I Think I've Poked a Sleeping Bear
Chapter 30
I’ll Crush You
Indeed, there were no secrets in this world.
The sheer arrogance of believing that no one would know, that she would never be caught, had brought about this very disaster.
To think she had completely forgotten that Lee Dan-mi, her own younger sister, knew the truth about the fake confession!
Still, even if her sister knew, what could possibly happen?
Back when she poured her heart out to her sister, Dan-a had naturally assumed the two of them would never meet.
No, she had only realized her own feelings a short while ago in the first place, so she could never have imagined a situation like this unfolding.
Did high school seniors have no shame, no tact, and no blood or tears?! (They didn’t need to. They were high school seniors. Pure, unadulterated exhaustion itself.)
“Lee Dan-mi, what are you doing right now? What did you just say?”
Dan-a grabbed Dan-mi’s shoulders tightly, trembling as she whispered in her ear.
“What? You were agonizing over it and suffering so much, Unnie, so I just solved it in one shot. Can you let go? I need to eat quickly and go back to study.”
Dan-mi walked right into the house.
Did she seriously just answer out loud instead of whispering back?
Was this what they called karma?
Come to think of it, Dan-a herself was the one who had driven her sister to the study café.
She had hovered behind a high school senior trying to study, dumping all her worries onto her until Dan-mi started staying out.
And because of that, this encounter with Yi-heon had happened.
Aaargh, crazy! What was she supposed to do about this disaster?!
She had only just realized her love!
She couldn’t bear to let him go now!
True feelings could never grow in a field of lies.
Taking a deep breath, Dan-a slowly turned around.
Yi-heon was looking straight down at her right in front of her. The shadow cast over his face was so dark that she couldn’t even tell what expression he wore.
She didn’t need to see it to know.
His anger, disappointment, regret, and remorse were palpable even from here.
Ah, my love. Am I losing you like this?
She had thought the only things she would have to face going forward were external waves. She had believed that no matter what tsunami came, she wouldn’t have to worry.
Yet who knew there was a hole in her own ship?
Her heart ached as if a real hole had been punched straight through it.
“Um, President, what this is about is…….”
“What are you doing instead of going inside? Your sister went in, but you aren’t going in with her.”
“……Pardon?”
“Shall we stay together a bit longer? Until we see each other head inside? I would love to, but I’m worried your family might be waiting.”
What is this? What is this? What is this?
She summoned her courage and looked up at him.
He was looking down at her with the exact same warm gaze as when he had first dropped her off in front of the house.
President…….
“If you’re all right with it, we can stay a little longer. I’d like that.”
“Ah, w-well, I’d like that too, but… um, President? J-Just now…….”
Chu. Yi-heon kissed her on the lips. Then, with tender eyes, he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I’m worried your legs might hurt. You worked hard all day, after all.”
“Th-That’s… true. I did work hard, working for you, President…….”
Yi-heon smiled.
“Call me after you finish dinner. I’ll be waiting.”
“Uh, yes, then I’ll head in first…….”
Stepping into the house as if under a spell, Dan-a tilted her head.
Did my sister speak too fast for him to hear?
There’s no way he’d react like this if he heard it, right?
That was certainly possible. Even Dan-a hadn’t caught what Dan-mi meant at first glance.
Then again, her sister’s pronunciation was notoriously bad.
How could a kid who supposedly worked as an announcer for the school broadcasting club have such terrible diction?
Besides, wasn’t the President remarkably tall?
He was so tall that the sound might not have reached up into his air layer.
Yes, that was a real possibility.
“Then… I don’t have to worry?”
Right?
The very thing she had dreaded and felt guiltiest about had nearly happened, yet it seemed to have passed without incident.
Dan-a swept a hand over her chest.
Thank goodness, really. I was scared to death.
“That little punk Lee Dan-mi.”
She clenched her fist tight.
“I have to make sure she keeps her mouth shut so she never says that again.”
That rotten sister of hers was the only one who knew the truth.
As long as she stayed quiet, nothing like this would ever happen again.
Patter, patter, patter.
Urgent footsteps echoed down the hall.
Soon, leather dress shoes sprinting furiously from afar came into view.
As if a major catastrophe had struck, running, running, and running again.
Even as the scenery flashed by, the rapid pace never slowed.
Slam! The door flew open. Gasping for breath, Do-hyun asked with solemn resolve,
“Where is he?!”
“Over there.”
The pacing secretarial staff pointed somewhere. It was President Ra Yi-heon’s office.
He threw the door wide open.
Instantly, thick gray smoke billowed out, followed by a flash of lightning and the earth-shattering boom of thunder.
“Since when has he been like this?”
“Well, after leaving work yesterday evening, he came straight back…….”
Do-hyun waded into the room, parting the dense, pitch-black clouds that obscured his view.
