Chapter 9

The friends burst out laughing.

Inside was a dildo. Just at a glance it was huge, and it looked disturbingly real, like an actual penis had been cut off and stuck in there.

Chae-eun’s face turned bright red as she started smacking Yubin’s arm over and over. Even while getting hit, her friends laughed even harder.

“Open the next one too.”

“No! What if there’s something even worse in there. What if a staff member comes over.”

Chae-eun shoved the box back into the shopping bag and hid it under the table, afraid it might open. She wanted to smack all of them on the back, but since she was guilty herself, she held back.

“I’m canceling the drinks. You’re insane.”

“Hey, don’t you know you can’t take back what you already said?”

Chae-eun fumed and gulped down her cocktail as soon as it arrived.

Her heart pounded harder thinking about how close she’d come to a staff member spotting a giant dildo.

“So what happened with the blind date?”

“Yeah, why have you been so busy lately anyway?”

Her friends stared at her with even brighter eyes than before.

The fact that Chae-eun, who had never dated once, had met a man made them unable to hide their excitement.

How was she supposed to explain that disaster of a blind date. Chae-eun mumbled her reply.

“Well… it was just whatever.”

“Just whatever? That’s it?”

“We were so excited when you said you met a man, and you’re trying to brush it off like that?”

Chae-eun pulled the straw out of her drink and took a big gulp straight from the glass. She’d already been stressed about it. With the alcohol hitting her, she finally found a bit of courage to talk.

“There was one old guy and one pervert… f*ck, and the pervert was way too handsome…”

She ruffled her hair hard while muttering.

Soyoung, sitting across from her, looked at her suspiciously and asked casually.

“Did you sleep with him?”

Chae-eun’s mouth fell open.

“How did you know?”

“You looked miserable, so I guessed. Looks like I was right.”

At Chae-eun’s unexpected reaction, her friends’ eyes lit up.

“Are you crazy? You slept with him?”

“Shh!”

Chae-eun hurriedly pressed her index finger to her lips.

“Did you sleep with the old guy or the pervert?”

“Don’t tell me both.”

“At the same time?”

“A threesome?”

“What kind of insane talk is that.”

She sighed at the barrage of questions. As they got more persistent, Chae-eun had no choice but to confess.

“…The pervert.”

Her friends exchanged looks and snickered.

“Better than sleeping with an old guy.”

“Yeah, you said he was handsome.”

“So what’s the problem?”

Chae-eun grabbed her messy hair again and screamed.

“I have to go to work at the pervert’s company starting Monday. Because of a secondment contract.”

“Wow, that’s insane. You slept with someone you have to work with? Kang Chae-eun really went all out for her first time.”

“And the old guy from the blind date works at the same company. I have to face him at work too. What am I supposed to do?”

“So what? You didn’t sleep with the old guy.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say they were brothers. She swallowed it down and just sighed.

Her friends started debating among themselves while Chae-eun sat there dazed.

After a long discussion, they concluded that working with the old guy was better than working with the pervert she’d slept with.

* * *

Saturday morning.

Still hungover, Chae-eun dragged herself into the living room and poured water into a cup.

Only after downing two cups in a row did her thirst ease.

“The real problem is Executive Director Cha Gye-oh…”

She muttered into the air, then went straight into her room and picked up her phone lying there.

She opened her messages and scrolled down a bit, quickly finding a text from Executive Director Cha Gye-oh.

[Executive Director Cha Gye-oh
Chae-eun, do you know what it’s called when Winnie the Pooh climbs on top of a chicken]

[Executive Director Cha Gye-oh
Fried chicken]

She let out a deep sigh.

It wasn’t his wrist that got injured in the car accident. It was definitely his head.

Should she call him chicken brained. Was he a chicken in his past life. Every joke was chicken related.

Pressing her forehead with one hand, Chae-eun agonized. She wanted to throw her phone, but she felt like she had to reply.

If she didn’t respond, she’d have to face him next week, which worried her. A reply that was too halfhearted might offend him, so she typed a long message with zero soul.

[That’s really funny. I’ll make sure to memorize it and use it sometime.]

Not long after sending that stiff reply, another message came in.

[Executive Director Cha Gye-oh
I’m glad you liked it. I’ll slowly reveal my secret techniques. It wouldn’t be fun to give them all at once, so one by one.]

[Yes, I’ll look forward to it.]

She sent the rigid reply and tossed her phone face down on the bed.

