Unhealthy - Chapter 28

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

Chapter 28. Meticulous Strategy

 

Taejun added matter-of-factly while fiddling with his shirt sleeves, showing no sign of embarrassment.

 

“Brands that young women prefer, I mean. Whether it’s clothes or bags, it doesn’t matter. Just rattle off some names.”

 

“Since that’s quite subjective, I think some research would be necessary. I’ll compile a list separately and submit a report.”

 

“No, I don’t think there’s time for that. It would be good if you could just tell me some names roughly.”

 

“Ah, then I’ll hurry and ask the female staff in the secretary’s office right away and let you know immediately.”

 

In the silence that returned after the door closed, Taejun quietly tapped the desk with his index finger.

 

It was a troublesome process, but he didn’t particularly find it bothersome.

 

When there was a contract that absolutely had to be secured for business purposes, winning over the other party was an essential procedure.

 

This time too, if he wanted to completely win Hae-yeong over to his side, it was right to approach strategically.

 

Analyzing the other party and understanding their preferences. For Taejun, that was the most familiar method.

 

Taejun quietly picked up his phone.

 

In the chat room with Hae-yeong, there was still one emoticon that she had sent last as her final message, cheerfully dancing.

 

“Do you have a favorite at the department store…”

 

Taejun, who had been boldly filling in the letters, soon frowned and deleted the entire sentence he had written.

 

No wait, asking this so directly would be nothing if not suspicious.

 

“Nothing wrong, right.”

 

He had only written four characters, but his face reflected in the mirror had hardened stiffly.

 

Whether there had been any problems at home, whether she had gone back to her room and gotten into unnecessary quarrels with Jae-jun.

 

In an instant, his mind flooded with concerns, but not knowing what exactly to ask, he just stiffened his fingers and stared at the darkened screen.

 

In the business world where everything was proven only by numbers, he had never once had this kind of worry.

 

But the fact that he was being so anxious just to please a mere twenty-one-year-old girl made Taejun’s brow furrow with self-displeasure.

 

Today he had to tell Hae-yeong that he had found her aunt.

 

Not knowing what kind of ripples that news would cause her, unable to gauge the chain reaction, Taejun closed his eyes tightly for a moment.

 

First, it would be good to take her to the department store and put things she would like in her hands.

 

When she was distracted by flashy and pretty things and her mood was elevated even a little, that would be the best time to take advantage of that gap to bring up the heavy truth.

 

That was Taejun’s terribly crude yet meticulous strategy.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, Hae-yeong had piled clothes high on her bed as if she was going to pull out everything in the dressing room, yet still bit her lips this way and that as if something didn’t satisfy her.

 

“Hmm. The color doesn’t suit me at all.”

 

Since she was actually going to Taejun’s company, she didn’t want to look too childish, so she had pushed aside all the clothes she usually wore to school and was taking out the most mature-looking clothes to hold against herself one by one.

 

Hae-yeong was quite anxious that when standing next to Taejun, who was always in neat formal wear, she might look like someone who didn’t match.

 

“Is my hair the problem?”

 

Hae-yeong, who had tied up her slightly curly hair tightly, looked at herself in the mirror and hurriedly shook her head.

 

“No. My face is the problem.”

 

She looked more dull than usual for some reason.

 

It was remarkable that Taejun looked young for his age, but still, Taejun had an inherently mature atmosphere about him.

 

But unlike him, she couldn’t shake the feeling that both her appearance and the way she dressed looked too childish.

 

“I should have bought a few suits beforehand…”

 

Her face looked duller than usual for some reason. After looking at herself in the mirror this way and that, when she looked at the clothes, only a deep sigh escaped.

 

It wasn’t like she could go downstairs and ask Chae-sin to lend her some proper clothes either.

 

“Ugh.”

 

The dressing room had so many clothes it could be considered saturated, yet she couldn’t believe there wasn’t a single outfit that appealed to her.

 

Just as she was suffering while pulling at her hair, her phone vibrated on the bed.

 

“What are you doing.”

 

It was a message from Taejun.

 

“Is it already time…”

 

It was Taejun.

