The long two-week vacation came to an end. I used up all my unused leave days since joining the company at once.

This year, Hae Jin was due for promotion to manager. Although it was a crucial time, approval for the trip came easily from above.

Born as an only daughter, there was no separate successor training.

Her father, Jung Han Sung, built up the company through his own efforts, and he hoped his daughter Hae Jin would do the same.

At first, it was a lighthearted internship after college graduation.

She joined thinking she would help with her dad’s company, wrote a resume like everyone else, and went through interviews.

No one knew that Jung Hae Jin was the daughter of Jung Han Sung of Sion Group.

She absolutely hated the colored glasses of people who didn’t even know her well. She wanted to compete based on ability, not background.

So, she thought this vacation was a well-deserved reward for working harder than anyone else.

She checked that her turned-off phone screen lit up as she exited the arrival hall.

She had informed her parents of her return date, time, and flight before departing.

Hae Jin’s eyes quickly scanned the people, but her parents were nowhere to be seen.

Thinking nothing of it, she looked at her turned-on phone and saw chaos.

She stared blankly at her phone, wondering what was going on. The notifications kept coming endlessly.

From “It’s a big problem, Manager” to messages asking why she wasn’t responding.

After hurriedly leaving the airport, she was informed of the situation.

Sion had invested almost all its cash assets in a new line.

They put up collateral when liquidity ran low, but ultimately the venture failed and cash flow stalled.

In the end, the company went bankrupt, and Han Sung and Hee Jung were working hard to resolve the situation.

Her parents, who said they would come to the airport, sent a text instead of greeting her.

– Daughter, I’m sorry. We’ll contact you again when the situation is resolved.

With a message containing an unfamiliar address, her parents cut off contact like that.

After that, there was no contact from her parents. Calling their existing numbers only resulted in voice guidance saying the number doesn’t exist.

This situation is, to put it nicely, living on her own, or to put it badly, a life on the run.

When she had no choice but to go to the unfamiliar address, she couldn’t forget how she felt that day.

It was Hae Jin’s first time in this neighborhood, and she felt like she had been dropped alone in a strange world.

The house that could be seen at a glance was a first in Hae Jin’s life, except for when she studied abroad. If compared, this place was even smaller.

She was dazed, not even taking off her shoes. Afraid that the moment she stepped in, her life would be mortgaged to this place.

That Hae Jin’s future would end in this small world.

For Hae Jin, living frugally on her own was not easy.

It wasn’t a perfectly equipped household.

She made many mistakes with unfamiliar household items. As she bought various necessities, her bank balance gradually decreased.

She tried to cut back on spending, but reducing her existing consumption habits at once was harder than expected.

Her idea of cutting back was using a debit card instead of a credit card.

She thought her parents would resolve things and contact her if she waited, but as days passed, her anxiety only grew.

When Hae Jin last tried to pay with her debit card and heard, “Ma’am, there are insufficient funds,” she ran out of the store at that moment.

After much deliberation, Hae Jin pulled out her last resort. She reached out to connections formed from social gatherings.

Pride or whatever, don’t you have to survive first?

But her father’s company’s bankruptcy clearly showed the severance of those relationships.

Calls wouldn’t even connect, and even if they did, people often avoided her with excuses of being busy.

She already knew well. That her father’s business scale was their class.

She had already fallen to rock bottom, her class revoked.

It was the moment Jung Hae Jin’s final insurance was forcibly terminated.

Coming down from the top to the bottom was very easy. But she couldn’t live like this.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before she was sucking her thumb.

At a dead end, there were no options.

Let’s sell everything luxurious except conscience and body.

“How did you collect these?”

She sold her luxury bags one by one.

“What should I do first?”

She decided to look for part-time jobs. Amid the flood of job postings, Hae Jin’s fingers were busy just scrolling through her phone screen.

Pass, pass, pass this too. It was the moment her life was being passed.

**

The doorbell rang. It’s a house where no one should be visiting.

She became alert for a moment. She quickly got up and looked outside through the lens in the front door.

Outside the door stood a middle-aged man. His well-fitted suit and shiny glasses frames caught her eye.

Just looking at him, elegance was overflowing from his whole body.

“Who, who is it?”

Her eyes checking outside the door were full of wariness. She looked to see if there were any other outsiders.

Fortunately, there was no one besides the middle-aged man.

“Is Jung Hae Jin there?”

It was definitely her name. Suspicion grew stronger than relief.

How did he know she was living here?

Her hesitant fingertips still lingered on the doorknob, unable to decide.

The risk was too great to carelessly open the door. The face of the man on the other side of the door was someone she had never met before.

That’s when, as if he knew full well that she was hesitating.

“I’m a friend of Chun Sik.”

Hae Jin covered her mouth. It was her father Han Sung’s name before he changed it, known only to a very few.

Her tightly clenched hand from tension loosened slightly. Could he have come to deliver news about her father? She opened the door with the safety chain still on.

“So it is Hae Jin.”

