support team finally started giving her tasks to work on.

Of course, they were trivial tasks, but Hae Yeon was grateful to be doing something that resembled actual work.

“After taste testing, your mouth gets all dry and sticky even before lunch.”

Seeing Hae Yeon happy about going to do sample tasting, So Jung grumbled, displeased. The management support team was always busy, so Assistant Manager Lee still had dark circles under her eyes.

“Does the management team also do sample tasting?”

Hae Yeon, who didn’t yet know the specific roles of each department within the company, asked.

“Well, taste is such a subjective thing, so the more data, the better. Sales and marketing do it most often, but we occasionally taste test too.”

So Jung kindly explained to Hae Yeon who was new to the job. Although it hadn’t even been a week since she started, the employees in the management support team, including her mentor, seemed to generally be good-natured people.

“How does it taste?”

There were already a few people in the sample tasting room, trying out the new coffee. Hae Yeon was at a loss for So Jung’s question. She personally preferred non-caffeinated tea over coffee and didn’t know how she was supposed to evaluate it.

In the end, Hae Yeon’s cheeks flushed red, and So Jung smiled thinly as if she understood without being told, teasing her mischievously.

“Miss Min Hae Yeon, do you perhaps not like coffee? Whoa, can someone who doesn’t even like coffee do well working at a coffee specialty company in the future?”

“What? Oh, no, that’s…”

As Hae Yeon stammered in embarrassment, So Jung burst into laughter.

“I’m just joking. We’re not the development department, and it doesn’t really matter for the management team. Plus, after working at Dali Coffee for a bit, everyone gets sick of coffee.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I’m telling you. But ironically, you can’t quit coffee. Can’t live without it, you know?”

At those words, Hae Yeon thought of the stacks of cups piled up in the break room and on the office desks, and laughed out loud. As Hae Yeon brightened up, So Jung handed her another sample.

“You don’t know how to give your impressions, right? I know how you feel, Hae Yeon. I was the same way. I got dragged to the sample room on my very first day at work. But after working, I realized it. Sometimes, the opinions of new employees are more definitive.”

When her mentor, Assistant Manager Lee, started talking about her early days, Hae Yeon listened attentively. Hae Yeon’s appearance as she earnestly listened was brimming with energy.

Seeing Hae Yeon listening closely, moving her body nearer, So Jung felt a sense of satisfaction welling up inside her. When the audience responds well, the presenter naturally feels more inclined to speak. So Jung explained more slowly and carefully so Hae Yeon could understand easily.

“After just one year, the employees at headquarters all start explaining in long-winded ways, like this taste is like this, that is like that, but it’s often just a flood of words for the sake of evaluation.”

Assistant Manager Lee continued speaking as she sipped the sample.

“But when new employees taste for the first time, they often express it in a simple and straightforward way, and that can sometimes be the most definitive indicator for evaluating coffee flavors.”

After saying that, So Jung turned to Hae Yeon and smiled brightly.

“In that sense, Hae Yeon, how was what you just drank? They said it’s a new product to be released in the fall.”

As So Jung asked with great anticipation, Hae Yeon swirled the coffee in her mouth and finally replied.

“It’s delicious.”

* * *

Mi-bon Foods Finance Director’s Office.

“Good work, Manager Kim.”

“Yes, Director.”

As the man left, Yoon Ho slowly erased the smile from his face. With his arms crossed, leaning askew in his chair, he picked up the documents he had briefly put down. After looking at them for a while, Yoon Ho pressed the intercom with cold eyes.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

Considering the sensitive office owner, the secretary knocked on the door with just enough force not to be bothersome, and entered the office upon Yoon Ho’s permission.

“How much progress has been made?”

It was an abrupt question, but the secretary, who knew the reason for Yoon Ho’s summons, answered familiarly.

“We are now in the final stages. However…”

“However?”

Yoon Ho raised one eyebrow and stared intently at the secretary who rarely trailed off in his words. At that silent urging, the secretary collected himself and immediately reported.

“There are some missing parts in the records for the last month.”

