I Think I've Poked a Sleeping Bear - Chapter 1I Think I've Poked a Sleeping BearChapter 1
Chapter 1
The Person I Like
“Dan-a, there’s something I need to tell you today.”
Dan-a clutched at her fluttering heart as she looked at Ji-hoon, who had come up to her desk and locked eyes with her as he whispered.
Handsome looks, a gentle smile, and a sweet voice.
Han Jihoon—her coworker who had joined the company in the same batch, her same-age friend, and the man she had secretly crushed on for two years.
“What is it……?”
“Well, it’s a little embarrassing to say. Could we meet in front of the emergency exit for a minute during break later?”
“In front of the emergency exit? S-sure. Let’s meet there.”
“See you then. Hang in there today!”
Ji-hoon gave her a gentle smile before turning to leave. Dan-a placed a hand over her chest.
Thump, thump. Her heart pounded like crazy.
Something to tell me? What could it be?
“Could it be…….”
Is today…… the day……!
The day she finally received a confession from her crush!
“Dan-a.”
“Yeah?”
She looked up to find Yunseo, also her same-age coworker from the same hiring class, staring at her with puzzled eyes.
“Are you okay? Your face is red. Do you have a fever?”
“Me?”
At those words, Dan-a brought her hands to her cheeks. Then, leaning in close toward Yunseo, who sat across from her, she whispered.
“No, it’s just that Ji-hoon said he has something to tell me.”
“S-something to tell you? Any guess what it might be?”
“I’m not sure. But Yunseo, I’m going to tell him too.”
“Tell him what?”
“How I feel.”
“How you feel?”
“To the person I like.”
Yunseo shot up like a coiled spring.
“What! Who is it?”
Han Jihoon.
Just thinking of his name made her heart race as if it would burst.
She had wanted to talk to Yunseo about her crush more than a few times. But because both Ji-hoon and Yunseo were coworkers, she had felt too shy to open up about it.
Besides, weren’t the three of them close friends?
“Is it someone at the company?”
“Yeah……. I’ll tell you later.”
Since it had come to this, she would proudly announce it once everything went well.
“Really? You have to tell me later, okay?”
Dan-a agreed, promising she would tell her for sure.
Once things went well, she would definitely tell her.
…….
…….
But that didn’t mean she wanted Yunseo to show up here with him!
Just an hour after making her momentous resolution, Dan-a found herself facing both Ji-hoon and Yunseo standing side by side in front of the emergency exit.
Why are they together?
I can’t confess like this!
“Why are you two together…….”
An ominous chill suddenly crept over her.
A bad feeling she didn’t want to hear—something she felt she shouldn’t hear.
Sure enough,
“We’re getting married.”
……What?
“Actually, we’ve been secretly dating.”
Get…… get what……?
“Surprised, right? I’m sorry. We kept trying to tell you, but once we missed the right moment, it just became harder and harder to bring up.”
“Yunseo, when you said you were seeing someone…….”
“Yeah. It’s Ji-hoon.”
The two of them looked at each other affectionately. Their gazes left no room for doubt—they were undeniably lovers in love.
“Just since when…….”
“Well, we both fell in love at first sight the moment we met…….”
Love at…… first sight? They had met two years ago as new hires in the same cohort—had they been dating ever since?
Ji-hoon rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
“You’re the very first person we’ve told about our relationship, Dan-a. We felt we should let you know before handing out wedding invitations. It’s really embarrassing. Haha.”
Ah, so that’s why you were embar…… rassed…….
Because this was the grand reveal of your secret relationship?
Dan-a was so thoroughly shell-shocked she couldn’t even process the blow.
Yunseo asked,
“By the way, Dan-a, did you confess to the guy you like? Did it go well?”
“Huh……?”
“You said you liked someone at work and were going to confess today.”
At that, Ji-hoon’s eyes widened as he looked at her.
“You did? Who is it?”
Ji-hoon’s gaze choked the words right in her throat.
“Ah…… well…….”
“Haven’t you confessed yet?”
That’s because the person I was going to confess to was you, Ji-hoon…….
Wait, did I just declare right in front of Yunseo that I was going to confess to her boyfriend?
