A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 25

25. I Like You, Ms. Lee

Saturday morning.

Yena marked each day on the calendar with an X, counting down the days. Her birthday was now just five days away.

Looking at the Xs Yena had marked on the calendar, one could see how meaningless the things that had passed were.

“Yena, all you want to do on your birthday is eat cake with Mom and Grandma, but you’re still so happy? Are you looking forward to it that much?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Why?”

“Because Mom comes home early.”

Jeong-o couldn’t help but reflect on how little she had taken care of her child.

I work because I love you the most, but I don’t have enough time to love you.

A mother is always sorry to her child.

“And Mom is going to give me a present, too. That’s why I like it.”

Yena had already chosen her present a long time ago. She said she wanted a coding robot. Fearing that the product might be sold out, Jeong-o bought the gift early. The gift had already arrived last Thursday, and Yena knew this.

What must it be like to wait for your birthday when the present is already at home?

The child is eagerly waiting for her birthday, enduring and counting down the days, holding back what she wants and what she wants to receive.

Jeong-o sat Yena on her lap and looked at the calendar together.

Turning the page, there was a circle drawn on Monday, June 7th as well.

“Yena, why did you circle this one?”

“That’s the day we go to Dobin’s house.”

Yena smiled sweetly as she looked at the circle on June 7th and then went to the living room.

In the meantime, Jeong-o picked up her phone to check her text messages.

Ji-heon had sent her a text message last night. There was a short message with an internet address.

– I’m sending this because I thought it would be good for a copywriter to see.

It was a lecture video of a famous overseas creator that Jeong-o also knew.

It would be very beneficial to watch, but Jeong-o was not thrilled.

‘Why is he sending a lecture on Friday night?’

She turned her phone over with a nonchalant attitude and sat still, when Yena came back with a Go board and Go stones.

“Mom, let’s play Go.”

“Mom doesn’t know how to play Go.”

“Then I’ll teach you.”

Yena’s enthusiasm for Go is always genuine.

Yena became a Go teacher and explained passionately. Jeong-o knew some things, but there were some things she didn’t know.

She needed to concentrate as much as she didn’t know, but after checking Ji-heon’s text message, her mind was in turmoil.

Should she reply or not?

If she replied, she felt like the conversation would get longer.

What Team Leader Seong Mi-ran had said yesterday came to her mind.

“…I’m just worried. Executive Director is getting married soon, and you two are in the same company.”

She couldn’t create something that would worry her colleagues.

Jeong-o had to reject him before he approached her.

Yena raised her voice as Jeong-o was blankly lost in thought.

“Mom, Mom! You save Go by securing liberties [spaces around a stone or group of stones].”

“Yeah. That’s right. Liberties…….”

“That line is a liberty, and that side isn’t a liberty. You have to go to the liberty. Got it?”

“Yeah. I have to go to the liberty.”

Yes. Go and people have to go to the liberty. That’s how they live.

Jeong-o was enlightened by the teachings of Teacher Lee Yena.

‘Yes. Yena is all I need.’

I have to draw the line first.

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

A weekend that someone only dipped their toes into and then passed by.

But for Ji-heon, it was a boring weekend.

A wedding of a friend who wasn’t very close, a dinner with an advertising client’s representative, a call from his mother…….

What he wanted was never caught, and what he didn’t want continued one after another.

He sent a text message to Ms. Lee Jeong-o on Friday with useful content, but she ‘read’ it and ignored it.

At least Monday seemed to offer a breather.

– Yes. I will take a look.

Monday morning at 9 a.m. sharp. A text message arrived from Jeong-o.

Ji-heon read the seven letters written neatly in one line over and over again.

It seemed to be a reply to the text message he sent on Friday night.

Not ‘I saw it,’ but ‘I will take a look’? Now?

Ji-heon snorted and immediately sent a reply.

– Are you sending a reply after three days?

Drrr. This time, the reply came quite quickly.

– It’s work. Excluding the weekend, it’s only one day based on working days.

– You send text messages like 택배 [Taekbae, a Korean word for delivery service].