Yoon Ho, who seldom showed emotional fluctuations, curled the corners of his lips at the secretary’s words. Seeing that smile, the secretary hesitated in tension, and Yoon Ho spoke sarcastically.

“Are you admitting to me right now that you are incompetent?”

“I apologize, Director.”

Without any excuses, the secretary apologized to Yoon Ho. It was an attitude that came from observing his superior for a long time and knowing that adding unnecessary remarks in this situation would only backfire.

Yoon Ho also didn’t comment on the secretary’s behavior and just looked at him before opening his mouth.

“Why on earth is our secretary wandering around for?”

It wasn’t an outright rebuke, but it was even more draining. Secretly breaking out in cold sweat at Yoon Ho’s demeanor, the secretary reported again.

“…Upon investigation, it seems that the matters during that one month are being managed separately.”

“Hmm.”

“Based on our observations so far, we presume it occurred internally, not externally. If we mishandle that part, there is a high possibility of us being easily exposed, so we haven’t been able to approach it yet.”

Yoon Ho’s gaze as he looked at him with one hand on his chin was cold. With his meticulous personality, he didn’t like this type of reporting, and Yoon Ho’s brows furrowed at the secretary’s next words.

“Above all, among the people presumed to be involved, the whereabouts of all but one are unclear.”

“All of them, you say?”

Yoon Ho asked back, carefully going over the secretary’s words. Chairman Yoon Myung Gil had built the Daechi-dong mansion into her own impenetrable fortress, and thanks to that system, outsiders were thoroughly excluded, making her mansion quite closed off.

As such, the staff employed at the Daechi-dong mansion were all strictly screened individuals. Thanks to such careful selection, it was obvious that once hired, they would work there for a long time.

“Yes. Around November of last year, all the personnel at the Daechi-dong mansion were replaced at one point. But after the replacement, we couldn’t find any traces of them.”

Couldn’t find, huh. This situation didn’t align with Chairman Yoon’s moves so far. Yoon Ho’s voice dragged out in the silence.

“Then who is that one person?”

The secretary answered with a difficult expression at Yoon Ho’s question.

“It’s Dr. Moon Han Seok.”

“…Ah, him.”

At the secretary’s answer, Yoon Ho furrowed his brows and opened his mouth.

“Let’s leave him alone for now and just compile what you’ve found out so far. As for the rest, keep searching.”

“Understood.”

The secretary, who politely bowed his head, placed the documents he had brought when entering the director’s office on Yoon Ho’s desk.

“Here is the compilation of the other matter you mentioned.”

“You may leave now.”

Yoon Ho, who had given a clear order to leave, alternately examined the documents he had been looking at just before and the ones the secretary had just handed him after the secretary left. The sound of papers rustling filled the director’s office.

“…”

The first document was about Min Hae Yeon’s whereabouts. It was the result of the order he had given to the secretary on the day Hae Yeon first made a request to him.

On the other hand, the document the secretary had just handed him was about the new command he had issued after having a meal with Hae Yeon over the weekend. It was about Lee Su Rin’s whereabouts, and Yoon Ho meticulously examined it without letting go of it.

“…Haa.”

A deep furrow was etched between Yoon Ho’s brows as he looked over the second document. It was content that made Lee Su Rin’s purpose more than apparent, and a sigh escaped involuntarily.

“She still can’t let go…”

Yoon Ho knew about the feelings his younger sister Lee Su Rin had for his friend Do Ha. Among the people who knew both Su Rin and Do Ha, the only one who probably didn’t know about Lee Su Rin’s feelings was likely the person in question, that bastard Cha Do Ha.

‘No? Did he know and act that way?’

It was a meaningless digression. Anyway, Lee Su Rin’s one-sided love for Do Ha, no, her obsession, was deemed to pose no significant problem. She would be too busy competing with him to have the leisure to lay a hand on Do Ha.

In the end, it was a problem that would resolve itself because if Lee Su Rin confessed to Do Ha, he would surely reject her. Su Rin, with her sky-high pride, wouldn’t cling to Cha Do Ha after being rejected.

