Chapter 72

With an expression full of regret, Seung-Jae glanced in the direction Si-Jin had disappeared to.

“I did not want to cause trouble for you, Ms. Na-Yool. Sorry, for always requesting to edit the video.”

“No trouble, don’t mention it.”

“Ahh, so embarrassing!”

Seung-Jae shook his head as he ruffled his hair in a mess with his large hand. Na-Yool took the freshly brewed coffee and started walking out, motioning him with her chin to follow her. Walking behind her at first, they soon were walking side by side.

“If you’re going to feel embarrassed, you should have felt that way well before.”

“I have been feeling embarrassed each time you had to fix things up for me. I just did not show it…”

“It really didn’t show at all. I kept wondering how there could be such a shameless kid.”

“I might be thick-skinned, but I do have a conscience, Ms. Na-Yool.”

“Anyway, you sure talk well.”

Not retorting any more, Seung-Jae lowered his head and sighed deeply. Na-Yool, who was carefully sipping her hot coffee, glanced at him and scolded.

“Don’t sigh like this. They say it brings bad karma.”

“That is what my grandmother says…”

“Treating me like an old lady despite being only one year younger?”

“Can I treat you as equal then?”

“No. Continue to treat me as a senior.”

“It feels so distant.”

“You feel the authority, too. Keep this distance.”

“Our company does not even have official ranks, ‘authority’, what ‘authority’…” [T/N: Remember that Ethical Communications is a very western-like company. They don’t use Korean working culture’s traditional titles, such as sawon, juim, daeri, etc. Seniority does matter though, therefore Na-Yool’s answer.]

“My point exactly. We don’t even have ranks, yet you aren’t even going to treat me as your senior?”

Seung-Jae once again laughed out loud at Na-Yool’s witty comeback. Even his smiling face was full of fatigue.

“What’s wrong with your face?”

“… Nothing much.”

“You don’t have to feel so bad about it…”

“You look in a good mood though, Ms. Kim Na-Yool”

He stared at her with strange eyes. Too soft to be a look of reproach, but clearly sharp enough for her to feel a little stab. As though she was cornered, Na-Yool let some words out.

“…I’m sorry for that day.”

What was difficult was not to apologize, but to be reminded of that shameful call. That incident when Sang-Hoon, in the middle of their fight about her ‘new boyfriend’, had picked up Seung-Jae’s call and shouted, “Are you the bastard?!” …

“I’m sorry, really. He wasn’t like this before…”

“He was not?”

“If he was, I would never have dated him.”

“Well, that’s good to hear…”

“At that time, he was drunk, a bit out of it, irrational… and agitated too.”

“Is that not kind of dangerous?”

Na-Yool suddenly remembered Sang-Hoon’s pathetic state.

“No, nothing of the sort. And nothing dangerous happened back then either…”

Thinking back, in the face of Sang-Hoon’s pathetic condition, Si-Jin’s extreme stalker theory was sort of credible. What a scary world… Na-Yool’s words were stuck in her throat.

Seung-Jae frowned.

“Even if nothing happened back then, who knows about the future.”

“… Indeed, right?” Under Seung-Jae’s decisive tone, Na-Yool unknowingly agreed.

“A complete nutcase, that kind of bastard.” muttered Seung-Jae with a strangely annoyed expression on his face.

“… Well, maybe I just don’t have a good eye for people…”

And after all, she herself had not been that great of a girlfriend either. Rather than wanting to cover up for Sang-Hoon, Na-Yool simply did not want to feel annoyed anymore.

As it may be, perhaps all of this was thanks to Si-Jin. The great sense of distance with the events of the past was one proof of it. No matter how much she disliked his actions, once time had passed, it was as if it did not happen. And to the current Na-Yool, Sang-Hoon was like that too. Even more than right after their break-up, when she eventually lost her mind after being seduced by Si-Jin.

“Surely he was fine when he was dating you, Ms. Ma-Yool. You do have some taste.”

I probably did not have any for a while, though. Despite thinking so, Na-Yool accepted the free compliment with a nod.

“That jerk is in the wrong for being double-faced, not you who did not know about it.”

“…That’s right. Plus, people usually don’t really have a good relationship after breaking up.”

“That being said, not all men come all the way to their ex-girlfriend’s workplace to create trouble. Even if they still love her and do not want to let go.”

Na-Yool bitterly smacked her lips and nodded once again. The end of a relationship, in any form, always leaves a bitterness, big or small. Even after keeping a distance as if nothing happened.

“From his point of view… it seems he thought that if he asked for a break-up, I would want to hold onto him.” Na-Yool said in a soft snicker, and Seung-Jae knitted his eyebrows.

“Stupid loser.”

“Things are not as he expected, which is why he doesn’t understand and he’s acting crazy. It must be something like this, I guess. Anyway, that case is pretty much closed, so nothing else should happen.”

“How are you sure of that? If the bastard keeps following you around and you confront him, how do you know he won’t turn on you?”

“Just because…”

She knew of Sang-Hoon’s inward ‒ actually, maybe more in the open than she thought ‒ cowardice. In spite of everything, no matter how low Sang-Hoon fell, she could not picture him capable of carrying out the extreme scenarios Si-Jin had mentioned. Although Si-Jin’s thorough brainwashing from yesterday when he dropped her off had been effective enough for her to briefly believe the possibility… And somehow, maybe unconsciously heeding his words, she had quietly stayed at home.

Still, could such things really happen?

Na-Yool frowned, a somewhat ominous feeling rising in.

“Just because, as if… In this world, a guy who cannot stand his ground in front of others could certainly be waiting with a knife at his ex’s house simply because she broke up with him.”

“That’s true. It’s a scary world. Right…”

“Back then too, you should have called me over. That kind of jerk, they are even more moronic than you think. If they see the girl is still single after breaking up, they will never understand why she said she does not like them anymore. They cannot give up either. ‘No boyfriend? Then we can patch things up between us!’ That’s how they think.”

“…It’s not like people are objects without an owner.”

“Me too, I have plenty of friends like that. If it is just to this extent, it’s rather lucky. Those who take advantage of the fact that there is no bastard to protect the girl, to deal with her as they please, aren’t they the real criminals? ‘If I give him the cold shoulder, he will probably understand, and know how shameful his actions were…’  Like this, women are deluded about how moronic these sort of losers can be.”

For some reason, the conversation sounded familiar. Of course, it sounded a lot more realistic than Si Jin’s extreme assumptions, and therefore also sounded more likely to happen. Left with no room for speaking, Na-Yool simply kept on blinking while listening to Seung-Jae’s words full of barbs.

“It goes without saying that you must kill the spirit of bastards who think like this, by having them witness their ex with another man. Even better if the new guy looks greater than them at first glance.”

The thing is, Sang-Hoon’s prattling back then had been unstoppable, even when a man greater beyond compare had actually showed up. Thanks to it, Si-Jin had successfully and unconcernedly enjoyed for a good amount of time the nice show from a distance.

However, as with Hee-Jung, Na-Yool was adamant to not give away that such a method had already been used.

“So, for example, someone like you?”

“Exactly.”