Younger Man at Work (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“In fact… I have a younger brother I lost fifteen years ago.”
Eun Seo hesitantly confessed her situation.
“Back then, my brother Eun Ho was six years old. Mom ruined her health searching for him and passed away five years later. Now, I’m searching alone.”
Although it was clearly a heartbreaking story—one that should’ve evoked sympathy—it sounded too plain and ordinary when briefly told, which made Eun Seo anxious.
“He was a smart child for his age. He remembered neighborhood streets well. So I believe there’s a chance he might come back someday if his memories return.”
Most people would naturally respond with something like, “Oh, how unfortunate,” or at least pretend to care. But Kwon Seung Joo asked with an utterly unchanged expression,
“Why do you think someone who hasn’t come back in fifteen years will suddenly return if you wait just one more year?”
She did have a reason—but saying it to a man armored completely in logic and cold rationality would surely only invite ridicule.
So Eun Seo could only say this:
“I also need time to find closure in my heart. I’d like to wait just one more year, thinking of it as my final chance.”
She bowed her head deeply again—so deeply that the tips of her hair touched the table.
“So please, just grant me one more year. I’m begging you.”
She knew it was a shameless request, especially after they’d let her stay for fifteen years. But conversely, since they’d left the house untouched for fifteen years already, surely leaving it for one more year wouldn’t be too difficult.
Go ahead and mock her for her shamelessness.
Feel free to treat her like a beggar receiving charity.
She didn’t care if it was pity or anything else—just give her one more year, somehow.
While she waited nervously for an answer without even raising her head, a voice sharp as an ice-carved awl fell upon her.
“Let me give you one piece of advice.”
She looked up to see the man speaking with his arms crossed.
“There’s no greater foolishness than wasting your life waiting for someone who will never return.”
The chill flowing effortlessly from his perfect lips seemed to freeze Eun Seo’s heart solid.
“Do you really believe they’ll come back someday? That if only they return, you’ll treat them so well—do this and that for them? That you’ll stare endlessly at the front gate from morning till night… while they have no intention of ever coming back at all?”
For some reason, his last sentence sounded unusually agitated—unlike him—but before she could ponder why, he had already regained his usual composure.
“If they were ever going to return, they would have done so by now.”
“…”
“Since they still haven’t come back, they’re probably dead.”
His words struck Eun Seo’s head like a massive hammer. Her ears rang, and her mind went numb.
“I understand your request, and I reject it. Anything else?”
Without waiting for a reply, he returned to his seat and spoke into the phone to his secretary.
“The meeting is over.”
As if ordering Eun Seo to be dragged out immediately.
*
Eun Seo trudged wearily back home.
Early November—the late autumn sun didn’t last long. Even though she’d left work early, by the time she entered the yard, the glass walls enclosing the daecheong already shimmered brilliantly under the sunset glow.
The old renovated hanok was beautiful in its own way, whether under sunset, snow, or rain. Five years with Mom alive, ten years alone after she passed—she’d lived in this house for fifteen years already, and sometimes, at moments like this, she’d lose herself staring at it.
But today, she wasn’t in the mood for that. Eun Seo collapsed onto the small veranda connecting the daecheong and the small room, and wearily scanned the yard. Knowing everything she saw would vanish in three months, she couldn’t help but sigh.
The old house always had issues here and there, yet she’d never once contacted the landlord to request repairs—afraid that causing trouble might prompt them to kick her out. As a result, there wasn’t a single spot in the house untouched by her own hands.
The glass walls surrounding the daecheong were so old they couldn’t properly block the cold wind. Only two years ago, after saving bit by bit for several years, had she finally replaced them with insulated glass.
Last summer, during the rainy season, part of the eaves collapsed completely. Fixing it cost her entire summer bonus.
Where the traditional earthenware jars once stood, she cleared the area, laid down a wooden deck, and installed a table with an awning. It was an impulsive decision—when the renovation contractor mentioned having leftover materials from another interior project. She’d thought it’d be nice to come out for coffee on good days. But after finishing it, she felt strangely guilty and had never actually enjoyed that luxury even once.
And then…
Eun Seo’s gaze eventually settled on the large apple tree standing tall in the center of the yard.
One day, Mom had left Eun Seo alone at home, saying she’d go see a renowned fortune teller, and traveled all the way to Busan. She returned the next day with a bright smile.
“Eun Seo, our Eun Ho is alive! He’ll definitely come back!”
Eun Seo had been in middle school then. She hadn’t really believed the fortune teller, but she was happy to see Mom’s face—usually swollen from constant crying—finally alive with hope. She sincerely wished it were true.
“They told me to plant an apple sapling in the yard. When the tree grows and bears fruit, Eun Ho will return.”
That very day, Mom bought and planted the sapling, tending to it with utmost devotion—generously fertilizing it, plucking off every bug with tweezers, shielding it with shade in summer for fear it might wither, and even wrapping it in cloth during winter to prevent freezing.
