“Though I couldn’t, I trust you’ll strictly separate work and personal life.”
Yeong-in’s brows furrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“I trust that you won’t go back on your word about not quitting now that you know I am the president of SL Entertainment. You, who just lectured me about separating work and personal life, wouldn’t do that.”
Yeong-in, unable to refute, clenched her fists tightly.
She had met all sorts of people, but Cha Seong-hyeok was the most overwhelming. The fear that if she stayed any longer, she might do as he wished crept up on her.
“President Kang hates waiting. Let’s get up.”
Seong-hyeok retorted seriously.
“Isn’t President Kang me, to Team Manager Chae?”
“…”
“Please be careful with your titles and references from now on, Team Manager Chae Yeong-in.”
Yeong-in suppressed her irritation and murmured softly.
“I’ll keep that in mind, President.”
“Let’s go.”
Seong-hyeok rose first and led the way out of the office. A faint smile played around his lips.
Yeong-in watched President Kang, who kept talking incessantly while sipping wine like water.
“The most important thing I emphasize to our staff is not to kowtow to artists. You are partners, not servants. I’ve told Yeong-in countless times. Not that she would kowtow… But that’s not the point… I made what Team Manager Chae is today.”
It was understandable that he finished two bottles of wine on his own, given his fondness for alcohol. However, why he rambled on about her was beyond comprehension.
“I feel guilty and worried about leaving Yeong-in in this field alone, so my mind is quite troubled.”
“You don’t need to worry. I’ll support her well.”
Yeong-in was already troubled enough by President Kang and had no peace of mind because of Seong-hyeok’s precarious remarks.
“Yeong-in worked as a part-time employee at Hyeseong during her summer break in her senior year of college.”
“I know.”
President Kang looked puzzled.
“You know?”
“I just heard it from Team Manager Chae a while ago.”
Seong-hyeok, unfazed by his slip of the tongue, quickly covered up the situation with quick thinking. In fact, it was something he had heard over three years ago.
“Ah, Yeong-in must have told you…”
Muttering to himself and shaking his head, President Kang continued his story.
“Anyway, I persistently persuaded her to join us permanently after graduation.”
Yeong-in had joined Hyeseong Entertainment not long after she broke up with Seong-hyeok.
“She’s a poor girl who’s been working herself to death at Hyeseong for over three years. With that face, she hasn’t even dated once…”
“President, you’ve had too much to drink.”
Yeong-in was more astonished by the claim that she hadn’t dated than being made out to be a pitiable girl.
Even if her lie about dating someone else didn’t fool Seong-hyeok, she never expected it to backfire this way. She felt like sewing up the rambling mouth.
“No, I’m not drunk at all.”
Giving strength to his blurry eyes, President Kang corrected himself.
“I misspoke. It’s not that she hasn’t, but that she hasn’t chosen to. There were plenty of men who liked Yeong-in, even some surprisingly famous actors.”
Yeong-in, as if determined to expose all about herself, gave President Kang a sharp look and downed the wine in front of her in one gulp.
“You are drunk.”
Yeong-in slammed down her glass, narrowing her eyes at him, making even the tipsy President Kang suddenly timid.
“Ah, I thought I was drunk. Yes, I’m drunk…”
The harmless revelation ended there.
Yeong-in felt slightly tipsy from the wine. She had indulged in drink after drink in frustration.
“I’m going to the restroom.”
After washing her hands with cold water and returning to the room, President Kang and the legal team leader were nowhere in sight.
Yeong-in quietly stood and observed Seong-hyeok, who was leaning back in his chair, looking out the window.
The pitch-black night sky, the dazzling cityscape below, and a man. It all seemed like a painting.
Looking at Cha Seong-hyeok, it felt like witnessing a being where light and darkness coexisted. Some days he seemed like brilliant sunshine, other days like a deep abyss.
“Back?”
Startled back to reality, Yeong-in, hoping her face hadn’t shown her awe, casually tried to change the atmosphere.
“Our president…”
Worried about being caught on another slip, she quickly changed her words.
“Where’s President Kang Yoo-gun?”
A smile spread across his lips as if in approval.
“He was quite drunk, so I asked the legal team leader to take him home.”
“Let’s go, too.”
Yeong-in walked to her spot and picked up her bag.
“I’ll take you home.”
“I can call a taxi.”
“Alright, then.”
The two left the fine dining establishment together. A taxi was waiting at the entrance.
“I’ll go first.”
Seong-hyeok simply nodded without saying much.
After Yeong-in’s taxi left, the valet brought Seong-hyeok’s car. He hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol and immediately followed the taxi, ensuring that Yeong-in entered her house safely before he drove away.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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