The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 37
Chapter 37
#37.
In the car on the way back, Joo-heon was lost in thought.
Yeon-seo’s father was disabled and unable to walk. On top of that, her mother had left home when she was young.
Only now did he feel like he understood where her resilience came from. ……You had no choice but to be strong, did you?
He also understood why she didn’t know how to ask for help. She must have never had anyone to lean on in her life. That was why she didn’t know how to rely on anyone, why she had simply walked on alone—brave, resolute, and unwavering.
Her father had told him that she had never once rebelled during her teenage years, never once caused him heartache. That she had always been such a good, gentle child.
You never even had the chance to stray, did you?
With no one to whine to, no one to throw a tantrum at……
His chest ached so fiercely that Joo-heon pressed a hand over his heart and closed his eyes.
And I made it all the way here carried by the support of someone like you.
A tangle of emotions welled up, filling his chest. He felt an aching sorrow for the days she had endured, yet at the same time, he was so grateful and overwhelmed with love for how steadfastly she had held on all by herself. If she were beside him right now, he felt he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from pulling her into a fierce embrace.
And someone dared frame a woman like her as a thief?
Just who the hell was it?
“…….”
Joo-heon silently gritted his teeth.
Yeon-seo’s new phone had, of course, been given to her by him. If she had simply told the truth, clearing her name would have been easy. Why couldn’t she say it?
Joo-heon was not so foolish that he couldn’t guess why. Being associated with him must have been even worse to her than being framed as a thief. The thought made his heart ache. Did she really hate him that much? Joo-heon realized anew just how completely devoid of feelings for him she was.
I don’t have time. There’s not even a month left……
Despair stained a corner of his mind pitch black, but Joo-heon forced himself not to dwell on it. Clearing Yeon-seo’s name came first right now. And doing it just as she wanted—without tangling her up with him as much as possible.
Then what way was there……?
“Hyung.”
Ho-jin, who was driving, answered.
“Yeah?”
“Cancel tomorrow morning’s training.”
Perhaps sensing something unusual in his tone, Ho-jin, who would normally have nagged him endlessly, obediently nodded.
“Got it.”
*
The next morning, Yeon-seo was on the bus heading to the company she had dreaded going to so much.
[Still, make sure to go to work tomorrow morning.]
Only after Kang Joo-heon had dropped by out of nowhere and left yesterday did Yeon-seo finally emerge from the room she had holed herself up in, only to be struck speechless by the scene outside.
It was the aftermath of a serial autographer tearing through the place.
[What is all this……?]
Everywhere she looked, Kang Joo-heon’s signatures had taken over.
[Player Kang Joo-heon did it for us.]
Dad’s voice was brimming with emotion.
She had thought Kang Joo-heon had come to drag her in because she hadn’t shown up for work. After all, he already knew where she lived. But hearing the story, it had been the complete opposite. Her dad had gone to the company.
[You went to my company, Dad?]
[Yeah.]
Dad answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
[They said my daughter was falsely accused! How could I just sit around rolling gimbap and boiling ramyeon? I went to demand answers.]
He had heard her on the phone with the Team Leader. Yeon-seo’s head throbbed.
That was how it went. He had gone to the company, run into Kang Joo-heon, explained the situation, and Joo-heon had brought him all the way home.
When she heard that Dad had met Kang Joo-heon, that was the first thing Yeon-seo asked.
[Did Player Kang Joo-heon give you a hard time?]
That had been her very first worry. If that man was always glaring and snapping at her, how rude must he have been to her father? But Dad jumped in defense.
[A hard time? Heavens, I’ve never seen such a kind and sweet young man in my life! A world-class player really is built different, character and all.]
Yeon-seo could hardly believe it. Could words like kind and sweet even be used to describe Kang Joo-heon? Yet judging by the signatures splashed boldly before her eyes, she had no choice but to believe it.
[Don’t worry about a thing and go to work. Player Kang Joo-heon said he’d take care of it.]
Dad’s words were dripping with absolute faith in Kang Joo-heon.
[By the way, why did you tell him I was an Everpool fan?]
Finding it too difficult to explain, Yeon-seo played dumb.
[I didn’t! I told him you were a Gloucester fan. He must have misheard.]
[Is that so?]
Her dad, who would believe Yeon-seo even if she told him red beans could make soy sauce, seemed to just let it go.
