Chapter 14
After dropping Mungji off at the office, the place we went to was a barbecue restaurant located right in front of the office building.
“I used to come here often for dinner when I first moved to this area.”
Back then, the place stayed open late into the night, so there were quite a few customers drinking even at dawn. Now, however, there was a huge notice posted saying that their business hours had changed.
Even the tape holding up the notice had yellowed with age, clearly showing how long this place had been operating.
“Hello, sir. There are five of us.”
Including Ms. Sunye, who had come out after being contacted, the five of us gathered closely together and sat at a relatively quiet table along the wall.
“Would it be better to use two grills? We can grill pork on one side and beef on the other.”
Kwonhyung said as he diligently handed out wet wipes and utensils.
Normally, this kind of thing would be the youngest person’s job… but since Kwonhyung was clearly the oldest among us, the scene looked extremely strange.
Perhaps sensing the awkward atmosphere, Lee Jiwoo suddenly stood up.
“Oh, it says the wrap vegetables are self-serve. I’ll go get them!”
It felt awkward to just sit there expecting someone else to take care of everything, so I stood up as well.
“Then I’ll get the water. Should we order sodas too?”
“Does anyone need an apron?”
Ms. Sunye also seemed uncomfortable just sitting there and stood up to help, and things quickly became chaotic.
“I’ll just do it, so everyone please stay seated.”
With only five people, it felt more comfortable for me to handle things rather than have everyone running around.
Once things were more or less settled, the owner came over to take our order.
“Will you be ordering alcohol?”
As he said that, he glanced intently at Jiwoo and me.
At a glance, we looked like part-time workers out for a company dinner, but with two people who looked quite young mixed in, he probably felt the need to check.
I quickly shook my head.
“Oh, no. We’ll just have drinks. For now, please give us four servings each of pork ribs and beef ribs. And one zero cola and one zero cider.”
There were five of us, but it didn’t seem like there would be leftovers. We could always order more of whatever was lacking after we started eating.
After also efficiently ordering stew and cold noodles for the meal, the table fell quiet.
“Well… we’re not close enough to be laughing and chatting yet, I guess.”
Even if Kwonhyung and I were fine, Ms. Sunye was someone who had joined while I was away, so I hadn’t really had a proper conversation with her. Jiwoo had also only gone out together with me or Kwonhyung a few times and was meeting Ms. Sunye for the first time, so the situation was awkward.
“Hmm… I should probably start with a simple introduction.”
We didn’t need to be loud and cheerful, but at least explaining who everyone was would make things less awkward.
I cleared my throat.
“When did you join the company, Ms. Sunye?”
When I asked what I was most curious about, Kwonhyung answered instead of Ms. Sunye, who had been sitting quietly and introverted the whole time.
“Oh, she joined the year before last. The previous person in charge moved to Happiness, so we needed someone.”
“Ah.”
Ms. Sunye simply nodded slightly instead of answering verbally.
Long bangs falling down, thick glasses, and an oversized hoodie.
“She’s quite a strong personality too, in her own way.”
Even though office management was part of her job, she hadn’t actually come into the office that many times, so it seemed like she wouldn’t have had much work to do.
But she handled the accounting-related tasks during the handover very skillfully, so she didn’t seem like just a part-time-level hire.
“Then why on earth… is she working here?”
The pay wasn’t high either, since it was essentially based on hours worked.
It was puzzling, but it didn’t seem like an appropriate topic to probe into right now, so I let it go.
Then, as the meat quietly cooked in silence, an unexpected person spoke up.
“Um… there’s something I was curious about too.”
“…?”
Everyone’s gaze instantly turned toward the owner of the voice.
The one who broke the silence was none other than Lee Jiwoo.
When I looked at her as if to say go on, Jiwoo hesitantly continued.
“Representative… how did you end up acquiring the company?”
“Ah.”
Ms. Sunye, who had been keeping her head down, also looked at me quietly, as if she had been curious too.
It was a reasonable question. Anyone would wonder why someone would boldly acquire a completely run-down company with no visible profitability—especially when that person was so young.
I was well aware myself that my circumstances were far from ordinary, and I had thought that I would need to explain it someday.
“This is a good opportunity to explain.”
I took a short breath inward.
“It’s a bit of a long story, but to summarize: the former CEO was my benefactor. On the day he passed away in an accident, I was also in an accident and needed an organ transplant.”
“……”
“So since I was given another chance at life, I wanted to take responsibility for the company he left behind, if I could. Profit and all that aside.”
On the surface, that was true.
The fact that the former CEO himself was inside me was too unbelievable to tell anyone… except those who knew about my past life (?).
Even just this much explanation seemed sufficient for others to understand my unusual behavior.
“Jiwoo seems… a bit too convinced, though.”
