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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Vice President's Wife
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"Shall we head to work together? Vice President."
A cool autumn morning breeze blew in.
The breeze's touch slipped through Yi Yeon's hair.
Yi Yeon savored the pleasant wind to her heart's content. Nothing was in the way of her head anymore. It felt like the breeze was coolly scratching an itchy spot.
In response to Yi Yeon's suggestion to commute together, An Do Hyun tightened his firm forearm instead of answering.
As the firmness transferred to Yi Yeon's arm, her trembling heart somehow felt steadier too.
She had made her resolution last night, but shedding a shell she'd worn for so long was harder than she'd thought.
It was like walking around naked, even though it was her original self.
It felt completely different from the brief moments she'd let loose during dates with An Do Hyun.
Letting go of her disguise while openly revealing the name "Yu Yi Yeon" was...
The two passed through the revolving door into the lobby.
From the lobby onward, the stares felt like they were pressing down on Yi Yeon. The air seemed incredibly heavy.
The more it happened, the tighter Yi Yeon gripped An Do Hyun's arm.
The regular click of Yi Yeon's heels echoed as she crossed the lobby.
To hide her shaking heart, she put extra strength into her tiptoes with each step.
In that moment of high tension, a familiar, welcoming face appeared. Her eyes met Jeonghwan's, who was guarding the gate. Yi Yeon greeted him as she always did.
"Good morning."
"Good morning, ma'am."
Jeonghwan returned the greeting with pleasure at seeing an unfamiliar woman, but he tilted his head, unsure who she was.
Jeonghwan remembered almost all the employees coming and going.
But the woman before him was a face he'd never seen.
He couldn't forget an employee with such a standout appearance.
Watching the woman walk away, Jeonghwan suddenly recalled a familiar voice.
In this vast company teeming with people, few employees greeted him so warmly.
"No way?"
Jeonghwan blankly stared at Yi Yeon's retreating figure again. His mouth hung open for a long while.
Jeonghwan wasn't the only one frozen in the lobby.
An Do Hyun's tall stature and unique aura alone turned heads, but the woman walking beside him drew just as much attention, making it feel like time had stopped as people halted in their tracks across the lobby.
The stunned crowd sought out acquaintances nearby, huddling together to whisper. Murmurs rose from all around.
"Who's that with the Vice President?"
"You heard the rumors—he got married. There was even an article about it last night."
"Bringing her in publicly the very next day after the news? He must be head over heels."
"What's the point? He was cheating with Secretary Yu!"
"Cheating with a beauty like that? Ugh, did you see how small her face is?"
"It's tiny. How does she fit eyes, nose, and mouth on a face that small? Manager Yoon, take a look at my face—how much bigger is mine compared to hers?"
"You even have to ask? It's bigger than the Vice President's, for starters."
The two section chiefs, who had joined the company together, busied themselves comparing each other to Yi Yeon.
"No matter how much I get massages, I'm always stuck incubating calf eggs like a mother hen, but that woman's legs are flawless. God definitely doesn't exist."
The female employees, who had mostly seen Yi Yeon in pantsuits, fixated on her bare legs and compared them to their own.
As if by agreement, the employees all stared as the pair passed through the lobby.
"The elevators feel extra slow today."
Yi Yeon whispered lowly to An Do Hyun, conscious of the gazes around them.
She wanted to escape the lobby quickly.
With every employee staring, she felt nauseous.
She hadn't expected them to gawk so openly.
"Just look at me. Ignore everything else."
An Do Hyun ignored the curious stares like a monkey at the zoo and focused solely on Yi Yeon ahead, like a racehorse eyeing the finish line.
An Do Hyun flashed his neat teeth in a smile.
Screams erupted from female employees lucky enough to catch it.
But An Do Hyun seemed oblivious, as if his ears were stuffed.
Who was that smile for?
"Vice President, our company's turned into a zoo today."
It felt like all it would take was tossing a banana to turn them into monkeys.
"Need an escape route?"
"That escape route doesn't look so safe either."
What are you planning to do here?
The best option was just to head up quietly.
An Do Hyun let out a small chuckle at Yi Yeon's words.
Yi Yeon glanced around and saw that, aside from her and An Do Hyun, the employees were standing at least three steps back from the elevators.
The whispering had gone quiet for the moment.
Everyone seemed to be listening in on their conversation.
Surrounded by people, Yi Yeon just stood still in front of the elevator. She couldn't turn her head or her body.
Right then, the elevator they'd been waiting for finally arrived.
