Thank you for waiting! I'm busy adjusting myself to university schedule these days, but also not so busy just yet. Waaw, this book's chapter is pretty long to translate>.< The point is: I'm grateful to my readers who had waited for this chapter for 2 months with patience.. don't leave me :,( Here is chapter 2!
Lee Young-joon is... well, Kim Mi-so...
Chapter 2: Insomnia
Translated&edited by Fei斐
"... I am going to quit now."
" Alright. If you want to do so."
In the dark bedroom, Young-joon, who was tossing and turning on his wide bed, blinked and checked the time.
October 25, 02:30 A.M.
Although he usually had a hard time sleeping, he couldn't figure out why he really couldn't sleep today.
Time was still ticking and going without stopping while he was racking his brain, thinking about the unanswered questions he hated.
At 8 A.M.
When working from home, Young-joon used his study as his office and there was a bookcase filled with various books inside. There were a lot of books here and there that didn't have a place to go. Along with those stacks, the long desk was piled up with various office equipment, including laptops and cables, making space no longer available.
"I don't think this can work anymore. Wouldn't it be better to expand the study, sir?"
Mi-so sighed as she looked around, and Young-joon, who was still looking at the laptop screen, answered with no sincerity,
"Shall we?"
"I think we just need to move the grand piano in the next room into the living room and break that wall."
"Good idea. Secretary Kim should push ahead."
"When would be a good time?"
"Well, maybe at the end of November?"
"Ah......"
The answer didn't come right back. Raising his head, Young-joon asked Mi-so who was uncharacteristically loitering.
"What's wrong?"
"At that time, probably I......"
Young-joon stroked his chin as he leaned back on the leather office chair, while the back of the chair made an unpleasant creaking sound. Mi-so shuddered and immediately took out her notebook to make a note of something.
Maybe this happened because they have worked together for 9 years no need to check what Mi-so wrote in the notebook, Young-joon seemed to know it already. Surely, it was changing the chair in the reading room.
After that, the words that Young-joon had expected came out of the woman's mouth.
"On this occasion, maybe we should replace all other furniture in the reading room and also find a replacement secretary ...."
"Are you serious?"
While leaning on his chin, Young-joon's face looks more charming today– maybe it's because his eyes looked deeper and his skin looked paler.
"I'm asking you, are you serious?"
"I'm serious."
Hearing that straightforward answer, Young-joon was silent as he stared at Mi-so closely.
"Are you having a hard time because you have to go to work early in the morning? Should I buy you a car?"
Mi-so's small eyes seemed to get smaller as she smiled.
"You have bought it for me earlier this year."
"Really?"
"Yes. Although I exchanged them with tteokbokki."
"What do you mean?"
"It's too long to explain everything. The point is, I have sold it for personal purposes."
"Mm."
"I should've told you immediately at that time, my apologies. I thought you didn't mind."
Young-joon was silent for a moment, then shook his head elegantly.
"It's okay. What's there to be sorry about. I can just buy you another one. No need to think about the price, just pick whichever you like."
"Oh, no, no. I also don't find it difficult having to go to work early in the morning. You know, I rarely get sleepy in the morning."
"Then, what's the problem?"
Not long after asking that question, something crossed Young-joon's head then he smiled faintly.
"Aah, I know."
Mi-so stared at Young-joon with enlarged eyes, while Young-joon showed a face full of confidence.
"I didn't sleep."
"Pardon?"
"I didn't sleep with the woman I met at that time."
"Wha-a-at?"
"You're not a kid, why are you jealous like that."
Mi-so tried to hold back her laughter, but her saliva unknowingly spurred out over Young-joon.
"It's dirty, what are you doing?"
"I'm sorry, sir. I'll clean it up."
Mi-so took out a handkerchief to wipe Young-joon's laptop. Young-joon waved his hand.
"Throw it away."
"Yes."
"Anyway, erase all strange thoughts from your head. How about we rent a cinema and watch something together tomorrow?"
Mi-so still smiled but remained steadfast to the end.
"Assistant manager Park will display the job vacancy ad this morning, then I do my best to sort out the best candidates.You only need to interview the final candidates."
Young-joon stared at the woman in front of him with an unknown expression.
