Chapter 119: Scandal (2)
It had been a while since Kang Ra-Eun visited Levanche. Seeing her, Park Seol-Hun waved and greeted her brightly. Seeing his bright smile put Ra-Eun in a bad mood.
“What’s with you today, mister? You usually look at me like you stepped on shit whenever I visit the company.”
“You know why,” Seol-Hun stated.
Ra-Eun had last seen Seol-Hun at the beginning of last month. The gears in her head turned to figure out what had happened during that time. Just one thing popped into her head; the dating scandal between her and Ji Han-Seok.
Ra-Eun gave Seol-Hun a death glare. “Do you want a beating in front of your employees, mister?”
Seol-Hun laughed awkwardly. Jokes aside, he needed to get to the main point before Ra-Eun got even angrier.
Ra-Eun asked Seol-Hun and Director Do Hye-Yeong as she took her seat in the meeting room, “Where’s old man Ma Yeong-Jun?”
There were three key individuals leading Levanche. Park Seol-Hun managed the overall state of the company, Do Hye-Yeong managed everything else, and Ma Yeong-Jun handled logistics management and odd jobs. Ra-Eun needed all three of them to be present when she visited so that they could issue her orders down to their respective divisions.
Hye-Yeong answered, “He is absent because he had other business to attend to.”
“What business?” Ra-Eun asked.
“Employee management... or so I’ve heard.”
Ra-Eun sighed. “That mister’s playing hooky.”
The excuse couldn’t sound more bullshit. Even if it was true, there was no way that employee management was more important than Ra-Eun’s summons. Having thought of something, Seol-Hun told Ra-Eun of what he had seen last time.
“He hasn’t been looking too good ever since your call with him. I believe he said something about you having figured something out.”
Ra-Eun realized what Yeong-Jun meant immediately. He had realized how dissatisfied Ra-Eun was from how he and his men were betting on whether or not the scandal regarding her was true. He had a bad feeling that Ra-Eun would show him no mercy the next time they met, so he had decided to run. Hence, he was the only one of the three key individuals absent. However, there was one thing that Yeong-Jun still did not know about Ra-Eun.
‘This’ll only put him in even more of a pickle.’
Yeong-Jun was probably thinking Ra-Eun’s anger would have somewhat subsided the next time he saw her. However, Ra-Eun was the Goddess of Revenge; revenge was her entire being.
‘Next time I see him, he’ll get twice the scolding I’d planned on.’
Seol-Hun and Hye-Yeong felt fear for some reason as Ra-Eun smacked her lips.
***
Ra-Eun was driven home from Levanche by her chauffeur Lim Seok-Jun. Her business was expanding by the day as she had expected, and there didn’t seem to be any major problems to deal with. In exchange, Seol-Hun had asked her when she would employ Seo Yi-Jun, the aspiring fashion designer whom she had her eyes on ever since high school.
‘He’s in the middle of his military service right now, but I should ask him what he’ll do once he’s out.’
She had to get an answer from him regarding whether he’d return to school right away, or get a job at her company. Yi-Jun had a lot of talent in fashion design, to the point that Seol-Hun, Hye-Yeong and Levanche’s design team expressed their desire to raise him after seeing his portfolio. Hence, Ra-Eun was planning on taking him before he was fished out by her competitors.
‘If I call him now... I’m sure he won’t be able to answer.’
She was better off calling him during free time. As she was about to go about a different business on her smartphone, a call came from Seo Yi-Seo.
“Hello?” Ra-Eun answered.
- It’s me, Ra-Eun. I completely forgot to tell you something yesterday.
“Tell me what?”
Yi-Seo had gone back to her parents’ home due to personal business two days ago, so they had to call each other like this if they had something to tell each other.
- I got a call from Yi-Jun last night. His leave is scheduled next week, so I was wondering if us three could meet up if you have time.
To Yi-Jun, Ra-Eun was a close friend of his older sister, as well as his crush. There was no way that he wouldn’t want to see her.
‘Perfect timing.’
She had wanted to ask Yi-Jun something anyway.
“What time and day next week?”
- He’ll be out starting Tuesday. He’ll be hanging out with friends on Thursday, so he said any other day works.
“Okay. I’ll call my manager to check my schedule and call you back once I find out when I’m available.”
- Alright, thanks.
Ra-Eun ended the call and unconsciously giggled.
‘Yi-Jun is way better than that old man Ma Yeong-Jun.’
Yeong-Jun was busy running away from her, but Yi-Jun was doing whatever it took to meet Ra-Eun during his short five-day break. Although they were in different circumstances, it was funny to her regardless. Meanwhile, Seok-Jun tilted his head in confusion while driving.
“Is something the matter, Chairwoman?”
“No, it’s nothing. Don’t pay any mind to it.”
