Impossible Romance - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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13.

Jun-hee’s eyes widened as I surveyed my surroundings. With dozens of eyes watching at Seonjin Department Store, I had never hesitated in my actions.
“Should I tear the clothes you’re wearing right now? Then you’d need new ones. Do you want that?”
After speaking, I stood tall and looked down at Jun-hee. Despite my crude and aggressive words, my expression remained composed and elegant.
Jun-hee glared at me before lowering her gaze. She already knew well enough that I was capable of doing exactly that.
“No.”
Watching Jun-hee answer calmly, I smirked.
“Don’t forget. I intend to repay you for all the wrongs you’ve done to me. Don’t keep crossing the line.”
“I apologize for that, I….”
“Words alone won’t do. I have more than one reason to treat you this way. If you understand, answer me.”
I tugged lightly at the scarf around Jun-hee’s neck. It was as if I were showing her the reason she should belong to me.
“Yes….”
Jun-hee answered quietly and let out a soft sigh.
“Good. Let’s go.”
I took Jun-hee’s hand and led her outside. It felt so natural that she forgot to pull her hand away.

***

The door chimed softly.
The entrance door opened, and Jun-hee stepped inside. A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she looked around the apartment. So, I had ended up at Kwon Seok-ha’s house.
When I had gone to the Palace One-room, my belongings had already been moved that morning. And when I came to this house and checked my room, everything was organized.
Some things remained in boxes, but most of it was already arranged. Even my old laptop sat on the desk.
I had even heard that the move was easy because I had so few possessions.
‘There’s no helping it.’
Perhaps after a month or so—maybe a few months—another way would present itself.
Jun-hee set aside her complicated thoughts for now and went to her room to organize her belongings. As I placed a family photo on the desk, memories of the past suddenly came to mind.
About four years ago, my youngest brother Jun-soo had developed a serious heart condition. He had always been frail since childhood, but I never knew it would be such a grave illness.
To cure Jun-soo’s disease, considerable money was needed, and a specialist in cardiology was essential. Given our family’s circumstances, it was not an easy matter.
It was Han Seon-young who extended a helping hand at that time. She quietly called me aside and offered assistance, but with a condition attached.

“Let’s say you abandoned Seok-ha and ran away. Seok-ha needs to go to the United States anyway, so the timing is perfect. Of course, you must keep this secret. If you break that promise, you’re toying with your brother’s life. You know that even after heart surgery, the condition requires continuous monitoring, right? Keep your promise.”

And then, the day before Kwon Seok-ha received his posting to the United States and departed, she vanished as if into thin air. She borrowed a substantial sum from him and submitted her resignation to the Company. It was the picture of someone fleeing in the dead of night.
Kwon Seok-ha didn’t know it, but that day Jun-hee wept so bitterly that she couldn’t open her eyes.
Still, fortunately, her younger brother’s surgery was successful. By saving her brother’s life alone, Jun-hee erased every instinctive affection she possessed. All her feelings toward Kwon Seok-ha, entirely.
Yet now, meeting him again, Jun-hee clenched her teeth, unable to control her wavering heart.
She pressed down the pain like carving into bone—the absolute rule that she must never do anything with Kwon Seok-ha, must never receive anything from him.
‘Never give your heart. Never accept anything.’
Jun-hee returned the family photograph she had taken out back into the box. These people had become too much of a burden for her now; merely looking at them exhausted her.

***

The Secretary’s Office buzzed with activity from early morning. An unexpected personnel transfer was the cause. As Lee Soo-chul stared at the monitor, Park Hyun-sik leaned in from behind him to join.

New Hire Notice
New Employee: Ahn Joon-hee
Department: Executive Secretary’s Office

