The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 28
Chapter 28
28.
“That’s why I need to pack it with extra care. So they look favorably on my daughter.”
A lump rose in Yeon-seo’s throat.
Her mother had walked out when she was young, and her father had raised her alone ever since. Words couldn’t begin to describe the hardship of a single father raising a daughter by himself. Yet her father was always apologizing to Yeon-seo, saying he felt sorry for not giving her enough as a parent. That was why he would eagerly step forward whenever there was anything he could do to help his daughter.
Behind her father’s back, however, Yeon-seo had recently done something she felt terribly guilty about. In truth, it was because she had been so upset over that matter that she had downed all that alcohol she couldn’t handle, leading to that disastrous night with Kang Joo-heon.
‘I’m sorry, Dad.’
Looking at her father, Yeon-seo murmured only in her heart—offering an apology for not being able to tell him the truth about who would actually be eating this lunch.
*
A clear day in early November, without a single cloud in the high, blue sky.
At a sports complex in Seoul, the company-wide sports day for Bellator Korea was underway.
It was a full-scale event, complete with a professional MC and even seasoned casters and commentators hired to broadcast the main highlight of the day: the soccer tournament.
Over three hundred people were in attendance. Nearly all the headquarters’ executives and staff showed up, and despite it being a weekday, a substantial number of employees from directly managed retail stores attended as well. The reason, of course, was to catch a glimpse of Kang Joo-heon.
There was a reason every brand was desperate to sign Kang Joo-heon as their model: people of all ages and genders adored him. Usually, whether it was a singer or an actor, fanbases tended to skew heavily toward one demographic. But Kang Joo-heon, being an athlete, commanded a rock-solid male fanbase, while women swooned over him just as passionately.
Though they technically worked at the same company, he only came in briefly in the afternoons and strictly stayed on the executive office floor, meaning ordinary employees rarely had a chance to catch a glimpse of his face. It was only natural that the sports day drew such a massive crowd.
Dressed in sportswear bearing the Bellator logo, Kang Joo-heon sat in a specially arranged booth right beside the executive seating area.
“Wow, he’s seriously tall.”
“His face is practically glowing.”
“I’d love to see him play just once.”
The Bellator Korea employees couldn’t dare approach him, marveling in endless admiration from afar.
Since this was strictly an internal company event rather than an open public one, outsiders were hardly anywhere to be seen. “Hardly,” however, meant there were still a few. Gathered on one side of the stadium were about twenty female fans wearing matching Kang Joo-heon jerseys—the diehard members of his fan cafe, ‘Honey Joo-heon.’
Finding it utterly fascinating, Yeon-seo whispered to Ho-jin beside her.
“How on earth did they even find out about this? And why isn’t anyone kicking them out?”
Ho-jin whispered back.
“Word is, one of them is our senior managing director’s daughter.”
Yeon-seo marveled. People always said Kang Joo-heon’s fandom had intelligence skills rivaling the National Intelligence Service, and now she understood why. They were everywhere. Well, there was one under her own roof, too.
Soon, the sports festival officially kicked off with the main event: the soccer tournament. A total of eight teams were competing, all internal clubs from Bellator Korea. Some were preexisting clubs, while others had been hastily assembled just for this tournament. The rosters ranged from fresh twenty-something rookies to fifty-something managing directors. When else would they ever get the chance to play right in front of Kang Joo-heon’s eyes?
Between stamina limitations and the fact that it was strictly an amateur friendly tournament, match times were kept short: fifteen-minute halves for a total of thirty minutes, with only the finals extending to twenty-minute halves for forty minutes total. In this tournament format, the teams advancing all the way to the finals would end up playing three matches in total.
In truth, Yeon-seo had only lacked interest in Kang Joo-heon, not in soccer itself. With professional casters and commentators providing running commentary, it was as thrilling as a professional match.
Following the first preliminary match came the second: FC Bella, the strongest title contender, went head-to-head against Typhoon FC, a team hastily formed for this tournament.
As expected, the skill gap between an established club and a makeshift team was obvious. Typhoon FC had been dragged along at 3-0, struggling the entire time, so when they finally scored their first goal, Yeon-seo sprang out of her seat without even realizing it.
“Whoaaa!”