A wave of belated humiliation washed over her at the thought of what would have happened if she had spoken up earlier.
“Who is it? Someone in your department? Or maybe ours?”
“Right. Dan-a, is it someone in the Marketing Team? You go there often.”
“No…….”
“Then who? Another team? Ah, in the Planning Department……?”
“The P-President!”
Dan-a blurted out in a panic.
“……Huh?”
“It’s the President! The person I like!”
Yes, the idol of their company.
Someone so universally popular among employees that saying you liked him wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
The most necessary yet completely useless person to escape this crisis.
A man she could never be involved with, and with whom she would never cross paths for eternity.
And he was none other than—
“Ra Iheon?”
Ji-hoon tilted his head.
“You mean President Ra Iheon? President Ra?”
“Uh, yeah! Ra Iheon! I like President Ra! I’ve had the biggest crush on him since the very first moment I saw him after joining the company!”
Having lost her mind, Dan-a couldn’t stop the stream of words tumbling out. Yunseo’s eyes went round.
“Then…… you said you were going to confess to the President?”
Is that…… how the logic flows? Haha.
“No, I mean, obviously I could never confess to the President. But I felt like I was going to go crazy if I didn’t tell someone. That’s why I said I was going to tell you guys. If I ever actually get married, I want it to be with the President! Because I like him that much!”
Crazy. No matter how much I liked someone, I’ve never even thought about marriage!
“Ah…… you really like…… the President. But doesn’t he have a fiancée……?”
Huh, really? I didn’t have a single shred of interest in the President, so I had no idea.
Come to think of it, she seemed to remember seeing something about it in the company newsletter.
At Yunseo’s words, Dan-a offered a strained, crescent-eyed smile.
“E-exactly. The President has, well, a fiancée, so I’m just telling you guys, you know?”
“True. Let it all out by telling us. Just when did you start liking the President that much? When you said you had someone you liked right after joining the company, I wondered if it might be our Ji-hoon…….”
“What nonsense! Of course it’s the President!”
“Then…… you’ve liked the President for two whole years?”
“Uh…… d-does it work out to that? Yeah. I’ve…… liked the President for two years.”
How miserable. The person she had actually liked for two years was standing right in front of her.
Dan-a looked at Ji-hoon with slightly sorrowful eyes.
“Yeah. I liked him for two years. So, so much……. Even though he’s going to marry another woman, happi…… happiness, happi…….”
Just as Dan-a, her mind completely scrambled, was babbling nonsense—
“Huh? President?”
Her eyes met those of a man she never in her wildest dreams expected to run into here.
Her heart sank to the floor.
It was the President himself!
The very man she had just claimed to love.
Why was someone she had never once crossed paths with stepping out from here?
Her mind went completely blank.
What did I just say a moment ago?
While she stood flustered and at a total loss, he walked away without uttering a single word.
The three of them exchanged wide-eyed looks.
“D-did he hear?”
“N-no, there’s no way he heard.”
“R…… right?”
Then why are all three of our pupils trembling like this?
“Well, it’s not like there’s only one president. There are client company presidents too…….”
“Didn’t you explicitly call out President Ra Iheon earlier?”
So you’re saying he definitely heard, guys?!
Not only had she been brutally crushed by her two-year unrequited love, but she had also ended up looking like someone who was madly in love with a completely random man.
And on top of that, he had overheard the whole thing?
The President of a massive conglomerate whom an ordinary employee could rarely even catch a glimpse of.
And I’m just a low-level employee who has no need—no, no way—to even make an excuse?
……The President will understand, right?
With looks like that, he must have heard plenty of confessions like this before.
A flawless appearance so striking it was intimidating to even speak to him if you were standing right next to him.
Towering near 190 centimeters tall, with broad shoulders wide enough to embrace every single employee who swooned over him.
A living sculpture sculpted with meticulous care by God Himself!
Wouldn’t he just brush it off, thinking she was merely a devoted fan?
“Yeah. He didn’t look like he cared in the slightest anyway. To the President, wouldn’t I just look like a stray cat passing by? He probably just thinks a cat meowed at him…….”
