A child who looks like me

Jeong-oh was taken aback by Jo Si-nae’s fabricated gossip.

From a distance, Eun-bi subtly lifted one corner of her lips.

Though she was angry, there was no point in rolling up her sleeves and fighting in this situation. It was more important to resolve the problem first.

Jeong-oh grabbed her laptop.

“I’ll go to the IT room and fix it quickly.”

“Let’s go together…”

“Let’s go together.”

Song Gi-hun rose from his seat, but Ji-heon interrupted him. Gi-hun, who had intended to go with Jeong-oh to the IT room, sat back down without finishing his sentence.

When Ji-heon expressed his intention to go himself, Si-nae looked at Eun-bi.

Eun-bi’s previously lifted lip quivered slightly. Clenching her fists so hard that her nails dug into her palms, she returned to her seat.

Jeong-oh hurriedly dashed away, with Ji-heon following closely behind in long strides. Their pace matched pretty well.

As Jeong-oh and Ji-heon entered the IT room, a few staff members who recognized Ji-heon stood up.

“Director, hello.”

Ji-heon nodded and got straight to the point.

“The computer isn’t working. I’d like it fixed.”

A staff member who received the laptop turned it on to check its status.

“When did this start happening?”

“It wasn’t long ago. It happened while I was away for about 30 minutes.”

After examining the laptop screen for a while and pressing various buttons, the staff member’s expression gradually darkened.

“Is there any data that you absolutely need to recover?”

“Yes. There’s a file that I really need.”

Jeong-oh answered.

“It looks like it’s a virus. If we need to recover the files instead of wiping the laptop completely, it’s going to take some time. I’ll have it restored by next Wednesday.”

Jeong-oh felt her heart sink at the staff member’s response.

Ji-heon asked, “I urgently need that data. Is there no way to do it faster?”

“It’s likely to take at least a day and a half…”

“I’d like it resolved today.”

“……I’ll try my best.”

Under Ji-heon’s pressure, the staff member nodded with an awkward expression.

Seeing the staff member’s expression, Jeong-oh felt hopeless. She sensed that the working files wouldn’t be restored by the end of the day.

As they left the IT room, Jeong-oh said to Ji-heon, “I’ll recreate it from memory and report back.”

“That sounds better. Can you do it by six o’clock?”

Ji-heon asked blankly.

“Yes, I can.”

“Then we’ll set it for a report at six.”

The unexpected incident made Jeong-oh’s schedule hectic.

As she returned to her desk after parting ways with Ji-heon, Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob rushed over.

“Assistant Lee Jeong-oh. What did the IT team say? Are they going to restore it right away?”

“No. It seems it’s going to take time, so I’m going to remake the materials.”

“You’re going to recreate all of it?”

“I think I can do it since I remember it to some extent.”

Eun-bi interjected with a worried tone, “Copywriting is about the nuances of words; can you really recreate the original feeling just from memory?”

Though her tone was concerned, it carried an edge. It seemed she was convinced that Jeong-oh would fail.

Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob encouraged her.

“Well, let’s give it a try. Since it’s only the first proposal, we’ll have to put in the effort again. We can take our time reviewing it later, so let’s just focus on submitting it today. You can do this, right?”

“Yes, I’ll give it a shot.”

“I have another urgent matter to deal with right now, so I’ll be stepping away for a bit. I’ll be back later, so please take care of it in the meantime. Call me if you hit a snag!”

“Sure. I understand.”

The current time was 2 PM.

There were four hours left until the report at 6 PM.

While she couldn’t leave work at six on the dot, she could manage to leave by seven.

‘That should be enough.’

Jeong-oh felt a surge of determination.

The production team members were so busy that Jeong-oh couldn’t ask for any help. Eun-bi was working hard on something with the new copywriter from Production Team 1 beside her.

Jeong-oh continued to doubt whether they were truly working or just pretending to be busy, but she didn’t want to voice her disappointment.

At 5:30 PM, Jeong-oh barely completed the proposal.

It wasn’t exactly the same as the original proposal. She filled in some parts that she couldn’t quite remember with alternatives. Jeong-oh sent the completed proposal to her teammates via email.

After reviewing the proposal, Eun-bi leaned on her desk and asked, “Assistant Lee Jeong-oh, this is completely different from the copy I wrote. Are you sure you remember correctly?”

“Then could you please correct the parts that are different from your memory and send them to me via email?”

“I gave you notes a long time ago. What happened to all of that?”

“I know it’s somewhere. However, I don’t have time to look for it right now. For now, please review the material and correct it. Later, I’ll check how accurate your memory is by finding those notes.”

When Jeong-oh pointed out her memory, Eun-bi flinched and made an excuse.

“I don’t have time either, so I think it’s better for you to handle it. Since this happened due to your mistake, it would be meaningful for you to take responsibility and report it. I’ll support you.”

Eun-bi settled the dispute by deflecting responsibility.

Afterward, Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob from Production Team 1, who was out for a while, contacted her. Jeong-oh was to report the proposal directly to Ji-heon.

***

At exactly 6 PM.

Ji-heon said he would come to the conference room himself, so while waiting with the AE, Jeong-oh received a call from Guk-soon.

Stepping out of the conference room, Jeong-oh answered the call.

“Hello.”

[Mom!] Yena’s cute voice came through. Yena was calling from Guk-soon’s mobile phone. Despite her tension due to the proposal report, Jeong-oh couldn’t help but smile.

[Did Mom get off work? When are you coming?] “I haven’t left work yet.”

[Why? Why haven’t you left yet?] Hearing Yena’s sulky voice made Jeong-oh’s heart ache.

However, she couldn’t show it too much since she was near the conference room. She was anxious that Ji-heon might come over.

