“There were more in your party.”

“Yes. It’s my secretary.”

“Secretary?”

“It seems you haven’t heard from Father. I thought you would know that much.”

For some reason, those words made Butler Jang uncomfortable.

As if he hadn’t gained complete trust despite serving Chairman Kwon for a long time by his side.

Then Butler Jang soon regained his composure. Chairman Kwon wasn’t the type to talk about trivial matters around him.

“No, I haven’t heard. The Chairman isn’t one to tell everything, is he? For this business trip, I heard Team Leader Choi couldn’t go, so it seems this young lady went instead?”

“Did you perhaps come on an errand from Father?”

“Yes, young master.”

Butler Jang showed the bundle in his hand and turned his gaze to Eun Seo, who stood meekly beside Tae Ha.

“Aren’t you the young lady who came to work at our house before? I was too flustered to greet you properly at the time.”

“Yes, that’s right. I’m Song Eun Seo.”

Eun Seo bowed her head in greeting.

“If I had known you were the young master’s secretary, I wouldn’t have called you to the west house. I’m sorry.”

Butler Jang made a meaningless apology while examining Eun Seo more closely.

Clear, large eyes with thin double eyelids, exceptionally white skin. Maybe they look similar to this extent.

“Let’s go inside.”

Tae Ha took the lead right away, as it seemed Butler Jang was scrutinizing Eun Seo in detail.

Suspecting that perhaps Father had ordered him to look into Eun Seo.

The lawsuit with Eun Seo couldn’t be revealed yet.

If only Eun Seo had accepted his proposal, or even just agreed to withdraw the lawsuit, he would have immediately taken her to Chairman Kwon.

Tae Ha got on the elevator with an uneasy feeling.

* * *

As Tae Ha’s party entered, Jung Woo, who had been playing the piano, lifted his fingers from the keys and stood up.

“You’re here?”

Jung Woo greeted from afar and resumed playing. Soft classical music gently echoed through the spacious room.

“Father’s errand can’t just be the marinated crab, what is it?”

Tae Ha asked Butler Jang while discreetly watching Eun Seo go to her room.

“Well, the Chairman said he wants to go together to Chairman Sung of Taejin Group’s charity party this time.”

At those words, Tae Ha narrowed his eyes.

“You’re saying he sent you just to deliver that message?”

“No, he also told me to bring you delicious marinated crab, so that’s not the only reason.”

Tae Ha smirked. It was an unconvincing matter.

An errand to deliver a few words, with marinated crab thrown in.

Lately, whether it’s Father or Butler Jang, they’ve been using such obvious shallow tricks. Who do they think they’re fooling?

It’s all because they’re desperate about the marriage with Yoo Ha Eun.

“Tell him I’ll enjoy the marinated crab.”

After Tae Ha finished speaking and went into his room, Butler Jang entered the kitchen.

Lady An, who was preparing dinner, saw Butler Jang and wiped her hands on her apron as she came out to the entrance to greet him.

“What brings you here, Butler?”

“It’s not like I came somewhere I shouldn’t. Some delicious marinated crab came in, so I brought it. Serve this for dinner.”

Lady An untied the knot on the bundle Butler Jang handed over and took out the dish. When she opened the lid, plump, appetizing crabs were abundantly soaked in soy sauce.

“Oh my, this looks delicious.”

As Lady An moved to find tongs and a ladle to scoop out the marinated crab, Butler Jang casually asked.

“By the way, that Song Eun Seo girl here.”

She was the purpose of his visit here.

The marinated crab was more Butler Jang’s suggestion than Chairman Kwon telling him to bring it.

Occasionally, Chairman Kwon would send delicious food to the east house, so when the marinated crab came in, Butler Jang had asked,

‘Shall I take this to the east house as well?’

Chairman Kwon had simply nodded, of course.

“Eun Seo? Yes, she’s here.”

Lady An said nonchalantly as she tasted the marinated crab sauce with a spoon.

“Doesn’t that girl have a home? Why does she live here? I saw earlier that she seems to have a room here too.”

That didn’t sit well with him. All employees of the east house used separate quarters.

A suspicion that there might be a special reason.

“Well. All I know is that Team Leader Choi brought her. She might be friends with Chae Won.”

“Team Leader Choi, not the young master?”

Butler Jang recalled Sung Tae Mo’s words.

‘Seoul guys’. It clearly wasn’t just one person. Did he mean Kwon Tae Ha and Team Leader Choi? If that Song Eun Seo was that Song Eun Seo.

“Yes. Team Leader Choi. But why?”

Lady An knew well that she had to keep quiet about matters in the east house or sometimes even lie. That was the reason she was paid handsomely.

“Just that when she came to the west house before, I saw her fall while working and felt sorry for her, like a daughter.”

“Don’t worry. You don’t know how much the three strapping men here adore Eun Seo.”

