A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 33

33. Unfair

“I… Waaaaah…”

Instead of answering, Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae burst into tears and collapsed into her seat. Assistant Manager Jo Yu-ri, unaware of the whole situation, belatedly rushed over to support Si-nae. Eun-bi, who had been standing behind Ji-heon, couldn’t bring herself to approach Si-nae.

“Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae. Don’t cry and tell me what’s going on. Why is the computer like this?”

Ji-heon questioned with a stern expression.

“Hic, hic…”

Si-nae just kept crying.

Assistant Manager Chae Eun-bi’s complaints about Lee Jeong-o during their school days had made her dislike Jeong-o. It wouldn’t be good to be on the bad side of Chae Eun-bi, Director Jeong Ji-heon’s girlfriend. Si-nae deliberately harassed Jeong-o in front of Eun-bi.

Then, after the incident at the company dinner with Dawon Liquor, Si-nae ended up reporting to Ji-heon every day. Ji-heon didn’t hesitate to humiliate her, telling her how Lee Jeong-o had won him over.

It was something she had done to gain Eun-bi’s favor, but somehow the dislike became genuine. She hated Lee Jeong-o so much and wanted to get revenge at any cost.

Si-nae carried around a USB containing a virus, constantly looking for an opportunity.

The opportunity came quickly because Jeong-o had a lot of work. While Jeong-o was away from her desk, she spread the virus on her laptop and went to the rarely used C Printing Room to delete the data Jeong-o had uploaded to the cloud.

She felt very good that day. Assistant Manager Chae Eun-bi seemed very annoyed that Ji-heon and Jeong-o were together, but Si-nae didn’t care.

She thought it would pass as just another incident, but then this happened today.

“Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae, I don’t think this is going to work. Let’s talk again tomorrow. Finish your work for today and go home.”

“D, Director, Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae has data that needs to be sent to the advertiser by today.”

Assistant Manager Jo Yu-ri said to Ji-heon.

“I want Assistant Manager Jo Yu-ri to do it instead.”

“…”

“I can’t entrust company work to an employee with questionable integrity.”

Ji-heon ordered coldly. Even Yu-ri looked frightened.

“Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae, I’ll take this USB for investigation.”

Ji-heon took the USB that Jeong-o was holding. He hadn’t even heard the whole story, but he knew exactly that Si-nae was the owner of the USB.

*I’ve been caught in these people’s scheme!*

Furious at that fact, Si-nae burst into even louder sobs.

As the crowd dispersed, Chae Eun-bi walked up to her.

“Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae, I hope you clear your name quickly if it’s a false accusation. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. …This is a shame.”

“…”

“But… was it because of Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae that my Ji-heon *oppa* [term of endearment used by women to address older brothers or close male friends/partners] had to work late with Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o?”

Eun-bi’s cold rebuke made Si-nae feel like she was losing an arm.

Si-nae blankly opened her mouth and stared at Eun-bi with a dumbfounded expression.

Eun-bi said to Assistant Manager Jo Yu-ri, who was standing next to Si-nae,

“Assistant Manager Jo Yu-ri. You should go and work, we should.”

“Ah, yes, yes. Manager.”

Yu-ri released the arm she was holding onto Si-nae and awkwardly got up to follow Eun-bi.

Si-nae was left alone.

She had been raising Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae like a handmaid, but it was all in vain.

Eun-bi gritted her teeth and swallowed her anger.

Lee Jeong-o again, Jeong Ji-heon again.

The two of them conspired and caught Jo Si-nae.

In fact, Eun-bi knew what Jo Si-nae had done last Thursday. She noticed it because of the commotion after Jo Si-nae disappeared for a while.

*Showing how much you hate her like that, you’ll get caught soon.*

Eun-bi lamented Jo Si-nae’s foolishness.

She hated Jeong-o even more for narrowing the gap with Ji-heon by making excuses about this and that.

* * * * * * *

The next day.

A detailed analysis of the data on the USB that Si-nae had was carried out, and it was confirmed that it matched the virus found on Jeong-o’s computer.

After receiving the results, Ji-heon immediately called Si-nae to his office.

“Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae.”

“…Yes. …Director.”

Si-nae answered in a barely audible voice.

“No matter how much Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae denies it, the company has no choice given these results.”

“…”

“Whether Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae is an industrial spy, or has a personal grudge against Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o, or has another reason, we cannot ignore any possibility, so we can no longer entrust her with important tasks.”

Ji-heon said sternly. He seemed like a person without blood or tears. Si-nae was filled with resentment but couldn’t argue.

