Office Romance Scandal (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15
The smoothly moving car came to a stop. The driver got out and gladly opened the rear door.
Hae Jin followed the driver. They turned through unfamiliar alleys until an old traditional house with a courtyard came into view. Just then, the man walking ahead also stopped.
The serene old house was completely at odds with Hae Jin’s state of mind. Though the peaceful courtyard seemed to beckon her in, her steps hesitated.
“The Chairman is waiting for you.”
With a polite bow, he extended his arm to indicate where Hae Jin should go. Following his gesture with her eyes, she saw the slightly ajar door of the old house. Through the narrow gap, she could see the person she was meant to meet.
She took a brief, deep breath and walked forward. Though the few steps felt surprisingly long, she reached her destination in no time. Slipping her hand through the gap, she slid the door open smoothly.
“Hello.”
Steam rose from the teacup placed before her. Tea—he’d given her tea on her first day at work. She recalled his words: he only offered tea to people he didn’t particularly like.
Was this a case of like father, like son? She let out a quiet chuckle, her tension easing slightly without her even realizing it.
“Have a seat.”
He felt strikingly different from when he’d abruptly shown up at Hae Jin’s home. Back then, he’d come asserting himself as her father’s friend; now, this was a meeting between the chairman of Yeon Chang Group and a low-ranking associate.
Relationships were truly ridiculous. The moment money entered the picture, hierarchy emerged—there was a “superior” and an “inferior.”
Thus, there was no reason for him to wear a kind expression—and indeed, he wasn’t.
“Have some tea.”
His wrinkled hand poured the tea himself. Hae Jin drank it without hesitation. After all, she probably wasn’t a welcome guest for him either.
Beyond the window, the scenery showed lush green grass, yet the atmosphere between them felt as dark as deep gray.
Jun Tae broke the silence first.
“How’s the work treating you?”
“Yes. I’m getting used to it.”
“He’s my son, but he can be quite difficult.”
Heh—he sounded as if he were chuckling warmly, yet his eyes remained sharp and unsmiling, not a wrinkle near them.
“How’s Tae Hong these days? Hasn’t gotten into any trouble, has he?”
“No.”
Her reply was brief. Instead of more questions, the room filled with hearty laughter.
“Hahaha.”
This time, it seemed genuinely amusing—he laughed so hard that deep wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes.
“Associate Jeong, you must be trembling like a leaf, knowing your team leader holds your lifeline.”
Hae Jin bit her lower lip—just enough to hide it. Jun Tae, now completely void of amusement, calmly sipped his tea with ease.
“What use is it for me to receive reports from a thirty-year-old son?”
Though his tone sounded like a sigh, it clearly wasn’t just that. She simply hid her rising tension as best she could and replied with a quiet, “Is that so?”
“I asked to see you, Associate Jeong, because of Tae Hong’s marriage issue.”
“M-marriage?”
She hadn’t once considered—or even imagined—hearing those words during her entire journey here. She’d assumed he wanted to manipulate her, but it turned out to be about his son’s marriage.
“You must have noticed, working closely with him—does that boy even have time for romance?”
True enough. Though he claimed he never stopped women from coming or tried to hold onto those leaving, she’d never once seen Tae Hong spending personal time with a woman.
As contradictory behaviors came to mind one by one, Hae Jin grew serious.
“I’ll need your help, Associate Jeong.”
“Me?”
Jun Tae explained that since young people these days prefer natural meetings, he’d arrange a suitable setting himself.
So he’d summoned her over his son’s marriage. How awkward. Did he really think Jeong Hae Jin would listen to him? He wasn’t oblivious—he surely knew better.
She certainly didn’t have the confidence herself.
“Chairman, as you know, people can be unpredictable—do you think this will really work out?”
She only said it because it truly was unpredictable, yet Jun Tae’s reaction turned abruptly sharp.
“Shouldn’t you ensure the substantial reward isn’t wasted?”
Tae Hong held her lifeline, and the Chairman held her purse strings.
The unexpected turn of events was so startling it left her flustered. In the end, the only reply she could give was a half-hearted “Understood.”
“Oh, and I’d prefer Tae Hong not find out about this. If he discovers his ‘natural’ meeting was actually orchestrated behind the scenes by his father, how natural would that really be?”
It was a clear order to keep quiet. Once again, her reply was simply, “Yes.”
Frankly, it might’ve been easier if he’d asked her to report his every move instead. How could anyone control love or marriage—especially when the other person was Moon Tae Hong?
She remembered a girl from the past, during those glamorous days—Jo Se Young, the eldest daughter of Ha Min Group—who’d once complained bitterly at social events about how her father kept lining up blind dates for her.
What had she said again? That she hated forced meetings and only wanted natural ones. The problem was that her “natural” meetings always happened over drinks.
That’s when she recalled how hard her father had tried, seating one eligible heir after another from prestigious families in hopes of securing her future.
But Tae Hong was utterly consumed by work—would a blind date or a set-up even make a dent? Her head pounded.
Afterward, the driver immediately took Hae Jin straight home. Her body felt relaxed, but her mind was anything but. She barely collapsed onto her bed when her phone rang.
