Deal Breaker - Chapter 79
Like a looping refrain, it returned to the starting point and went through denial and anger, compromise and depression all over again. Already several times in just two days.
Even while sitting at his desk at the company he had returned to after two months, Kanghyeon was still going through the ‘five stages of accepting death.’
Would Han Kanghyeon, who loves Noh Hyeji, die like this without even making it past his birthday?
He couldn’t bring himself to step into the final stage, ‘acceptance,’ and was clinging to someone already dead when someone knocked on the door outside.
“Come in.”
He thought it was the company Guide he had summoned as soon as he came in, but it was Hyeji. As Hyeji entered and swung the door wide open, he saw a woman in a suit standing in the secretary’s office.
“If the Guide’s here, tell her to come in.”
But Hyeji didn’t let the Guide in and came in alone, closing the door. With just the two of them in the closed space, the air turned awkward and heavy. Feeling stifled, Kanghyeon loosened his tie knot. Without meeting Hyeji’s eyes, he asked while looking at the monitor.
“What is it?”
“Why did you call the Guide?”
“Because I need guiding?”
Fatigue had built up over two months. On top of that, he had been pushed to the brink of rampage, so his waves were more unstable than ever. Thinking it strange that she would ask despite knowing that.
“But I’m here.”
The moment Kanghyeon finally met her eyes, Hyeji flinched. What is that supposed to be? In the familiar gaze, an unfamiliar emotion was reflected. Not curiosity, but disappointment.
“With that body?”
“The Center said it’s fine to do guiding during pregnancy.”
“Why would you…”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m not.”
Tap. The sound of the pen that had been held between his long fingers being set down on the desk was firm.
“Noh Hyeji, no matter how important money is to you, there are lines you shouldn’t cross.”
“……”
“You might be able to do anything for money, but have you ever thought about how I feel having to become that ‘anything’ because of your greed?”
She opened her mouth to protest out of frustration, but Hyeji didn’t know what she should say.
“You won’t be doing guiding for me until after you give birth. Even so, I’ll keep paying your salary as is, so you don’t need to worry about money.”
She was pushed out as if told to leave. The Guide Kanghyeon had summoned without saying anything to Hyeji glanced at her face with curious eyes, then passed by her when called from inside. The door opened and closed behind her.
Thud. Hyeji’s heart made the same sound.
Standing there blankly, Hyeji only moved when her phone rang at her desk. She finished the call and pulled up the email draft she had been working on, but the hands resting on the keyboard didn’t move.
Hyeji strained her ears toward the sounds coming from the Director’s office. Hearing nothing, it was pointless. No, paying attention to what was happening inside in the first place was pointless.
It’s not even contact-type guiding. No, even if it were contact-type, is there any reason for her to care? There isn’t. Right, just work.
But her hands still sat motionless on the keyboard.
Why does it feel like my husband is accepting a perilla leaf peeled by another woman? What am I even saying. I don’t even have a husband, how would I know that feeling.
This is ridiculous.
This is one hundred percent just a professional sense of crisis. She’s worried about being pushed out by another Guide. She thought stories of pregnant women losing their jobs and facing career interruptions were someone else’s problem. Now that it was about to become her reality, she was simply feeling a sense of crisis.
In truth, Hyeji knew this didn’t really make sense either.
He said he would keep paying her salary even without guiding, and that her money and position weren’t being taken away…
Still, it felt terrible.
In the end, she couldn’t type a single character and pulled her hands away from the keyboard. Hyeji buried her face in both hands, trying to steady her emotions, but it didn’t go well.
“You might be able to do anything for money, but have you ever thought about how I feel having to become that ‘anything’ because of your greed?”
It was unfair. It didn’t feel like greed for money, but she didn’t know what kind of desire it was. She had never even heard of a Guide feeling possessiveness toward an Esper. Then is it a desire for control? No, watching the Director kneel in front of her is absolutely not her thing. Just imagining it makes her feel bad.
“Have you ever thought about how I feel?”
Whether she felt wronged or not, Kanghyeon couldn’t help but feel bad in that situation. When she realized belatedly that she had been far too thoughtless, regret came flooding in.
The eyes that hadn’t bothered to hide their disappointment kept floating up in her mind. Her heart pounded, echoing in her ears.
