Episode 44. Unknown Number (3)
Min Seung-yeon, who had briefly left her seat, went to the lounge provided within the company.
She opened the door, thinking no one would be there, but…
“Ah!”
“Hello, CEO!”
A few employees were seen already occupying the lounge, drinking coffee.
As the awkward encounter unfolded, an artificial smile spread across Min Seung-yeon’s lips.
“Hello. It seems you were resting?”
“Ah, yes!”
“We were just about to go back to work! We were definitely not here to slack off, CEO!”
Min Seung-yeon smiled faintly as she watched the employees desperately trying to defend themselves.
“If you’re tired from work, you can come here for a short break. I’m not the kind of person to scold you for such things, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
Perhaps thanks to Min Seung-yeon speaking first, the employees’ tense and stiff expressions slowly relaxed a bit later.
Although she told them to rest a bit longer before leaving, the employees said they had rested enough and left the lounge.
From the employees’ perspective, being in the same space as the company’s CEO would naturally make them nervous.
Min Seung-yeon felt unnecessarily sorry, as if she had driven the employees away.
Min Seung-yeon soon settled down and began to meticulously re-examine the two text messages she had received.
Although they might seem like typical and ordinary messages filled with a mother’s love and care for her daughter…
Min Seung-yeon, on the other hand, couldn’t understand them.
When the first message arrived, she had assumed it might have been sent by mistake.
However, when she received the second message…
Min Seung-yeon kept feeling suspicious.
The fact that another message was sent from the same number also meant that the daughter hadn’t contacted her mother at all during that time.
From the perspective of a mother with a daughter, this was truly hard to understand.
Aside from being a mother herself, Min Seung-yeon was also a daughter.
If Min Seung-yeon had been the daughter of the person who sent the messages…
“I would have contacted them out of worry.”
The interval between receiving the first and second messages was about a week.
It made no sense that a mother and daughter would have no messages or texts for a week.
It would be possible if their relationship was bad enough to be estranged, but…
“If that were the case, this mother wouldn’t have sent such messages to her daughter.”
The more she thought about it, the more mysterious it became.
Ultimately, there was only one answer.
“It would be best to contact them directly, right?”
And that was also the fastest way.
Min Seung-yeon, having made up her mind, touched the number that had been sending the messages and brought her finger closer to the call button.
Just as the tip of her index finger was about to touch the screen…
Ting!
A third message arrived from the unknown number.
The moment she checked the message content…
“……!”
All the mysteries swirling in Min Seung-yeon’s mind were solved.
I’m tired.
These days, this phrase simply wouldn’t leave Kang Dae-oh’s mind.
He had so much work to do, so he thought it was a natural phenomenon, but…
‘But that doesn’t make my exhaustion disappear.’
Kang Dae-oh stretched, trying hard to shake off the fatigue that was heavily pressing down on his shoulders.
However, whether it knew Kang Dae-oh’s efforts or not…
A yawn reflexively escaped his lips.
He had tried to force himself to be energetic by stretching, but it only made him feel more sleepy.
Due to the unexpected side effect, Kang Dae-oh began light stretching using his office space to clear his head.
Every time he moved his body, his joints made a cracking, cracking sound! Woodudeuk, Woodudeuk!
‘Well, I have been sitting in a chair for a long time.’
It was no wonder his body felt stiff.
Still, moving his body after a long time made him feel much better than before.
‘Once I finish this, should I go home early today?’
Being the company’s CEO is quite good in times like this.
Because he could adjust his working hours at his own discretion.
From the perspective of employees working at the company, it’s good because if the CEO leaves early, they can work with less pressure.
Conversely, Kang Dae-oh liked leaving early even more.
It was a win-win situation.
‘Right. It might be good to leave early sometimes.’
If an urgent matter arose that needed immediate attention, Executive Director Yoo In-seok would handle it as his proxy. If not, he would contact Kang Dae-oh directly.
Kang Dae-oh, having decided to trust that, began to gather his personal belongings, preparing to leave early.
However, a short while later, a secretary team employee visited Kang Dae-oh’s office, causing his early departure preparations to be postponed.
“CEO. You have a visitor.”
“A visitor? At this hour?”
“Yes.”
Kang Dae-oh checked his desk calendar just in case.
It was to check if there was a meeting he had forgotten about.
However, no matter how hard he looked, there were no separate schedules marked for today.
Other than an executive meeting scheduled in the morning, nothing really.
“Who is it?”
He became curious about the identity of the visitor who had suddenly come to see him without warning.
The secretary team employee let the person in.
Normally, outsiders should not be allowed into the CEO’s office without Kang Dae-oh’s permission, but…
There were a few people who had immunity regarding this.
Namely, Kang Dae-oh’s daughters.
And…
His wife, Min Seung-yeon.
“Honey. You haven’t left work yet. That’s a relief.”
“How did you get here…?”
It was the first time Min Seung-yeon had visited his office without warning.