“I’m busy with work. But I’ll finish soon and come home. I’ll call you when I’m leaving.”

[Okay. Hurry up! You remember our promise, right?] “Of course, I remember. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

Carefully soothing Yena, Jeong-oh hung up the phone and noticed Ji-heon approaching.

It felt like Ji-heon was staring at her intently. Jeong-oh nodded in greeting and entered the conference room first.

After Jeong-oh entered, Ji-heon followed, and then the members of Production Team 1 came in one after another. It seemed they thought they needed to make an impression during the report.

The responsible AE handed Ji-heon a printed copy of the proposal.

“Shall we begin the presentation?”

“I’ll take a look myself.”

Ji-heon replied briefly to the AE’s question and turned to the first page of the proposal.

The conference room quickly fell silent.

Occasionally, there was the sound of pages turning, and when it stopped, Ji-heon tilted his head, causing the team members to shrink back.

After reviewing the last page, Ji-heon set the proposal down.

“The planning section is concise and clear. The problem is with the production section.”

The employees swallowed nervously, their faces tense.

“It would be unreasonable to come up with better ideas here, right? If the meeting drags on, it’ll be harder to gather opinions.”

Ji-heon’s question, which was somewhat obvious, left everyone speechless. Since both the team leaders of Production Teams 1 and 2 were absent, there was no one to stand up to Ji-heon.

“Well then, Assistant Lee Jeong-oh.”

“Yes.”

“Please recreate it and show me again today. The rest can go about their tasks.”

Jeong-oh’s face went pale at the sudden directive.

“Director, are you saying…”

“I think we need to completely overhaul it.”

“…….”

“I will need to review everything from the beginning.”

As Ji-heon stood up, he spoke.

The others secretly let out a sigh of relief for not being scolded separately.

Gi-hoon, who had been caught by Ji-heon a few days ago and had worked in the director’s office, looked at Ji-heon with a gloomy expression.

***

Jeong-oh followed Ji-heon as he left the conference room.

“Director, could you please tell me which parts need to be revised first?”

“The copy is strange. There’s no sincerity in it at all.”

“Which specific parts of the copy seem insincere to you?”

“All of it.”

“…….”

“I think we need to redo all of it.”

No way…

Jeong-oh felt both unfair and desperate at Ji-heon’s harsh words.

Jeong-oh continued to chase after Ji-heon. Once they reached the corridor leading to the office and there was no one left around, she called out to him again.

“Director, can I work from home today? I’ll revise the proposal as quickly as possible and send it to you by email today.”

“Is there something urgent at home?”

“Yes, I have some household matters to attend to.”

“What kind of household matters?”

Jeong-oh hesitated to answer Ji-heon’s follow-up question.

She knew from the previous day that Ji-heon had been particularly harsh with Assistant Jo Si-nae after Si-nae had postponed client entertaining tasks.

If she mentioned it was her father’s memorial day, he might ask for a death certificate, and if she said her mother was sick, he might want a hospital diagnosis.

“……Just some household matters.”

“Is it something you can’t talk about?”

“…….”

“If it’s such an urgent household matter, can you really get your work done? I know that when you go home, you don’t even check your phone.”

“No, this time I will definitely…….”

“Don’t you think instead of pleading your case, you should just start working and finish quickly?”

As Ji-heon turned to leave, Jeong-oh, feeling anxious, grabbed his sleeve.

“Director, can I at least go out for just three hours, or no, just two hours? I promise I’ll be back in two hours. Please…….”

“Are you telling me to wait here for two hours until your household matters are finished?”

However, Ji-heon remained unmoved.

“You have to take responsibility for the work you volunteered for. Don’t you think so?”

With Ji-heon’s reprimand, Jeong-oh had no choice but to stay silent.

“I’m instructing you because I believe you are responsible for this task. If it’s really impossible, I’ll call Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob. You can work with him instead.”

Ji-heon pulled his arm away from Jeong-oh’s grasp and went into his office.

In a hurry, Jeong-oh contacted Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob. However, he didn’t answer.

Returning to her desk, she noticed Eun-bi glaring at her. But this wasn’t a time to care about that. Jeong-oh ran to Eun-bi.

“Manager, I’m sorry, but could I ask for a favor? I have some work today. Could you please handle the revision of the proposal? I’m begging you.”

It was a request she would never normally make. A request she might regret later. But Jeong-oh threw her pride aside. She was that desperate.

If Eun-bi helped her this one time, she silently swore that she would never go against her again in the future.

“What did you say? Ha! This is unbelievable.”

But the response she received was cold.

Eun-bi raised her voice as if she had been put in a ridiculous situation. People around them turned to look.

“Why should I clean up after this mess that you created? Don’t you think that’s too much?”

Jeong-oh quickly realized the reality.

Right. I’ve been foolish.

Chae Eun-bi was not someone who would help her with such a request. In her desperation, she had reached out with a rotten lifeline.

Jeong-oh quickly gave up and returned to her desk.

Gi-hoon, who knew all about Jeong-oh’s situation, was reporting this fact to Mi-ran, who was outside, asking for help.

“If the team leader comes back, I think the problem will be resolved more quickly…….”

Seeing how he was trying his best to get Jeong-oh off work, her eyes turned red.

After finishing the call with Mi-ran, Gi-hoon said to Jeong-oh.

“I’m so sorry I can’t help you, Assistant. I wish I were a copywriter instead.”

“It’s okay. Thank you for worrying about me.”

At that moment, Ji-heon’s voice could be heard in the hallway.

“Assistant Lee Jeong-oh.”

“Sure.”

Jeong-oh stood up.

“Bring your work laptop and come to the conference room. Let’s work on it together.”

At Ji-heon’s instruction, Eun-bi’s eyes widened in surprise.

…Are they really going to be alone in the conference room together?