The Problematic Helper (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 8

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The heart frozen in those deep dark brown eyes—the courage shown in that fleeting moment had been nothing but pure recklessness.

Clink.

The single sound of a fork being set down shattered the atmosphere that had only just begun to loosen.

“Article 5 of the contract, Party B’s obligations, Clause 3. Party B shall not interfere in any way with Party A’s private life.”

Instead of answering, the man recited the contract clause, his brows twitching slightly.

How many times this had happened before, how many times he had quoted the contract like this and annoyed himself in the process—it was all plainly written on his face.

“I’m sorry.”

The red lips that had been chattering excitedly just moments ago shut tightly with a quick apology.

Ji Wan stood up from his seat, his expression clearly showing he had even bitten back the obvious apology.

Although the meal hadn’t been particularly delicious, Do Um hurriedly stood up too, feeling she had interrupted what little eating he had managed.

“I won’t do it, I won’t ask anything! Please just finish your meal, okay?”

Her shout, mistimed, only echoed hollowly in front of the firmly closed study door.

Pouting, Do Um slumped back into the dining chair and shoved the untouched pasta into her mouth.

Cleaning the shoes wasn’t something she did for him—it was an old habit—and adding one more set of utensils to a meal she was already making for herself was no burden at all; she had been about to say he shouldn’t feel pressured.

If the mood had lightened, she had even hoped to ask what kind of food he liked.

Far from saying what she wanted, the conversation ended without her hearing even a fraction of the answers she had hoped for.

The sweet-and-sour pasta sauce filling her small mouth tasted strangely bitter.

*****

Ji Wan leaned deeply back into the leather chair in his study and slowly closed and opened his eyes.

His deeply furrowed brow recalled the moment from earlier and let out a faint sigh.

The people around him usually badmouthed him behind his back but fawned over him like candy in their mouths when face-to-face.

Criticism that wasn’t said openly couldn’t possibly upset him, and he felt that level of treatment was only right for his position.

Yet that tiny-eyed woman feared him and found him intimidating, and on top of that, she sweetly matched his mood like candy in her mouth!!

Strangely, he kept feeling like he was the one being dragged around.

She watched his mood but did whatever she wanted with calm composure, no matter how close to death it felt, and she never became dejected by any rebuke.

She made it blatantly clear that since she had been given nothing, she expected nothing—and therefore had nothing to be disappointed about.

At least that was how Ji Wan felt.

The previous seven women had all spoken of sincerity while expecting something else from him.

He was tired of the predictable ending where they offered their hearts despite being told not to and shed tears at his curt rejection.

Someone who expected nothing from him, who wished for nothing, and therefore had no reason to be disappointed or hurt.

The very thing he had wanted so badly was being done effortlessly by this woman, and that in itself felt oddly unsettling.

Ji Wan took out his phone and pressed speed dial number 2 deeply.

[Lee Seol.]

The headache that had been throbbing all day vanished, only to surge back with the loud ringtone.

“Oppa!”

The voice two tones higher through the receiver made his head buzz.

“No matter how you look at it, not inviting me to the wedding was too much, wasn’t it? Why, were you afraid I’d show up and cause a scene? Should I have just barged in wearing some outrageous dress? I really wanted to see that stubborn old hag trembling with my own eyes.”

Ji Wan silently listened to the bluff of a woman who couldn’t even meet Mrs. Jang’s eyes if she were actually in front of her.

“Oh, right. Guess what I shot yesterday? A premium townhouse built by Bando Construction!! You pulled some strings, didn’t you?”

Woo Seok always took delicate care of people within the boundaries of the boss he served, treating them like his own, so this contract must have been his own thoughtful touch.

Somewhere in his mouth, it tasted bitter, as if he had an unswallowed pill rolling around.

“You’ll say you didn’t, as always. Well, thanks anyway. But don’t think this makes up for not inviting me to the wedding. I’m not not hurt, you know. If you treat me like a joke one more time, I really won’t stay quiet.”

“……The potted plant. That was you?”

His brow deeply furrowed, the single cold sentence he spat out as if he could listen no longer was icy beyond measure.

“Oh, right! It already arrived? It’s huge, isn’t it? I picked the biggest one from the flower shop, sent it with all my heartfelt wishes for your misfortune. So every time you see it, remember what you took from me.”

Ji Wan stood there letting the laughing arrow pierce him fully and exhaled deeply.

“One more time.”

The emotionless, flat voice was all the more wicked because it could be interpreted differently depending on the listener.

“If you pull something like this again.”

The more a man refrained from empty threats or intimidation, the more certain his meaning became.

Trending

“You won’t find it fun.”

A moment of silence passed at the clear anger in his voice.

The single sentence without further explanation was threat enough; only taut tension flowed through the receiver.

That was the kind of man he was.

He would take every blatant “go to hell” stunt without batting an eye, but the moment anyone stepped even one foot inside the line he had drawn, it was over.

He could overlook nonsense directed at himself, but only up to that point.

It was a kind of warning that he would not let the same be done to the people around him.

Without raising his voice a single tone or changing nuance, in front of the man revealing that his mood was extremely foul, Lee Seol lowered her posture.

The consequences of failing to properly understand “keep the joking in moderation” were enormous.

“I know what you mean. I won’t do it again. But don’t change the password to your officetel, oppa. I sometimes go there, you know. Hello? Are you listening?”