“Three?”

“The CEO, Team Leader Yoon, and Team Leader Choi.”

“Ah. Those three?”

“That’s right.”

“Among them, who cares for Eun Seo the most?”

“Who else? Of course, all three…”

“It’s me.”

Tae Ha entered the kitchen, finishing Lady An’s sentence.

“What are you so curious about?”

Tae Ha smiled slyly as he found bottled water in the refrigerator and twisted off the cap.

However, unlike his upturned lips, his eyes were cold enough to frost over, so Butler Jang swallowed dryly.

He knows. Even though he’s much younger, Tae Ha is a more difficult person than Chairman Kwon.

Butler Jang barely regained his composure and answered.

“Our Ha Eun is around that age too, so I was just curious. When I saw her before, she had prepared abalone very meticulously.”

“If you take her from here, I think I might cry.”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t try to scout people my household likes. Not Lady An, not Nurse Lee, not the security team. Not even our dog.”

“That wasn’t my intention, young master. It’s already well-known that you care for your employees. That you care for everyone.”

“That’s right. They’re all people I care about. Of course I care for them the most since they’re my people.”

Tae Ha spoke to the cunning Butler Jang, half-jokingly, half-seriously.

It was a warning. A cold warning not to pry into the employees of the east house.

Butler Jang left the east house without even mentioning the ‘S’ of ‘Solnae Village’.

* * *

Eun Seo took out a memo pad from her bag. Then she looked up at the gray five-story newly constructed building.

A small sign was attached to the building.

“This is it.”

It was her first time visiting a publishing house.

She had submitted a proposal to this publishing house not long ago.

It was a fairy tale published in Germany that hadn’t been sold for publication rights in Korea yet.

So Eun Seo wrote a proposal that introduced the book and perfectly pinpointed its selling points. The publishing house said they liked both the book and Eun Seo’s sample translation, and wanted to have a meeting.

Of course she was excited.

Publishing translation was often a world of ‘old hands’. There were already established famous translators, and publishing houses preferred to use these proven professionals.

There were also people who worked almost exclusively with publishing houses.

For content like webtoons, dramas, or movies, the path was wider than publishing translation, but it wasn’t wide for everyone.

At the very least, you needed to have gone to graduate school, or if not, you needed to have lived for a long time in a country that used that language.

Eun Seo had worked hard. She really put in blood, sweat, and tears.

Even while her grandmother was sick, she split her sleep to do translations, and was even selected in contests hosted by the Translation Culture Center.

However, when her educational background, which had been hidden by blind recruitment, was revealed, strangely, places that had been giving her work showed reluctance.

Agencies were the same. Of course, she didn’t have any acquaintances at publishing houses either.

The process of completing translation academy was also as unreachable as the stars in the sky for her, who was completely lacking in time.

But finally, a publishing house had called her in.

Eun Seo took a deep breath due to nervousness, then opened the door to the children’s team office of the publishing house.

The bookshelves surrounding the office were packed tightly with books horizontally and vertically, and as if that wasn’t enough, books were stacked like towers on the floor as well.

Only the sound of typing on keyboards filled the space.

As she entered, one of them half-rose without even taking their fingers off the keyboard and asked.

“How can I help you?”

“Hello, I’m Song Eun Seo. I’m here to see the department head.”

“Ah, Song Eun Seo? Nice to meet you. The department head is waiting for you.”

There were two other rooms inside the office, and one of them was the department head’s office.

Passing what looked like a pantry, the employee knocked and opened the door to the department head’s office.

“Department head, Song Eun Seo is here.”

“Is that so? Please come in. I was so curious.”

A woman with a short haircut slicked back greeted Eun Seo.

* * *

The meeting ended quickly.

Eun Seo, who came out of the department head’s office, turned around and greeted the department head again.

“Thank you.”

A certainty that a good result would come out.

Eun Seo greeted everyone before leaving the office.

Rrrr Rrrr.

Eun Seo immediately answered the phone when she saw the caller on the screen.

“Yes, CEO, I just finished work.”

− Come right back. Let’s have a meal together.

“I’ll come back in time.”

− By the way, there’s a new review task.

“What kind is it this time?”

− It’s a musical. You won’t be cold this time.

“What? What do you mean…”

− You said you couldn’t watch properly last time when you went to the ballet with your senior because it was cold.

“Ah, right, that’s true.”

− It’ll be warm this time. Why do you think?

The call ended after leaving that puzzling remark.

What’s that about?

Eun Seo was smiling blandly when the phone rang again. It was him again. Unlike just before, his voice was decidedly businesslike.

− There’s something I forgot to mention. You know about the charity party Taejin is holding a week from now following the 70th birthday celebration, right?

“Yes. I know.”

− Apply for overtime that day. I was going to leave it to Deputy Han, but he said he has something.