LGHTNOVELBOOK Ch100 - Is this okay?
Tears welled up in Eun-bi’s eyes.
This wasn’t my goal. The plan was to reveal that Lee Jung-o was Jung Ji-heon’s mistress!
Right next to her, Jung Ji-o appeared completely indifferent to the situation, continuing to work with a blank expression.
I was supposed to be the victim! You were supposed to be the mistress!
Even Jo Si-nae, who had comforted Eun-bi, seemed shocked by the recording. Eun-bi approached Si-nae to complain.
“Si-nae, you know? This is all slander. You understand, right? You’ve been wronged too.”
However, Si-nae shook her head and began to step back.
She was the only one who had heard both Ji-heon’s and Eun-bi’s one-sided claims. She had supported Eun-bi’s claims because it was advantageous for her.
But now, with the recording of their conversation, everything was out in the open.
“…Manager, please don’t contact me anymore. I can’t trust you now.”
A swift cut-off. Those watching the scene looked at Eun-bi with disgust.
“No! That’s not it! It’s you! Jung Ji-o, you did this!”
“What’s wrong with her? She must be crazy,” Eun-joo muttered as if looking at a bug.
Ultimately, Eun-bi was chased out, shouting that the file was fake, leaving in an undignified exit.
An hour later, an email arrived at Max Planning’s employees.
“Dear colleagues, this is Jung Ji-heon, Head of Planning and Production Division 1.
Due to the mistake of a production team employee who has left Max Planning, personal data related to employees has been leaked. As the head of the division and a related party, I sincerely apologize to everyone.
I also urge those who downloaded the leaked recording file today to delete it as soon as possible.”
Although Ji-heon requested the recording files be deleted, employees eagerly saved them instead.
The most entertaining thing in the world is watching a fight, and among those, the best is a love triangle.
Employees, who had been wandering around with ghostly eyes due to work, began to engage in lively discussions for the first time in a while. In every gathering of two or more, they inevitably talked about Jung Ji-heon and Chae Eun-bi.
“Did you see the recording file that Manager Chae Eun-bi uploaded?”
“Of course. So, the rumor about Manager Chae Eun-bi and Director Jung Ji-heon getting married was just a baseless rumor. And it was spread solely by Manager Chae.”
“I didn’t think she was like that, but after what she said to Deputy Jung Ji-o last time, it seems like she has delusions of grandeur.”
“I thought she would be a decent person coming from a family of lawyers. Oh, I’m so glad I’m not involved with someone like that. They say the people taking over her work now are all in a bad state.”
“But Director Jung Ji-heon is surprisingly foolish. At his age and position, getting caught up in a fake relationship?”
Most of the comments were criticisms of Eun-bi, but Ji-heon couldn’t escape criticism either. Only the Production Team 2, suspecting that Ji-heon had intentionally intervened to resolve the conflict, looked relieved.
Among them, Deputy Ko Eun-joo was the most excited.
“This is so much fun! It’s so thrilling!”
It would be nice if only Eun-bi were being criticized, but seeing Ji-heon being criticized too made Jung Ji-o feel slightly resentful.
“Deputy Ko, don’t you think you’re enjoying this a bit too much?”
“Deputy Lee, let’s be honest. This should have been revealed a long time ago. The truth has burst forth in such a dramatic situation; how lucky and refreshing is that? Especially right before your name came up in the gossip!”
“But soon, my name will come out too. People love rumors. Plus, Eun-bi pointed me out.”
“Are you really worried?”
“Just a bit. That’s all.”
Jung Ji-o replied weakly to Eun-joo’s concerned question.
This was just the beginning for Jung Ji-o. There were still many things that hadn’t been revealed in the company. When people found out that his daughter was Ji-heon’s biological child, how excited would they become? Just imagining it made him feel exhausted already.
After a moment of silence, Eun-joo shared her thoughts.
“Deputy, for me, it doesn’t matter if I’m not liked by anyone at work. I’m not here to gain favor; I’m here to make money. And I know well enough that I’m pretty without needing anyone to tell me.”
“…”
“I don’t need to be sensitive. You know that, right? If you’re not obsessed with being loved, you can do a lot more.”
With Eun-joo’s encouragement, Jung Ji-o slowly nodded.
She was right. Deputy Ko Eun-joo always found ways to navigate work while maintaining boundaries with her colleagues. Though her personality was quite different from his, she was an incredibly supportive person.
“Thank you. I’ll pull myself together.”
Eun-joo smiled shyly at Jung Ji-o’s heartfelt gratitude.
.*. *. *. *. *. *.
After the recording file scandal broke, Seung-kyu, worried about Ji-heon’s well-being, rushed to his office. Ji-heon was sitting on the sofa, looking at his phone.
He was so engrossed in whatever content he was looking at that he even let out occasional chuckles.
“Jung Ji-heon… are you okay?”
Are you okay, or have you lost your mind?
I was relieved that he looked lively rather than downcast, but he didn’t seem like someone who had just caused a major incident, which made me even more worried. Seung-kyu sat down next to Ji-heon and sighed heavily, letting out his frustrations.
“I don’t know if you saved a country in your past life, but it seems you did protect it.”
“…”
“Regardless of your social standing being at rock bottom, your determination to expose injustice and put yourself on the line is impressive.”
“…”
“But are you completely out of it right now, or do you just want to avoid everything?”