“Seriously, why are you doing this to me.”

She resented Cha Gye-oh, Cha Jae-oh, and even the heavens for creating this situation.

She had to go to work the day after tomorrow, and she felt miserable just thinking about how she’d face them.

Still, it wasn’t the absolute worst. Working while shutting him down with a wall while listening to dad jokes was better than working with a semen obsessed pervert.

“Being uselessly handsome and confusing people…”

Chae-eun lay down on the flipped blanket and clutched her throbbing head. Cha Jae-oh’s face, voice, and gaze kept surfacing, making it hard to focus.

* * *

Monday morning.

She was far more nervous than her first day at VOUME Planning.

Standing in front of the mirror and muttering that she could do this like a spell, Chae-eun suddenly jumped up and headed for the door.

J Electronics. Just hearing the name made pressure close in. It was the core of J Group.

Starting today, she would be seconded to the J Electronics marketing department for two months.

Worried she might face cold treatment, she arrived tense, and the building was enormous.

Its sheer scale made her even more nervous. As she entered, a marketing team employee waiting in the lobby hurried over.

“Are you Director Kang Chae-eun?”

“Yes, hello. I’m Kang Chae-eun.”

The woman, who was half a head shorter than Chae-eun, smiled brightly and introduced herself.

“Hello. I’m Assistant Manager Song Jihyun. I thought you were beautiful when I saw your portfolio photo, but it didn’t do you justice.”

“Oh, it’s not like that. Thank you.”

The friendly atmosphere eased Chae-eun’s tension. A genuine smile came out instead of a forced one. Grateful, she followed Song to the advertising planning team office.

Her workspace was a private office right next to the entrance, neatly set up.

“You’ll be using this office alone. We prepared it so you can work comfortably. Is it okay?”

“I thought I’d be grateful just to get a corner seat in a meeting room. I didn’t expect this. It’s amazing.”

Chae-eun covered her mouth with both hands in awe.

Song looked proud.

“The planning team office is further down this hallway.”

Chae-eun walked slowly after her, adjusting the large bag on her shoulder and gripping it tightly.

“Well, well. Is this Director Kang Chae-eun?”

“Ah, yes. Hello. I’m Kang Chae-eun.”

She bowed politely to the man greeting her warmly.

“Oh my, no need to be so formal. I’m Lee Byung-hoo, a staff member.”

She thought he looked at least like a section chief, so she quickly nodded at his introduction. Big companies really were different, she thought, mulling over J Group’s personnel structure.

Song, standing beside her, whispered playfully into her ear.

“He’s not staff. He’s the team leader. You’ll get used to it.”

Chae-eun groaned, having fallen for the ridiculous joke. Team Leader Lee Byung-hoo smiled proudly.

“I’ll remember that. Team Leader Lee Byung-hoo.”

“Why’d you tell her already, Jihyun.”

“It’s her first day. I didn’t want her to be too shocked.”

“Surprising people is the joy of my life.”

Team Leader Lee clicked his fist into his palm in mock regret.

As Chae-eun appeared, employees stopped working and slowly came over to greet her.

“You’re the one who won the INNOx Planning Grand Prize, right?”

“Yes, that’s me. Thanks to that, I got this great opportunity. When else would I get to work with such talented people?”

“We’re the honored ones. A grand prize winner.”

“There’s probably no one in the industry who hasn’t seen that video.”

“Would you like some coffee? The lounge is right next door.”

“No, I was so nervous I already finished a venti on the way here. Thank you.”

“We’d been excited since we heard someone amazing was coming.”

Their eyes sparkled. Seeing them welcome her made it feel easier to breathe.

Song glanced at the time.

“The morning meeting should be ready, so we should head to the conference room.”

“Okay.”

Everyone started moving busily. Chae-eun went back to her office, set down her bag, and looked around with a small sigh.

The chair still wrapped in plastic smelled distinctly new.

With her laptop and tablet in hand, she followed Song waiting at the end of the hallway to the meeting room.

“The executive director will arrive right on time. I’ll step out for a moment to help with the setup.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

Once Song left, Chae-eun felt nervous again.

She sat in her assigned seat, opened her laptop, and set up her tablet. Flipping through the materials on each seat, time passed quickly.

The clock on her laptop read 11, and at the same moment the meeting room door swung open.

Chae-eun stood up reflexively. No matter how familiar they were through dad jokes, this was their first official meeting.

“Hello, Executive Director.”