The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 71

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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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71.
With an expressionless face, he pushed the coffee cup aside and looked directly at Seong Do-ah.
“Do-ah. I asked to meet because I have something to say.”
A bead of cold sweat trickled down her spine. The cafe was warm, yet her back felt chilled for reasons she couldn’t explain.
Seong Do-ah forced herself to speak.
“What…… is it you want to say? If it’s bad news, I’d rather hear it later. I haven’t even ordered my coffee yet.”
She smiled as she spoke, but her voice trembled at the end.
Cha Kyung studied her face. Above her gaunt features, only her eyes remained steady and hard.
It was the look of someone who had made a resolute decision.
“Let’s end this now.”
“What? What are you saying……?”
“Let’s break up. Us.”
Do-ah’s hands went cold in an instant.
“……Are you joking? I don’t like jokes like this. I have trauma from them.”
Her voice trembled. She tried to force a smile, but the corners of her mouth wouldn’t rise.
“Why would you make a joke like this after treating me to an expensive meal? I’m serious.”
Do-ah clenched her hands in her lap.
“I don’t understand. We didn’t fight, and there was no problem between us. Did I do something wrong to you?”
“There’s nothing like that.”
“Then what is it? Nothing happened, and I did nothing wrong. Why are you asking to break up?”
Cha Kyung’s expression didn’t shift a fraction. His face, not even an eyebrow moving, was as cold as if she were a stranger.
“In a relationship, you don’t always need a reason to part ways, do you?”
“……What?”
“Maybe I just fell out of love. Maybe I got tired or bored.”
Her mouth went dry. She tried to speak, but no sound came out.
Na Hui’s words flashed through her mind again.
Do-ah swallowed her trembling breath and barely managed to speak.
“Your feelings cooled? It’s only been a week. How can your heart change in that time?”
“A person’s heart can change in seconds.”
Cha Kyung picked up his water glass and took a sip. How could he be so composed while talking about breaking up?
Do-ah bit the inside of her lip. She tasted blood.
“How can you do this? We’ve only been together for a few months.”
“I’m sorry. But a heart that’s already grown cold can’t be revived.”
“Is there nothing I can do?”
“No.”
A single word. Just one syllable, yet it closed off any possibility of her reaching him.
“……Is it because another woman has come into your life?”
Cha Kyung’s fingers stilled above his water glass.
“I have no intention of telling that to someone I’m breaking up with.”
He didn’t deny it.
Do-ah’s vision blurred.
“Is it someone I know?”
“I said I wasn’t going to tell you.”
Dodging the question was the same as admitting the truth.
Do-ah rose from her seat, still gripping the water glass.
And then she poured the water directly over his face.
Clear liquid dripped down steadily.
“……You bastard. What makes you different from Woo Kyung-jun?”
Her voice cracked. Afraid that if she said another word her tears would spill, she snatched up her bag and turned away.
The cafe door closed behind her.
Cha Kyung didn’t wipe the water from his face. His wet shirt clung to his skin, and drops fell from his chin onto the table.
Staring at them, he turned his head to look at the empty chair where Do-ah had been sitting.
He was the one who had pushed her away. Even knowing he had no right to feel the loss, his chest hollowed out like something had been torn through it.
* * *
Na Hui kept her hands on the keyboard, pretending to look at the monitor.
A design file with revision requests was displayed on the screen, but the text wouldn’t focus.
It was because of a message she’d received from Kyung-jun moments ago.
[Kyung-jun: I’ll give you 200 million. Think about it seriously.]
This contact had come days earlier, after the briefing incident.
That day, after messing up the briefing and ending up making Do-ah shine instead, Na Hui couldn’t wait to leave the building.
She’d made it to the elevator, but Kyung-jun was waiting in the lobby.
“Just three minutes. That’s all I need.”
Getting into a struggle in the middle of the lobby would draw the attention of the Hyunsin staff.
Na Hui clicked her tongue and turned around; Kyung-jun followed close behind. The two of them ended up in an emergency stairwell beside the smoking area at the back of the building.
“Speak fast. I don’t have time.”
“You remember that VVIP Limited Pendant from our Year-end Appreciation Campaign? Your company’s handling the promotional campaign for it.”
Na Hui searched her memory for a moment.
Not long ago, Abe had been given the task of planning and executing a Year-end Appreciation Campaign for VVIP customers at Hyunsin Department Store.
“So what?”
“Each one costs a million won to produce. We’re making a thousand and distributing them to VVIPs, and I’m in charge. But I’m only going to produce five hundred and keep the rest.”
Na Hui’s footsteps faltered.
“What? Are you insane? If five hundred people don’t receive them, there’ll be an immediate uproar.”
“No, there won’t. I put five hundred dormant customers into the VVIP list.”
Na Hui’s eyes narrowed. She was trying to gauge why he was telling her this.
“But according to our company regulations, anything over a certain amount requires a signature from the agency contact person. Just one line on an approval document, that’s all.”
“You can’t seriously be asking me to do that. Have you lost your mind?”
“This document won’t go to your company. It won’t even enter the system. It’ll stay as a single sheet of paper in our team cabinet, and I’ll shred it the moment the audit is done. Your company will never even know this document exists.”
“No thanks. Do it yourself.”
As Na Hui turned to leave, Kyung-jun’s voice dropped like a blade.
“Fifty million.”
Her footsteps stopped.
“Sign for me, and I’ll give you fifty million won.”
Calculation wheels spun in Na Hui’s head. Her credit card debt was six months behind, and her overdraft account had been maxed for a while.
She needed money desperately, but the risk was enormous.
“What if we get caught?”
“We won’t. Year-end is chaos for the audit team—they’re swamped with campaign settlement reports. They just skim the cover as long as the unit cost matches. Plus, I pulled the list myself, and I’m handling everything from requisition to delivery, so there’s no way this gets discovered.”
There was no hesitation in Kyung-jun’s explanation.
It was too smooth for something he’d just thought up. Like someone who’d been waiting for this moment for a long time.
“Don’t you need money these days?”
“What?”
“Just sign one document and you get fifty million won.”
“I don’t like getting involved in risky things.”
“It’s not risky. I told you. There’s absolutely no way we get caught.”
She stood in silence, thinking, then finally spoke.
“Twenty million. Then I’ll consider it.”
“Come on, twenty million for just one sheet of paper? That’s too much, isn’t it?”
“If you don’t like it, forget it.”
Na Hui said nothing more and walked out of the emergency stairwell.
After that, the contact had stopped, and she’d thought he’d given up.
In truth, Na Hui had been regretting it. Twenty million for just one sheet? It was an absurd sum.
But now this idiot was actually sending her a message saying he’d pay it.
‘I just need to make one document.’
Twenty million would clear everything she owed and leave her with a cushion.
If it blew up later, it was his fault anyway. She could just say the client requested it and be done.
Na Hui clicked on the message input field.
[Just one document and we’re done. Nothing more than that.]
* * *
Do-ah kept herself busy day after day. She went to meetings, revised designs, answered emails.
By throwing herself into work as if nothing had happened, at least during business hours she could keep other thoughts at bay.
The problem was eating. When lunchtime came, she had no desire to go to a restaurant. The sensation of hunger itself seemed to have disappeared.
Yesterday, she’d boiled instant noodles and eaten only a few spoonfuls of broth before throwing it all out; today, she hadn’t even done that much.
“Do-ah, want to grab lunch together? There’s a new menu item today.”
Hye-jung stood beside her desk and asked. Do-ah lifted her eyes from the monitor and managed a smile.
“You go first. I’ll join once I finish this.”

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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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