Deal Breaker - Chapter 46
“You’re not the type to buy personal gifts for your Guide or secretary.”
“I give gifts when the occasion calls for it. It’s the right thing to do.”
“And what occasion justified buying that ridiculously expensive designer coat?”
“Birthday present.”
In truth, the birthday present had been a dress, but Jeong Iyeon wouldn’t know that.
“Your company’s employee benefits are insane. You’re telling me they give a three-million-won gift for an employee’s birthday? Where do I send my résumé?” (Approx. 2200 USD)
There was a flaw in the excuse Kanghyeon used to cover his tracks. Left with no choice, he confessed the real reason he’d bought Hyeji expensive clothes.
“She doesn’t know how to spend money even when she earns it. She rakes in tens of millions every month, yet she walks around in a 120,000-won coat that she bought on sale at a department store. Does that make any sense?”
“And why is that any of your business, when you’re just her boss and work partner?”
“Stop with the dramatics. She’s like a younger sister to me, so of course I care.”
‘Hey, if you’re doing that kind of thing with your little sister, that’s a crime.’
She frowned but didn’t voice the thought. Everyone quietly knew the two of them did contact-type guiding, but pretending ignorance was an unspoken rule.
“Funny. Since when did you have a little sister?”
Kanghyeon only had one sibling, an older sister who was a professor at a university in the U.S.
“Hey, I own a coat I bought for a hundred thousand won on sale too.”
“Good buy. You should save more. Hyeji needs to learn how to spend money.”
But you’re the one spending money, not Hyeji. She knew this in her head, but maybe he couldn’t see it because his heart wouldn’t acknowledge it.
“Fine, let’s go with that. But I have to say, I was surprised earlier when you told Hyeji-ssi to come too.”
Kanghyeon disliked mixing business with personal life. That was part of the reason he rarely attended classmates’ gatherings. Even on the rare occasions he showed up, he’d never brought anyone along.
“To build connections.”
Batch 108 from the training school was lively online, and they regularly posted proof shots from their meetups. But not once had Hyeji appeared among them. To her classmates, she was practically invisible.
An F-Class radiative Guide exclusively assigned to an S-Class Esper, well. That was unusual but plausible if their wavelengths matched. The problem was, Hyeji’s waves were so faint they couldn’t even be measured externally, so her peers knew she was incapable of forming a radiative guiding match. Which meant they’d figured out she was doing contact-type guiding and ostracized her for it.
Hyeji had accepted long ago that choosing contact-type guiding meant being labeled immoral, even if it was perfectly legal.
“Well, maybe they don’t like me. You can’t expect to be loved by everyone.”
She spoke with the calm detachment of a monk, saying she was fine, but Kanghyeon found it unsettling.
Not long after she became his exclusive Guide, a veiled post disparaging contact-type Guides had appeared on the anonymous board of the Esper-Guide network. Posting something like that in a community where contact-type guiding was secretly practiced, was it boldness or stupidity? Unsurprisingly, the response was hostile. At Kanghyeon’s insistence, the Center shut down the anonymous board entirely.
The author hadn’t named names, but Kanghyeon had instantly known it was about Hyeji. And he could tell there was jealousy behind it.
All that Batch 108 had gained by harassing Hyeji was a permanent blacklist from the country’s largest company—Kanghyeon’s company. Since their bullying was done covertly, so too was his retaliation. They would never realize why they failed the aptitude test every single time they submitted a résumé to Acton Security.
Really, what good would it do to be close to juniors or peers? Connections with successful seniors in the industry were what truly mattered. For Batch 91, there was Kanghyeon, so they wouldn’t dare dismiss Hyeji. And since Hyeji was friendly with Iyeon, Kanghyeon figured they’d be welcoming.
He had hoped today’s gathering would be canceled, but the only reason he came instead of making an excuse about being busy was that he’d originally planned to bring Hyeji along.
But naengmyeon? Mul-naengmyeon? Seriously, she had no idea what he was thinking.
Just as he felt a flash of satisfaction for figuring out why Noh Hyeji’s lie annoyed him, Iyeon lobbed a sharp question that made him flinch.
“So now you’re finally bringing her?”
It sounded like she was suggesting there had been a reason he’d never brought Hyeji to a classmates’ gathering until now, and that reason was finally resolved, so he’d brought her confidently today.
“Son Joohwan.”
As soon as they entered the private room on the second floor, a classmate greeted them. He was an A-Class physical enhancement-type Esper.
And he was also the second-highest match for Hyeji. Of the thirty-two Espers she’d matched with, he was the only one who’d never reached out to her.
For an S-Class Esper, a 50%-plus compatibility match was a once-in-a-lifetime find. So why had Son Joohwan chosen not to sign a contract with her?
“Se-eun-ssi, congratulations on your engagement!”
Because he was already romantically involved with his exclusive Guide. And those two were getting married this summer.
