A child who looks like me

Receiving Yena’s birthday gift from Gi-hun left Jeong-oh feeling dazed.

Just two days ago, she had revealed that she had a daughter to turn down his confession.

“It’s a hairpin.”

Seeing Jeong-oh’s face look burdened, Gi-hun whispered again that it was just a trivial gift.

Jeong-oh fidgeted with the gift in her hands, then cautiously smiled. She couldn’t reject this either.

A gift given with good intentions should be received with gratitude. Today is a good day, after all.

“Thank you. I’m sure she’ll love that a cool older brother gave it to her.”

“Older brother? More like uncle.”

Gi-hun’s expression showed no lingering regrets, which reassured Jeong-oh.

She put the gift in her bag and sat down at her desk. Gi-hun kept leaning over the partition to look at her.

“By the way, Assistant, you owe me a treat. You have to buy me dinner.”

“Of course. I’ll treat you to something substantial.”

Jeong-oh nodded with a fist pump of determination.

“Let’s work. I have to leave early today. I already told the team leader that I’ll be clocking out on time.”

“Leave all the hard work to me. I’ll make sure you get to leave on time today.”

“Alright. Thanks.”

Ji-heon, who had been watching the two from a distance, slowly opened and closed his fist.

A moment later, Jeong-oh made brief eye contact with Ji-heon, gave him a subtle nod, and turned her head away.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

“Mom, Mom, Mom!”

It was past 9 AM, but Dabin showed no signs of wanting to go to daycare.

“I want a tie! Tie!”

Dabin brought his only tie and waved it in front of Jin-seo’s face.

He seemed to think that his dad looked cool wearing a tie to work.

He had somehow managed to put on a shirt, but all the buttons were only half-fitted into their holes.

Jin-seo straightened Dabin’s clothes, properly buttoned his shirt, and finally adjusted his tie.

It was his girlfriend’s birthday.

Dabin, who had chosen a gift for Yena himself, wiped the ring box that his mom had beautifully wrapped with his palm over and over.

“But son, do you really think Yena will like the ring?”

“Yeah.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because the ring is pretty.”

“……Well, gifts reflect the giver’s feelings. Is it just the ring?”

“No! There’s also a letter!”

“Really? Let’s see it.”

Jin-seo took the note that Dabin proudly presented.

Her mouth dropped open at the message scrawled in uneven handwriting.

– Yena, your eyes are like jewels. Let’s get married later♥

Are you saying you want to get married just because her eyes resemble jewels?

She wanted to insert at least one more sentence between “jewels” and “marriage,” but seeing this pure confession through an adult’s perspective made it feel inappropriate.

It seemed like her son was planning to propose on Yena’s birthday.

Should I be cheering for you, son? We should at least consider Yena’s perspective, right?

“Is there anything else besides the ring and the letter?”

“Yeah! I have six talents!”

“Six talents?”

“Yeah. Three magic tricks, a poem about Yena, the dog-leg dance, and a tissue flower.”

This was serious.

It seemed that her son was planning to perform for his crush on her birthday.

Dabin, the reason I cheered for your clumsy magic shows is that I’m your mom…

The world can be harsh…

Maybe the proud Yena won’t like it at all…

When Dabin was wrapped up in his skirt, he believed he was the funniest person in the world.

Raising a child with high self-esteem was good, but it was a bit worrisome.

“What’s your poem about Yena?”

“Mom, call out Yena.”

“Yee.”

“Yena is.”

“Pretty.”

“Let’s.”

“Get married.”

……This is a problem.

“Son. Let’s just do the coin trick and the tissue flower. Just those two.”

“Why?”

“Because you should only show a little bit of your best tricks.”

“Then what about the poem? I worked hard on it!”

“……Okay. Then just the poem and the tissue flower.”

“Can’t I do three?”

“You’ll need something to perform at next year’s Yena’s birthday too.”

“Ah, then……”

Dabin suddenly started counting on his fingers one by one.

