A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 9

9. You Spoke Informally to Me

It was almost noon.

Jiheon froze as the woman who had suddenly appeared grabbed his wrist.

He completely forgot what he had been doing.

His body felt strange. His mood was strange.

A name as hot as midday. A woman with a feverish name.

Lee Jung-oh. It was her again.

She had a provocative yet resigned look in her eyes, as if she had lived somewhere in his dreams.

That was all.

“How could you throw that away?”

She was just blaming him.

The mere fact that she was in front of him made Jiheon want to pull her close, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Regardless of the place, without any consideration.

He wanted to tug at the front of her blouse, to undo the neatly fastened buttons. He wanted to confirm the hidden curves. He wanted to touch the white skin inside her sleeves.

He wanted to devour it all.

That shallow breath she was letting out.

Am I crazy? Am I really going crazy?

It was a bizarre impulse he had never felt before.

This must all be because of that damn dream.

Resisting the strange feeling, Jiheon twisted his arm and pulled his hand away from her grip. He didn’t know why he was moving so slowly when he could have shaken her off roughly.

He turned his hand deftly and grabbed her slender wrist, just as she had done.

He easily reversed the situation.

Her flustered eyes were intriguing.

What next?

He looked down at her, scrutinizing her as he spoke.

“Let’s talk this through, shall we?”

What are you going to do now?

“Uh, uh, uh!”

At that moment, the elevator doors opened and a man shouted. It was Jiheon’s friend, Chief Park Seung-gyu from the HR department.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, Seung-gyu witnessed a shocking scene and couldn’t speak right away. He just gaped, pointing at the two of them.

His friend was holding the wrist of a newly hired female employee. The company’s director was doing that. The head of the headquarters was doing that.

“Director! What are you doing here!”

Only after regaining his senses did he shout loudly, and Jiheon released Jung-oh’s hand.

Why were the two of them like that?

Yesterday, Jiheon had talked to him about Deputy Lee Jung-oh. He said her face was pale.

Seung-gyu laughed it off and jokingly asked if she was pretty, but he didn’t really mean it.

But this was a situation he couldn’t laugh off.

What should he do now? Should he grill Jung Jiheon?

Should he ask Deputy Lee Jung-oh what was going on?

“Deputy Lee Jung-oh!”

Seung-gyu put on a bright expression and took a step towards Jung-oh.

“I was on my way to find you, Deputy. There was something I didn’t get to tell you earlier.”

Seung-gyu gave Jiheon a quick wink and hurriedly led Jung-oh away.

Seung-gyu guided Jung-oh to a quiet conference room, carefully closed the door, and asked seriously.

“Would you mind telling me if something happened?”

“…….”

“You can tell me the truth.”

Jung-oh, who had been hesitant to speak, quietly made a sound.

“There were children who came to the company today. The director received gifts from them, but as soon as the kids left, he threw them away.”

Oh, my god… Seung-gyu rubbed his forehead.

“So, I ended up grabbing his wrist to tell him not to do that…”

“And instead, you got grabbed.”

“Yes.”

“He did something wrong.”

“Yes… Yes?”

“What a terrible guy.”

She looked blank as Seung-gyu cursed at Jiheon.

‘She’s a good person,’ Seung-gyu felt a little relieved.

“I’ll have the director apologize.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me. It’s something he should be sorry to the children for… And when I think about it, it was also my meddling.”

‘She’s really a good person.’

He felt sorry for her as she lowered her head, seemingly embarrassed that she thought she had interfered unnecessarily.

Influenced by her kind heart, Seung-gyu added.

“Deputy, this is a bit personal, but actually, Director Jung Jiheon and I have been friends for 16 years. Although our brilliant director doesn’t even remember properly.”

“…….”

“So, I can say some harsh things to him to some extent. I have the guts to do that. Still.”

Jung-oh raised her head, which had been deeply bowed.

If they had been friends for 16 years, he would know Jung Jiheon from 7 years ago.

‘Then, could he know me?’

However, she couldn’t read any signs of recognition in Park Seung-gyu’s eyes. The question he had asked earlier, too.

