A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 6

6. Jung Ji-heon is Crazy

On his first day at the company, simply adjusting was overwhelming enough. But for Jung-oh, lunchtime was unsettling for other reasons.

Fortunately, by evening, she had become quite friendly with her team members, which eased some of her work-related anxiety.

“When you transfer your work, just put it in the company’s shared folder. It’s easy because you can just drag and drop without any complicated procedures,” said Song Gi-hoon, the youngest member of the team, explaining the company’s system in detail.

“I used the cloud at my previous company, but here they also use a dedicated folder. I’m a little worried about security.”

“They say records are kept whenever you upload or download to the folder. There haven’t been any security incidents so far, but if the confirmation time is critical, it’s best to put a password on it.”

“Thank you. I learned a lot from you today, Gi-hoon.”

“I’m only in my third month, so what I told you today is all I know.”

Gi-hoon, who had kindly shared everything he knew, smiled sheepishly. It was nice to see the genuine smile that comes from living an honest and straightforward life.

The end of the workday was approaching. The team leader had assured her that she wouldn’t be asked to work overtime on her first day, so she would be able to leave on time.

‘I should go home and think about this some more. Whether to keep working at this company or give up.’

But then, Team Leader Seong Mi-ran, who had stepped away from her desk for a moment, returned with news like a bolt from the blue.

“Lee Jung-oh, Director Jung Ji-heon wants to see you for a moment.”

“……Yes?”

At Mi-ran’s announcement, Jung-oh froze again.

“Go to his office.”

“……”

“No. Let’s go together.”

Mi-ran, seeing the color drain from Jung-oh’s face, started to sit down but then stood up again and gestured. She thought Jung-oh was being overly nervous.

Jung-oh had no choice but to follow Mi-ran.

Her heart was racing like crazy again.

‘What’s going on?’

‘You pretended not to know me earlier. Now that I think about it, do you have to acknowledge me? Why? Are you telling me to quit the company? Telling me not to be a hindrance in your life?’

With every step, endless questions swirled in her mind.

It felt like he was secretly trying to get her to quit without anyone finding out.

But what to do? It looks like the team leader will accompany me.

“Team Leader, I can go alone.”

The thought of holding Mi-ran’s hand tightly and going to confront Ji-heon, the thought of preventing him from kicking her out of this company, lingered, but Jung-oh spoke calmly.

She was curious about what he would say when she was alone with Ji-heon. It was scary enough to make her feel terrified, but if she continued to endure at this company, it was something she would have to face eventually.

“No.”

But Mi-ran shook her head with a firm expression.

“Be careful. He seemed to be in a very bad mood.”

“Yes?”

“I’m talking about Director Jung Ji-heon. He was completely down in the dumps.”

Mi-ran sighed roughly, gritted her teeth, and muttered to herself.

“I just said he was handsome. Is that an insult?”

“Yes?”

“It was just a compliment.”

“……”

“I mean, I wasn’t flirting. Is it so wrong to flatter him a little to please my superior?”

‘He’s much younger than me…’ Mi-ran muttered quietly.

Jung-oh couldn’t bring herself to ask about what happened to Mi-ran in the director’s office. Mi-ran’s words that Jung Ji-heon seemed to be in a bad mood made it impossible for her to think about anything else.

‘I just want to run away.’

‘Should I turn around, pack my bags, and just go home?’

‘Should I go back to my previous company and beg them to take me back?’

With her steps weighed down by all sorts of thoughts, Jung-oh arrived in front of the director’s office.

Knock knock.

“Yes.”

At Mi-ran’s knock, Ji-heon’s voice was heard from inside the door.

Now Jung-oh felt nauseous.

The door opened. Slowly.

Jung-oh faced him again.

Even though he had called her in, his eyes were cold and indifferent.

Jung Ji-heon’s expression was not much different from a few hours ago.

“Director, I’ve brought Deputy Lee Jung-oh.”

At Mi-ran’s introduction, Ji-heon called out her name as if repeating it.

“Deputy Lee Jung-oh.”

The way he pronounced her name sounded unfamiliar and cold.

It felt like standing naked in the desolate darkness of the Arctic winter, where the sun doesn’t rise even during the day.

‘When you called my name, I loved the warmth of that nuance, so I loved my name.’

But that was seven years ago, a distant memory.

“Yes.”

Jung-oh barely managed to answer with a voice that was fading.

But then the question that followed was unexpected.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes?”

“You looked uncomfortable when we passed each other earlier.”

Jung-oh looked at him with wide eyes, unable to understand his intention.

‘I guess it was a mistake to come with Mi-ran. If I had come alone, I would have been able to gauge his true feelings, but because Mi-ran is here, he’s asking such absurd questions.’

Jung-oh, who quickly grasped the hidden meaning of the question, was about to answer, but Ji-heon spoke first.