"I have already explained the scandal that happened last month, right? I dare to swear with my hand on my chest that I didn't sleep with that woman."
"Vice President Lee. How many times do I have to say it? I'm fine even if you sleep until morning with those women you meet."
The expression on Young-joon's smooth face wrinkled when he heard Mi-so's words.
"What kind of man do you think I am."
"Just please don't wake me up again at 3 in the morning to be your driver. Anyway, it's not because of anything like that."
"Is it because I told you to work overtime and to come to work on weekends since last month, that you have been working overtime often and even got a nosebleed. Why are you suddenly acting like an amateur like this? Oh, are you having your period?"
Mi-so, who had been smiling all this time, suddenly became grim.
"Oh, it's strange. It's like something suddenly went up in my body? Hohoho. Anyway, I will schedule the interview to fit your schedule."
Young-joon stared at Mi-so for a moment, then turned cold.
"Whatever you say. There is no reason to hold back a person who wants to leave."
***
The big signboard shined brightly because lights were plastered with the restaurant's name. This restaurant's name had an emotional and literary potential, but it was a shame because the pork skin restaurant was looked down nowadays. Mi-so look at the restaurant that looked emptier than the last time she came to this place. Then she turned to the two eonnis, who sat with her around the table made of drums, and told them to eat.
"Hurry eat up, eonnis*."
(*T/N:언니 eonni is a familiar name to call a female who is older than you if you're also a female. Shortly it means "older sister" called out by a younger sister.)
"Thank you, Mi-so."
"You eat too, Mi-so."
"I'm fine. But why are your faces not so good? Are you eating enough? Are things still difficult now?"
The two eonnis faces who had clashed with her a year ago looked more worn out and tired than the last time they met during Chinese New Year.
The small and thin woman wearing thick glasses so that her eyes look smaller was Mi-so's oldest eonni, Pil-nam. She was very soft-hearted and always says sorry. She was also an anesthesiologist and now working at a private university hospital, which served as her alma mater.
"I didn't work at the hospital yesterday, so I worked part time at night. I might be a little sleep deprived...."
"Eonni is already tired from working and studying. Why did eonni do part time work? Eonni should have just take a rest."
"If I want to help Mal-hee opens her own clinic, I thought it's better to save some money first...."
Seeing Pil-nam, who was eating the meat with her chopsticks weakly, Mi-so felt a bit sorry.
"Eonni! Why would you say that to Mi-so?!"
Mi-so's second eonni, Mal-hee, exclaimed loudly, making the restaurant's owner, who was cleaning the pork skin, utterly caught by surprise.
She was short and chubby. Just like Pil-nam, Mal-hee herself was also a doctor. However, due to some difficult family circumstances, she let go her specialist course and was working as a doctor in a clinic at present.
"Mi-so, don't think about it. From now on, we will take care of our things by ourselves. You don't have to worry about us. Come on, come on, eat, eat. Today, I will treat, so eat a lot. Ajusshi! Can we have another portion here?"
Mal-hee told Mi-so to eat more with a commanding tone, but her attitude was weaker and more held-back than Pil-nam. Mi-so looked at her sisters with tenderness, then corrected their order.
"Sajang-nim! We want another two additional portions of skin and meat. Also a can of Cola, please."
The three sisters all sat quietly until the additional orders came.
"Forgive eonni, Mi-so. As the oldest eonni, I didn't think about my sisters and only thought about myself, as a result you...."
Seeing Pil-nam crying, Mal-hee faced her head down and cried along.
"No, eonni. If only I didn't attend the university entrance examination retest, Mi-so, who has always been the smartest out of the three of us, wouldn't have to leave her studies and work like this...."
"I'm sorry. We're really sorry, Mi-so-ya." Pil-nam added.
Seeing her two eonnis like this, Mi-so was sad too. The tip of her nose turned red and her eyes became watery. Even so, she smiled sweetly again.
"It's okay. You have worked hard and paid all the loans back (together with me). Plus, you didn't get into trouble like our dad."
Hearing that, the two eonnis stared at her with wide eyes.
"What? Trouble?"
"Hmm. You didn't know about it because I didn't tell you, but dad actually had a lot of private loans (from a debentures/loan shark) earlier this year. It looked like he endured it all alone because he felt sorry to us."
