1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 11



Only Krnovel

#11. A Woman Who Is Pretty Even When She Cries
2023.07.07.

“That’s right.”

“So.”

What does “so ” mean?

I almost asked that.

Yerin laughed awkwardly.

“Chief, you’ve never been in a relationship, so you’re saying that’s why you’re lacking right now?”

“I guess so.”

Was this a skill that could be improved through practice?

That thought was fleeting.

Yerin tilted her head. The

Lee Hyun I saw that night wasn’t lacking at all.

Not only was his speech exciting, but his gestures were so sweet that they were dripping with honey.

However, I couldn’t ask him why he was lying when I brought that up.

The moment I did that, I would be admitting that the woman from that day was me.

No matter what, there seemed to be no way out.

Yerin was helplessly falling into the trap Lee Hyun had set.

Lee Hyun looked at Yerin with a very serious face.

“I wouldn’t ask a secretary to submit a report, though.”

Lee Hyun leaned forward, supporting the table with both arms.

Because of that, the distance between them became noticeably narrower.

“I want you to tell me what you felt while you were with me, and what I need to fix.”

Looking at Lee Hyun’s serious face, I felt like I was thinking ahead of myself.

‘The chief may really need some dating practice.’

Looking at Yerin’s hesitating face, Lee Hyun threw a big punch.

“I’ll give you whatever Secretary Han wants.”

“What do you want?”

“Should I give you a building?”

“No!”

She had never once wished for something like that.

Yerin stretched out her arms and waved them around.

“Oh, one isn’t enough?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“If you need cash, that’s fine too, so feel free to talk.”

Lee Hyun shrugged lightly and left the restaurant room first.

Yerin belatedly came to her senses, packed her belongings, and followed him.

“Chief, I guess… … .”

As soon as she left the room, Yerin bit her lips because of the man she encountered.

“Yerin?”

And next to him was a woman she hated so much.

“Oh my, I see everything here.”

It was Heejun, her former boyfriend, and Seoyoon, who stole him.

Yerin held onto her bag tightly and hardened her expression.

“What? We haven’t seen each other in a long time, so why don’t you say hello?”

Seoyoon smiled brightly as if she was so happy and linked her arms with Heejun.

Heejun gently pushed her arm away and touched the back of his head with one hand as if he was embarrassed.

“By the way, Yerin, what are you doing here?”

It was the first time she had met Heejun after announcing their breakup.

It was an embarrassing breakup notice that showed no trace of courtesy toward her ex-lover.

Yerin straightened her back and spat out the words.

“To dinner.”

“With who?”

Heejun showed great interest in Yerin.

In the meantime, Lee Hyun, who had gone to pay, strode over to stand next to Yerin.

He immediately sensed the tense atmosphere between the two men and women who were meeting for the first time and Yerin. “

Who are you? ”

he asked Yerin.

While Yerin hesitated about how to introduce Heejun and Seoyoon, Lee Hyun spoke again.

“Do you know each other?”

“Yes, we did.”

Lee Hyun smiled, raising the corners of his lips as if he had finally figured out the situation at that short answer.

Then, without warning, he grabbed Yerin’s hand.

Everyone there was surprised.

“We have a lot to do, so let’s go now.”

Lee Hyun stared at Heejun with cold eyes and grabbed Yerin’s hand.

Yerin, whose hand was unintentionally grabbed by Lee Hyun, made a flustered expression and slowly walked away.

As he walked away from them, Lee Hyun bent down and whispered in Yerin’s ear.

“I’m still watching you from behind.”

“… … .”

“Can you be so awkward?”

My legs were shaking so much that I couldn’t walk properly.

Lee Hyun glanced at Yerin and let out a pleasant low voice.

“Secretary Han, would you please excuse me for a moment?”

Soon, a warm feeling touched Yerin’s waist.

As she slowly turned her head, she saw Lee Hyun’s face smiling brightly at her.

“If you’re stiff like that, I don’t think there’s any reason I bothered to wrap my arms around your waist.”

“Oh, yes… … .”

“Lean on me and walk.”

Lee Hyun whispered again, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“If you really can’t walk, should I carry you and take you out?”

“No. It’s okay.”

Yerin came to her senses at the word that he would carry her.

Lee Hyun wrapped his arms around Yerin’s waist until they left the restaurant, or rather, until they got into the car.

　

***

Heejun stared at the door where Yerin had disappeared.

“What are you looking at, oppa?”

“No. Nothing.”

Heejun forced himself to move his unsteady steps.

Even as he sat at the table, the face of the man he saw earlier and Yerin kept flashing through his mind.

“But oppa, doesn’t that man’s face look really familiar?”

“I’m not sure.”

Seoyoon fiddled with her cell phone and let out a short scream as if she had found something.

“You’re crazy.”

“Why are you being so noisy again?”