Even at the moment of her death—before ever seeing it bear fruit—Mom’s final request wasn’t about Eun Ho, but the tree.
“The tree… Eun Seo. Okay?”
To Mom, the two had meant the same thing.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll take good care of it.”
Eun Seo had sworn, gripping her hand tightly—but Mom passed away without even closing her eyes.
The tree became Eun Seo’s responsibility. Tending it as devotedly as Mom had, she gradually started believing that when the apples finally ripened, Eun Ho would surely return.
Yet the tree—supposed to bear fruit within three years at most, or five at the latest—refused to bloom no matter how much time passed. Its trunk grew thick and leaves flourished, but it never once produced even a flower, let alone fruit.
After years of waiting in vain, three years ago she even brought in an arborist for a diagnosis. After carefully inspecting the sunlight angles and soil condition, the arborist’s gaze finally rested on the piles of fertilizer bags near the yard entrance.
“You’ve been giving it too much fertilizer.”
The diagnosis was deflating.
“When the soil is overly rich, the tree only grows leaves and stems—it won’t flower. And without flowers, there can be no fruit.”
“Oh…!”
Eun Seo couldn’t close her mouth. Her constant worry that nutrients might be insufficient had led her to over-fertilize—precisely the problem.
“Just starve it for a few years, and it’ll start flowering.”
Following that advice, the tree finally bloomed magnificently this past spring. But her delight at the apple blossom scent filling the yard was short-lived—once again, no fruit followed. She sought the arborist’s advice yet again.
This time, the issue was bees.
“It’s common in metropolitan areas—without bees to carry pollen, the flowers can’t set fruit.”
Surrounded by tall buildings on all sides except her house, it was no surprise. So she’d already learned artificial pollination with a brush and was now waiting, heart full of hope, for next year.
Yet now, before spring had even returned…
Eun Seo gently stroked the thick trunk of the apple tree as its leaves fell one by one.
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
Eun Seo was twenty-seven this year. Yet she’d never dated, never worn pretty clothes, never even gone anywhere just for fun.
While peers held their parents’ hands visiting amusement parks, Eun Seo wandered prayer centers and orphanages across the country with Mom. After Mom passed, she continued searching for her brother alone—working every part-time job she could find to print flyers and make banners while others dated.
All those years of effort—Kwon Seung Joo had crushed them instantly beneath his heel, as indifferently as if stepping on an ant.
“If they were ever going to return, they would have done so by now.”
Recalling his cold tone, her eyes suddenly burned hot with belated tears.
Now that she was alone, she could be more honest with herself. It would be a lie to say she hadn’t felt a flutter whenever she saw Kwon Seung Joo from afar.
It wasn’t just because of his striking looks. That night two years ago—their first meeting—he’d seemed like someone of her own kind: as lonely and as wounded as she was.
Even if it was just a delusion, it was true he’d been unusually shaken that day. Knowing she’d witnessed the vulnerability of that seemingly impenetrable man made her feel, somehow, a little special.
She never let it develop into genuine affection because she knew well she wasn’t even worthy of harboring a one-sided crush. Secretly holding feelings only made sense for someone remotely within reach.
Thus, Kwon Seung Joo wasn’t even Yoon Eun Seo’s unrequited love.
Just someone living in a completely different world—beautiful, perfect, and far out of reach.
Someone she believed she’d never connect with in her lifetime, yet who occasionally made her heart ache.
And now, this person she’d viewed that way turned out to be so brutally cruel.
“He’s probably dead.”
His matter-of-fact tone kept echoing in her ears.
Even now, Eun Seo still went to busy districts every weekend to hand out missing persons flyers. Some people openly annoyed or avoided her; others took the flyers only to dump them right away—but many also said, “You’ll find him, keep going,” offering kind words of encouragement.
But never, not once, had anyone stared her in the face and declared so confidently that he was dead.
If she could go back in time, Eun Seo would hit him with all her strength.
Herself, who used to flinch and detour whenever she spotted Kwon Seung Joo in the distance.
Herself, who could only bow stiffly in the elevator before panicking and rushing out at the next floor.
Herself, whose face would flush whenever she heard his name from someone else’s lips.
“…How foolish.”
Leaning against the apple tree—now towering far above her—Eun Seo cried a little.
*
“The meeting is over.”
After Eun Seo left his office, Seung Joo sat blankly in place for a long while.
“…”
The previously expressionless face was now shadowed with bitterness.
After a long silence, Seung Joo gave a short, dry laugh, pulled off his necktie, and tossed it into the trash bin. This was exactly why he never did things he normally wouldn’t.
“Director? Why throw away a new tie…?”
His secretary, who happened to walk in, asked in surprise at the sight. Without even turning his head, Seung Joo replied,
“Just get rid of it.”
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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