The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 7

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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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7.
“Damn it, ugh, Do-a! How dare you—ungh…!”
Gyeong-jun pressed his back against the wall, struggling to pull himself up. His face had drained to an ashen gray.
Do-a’s mind went blank.
‘Did I just… kick him there?’
It had never been Do-a’s intention to kick a man’s genitals.
But her brave, righteous right foot seemed to have simply refused to tolerate any more of his grating remarks.
“I—it wasn’t on purpose!”
Even as she said it, there was something undeniably satisfying about it.
Of course, at the same time, she knew he was prone to exaggeration and held grudges like a vice. The fallout would be something to worry about.
Well, what could she do now? What was done was done.
“You—you think I’m just going to let this slide…?!”
Do-a gave her soiled right foot a quick, furtive brush-off, then turned and hurried out of the conference room, leaving Gyeong-jun to sputter out his lines like a stock villain.
* * *
Do-a was rubbing her eyes and reaching for her phone at the sound of a KakaoTalk message—even before the alarm had gone off.
The moment the screen lit up, the message that caught her eye was from Gyeong-jun.
[HoneyTrap Strong-arm : I’m requesting CCTV footage from the security team, and the moment I have it, I’m sending an official document to your company. Better steel yourself—an advertising agency employee assaulting a client. That’s serious.]
“…Seriously? This is ridiculous.”
Do-a buried her face in the pillow, but the indignation was too much. She sprang back up.
“Who’s blackmailing whom here? He’s the one who did something wrong to me—and now he’s making threats over a tiny little kick? How is that fair?!”
While Do-a wrestled with her sense of injustice, the morning hours ticked relentlessly on.
“Ugh… I still have to go to work.”
Reluctantly, Do-a showered, finished her makeup, and headed out the door.
The internal argument that had started at dawn continued even in the crush of the morning commute.
‘There’s no way he’d actually report it, right? He’s a bastard, sure, but not bad enough to go that far… probably?’
argued the Gyeong-jun Moderate faction, while
‘Are you kidding? A guy who’d steal over three million won from you and throw two million back at you isn’t “not bad enough”? He’s the worst. Total lost cause.’
howled the Gyeong-jun Hardline faction.
“God, my head’s going to explode.”
Do-a massaged her temples as she stepped into the office.
Even if her personal life was a mess, letting it show at work was something only amateurs did. She forced a smile onto her lips and greeted everyone cheerfully.
“Good morning!”

“…Oh, Do-a? You’re here?”
“M-morning.”
But something felt off about the office atmosphere.
Her colleagues’ manner toward her seemed strangely stiff.
Puzzled, Do-a sat at her desk and turned to Yun-mi in the next cubicle. “Is something up? Everyone looks a little tense.”