Her sisters were stupefied, unable to close their mouths.
"Loans? How much?"
"More than 30 million won (Korean money currency; around 25,700 dollars/IDR 370 million)."
"What?? 30 million won?? There's such a thing going on, why didn't you tell us?"
"If I told you, what could you do except worrying about it? Pil-nam eonni is so busy that she couldn't be seen around, Mal-hee eonni is busy with her part-time job because the hospital where eonni worked at was suddenly closed, right."
"Ah...."
Although her two eonnis were shocked to speechlessness, Mi-so still kept on smiling.
"At that time, I didn't have any spare money as it was coincidental with Pil-nam eonni's debt payment due date. I was really perplexed at that moment. Hohoho."
"But is it settled now?"
"Yup. I sold my car and paid it off."
"Car? What car? You had a car?"
"Yup. That time I missed a bus and was ten minutes late for work, hence President Lee immediately bought me a car for my daily home-to-work usage. I sold it after using it for only about a week. Huh, if I knew, I wouldn't coat the windows with a tinted film. I paid off Dad's debt with the car money and was left with one hundred three thousand won. I gave Dad one hundred thousand won for his return fare, and bought tteokbokki* at the bus terminal with the rest three thousand won."
 |
| tteokbokki is a stir-fried Korean spicy rice cake☺yum! |
Perhaps it was unrealistic sounding, but Mi-so's narration touched her eonnis.
"Ah...."
"Yup, it was all in the past anyway. Because both of you also work hard, your debts will be paid off soon. You have paid your debt yourselves starting from last month, and Dad's condition is stable now. At present, there's no more trouble causing me headache, I'm very happy and . So, there's nothing to apologize for."
Mi-so lifted the cooked pig's meat and skin from the grill and divided them to her eonnis' plates. Afterwards, she put the grilled mushroom and garlic to her own plate.
"Come, you eat the meat too."
"Right, eat more, Mi-so. How could you live if you're this skinny?"
"I was on a diet recently. I often go together with President Lee to parties or meetings. There are many small-portioned meals with high calories, which would make me put on weight by eating just a little of it. I'm so frightened. I've gained five hundred grams this time. How could I possibly let myself gain any more weight? Hohoho."
Mi-so's slender and slim body surely made everyone envious. She also had a big chest, with no trace of fat could be seen on her body. This kind of woman was even saying that she was on a diet. She also asked how could she gain any more weight. As she was smiling, she said those extremely aggravating things (T/N: ikr. Stop it, Mi-so☺). Pil-nam and Mal-hee stared at Mi-so's flat abdomen. Mi-so wasn't like this before, but since working at Yu-il Group 9 years ago, Mi-so gradually became annoying. It seemed like she was infected by a certain someone.
Mal-hee, who was fine even with her increasing body weight, was sucking on her chopsticks' tip.
"I've been wondering, Mi-so, do you always follow your boss to parties?"
Mi-so was silently thinking whether she would eat the mushroom on her plate or not. Finally, she closed her eyes and drank a glass of water, then nodded.
"Yes. There are events that must be attended with a partner. So, I wasn't following him to the party, but I went with him together to the party."
"Partner?"
The word partner you mean...... is not that kind of partner, right? Pil-nam and Mal-hee's faces turned dark and the two was looking at each other with their eyes squinted.
"Oh, yes! Before I forget, here!"
Mi-so handed-out the shopping bags she had brought, to her two eonnis, one by one.
"What is this?"
Within the shopping bag, there were boxes of expensive branded goods. Looking from the size, it could be ascertained that the things inside were something like perfume, cosmetics, and high-priced wallet.
"I got them from Vice President Lee. You use it, eonni."
"Did Lee Young-joon buy all of this for you?"
Mi-so didn't know how to answer Pil-nam's question and only blinked her eyes for a moment.
Every time he had the need to give a personal gift to someone, Young-joon always asked Mi-so to buy it with (YJ's) credit card along with the list of things she needed to buy. It had been Young-joon's habit since, he also wrote down the list of things he wanted to buy for Mi-so and gave her the things after.