Si-nae was immediately excluded from all assigned responsibilities, kicked out of the Planning and Production 1 Division, and sent to the Management Division. Now she would be guarding the library.

A design major guarding a library. It was the biggest humiliation since she started her career. But she hadn’t prepared for a job change, so she had no choice but to follow the instructions. Now she would be quietly preparing for a job change.

Si-nae’s matter was resolved satisfactorily, but Jeong-o was left with a lingering feeling.

*If it were me, I would have verbally warned her not to do it again.*

It was a more cruel punishment than she had expected. Ji-heon’s decision was terrifying. Well, it was an inevitable decision because there was no way to confirm what kind of suspicious person Si-nae was.

“Gi-hoon, thank you so much for this.”

In the hallway leading to the conference room, Jeong-o expressed her gratitude to Gi-hoon.

Yesterday, Si-nae had fallen for a play that Gi-hoon and she had put on. The fingerprint recognition mouse was something she had quickly bought that day, and the company didn’t have a system to store fingerprint information in the first place.

It was all thanks to Jeong-o’s wit and Gi-hoon’s skillful acting. If Gi-hoon hadn’t cooperated with Jeong-o’s work, the culprit wouldn’t have been caught.

Gi-hoon replied nonchalantly.

“Assistant Manager, if you’re grateful, I have a wish too.”

“Yeah. Tell me. What is it?”

“Can I call you ‘noona’ [Korean term used by males to address older females]?”

“Pfft.”

“I shouldn’t drop the honorifics either, right?”

*This guy is flirting.* Jeong-o nudged Gi-hoon’s shoulder.

Gi-hoon, who had been pushed aside, came back and grinned.

“Yeah. Drop the honorifics and swear at me too.”

“Hey, why would I swear? At you, Assistant Manager. I was just saying. I’ll always respect you and serve you.”

*You’re kidding me.*

The two of them were so engrossed in their own world that they didn’t realize that Ji-heon was walking in the same direction behind them.

Nor did they know that Ji-heon was staring at them with laser-like eyes.

Ji-heon felt bitter. He thought this was too much.

*Lee Jeong-o. I was the one who helped you completely, so why are you only thanking Song Gi-hoon?*

You asked me to apologize, so I apologized, you asked me to find the culprit, so I found the culprit, you asked me to take care of it, so I took care of it, and I even finished it off by disciplining Jo Si-nae.

I did everything you asked me to do, so why is the credit going to that guy?

He couldn’t help but feel unfairly treated.

Ji-heon felt complicated throughout the meeting.

Jeong-o and Gi-hoon seemed to have become even closer.

He was also disappointed in Jeong-o.

*No, you took the apology as if you were picking up something you had left behind, but you didn’t say thank you?*

*Aren’t you grateful to me?*

Ji-heon, who had been watching the production meeting with a sulky expression, left without saying a word throughout the meeting.

He met Seung-gyu in the hallway to his office.

“Why the long face?”

“Why am I?”

“You look a little more sour than usual?”

Ji-heon couldn’t say anything when Seung-gyu pointed out his expression.

Ji-heon entered his office and plopped down on the sofa as if he was going to collapse.

“They sent Assistant Manager Jo Si-nae to the Management Division.”

“Yeah.”

Seung-gyu immediately changed the subject because Ji-heon didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk about work. In fact, he had come to Ji-heon to ask for that favor.

“You know about next Monday, right? You’ve cleared your schedule, right?”

“What? What schedule?”

“Hey, how can you forget that? You promised Do-bin in front of him that you’d come to my house again. Don’t you remember?”

Ah, that…

Only then did Ji-heon remember.

A girl with clear eyes and a fair face. That child who was as pretty as a doll.

He had rashly made a promise with that child. To meet again on some Monday.

It was a very casual promise, but he didn’t expect Seung-gyu to bring it up again.

“Do the kids even remember?”

“Of course! Of course!”

“…”

“You have to keep promises with kids. Kids live for the fun of waiting for those promises. You’ll know how I feel when you become a dad, but you don’t seem to be getting married anytime soon… You don’t have any plans that day, do you?”

He had no plans. He didn’t have any special schedule, so he was planning to be at the company, but he was embarrassed because Seung-gyu was urging him.

*I can’t play with kids.*

*I don’t know how to treat them either.*

“I’m not confident.”

“Please come!”

Seung-gyu raised his voice when Ji-heon showed a weak side.

“Save my dad’s face, please! Our Do-bin wants to see you.”

“It’s not Do-bin, it’s Do-bin’s girlfriend.”

“Yeah! Anyway! Save our Do-bin’s face!”

Seung-gyu exaggerated his feelings of disappointment.