As she clapped enthusiastically, Joo-heon, who had been watching the match with his arms crossed beside her, suddenly asked:
“Why do you go out of your way to root for the losing team?”
Yeon-seo flinched. Did I? It was as natural as breathing to her, so she hadn’t even realized she was doing it.
“Um… because the good team will do fine even without anyone cheering for them?”
Joo-heon gave her an exasperated look.
With only eight teams in total, both the preliminaries and semifinals wrapped up before the morning was over, leaving only the finals.
The two teams that advanced to the finals were FC Bella, composed of Bellator Korea’s Seoul headquarters staff, and FC Thor, made up of employees working at directly managed retail stores across the Seoul metropolitan area.
In fact, these two teams were well-known rivals within the company. FC Bella openly flaunted their pride as headquarters employees, and FC Thor despised them for it. They weren’t franchisees; they were directly managed stores, which made them regular employees just the same, so it rankled them whenever the other side acted superior about being from HQ. Strictly speaking, Bellator Korea itself was merely a Korean branch—the real headquarters was in the UK.
The two teams were closely matched in skill, so whenever they held matches, their families would turn out in full force to stage cheering battles fierce enough to rival a Korea-Japan derby. Now, these sworn rivals were facing off for a trophy engraved with Kang Joo-heon’s very name. For both sides, it was a match they could not afford to lose.
“Those two teams are huge rivals. They faced off in the finals during last year’s sports day, too. FC Bella won after extra time, and the FC Thor players were so frustrated they actually cried.”
As Yeon-seo chattered away explaining this to Joo-heon, she suddenly paused.
“Huh?”
Kang Joo-heon, who had definitely been sitting right beside her just a moment ago, had vanished into thin air. Yeon-seo felt an instant wave of embarrassment. Who on earth was I just talking to?
Right then, a roar of cheers erupted.
“Kyaaaah!”
Honey Joo-heon over on the sidelines went wild. Turning to see what was happening, Yeon-seo could hardly believe her eyes. Having changed into a kit at some point, Joo-heon was striding out onto the pitch.
A flawless physique and picture-perfect features. Kang Joo-heon was a model that not only sports brands but every fashion label drooled over. He was undeniably striking whether arriving in a tailored suit or wearing a simple tracksuit earlier.
Yet a player truly shone brightest on the pitch after all. Striding out with commanding confidence in his kit, Joo-heon was a sight even Yeon-seo couldn’t tear her eyes away from.
‘He really is handsome. If only his temper wasn’t so vile…’
Lost in thought, Yeon-seo suddenly blinked.
‘Wait, why is he wearing a kit all of a sudden?’
Right at that moment, something astonishing happened. Joo-heon strode onto the pitch and stepped into line at the very end of one of the two teams lined up for the final match.
It was the line of FC Thor players.
“Wait a minute, what is the meaning of this?”
Toward the stunned FC Bella players, the even more stunned captain of FC Thor muttered blankly:
“I think… he might be our ringer…?”
The story went like this: Just days before the tournament, FC Thor had thrown themselves into intense training. Perhaps pushing themselves too hard, one of their key starters fell ill and became unable to play. In a rush, they posted a recruitment notice on the company bulletin board looking for a substitute player, and a mysterious individual called in to volunteer.
Ask no questions about department, name, or age. But as a former player, my skills are guaranteed.
In the world of amateur soccer clubs, a “former player” usually meant someone with experience on a school soccer team during middle or high school. Truth be told, even that level of background made someone practically Messi in Sunday morning soccer.
He had laid down two conditions: he would only play in the finals, and the other was…
Aside from their sworn rivals FC Bella, they had no real competition within the company anyway. Even playing their reserves would easily carry them to the finals, so FC Thor had had no reason to refuse. He had claimed with utter confidence to be an ex-player, so his skills were bound to be decent, and with the tournament right around the corner, they had no other options.
Yet this player, who hadn’t even disclosed his identity, hadn’t shown up until moments before the finals were set to begin. Just when the FC Thor players began to suspect this might be a prank concocted by FC Bella, the mysterious ringer finally revealed himself.
The player who appeared, clad in a Gloucester kit emblazoned with Kang Joo-heon’s name and squad number, was astonishingly none other than Kang Joo-heon himself!