 

Wondering if she was late, she checked the time, but there was still plenty of time before their appointment.

 

Even the single period in the message he sent was so very Gi Tae-jun-like that Hae-yeong relaxed her stiff expression and flopped down on the bed.

 

“I just got out of the shower. I’m about to get ready to leave ₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎”

 

Hae-yeong hurriedly added an emoticon and sent it. As soon as she sent it, the message was read, and then ‘…’ appeared in the speech bubble.

 

It was a sign that Taejun was typing something.

 

But when there was no reply even after a long time, Hae-yeong couldn’t stand it and sent another line.

 

“Did you run away while writing?”

 

“No.”

 

“What about what you were writing?”

 

“I deleted it.”

 

“What did you write?”

 

“I’ll send a car, so take that and come.”

 

“You could have just written that from the start, what did you write so long?”

 

Hae-yeong sent a puppy emoticon with a blank expression.

 

“It’s been quite a while since I got to work, but there’s still a long time until lunch.”

 

“So that’s how you say you miss me (ˊ•͈ ꇴ •͈ˋ)”

 

“What are those special characters?”

 

“Spe…cial…char…ac…ters…?”

 

“Aren’t they?”

 

“So outdated (o̴̶̷᷄𖧉o̴̶̷̥᷅)”

 

“Isn’t it cute instead?”

 

“Is that supposed to be a joke?”

 

“It’s not a joke though.”

 

At Taejun’s serious reply, Hae-yeong rolled around on the bed.

 

“Aren’t you busy? The elder said Executive Director Gi was suuuuper busy”

 

“No matter how busy I am, I have time to contact you.”

 

“(｡♥‿♥｡)”

 

“Why are you so loose with hearts. Are hearts a joke to you?”

 

“₍ᐢ.ˬ.ᐢ₎❤”

 

“Loose.”

 

「(ཀㅅཀ)❤」

 

The ‘…’ sign quietly filled the speech bubble again. As Hae-yeong waited with pursed lips, a reply finally arrived.

 

“You can’t use them if you tease this old man.”

 

She couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Embarrassingly, her heart pounded and raced at even one of his messages.

 

“I need to get ready.”

 

“I need to go into a meeting too.”

 

“See you later •̆₃•̑”

 

“That special character looks like you’re upset?”

 

“٩(°̀ᗝ°́)و”

 

“Are you scolding me?”

 

“You’re not the type to get intimidated even if I scold you”

 

“•̅ ̫•̅.”

 

A strange ‘special character’ arrived from Taejun.

 

Hae-yeong’s eyes widened.

 

“Is this how you use it?”

 

“´•ﻌ•`”

 

To Taejun, who seemed excited sending three messages in a row, Hae-yeong playfully threw cold water.

 

“Where did you pick out only ones that look like you”

 

“(-᷅_-᷄)”

 

“I’m going to get ready”

 

“Think about what you want to eat on the way.”

 

“I’m going to eat the most expensive thing. And bring all my friends too!”

 

“Whatever.”

 

Ah, really.

 

Gi Tae-jun showed absolutely no sign of being affected.

 

Meanwhile, Taejun took back his phone from the Secretary’s hands and raised one corner of his mouth in a crooked smile.

 

“The young lady seems quite surprised, doesn’t she? She apparently never imagined that the Executive Director could use such emoticons.”

 

When the Secretary cautiously whispered this as if delivering extremely important information, having completely misread the situation, Taejun replied with an indifferent expression.

 

“She’s getting all worked up over something so trivial.”

 

If Hae-yeong had been there beside him, she would have corrected Taejun’s misjudgment, but what thoughts couldn’t he have on his own.

 

Even as he said that, Taejun scrolled back through his conversation with Hae-yeong several times.

 

His eyes were as serious as always. This was right after he had called over the Secretary, who had come with a ranked list of brand names preferred by women in their twenties, and urgently received instruction on how to use special characters—no, emoticons.

 

He had trusted that since the Secretary was two years younger than him, he would understand the current generation well, but he too was no different from Taejun when it came to this sort of thing.

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