The lobby they left behind echoed with envious sighs.
"She's way prettier than Jeong Hee Ra up close."
"I thought the same, Assistant Manager! But that wife has it rough—the secretary upstairs is the Vice President's mistress, right? Does she know?"
"Of course not."
The men who had watched the pair expressed envy and admiration toward An Do Hyun, muttering that the elite always get the beauties and have it all.
In contrast, the women praised the perfect harmony of beauty beside handsome, saying women really do need looks.
No one had yet realized that the woman walking beside An Do Hyun was Secretary Yu Yi Yeon.
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"The staring was so blatant I wanted to run. Were you embarrassed too, Vice President?"
No one else boarded the elevator with the two.
It was rush hour, but apparently no one wanted to risk being late—or face the intimidating pair.
Now alone in the space, Yi Yeon tugged at An Do Hyun's collar and asked.
"I'm used to all the attention, so embarrassment is a distant memory."
"Oh..."
So the embarrassment is all mine, then.
"How do you feel?"
As they neared the office, An Do Hyun asked. He seemed curious about Yi Yeon's feelings now that she was truly facing the world as herself.
It did feel refreshing to have cast everything off.
She loved feeling the breeze through her hair and walking without fussing over slipping glasses.
Everything was great, except the stares that hit the moment they entered the lobby.
"Bittersweet. The attention was a lot, but maybe because you're beside me, it showed me how overwhelming a flood of gazes can be—I wanted to hide earlier."
She'd briefly regretted drawing all that notice, but Yi Yeon decided to let it go.
"Did you hear what the employees were saying?"
"That Yu Yi Yeon has a big face?"
Yi Yeon lifted the corners of her mouth softly.
Her slightly prominent cheekbones made her smiling face look even prettier, like an egg.
"First time hearing my face is big!"
When Yi Yeon shot him a glare, An Do Hyun laughed and pressed her forehead firmly.
He was trying to loosen her up after all that tension.
His thoughtfulness brought a bloom of smiles to her face.
Her stiff facial muscles seemed to relax a bit.
"What did you hear?"
"They said the marriage article came out yesterday. Did you know?"
An Do Hyun nodded in affirmation, then spoke to Yi Yeon like a plea.
"Yeah. But don't worry about it. Yu Yi Yeon, just think about me and nothing else."
With that, An Do Hyun entered the office.
The day was just starting, but Yi Yeon already felt drained.
She trudged to her desk and turned on her computer.
Messages flooded in the moment she logged into the company messenger.
People from the secretary's office she wasn't close with, folks from other departments... even Su Jin and Yeon Jeong. The influx made the computer lag briefly.
Yi Yeon read the incoming messages and couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
[Secretary Yu! OMG! Vice President came in with his wife? How's she look up close?]
[Secretary Yu! Heard the Vice President's wife showed up today! Everyone's saying she's a model or celebrity! Is she in the office with him now?]
[Secretary Yu! Vice President and his wife are there right now, right? Everyone wants to come up and see! Can we?]
Yi Yeon chuckled as she read through the message bombs from the employees.
Not long ago—no, just hours ago—they'd been gossiping wildly behind her back about her and An Do Hyun. Now they were bombarding her with curiosity about his wife.
"Secretary Choi walked right past without even acknowledging me."
Secretary Choi had passed by Yi Yeon multiple times yesterday without a glance, pretending not to know her.
And now, she had the gall to message shamelessly.
As Yi Yeon read the employees' messages, she tilted her head.
Was her disguise that good? No one thought that woman was her?
She'd expected at least a few to recognize her, but it was surprisingly off the mark.
'Hey! The An Do Hyun couple's here!'
Su Jin's message, at least, was the most normal—since she already knew.
[Yu Yi Yeon sighting?]
Yeah, Su Jin. It's me...
She was reading Su Jin's last message when rapid heels approached from afar.
"Secretary Yu! Why read my message and not reply...!"
Yeon Jeong, who had been flying over, cut off mid-sentence upon seeing the unfamiliar woman at Yi Yeon's desk.
A strikingly beautiful woman sat there as if it were natural.
Her thick, long lashes caught the eye as she looked down at something.
Looking closer, Yeon Jeong remembered.
It was the woman from the department store with An Do Hyun.
His wife. The most famous woman at Woosung Card right now.
And that woman was looking at Yeon Jeong with impossible familiarity.
"Assistant Manager Kang, too many messages crashed the computer."
"Secretary Yu?"