“Do you want to see something?”
Ji-heon, who hadn’t responded, finally stretched out his hand to show his phone screen. It was a text message thread with Ye-na.
– I hope Dad comes to pick me up from the academy.
Seung-kyu frowned as he read the message.
“What’s this?”
“It’s from Ye-na.”
“…”
“It’s the first text Ye-na has ever sent me, and look, she didn’t make a single spelling mistake. Look at how she wrote ‘good.’ Not many seven-year-olds can do that, right?”
…I’m such a fool for worrying about this kid.
“Yeah. My son barely learned Hangul.”
“Who does Ye-na take after to be so smart?”
“What do you want to hear?”
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“Is it because her mom is a copywriter? She must have inherited her mom’s writing skills.”
Jung Ji-heon’s daughter, Lee Ye-na, sent a text with sixteen characters and has the potential to become a future copywriter.
Why can’t I bear to see this already?
Seung-kyu snatched Ji-heon’s phone and flipped it face down on the table.
“Enough of this nonsense. What happened? Chae Eun-bi couldn’t possibly have had that recording file.”
Seung-kyu asked sharply. No matter how shortsighted Eun-bi was, there was no way she would store something that could harm her in the company’s computer.
Ji-heon picked up his phone from the table and replied casually.
“You know that if an employee has a problem, the company can access that employee’s PC at their discretion. I have that authority for PCs within the division.”
“…So you took advantage of Eun-bi being away to put your file on her computer?”
“It was a mistake too.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“I really didn’t think Eun-bi would blow this up like this.”
It seemed plausible. Seung-kyu’s mouth hung open in disbelief. Ji-heon continued his confession.
“It was a long time ago. I just wished Eun-bi would accidentally click something while cleaning her PC, and that recording would slip into someone else’s ears, even just a little. That was my simple wish. It was really just a simple wish.”
“…”
“The plan was to get Eun-bi out of the company quickly and then post the truth on the internal bulletin board, saying how she spread false rumors that made my life hard.”
“…”
“Well, anyway, it’s all sorted out now, so I have nothing to say. It seems like fate was on my side. I was lucky.”
…I’m getting a bit of chills.
Why did fate grant luck to someone as dreadful as him?
Seung-kyu brushed down the goosebumps on his arms.
“Well, it’s good that it was resolved, but what if Eun-bi brings it up as a problem?”
“The PC isn’t a personal item; it’s company property, and I have the right to use it. There’s no problem according to company regulations.”
He was surprisingly nonchalant for someone who caused the problem.
Seung-kyu let out a frustrated sigh.
Ah, I had briefly forgotten that you’re the type of person.
He had a terrifying way of hiding sharp claws under a demeanor that seemed to find everything bothersome. He would be the most troublesome to face as an enemy.
I should have been worried about celebrities, not about you. How foolish of me.
As I stared at him in frustration, Ji-heon, fiddling with his phone, asked,
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“…”
“I just hope Ye-na takes after Deputy Jung Ji-o more than you.”
“Don’t worry about that. She’s just like Jung Oh. Can’t you tell from this text message? Oh, there’s more! Want to see this? When I told her to sleep well, she sent two ‘ㅇ’ characters. Then…”
“Ah, this is so annoying! Just stop!”
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Unable to hold back any longer, Seung-kyu shouted.
.*. *. *. *. *. *.
The restaurant space belonging to Guk-soon sold quickly. They say a chicken shop will move in next. Since they plan to use the existing equipment from the restaurant, there isn’t much for Guk-soon to clean up.
While Guk-soon was sharing important information with the new owner, Jung-oh quietly sat in the restaurant, waiting with Ye-na.
While Jung-oh sat there absentmindedly, his daughter seemed very busy. She was giggling while looking at her phone screen, which piqued Jung-oh’s curiosity.
“Princess Ye-na, what’s so funny over there?”
“It’s a secret.”
Ye-na turned her back on Jung-oh and bent her head down deeply. That phone only has text messaging and calling features, so what could possibly be so entertaining?
On the way home, Ye-na continued to stare at her phone.
“Lee Ye-na, you need to put your phone down and watch where you’re walking.”
Jung-oh warned Ye-na, who was holding her mom’s hand with one hand while fiddling with her phone with the other.
“Okay.”
Ye-na smiled and put her phone away.
Guk-soon asked Jung-oh, “Is Ye-na’s dad coming today?”
“Dad is coming at nine tonight.”
Ye-na answered instead of Jung-oh. This was news Jung-oh hadn’t heard. Jung-oh asked Ye-na,
“Did you talk to Dad?”
“Yep. By text.”
“Let me see.”
“No way!”
“There’s no secret between you and Mom! Let me see!”
“No! No!”
Ye-na wrapped her arms around the phone hanging from her neck and hid behind her grandmother. Jung-oh pouted at Guk-soon.
“Mom, look at Ye-na. She won’t show me her text messages. I bought that phone for her.”
“She’s just like her mom, the same!”
Order was restored once again. Jung-oh and Ye-na spun around Guk-soon energetically until they reached home. But when they arrived in front of the house, Jung-oh’s expression stiffened.
Ji-heon’s mother, Jang Young-mi, was standing there. It didn’t take long for Young-mi to recognize Jung-oh and Ye-na.
As Young-mi approached with her heels clicking on the ground, Jung-oh gripped Ye-na’s hand tightly.