“Then I’ll have to prepare thirteen more, right?”

“Why thirteen?”

“Because I’ll be doing it for thirteen years.”

“Why thirteen years?”

“Because I’m going to get married when I turn twenty!”

“……So my son is going to get married at twenty.”

“Yeah!”

“But Dabin, after you get married, won’t you do your tricks anymore?”

“Yeah. Because I’ll have to take care of the baby, so I can’t. It’ll be hard.”

So my son knows it’s hard to raise a baby.

Is this really coming from someone who understands that?

If you know it’s hard, wouldn’t it be great if you listened to your mom, Dabin?

Jin-seo had a lot she wanted to say to her son, but she hid it all behind a quiet smile.

She just wanted to support him.

May her son’s first love be beautiful.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Things were going smoothly.

Jeong-oh spent the entire morning in the meeting room working with Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob from the neighboring team to prepare a draft for the Daewon liquor production.

Since the script was the main focus of the draft, the copywriter Jeong-oh’s opinions were most reflected in it. It was a first proposal with a short preparation time, but Jeong-oh did her best.

After a quick lunch, she returned to the meeting room and was organizing the materials when her phone vibrated. It was a call from the Gwangjin Police Station.

Jeong-oh left the meeting room to answer the call.

“Hello.”

[Hello, this is Kwon Bae-il from the Gwangjin Police Station. Is this Lee Jeong-oh?] It was a voice she had heard a week ago. A pale-faced police officer with a kind demeanor was calling her directly. Jeong-oh responded pleasantly.

“Yes, that’s me.”

[I’m calling regarding your daughter’s case. Is it a good time to talk?] “Yes! Please go ahead.”

[We have checked all the nearby CCTV footage and confirmed a woman hurriedly walking while holding your daughter’s hand. However, we couldn’t get a clear image of the woman. She was wearing a hat. I will send you the clearest video we have; could you check it?] “Yes, please.”

[I’ll send the video to the phone number I just called you from.] “Thank you.”

[Please contact us if you see anyone suspicious.] Bae-il ended the call and immediately sent the video file.

Jeong-oh carefully examined the video. She saw Yena walking briskly with a woman passing by a convenience store. The fear she had experienced before surged back into her heart. Goosebumps ran from the nape of her neck to the tips of her fingers.

Seeing her daughter being led away by a stranger sent chills through her body, even though the image was faint.

She calmed herself and replayed the video.

The woman, wearing dark clothing and a hat pulled low over her face, had her long hair tied to one side, but besides that, there were no specific distinguishing features. The image was dark enough that even the outline of her face was not clear, and she couldn’t identify the woman’s build.

‘First of all, I don’t know this person.’

Even so, she could conclude that this person was probably not someone she knew. Also, it couldn’t be Ji-heon’s mother.

‘But Ji-heon’s mother could have sent someone to approach her.’

There was no definitive evidence, which made the situation precarious. But it was incredibly important to Jeong-oh.

– It doesn’t seem like I know this person. Please contact me if any new evidence is discovered.

After sending a text message to Bae-il using the number he had provided, Jeong-oh returned to her office for a moment.

“Assistant, is everything alright? You don’t look so good.”

Gi-hun, who was observant, noticed Jeong-oh’s expression and asked.

“Gi-hun, I need to ask you something.”

Suddenly having a good idea, Jeong-oh changed her expression and showed Gi-hun several screenshots of the video she had received, focusing only on the woman’s hat.

“Have you seen a hat like this? It looks like a brand hat.”

Gi-hun squinted at the pictures for a while, tilting his head.

“I can’t tell for sure since the pictures are blurry. It looks like a hat from a foreign soccer team. Hold on a moment.”

Gi-hun went back to his desk and typed on the keyboard. Various baseball caps appeared in a row on Gi-hun’s PC monitor. After moving the mouse a few more times, he showed the search results to Jeong-oh.

“This one looks similar.”