Click.

The call ended the moment she said she wouldn’t do it again.

Once he clearly conveyed his business, that was it; Ji Wan irritably tossed the phone aside, opened a drawer, and popped a sleeping pill into his mouth.

He needed to sleep.

If he slept without thinking about anything, the headache that had throbbed all day might finally ease.

*****

7:50 a.m.

At the end of the long hallway centered around the kitchen was Ji Wan’s room; the room at the opposite end was Do Um’s.

Do Um had been pacing the hallway in front of Ji Wan’s bedroom for ten minutes.

Pacing a distance that took just over twenty of her steps back and forth, she was on pins and needles.

He should be coming out around this time to eat breakfast so he wouldn’t be late for work, yet for some reason his room was silent.

Knock knock.

No answer.

Once more, knock knock.

When there was still no answer, Do Um quietly opened the door.

Through the slightly ajar door, pitch-black darkness poured out.

“……CEO?”

Beneath the heavily drawn blackout curtains, on a bed large enough for three adults to lie comfortably.

The man lay completely still.

Because his right arm was resting over his eyes, she couldn’t tell if they were closed or open, so Do Um stepped closer.

Is he sleeping?

Director Han had said he was someone who kept time like clockwork.

At this rate he would definitely be late.

She confirmed his deeply closed eyelids and started to wake him, then thought better of it—after all, what company CEO had a fixed arriving or leaving time?—and turned back.

Just as she was about to leave the bedroom.

Haa……

A rough sound rose coldly from deep in his throat.

At the faint groan leaking through the sleeping man’s teeth, Do Um whipped around.

She lowered the man’s arm from his forehead and placed her own hand on it.

It was a ball of fire, as hot as ceaselessly burning logs.

‘Good heavens, a man who seems to have a heart made of iron is sick.’

By the time she had searched the house for the first-aid kit, checked his temperature, and made him take a fever reducer, Woo Seok’s car pulled into the garden.

“You really pick one day a year to get properly sick. It’s usually early winter, but this time it’s summer, I guess.”

While moving to Ji Wan’s bedroom, Woo Seok called the family physician, Dr. Choi.

He swiftly informed Team Leader Yoon in the secretary’s office of Ji Wan’s condition and ordered all scheduled appointments postponed.

He added that they must keep quiet so the main family would not hear about Ji Wan being ill.

Only after the family physician Dr. Choi had come and gone did the newlywed home in Hwaan-dong finally quiet down.

“There are urgent matters I need to handle in CEO’s place, so I have to head to the office. Please take good care of him.”

Do Um nodded at Woo Seok’s greeting.

The sight looked so solemnly determined, like a knight heading to battle, that Woo Seok let out a small laugh.

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“Don’t worry too much; he’ll be up and about again soon. Still, he always suffered alone before, so it’s reassuring to have Madam here.”

Seeing Woo Seok off as he turned away, Do Um asked,

“May I ask why we have to hide from the main family that CEO is sick? People can get sick…….”

Woo Seok, now down in the garden, lifted the corner of his mouth slightly.

“Madam, have you ever watched the documentary ?”

At the incomprehensible question, Do Um simply nodded a couple of times.

“In the Serengeti episode on the vast wild plains, there’s a scene where the leader lion fights surrounded by a pack of hyenas. Even when injured all over and barely able to stand, he roars ferociously to show his majesty. Until the moment his breath stops, he never shows his back.”

She was already familiar with stories about the leaders of animal packs living in the wild.

“That’s exactly like our CEO. He absolutely must never show weakness to anyone. It’s in his nature to hate exposing any opening, and especially toward the main family.”

“Even so, family should be the place you can trust and lean on.”

She recalled Ji Wan’s expression and eyes, which had been colder than usual when they went to Anseo-dong.

“That’s true. Having nowhere to lean must make him a very lonely person.”

Woo Seok responded as if complaining, then quickly erased the expression and got into his car.

“I said something unnecessary. I’ll come by again tomorrow morning.”

After seeing Woo Seok off and returning to the main house, Do Um ground the soaked rice and pine nuts.

Whirrr, whirrr.

The loud noise of the blender only made her thoughts more tangled.

Whether it was herself, who had a family yet was thoroughly outside their concern, or this man who couldn’t show weakness even to his family, they didn’t feel all that different.

There was a time when she thought her own loneliness was worse because she had nothing, but seeing him made her realize it wasn’t simply like that, and her heart felt heavy in various ways.

‘Rich or poor, loneliness is all the same.’

Carrying the porridge made with ground pine nuts, she headed to Ji Wan’s bedroom.

He needed to eat something before taking medicine, but the man slept quietly like a dead mouse.

Thanks to the lights attached to the walls on both sides of the bed, yellow light poured over the sleeping man’s face.

Beneath neat eyebrows,

The long, horizontal eyes without double eyelids were just as frightening whether open or closed, so Do Um shifted slightly and sat on the edge of the bed.

Facing him directly was scary, but turning sideways made it a little better.

She reached out and touched his forehead.

The fever hadn’t fully broken; it was hot.

She brought lukewarm water, washed his face, and wiped his sweat-soaked nape.

When it was time for medicine, she dissolved the pills in water and let them trickle little by little into his mouth.

Late into the night,

The family physician came once more to change the IV, and the woman’s nursing continued through the entire night.

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