As if he had known her for a very long time, there was no awkwardness in his eyes and attitude.

“You don’t remember me, would you like to go inside and talk if you have time?”

Even if he said he was her father’s friend, she couldn’t open the door rashly. It was a scary world where just a kind smile wasn’t enough.

Then the man took out a business card from inside his jacket.

Moon Jun Tae, CEO of Yeonchang Group.

The business card looked simple, but it exuded dignity.

Hae Jin, still not relaxing her gaze, alternately looked at the business card and Jun Tae.

“Just a moment.”

Hae Jin quickly searched the name on the business card with her phone.

The person in the image from the search results was right in front of her. He really was the CEO of Yeonchang Group.

“Please come in.”

The front door with the safety latch removed opened wide, and Jun Tae entered.

Jun Tae carefully looked around the house. Although they sat facing each other, awkwardness built a wall between them.

Yeonchang Group was one of the major domestic corporations. Why would such a large company CEO come to see her?

Had he come to help her, or to collect money invested in the bankrupt funds?

There was nothing she could be sure of.

One small dynamic action in the static atmosphere created a crack in the stiff atmosphere.

Hae Jin asked, slipping into that gap.

“Do you know me?”

Jun Tae put down the glass he was drinking from at Hae Jin’s question.

“You were about this tall?”

Jun Tae spread his arm out to the side, his outstretched arm stopping somewhere around table height.

Looking at the height of his arm, he was saying he had seen her when she was very young, but how could she remember?

“It’s understandable that you don’t remember.”

As if reading Hae Jin’s thoughts, Jun Tae’s eyes were generous.

“But why did you come to find me?”

She cut to the chase, hiding her opening words about what business Yeonchang Group had with her.

“To help. I also owe your father.”

If you owe him, why don’t you help my father’s business?

She still hadn’t heard what he would help with or how.

“I found Hae Jin with great difficulty after much inquiry. It may be hard to believe, but your father also asked me to.”

“Are you in contact with my father?”

Her voice filled with longing was close to urging.

“How could I have a contact number that he doesn’t even give to his daughter? He just asked me to find Hae Jin if this kind of situation arose.”

She was worried about her parents who had hidden so heartlessly as to cut off even blood ties.

She had tried calling the number that didn’t answer many times, but the only response was that it was a non-existent number.

Nevertheless, Hae Jin kept calling, grasping at straws.

Maybe today the situation would improve and she could reach them, or maybe tomorrow would be different.

She firmly believed in the promise with no set date and tried to reassure herself that nothing was wrong, but as time passed, her worry for her parents deepened.

Jun Tae slightly pushed up his glasses and observed Hae Jin. Their eyes met again through the lenses.

One who wanted to know even one thing and one who calmly deflected curiosity.

Jun Tae was the first to break the invisible psychological warfare.

“Aren’t you looking for a job now?”

How did he know?

If the help Jun Tae mentioned was a job, that would be different.

The person in front of her was none other than the CEO of Yeonchang Group.

With one gesture or look from him, a non-existent job could be created.

Hae Jin knew this world better than anyone. The power of authority, that is.

At those words, Hae Jin neatly placed both hands on her knees.

“It must not be easy to find a job.”

A high-level judgment that seemed to know all of Hae Jin’s situation in advance, as expected of a large company CEO?

Hae Jin slowly nodded. It hurt that she had only one option.

Her connections were cut off, part-time jobs couldn’t be found, and her bank balance was rapidly approaching zero.

At this moment rushing towards the worst state, the best method was only the helping hand extended by Jun Tae.

“I’ll give you a job.”

Did the CEO of Yeonchang Group just say he would give her a job?

At the boastful-sounding words of actually offering a job, Hae Jin faltered slightly.

Living taught her there was no help given for free. Life was a cold reality where give and take was certain.

Hae Jin, who knew the world of the wealthy better than anyone, was not unaware of that ecosystem.

She couldn’t just be happy. The other party was a professional businessman and large company CEO.

She hadn’t yet heard what kind of job he was proposing. It was too early to let her guard down.

Hae Jin swallowed dryly. Jun Tae didn’t miss even this small action of hers.

Did he judge that Hae Jin was ready to listen right away? Ahem, he cleared his throat and revealed the one purpose for coming here.

“There’s a rugby ball in our company.”

Rugby ball? It was a completely mismatched word.

As if she had misheard, Hae Jin’s head tilted diagonally.

Unlike her, Jun Tae’s expression was as serious as could be.

“I’d like Hae Jin to be the lineman.”

Jun Tae glanced at Hae Jin’s face. Her wavering eyes told him she still hadn’t grasped the situation.

“Well, that is.”

Jun Tae held back his words. That alone was enough to bring tension to Hae Jin.

He was careful, as if looking for the right words. His finger that finished thinking stopped on the table.

“Dedicated marking.”

Her eyes wavered even more as words came out whose dictionary meaning alone made clear what it meant.

But Jun Tae properly dangled a golden apple that couldn’t be refused.

“I guarantee the compensation on my name.”