It was a red cap with navy on the back, featuring the logo of a Spanish soccer team on the front. Jeong-oh’s complexion brightened as she examined the screenshot and the monitor back and forth.

“Oh wow! Gi-hun, you’re a genius!”

Jeong-oh’s voice rose with excitement.

“But there’s absolutely no guarantee that it’s the same. The picture is blurry, and hats like that can be made quite easily in knock-off versions. Just consider it a similar design.”

“Okay, I understand. But still, thank you so much, Gi-hun.”

“Not at all. I can help with more complicated tasks.”

Feeling reassured by Gi-hun’s response, Jeong-oh was able to push her worries aside and smile.

It was almost time to get off work.

She needed to finish up her tasks and get back to work.

Once she confirmed the proposal with Director Jeong Ji-heon, her work for the day would be done. She had already coordinated with Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob, so everything was almost settled.

Team 1 of the production department was in chaos because an existing advertiser had unexpectedly placed an order.

Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob waved at Jeong-oh as she passed by. It was a signal that things were getting busy, and she needed to handle the wrap-up herself. Jeong-oh nodded and headed for the meeting room.

If she was going to work alone, there was no need to be in the meeting room. Jeong-oh grabbed her laptop and returned to her desk.

In the meantime, Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob, who had been talking loudly on the phone, turned to Jeong-oh and said,

“Assistant Lee, let’s wrap up our Daewon liquor proposal first. Take the printed draft that Assistant Jo Si-nae will send over, paste it in, and then show it to the director.”

“Yes.”

Jeong-oh turned on her laptop and moved the mouse. But something was off.

The computer, which had been working fine before receiving the call from the police station… the computer…

“Assistant Lee, what’s wrong?”

“Just a moment.”

Jeong-oh swallowed hard and pressed the restart button on her laptop.

As the laptop screen came back on, an array of unknown characters filled the display.

“……Why is it doing this…?”

Jeong-oh stared at the bizarre screen with a pale face, continuing to move the mouse.

“Assistant Lee Jeong-oh, what’s going on?”

Jo Si-nae, who was waiting to send files to Jeong-oh, rushed over to her desk.

“Is this a virus?”

Si-nae’s voice drew everyone’s attention to Jeong-oh.

Jeong-oh felt her fingertips tremble.

“It seems like Assistant Lee’s laptop has a virus. Did you make a backup of your files?”

“Yes, I have the files.”

It was saved in between, so she would need to put in some extra effort to finish it, but thankfully she had made a backup. Jeong-oh borrowed Gi-hun’s computer and logged into the company cloud.

However, the files she had saved didn’t appear.

Si-nae, who was watching, pressed further.

“What’s going on? Didn’t you save it to the cloud?”

“I’m sure I saved it here…”

“It’s not there?”

“Assistant Lee, are you pretending like you didn’t back up anything from the beginning?”

Si-nae’s voice grew louder.

Cha Eun-bi, who had been working, stood up and approached.

“What’s going on?”

“Assistant Lee Jeong-oh’s laptop has a virus, and it seems she hasn’t backed up any of the materials made until now.”

After hearing Si-nae’s explanation, Eun-bi sighed deeply and scolded Jeong-oh.

“Assistant Jeong-oh, didn’t you once say you’d email me the work details separately? Yet you’ve never done it. You just talk big, and now look what’s happened.”

Jeong-oh had worked on the proposal with Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob, and since she didn’t need to ask Eun-bi for permission on that, she hadn’t sent a separate email. It was absurd to bring up that argument now.

Even Team Leader Ahn Chan-seob sighed in frustration.

“Ugh, I’m so busy, and nothing is going my way.”

Team Leader Seong Mi-ran was absent, leaving Jeong-oh alone to take the heat.

In the meantime, Ji-heon walked over from Production Team 2.

“What’s going on?”

Si-nae immediately reported.

“It seems that Assistant Jeong-oh accidentally deleted the final file for the Daewon liquor proposal. The whole team has been working hard on it until now, Director.”