“Ahn Joon-hee—isn’t that the employee who used to work in the PR Team?”
Park Hyun-sik murmured, seeing Jun-hee’s name on the monitor.
“Right? Unless it’s a coincidence with the same name?”
Lee Soo-chul vaguely recalled the Jun-hee who had worked in the PR Team.
“If it’s her, then we finally have a female employee in the Secretary’s Office.”
Kim Seok-ho, the one with the least seniority among them, suddenly spoke up.
“So you’re happy about that?”
“What nonsense. The Executive Director can’t stand that sort of thing, so I was wondering what changed.”
Kim Seok-ho recalled how Kwon Seok-ha treated female employees coldly, regardless of their position.
His external image was crafted to seem like a rebellious type who’d lived a little, but his behavior was merely rough; there were no scandals involving women.
While Kwon Seok-ha had a sharp temperament, from what those around him observed, he showed no interest in women whatsoever. Despite his exceptional looks and outstanding abilities, many women approached him.
From Kim Seok-ho’s perspective, there were more than one or two women beautiful enough to captivate anyone. Yet Kwon Seok-ha not only refused to let them close but actually grew angry.
The very composition of the Secretary’s Office staff—with no female employees beside him—made people suspect he had obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Or perhaps he had different preferences. But apparently, that wasn’t it.
“With this, the rumor about our Executive Director’s gender discrimination will disappear.”
“And the rumor about his unusual tastes too. But then again, the people who spread those rumors are the real problem, right?”
“Exactly. They’ll fabricate any rumor just to tarnish his image.”
Kim Seok-ho nodded in agreement. The person spreading those rumors was none other than Kwon Seok-jun, the Director of Seonjin Distribution.
He was Kwon Seok-ha’s cousin of the same age, the son of his uncle. He was someone who constantly sought out even minor issues to magnify them, all in an effort to bring Kwon Seok-ha down.
As the employees conversed, Hwang Manager entered.
“It’s not a coincidence—she starts today. It’s the Executive Director’s decision, so make note of it.”
Hwang Manager added a brief explanation and returned to his seat. At his words, the Secretary’s Office staff immediately accepted it and showed no particular curiosity.
If Kwon Seok-ha had decided it, that was the end of it. They understood that while his decisions were sometimes unconventional, there was always a reason behind them.
For one thing, the backgrounds of the Secretary’s Office staff were similar.
Lee Soo-chul had assisted Kwon Seok-ha from the United States alongside Hwang Manager, and Park Hyun-sik had been on Kwon Seok-ha’s team before that. Strictly speaking, he was the messenger Kwon Seok-ha had left behind in Korea. Kim Seok-ho, too, had transferred to the United States a year after joining and worked with Kwon Seok-ha.
In other words, the Secretary’s Office had a special recruitment character different from regular hiring, and above all, they were people Kwon Seok-ha had personally selected and cultivated.
Kwon Seok-ha, who aspired to become the next chairman of Seonjin Group, was a man without gaps or vulnerabilities. While there were no unexpected developments in the succession race at present, he had meticulously prepared for everything, aware that rivals could emerge from his surroundings at any moment.
Therefore, Ahn Joon-hee’s entry through special recruitment was hardly unusual. Any Secretary’s Office employee had undergone Kwon Seok-ha’s evaluation in some form and been selected through special recruitment.
It was then that the door opened slightly and Joon-hee entered.
“Hello. I’m Ahn Joon-hee, newly assigned to the Secretary’s Office.”
Joon-hee glanced around the office before greeting everyone. In truth, she had already arrived an hour earlier, but feeling it strange to be alone in the Secretary’s Office before properly introducing herself, she had waited outside and only now entered.
She had worried during her commute about how to explain joining outside the regular hiring season, and whether there might be territorial friction among the Secretary’s Office staff.
That was precisely why Kwon Seok-ha felt all the more irksome to her. How common could it be to join through special recruitment so suddenly? If word spread that Kwon Seok-ha had orchestrated her hiring, she might become ostracized.
The thought of it made her sigh.
“Welcome. You know me, right? Hwang Gang-jik.”
Hwang Manager gestured to Joon-hee, and she walked over to his side.
“Hello.”
Hwang Gang-jik already knew her well because of the incident that had occurred a few days prior.
“I look forward to working with you.”
As Joon-hee greeted Hwang Gang-jik, she also bowed to the other employees seated ahead.
Though she had been tense, seeing the three other employees watching her eased her anxiety somewhat. Perhaps because this was her former workplace, no one seemed to regard her with suspicion or disdain.
“Do you remember me? I think I saw you a few times when you were in the PR Team.”
Park Hyun-sik extended his hand.
“Yes, that’s right. I look forward to working with you.”
It was fortunate to have familiar faces around.
“Welcome! Let’s do our best together.”
“Yes.”
We went through thick and thin with the Executive Director in the United States and returned home together. Let’s start fresh and do our best.”
“Yes.”
At Lee Soo-chul’s words, Joon-hee nodded and bowed in acknowledgment.
“We’re having a dinner gathering on Friday, so keep that in mind.”
Hwang Manager said this matter-of-factly as he took his seat.
“Friday is a bit…”
Kim Seok-ho puckered his lips in protest, but upon seeing Hwang Manager’s expression, he quickly withdrew it.
“Well, that works!”
“Let’s go eat some meat.”
“We can make it a welcome gathering for Ahn Joon-hee and a team-building event for our Secretary’s Office.”
“Of course, prime rib it is.”
The atmosphere brightened, and the employees applauded in agreement.
Watching the employees, Joon-hee exhaled a quiet sigh of relief internally. Her shoulders had ached from the tension since dawn, but fortunately everything had worked out. Thus her first morning as a new employee came to a close.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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