The Problematic Helper - Chapter 45

A luxurious fine dining restaurant overlooking the Han River.

Under the soft lighting with low illumination, Ji Wan and Do Eum sat facing each other across a round table.

“The view here is really amazing.”

Ji Wan looked at Do Eum with contentment as she gazed out the window, as if making up for the failure at the cinema.

“It’s quite famous as a gourmet restaurant, they say.”

“Who says?”

“Han Woo Seok.”

“For such a famous place, there aren’t many people here? Don’t tell me you rented out the whole place like the drive-in theater, sir…”

“I was going to, but I was told not to go that far.”

“Who told you?”

“Han Woo Seok.”

At this point, it wouldn’t be wrong to say the date was for three, not two.

“Why did he say not to do that?”

“He said that unlike in dramas or movies, in reality it only makes the other person feel deprived, so to refrain from it.”

Since it wasn’t entirely wrong, Do Eum nodded her head.

She could imagine how proudly Woo Seok must have boasted in front of Ji Wan while saying such fancy things.

Woo Seok, who only received scolding and glares from his boss 365 days a year, must have been quite pleased.

Perhaps because the time they arrived was somewhat early, before long all the many tables were full.

While cutting the steak in front of Do Eum into bite-sized pieces and refilling her water glass whenever it was empty, Ji Wan constantly watched her mood.

Starting with brioche, followed by caviar tart, abalone puree, and steak, each course dish was equally excellent.

“Wow, look at this. How can I eat something so pretty?”

“The meat is like cotton candy. Look, it’s gone? It’s not in my mouth anymore?”

Ji Wan found Do Eum incredibly lovable as she stomped her feet excitedly like a five-year-old child.

So much so that watching the woman react to the served dishes was far more enjoyable than the dishes themselves.

“Meat is meat, if you eat it like cotton candy you’ll get indigestion, so chew it well.”

Ji Wan gently wiped Do Eum’s mouth while pushing the finely cut steak on the plate in front of her.

“Okay, I will.”

The woman who had been smiling brightly with her response soon blushed and lowered her head at the gentle touch.

“Why?”

“…Please refrain from doing that in public.”

It was a voice barely audible.

“Why? Should I care what others think when I’m taking care of my wife?”

“Still, there are many people watching.”

Do Eum mumbled the end of her sentence and glanced around surreptitiously.

The melt-in-your-mouth steak was good, and the most affectionate man was good, but the table diagonally across was more than a little distracting.

The three women who had entered before the main dish was served at Do Eum and Ji Wan’s table had scanned Ji Wan’s face in turn and then blatantly glanced over throughout the rest of the meal.

Every time Ji Wan smiled at her or affectionately cared for her, they glared so sharply that even eating with three sisters-in-law couldn’t be worse than this.

“Let them look if they want to, I’m fine as long as you’re okay with it.”

The man with neatly styled pomade hair and wearing a vest smiled softly, raising the corners of his mouth.

Transparent skin without a single visible pore and a sharp jawline.

His Adam’s apple, which rippled every time he smiled, was a work of art.

What kind of man looks like a painting just holding a water glass?

Why is his low voice unnecessarily sexy, how can eyes not be drawn to him?

Do Eum hurriedly averted her gaze from the man’s face that made others smile involuntarily.

The three people at the table across, including the woman who had been glaring at her venomously, raised the corners of their mouths along with Ji Wan’s smile.

It’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

As irritation surged, the meat that had been going down smoothly in her mouth became endlessly tough.

As her raging appetite suddenly dropped, Do Eum put down her fork, roughly wiped her mouth with a napkin, and stood up.

“Um, I’ll be right back from the restroom.”

Ji Wan just nodded and watched the direction Do Eum left for a while.

*****

“Over 3000 households in the apartment complex, and a whopping 40 percent of the land area is landscaping. If we can just win this, we’ll not only meet this year’s target, but also be a sure thing for the landscaping of the high-end town village that Hanul is building next year. Serve them properly, hundreds of billions, thousands of billions are in your hands.”

Chairman Jin was as solemn as a warrior going into battle as he pushed Seo Hyeon to attend the dinner reception.

According to Chairman Jin’s principle that nothing can be done without entertainment and bribes no matter how diligently one moves on dusty construction sites, entertainment for landscaping contracts was a common occurrence.

In the openly practiced bribery and entertainment, her father, Chairman Jin, always put Seo Hyeon at the forefront.

Seo Hyeon, who had heard the request to serve them well until her ears were worn out, picked up the bottle and filled the glass of the man across from her.

“Director Oh, Jin Han will show you the big picture you want to draw, Hanul’s dignity. Let’s trust us once.”

Seo Hyeon’s voice rose as much as the emptied glasses.

It meant that even Seo Hyeon, who could hold her liquor anywhere, was somewhat drunk.

“Ho ho, I thought our Director Jin was only good at managing the welfare foundation, but your generosity puts your father to shame. You’re quite the female warrior. This is why I like our Director Jin. Come on, have a drink from me too.”

One glass, two glasses, the reception ended only when Seo Hyeon was on the verge of collapsing after accepting drinks without refusal.

After loading the drunk men into cars one by one and bowing politely, Seo Hyeon turned around and staggered as her legs gave way.

“Are you alright?”

San Ha, who had been waiting at a distance, finally approached Seo Hyeon who was now alone.

Despite her efforts, San Ha supported Seo Hyeon’s arm as she kept staggering.