Fortunately, Dad didn’t seem to suspect anything between her and Joo-heon. Well, not that there was anything going on between them anyway.
At any rate, that was why Yeon-seo was on her way to work this morning. Just how on earth did he plan to resolve this? She was anxious, but she tried her best to calm her nerves. She would find out by this afternoon.
But she found out well before the afternoon—the very moment she stepped into the office. Wondering why there was a long line stretching out into the hallway, she saw small boxes piled high like a mountain right in the middle of the Public Relations Office. People in line were picking up a box each with excited expressions and heading back.
“Manager Jeong Yeon-seo, you’re here? How are you feeling?”
The moment Eun-jin saw her, she checked Yeon-seo’s expression. She seemed to have been deeply worried.
“I’m okay, thanks to you. But what is that?”
Yeon-seo pointed at the box in Eun-jin’s hands.
“An Apple Phone Pro. They said every single employee gets to take one!”
Eun-jin answered with a look that said what a stroke of sheer luck this was.
Yeon-seo was astonished. There were over two hundred employees at Bellator Korea’s Seoul headquarters alone! Looking again, the pile of boxes easily numbered in the hundreds. The people lined up weren’t just from the Public Relations Office either; they had come from every department.
“The company is giving these out? Why?”
“They said Director Kang Joo-heon is handing them out…… but I don’t know the reason either.”
She had worried the entire commute about how she would face everyone, but distracted by the gifts, no one spared Yeon-seo so much as a glance. And no wonder, when they had just received a brand-new two-million-won phone for free.
“What are you going to do, Manager Kim? You just got a new phone not too long ago.”
“I’ll give it to my wife. Thanks to Director Kang Joo-heon, I’ll get some brownie points.”
“Man, if I knew this was coming, I would’ve waited instead of buying a new one!”
“Don’t worry. Supplies are so tight right now that even if you sell it unopened on Gaji Market, you’ll get the full retail price back.”
“Really? Then how did Director Kang Joo-heon get his hands on this many?”
“The answer’s right there in your question. He’s Kang Joo-heon!”
Everyone was buzzing with excitement, filling the entire office with a lively chatter. That clamor only settled down when Kang Joo-heon himself appeared moments later.
“Thank you, Director Kang Joo-heon!”
“We’ll put them to good use!”
Everyone erupted into applause and whistles, making quite a fuss. It was a roar of fervor that felt as though they were right in Gloucester Home Stadium.
Yet the man himself didn’t show the slightest hint of boasting. Looking around, he cut straight to the point without so much as a greeting.
“I heard there was a phone theft incident within the company recently.”
The surroundings went dead silent, as if doused in cold water.
“…….”
As if by unspoken agreement, everyone’s eyes turned toward Yeon-seo. A few tactful people deliberately looked away, but there was no one in the company who didn’t know who the accused culprit was.
Kang Joo-heon continued.
“Jeong Yeon-seo-ssi’s phone. I gave it to her.”
Yeon-seo felt her vision go dark even with her eyes wide open. Was this what he meant by clearing her name?
As if she hadn’t known how to say that all along! She had kept quiet only because saying so would make everyone suspicious!
Sure enough, the looks people gave Yeon-seo had shifted into a completely different kind of shock.
‘Kang Joo-heon gave her a gift?’
‘Then what on earth is their relationship?’
Overwhelmed by the barrage of stares, Yeon-seo squeezed her eyes shut. This was the exact situation she had wanted to avoid!
“…….”
It was all over now. Soon the rumors would spread like wildfire across the internet. Her identity, her photos…… all of it!
Just as despair took hold, his voice rang out again.
“How much is one of these?”
Joo-heon picked up one of the phone boxes and asked the person closest to him.
“Around two million won, I believe.”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, the young male employee answered without knowing what was going on.
“Then do you happen to know what my weekly wage is?”
It was a question to which everyone already knew the answer. Sure enough, the employee answered right away.
“Five hundred million won, as far as I know.”
“I can’t disclose the exact details here, but with win bonuses, kit sales shares, and various performance clauses added on, it’s actually much more than what’s publicly known. Of course, commercial endorsements and the like are all separate income.”
Following the sudden flex of his wealth, he asked:
“Then to me, how much value do you think this holds?”