“President!”
Yi-heon sat frozen in his chair. True to form, heavy storm clouds hung thick above him.
No, is this even possible indoors?
It shouldn’t be possible anywhere in the first place.
What on earth was going on lately?
Do-hyun pulled back the blinds and opened the window to air out the room, driving away the dark clouds.
Even so, the somber shadow shrouding Yi-heon’s body refused to lift.
Phew. Do-hyun wiped away his sweat and let out a deep sigh.
“President.”
Yi-heon merely lifted his gaze, acknowledging the presence before him.
“What brings you here, Secretary Kang? Didn’t you say you’d be over with Yi-on for a while?”
“I was planning to. But you, President……. I came after getting a call from the secretarial team. They said you’d turned into a shadow of darkness. What on earth happened?”
What happened?
Heh. He let out a cold, dry laugh.
Even I don’t know. What in the world happened to me.
‘Ah. Is this the guy? The President you lied about liking because you found out Kim Yoonseo unnie was marrying Han Ji-hoon oppa right before you confessed to him, and then this President overheard and asked you to marry him?’
What had he heard back then?
Even without replaying it, he had understood instantly.
Her pronunciation had been so crystal clear that it was impossible not to grasp every single word.
In other words, Lee Dan-a’s confession—the one that had stolen Yi-heon’s heart entirely—had actually been fake.
‘It’s the President! The person I like!’
‘Right! Ra Yi-heon! I like President Ra! I’ve liked him so much since the very first moment I joined the company!’
‘If I ever get married, I want to do it with the President! Because I like him so much!’
To think those words, which he had recalled every single day without forgetting a single syllable, were all lies.
No, they weren’t just simple lies.
They were words meant to hide her true feelings of loving Han Ji-hoon…….
Everything was fake, fake, fake.
‘Um, President. This is a story about a friend of mine.’
Dan-a’s voice echoed in his memory.
‘A friend of mine, well, confessed to her friends that she liked someone, but someone passing by happened to overhear. But that person thought it was about him, so he asked if she liked him and all…….’
‘Sounds similar to our story, doesn’t it?’
It wasn’t similar to our story; it was our story, Lee Dan-a.
It wasn’t about a friend; it was about you, Lee Dan-a.
“Um, President. Just what is going on?”
Yi-heon stared at Do-hyun, then leaned in close. Do-hyun stepped closer to listen to what he had to say.
“Secretary Kang. This is a story about a friend of a friend of mine…….”
A friend of a fri…… President, you don’t even have friends.
Whether I listen or not, it’s obviously about you.
“Yes, President. Go ahead.”
“Well, a friend of a friend of mine happened to be walking down the street when he overheard a woman confessing that she liked him…….”
We both heard that together, President.
Anyone can see that’s your story.
“He found out that it was a fake confession.”
“……Pardon?”
Holy crap. What kind of nonsense is this now?
The President had broken off his own engagement thinking she had confessed to him.
And that confession was fake?
What is happening to me lately? Is it normal for work to be this full of dopamine explosions every single day?
“A-And then?”
“What do you mean, ‘and then’?”
“No, I mean, what happened next?”
“That was the question I wanted to ask.”
“Aha. So you learned it was a fake confession, went into shock, and are currently in a state where you don’t know what to do.”
Yi-heon nodded frantically at Do-hyun, his eyes shining as if on the verge of tears now that someone finally understood him.
“What do you want to do, President?”
“I…… but earlier, I said it wasn’t my story, but a friend’s…….”
“To be precise, it was a friend of a friend’s story. What does that person want to do? Does he want to fire the woman? Or transfer her to another branch? Or call her in and give her a piece of his mind?”
“I want to crush him.”
“……Pardon?”
A crimson flame ignited in Yi-heon’s eyes.
“I’ll crush everything…….”
As he clenched his fists tight, the veins running along his arms to the backs of his hands throbbed violently.
Faced with a murderous aura he had never seen before, Do-hyun’s heart pounded frantically against his ribs.
“President? Please calm down. It’s not like that confession was made directly to you anyway, was it? You didn’t start dating or fall in love just because of that confession, did you? Going that far with Lee Dan-a-ssi is a bit…….”
“Han Ji-hoon…….”
The one I want to crush is Han Ji-hoon.
The one I want to destroy is Han Ji-hoon.
The one I want to crumple into pieces is Han Ji-hoon!
“H-Han Ji-hoon? Who is that?”
Springing to his feet, Yi-heon walked straight out the door.
“President? Where are you going?”
He had already vanished.
It was obvious. He was probably heading straight to the Public Relations Office.
“Ah, I’m so tired. Ah, all my energy’s drained.”
Yet he couldn’t afford to lose him.
Massaging the back of his neck, Do-hyun hurried after Yi-heon.