“……I’m truly sorry. I was drunk and didn’t realize it was you, Director. I made a mistake.”

“So it wouldn’t have mattered who it was?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Da Eun threw her gaze out the window and brazenly lied.

Perhaps it was because it was Cha Yu Kwon that she couldn’t stop, despite sobering up completely for a moment after leaving the tent bar.

His gentle voice, the touch of his hands on her body, the feel of his lips – it felt so good that she didn’t want to stop.

But she didn’t want Yu Kwon to find that out. Having decided to forget about last night, she had to be even more brazen.

After all, the one who speaks loudest wins.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t me.”

Yu Kwon rose from his chair and stood in front of her. Da Eun, extremely tense, kept her gaze fixed outside the window and stiffened her shoulders.

Just his closeness made her heart flutter. Her body tingled as if electrified, and her mouth kept going dry.

“What I left should be somewhere around here.”

Yu Kwon’s fingertip approached near Da Eun’s collarbone. It was a precarious distance, almost but not quite touching. Da Eun unconsciously held her breath.

Her body reacted as if electrified, even though his hand hadn’t touched her.

“Mmh……”

Da Eun, her body extremely sensitive due to last night’s events, let out an inadvertent sensual sound. Her hot breath shattered in the air.

Seemingly quite satisfied with that, Yu Kwon chuckled and took a step back.

In contrast, Da Eun’s face burned bright red. Da Eun had always thought of herself as a calm and rational person.

But whenever she stood before Cha Yu Kwon, she always turned into a fool. She made mistakes she wouldn’t have made in front of others, and stumbled over questions she clearly knew the answers to.

So she was always on edge, and just being close to Yu Kwon made her body stiffen. On the other hand, Yu Kwon always seemed relaxed.

Was it because he was a chaebol used to ordering subordinates around? Or was it because of the master-servant dynamic that had persisted for 8 years?

Da Eun, who had been staring at her own shoe tips out of embarrassment, suddenly looked at Yu Kwon. He was smiling.

It was the first time she’d seen him smile genuinely, as if truly enjoying himself, rather than his usual sneer. No, it had been 8 years.

Da Eun stared blankly at Yu Kwon’s face, forgetting her own situation. But soon his expression hardened. Da Eun swallowed dryly at that face that had become infinitely cold, as if all warmth had disappeared.

“Take responsibility, Secretary Song.”

Yu Kwon said with an arrogant face.

Every Wednesday, Cha Myung Il, the owner of Myungil, summoned his children to Hyanglimjae. Yu Kwon took the place of his deceased eldest son and daughter-in-law.

Yu Kwon’s grandfather, Myung Il, had started his business solely with his own strength and was now the owner of a respectable food company.

Still making the directors tremble as if he were still active, he was lately preoccupied with choosing a match for Yu Kwon.

“Oh, Father, really. Yu Kwon is still young. He can date and marry later, right?”

The eldest aunt, Yong Hee, tried to dissuade Myung Il.

The aunts were anxious that Yu Kwon might meet a woman from a good family and threaten their position.

“Young? I had you when I was Yu Kwon’s age.”

“Those times and now are different.”

“Yong Hyun had Yu Kwon at that age too.”

At the mention of Yong Hyun, who died in an accident, Yong Hee closed her mouth.

“I agree with my aunt. I want to focus solely on work for now. There’s no one to replace me either.”

Yu Kwon pretended to side with Yong Hee while subtly criticizing her. The eldest aunt Yong Hee was so greedy that she messed things up, and the second aunt Yong Ju was frustratingly incompetent. And the uncles were busy keeping each other in check.

Myung Il knew this too. He was fed up with children who caused all sorts of trouble and eventually shut down the businesses he had built with blood and sweat, so he brought in Yu Kwon. Yu Kwon grew faster than Myung Il’s expectations.

“He’s good at work, but there’s not a trace of humanity in him.”

Those who acted as Myung Il’s eyes and ears consistently said this about Yu Kwon.

Myung Il did business for people. He wanted to create a company where people came first, not current profits.

But Yu Kwon was different. He pursued only profit. Myung Il knew well that this stemmed from the absence of parents and competition with his aunts.

So he wanted to create a new family to be Yu Kwon’s support. But his grandson, unaware of this intention, repeatedly refused.

“I’ll leave first.”

Yu Kwon wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up. He bowed politely, but his expression didn’t match.

“Why, not eating more?”

“The smell is too intense.”

“Again, again……”

Myung Il clicked his tongue but didn’t try to stop Yu Kwon anymore. He had to let him be to some extent, not knowing what he might do if pushed too far.

“Father, aren’t you being too submissive to Yu Kwon?”

“Let’s just eat.”

Ignoring Yong Hee’s disgruntled complaint, Yu Kwon loosened his tightly knotted tie and moved his steps.

