“You look like you’re full of regrets.”
Ian couldn’t answer Yunhui right away and fell silent.
It wasn’t so much regret as guilt.
He had pushed Yudam away after believing, without the slightest doubt, that they would spend the rest of their lives together. Whatever his reasons had been, Ian was ultimately the one who had let go of Yudam’s hand first.
He felt endlessly sorry toward him.
Yunhui watched Ian sit there with his head bowed and his mouth shut. He clenched his teeth hard enough for the line of his jaw to stand out. Tendons rose across his tightly balled fist as well, but after a moment, he let out a long breath and slowly relaxed his hand.
“Don’t waste time thinking about that until you’ve learned everything in the documents I gave you earlier. You’re starting actual work tomorrow.”
After delivering the cold rebuke, he rose from his seat.
Without so much as touching the late-night snack Ian had brought, Yunhui walked over to the desk, sat down at the computer, and resumed working.
Ian’s gaze followed him before he quietly swallowed.
For some reason, Yunhui’s demeanor seemed to have turned distinctly colder, but Ian couldn’t think of anything in particular that he had done wrong.
He got up as well and left the study, closing the door behind him.
As he descended the stairs and saw the materials still spread across the living room, a sigh escaped him automatically.
For now, he needed to focus on work.
No matter where he worked or who he worked under, the first priority was doing whatever task he had been given perfectly.
The moment Ian stepped out of the car, he could feel the people on their way into work stealing glances at him.
Under the unabashed attention, he glanced sideways at Yunhui.
Yunhui, apparently, couldn’t have cared less about the attention.
We really should have gotten out in the parking garage.
Ian’s preference had been ignored.
There was naturally no reason for Kang Yunhui to drive all the way into the parking garage when he could simply get out in front of Sanha Group headquarters. Yunhui had stepped out there and told Ian to do the same.
Ian hadn’t exactly been given a choice.
Being driven to work in a chauffeured car alongside the vice chairman was so excessive that it made Ian uncomfortable.
Even when he had worked at Haemyeong Industries, he had never commuted in the same car as his father. Both Ian and his father had agreed that the CEO and an ordinary employee couldn’t be treated as though they were in the same position.
Yunhui, however, was nothing like his father.
He had flatly declared that it would be more inefficient for them to travel separately when they lived in the same house and worked at the same company. He had even warned Ian that if Ian arrived later than he did, it would mean wasting Yunhui’s time as well, and Ian had better be prepared for the consequences.
In the end, Ian had climbed into Yunhui’s car without further complaint.
“That isn’t Chief Secretary Park. Don’t tell me they replaced him?”
The murmuring grew louder the moment they entered the lobby.
“I saw Chief Secretary Park upstairs earlier. He’s still with the vice chairman’s office.”
“Then who’s that?”
People were openly curious about the man who had arrived at work beside Yunhui.
“Hasn’t Chief Secretary Park been the only person the vice chairman kept close all this time?”
“Maybe they recruited him from outside…”
“He must be incredibly capable. Otherwise, how would he end up coming to work with the vice chairman on his very first day?”
Ian could hear all manner of speculation about him, but Yunhui showed no reaction whatsoever.
While they stood waiting for the elevator, Ian began to wonder whether all the staring was going to bore holes into his face.
That was how many people kept glancing his way.
If there was one consolation, it was that most of them seemed to evaluate Ian favorably for no reason other than the fact that he was standing beside Yunhui.
From their reactions, Ian could roughly tell how the employees regarded him.
Capable, but difficult to approach.
In that respect, Yunhui hadn’t changed much since high school.
Even back then, there had only been a handful of people who had managed to exchange more than a few words with Kang Yunhui.
Try being a little more sociable. At this rate, you’re going to lose every friend you have.
Ian had worried about Yunhui’s limited social circle enough to nag him about it.
You’re here. That’s enough. What do I need anyone else for?
Ian had genuinely been concerned, but Yunhui would always answer that he wasn’t some loner and that Seo Ian already nagged twice as much as everyone else combined, so he didn’t need anybody more.
Ian had once wondered whether Yunhui would even manage to function in society if he stayed like that.
And yet here he was now, a perfectly respectable vice chairman of Sanha Group.
Ian finally realized that Kang Yunhui had never needed social skills in the first place.
A vice chairman didn’t have to laugh and chat with employees to build friendships.
Though these days, they say an approachable CEO is good for a company’s image…
The thought occurred to him, but after one look at Yunhui, Ian shook his head.
If it hadn’t been possible when they were young, there was no chance it would happen now.
Kang Yunhui had only grown colder and more austere with age.
By the time they reached the vice chairman’s office, the secretaries there had already been informed that Yunhui had arrived and were waiting for him.
They looked at Ian with the same question written plainly across their faces.