Jung Jiheon had never told even his close friend about Jung-oh.

“If Jung Jiheon, no, Director Jung, does anything strange again, come find me. I will file a complaint on behalf of everyone. Definitely.”

Jung-oh slowly nodded. A lump of sorrowful stone seemed to be pressing down on her chest.

“But are you going to have lunch early today?”

Ah, right! Black bean noodles!

Only then did Jung-oh remember her forgotten mission.

“Then, I’ll be going!”

Jung-oh quickly said goodbye and left.

After Jung-oh left, Seung-gyu also left the conference room and hurried to Jiheon’s office.

Fortunately, Jiheon was in his office.

“Hey! You scared the crap out of me!”

Seung-gyu shouted as soon as he saw Jiheon.

“You’re going to get into big trouble if you keep doing that. How can you grab a female employee’s wrist? Even if you’re caught, even if you’re tied up, you shouldn’t grab an employee’s wrist.”

“That woman.”

“Not ‘that woman,’ but Deputy Lee Jung-oh! Watch your words.”

Seung-gyu kept raising his voice because his friend still didn’t seem to understand.

“She spoke informally to me.”

“…You grabbed her wrist because she spoke informally?”

Oh, this crazy guy.

Should he be relieved that Deputy Lee Jung-oh didn’t seem to have any ill intentions?

A crazy guy met a woman who was just as crazy.

It seemed a little amusing.

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

Jung-oh rushed to the Chinese restaurant that Team Leader Sung Mi-ran had mentioned.

She was supposed to be there by 11:50, but it was 11:53. The restaurant was already packed with people.

Then, someone called out to Jung-oh.

“Deputy Lee Jung-oh. Over here.”

Song Ki-hoon, a member of the same team, waved his hand with a bright expression.

Jung-oh walked towards the direction Ki-hoon was gesturing.

Following the restaurant hallway, she found a room with a table set for five people.

“How is Ki-hoon here?”

“The team leader told me to come too. I went down the stairs to move secretly.”

Our team leader is serious about black bean noodles!

She was worried that she hadn’t completed her mission properly, but Mi-ran’s obsession with black bean noodles saved Jung-oh.

“Ah, that’s a relief!”

Jung-oh sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh? Deputy, you came wearing white.”

Ki-hoon, who had been quietly watching Jung-oh, got up again and brought an apron from somewhere and handed it to her.

“Everyone else is wearing black today. To come here.”

“Ah.”

“Every second Wednesday of the month is black. Please remember that, Deputy.”

As Jung-oh put the apron around her neck, the other team members arrived. As Ki-hoon had said, everyone except her was wearing black.

“Team Leader, didn’t you tell Deputy Lee about the dress code?”

Ki-hoon asked Mi-ran.

“I was going to go somewhere else if Lee said she didn’t like black bean noodles.”

Her voice was sincere.

Mi-ran sat down and asked Jung-oh.

“Lee, did something happen with Director Jung Jiheon? I thought I saw you talking in front of the elevator earlier.”

Mi-ran spoke as if she had seen it in passing, but in fact, she had watched almost the entire scene. She had seen it through the glass door while passing by the hallway.

Jung-oh grabbed Jiheon’s wrist, then Jiheon grabbed Jung-oh’s wrist, and then HR Team Leader Park Seung-gyu took Jung-oh away.

She thought something had gone wrong, so she quickly sent Ki-hoon to the Chinese restaurant first.

“No, it was just… a slight disagreement about trash. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“Why? Does he just throw trash around carelessly?”

Deputy Go Eun-joo, who had been looking at her face in a hand mirror, turned her head and asked.

Jung-oh couldn’t answer clearly and nodded awkwardly.

“I kind of thought he would be like that.”

Eun-joo snorted.

“He just looked so annoying.”

Jung Jiheon looked annoying? She said he looked annoying right away after seeing his handsome face? Jung-oh’s eyes widened at Eun-joo’s reaction, finding it interesting.

Deputy Go Eun-joo, whom she had been observing for a full day, was a person with high self-esteem. Others called Deputy Go Eun-joo ‘Princess Deputy’.

