The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 38
Chapter 38
38.
“Then how much do you think this is worth to me?”
This time, it took a moment. As the employee who was asked struggled to answer immediately, murmurs broke out among the rest of the crowd first.
“Maybe around twenty thousand won?”
“No, more like two thousand won.”
“If you add up endorsement deals and everything, he must make well over three or four billion won a month. Compare that to the three or four million we make.”
“Then two thousand won is about right.”
Kang Joo-heon nodded.
“It’s probably around that.”
In other words, what was worth two million won to others was worth barely two thousand won to him.
One of the things Koreans hated most was flaunting wealth—more precisely, flaunting wealth empty-handed. Bragging with mere words was obnoxious, but if someone bragged while treating everyone to premium Hanwoo beef, it became entirely tolerable. This was just such a case. Since he was handing out brand-new phones to every single employee while saying it, far from being annoyed, people found themselves nodding along. Right, right, he’s not bragging, he’s just stating the plain truth.
“To me, this is something I can casually hand out without a second thought. Exactly as I just gave one to all of you.”
Only then did people realize why Kang Joo-heon had brought this up. His goal wasn’t to brag at all.
“You all saw me play during the company sports day. They gave me this as the first-place prize.”
“…….”
“It was something I had no use for, so without giving it much thought, I gave it to my secretary. Told her to take it if she needed it.”
Everyone listening was convinced. It wasn’t something he had bought intentionally as a gift, but a prize he’d received for free—someone like Kang Joo-heon could easily have tossed it her way on a whim.
“She probably couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth out of fear of inconveniencing me. Afraid that people would whisper behind her back, assuming there was something going on between us.”
Murmurs of realization rippled across the room. Ah, so that’s why she couldn’t say who gave it to her. Quite a few people turned to look at Yeon-seo with sympathetic eyes.
Kang Joo-heon then deliberately stroked his own neck in plain view. Everyone knew what had once been there.
“I’ll politely decline any absurd misunderstandings.”
Realizing what his gesture meant, people collectively caught their breath.
‘That mosquito bite… it really was a woman!’
Of course, there was no way it was Jeong Yeon-seo. Because the hickey incident had happened before he even arrived at this company.
People finally understood why Kang Joo-heon was going through so much hassle to clarify the situation so actively. He clearly had a lover, and if a pointless scandal erupted involving another woman, that lover would hardly be pleased.
“Jeong Yeon-seo-ssi. I apologize that you suffered unnecessary trouble on my account.”
Even in his tone as he offered a public apology toward Yeon-seo, not a shred of personal feeling could be detected.
Just like that, Yeon-seo was completely cleared of false accusations. No one thought of her as a phone thief anymore. It was also clear that there was nothing between her and Kang Joo-heon. In fact, many felt sorry for Yeon-seo, who hadn’t been able to speak the truth even after being wrongly accused.
“Goodness, how awful must that have felt.”
“Seriously, we almost framed an innocent person for no reason.”
The wrongly accused was cleared, Kang Joo-heon’s unknown lover wouldn’t have her feelings hurt, and the employees had hit a windfall.
So it seemed like the matter had concluded with a happy ending—but it wasn’t over yet.
“That’s one matter, but shouldn’t we catch the real culprit?”
At Jooheon’s words, the Head of the Public Relations Office replied in flustered confusion.
“Ah, Director. We had already agreed to let that pass quietly…….”
Jooheon spoke sharply.
“Someone was falsely accused. How can we let it pass quietly?”
The Head of PR flinched and immediately clamped his mouth shut.
“I will meet with the CEO and recommend filing a police report.”
As Kang Joo-heon delivered his concluding remark, his sharp gaze was glaring at a certain spot.
*
Her heart pounded wildly.
‘What? Don’t tell me he figured it out?’
Hye-eun hid inside the restroom, panting for breath.
[I will meet with the CEO and recommend filing a police report.]
When he had said that just moments ago, Kang Joo-heon’s gaze had been directed at none other than Hye-eun. As if saying, You did this, didn’t you?
‘No, no one saw me. I’m sure of it.’
She had been so startled that her heart still felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. Hye-eun tried to stay calm.
‘If he had proof it was me, he would have already said it in front of everyone.’
