ADT 05

Chapter 5

Confidentiality Agreement

Hyunwoo, who had been fiddling with his empty glass, carefully began to speak.

“Um….”

When he hesitated and took his time, Yuri spoke first.

“Father, I mean… Chief Jang. I’ll go see him soon, so please explain things well to him so that he won’t be too shocked.”

“Yuri…. I was completely in the wrong. I shouldn’t have done that to you, but I lost my senses because I was drunk and….”

“…Stop talking about that. I know you two were just a one-night mistake.”

Hyunwoo stared blankly at Yuri’s face as she spoke calmly in an emotionless voice.

Was this really the Jin Yuri he had known until now?

“Fine. I won’t make excuses. But forgive me just this once. You know how scary my father is. I can never tell him myself.”

Hyunwoo’s father, Jang Munsu, the chief secretary, was a man as sharp as a knife. He was famous for being a perfectionist who tolerated not even the smallest mistake at work. That was probably why he had been able to stand firmly beside Chairman Baek for more than thirty years.

“It’s something you did, so you should take care of it yourself. I already canceled the wedding venue, so don’t worry.”

“Yuri, you… Even so, wasn’t that too much without discussing it with me?”

“The one who went too far wasn’t me. It was you.”

“Ha… Damn it! I know, which is why I’m begging you like this. And did you forget that Madam Joo arranged this marriage?”

Until just a moment ago, Hyunwoo had been crouching down like a puppy with its tail between its legs, acting as if everything was his fault. Suddenly, he became angry and raised his voice.

Yuri quietly looked at his reddening face before opening her mouth.

“No. How could I forget that?”

As Yuri answered him, her hand began to tremble, making the teacup she was holding shake as well.

Yuri had never even had the time to meet a man. During her school years, aside from studying and working part-time, she was always busy running around taking care of Baek Seol-ah.

After graduation, she became Seol-ah’s personal secretary, leaving her with even less time. She could barely even meet her one and only friend properly.

So naturally, she had never had the chance to meet a man.

With her porcelain-white skin and elegant beauty, Yuri was attractive to anyone who saw her.

She herself simply did not know it.

She had received advances from many men over the years, but she always put up a firm wall between them. Yuri had never dated anyone before, so there was no way she could have had any romantic fantasies about marriage.

Her marriage to Hyunwoo had been entirely Madam Joo Sanghee’s decision. Under the good-sounding excuse that Seol-ah would soon be getting married too, so Yuri should hurry and find a partner, she introduced Jang Munsu’s son, Hyunwoo, to her.

Since he was Jang Munsu’s son and had always come and gone from their home like a member of the family, Yuri had known him since childhood.

She had never been comfortable enough to call Hyunwoo “oppa” like Seol-ah did because it felt embarrassing, but she had never felt uncomfortable around him either.

As their relationship continued for so long, a familiar sense of comfort had naturally developed between them. And because Jang Munsu, who had always been especially kind to Yuri, felt like a father to her, she did not dislike the idea of becoming family.

Besides, Yuri did not really understand the feeling called love, so she thought marriage might not be such a big deal.

After all, she had seen couples around her who had once loved each other as if they would die without each other, only to end up saying they could not live together or getting divorced after marriage, making a huge fuss as if they were enemies.

For Yuri, who had always been alone, simply gaining a family to belong to did not seem like such a bad thing.

That was why she decided to marry Hyunwoo after dating him for only three months.

The moment Hyunwoo brought up the name of Joo Sanghee, the person who had arranged their marriage, Yuri felt something hot rise inside her.

Trying to hide her trembling, Yuri put down the teacup and slightly parted her dry lips.

“I regret it. Agreeing to get married. If it weren’t for Madam Joo arranging it like you said….”

There was no reason she had to get married in the first place. Why had she agreed to it, only to end up seeing such an ugly side of things…?

It had been her own choice, so there was nothing she could do even if she regretted it.

However, Yuri still regarded Joo Sanghee as her benefactor and sponsor who had saved her, so it was not easy for her to break out of the fence she had built around Yuri.

Still, Yuri was more afraid that if she did not take this opportunity, she would never be able to escape from Baek Seol-ah’s shadow.

So she gathered her courage.

With nowhere else to turn, the only person Hyunwoo could rely on now was Joo Sanghee.

He knew very well that this was Yuri’s only weakness.

Hyunwoo suddenly grabbed Yuri’s hands, which had been neatly folded on the table, and said,

“So. Let’s not make Madam Joo worry about this too. Let’s just settle this between the two of us. I’ll really treat you well if we get married. Okay?”

Yuri roughly pulled her hand away from his grasp and snapped,

“Let go!”

“Hey! Jin Yuri.”

Surprised by her cold reaction, Hyunwoo could only stare at Yuri as if he had lost his mind.

“You… You weren’t like this before, were you? What the hell happened to you? You were the kind of person who would at least pretend to die if Madam Joo told you to die. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? It doesn’t suit you.”

With her trembling lips, Yuri struggled to continue speaking.

“…What kind of person is naturally like that? I did it because I had no choice. You’re really cruel. How could you say something like that to me…?”

“What? It’s not like I said something that wasn’t true. This is ridiculous.”

Hyunwoo stared at Yuri with an absurd expression.