“Oh, D-Do-a! No, nothing’s wrong at all.”
Yun-mi quickly spun her chair away and hunched over her keyboard like she was trying to disappear into the monitor, typing furiously.
That reaction struck Do-a as suspicious too.
‘It’s probably nothing.’
A knot of unease twisted in her chest, but with Gyeong-jun’s situation weighing on her mind, she was just trying to brush it off—
when a messenger window suddenly popped up in the bottom right corner of her screen.
Reading it, Do-a couldn’t suppress a gasp.
[Hye-jung : Look, I’ve thought about it a lot, and I really don’t think you’re that kind of person, so I’m just asking—do you maybe have an unrequited crush on Na-hui’s boyfriend? You know, Gyeong-jun from Hyunsin Department Store?]
* * *
The day before, just before leaving work, Na-hui was fixing her makeup in front of the mirror at her desk.
She had no date planned with Gyeong-jun today, so she was thinking of heading straight home.
That’s when she heard her coworkers’ voices from behind her.
“Do-a, want to grab dinner with all of us tonight? Maybe some light beers?”
The makeup puff in Na-hui’s hand paused.
These women always ask her first before asking me.
As she tapped the puff against her cheek with deliberate firmness, Do-a’s voice came from across the room.
“I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well today. I’m going to head home now.”
“Oh? Then go rest. We’ll just go by ourselves.”
Do-a was backing out?
Na-hui’s lips curved into a slight smile as she turned toward Yun-mi, who had made the invitation. “Can I join you too?”
“Of course. Why don’t you come with us?”
Normally she would have declined, but not today. Not with Do-a gone.
Because now she could gossip about Do-a behind her back.
‘I’ve put in all this effort—the least they could do is react.’
But despite Na-hui’s scheming, her coworkers kept saying things like “Do-a wouldn’t do that” or “Oh, Do-a’s not like that” and defending her anyway.
What should she try this time?
She’d already mentioned seeing Do-a secretly taking company supplies home, and she’d spread gossip about Do-a talking behind people’s backs—neither had worked…. What else was there?
By the time they arrived at the Hof Bar, Na-hui was still scheming about what new insult to launch against Do-a when someone asked her a question.
“Na-hui, does Do-a have anyone she’s dating right now?”
“What?”
“After the meeting ended today, I passed behind the document service room, and Do-a was there with Gyeong-jun from Hyunsin Department Store.”
“The two of them together?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t hear clearly from a distance, but they looked like they were arguing. They were even speaking informally to each other. But what would we have to fight about with a client? And in informal speech, no less.”
“You mean Gyeong-jun, the account manager for our project?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. I figured since you and Do-a went to the same university, maybe you’d know something.”
That idiot Gyeong-jun!
Was he trying to broadcast that he and Do-a were exes? Was he trying to spill everything that had ever happened between them?
As Na-hui clenched her teeth, a brilliant idea flashed through her mind.
‘…Wait. They looked like they could be lovers? That’s… actually an opportunity.’
Na-hui ran several intense simulations in her head for a few seconds, made her decision, and lowered her head.
“I’ve never heard that Do-a has a boyfriend. …Huh? Na-hui, why are you hanging your head? Is something wrong?”
“Na-hui? Are you okay?”
When Na-hui raised her face again, both of her eyes glistened with tears.
“Na-hui, you’re crying? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
Na-hui was quiet for a moment, then opened her mouth as if she could no longer hold it back.
“…The truth is, because he’s a client, I’ve been keeping it secret until now, but Gyeong-jun and I… we’re engaged to be married.”
“What?!”
Her coworkers’ eyes widened in unison.
Na-hui took a breath to steady herself and continued carefully.
“And… I couldn’t tell anyone because of Do-a. Even though she knew Gyeong-jun and I were going to get married, she kept contacting him and following him around. …Like a stalker, almost.”
The table erupted into murmurs.
“What? But aren’t they friends?”
“Wait, you don’t mean Do-a has the hots for your boyfriend…?”
One coworker asked bluntly.
“Do-a likes your boyfriend? Even though she knows he’s your boyfriend?”
“…Yes. Because of that, going to work has been really hard for me lately. She even threatened me not to meet with Gyeong-jun… sniffle!”
She acted with all her might. Yet her coworkers still seemed half-skeptical.
Then Hye-jung, who was close to Do-a, spoke up.
“Sorry, but I can’t buy what you’re saying, Na-hui. The way you’ve talked badly about Do-a—it’s not been just once or twice. Most of it turned out to be misunderstandings. Are you sure you’re not just confused this time too?”
Before Na-hui could start making excuses, another employee beside her shook their head.
“Chief Kim, if Na-hui was just mistaken, why would that account manager and Do-a have been arguing in informal speech? They must know each other.”
“They could know each other, sure. But you can’t conclude that Do-a was really stalking Na-hui’s boyfriend based on one piece of information like that.”
Quietly, Na-hui pulled out a necklace she’d tucked into her blouse. At the end of the necklace hung a platinum ring set with a transparent diamond.
“Actually, it’s not just me and Do-a—Gyeong-jun is also from the same university class. We stayed close after graduation. The problem is that Do-a refuses to accept that Gyeong-jun and I are in a relationship. Even after I showed her this engagement ring.”
“Is it possible that Gyeong-jun gave her any reason to hope?”

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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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