Corporate Villain
Copyright© 2025 by K.W
Chapter 25
“Let’s skip the wine, and once we’re back at the hotel, let’s not go out again and just have a beer inside.”
It was in the car on the way back to the hotel.
Just as the traffic signs for Malaga began to appear, the executive expressed a wish to enjoy one more drink in the Spanish night.
“Are you okay?”
“What’s there not to be okay about? I only had a glass of wine. Besides, Executive Yoon couldn’t even touch the wine because of driving.”
“No, I mean, aren’t you tired?”
After a whopping 16-hour flight.
As soon as we landed in Malaga, it was straight to Seville, to Shacromonte...
Even I, behind the wheel, was honestly too tired to adjust to the jet lag.
“Just one can each. I slept like a baby on the plane ride here. I’m starting to feel a bit relaxed now. Are you tired?”
“No, what time is it now? I’m perfectly fine.”
Spain, a place I insisted we come to.
Of course, I had to say I was fine, what else could I say...
I must have acted too naturally.
Executive Yoon, seemingly relieved, curled up one corner of his mouth and said,
“These past two months. Wow ... we really just charged forward, didn’t we?”
Indeed.
Even when I think about it, the time seems to have passed in a blur.
“What time is the branch manager coming to the hotel tomorrow?”
“I told him to take his time. After lunch. Told the executive to sleep in for a change.”
“Figures.”
“We only need to move with the branch people until tomorrow. After checking out tomorrow, we’ll head to Jerez in the afternoon to tour the winery.”
“And then we’re off to Madrid?”
“Yes, I was thinking since there’s no need to see the branch manager’s face for three whole days, why not visit the Madrid branch while we’re meeting him tomorrow, would that be okay?”
Executive Yoon nodded happily and told me to go ahead.
“Go. Does it make sense to return to Korea without even taking a look at the branch, after coming all this way?”
“I’m also wondering if I’m just moving according to my own schedule too much.”
“Isn’t that why we came? I actually like it this way.”
It was past 8 PM, and outside, the sun hadn’t fully set yet.
Looking out the car window, Executive Yoon said,
“Sometimes, it’s not so bad to not make decisions, to just be buried and follow along like a tag-along in a game of tag.”
These last two months, how calculating he must have been.
Even having to calculate against me, and to have negotiated accordingly.
And how much must you have secretly fretted, maintaining a smile on the outside while steering the situation just as planned?
Even I took days to plan and move out of my rented apartment, but you had to orchestrate so much more...
Then it suddenly occurs to me.
Perhaps this has been the life of Executive Kang Moon-jung all along, not just these past two months.
Always having to make decisions that meet the expectations of her grandfather, her father, and bearing the responsibility for those decisions.
I can fully understand why the executive would want to just follow along for once, without doing anything.
“Executive Kang is not someone who gets overshadowed wherever she goes.”
“That’s why I want to try living like that for a while, even if it’s just during this short stay. I want to take a break too.”
“Yes! I’ll make sure you can focus on recharging your energy and clearing your mind during the rest of our schedule in Spain!”
“That tone.”
What tone?
Wasn’t it the tone I’ve always used?
“Maybe it’s time to be a bit more casual?”
I almost asked back, pretending not to hear, using the conversation style that Executive Kang detests.
“It’s not that I’m asking you to drop formalities completely. But outside the company, let’s drop the military tone, Danaka. Try not to use it. Like that day when I went down to Daejeon to meet Executive Yoon’s mother. The way Executive Yoon spoke to me made me quite uncomfortable in front of her.”
“Ah ... Yes.”
“It would be too awkward for me to start speaking formally to Executive Yoon again. And it would be difficult for Executive Yoon to start speaking informally to me right away. Just find a balance. You know the feeling, right?”
“So, it’s okay to be more casual outside the company?”
“If you suddenly switch to neither informal nor formal, it will surprise me.”
“That’s what you mean?”
Executive Kang chuckles at the joke I made.
“Yes, I understand ... no, let’s do that.”
“Executive Yoon, it’s quite awkward for you too, right?”
“Ha ha, yes, honestly, it is.”
“I feel a bit the same. But, we are actually the same age.”
“My birthday is four months earlier than yours.”
“Take it slow. There’s still plenty of time. Right now, Executive Yoon is the person I keep closest to me, but it’s tricky figuring out how to adjust the distance between us.”
She has always been truly honest with me.
I’ve always felt it.
Even now, it’s the same.
“I’m bound to reveal my true self in front of Executive Yoon more often in the future.”
It sounded like a firm resolution.
“My honest wish right now is that even if I do reveal my true self, it won’t change how Executive Yoon, who finds me difficult, sees me now.”
“...”
“That’s why I can’t bring myself to speak casually with Executive Yoon. If I allow that, I feel like I’ll become too dependent on him.”
“ ... Yes.”
“Am I asking too much of you, giving you such a difficult role?”
“A role worth 10 billion, but I should take on even more challenging roles, right? But, Executive.”
“Yes?”
I paused to gather my thoughts.
Trying to guess what the Executive is worried about, I cautiously began to speak.
“I’ve already revealed everything to you, haven’t I?”
“What?”
“The house where my mother lives in Pyeongchang-dong, the environment I live in, my background. Even the times when I first started as an executive assistant, not knowing what to do, fumbling around in Pyeongchang-dong, and getting scolded by Vice President Kang Young-jin...”
“...”
“That’s why I know how humiliating it is to have someone see your true self, to feel exposed. No matter what you show, I’ll pretend not to see. So, show that side to me, not to others. I’ll act as if I haven’t seen or heard anything. I’ll just continue as I have been.”
The luggage I had requested from the airport delivery service had arrived in the guest room.
After a shower, the Executive and I promised to have a beer in the living room and then entered our respective rooms, dragging our suitcases.
I realized I hadn’t bathed for over 30 hours.
It’s still the dead of night in Korea.
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