“It’s really over between you and me. I’m never getting married to you, even if I die.”

“You’re hilarious. In the end, you’ll listen to Madam Joo anyway, so don’t waste your energy for nothing!”

“You’re the worst kind of person. I have nothing more to say, so I’ll leave first.”

“Ah, seriously!”

Leaving Hyunwoo behind with his face bright red and his body trembling with anger, Yuri boldly opened the café door and walked out.

The words that both Vice President Park Hoo-shin and Jang Hyunwoo had said to her hurt terribly.

She bitterly regretted her foolish behavior that had made her look as though she would even pretend to die if Baek Seol-hee or Joo Sanghee told her to.

The sharp, cold wind blowing against her face somehow cooled the anger boiling inside her, so she took a deep breath.

It felt as though those words had given her a justification to take revenge on the people who thought of her that way.

And Yuri decided, without hesitation, that she would.

＊＊＊

After wandering outside for a long time and sorting through her confused thoughts, Yuri finally returned to her officetel.

Perhaps because she had barely slept for several days, she took off only her coat and lay down on the bed as soon as she entered.

She had only intended to close her eyes for a moment, but before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

When she opened her eyes, it had already grown dark outside the window.

Yuri sat up and took her phone out of the bag she had thrown onto the floor.

The moment she turned it on, dozens of messages and missed calls appeared.

“Ha…. Should I change my number?”

As Yuri checked the names of the callers, her eyes suddenly widened.

Baek Seol-ah, Jang Hyunwoo, the wedding planner, the dress shop, and Park Hoo-shin.

“Why would Vice President Park…?”

Ignoring the messages from everyone else, Yuri immediately opened Hoo-shin’s message.

[Ms. Jin Yuri, are you busy? Please contact me and let me know if you received the contract properly.]

“Ah… Right. The contract.”

He had probably contacted her because he was frustrated that she had received the contract he sent but had not responded.

Yuri had received the contract, but she had been too distracted to properly look through it yet.

First, Yuri sent Hoo-shin a reply.

[Hello, Vice President. I received the contract safely. I’m reviewing it, so I’ll contact you as soon as I finish.]

The moment she pressed send, her stomach began to growl nonstop.

It seemed that her empty stomach, which had been starving all day, was finally demanding food.

“Right. Let’s eat something first.”

Yuri put her coat back on and went to the indoor street-food bar in front of her officetel.

She sometimes bought dinner from there on her way home from work, but this was her first time actually eating there.

After pouring a shot of soju into her mouth on an empty stomach, Yuri quickly finished an entire bowl of udon.

Perhaps because her hunger had been satisfied, she suddenly felt so much more at ease just from eating one meal.

The warm broth seemed to fill her empty stomach completely, making her feel comforted.

She drank the remaining half-bottle of soju straight from the bottle.

The liquid flowing from her throat down to her stomach felt as if it were burning like fire, but she felt good.

“Ahh.”

The saying that something could be both bitter and sweet really seemed fitting at times like this.

As warmth and coolness mixed together, the strength drained from her body as if she were floating in water.

Perhaps the alcohol was taking effect, because both her cheeks had turned slightly red.

With the pleasant tipsy feeling, she unconsciously began to giggle.

Yuri took out the clear file she had carefully kept inside her bag.

That morning, she had printed out her resignation letter and the contract at the office and put them separately inside her bag.

She forced her sleepy eyes to focus and slowly began reading from the first page.

As she read, Yuri’s eyes gradually widened.

As long as she faithfully fulfilled the confidentiality obligation and never disclosed anything about Hoo-shin’s private affairs, the salary and benefits seemed to be the best in the industry.

Of course, she was comparing them based on the conditions she knew for secretaries with seven years of experience at large corporations.

It was twice the salary she had received at Royal Hotel.

Her one and only friend, Lee Seo, had talked Yuri’s ears off about how good PARK FOOD’s employee benefits were.

Her only friend, Na Yi-seo, was currently working as an assistant manager in PARK FOOD’s Public Relations Department.

After finishing her review of the contract, Yuri could not take her eyes off the final clause for a long time.

[After entering into this contract, Party B may not resign for one year and may not date or marry during that period. If this Confidentiality Agreement is leaked to an outside party, Party B shall pay Party A a penalty equal to twice her annual salary.]

“What… is this?”

Yuri’s face was filled with confusion.

She understood having to maintain the contract for one year and keep its contents completely confidential, but why had something as private as dating or marriage been included in the contract?

She almost called Hoo-shin immediately to ask him about it, but then she changed her mind.

Could it be that he was interested in her too?

She could not be certain, but at that moment, she desperately wanted to cling to even the slightest possibility.

In fact, this might make it easier for her to approach him.

And after everything that had happened, Yuri had finally awakened to how she wanted to live her life. She had no intention of dating or getting married anyway, so it would not really be a problem.

It could simply have been an illusion caused by the alcohol, but a dizzying thought crossed her mind.

Maybe this was worth trying.

Someday, if she met Baek Seol-ah again, Yuri wanted to see her arrogant face crumple miserably at least once.

Yuri took a pen from her bag and signed the contract without hesitation.

Then, she immediately found Vice President Park Hoo-shin’s number saved in her phone and pressed the call button.