Perhaps because of this, a sense of unease filled Kang Dae-oh’s mind.
“Did something bad happen to the kids, by any chance?”
“No, it’s not that. There’s something I want to consult you about, honey.”
“Surely no one asked you to be a guarantor, or advised you to invest in something, right?”
Min Seung-yeon shook her head, saying it wasn’t like that.
The reason she personally came all the way to her husband’s office was…
“It’s because of this.”
It was because of the third message she received today from an unknown number.
Kang Dae-oh also knew that Min Seung-yeon had recently received several mysterious messages from an unknown number.
“No way. It came again?”
“Yes.”
“That won’t do. Then, wouldn’t it be better to contact them and tell them not to send any more messages…?”
Kang Dae-oh’s argument was that since they seemed unaware of the number change, it would be best to firmly inform them.
At first, Min Seung-yeon thought so too.
But…
The moment she checked the content of the third message, her heart was greatly shaken.
“Look at this.”
Kang Dae-oh slowly began to examine the message content.
[My dear daughter. It’s almost two years since my princess left Mom’s side. Still, Mom misses her daughter so much. Will you be born as Mom’s daughter again, even if it’s in the future? I miss you so, so much today.]
“……”
As soon as he read the message, Kang Dae-oh felt a lump in his throat.
Only then did he understand why messages kept coming from the unknown number.
Min Seung-yeon spoke with a subdued voice, opening her mouth with difficulty.
“It seems the number I changed to was this person’s deceased daughter’s number. That’s why they keep sending messages like this.”
Messages that would never receive a reply.
A mother’s one-sided plea.
But…
It was also the saddest plea in the world.
Kang Dae-oh had no idea that such a story was hidden behind messages he had merely thought were sent by mistake.
“I was wondering what to do… so I just came here without hesitation.”
It was because she strongly hoped that by discussing it with her husband, she might get a good answer.
Kang Dae-oh gently patted his wife’s back as she momentarily showed a sad gaze.
“You did well.”
Kang Dae-oh praised Min Seung-yeon for coming to him.
A married couple is someone who worries together and solves problems together.
The phrase ‘lifelong partner’ isn’t just for show.
They are two when born, but through marriage, they become one entity—that is a married couple.
Thinking of Min Seung-yeon, who must have worried alone for a long time, Kang Dae-oh felt unnecessarily sorry.
“I wish I had paid more attention and kept asking you about the messages, honey.”
“No. I didn’t think much of it at first either. By the way, what should we do?”
Min Seung-yeon asked Kang Dae-oh how he thought it would be best to deal with the situation.
Kang Dae-oh also had many thoughts, as this was his first time encountering such a situation.
However, sending a reply like ‘The number has changed, so you don’t need to send messages to this number anymore’ felt a bit harsh.
The mother who sent the messages was trying to overcome the sorrow of having lost her daughter first…
No, she must have sent these one-way messages to never forget her daughter.
He was worried that if he reacted too coldly, it might hurt her.
A good idea flashed through Kang Dae-oh’s mind.
“How about we send a reply like this?”
Min Seung-yeon perked up her ears to hear her husband’s idea.
The next day, Min Seung-yeon, who woke up early as usual, hurried to work earlier than usual.
This was because the long-awaited reply email from Flavy had arrived today.
“Unnie. Did Flavy agree?”
“Not exactly ‘okay.’ They said they want to have a face-to-face meeting and hear us out first. I’ll have to pitch hard then.”
“What do you think the chances are?”
“Honestly… they’re low. I discreetly gathered some information, and it seems that among the companies vying for the main promotion this time, there’s a company that Flavy has actively supported for a long time. It seems almost confirmed.”
“……Really?”
“Even so, we’ll meet them, have the meeting, and slowly build a relationship with them. If we do that, won’t an opportunity come our way someday?”
You can’t expect to be full on the first spoonful.
Yeon Jeong-hwa and Min Seung-yeon both decided they would be satisfied as long as they could move forward, even if it was slowly.
“What’s the meeting date?”
“This evening. Are you free?”
“What time in the evening?”
“Around 6 PM. Why? Can’t you make it?”
“No. I’m meeting someone around 3 PM later. It happens to be near Flavy’s headquarters, so it shouldn’t be a big problem.”
“Who are you meeting?”
“Well…”
After much thought, Min Seung-yeon opened her mouth with difficulty.
“You know, the person who sent me the messages.”
“You mean the person who sent messages from an unknown number?”
“Yes, that’s right. I got in touch with them yesterday. We even talked on the phone. From the voice, it sounded like an older woman than me.”
“Oh, really? But why did you suddenly decide to meet? Couldn’t you have just said the number changed and that would be it?”
Min Seung-yeon replied with an awkward smile.
“Something happened yesterday that made it necessary.”
“……?”
“I’ll tell you separately later.”
What had happened last night…
It was impossible to infer anything just by looking at Min Seung-yeon’s facial expression.