He passed indifferently through the juniper forest harmonizing with beautifully carved sculptures and got into the waiting car. It was suffocating.

As the car left Hyanglimjae, a call came from Myung Il. The meal must be over. Yu Kwon answered the phone with a leisurely attitude.

“Yes, Grandfather. Did you enjoy your meal?”

—After ruining my appetite, you insolent boy.

“I know you ate it all.”

When Yu Kwon hit the nail on the head, Myung Il coughed dryly.

—There was something I meant to say today but I forgot.

“What is it?”

—About your marriage.

“……Yes.”

—I’m thinking of putting Myungil Foods on the line.

Yu Kwon, who had been slumped in the back seat, straightened his upper body and listened closely.

—On the condition that you get married within this year.

Having dropped the bomb, Myung Il hung up without hesitation. The rest was up to Yu Kwon who had taken over. He slowly put down the hand holding the phone.

Laughter suddenly burst from his mouth. It was because he knew too well the meaning of saying he would give Myungil Foods.

He had predicted that if he kept pretending to be uninterested in marriage, Myung Il would eventually propose a deal, and that prediction was correct. He didn’t expect Myungil Foods to be put on the line though.

Myung Il, like Yu Kwon, would do anything to get what he wanted.

“Get married within this year, huh.”

Yu Kwon lost his parents in a car accident, and lost his sense of taste due to the aftermath of the accident. He even had to give up his dream of becoming like his grandfather.

It wasn’t just his dream that he lost.

It didn’t make sense to create a home with the warm smell of rice when he couldn’t expose his weakness to his aunts who were desperate to drive Yu Kwon to the brink by any means necessary.

When he lost his sense of taste, his sense of smell became sensitive. Everywhere was filled with disgusting smells. The only person who wasn’t disgusting was Da Eun. She alone wasn’t unpleasant.

For Yu Kwon, who was uncomfortable even being in a confined space with others due to his extraordinary sense of smell, marriage was something he couldn’t even imagine. Myung Il, unaware of Yu Kwon’s secret, kept urging him to get married.

Yu Kwon thought of Da Eun. Until now, she was the only person who wasn’t disgusting. It had been that way in the past, and after their reunion. Yu Kwon felt most comfortable and satisfied in spaces where she was present.

So realistically, Da Eun was the only solution that could meet Myung Il’s demand. However, Da Eun had handed him a wedding invitation. With a brazenly shameless face.

Although he had noticed that she was seeing someone, Yu Kwon was shocked when he received her wedding invitation, and only then did he feel a sense of urgency. It was ridiculous.

Belatedly, the desire to ruin her wedding stirred.

As if possessed, he investigated the man on the invitation and obtained evidence of Young Hoon’s infidelity. He intended to reveal it during the ceremony, not giving Young Hoon a chance to seek Da Eun’s forgiveness by telling her in advance. But unexpectedly, Yang Ju Ri stepped up herself.

Well, it was fortunate. Thanks to that, breaking up Da Eun’s wedding became easier.

Moreover, unexpectedly, he was able to embrace Da Eun, whom he had longed for so much. Just recalling her surprisingly soft skin and flushed face made his lower body uncomfortable. This wasn’t like being an animal in heat.

Yu Kwon suddenly became curious.

What was the satisfaction he felt after breaking up her wedding?

Did he need Da Eun as a marriage partner, or did he need the pretext of marriage to keep her by his side?

It didn’t matter either way. Because the day was not far off when he would have Myungil, which the enemy who killed his parents so desperately wanted to keep, in the palm of his hand.

Now that he had removed the trash from Da Eun, Yu Kwon had no intention of backing down since his grandfather had put Myungil on the line as a condition.

I wonder how Secretary Song intends to take responsibility for me. He was already looking forward to it.

After work, Da Eun agreed to meet Jun Won. On Wednesdays, Yu Kwon left work early due to family events, so Da Eun could leave early too. Though “early” just meant the same time as regular employees.

It was a chance to organize her thoughts after a long time. Da Eun, who arrived at the meeting place first, ordered Jun Won’s food in advance and sat down. She wrote a list of things to do in a small notebook she took out more often than her phone.

1. Find Song Da Hyun and recover money

2. Get money from Go Young Hoon

3. Repay 100 million won

4. Change jobs

With the wedding roughly sorted out, the only issue left to resolve was money.

Although Yu Kwon said it was fine, Da Eun didn’t want to create any debt to him, and there was no reason to accept it.

For now, she was contacting Da Hyun’s friends to inquire about her brother’s whereabouts. Since she might not be able to recover all the money, she needed to get the money spent on wedding preparations and gifts from Go Young Hoon.

After that, she planned to repay Yu Kwon and change jobs. The secretary position didn’t suit her from the beginning. She had applied for the product development team at Myungil Foods but unexpectedly became Yu Kwon’s secretary.