Of course, it didn't happen in the very beginning. While working as Young-joon's assistant, Mi-so, who always smiled kindly, only got angry twice at Young-joon. It was the second incident that ignited this Young-joon's habit.
That day, Mi-so had a nosebleed due to exhaustion from business trips, overtime, and working on weekends. Worse yet, she also had her period on that same day. This incident happened right before Mi-so fainted because of headache. One box of imported caramel that Mi-so kept in her drawer as an emergency food was missing. After looking for it for quite some time, Young-joon suddenly appeared, ordering her to buy gifts for women. However, the caramel scent Mi-so was looking for wafted on Young-joon. And so, Mi-so blew up all at once. Young-joon didn't know that the reason why Mi-so cried and raging wildly was only a small box of caramel. After that incident, Young-joon got used to buying a gift for Mi-so each time he ordered her to buy gifts.
"It's a very long story if I'm telling you in detail. Definitely, yes, these were all bought by Vice President Lee."
The expressions on her two eonnis' faces were getting more and more suspicious, but Mi-so still smiled happily, then bent her body down to whisper.
"All this time, I often sold things from him via the internet and got quite a lot of money because of it. Now that we don't need a lot of money anymore, just use them. Everything is good and pricey."
Pil-nam and Mal-hee watched Mi-so's face and body with a complicated expression.
"Why are you not speaking?"
"Mi-so, you...."
Mi-so who had been cheerful turned somber. She hesitated for a second, then asked with a sad face.
"Is the situation still difficult now? If yes, should I not quit now?"
"What? You want to quit working?"
"Yes. I have informed that I'm quitting yesterday, and the job vacancy ads will be posted tomorrow. It feels a bit sad because I've worked for nine years."**
Hearing Mi-so's words, her two eonnis faces turned rosy.
"Great, great. Great decision. All this time, you must be tired from working for your eonnis, right?"
Seeing her two sisters hung their heads down again, Mi-so gathered her smile back.
"No, no. I'm not tired. I'm very lucky. Honestly speaking, with my age and qualifications (back then), it was impossible for me to be accepted in a big company and got a high position. Although the work was hard, I got paid well, and because I work with outstanding people, I could develop my skills. Actually, I;m still reluctant to quit working...."
"Then why did you decide to quit?"
"I'm too busy. Besides, if I don't quit now, it seems like I wouldn't be able to quit working forever."
Mi-so smiled as she looked at her two sisters who failed to understand her words.
"Eonniー eonni has always had a boyfriend, right?"**
"Yes."
"Before it's too late, I want to date someone and get married too."
"What?"
This was actually the perfect time to give her a round of encouragement and warm support, but Pil-nam and Mal-hee had a very complicated expression and couldn't be explained with words. Ah, this is clearly a suspicious situation, but also too pure to be suspected. What kind of feeling is this?
"Why are your expressions like that?"
"Ehm, Mi-so, are you...?"
When Mal-hee was about to ask something, Mi-so's phone that was placed on the table suddenly vibrated. On her phone screen, "Vice President Lee" was clearly displayed.
"Hm. Why is he calling me at this hour again...? It can't be possible that I will be asked to be his driver again?"
Mi-so glanced at the watch*that was showing eleven o'clock at night, then answered the phone with worry.
"Yes, Vice President Lee."
Mi-so exhaled, as if saying "Huh, I knew it", then replied with a smile.
"I apologize, but I have something to do tonight. Thus, can I call another driver to pick you up? Ah, yes, yes. Yes, I know. Of course, that couldn't be allowed. Hm, how about you sleep together with the woman you're with now just for tonight? Are you not tired? Must you go back home? Eh, wait. Today is Thursday, ah, it's Ms. Oh Ji-ran! Ms. Oh, whose charm is so.... Agh! I understand! Alright, I understand, so please don't shout like that all of a sudden! I almost passed out!"
Mi-so kept smiling as her hand tightly gripped the phone, kept on talking afterwards.
"But you know, sir, honestly speaking. Even if you go home now, it's not like there is anyone waiting for you, nor there will be someone nagging you. Why are you so insistent on going home? It would be fine if you sleep outside for just one night. No one will say anything if Vice President Lee sleeps out...."