“I’m fine, so get away.”

She was not a woman to rely on or lean on anyone.

Taking a deep breath, Seo Hyeon inhaled deeply.

“What time is it?”

“10 minutes to 12.”

“What about Director Seo?”

“…He hasn’t returned home yet.”

Since the hotel incident, Ki Hyeok was in the midst of frequent stays out again after being quiet for a while.

As if that hot night when he embraced her passionately was a prelude to forecast his future misconduct.

Rubbing her furrowed brow, Seo Hyeon closed her eyes.

Her eyelids stung as if cigarette ash had gotten into them.

“Go wait in the car first.”

Seo Hyeon turned around and walked towards the pine tree garden forest of the Japanese restaurant.

Tears of unknown meaning flowed down her cheeks, flushed from the alcohol.

It wasn’t the first or second time for this kind of entertainment, and Ki Hyeok’s affairs would be strange if they were quiet, so she didn’t know why she was crying.

Her stumbling steps finally stopped, leaning against a pine tree, and she barely swallowed her sobs.

Tik, tick.

When Seo Hyeon raised her eyes at the familiar sound of a Zippo lighter.

She saw San Ha lighting a cigarette with his head tilted crookedly and one eye squinted.

“I told you to go wait first.”

Cough, cough.

With one deep breath, the man handed over the redly burning thing while coughing repeatedly.

The man who looked so cool lighting it was coughing from just one puff of smoke.

‘…You don’t smoke, do you?’

As if hit on the head by something dull, Seo Hyeon raised her dark eyes and asked.

Instead of answering, San Ha held out the lit cigarette.

What could be the reason for a man who couldn’t even light a cigarette to take out cigarettes he couldn’t smoke and stand there every time she needed him?

Why are you doing this much for me?

The tears that had been flowing on Seo Hyeon’s face, which looked questioningly, had already dried up.

*****

Do Eum, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, opened her eyes wide, pursed her lips, and tried all sorts of things before finally sighing.

No matter what she did, she couldn’t look as alluring as the women at the table across.

They say yellow bathroom lighting is the most flattering of all existing lights, but it seemed that wasn’t true for everyone.

Do Eum was quite displeased with her face that lacked any vitality.

It was because she had just seen three women with glamorous figures, much taller than her, wrapped in luxury brands from head to toe, noble and full of confidence.

No, Kang Do Eum. What’s wrong with me?

That man who makes women’s eyes spin, he likes me, not those glamorous tall women!!

Just as Do Eum turned around, puffing up her shoulders in front of the mirror.

“What kind of relationship do you have?”

The woman leaning on the bathroom door, who had been glaring at her particularly fiercely from the table across, had been there since who knows when.

“Oh my, you startled me.”

“You’re not pretty enough to make eyes spin,”

The woman, who seemed to be a head taller than Do Eum, started slowly circling around her with her arms crossed as if to show off.

“And you don’t look rich enough either.”

Not only that, but she even blatantly looked her up and down.

“What is it, why is that man playing with you?”

Not only were her looks blatant, but every word she said was chillingly accurate, causing Do Eum’s confidently raised eyes to start wavering.

Wait, should a married couple be considered a ‘playing’ relationship?

How far does a ‘playing’ relationship go?

“Can’t you hear me?”

At the woman’s urging, Do Eum hesitated as she was about to blurt out ‘husband’.

It was because she remembered the fact that she was a 6-month to 1-year wife.

Since that was the case for her, Ji Wan was also a 6-month to 1-year husband.

Then would it be right to consider that a married couple?

Short-term husband? Short-term married couple?

Regardless, why should I answer this woman’s question?

Do Eum, who suddenly came to her senses, snapped sharply.

“Why are you asking such things when we’ve just met, or rather, why should I answer your question in the first place?”

“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to, it’s not like I asked to hear an answer anyway. This is just a kind of warning.”

Warning?

Do Eum raised her eyebrows as if to say, what does that mean?

“That man you’re crazy about, he might have come in here with you, but he won’t be leaving with you. I have a face that works 100 out of 100 times wherever I go.”

The woman, whose confidence was sky-high, laughed at Do Eum mockingly with her chin raised high as if to show off.

It was unbelievable and frustrating.

Especially at the ‘you’re crazy about’ part.

All along, continuously.

The man had been more unable to control himself because he was crazy about her.

She had been so stubbornly trying not to waver, squeezing her eyes shut!

How could she say that she was crazy about him?

“Didn’t you see earlier? That man not eating his meat and just staring at me the whole time? If you saw him staring like that, what were you doing not noticing? That man, he only looks at me like that. Even when I tell him not to, to restrain himself a bit, he can’t do it.”

There was a sound of snickering from inside one of the bathroom stalls.

Whoever it was, there was at least one audience member for this ridiculous show.

“So if you can, try it. I was curious too about whether that man would follow you out or what would happen.”

Lowering her raised eyebrows, Do Eum strode back to the table.

Her panting breath and flushed face clearly showed that she had just been in some kind of fight, so Ji Wan examined Do Eum’s face for a while.

“You’re angry, Kang Do Eum.”

“I’m not.”

“What do you mean you’re not?”

“Everything, I’m not. Whatever it is.”

Ji Wan chuckled as he watched Do Eum grumbling.

“Who is it?”

“What?!”

She even raised her voice at the question of who made her angry.

“You need to be scolded, huh.”