“You moved to Sang-ah Planning, but then you came to Max Planning.”

“……”

“I hope you’re not disappointed that it’s not the company you originally applied for. Max Planning will be better in every way.”

His voice was very polite, but the content somehow felt arrogant. It felt like he was being sarcastic.

‘You’re lucky to have joined this company.’

It felt like words he didn’t even say were ringing in her ears.

“Can you do your job well?”

“……Yes.”

“I thought a copywriter would give a better answer.”

It was a mockery of her simply saying ‘yes’.

It seemed that her short answer, trying to suppress her emotions, had offended him.

Jung-oh was dumbfounded and stared at him.

It felt like he was deliberately trying to intimidate her with his words.

It was as if he was trying to make her realize how insignificant she was.

‘What should I say here, huh?’

‘Do you want me to say that everything is okay?’

‘Do you want to hear me swear that I won’t dwell on the past at all and that I’ll only work hard? Is that what you want?’

Mi-ran, who was fidgeting amidst the subtle war of nerves between the two, gently grabbed Jung-oh’s arm.

It was a signal to just say hello and leave.

Jung-oh gritted her teeth, calmed herself, and opened her mouth again.

“……I’ll be different when I’m working. I’ll work hard.”

“Do that. I’ll be watching.”

She felt a chill down her spine at the words ‘I’ll be watching’.

‘Is he going to watch if I do my job well, or is he going to watch if I behave myself?’

Mi-ran intervened to wrap up the awkward situation.

“As the director has confirmed, Deputy Lee will also participate in this competitive PT [presentation]. I will encourage her to achieve good results.”

“Yes. I’ll look forward to it.”

Ji-heon also did not continue the meaningless conversation.

Jung-oh, who came out of the director’s office with the hurried Mi-ran, sighed deeply inside.

He was no longer the Jung Ji-heon she knew.

‘No, the Jung Ji-heon from that time must have been a facade.’

It was miserable.

She thought the wound had healed a long time ago, but it felt like the despair of that time was vividly revived.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

After Jung-oh and Mi-ran left, Ji-heon was lost in thought. He felt a tingling sensation in his scalp. He still didn’t feel any better.

Lee Jung-oh, copywriter.

The eyes that stared up at him even while obediently answering ‘yes’. They were challenging, but the trembling like dragonfly wings was still there.

It seemed like she didn’t want to answer or face him.

Did she think of him as a zombie or a vampire? Maybe she thought of him as a contagious disease.

Well, how many people would find him difficult to deal with?

Even though there was nothing he couldn’t understand, he somehow kept worrying about her.

Knock knock.

Just as he was sitting silently at his desk, he heard a knock again. He answered briefly, and the door clicked open.

“Director?”

The person who peeked his head in was Park Seung-gyu, the manager of the HR department.

High school and university classmate, and senior in the military, Park Seung-gyu.

Ji-heon’s expression, which had been stiff from being lost in thought, relaxed a little.

Seung-gyu and he had never been in the same class since the first year of high school. He had only heard that they went to the same university, but they were not close.

The two became close when Ji-heon was assigned to the squad where Seung-gyu was serving. Seung-gyu took good care of the taciturn Ji-heon, and Ji-heon felt more comfortable with Seung-gyu than with others.

Of course, the current Ji-heon does not remember his military days.

There is a three-year gap in Ji-heon’s memory, but Seung-gyu and Ji-heon are still close. Seung-gyu, who has no sharp edges and thinks flexibly, is an essential person for Ji-heon.

Ji-heon said to Seung-gyu, who came into the office.

“It’s just the two of us. Call me comfortably.”

It had been a full week since Ji-heon took office at Max Planning. They were in the same group, but they were in different companies, so they had never met at the company since joining, but now they could see each other every day.

Seung-gyu grumbled, subtly revealing his mixed feelings of joy and burden.

“I’m still not used to it. You feel distant. Director.”

“Should I move your position to the assistant office so you can adapt quickly?”

“Are you serious?”

Ji-heon chuckled at Seung-gyu’s surprise.

Seung-gyu raised his voice.

“Oh, man! I just got goosebumps. Don’t say ridiculous things. Everything you say sounds serious.”

“Am I scary when I talk?”

“Yes! Even asking that is scary.”

“Scary, huh……”

The expression on his face as he muttered to himself seemed unusual. Seung-gyu, who was carefully watching Ji-heon, asked.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Ji-heon hesitated before opening his mouth.

“A new employee came. An employee who joined Sang-ah Planning first.”

“Oh. I know. A female deputy. A copywriter. What about that employee?”

“Her face turned pale in front of me.”

“You’re not the only one whose face turns pale in front of you.”

Seung-gyu, who suddenly snapped, paused after a while.