Maybe because she was an actress with heightened sensitivity, she looked like she had just watched a humanitarian movie and was on the verge of tears.
“I—I had no idea something like that happened! That’s amazing…!”
She looked so moved that she seemed about to knock over the drink in front of her, so I quickly calmed her down.
“It’s not that amazing. Anyway… I inherited some assets, and rather than just sitting around spending them, I wanted to use them for something meaningful.”
At the word inheritance, I felt both Ms. Sunye and Jiwoo flinch slightly, and a belated regret washed over me—but it was already too late.
“Anyway! There’s nothing you need to worry about. You don’t have to be concerned that I have some other ulterior motive.”
It sounded like something a suspicious person would say, but it was the truth.
“This is exactly why I avoided talking about it until now.”
The water had already been spilled, and it was something that would have to be addressed eventually.
I swallowed another deep sigh and wrapped things up.
“Alright, alright, it’s going to burn! Let’s eat first!”
Since no one could drink alcohol, the least I could do was make sure everyone ate well.
Chiiiiiik.
With the sound of the meat sizzling nicely, we all picked up our chopsticks. Fortunately, the owner’s skills were as good as ever—the sweet and savory marinade soaked into the meat perfectly.
“Ms. Sunye, please eat plenty. Oh, Jiwoo, let me know if you need more rice.”
She usually seemed to regulate her eating well, and since she was still growing, one day like this should be fine.
Time flew by as we piled well-grilled meat onto our plates.
By the time we finished eating, nearly two hours had passed.
“That was truly exhausting.”
I couldn’t speak freely with Kwonhyung, Ms. Sunye felt difficult to approach, and on top of that, I couldn’t afford to appear sloppy in front of Jiwoo—so I stayed tense the entire time.
After finally dropping Jiwoo and Mungji off at home, and seeing Ms. Sunye safely on her way, it was already past midnight.
“I’m exhausted…”
My body shouldn’t have been that tired, but it had been a mentally draining day from morning, with no time to rest.
Kwonhyung would normally head home on his own, but for some reason, he lingered around the office instead of leaving.
“What’s up? Why aren’t you going home?”
When I asked, he unexpectedly set a serious tone.
“Hyung, I think it’d be better if you knew this.”
What he confessed next was completely unexpected.
“Ms. Sunye actually joined through an introduction from a friend of my parents. She’s over thirty and has a CPA license, so I thought you might find it strange why she’s working at our company.”
“Oh, well, joining through a connection isn’t strange since you’re the owner. But her résumé is surprisingly good.”
That was unavoidable. Her first company had been one of the so-called BIG 5 accounting firms.
She must have done very well in interviews to get in, so it was puzzling how she ended up with such… somewhat bleak social skills.
“I heard that she was severely bullied at her first workplace.”
The story Kwonhyung had heard from his parents was heartbreaking.
She had been the only one in her team from a different school background, and they would deliberately have conversations she couldn’t understand. That, along with other petty harassment, continued.
Eventually, the workplace bullying was officially acknowledged, and she received compensation from the perpetrators—but within the company, she was labeled as “someone who causes trouble.”
From a cost perspective, it was probably deemed more economical to push out a single new hire than to remove an entire team, including the senior in charge.
“Anyway, it’s true that she quit because of bullying. She even showed me the disciplinary notices issued to the perpetrators. So there’s no need to doubt her background.”
After that, she became afraid to go out to other companies and stayed shut in at home, until Kwonhyung mentioned that we were looking for someone for a position that didn’t require daily attendance, and his parents connected them.
“He complains that I always make him do good deeds for others, yet he’s one to talk.”
We had no complaints—being able to hire a CPA under our conditions was already a stroke of luck. But hearing her story left a bad taste in my mouth.
“At least I won’t have to worry once profits start coming in and things get more complicated.”
The weight of being responsible for my employees’ livelihoods settled more heavily on me.
“Ms. Sunye can’t keep living on part-time-level pay forever, either.”
For that reason, we couldn’t rely solely on Jiwoo for revenue.
“Unless Teacher Joo has an unavoidable reason, I really wish he’d help us.”
I’d need to meet him and find out why.
My stomach was full, but my head felt heavy.
At last, the day of the appointment arrived. Jiwoo had entered the training center the day before for filming. She said they would be staying there together for two full weeks to prepare a group performance.
“I’m worried, but she says she’s made friends, so I’ll trust her and wait.”
Some companies close to production studios receive edited footage through unofficial routes before broadcast… but that didn’t apply to us.
I wasn’t hoping for major spotlight—just please, no malicious editing.
Jiwoo said she was mentally prepared, but I still hoped she wouldn’t get hurt if possible.
“For now, I’ll do what I can.”
With my resolve set, I dragged along a nearly lifeless-looking Kwonhyung to a high-end Pyongyang cold noodle restaurant.