“Oppa, that’s the guy that Han Ye-rin went out with earlier.”

Hee-jun took the phone that Seo-yoon was handing him.

On the screen was a handsome photo of Lee Hyun, who was being mentioned as a candidate for the next successor to Jiseok Electronics.

“Cha Yi-hyun?”

“Huh. How are they together?”

Seo-yoon muttered to herself while biting her well-manicured fingernails.

“There’s a connection between the two of them… … Ah.”

Then, as if she remembered something, she smiled brightly.

“I guess Ye-rin’s boss changed to General Manager Cha Yi-hyun.”

Hee-jun still had a complicated expression.

“Well. If it wasn’t a work-related issue, how could Han Ye-rin meet a man as good as Cha Yi-hyun?”

Seo-yoon pulled up the corners of her red-stained lips.

“Oppa, so tomorrow we… … .”

Hee-jun still had a blank expression.

In particular, the image of the two of them whispering affectionately as they left the restaurant kept coming to mind, making him feel very uncomfortable.

Seo-yoon’s voice mumbling something in front of me didn’t reach my ears at all.

‘You’ve gotten prettier.’

Why was she shining brighter next to that man than when she was next to me?

I didn’t like that at all.

***

Ye-rin got into Lee Hyun’s car and took a deep breath.

She was more embarrassed by Lee Hyun’s actions than by meeting Hee-jun and Seo-yoon unexpectedly.

“I did it because I thought I needed help, but I’m sorry if any of the secretaries were offended.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

Ye-rin slowly raised her head.

The streetlights slowly filtered into the dark car.

They were completely illuminating Lee Hyun’s profile.

“Thank you, Chief.”

What would have happened if Lee Hyun hadn’t shown up there?

Just thinking about it made me dizzy.

I would have just stood there blankly, like an idiot, unable to say a word.

Lee Hyun slowly started the car.

Still, since he had helped her, she felt she had to explain the situation she had encountered earlier.

“That man was someone I met earlier.”

At those words, Lee Hyun’s eyebrows shot up sharply.

“The woman next to him stole my man.”

It was a calm voice, as if he was telling someone else’s story.

The traffic light changed just in time, and Lee Hyun slowed down his car.

Then he turned his head and looked at Yerin.

“It must have been hard, Secretary Han.”

“Rather than saying it was hard… … . I think I got hit again! That’s what I thought.”

“It wasn’t the first time, was it?”

“Yes. I’m such an idiot.”

I don’t know why she was rambling on about this in front of Lee Hyun, but she wanted to.

Maybe she needed someone’s comfort.

Lee Hyun let out a soft voice.

“That man has no discerning eye.”

“That can’t be true.”

Even on the outside, Seo Yoon had much more than me.

Her father, a three-term member of the National Assembly, was the same, and their families were also very different.

Lee Hyun said firmly.

“Anyone could tell that Secretary Han was much more beautiful than that woman.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not just her appearance, but her inside, too.”

“… … .”

“When I listened to Secretary Han, she said that woman stole one of the men several times.”

Yerin slowly turned her head while holding on to her seatbelt tightly.

“I’ve never seen a decent person who covets other people’s things. And this isn’t Secretary Han’s fault.”

As soon as she heard Lee Hyun’s pleasant voice, tears formed in Yerin’s eyes without her knowing.

Her vision became blurry, and soon tears flowed down her ivory cheeks.

“Ah… ….”

Yerin was embarrassed by the tears that flowed down without her knowing, so she roughly wiped them away with the back of her hand.

“I’m sorry. Why am I like this?”

To her great embarrassment, the tears that had been flowing down steadily became stronger.

No matter how much she wiped them with the back of her hand, her vision kept getting blurry.

Yerin took a handkerchief out of her bag.

Lee Hyun arrived in front of Yerin’s house just in time, stopped the car, and unbuckled his seatbelt.

Then he reached out and cupped Yerin’s cheek.

He wiped away Yerin’s tears that were slowly flowing down with his thumb.

Yerin froze without even being able to reject his hand.

Why was the words Lee Hyun had said that night coming to mind in this situation?

“How can you be so pretty even when you cry?”

　
And similar words flowed out from Lee Hyun in front of him.

“Do you know that?”

“… … .”

“Secretary Han said that even when you cry, you are truly beautiful.”

Yerin dropped the handkerchief she was holding.

Lee Hyun picked up the handkerchief that Yerin had dropped.

And he slowly wiped Yerin’s tears with his own hand instead of the handkerchief.

The place where Lee Hyun’s hand had passed was so hot that Yerin could only bite her lip.

“I’ve seen a woman who is beautiful when she cries once more.”

“… … .”

Yerin tensed up, thinking that he might be referring to that day.

And of course.

Yerin’s prediction was right.

“The woman I’m desperately wanting to see right now was like that too.”