Ra-Eun decided to call Yu-Bin to check her schedule.
***
It was the first day of Yi-Jun’s leave. Yi-Seo chuckled as she looked at her little brother who came home in his military uniform with a single strip that symbolizes he was a private.
“My friends with little brothers who went to the army all said they were unrecognizable when they came back, but how are you the exact same?”
“You know my skin doesn’t tan well even after being out in the sun for a long time.”
Yi-Seo was the same, since they were siblings.
“Where’s Mom and Dad?” Yi-Jun asked.
“They’re both working at the cafe.”
“Really? Then I guess I should head there after changing.”
“You haven’t forgotten we’re having dinner with Ra-Eun today, right?” Yi-Seo mentioned.
“Obviously!”
There was no way he could forget. The chance to see Ra-Eun again was the only thing keeping him going through his service. It would be a huge problem if he had forgotten.
“I have to take care of some other business before then, so you can spend some time together with Ra-Eun until I’m done,” Yi-Seo said.
“When will you be joining us?”
“Since we decided on 6 PM... I’ll be there by 7 PM, at the very latest.”
“Okay.”
Yi-Jun’s heart was already racing from the fact that he’d be able to spend time alone with Ra-Eun for one whole hour.
***
Yi-Jun had promised to meet Ra-Eun in front of Starlight Road. They were originally planning on meeting somewhere near Ra-Eun and Yi-Seo’s home, but they had changed locations to the relatively-deserted Starlight Road since there had been a lot of eyes on Ra-Eun since the scandal incident.
As Yi-Jun was checking the time after every minute, he heard a woman’s voice that was sweet enough to melt his ears.
“Hey, Yi-Jun.”
It was Ra-Eun. She scanned him from head to toe after walking straight up to him.
“I think you’ve gotten taller in the time I haven’t seen you,” she remarked.
“Really? I’m not too sure since I haven’t measured it.”
Choi Sang-Woon had changed significantly from before and after his enlistment, but Yi-Jun had not changed that much.
“How’s army life?”
“It’s not too bad. None of my superiors bully me.”
“That’s because Yi-Seo’s pretty. Superiors don’t bully anyone with pretty older sisters.”
Ra-Eun knew the minds of men... no, soldiers very well because she herself used to be one.
Yi-Jun then made a surprise remark, “You’re prettier, noona.”
Ra-Eun lightly giggled. “Does the army train soldiers on pick-up lines these days?”
“Of course not.”
Seeing Ra-Eun’s smile, Yi-Jun felt like all his physical and mental stress accumulated before his leave was melting away like snow. They couldn’t keep talking outside, so they decided to chat in Starlight Road until Yi-Seo arrived.
The two of them were the only customers, so Ra-Eun was able to rest easy. She pointed at Yi-Jun’s head as soon as they took their seats.
“Take off your hat.”
“Why?”
“Why else? Because I want to see your head,” Ra-Eun expressed with a wide smile.
On the other hand, Yi-Jun sighed deeply. He had put on a hat to hide the air of a soldier that he gave off, but he couldn’t refuse Ra-Eun’s request. His short, pressed-down hair revealed itself to Ra-Eun as he took off his hat.
“It looks like the soldier in charge of hairdressing at your base is pretty skilled. It looks way better than your hair from before you first entered the training center,” Ra-Eun said.
“Corporal Kim apparently worked at a barber shop before he enlisted.”
“It certainly is nice to have a superior like that at your base.”
Ra-Eun also had a hairdresser subordinate back in her days of military service, so she had made use of him right up until she was discharged. But of course, she had taken care of him as much as he had helped her.
Yi-Jun took a sip of coffee and brought up a sensitive topic.
“Noona. I have a question...”
He had wanted to ask this once he went on his leave.
“Your dating scandal with that Ji Han-Seok person... It’s really not true, right?”
Ra-Eun, who had one end of a straw in her mouth, looked at Yi-Jun as if she had expected it.
“I was wondering why you weren’t asking that.”
Ra-Eun more or less knew that Yi-Jun saw her as more than just a noona. He was romantically interested in her, so she had expected him to ask a question regarding the scandal.
“It’s completely groundless. There’s nothing between me and Han-Seok sunbae. We’re simply in a senior-junior relationship, so don’t get any weird misunderstandings.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. You’re being so annoying.”
There had been tons of people besides Yi-Jun who had repeatedly asked Ra-Eun about the dating scandal. She had to clear things up over and over again, enough to make her sick of it.
Yi-Jun was rather relieved to see her angry.
“Seeing your reaction, it looks like you’re telling the truth,” he remarked.
He smiled brightly now that his worries had been cleared. However, Ra-Eun sighed deeply from how the people around her were acting so sensitively from just one dating scandal.
‘He’d explode if I ever get married.’
Although, she had no plans to do such a thing.
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