‘So, you noticed her face……’

It was a rare occurrence. For Jung Ji-heon.

“……Is she pretty?”

Seung-gyu narrowed his eyes and asked slyly.

Ji-heon didn’t want to deal with such a mischievous reaction, so he turned around and organized his desk.

Seung-gyu also changed the question.

“Are you leaving work?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing tonight? If you don’t have any plans, do you want to come to my house?”

“Why would I go there?”

“Your mother, who is like the sky [a figure of immense respect], told me to invite you. She wants to show you the 모습 [image/scene] of a harmonious family so you can get married soon……”

“Why do you listen to such words? You just have to pretend to listen.”

Ji-heon cut him off as if he didn’t want to hear it. Seung-gyu couldn’t say anything more and closed his mouth.

A life where you just have to pretend.

A life where you find a compromise at the right point, a life where you don’t have to do your best.

A life where you just have to quietly keep your place.

That was Jung Ji-heon’s past, present, and future.

A life that wasn’t particularly regrettable even though he had lost three years of memories.

Such a boring life.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Ji-heon, who left work early, skipped dinner and took his medicine.

He lay down on the sofa and stared blankly at the white medicine bottle on the table. Again, he remembered the woman’s pale face.

‘Lee Jung-oh, was it? That woman.’

It was a strange thing.

‘That woman isn’t even my type, so why……’

Since some time ago, Ji-heon had started to follow women with long hair with his eyes. When he saw a woman with long, straight hair, his head would naturally turn. That’s how Ji-heon came to know his taste.

But why?

Why is a woman who doesn’t have long, straight hair so 신경 쓰일까 [bothersome/on my mind]?

‘Is it because of her name?’

Ji-heon considered.

Maybe that’s it.

He had a strange obsession with noon.

Whenever he checked the time and saw the perfect number ’12:00′, his chest would strangely tighten.

Noon. Jeong-oh.

It was her name.

“Lee Jung-oh. Lee Jung-oh……”

The voice repeating her name became languid. The warm name, as if the sunlight of noon was coming in, seemed to suit her and not suit her.

‘Had he ever thought about a woman he had met so briefly for so long……?’

Just as he was about to lower his voice, as if letting go of the name he had been stubbornly repeating like tying it next to him.

Beep beep beep beep.

The sound of the number lock being pressed was heard from the front door.

‘Who is it? Who would know the front door password?’

Before he could even think about it, the door opened.

And the person who appeared was none other than that woman.

It was Lee Jung-oh.

Ji-heon was startled and got up.

“How did you get here……”

He was so flustered that his voice was not clear.

A pale face with frightened eyes.

Just like when she left the office, in that neat outfit, she was trembling as she approached.

“What is it? You.”

How did she know the password? Why did she come? Why is this woman doing this?

It’s trespassing. He should report it to the police.

But before Ji-heon could get up from the sofa, she grabbed his arm first.

The opponent was a fragile body that he could easily subdue with one hand, but Ji-heon somehow couldn’t move.

No, he became anxious because she was holding him.

He didn’t know why his body was like this.

Her hand, which was holding his arm, slowly came up. It was an innocent face with a not-so-innocent hand.

It was also a touch that was inappropriately soft. The touch of her hand caressing his neck was as warm as the sunlight of noon.

The breath that came closer was even warmer, making him imagine the temperature inside.

He didn’t know why this woman was doing this, but he wanted to leave it as it was.

No, maybe he expected what would come next.

She tilted her head. As if by appointment, Ji-heon’s lips parted.

Her short breath 넘어갔다 [passed/crossed over] into him. He swallowed her breath, but it felt like he had given up his soul.

All his senses reacted clearly towards her.

But that time was not long. She quickly pulled her body back.

Ji-heon frowned.

He resented the lips that had briefly touched and left only warmth.

Even while doing such a bold thing, her expression was still the same. He was 울컥 [choked up/angered] at that innocent face.

The eyes that were trembling like dragonfly wings. The eyes that looked like they would cry right away. It felt like they would flutter and fly away.

Desire is scarier and heavier than reason.

He has to catch this woman. He has to have her.

He can’t let her go.

This time, he grabbed her arm as she was about to leave and pressed her down on the sofa he had been lying on.

쿵! [Thump!]

Ji-heon fell off the sofa and opened his eyes.

His back arched upwards and then slumped down.

흐으윽, 헉, 허억 [Gasping sounds].

The pain in his shoulder was less than the throbbing headache that made him gasp for breath.

His breathing and heart did not calm down easily.

허억, 허억 [Gasping sounds]……

Where did she go?

It was as if the woman who had been in front of him just a moment ago had been swallowed by the air.

It felt like her shallow breathing was still inside him.

……Jung Ji-heon is crazy.

It was a dream that was so vivid it was chilling.

“Why……”