Ever since receiving that message from Jun Tae, she’d flinched every time her phone rang.
The caller was her team leader—Tae Hong. She clutched the phone tightly as it rang at the most impossible moment, then finally answered.
“Yes, Team Leader.”
Her voice came out hoarse, likely from all the stress—and perhaps also from the sudden release of tension.
—I’m calling to share the schedule.
She checked off a few simple items. It was so straightforward she wondered why he’d even needed to call.
“I’ll hang up, then.”
—Associate Jeong Hae Jin, did you just wake up?
“Huh? Yes.”
She blurted out a lie without thinking, then tried to take it back—but only made things more awkward.
—I see. Go back to sleep, then.
Click—he hung up without exception. Though she hadn’t been sleeping, sudden exhaustion washed over her. So much for a bright weekend—tossed around this way and that, the weekend was already over.
Right after hanging up, a photo arrived on Tae Hong’s phone. It showed Hae Jin and Jun Tae together. Perhaps because he’d asked the photographer to focus on Hae Jin’s face, her features filled the frame.
He chuckled softly at Hae Jin’s expression in the photo. From observing her, he already knew she had a wide range of expressions—and the photo confirmed it.
Her determined look, her surprised look—they felt so familiar he could almost predict her reactions.
He couldn’t know the conversation itself. Jun Tae had met with Hae Jin alone, even keeping his close aides at bay. All Tae Hong could do was guess the dialogue from their facial expressions.
Had she refused to report back, prompting that startled look from her? It almost felt like he’d have to write a whole novel based solely on her expressions—but Tae Hong willingly accepted the trouble.
For this year’s new business initiative, Hae Jin absolutely had to be part of the project he was spearheading. It was not only a chance to solidify his position as heir but also an opportunity to create new revenue streams for Yeon Chang.
If someone asked what kind of card Jeong Hae Jin was, he could answer without hesitation.
She was a card he needed to hold.
**
The weekend passed—feeling less like a weekend and more like any other grueling stretch. She hadn’t gotten a moment’s rest. Her tangled thoughts wouldn’t unravel. Time flowed on its own even as she lay still, doing nothing, just trying to recharge.
She had to pull herself together before arriving at Tae Hong’s place. She didn’t want to drag her worries into the office.
“Good morning, Team Leader.”
“Alright.”
Tae Hong began his day by checking the morning news on his phone, which meant he usually gave Hae Jin only half-hearted replies to her greetings.
At first, it had felt slightly awkward, but she’d grown used to it—now it was just part of her routine.
Once Tae Hong got into the car and finished reading, he’d look up from his phone, and Hae Jin would give him a brief briefing on the day’s schedule.
Some days he’d listen with his eyes closed; other days he’d occasionally glance at her while listening.
“Associate Jeong Hae Jin.”
“Yes?”
“Did you sleep well?”
Caught off guard, she answered automatically—better than anyone—but her dry skin and bloodshot eyes said otherwise.
“We’ll be holding a meeting with Planning Team 4 today.”
“Yes, I’ll prepare right away.”
“The topic is task delegation.”
She nodded in agreement, yet confusion crept in.
“Task delegation?”
“You said you wanted to launch a brand.”
Ah, right—she had. But she never expected it to happen so suddenly.
“You know this is the most important project of the year.”
His fingers, flicking rapidly through his phone, stopped. Hae Jin gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“It affects my livelihood too—I need to get ready as soon as possible.”
“Bringing up your ‘livelihood’ like that really puts the pressure on, you know.”
“That’s the point.”
After all that effort to suppress his pride, he had to bring up livelihoods.
“Associate Jeong Hae Jin, do you want to disclose your work history?”
Disclosing her background meant Si On would be exposed—and people would point fingers, calling it a failed company.
Wouldn’t revealing her identity mean exposing herself as the owner’s daughter? It was obvious even without looking—blame would inevitably fall on her father, Han Sung.
When things were going well, people praised and boasted about him—but if things ultimately failed, all they’d offer were criticisms and curses. Could she really endure hearing that?
“No. I don’t want to reveal it.”
“I see.”
Tae Hong respected Hae Jin’s wishes. She wanted only him to know she was Han Sung’s daughter—and about the achievements she’d built from that.
She didn’t yet have the strength to face people’s judgments about the failed Si On. She wished that only she, as their daughter, had the right to speak ill of her still-unreachable parents.
She wanted to confront their preconceptions head-on and prove herself through her work. Her previous successful planning experience had already given her confidence.
She believed she could do it right this time too.
Hae Jin entered the office right behind Tae Hong. Team members greeted him one by one as she took her seat.
“Meeting starts in 30 minutes.”
The team moved efficiently, entering the conference room early to prepare. Hae Jin followed in with the relevant materials. Finally, Tae Hong walked in—and the meeting began.
“Before we begin the meeting…”
The pen spinning around Tae Hong’s fingers came to a stop. As he paused mid-sentence, employees who’d been reviewing documents lifted their heads.
Every pair of eyes locked onto Tae Hong’s lips.
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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I like his honesty and my god there is communication.