Some seemed to be making fun of her name, but Go Eun-joo didn’t find this gaze unpleasant. She didn’t seem to dislike others treating her like a princess either.

Mi-ran said to Eun-joo.

“Still, the director is handsome.”

“Looks and personality are separate. I don’t even think of a man who doesn’t treat me well as a man. He’s just a boss. If he wasn’t my boss, he wouldn’t even be worth dealing with.”

Eun-joo mercilessly refuted Mi-ran’s opinion.

“Because no one in the world can harm my dignity.”

Jung-oh nodded her head greatly because Eun-joo’s argument was somehow persuasive.

Yes. Everyone is dignified, but Jung Jiheon threw away the cookies that the children had made by hand, the gift that even had a card in it, without even opening it.

“That’s right. Everyone is dignified.”

“No. Only I am dignified.”

But Eun-joo also refuted Jung-oh’s agreement.

Eun-joo tilted her head arrogantly and said.

“Why is anyone else important besides me? Only I need to be dignified.”

Ah. Deputy Go Eun-joo is this kind of person.

Cool. Why is she so cool?

Jung-oh was impressed by Eun-joo’s guts.

The other team members also laughed cheerfully after hearing Eun-joo’s words. Eun-joo, on the other hand, maintained her aloof expression.

She is gradually grasping the tendencies of the team members.

Team Leader Sung Mi-ran is a thoughtful and responsible person, Deputy Park Young-gwang is a quiet and diligent person, Deputy Go Eun-joo is a haughty, picky, and confident person, and Employee Song Ki-hoon is a bright, kind, and polite person.

Yesterday, she thought that company life would not be easy, but today her mindset has changed a lot.

She seemed to have met good team members. Enough to look forward to future collaborations.

The only things that bothered her were Director Jung Jiheon and Section Chief Chae Eun-bi.

‘Ah, whatever, whatever. I’m just going to live recklessly too.’

Jung-oh thought to herself, inspired by Deputy Go Eun-joo’s argument.

The black bean noodles were so delicious that Team Leader Sung Mi-ran and her team members even matched the dress code and risked their lives for them. Now that she knew about the delicious restaurant, Jung-oh didn’t want to quit the company even more.

Mi-ran approached Jung-oh, who was like that, and spoke carefully.

“Lee.”

“Yes. Team Leader.”

“Was it serious with the director?”

Jung-oh blinked. She couldn’t answer rashly because she didn’t know what kind of seriousness she was asking about, or exactly what the question was.

“Actually, I saw you passing by earlier. You grabbing the director.”

Ah. Jung-oh secretly felt relieved.

“No, that’s…”

Jung-oh explained the whole story to Mi-ran. Jiheon escorting the children who came on the field trip, the children’s teacher handing Jiheon a cookie gift, and Jiheon throwing away the gift without hesitation as soon as the children left.

Mi-ran stroked her chin as if she was worrying with her.

“I don’t want to apologize for that. Of course, I was rude too, but the director shouldn’t do that.”

“Still, his reputation isn’t that bad in the group. He might be a good boss if you get to know him.”

“He might be a boss, but I don’t think he can be a leader.”

“Our Lee has a temper.”

Mi-ran laughed and retorted in a tone that wasn’t exactly unpleasant.

And she spoke in a more serious voice. As if it was a sensitive topic.

“I don’t want to take the director’s side, but the truth is, he has different circumstances than us.”

“What circumstances?”

“He was in a hit-and-run accident.”

Jung-oh’s steps, which had been walking down the hallway, stopped abruptly.

Mi-ran also stood still in her place and continued to speak.

“I think the group is keeping it quiet. It’s a story from about 7 years ago, but it seems like it was pretty serious back then.”

Hit-and-run accident? 7 years ago?

As if she had been in an accident, Jung-oh suddenly felt breathless.

“I heard about it somehow, but he suffered brain damage from a car accident 7 years ago and developed amnesia.”

“…Amnesia?”

Jung-oh asked in a trembling voice.