"Huh?"
Suin’s eyes widened as she read the last line of the ssage.
No!
That was the first thing Jongin should’ve told her!
“Kwon Intern.”
[Yes, Chief.]
Connecting to the call via her Bluetooth earpiece, Suin didn’t even give Jongin a chance to hesitate. He picked up imdiately, his nervousness palpable.
“What exactly is in that photo that got uploaded?”
[Ah! I was so flustered I forgot to send you the screenshot. Just a mont, please...]
Hyesung Group’s intranet had airtight security, making external access impossible.
As Suin waited patiently for Jongin to send the photo, she glanced at Chairwoman Woo Ilhwa. The elder woman was greeting Oh Daehwi, who had just erged from the gateway.
“Does the atmosphere in the photo seem unusual?”
[Uh… a bit, yes.]
“Unusual or suspicious?”
[Definitely more on the unusual side. I just sent it.]
Acknowledging Oh Daehwi with a polite smile, Suin opened the ssage Jongin had just sent and clicked on the attached photo.
“…Oh.”
Her mouth hung open in shock. Her tongue instinctively ran across her dry lips, her throat suddenly parched.
[It’s pretty bad, isn’t it?]
“Yeah.”
Judging by the background and their clothing, the photo had been taken the previous morning in the rest garden where she’d t Baek Ihyeon.
Though they’d only exchanged casual conversation, the atmosphere captured in the image looked oddly romantic.
Suin’s side profile revealed a faint smile, the kind that was entirely mundane in her day-to-day expressions. It hardly seed like anything to criticize.
The real problem was Ihyeon.
“Was his expression always like that?”
Suin stared at the photo, noticing Ihyeon’s gaze for the first ti.
It carried a subtle warmth, an unmistakable tenderness that could easily be misinterpreted as love.
Anyone looking at this would think he was completely smitten with her.
“How did soone even manage to take this? I didn’t notice at all…”
[They must’ve planned it and taken it secretly. How could you have noticed, Chief? Even a ghost wouldn’t have seen this coming.]
Jongin’s defense of her eased her frustration a little. It was comforting to have a subordinate who would stand by her even in the middle of a witch hunt.
“Who could’ve taken it?”
[I’m not sure. I spoke to the intranet administrator, but they said the uploader’s identity is protected by privacy laws.]
“Can’t it be traced?”
[It can, technically, but only if there’s evidence of criminal intent. The admin said they’d need to involve the police and prove it’s connected to a cri.]
“If it’s a secret photo taken without consent, isn’t that basically a cri? It also violates portrait rights.”
“I’ll bring it up with the administrator again.”
“Thanks.”
Suin took a deep breath, grounding herself. She had to extinguish this scandal before it grew any bigger.
“Kwon Intern, I’m at the airport and can’t co back right now. Can you ask the administrator to delete the photo?”
[I already did. The post was taken down a little while ago.]
“You’re a lifesaver. Thanks for being so proactive.”
[It’s nothing, really.]
Jongin’s humble response was tinged with embarrassnt, but he hesitated before adding cautiously:
[But, Chief, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s sothing suspicious about this.]
“Suspicious? How?”
[Well, I dabble in photography and photo editing as a hobby, so I know my way around Photoshop. If you zoom in, you can tell the photo’s been tampered with.]
“Really?”
[Take a closer look.]
Following his instructions, Suin zood in on the photo. On her phone’s small screen, what initially looked sharp now revealed strange noise and inconsistencies in the details.
[The editor deliberately darkened the background to make it look like late evening, even though it was broad daylight when you t. They also desaturated the colors of the surrounding trees to make the scene feel more secretive.]
“You’re right. We t in the bright morning, but it looks like dusk here.”
[And the angle—they deliberately tilted it to make it seem like you were hiding behind the trees for a private eting. They staged the whole thing.]
“To make it look like we were sneaking around in the evening…”
[Exactly. Even the title of the post was designed to provoke—emphasizing a ‘secret romance.’]
It was clear soone had gone out of their way to fabricate a scandal.
Though Suin realized this, she didn’t voice her suspicions out loud.
[Chief, sothing feels off. It seems less about Deputy Baek and more like you’re the real target here.]
“?”
[Yes. It looks like soone is trying to ruin your reputation by creating this scandal.]
There was likely another motive as well.
[Chief, would you like
to investigate?]
“Investigate?”
[Yes. I’ll be discreet and careful.]