“I’m not asking you to promote me, or get our Do-bin a job. I’m just asking you to hold my hand and come to my house once next Monday, can’t you do that? As a friend?”

“Why would I hold your hand?”

“No, that’s not what I mean! Why are you so prickly today?”

His friend really looked unhappy.

Seung-gyu realized that he had only been talking about himself and reflected on it, asking about his well-being.

With the topic that seemed most interesting.

“Is there any progress with Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o?”

He asked lightly, but Ji-heon’s expression was quite serious.

As Seung-gyu sat down right in front of Ji-heon, Ji-heon confided his worries.

“She said I look like her dad.”

“…Huh?”

“She said I look like her deceased father.”

“Lee Jeong-o said that?”

“…”

“Ha. That’s awkward.”

What a tragedy.

It seemed difficult to start anything with a woman who said he looked like her deceased father. He felt sorry for his friend who seemed to have started a difficult love.

“Still, even though that feeling is overwhelming, isn’t there still room for something? It’s better to be endearing than to be disliked.”

At that moment.

“What are you talking about now?”

The door burst open and Eun-bi entered.

The expressions of the two men crumpled at the uninvited guest’s visit.

Eun-bi was also finding it difficult to calm down. Her face was even twitching.

“Lee Jeong-o said that you look like someone, *oppa*?”

Eun-bi, who had noticed Ji-heon’s uncomfortable expression in the conference room, cleared her schedule and immediately rushed to his office. It seemed that Seung-gyu and Ji-heon were in the office. She could faintly hear the two men talking.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when the secretary in the annex office was not at her desk, Eun-bi put her ear to the office door. And she heard something unbelievable.

Lee Jeong-o told Jeong Ji-heon that he looked like her dad?

“Ha. Lee Jeong-o said that? To *oppa*?”

Eun-bi questioned Ji-heon as if she was interrogating him. Ji-heon didn’t answer.

She was always polite to Ji-heon, but now Eun-bi didn’t care about anything.

*Lee Jeong-o, isn’t she a sly fox!*

Unable to contain her anger, Eun-bi stormed out of the office.

“Oh, wow. Assistant Manager Chae Eun-bi seems angry. I’ll be going now. Handle it well! Contact me immediately if you need my help!”

Seung-gyu thought that this was not a place for him to be and hurriedly left the office.

Eun-bi called Jeong-o, who had belatedly returned to her seat after cleaning up the conference room.

“Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o, come here for a second.”

“Yes?”

“Quickly.”

Jeong-o, who was about to sit down, went back out into the hallway.

“What’s going on?”

Whack.

“We have somewhere to go. Let’s go together.”

Eun-bi grabbed Jeong-o’s wrist. Jeong-o staggered and was dragged away by Eun-bi’s swift and forceful strength.

“Can’t you let go?”

“Follow me quickly.”

When Jeong-o refused, Eun-bi shook off Jeong-o’s hand as if throwing it away and walked ahead.

Already in a bad mood, Jeong-o followed Eun-bi because she wanted to see what Eun-bi was doing.

The place Eun-bi took Jeong-o to was Ji-heon’s office.

Ji-heon’s eyes widened when he recognized Jeong-o, who had entered the office.

“Lee Jeong-o, you tell me.”

Eun-bi stood Ji-heon and Jeong-o facing each other and questioned Jeong-o.

“You, you’ve never seen your dad, have you? You don’t even know who your real dad is.”

Jeong-o’s pupils trembled.

“That’s what your mom told our teacher in high school. Please take care of my daughter. She was born without knowing who her dad is, but she’s never caused me any trouble.”

“…”

“You’re from a single-mother family, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”

“…”

“Aren’t you? Or should I apologize?”

Jeong-o clenched her fists tightly. A strange emotion welled up.

The side of me that I didn’t want to show Jeong Ji-heon. I could have told and did tell the Jeong Ji-heon of seven years ago, but the fact that I never wanted to reveal to the current Jeong Ji-heon was exposed.

It was miserable.

Eun-bi burst into loud, hollow laughter and continued.

“What? Ji-heon *oppa* looks like your dad? What kind of scam are you trying to pull?”

“Chae Eun-bi, stop it.”

Ji-heon, unable to watch any longer, said to Eun-bi. But Eun-bi didn’t stop.

“She’s been approaching *oppa* by even lying to him!”

“Chae Eun-bi.”

It was Jeong-o who stopped Ji-heon’s words.

“It’s true that it’s not my dad, Director. Director, it wasn’t my dad, but my ex-boyfriend that you resembled.”

She swallowed her tears and told the truth.