Ga Eul waited for Jung Mi O in the living room of Dae Un’s lodging, wearing a bathrobe over her wet clothes. She wanted to ask if she could go change clothes, but the atmosphere in the living room was too heavy to bring up such a thing.

Jung Mi O, who had been summoned, readily confessed what her father and Ko Ye Rim had done.

It was something her father and Ko Ye Rim had done to drive a wedge between Dae Un and Ga Eul, as their interests aligned. In the process, if things went well between Ko Ye Rim and Dae Un, that would be good too.

“Father was very angry with Ga Eul. He sold elder brother Dae Un when inviting people to the dinner party. As if elder brother Dae Un was interested in Cheong Hae Construction. That would make it easier to attract investment.”

Ga Eul tilted her head as she listened to Jung Mi O. Was her boss such an influential figure?

“But when elder brother left in the middle, the people at the dinner party were shaken. Saying Ki Dae Un might not be interested in investing in Cheong Hae Construction. Shortly after, they found out that elder brother Se Hyun had disappeared too. Jang Yu Jung made a fuss about it. Then rumors spread that it was Han Ga Eul who had taken them away. Father heard that too.”

Han Ga Eul never took them away. Ga Eul protested internally.

“But yesterday, even Ko Ye Rim complained to Father. Saying it seemed like Ga Eul was after elder brother Dae Un. In that situation, Father found out that Ga Eul was the granddaughter of the Pyeong An Group chairman. Father has been wary of Pyeong An ever since they built a hotel there.”

“I’m sorry, Ga Eul. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have introduced you to my uncle.”

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, counselor. Director Jung Sang Su showed interest in me then. It was right to introduce me.”

Ga Eul smiled at Se Hyun who was apologizing. The ones who should really apologize are others. Ga Eul’s anger turned towards Ko Ye Rim and Jung Sang Su.

Ko Ye Rim and Jung Sang Su not only tried to drive a wedge between the boss and her, but they also made her look like a fool.

She had doubted Dae Un just as they intended. Not only that, by pouring water on Dae Un, she proved herself to be an utter idiot. Because of Ms. Ko and Mr. Jung.

“Father thought that driving a wedge between elder brother Dae Un and Ga Eul would be revenge against Ga Eul and Pyeong An. Because Ga Eul ruined Father’s investment plans, and Pyeong An threatened Father’s resort business.”

“He let Ko Ye Rim into my lodgings for such a childish reason? How utterly ridiculous.”

Dae Un snorted in disbelief. Then he pressed Jung Mi O.

“That’s not all, is it? Tell the whole truth, Jung Mi O!”

“You know Ko Ye Rim liked you, elder brother.”

At those words, Dae Un shuddered.

“She must have begged her father. To marry her off to you, elder brother Dae Un. So Ko Ye Rim’s father asked our father. Knowing our father was close to you, elder brother.”

“I’m not close to your father.”

Dae Un said coldly, but Mi O ignored it and continued.

“He said if he helped his daughter get together with you, elder brother, he’d invest a large sum in Father’s company.”

“So your father plotted to throw me into Ko Ye Rim’s maw to secure Heungsan as a source of money. But Ga Eul got in the way. So he tried to remove Ga Eul from me while also getting revenge on Ga Eul and Pyeong An Group. Killing two birds with one stone.”

“My uncle rarely comes up with such an excellent plan.”

Se Hyun mocked his uncle.

“Jung Mi O, your father has dug his own grave quite splendidly.”

Dae Un left those terrifying words for Jung Mi O and turned to Ga Eul.

Finally, it’s my turn. Ga Eul tensed up.

She had fallen for Jung Mi O’s father’s sinister plan and treated the boss like an adulterer caught cheating, even throwing water at him first thing in the morning, so now she must pay the price for that.

That price won’t end with just dry cleaning costs. She might have to pay for the clothes too. The boss only wears expensive clothes.

First, let’s grovel. To the point of being completely flat on the ground.

“Haha, hahaha.”

Ga Eul let out a servile laugh first.

“Follow me!”

Dae Un said sharply. Laughter doesn’t seem to work. Ga Eul followed Dae Un feeling like a lamb being led to slaughter.

As Ga Eul followed Dae Un, she thought. Let’s apologize right away. Very sincerely.

Dae Un went up the stairs. Then he suddenly turned around and shouted.

“What!”

Ga Eul flinched. But fortunately, it wasn’t directed at her. When Ga Eul turned around, she saw Jung Se Hyun and Jung Mi O following in a line behind her.

“Why are you following?”

The Jung siblings turned and walked away.

Dae Un went up to the second floor, opened the door to his room and waited for Ga Eul. Ga Eul entered the room and waited for Dae Un to close the door before starting her apology.

“I’m sorry, sir. I…”

But Dae Un quickly raised his hand to stop Ga Eul’s words. Then he stood still in front of the closed door for a moment.

As Ga Eul was wondering why the boss was acting like that, Dae Un suddenly yanked the door open. The Jung siblings were standing in front of the door, leaning in to listen.

“Dae Un, haha.”

“Elder brother, hahaha.”