Reliable Ally.
Suin smiled warmly, silently praising herself for having such good instincts when it ca to people.
"I don’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble, so handle this without letting the Director find out, okay?"
[Understood.]
"Did the Director storm out in a fit of rage?"
[Yes, before I could even stop him... I even offered to take care of it myself, but...]
Jongin, usually so composed, now sounded frazzled, guilt dripping from his voice. It was clear he felt responsible for letting Seo Jaehee run off, indirectly putting Suin in a precarious situation.
Why do you have to feel guilty too...
Feeling a pang of pity for her overburdened subordinate, Suin softened her tone as she continued.
"When did he leave?"
[Over an hour ago... He’s probably almost there by now.]
"What? Why didn’t you tell
that earlier?"
Her earlier warmth vanished in an instant as she snapped at him.
[My apologies!]
As Jongin’s frantic voice filled her ears, Suin spotted Jaehee entering the terminal.
Her lips moved soundlessly as her vision narrowed in on him, and she whispered under her breath.
“Kwon Jongin...”
[Yes, Chief.]
“He’s here.”
[Oh...]
"Let’s hang up."
Hearing Jongin’s resigned sigh on the other end gave Suin a strange sense of comfort as she lowered her phone.
Jaehee had spotted her.
He headed straight for her with the intensity of a rhino on a rampage. If his eyes could shoot lasers, she’d have been incinerated on the spot.
He’s snapped again.
Knowing there was nowhere to run, Suin clasped her hands together and braced herself for the storm to co.
“Seo Jaehee!”
Just as she prepared to face his wrath, Woo Ilhwa called out in her commanding tone, saving Suin from her impending doom.
Jaehee’s furious march ca to a sudden halt as he turned to his mother.
“What are you doing here?”
For a mont, Jaehee hesitated, glaring at Suin before reluctantly changing direction and heading toward his mother.
“Did you co to greet
at the airport?”
Jaehee’s expression imdiately smoothed over into one of calmness as he approached Woo Ilhwa.
“Yes.”
“Director, you’re here?”
Suin, clutching a proverbial ticking ti bomb, stepped forward and greeted them both respectfully. She could feel Jaehee’s simring gaze on her.
“This is unusual. My son coming to greet
at the airport...”
“I had other business nearby.”
Unaware of the true circumstances, Woo Ilhwa seed touched by her son’s rare appearance.
“It’s for a last-minute eting. I’ll send a report later.”
Jaehee’s smooth response made Suin inwardly label him a sociopath.
The subtle chill that ran through her ribs wasn’t just her imagination.
“You’re attending this eting alone, without a secretary?”
“Well, since Chief Lee is already here at the airport, I’ll just take her along.”
No, no, no. Please say no!
Suin turned pleading eyes toward Woo Ilhwa, silently begging her to intervene.
But the Chairwoman, completely chard by her son, simply nodded.
“Alright.”
Only after agreeing did she look at Suin.
“Thank you for waiting, Chief Lee.”
“Yes, Chairwoman. You don’t have any other plans today, so please take the rest of the day to relax.”
Resigned to her fate, Suin gave her best professional response and stepped aside.
“Take care.”
With a supportive pat on their arms, Woo Ilhwa encouraged the pair before leaving with Oh Daehwi.
Jaehee, having played the role of the perfect son, turned his attention back to Suin once they were out of sight.
“Shall we go? To the eting.”
The mischievous smile that had briefly curved his lips was gone, replaced with a flat expression.
“...”
Suin wanted to ask about this so-called eting but held her tongue. There was no point in fanning the flas.
No eting in Sight
“It’s clear there’s no eting,” Suin muttered.
“What about the photos...”
“Don’t say a word until we get there.”
Jaehee, having claid the driver’s seat in the airport parking lot, gave her no chance to explain herself. Every attempt Suin made to clarify was shut down cold.
She dared not push him further, lest he drive the car into a ditch out of sheer rage—though he probably wasn’t that reckless.
As expected, there was no eting.
The car pulled up to W Hotel, the very place Suin had packed her things and left yesterday.
“Get out. If you don’t, I’ll carry you in over my shoulder.”
“You want to check in during broad daylight?”
Suin weakly resisted his threat, knowing he wasn’t bluffing. She opened her mouth to argue further—to say it would be embarrassing if anyone saw them—but Jaehee cut her off, his jaw set arrogantly.
“I didn’t check out.”
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