Deal Breaker - Chapter 86
“Did Nuri-ssi give you that?”
“I bought it. For our Hyeji and our baby to eat.”
When Hyeji didn’t react, Kanghyeon leaned in. As his face came close enough that she could smell his aftershave, Hyeji leaned her head back.
“Hyeji-ya, are you misunderstanding that chocolate from before too? I gave it to you because it’s cute seeing you eat tasty things. I might be a bad man to Nuri-ssi, but I’m a good man to Noh Hyeji, right? It’s enough if I’m a good man just to Noh Hyeji. Isn’t it?”
The man who had been a bad man because he was good to everyone was, in truth, always only good to her, huh. He sure knew how to talk.
She bit her lip quietly and moved the chocolate box off the keyboard, when the phone in her handbag started ringing. Kanghyeon pulled it out without asking and narrowed his eyes as he looked at the screen.
“Lately this number keeps calling you?”
“Looks like spam. I don’t need a loan.”
I’m at the point where I need to sell my house to pay off the loans I already have.
Hyeji snatched the phone and pressed the red button. As she turned off the ringtone and was about to put the phone back into her handbag, the screen lit up again. She opened the app at the notification that a message had arrived, and a long text had come in from the same number as before.
[ Hello, Guide Noh Hyeji-nim. My name is Son Joohwan, an A-Class Esper. I tried calling several times but couldn’t reach you, so I’m introducing myself by text first. I’m contacting you because ]
“He’s proposing a new contract?”
Kanghyeon kindly read out the part Hyeji, who reads slowly, hadn’t gotten to yet.
As word spread that he had received matching again, scouting offers naturally poured in for Hyeji as well. Unlike this man, who was running some kind of jealousy campaign, Hyeji didn’t feel any need to tell him that she was receiving contract inquiries.
Only after seeing Kanghyeon’s expression did Hyeji realize it. It wasn’t that there was no need to tell him. She had deliberately not told him because of this.
“Is this bastard crazy…”
Kanghyeon pulled out his own phone from his back pocket and opened the messenger app.
[ sc name=”gs-nrm-right” ][ Jeong Iyeon ][ /sc ]
[ what ]
[ sc name=”gs-nrm-right” ][ Isn’t Son Joohwan marrying that Guide? ][ /sc ]
[ didnt they already say that they broke off the engagement last month? check the group chat geez! ]
[ sc name=”gs-nrm-right” ][ Why did it fall through with that Son Joohwan. I was even planning to give them a fat congratulatory envelope. ][ /sc ]
While rubbing the stiff back of his neck, more messages kept arriving on the phone in his hand.
[ why are you asking tho? ]
[ ?????? hellooo im asking why? ]
[ holding my breath until you tell me ]
[ yeah no, guess it doesnt matter to you if i drop dead or not lmao ]
[ sc name=”gs-nrm-right” ][ That son of a b***h is asking Hyeji to sign a contract with him ][ /sc ]
[ holy s**t (insert popcorn gif) ]
Jeong Iyeon kept chattering noisily after that too, but Kanghyeon put the phone down and asked Hyeji,
“So are you going to sign with Son Joohwan?”
Hyeji had already put her phone away and gone back to work a while ago, but Kanghyeon alone was lingering. He didn’t want to be like this either, but since Hyeji wouldn’t show her hand at all, he had no choice.
“Hyeji-ya.”
“……”
“Secretary Noh.”
“Yes, Director.”
“He’s got chest hair.”
“Should I check with my own eyes?”
“No. That’s a lie.”
Biting her lip to hold back a laugh, Hyeji kept her hands moving on the keyboard.
“That bastard might not have hair on his chest, but he’s got hair on his sense of morality. He’s talking about sleeping with a woman who’s carrying a colleague’s kid.”
Right then, a message from Iyeon arrived on Kanghyeon’s phone on the desk.
[ but about Hyeji-ssi… i heard a rumor that shes pregnant though…. hey wait a minute….???? ]
Hyeji grabbed Kanghyeon’s phone in a panic, shoved it into a drawer, and locked it.
“It’s not your child. Don’t spread nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense though?”
When Kanghyeon tried to snatch the key, Hyeji hid it in her bra. Kanghyeon had no choice but to step back since he couldn’t become a perverted director who touched his secretary’s chest at work, but that didn’t mean he gave up.
“You’re going to break the drawer—”
“Then let’s just order a new one from General Affairs.”
The drawer rattled as if it might really break under his brute strength. Hyeji’s heart rattled too. When someone gets nervous, all kinds of nonsense spill out of their mouth.
“If rumors spread, I’ll sue for defamation.”
“Then sue.”
Kanghyeon straightened his back and stood in front of Hyeji. Unlike his light manner earlier, there was weight in his attitude now.
“Then do it properly.”
“……”
“Is it defamation by stating facts, or defamation by stating false facts. If you sue claiming it’s false and it turns out to be true, isn’t that a false accusation?”
“……”
“Then I can legally request a paternity test. I’ve got to clear my name.”