As fire shot from Dae Un’s eyes, the two backed away with nervous laughter.

Dae Un closed the door and waited quietly again before yanking it open. Sure enough, the Jung siblings were visible standing outside the door. Ga Eul had to admire their persistence.

“Next time you won’t be able to walk away!”

Dae Un shouted at the Jung siblings disappearing at cockroach-like speed. Dae Un firmly closed the door and walked over to Ga Eul.

“Sit.”

Dae Un pointed to the tea table in front of the floor-to-ceiling window leading to the terrace. Ga Eul went and sat down, immediately apologizing again.

“I’m sorry, sir. I must have lost my mind for a moment. Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I shouldn’t have believed what I saw. Considering your noble character, I should have thought that our boss would never do such a thing.”

“Han Ga Eul!”

Dae Un sighed heavily.

“Are you thinking of making light of the situation even now? When you don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

Ga Eul shut her mouth. Usually when she acted like this, he would play along, but not today. Today seems to be a day to be serious. Though her appearance, soaked and wearing a bathrobe, was rather comical for that.

“Let’s start over from when I returned from India. That’s when things went wrong.”

“…”

Ga Eul was about to ask why they had to start from then, but closed her mouth. Afraid she might be scolded for being flippant again.

Dae Un was saying things she never expected.

“If you hadn’t jumped to conclusions after seeing the black box video, I was going to confess to you when I returned from India. That I like you. And I was going to tell you why I hired you, and how I made Chairman Oh find you and Gyeo Ul.”

“Why did you hire me?”

Forgetting her resolve to keep her mouth shut, Ga Eul asked. Wasn’t that what she was most curious about when she heard from Jung Mi O that the boss knew she was the daughter of Min Tae Eun, the CEO of Myeong Tech?

“It’s as you thought. I thought having you by my side would be useful. It would be good for getting information about your father, and if I sent you to your maternal family, I could get information about Pyeong An Group. Plus, you could act as a connection to Director Sun Jae Ho.”

“I see.”

That’s what I expected. That’s why it was hard. All of the boss’s actions and words towards me were for that purpose, but I hoped that I could become someone special to him. Just because the boss treated me a little nicely.

But hearing it directly from the boss’s mouth, I felt indifferent. Whether my heart had been trained over time, or because I had decided not to give up my feelings for the boss for whatever reason.

“But that’s not all. Originally, I was going to have you work for a few days and let you go if I didn’t like you. But you…”

“Is your liking me something light? Or heavy? You told me to come after making it heavy, didn’t you?”

Ga Eul cut off Dae Un’s words and asked abruptly.

It seemed to take Dae Un some time to answer, as if it was a question he wasn’t prepared for.

“Have I been constantly saying I want to date you or that I like you, like you do?”

“No.”

“Then you should understand without me saying it.”

“Since when have you liked me?”

Dae Un stared at Ga Eul. Something wasn’t right here. Hadn’t the roles been reversed?

Dae Un didn’t answer Ga Eul’s question and said what he had been trying to say.

“I can’t date you right now. Your father and my father’s issues need to be resolved, and I need to finish my father’s revenge. Dating comes after that.”

That’s why he couldn’t easily confess and had been delaying until now. He was going to after returning from India, but by then Ga Eul had closed her heart.

Only after realizing he almost lost Ga Eul in the mudflats did he resolve to confess no matter what happened. Perhaps Seo Woo Jin’s appearance spurred that resolve into action.

He had been restless ever since learning Ga Eul was meeting Woo Jin. Even while golfing with investors that Director Jung Sang Su had brought to meet, he kept making mistakes. His mind was searching the resort for where Ga Eul might be meeting Woo Jin.

As soon as golf ended, he hurried back to the lodgings, with Se Hyun tagging along as if not wanting to miss a good show. He should have shaken him off then.

Because he didn’t, he ended up looking foolish in front of him.

As they were walking along the path, they heard a man’s voice.

‘I want to be with you forever. I came back from America dreaming of that.’

For a moment, he had a feeling it was Seo Woo Jin’s voice. Sure enough, soon they saw Seo Woo Jin kneeling in front of Ga Eul. He was even holding her hand.

Passing by that scene was due to the law of inertia. No thoughts came to mind.

What was Ga Eul’s expression like as she listened to those words? I didn’t check that. I turned back as I was walking. I was going to either check Ga Eul’s expression or grab that bastard Seo Woo Jin by the collar and throw him away.

After walking a bit, Se Hyun followed and grabbed me, shaking his head. As I was about to ignore that and go, Ga Eul’s voice was heard.

‘Woo Jin, I’m not going back to you. Accept that we’re over. I want to stop receiving calls from your mother.’

I turned back after hearing that. At least Ga Eul won’t go back to Seo Woo Jin, even because of his mother. I felt relieved for now.

Still, I quickly changed clothes and went to find Ga Eul’s grandmother to suggest going on a cruise. To call Ga Eul. So she wouldn’t be persuaded by Woo Jin.

Now I want to put an end to that anxiety.

“Why are you deciding that alone? Can’t you take revenge while dating? You can take revenge just fine while dating. I’ll help you.”

A typical Ga Eul-like response came out.