“This is Seo Ian. He’ll be working with the secretarial office starting today. He’ll serve as my personal secretary, so don’t assign him anything unless I’ve specifically instructed it.”
That was the entirety of Yunhui’s explanation.
Naturally, the secretaries were left bewildered.
He hadn’t said how Ian had suddenly been appointed to the vice chairman’s office or what his rank was supposed to be.
They might have assumed they should treat him like a newly hired employee, except Yunhui had personally declared him his private secretary and ordered them not to give him any work beyond what Yunhui assigned himself.
“Come with me.”
Yunhui didn’t even have them prepare Ian a desk in the secretarial office.
He simply entered the vice chairman’s office and ordered Ian to follow.
Ian himself wondered whether this was really how things were supposed to work, but he knew nothing about the internal culture at Sanha Group, so for the moment, he had no choice but to follow Yunhui’s instructions.
“What exactly is going on with that man?”
The secretarial staff turned to Chief Secretary Park as soon as the door closed.
Their expressions plainly showed that they expected him, at least, to know something.
“Seo Ian is…”
Chief Secretary Park began, only to hesitate over how exactly he was supposed to explain Seo Ian.
What he knew was that Seo Ian was the only son of CEO Seo of Haemyeong Industries, and that Kang Yunhui had canceled his engagement to the Han family’s only omega in order to obtain Seo Ian.
He didn’t know the precise nature of the relationship between them.
What he did know with certainty was that Seo Ian was someone extremely special to Kang Yunhui.
“He graduated at the top of his class from the business administration department at Korea University.”
For the moment, he decided to start with basic information that would make Ian’s presence easier for the staff to accept.
At the words top of his class at Korea University, their expressions immediately changed.
A few of them even let out impressed murmurs.
“Until recently, he worked at Haemyeong Industries. Every project he led there was successful and generated substantial profits.”
The mention of Haemyeong Industries made the staff freeze.
There was no one who hadn’t heard about the scandal that had dominated public attention not long ago.
On top of that, Sanha Group—and Kang Yunhui in particular—had issued an official notice instructing them not to work with any company connected to Haemyeong Industries.
And now he had brought in someone from Haemyeong Industries himself.
Naturally, that was difficult to understand.
“Seo Ian… Wait.”
One of them repeated the name, and another suddenly made a small sound of realization.
“Isn’t he CEO Seo Hyeonjung’s son? The one who was supposed to inherit Haemyeong Industries?”
It wasn’t something that could have been hidden even if they tried.
Anyone working in this industry—and especially secretaries assigned to the vice chairman’s office—would have at least a general grasp of the succession lines at major companies.
“Seo Ian and our vice chairman have been friends since childhood.”
Chief Secretary Park added that before the conversation could spiral into further speculation.
At that, several of the employees nodded, apparently finding Yunhui’s decision to bring Ian in somewhat easier to understand.
Then one of them frowned as though something had just occurred to her.
“But then why did the vice chairman order everyone not to help Haemyeong Industries?”
A chorus of realization followed her question.
Nothing about the situation seemed to fit together properly.
“In any case, Seo Ian isn’t a new employee. Treat him like a department head—or, actually, it would probably be best if you simply treated him the same way you treat the vice chairman.”
Chief Secretary Park settled the matter as best he could.
Ian had no official rank, but the moment Park said to treat him like the vice chairman, the employees’ eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me he and the vice chairman are… you know?”
“Wasn’t the heir to Haemyeong Industries an alpha too? The vice chairman is an alpha.”
“Oh. Right.”
“And wasn’t the vice chairman in talks to marry the Han family’s omega?”
The staff descended into confusion, but Chief Secretary Park turned away without offering any further explanation.
The whole thing was far too complicated to explain one piece at a time.
Even Chief Secretary Park didn’t know exactly what Kang Yunhui was thinking.
The only thing he had clearly figured out was that Kang Yunhui was intensely obsessed with Seo Ian.
He had no desire to know anything beyond that.
He had an ominous feeling that the more he learned, the more work it would create for him—and the more exhausting his life would become.
Ian, meanwhile, had followed Yunhui into the vice chairman’s office and now stood near the door, unsure what exactly he was supposed to do.
Naturally, the only desk inside seemed to belong to Yunhui.
“Don’t just stand there. Sit.”
Yunhui pointed toward the sofa in the middle of the office.
“Didn’t I come here to work?”
“You did.”
With that brief answer, Yunhui pressed a button on his desk and instructed them to bring in all the materials he had prepared.
Before long, Chief Secretary Park and several other secretaries entered with both arms full of documents.
“Go through all of it and incorporate what you find into this project. I’ll give you three days.”
Ian let out a breathless laugh at Yunhui’s instruction.
The order itself was concise.
The mountain of material being placed on the table was anything but.
There was no way anyone could even skim through that much in a day or two.