Several years ago, when Do Ha suddenly announced his marriage, Su Rin had seemingly given up on Cha Do Ha as she went to study abroad in England.

“Did she come back to Korea because of Do Ha, or did her pent-up emotions explode?”

Yoon Ho, who spoke like that, was ruthless for someone talking about family. To Yoon Ho, Lee Su Rin hadn’t been family for a long time. Su Rin’s feelings toward him were probably not much different, if not worse.

Since they had been at odds with each other, playing tricks, Yoon Ho could assert that he knew Lee Su Rin the best. But for something like this to happen.

“Whatever it is, debts must be repaid.”

Yoon Ho, who spit that out, put away the documents and put on a flawless face. It was time to work again.

* * *

“Director Seol Ju Ah, can we talk for a moment?”

Hae Yeon discovered Ju Ah in the cafeteria after finishing lunch. It was a pleasant way out after washing down the sticky feeling in her mouth after the tasting with the bibimbap that came out for lunch today, as So Jung had said.

Spotting Ju Ah, whom she hadn’t seen once since joining the company, Hae Yeon swiftly approached her, avoiding people’s eyes.

“Uh, okay.”

Perhaps sensing the strange pressure from Hae Yeon, Ju Ah answered softly, even nodding her head.

Since Hae Yeon was a low-level employee who had just joined the company and Ju Ah was the daughter of Dali Coffee’s chairman and managing director, they had to be mindful of other employees’ attention even while moving.

Hae Yeon dragged Ju Ah to a place with few people and started pouring out her words like a machine gun.

“Why didn’t you tell me the management support team leader is your younger brother? No, nevermind me, but if you were going to inform the team leader, you should have told him perfectly. We were both so surprised.”

“Umm, surprise?”

Ju Ah’s carefree answer seemed so childish that Hae Yeon, who had more to say, closed her mouth instead. Hae Yeon tried to say something more, but she eventually lost her will to fight at the sight of Ju Ah smiling brightly.

However, to prevent such a thing from happening again in the future, Hae Yeon didn’t forget to give a warning.

“Next time something like this happens, you have to tell me in advance.”

“Got it, Hae Yeon.”

Seeing Ju Ah carefully hitting her, mindful of her mood, Hae Yeon finally smiled, shaking off any remaining resentment. Ju Ah, who had known her for a long time, sensed that her friend’s anger had subsided at that smile and quickly changed the subject.

“How’s the company? Is it bearable?”

It was a blatant change of topic. Since she had already decided to let it go, Hae Yeon answered Ju Ah’s question.

“Yeah. It’s bearable.”

“Then what about that Seol Yu Jun? He’s not bothering you, is he?”

Hae Yeon was reminded of Ju Ah calling him a “grim reaper” at the question that showed no trust in her younger brother. How had she managed to never show it even once while expressing such dislike for her own brother?

No? Was it that she disliked him so much she didn’t even want to mention him?

“He treats me well as a new employee without minding that I’m his sister’s friend.”

Ju Ah quickly furrowed her brows. It was clear that it wasn’t a very satisfactory answer, but knowing it was the best she could hope for, she didn’t fuss any further.

For a while, Hae Yeon spent a pleasant time chatting with a friend she felt comfortable with for a change. Perhaps because it was the first proper conversation she had at work, they unfortunately had to wrap up the conversation as lunchtime ended while they were immersed in chatting.

Just before parting, Ju Ah asked Hae Yeon one last question.

“Right. Hae Yeon, are you free tomorrow evening?”

A sigh escaped Hae Yeon’s mouth.

“What should I do? I don’t think I can tomorrow because I have somewhere to go.”

“Huh? Really?”

Ju Ah, who knew well Hae Yeon’s personality of not enjoying going out much, seemed surprised and sighed. Hae Yeon felt just as regretful.

“Instead, I’ll treat you to dinner next time.”

“Don’t forget.”

Ju Ah pouted her lips. Hae Yeon felt sorry, but it couldn’t be helped. Because tomorrow was the day she had been waiting for so much.