At that very second, Mi-so scrunched her face and brought the phone away from her ear. Lee Young-joon's voice roaring like a lion was heard.
For a moment, Mi-so looked fixedly at the phone that she put away. After Young-joon calmed down, Mi-so exhaled and smiled again to answer the call.
"I will go there right away by taxi, please wait a moment. And don't drink again."
Pil-nam and Mal-hee's expressions turned even more complicated. They looked at Mi-so who hung up the call and stood up.
"Eonnis, very sorry that it looks like you have to go home first. I will take my boss to his house, and then go home immediately. This key.... Ah! How can it fall in this situation."
Mi-so bowed down to get her key that fell. She saw something on the floor and jumped back.
"Omo! Spider!"
Hearing Mi-so's scream, Pil-nam and Mal-hee quickly caught the spider as fast as lightning.
"Mi-so, you still haven't be able to overcome your fear of spiders?"
Mi-so's face turned blueish and trembling out of fear. With empty eyes, she raised a peculiar question to her two eonnis.
"Eonnis, was I ever lost when I was little? When I was around four or five years old."
"She's asking about that thing again. I've already told you, never."
Mi-so was silent for a few seconds and sank into her thoughts. However, she soon stood up and smiled again. She went as she waved her hand.
Seeing Mi-so went in a hurry, Pil-nam, who was silent, finally opened her mouth.
"Kim Mal-hee."
"Yes."
"How's your opinion about Mi-so and Young-joon's relationship?"
"I have the same opinion as you, eonni."
"You think so? Hmm.... What, yes....."
"Somewhat ambiguous, right?"
"At first, I thought so too, seems like they have a special relationship. Mi-so is indeed a beautiful girl with great body like an actress, but it's a bit weird when they requited a high school-graduate with no experience to work there. Looking at how they're always together for nine years, Lee Young-joon also bought her a car and expensive goods with no reason...."
"But hearing them talk earlier, it didn't seem like that kind of relationship."
"Yes, right."
"It's kinda weird."
"But eonni, when seeing them talk on the phone just now, there's one thing that emerged in my mind."
"You also think so?"
"Yes."
The two looked at each other and exclaimed at the same time.
"A fifty years old married couple who have been married for thirty years!"
"A fifty years old married couple who is already bored at each other!"
***
Aside from the sound of the machine, nothing else was heard inside the car. Young-joon closed his eyes as he sat on the passenger seat that was positioned so that he could lay down facing the car's ceiling, all of a sudden he opened his eyes and started talking.
"What were you doing just now?"
"Are you not sleeping?"
The tik-tok-tik-tok sound from the signal lamp was heard when Mi-so activated it before turning. Young-joon asked again when he saw Mi-so's back that felt different faced the window on the left.
"Who were you with just now?"
"Well.*"
(*T/N: 글쎄요 is like Well.../Well, who knows..)
Young-joon was disappointed because Mi-so evaded answering his question. He stared at the woman closely.
"Have you decided where you will go after resigning?"
"You mean other company?"
"Yes."
"Not yet."
"You will stay in Seoul, right?"
"I also don't know about that."
"You don't even have those basic plans. Why do you even want to quit working?"
Mi-so kept her silence as she gazed outside the window, then replied Young-joon's question.
"Now is the time for me to pick up my life."
Once again, the car was filled with silence.
Time went by. Thereafter, Young-joon spoke with a bewildered expression and voice.
"Why did you suddenly make a decision that sounds like a nonsense?"
"Your words are too unkind."
"What about me?"
"Why must we suddenly talk about you?"
***
October 26, 05:00 A.M., Lee Young-joon's residence.
A ringing tone sounded inside the room which was still surrounded by the darkness of dawn. That was a morning call from head butler.
Didn't know what's happening today, the bed looked tidy and empty. Meanwhile, a tall and straight human silhouette was seen near the window. That was Young-joon who usually answered the call around this time with a sleepy tone, while still laying on the bed.
"Why...?"
Long after the ringing tone stopped, Young-joon stared at the clock on the phone without moving. Following that, he started mumbling, "Why can't I fall asleep?"
∞•∞•∞
So I decided to post every chapters from now in full chapter! But you'll need to wait for a long time for the next chapter😞 mian...
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