Kang Joo-heon said he would speak to the CEO. And that CEO was none other than her father. She could handle it somehow before things reached the worst-case scenario.
At that thought, her racing heart finally settled a bit.
‘Why on earth is he going this far?’
Until now, she had thought whatever feelings Kang Joo-heon harbored for Jeong Yeon-seo couldn’t be anything serious yet. It hadn’t been long since she’d heard him agonizing over how much he hated her.
Yet seeing what unfolded today made her wonder if she had been wrong. Hadn’t he handed out two-million-won smartphones to the entire staff just to clear Jeong Yeon-seo’s name?
To me, something like this is only worth two thousand won. I can give it away anytime to anyone.
Others might have bought into those words and thought there really was nothing going on between him and Jeong Yeon-seo, but Hye-eun knew better. Because she had already been scolded once for messing with Jeong Yeon-seo.
[If you’re curious, go ahead and try it.]
The look in his eyes when he warned Hye-eun that a second strike would mean a red card.
When he declared he would report it to the police earlier, he had glared at Hye-eun with that exact same look.
‘Is he actually planning to marry her or something?’
The thought that it might actually happen made her stomach churn even more violently than before. He claimed to have an unforgettable first love he couldn’t let go of, so why go this far for the woman who assaulted him?
Her blood boiled, but for now, that wasn’t the priority. Though she believed there was no evidence, if a police report was filed and an investigation began, she couldn’t be one hundred percent sure she wouldn’t get caught.
The Apple Phone Hye-eun had stolen was still hidden deep inside her desk drawer.
‘I have to get rid of that first.’
There was no telling when Kang Joo-heon might make his move to report it. Hye-eun rushed out of the restroom.
*
Having wrapped up the matter with his declaration of a police report, Jooheon took the lead and headed up to the office.
“Let’s go up.”
“Yes, Director.”
Following behind him, Yeon-seo thought to herself.
‘I guess he couldn’t even do his morning training today.’
The thought that an athlete like Kang Joo-heon had skipped his training routine because of her filled her with such overwhelming reverence and guilt that she didn’t know what to do with herself.
Was that all? Just to clear her name, he had even gone to the trouble of buying hundreds of smartphones and handing them out to every employee. No matter how much he claimed it was nothing to him, how could that be true? As if walking up to the chairman of Samsung and asking for a free phone would actually get you one.
Yeon-seo wrestled with her thoughts. Should I say thank you? Surely, that’s the right thing to do.
“Um…….”
The moment they stepped out of the elevator into the empty hallway and she was about to voice her gratitude—
He whipped around.
“You.”
Yeon-seo flinched under his usual glare, which always looked as though he found her utterly infuriating.
“Who on earth is an Everpool fan?”
Yeon-seo shrank back and apologized.
“I’m sorry!”
“What, did you think I’d eat you alive if you said your father was a fan of mine?”
“It’s not that, but…….”
“Why can’t you just be honest?”
Jooheon let out a frustrated sigh.
“Take this incident, for instance. If you were being falsely accused, you should have told me first. You should have told me the truth—that things turned out this way because of the phone I gave you—and asked for help.”
“I’m sorry…….”
“Skipping work without a word and holing up at home sobbing—does that solve anything?”
“I was wrong…….”
“Don’t you have a mouth? Are you an idiot? Why couldn’t you speak up?”
I was trying to thank you, so why are you only yelling at me? Overwhelmed by a sudden surge of sorrow at the barrage of scolding, tears welled up in Yeon-seo’s eyes.
“It’s because of how you treat me that I couldn’t say anything, Director!”
“What?”
Consumed by sorrow, Yeon-seo completely lost all fear. As she glared back at him through tear-filled eyes, he flinched.
“It’s true! You glare at me every chance you get, you scold me constantly, and when I finally asked you for a single autograph, you wouldn’t even give me that!”
Yeon-seo cried out, her voice breaking.
“Back then, I walked on eggshells for ages before working up the courage to ask for that autograph. But don’t you remember what you said to me?”
To the words she had managed to squeeze out after walking on eggshells for so long, he had refused with a single word.
[No.]
“You’re always getting angry, putting me down, calling me trash. You wouldn’t even give me an autograph—something you give to everyone else—just because it was me asking. How on earth, what, what am I supposed to say to someone like that?!”