The expression that had been locked all weekend finally loosened. Ji-heon immediately sent another text message.

– Yes. That’s right. Work is processed based on working days. If you want same-day delivery, please send it before 3 p.m. on weekdays.

– No, same-day reply.

Ji-heon couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the two text messages that arrived side by side.

Thinking that his laughter had leaked out of his office, he cleared his throat and sat up straight, sending one more message. It was the video address that compiled the works of the creator he had sent on Friday night.

– It would be good to watch this together as well.

– Yes. Message received. I will process it.

Pfft.

For some reason, he could even imagine her expression when she sent the text message.

He didn’t hate her boldness and brazenness in accepting her boss’s message as a troublesome task.

It was so fun that a new desire was slowly sprouting.

He wanted to keep her sitting next to him.

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

In the afternoon, a new product advertising meeting was held for Dawon Liquor.

The AE [Account Executive] briefed on the updated content from last week’s situation.

“After last week’s dinner meeting, Dawon Liquor gave us some feedback. First of all, the client showed interest in all of our ideas, and they said all the ideas were good…… They want us to…… combine all these ideas.”

The production team was shocked as expected at the AE’s cautious words.

“Combine them? Combine them!”

“What are we supposed to do by combining them? Should we make *budae jjigae* [Korean army stew]?”

The AE continued the briefing steadfastly.

“Combine them…… and prepare three *sians* [draft proposals].”

“Combine them into three? If you combine them, it’s one, so why three?”

“That’s the same as saying prepare everything again.”

Deputy Director Jo Si-nae was especially angry. The blame fell on Jeong-o, absurdly.

“Ms. Lee Jeong-o. Do you have anything to say?”

“What is there to say?”

“I don’t think this would have happened if Ms. Lee hadn’t said this and that to the client at the dinner on Thursday.”

“I only said what Team Leader Ahn Chan-seop told me I could say.”

Jeong-o replied without being intimidated by Si-nae’s nagging.

“Well, that could be the case! Now that it’s happened, it’s fortunate that we quickly grasped the client’s intentions. Ahem.”

Chan-seop, the team leader of Production Team 1, cleared his throat and made a lame excuse.

“What’s the deadline?”

Jeong-o asked about the deadline.

“First, they want us to send the first proposal this Friday. They said we don’t need storyboards for the first proposal. They said it would be enough to have a script based on storytelling.”

“The first proposal. That means they’re going to overturn it again. That’s too much.”

“We have to try to pass it in the first round.”

“Is that easy?”

As the production team members continued to grumble, the planning team leader stepped forward.

“Time is tight, but please do your best. And you need to prepare a generous amount of copy candidates, considering both quality and quantity. Dawon Liquor is very picky about choosing copy. You know that, right?”

Eun-bi looked at Jeong-o and said.

“I’d like Ms. Lee Jeong-o to finalize the *sian* [draft proposals]. She talked to the client the most individually, and she doesn’t have much work to do.”

The members of Production Team 1 nodded. It felt like everyone in Production Team 1 was trying to back out.

Jeong-o decided to accept Eun-bi’s suggestion.

It seemed much better to take the lead and move on her own than to be dragged around and waste time.

Thursday is her daughter’s birthday. She had to finish the work before then.

“Yes. Then please cooperate. Please send me your ideas by email. There’s not much time, so I’d like to share our opinions for just one hour every evening, if possible. I’ll collect and organize them.”

“Wow. I like how cool and decisive you are!”

Team Leader Ahn Chan-seop clapped as Jeong-o made a decisive decision.

The meeting ended quickly because Jeong-o took on most of the work.

Eun-bi approached Jeong-o, who was almost the last one left to clean up the conference room.

“Ms. Lee Jeong-o, here’s my copy for now. You can reflect it without calling a meeting.”

Eun-bi suddenly handed over a piece of paper. There were a few lines of sentences written in handwriting on it.

“……You didn’t organize it separately?”

“I worked on it by hand.”

“This is just a memo. Could you please organize it into a file with sincerity?”

