The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 77

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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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77.
“Your eyes—why are they so puffy? You’re swollen.”
As Seong Do-ah stepped into the office, surrounded by colleagues’ curious questions, an employee sitting at the far end of the hallway suddenly spoke up.
The remark cut sharply through the quiet office.
While Do-ah hesitated on how to respond, Na Hee emerged from the break room with a coffee mug in hand and approached her.
“My goodness, it’s true. Your eyes are all red too.”
Her voice was soft and gentle, but beneath the kindness lurked a subtle malice as sharp and cunning as a serpent’s.
“Is it because of the executive director? That’s so unfortunate. Honestly, it was a forced connection from the start, wasn’t it? Someone from that family would never take you seriously, and you just got excited for nothing and ended up hurt.”
Before Do-ah could respond, the colleague who’d accompanied her to Hyunsin interjected with her own coffee cup in hand.
“No, Na Hee. They were just having a lover’s quarrel. Do-ah made it sound so serious I really thought they’d broken up, but just now I saw the way the executive director looked at her—it was something else.”
The tips of Na Hee’s fingers trembled ever so slightly as she gripped the coffee cup.
“You’re… seeing the executive director again?”
Do-ah met her gaze directly and answered with perfect composure.
“Yes.”
Color flooded Na Hee’s face—red, then purple—but she quickly painted on a brilliant smile as she looked at Do-ah.
“Executive Director Yun’s moods are something else. He puts people through hell and then changes his mind just like that? Someone like him will definitely break up with you again after a while.”
Hye-jung, who’d been sitting at her desk, turned to Na Hee and spoke coldly.
“You don’t even know why they broke up. Anyway, if they’re seeing each other again, isn’t that something to celebrate? The way you’re talking, it sounds like you want them to break up.”
Na Hee’s face twisted with shame, then her eyes drooped as she began performing the role of the aggrieved party.
“I was just so worried, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Do-ah looked at her with an icy gaze, as if she weren’t worth another word.
“I appreciate the concern. Why don’t you focus on your own boyfriend instead? I can handle my own relationship, thank you very much.”
Do-ah turned and walked back to her desk.
She could hear Na Hee’s indignant breathing behind her, but it didn’t bother her one bit.
* * *
“The documents you requested, sir.”
Cha Kyung opened the document file his secretary handed him.
It contained a meticulously organized collection of the sordid traces Myung-sik had accumulated over the years since taking the presidency of Hyunsin Logistics.
Rebates, improper transactions, the flow of corporate funds diverted for private use—all laid bare.
“Quite the operation he’s been running.”
Cha Kyung’s lips twisted slightly.
While he’d been dealing with one dangerous accident after another, Myung-sik’s greed had swelled with each passing day, convinced that if his only son Cha Kyung disappeared, Hyunsin Group would fall into his own hands.
“He would’ve been far better off just quietly serving as president of Hyunsin Logistics.”
He was now scheduled to vanish without a trace from every corner of the Hyunsin empire.
Next, Cha Kyung opened the file on dormant accounts Kyung-jun had accessed and the fund flows siphoned off through VVIP orders.
Cha Kyung had known about Kyung-jun’s movements since the day that first dormant account was raided.
But he’d deliberately let him dig deeper, and had ultimately succeeded in catching not just the tail, but the entire body.
Shortly after, the Audit Team swept across Kyung-jun’s desk like a storm. His workspace was left barren, as if it had been empty ground from the beginning.
That cold emptiness seemed to foreshadow Kyung-jun’s future.
* * *
‘Damn it. What the hell is this?’
Kyung-jun sat in a corner of the parking lot, his forehead pressed against the steering wheel.
On his laptop screen, a glittering illegal gambling site was open.
In the baccarat game result window that had just closed, a zero balance stared back mockingly.
All of it—the embezzled money, everything—was gone. It had been that one game where he’d been so sure he could make two billion in a single hand.
Buzz.
His phone rang. The number wasn’t saved, but it wasn’t difficult to guess who it was.
Kyung-jun hesitated before answering, his hands trembling.
“Mr. Kyung-jun. Didn’t you say you’d pay by today? This is a problem—broken promises and not answering calls.”
“I will. I’ll pay. You just need to wait a little longer, that’s all I’m saying.”
“Yesterday too, a week ago too, a month ago too—you said you’d repay and you didn’t.”
The illegal loan operator’s voice turned cold. It was no longer the usual mocking sneer, but a sharp, cutting threat.
In the suffocating silence, Kyung-jun’s body shook uncontrollably.
“If you can’t pay back the money, you’d better maintain the merchandise well. It’s most valuable when it’s still inside the body.”
The call cut off abruptly. Kyung-jun’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. His vision swam.
* * *
The door to the Hyunsin Department Store Headquarters 15th Floor Executive Conference Room opened from within.
The Audit Team Chief led the way, followed by Kyung-jun, who stumbled out.
His tie, which had been perfectly neat just moments before, now hung loose on one side, and sweat stains bloomed across his shirt collar.
Inside the envelope Kyung-jun clutched were a termination notice and a copy of a criminal complaint.
“Mr. Kyung-jun. As of today, your employment record with Hyunsin Department Store is being closed. The Legal Team and Audit Team will contact you separately regarding the criminal complaint.”
The chief’s voice was clinical. That dryness made him seem even more pathetic.
Kyung-jun couldn’t respond. If he opened his mouth, something like a scream might tumble out first.
Just hours ago, he hadn’t imagined anything like this could happen.
He’d been so confident—even if his tail had been caught, the nominal account holders were long-time associates from terminated dealings, so there was no way his name would show up anywhere, and with the fund trails scattered across multiple steps, there was no way to trace it back to him.
But the documents he’d faced in that conference room revealed the depth of the pit he’d dug with perfect, merciless precision.
All the way down the corridor, people sneaked glances at Kyung-jun.
He couldn’t even drop his head, just moved his legs in a stiff semblance of walking. The same question circled endlessly in his mind.
‘How… how did I get caught? Why?’
Then Cha Kyung appeared at the far end of the corridor.
He was walking toward the elevator with his secretary, who held a document file.
In his gaze, as their eyes met, there was neither contempt nor accusation.
Cha Kyung simply passed by, as if Kyung-jun didn’t exist in this space at all.
That made Kyung-jun feel even more ashamed and humiliated.
* * *
At morning rush hour, an unfamiliar black sedan sat in the parking lot of the Ave Building.
Before getting out of the passenger seat, Do-ah let out a sigh and spoke.
“I can take the subway by myself. I’m not a kindergartner. You don’t have to drive me everywhere like this.”
“I know.”
As Cha Kyung replied, he reached for the end of Do-ah’s scarf and pulled it up, tucking it snugly around her neck.
“It’s cold out. Keep this up.”
“…”
“I’ll pick you up again when you leave work. Don’t go anywhere alone until then.”
Do-ah stared at him in disbelief. Since reuniting with Cha Kyung, he’d been driving her to the office entrance every single day.
No amount of insisting it was fine would sway him.
“Cha Kyung. I’m a grown woman.”
“I know.”
“You know, so why do you keep doing this? Look, I can wrap a scarf just fine on my own.”
“Didn’t I say? No matter what happens, I won’t let you come to harm.”
‘This man is really something…’
This wasn’t just protection—he was treating her like a potted flower in a greenhouse.
Do-ah let out a long, internal sigh.
The moment she turned her head to hide the warmth blooming in her cheeks, Cha Kyung’s large hand came to rest against the back of her head.
It wasn’t a long touch. His hand smoothed down the length of her hair just once, following its natural fall, then quietly withdrew.
“I’ll send lunch. To your office.”

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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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