The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 78

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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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78.
“No, our company has an in-house cafeteria.”
“I’m sending it anyway.”
Seong Do-ah exhaled in defeat and opened the car door.
As she walked from the car to the building entrance, she felt his gaze fixed on her back the entire way.
Cha Kyung’s car remained parked in place until she had pushed through the revolving doors.
‘Is he really going to sit there until I’m out of sight? What’s so extreme about that? Really.’
Do-ah muttered to herself as she crossed the lobby.
Even as she muttered, the corners of her mouth kept twitching upward, and she couldn’t tell whether she was actually angry or simply in a better mood than she wanted to admit.
* * *
After the morning meeting ended and lunch hour arrived, six shopping bags bearing the Hyunsin Department Store logo were lined up at the entrance of the Aibe Creative Team Office.
“What’s this?”
“Lunch delivery for the Creative Team members. We just need you to sign for receipt.”
The receipt the delivery person handed over indicated bento box sets from the Basement Food Court at Hyunsin Department Store.
A gasp of admiration escaped from a colleague as she opened the lid.
“Wow, this is from Hyunsin Premium Deli. It’s so hard to even get a reservation here.”
“You’re distributing these to the whole team? Who sent them?”
Seong Do-ah’s face flushed crimson in an instant.
There was no sender’s name anywhere, but no one in this team was ignorant of who could possibly receive such a bento delivery.
Do-ah opened her phone with her head bowed. A text from Cha Kyung had arrived.
[Cha Kyung: I included meals for the team members too. Let’s eat together.]
She flipped the screen face-down and shook her head firmly. She wanted to object, but the words simply wouldn’t come.
Hye-jung opened a bento lid and chuckled.
“Do-ah, your boyfriend sent this, right?”
“Well, I’m… not really sure…”
“If it’s not your boyfriend, who else would send something like this to our company? This is delicious.”
“Really, there’s no need for introductions…”
The other colleagues joined in with laughter.
“Driving you to work every day, and now handling lunch too? This is practically princess treatment.”
“I’m so jealous. Does he have an older or younger brother available?”
“A friend, maybe?”
While the colleagues laughed and divided up the bento boxes, only Na-hui in the corner of the office left her shopping bag unopened.
She sat rigid, gripping her phone tightly.
The screen displayed twenty-two missed calls from Kyung-jun.
The last one had come at three in the morning. Na-hui hadn’t answered a single one.
“Na-hui, aren’t you eating? This is really delicious.”
“No thanks. You eat it, Yoon-mi.”
Yoon-mi retreated awkwardly at Na-hui’s cold response.
Normally she maintained a gentle, affable demeanor for the sake of her image, but she had no energy for such pretense now.
Kyung-jun had started clinging to her like this several days ago, when word began circulating that an internal audit of Hyunsin Department Store was underway.
He had come seeking her out with a face drained of all color.
“Na-hui, please. Think of some way we can get out of this. We’re both going down the drain right now!”
“What do you mean ‘we’? I have nothing to do with this. You did it all!”
“What are you talking about? You signed the registration documents and took twenty million won!”
“If you breathe a word of that outside, I swear I won’t let you off easy!”
She had threatened him with her words, but whether Kyung-jun would actually keep his mouth shut during the audit remained uncertain.
And even if he didn’t speak, the Audit Team might uncover evidence of her involvement on their own.
“Expensive bento uses different rice. I’ve never seen it shine like this.”
“There’s a whole abalone in here, and the meat is so tender yet firm.”
“Stop it! Why are you eating bento in the office? The smell is disgusting!”
Na-hui’s anger suddenly flared, and she snapped.
All the team members stared at her in bewilderment, but she couldn’t even register their gazes.
“What? Why is Na-hui acting like that?”
“Wasn’t she friends with Do-ah? Is she jealous?”
Before her image could become completely irreparable, Na-hui hastily left the office and headed for the Restroom.
The moment she stood before the sink, her hands began to tremble.
She turned on cold water and submerged her wrists. Without doing so, she couldn’t stop the vibration in her fingertips.
“Why does this only happen to me? Why only me!”
If it were Seong Do-ah, that man would have handled a problem like this on his own.
No—Seong Do-ah wouldn’t have gotten this far in the first place. Her boyfriend has money overflowing, so why would she help with embezzlement?
What did such an extraordinary man see in Seong Do-ah instead of her?
Not in me.
“No, no… there’s still a way.”
Even if there wasn’t one now, she would have to create it.
Na-hui made her resolve while looking in the mirror.
* * *
“Sir, a woman named Na-hui has come to see you.”
The secretary’s voice came through the intercom. Cha Kyung asked curtly without lifting his eyes from the documents.
“I don’t recall scheduling a meeting with her. Is there an appointment I’m not aware of?”
“No, sir. But she says she has information to discuss with you directly regarding Kyung-jun. She claims something has been confirmed from within Aibe.”
Cha Kyung’s fingers paused briefly over the pen.
“Send her in.”
The moment the Executive Office door opened, Na-hui drew a deep breath.
Her makeup was lighter than it had been that morning, and she had changed into a neat ivory blouse.
Too much presentation would reveal her intent, too little would make her forgettable. Na-hui believed she understood that narrow margin perfectly.
“I apologize for the intrusion while you’re busy, sir.”
Cha Kyung remained seated, merely tilting his head slightly to look at her.
“Sit.”
His tone was dry, his expression vacant.
Na-hui prided herself on being able to handle any man naturally, but in this moment, her throat felt parched.
‘No. I can do this.’
She brought her knees together and placed her hands demurely in her lap. She calculated that this submissive posture would play well with Cha Kyung.
“Go ahead. You came regarding Kyung-jun.”
“There’s something I wanted to say first. I thought it was right to come to you before the Audit Team contacted me.”
“…”
“A few months ago, Kyung-jun asked me to sign a document. For marketing events, high-value products need to be removed from inventory, and an agency representative’s signature is required by regulation—he said it was just a formality.”
Na-hui steadied her breathing.
“I believed him. I thought it was natural to cooperate since they were a business partner. But last night, Kyung-jun called me. He said the VVIP List in that document was actually dormant accounts, and it had been caught in Hyunsin’s internal audit… Only after hearing that did I realize something was wrong.”
She lowered her eyes slightly. Up to this point, there was physical evidence, so she had no choice but to acknowledge it. The real part started here.
“I may have been deceived, but the fact that I signed without proper verification doesn’t change. I plan to cooperate fully with the investigation. I just worry that Kyung-jun might not take sole responsibility—that he might try to make me an accomplice too.”
She lowered her voice slightly.
“I never received a single won from him. I naturally assumed it was a document that Hyunsin had already reviewed and found no issues with.”
Na-hui had collected all the money in cash as insurance against this very scenario.
Even if Kyung-jun spoke, without physical evidence it would only be his word against hers.
Moreover, since many people knew they had dated and then broken up, she could even frame it as baseless accusations from a resentful ex.
Tears began to bead in her large, clear eyes. This level of acting came easily to her.
But the situation did not unfold as she had planned.
“You’ve made an unnecessary trip. The Audit Team will handle sharing that matter with Aibe and deal with it accordingly.”

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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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