“If I give it to you in a file with sincerity, you’ll just copy and paste it without sincerity. Since you have to organize it anyway, it would be good to transcribe my opinions and my copies yourself to study.”

“…….”

“Is that so difficult?”

Okay. So that’s how it’s going to be.

The planning team leader was watching. 채은비 [Chae Eun-bi] seemed to be trying to make Jeong-o look like a fussy person.

Jeong-o quickly made the most harmless decision.

“Then I’ll take care of *Gwajeongnim’s* [Team Leader’s] memo. You know I’m doing the final report because I’m organizing it, right? Don’t be too disappointed if *Gwajeongnim’s* [Team Leader’s] copy doesn’t make it to the end.”

Eun-bi slightly distorted her face and left.

Gi-hoon, who had been watching, secretly gave her a thumbs up.

After Eun-bi left, this time the planning team leader spoke to Gi-hoon.

“Gi-hoon, this is another story, but we have another PT [Presentation] next Wednesday. Can I ask you to design the proposal? I heard that the proposal looks like art when Gi-hoon touches it. Do you have time this evening?”

“Ah…… are you talking about today?”

Gi-hoon hesitated to confirm and asked about the schedule. He was taking on a lot of work, unlike a new employee, and another one was added to it. Jeong-o, who quickly noticed that Gi-hoon was in a difficult situation to refuse, stepped in between the two.

“Then how about starting around next Monday? Gi-hoon has a lot of work to do in the team. I think it’s possible to start on Monday.”

“Ah…… you have a lot of work? Then we’ll have to do that. Then Gi-hoon, please do it next Monday.”

After the planning team leader left, Gi-hoon let out a long sigh of relief as Jeong-o and he were left alone in the conference room.

“Hoo, I survived thanks to you, Ms. Lee. Thank you.”

Jeong-o felt sorry for Gi-hoon.

“Gi-hoon, have you been called to these requests all the time?”

“How did you know?”

“People who are good at making proposals are called like that. Since the proposal is revised and revised until the last day of the competitive PT [Presentation], there’s no need to waste your energy from now on. Just go and do it on Monday. If they don’t call you then, it’ll just pass.”

Gi-hoon, who had gained a great realization, opened his lips and nodded blankly.

“Got it?”

A reliable person who can be trusted and relied on. Cool Ms. Lee.

Come to think of it, things have become easier since Ms. Lee Jeong-o joined the team. She received a lot of help from Jeong-o, from cleaning up the conference room and writing meeting minutes to discussing the meal menu and taking care of the schedule.

He was a bit awkward with the team members, but he was able to treat everyone comfortably before he knew it.

Gi-hoon realized that Jeong-o had made the team atmosphere soft and warm.

She was more like a mentor than his mentor, Deputy Director Go Eun-ju, and she was a reliable person.

Sometimes she was like a warm older sister, and other times she was like a like-minded friend.

Plus, she’s pretty, funny, and smart. When he thought about it, Jeong-o was his ideal type.

Gi-hoon called out to Jeong-o, who was about to leave the conference room.

“Ms. Lee, I have something to tell you.”

“Oh, go ahead.”

He thought it would be good to quickly take a good spot before someone else reached out.

“I like you, Ms. Lee.”

At the same time.

Knock knock.

A knock that felt very urgent and a little 신경질적으로 [sensitive/edgy] rang out.

Both the conversation and the confession were interrupted.

Someone was banging on the open conference room door. Not ‘knock knock’ but ‘쿵쿵’ [onomatopoeia for a loud thumping sound].

The person standing in front of the conference room was Jeong Ji-heon.

The tightly clenched fist that had been banging on the door looked a little barbaric.

“Ms. Lee Jeong-o.”

Ji-heon called Jeong-o without hesitation. With a scary expressionless face as if he had come to collect a debt.

“Yes. Executive Director.”

“Don’t you have something to give me?”

Jeong-o’s pupils, which had been round towards Gi-hoon, trembled towards Ji-heon this time.

“My clothes.”

His eyes, glaring at Jeong-o and Gi-hoon, were so fierce that it was suffocating.