"I'm sorry, but I've promised to keep it a secret."
Songhee, who was answering the teacher's question, was nervous. Her homeroom teacher, Bang Sungho, didn't care. He looked at her with reprimanding eyes, his voice even more icy.
"Are you going to run Junga's life? Tell me right now."
Songhee was afraid of his voice and shining eyes.
He was a kind-hearted teacher who didn't raise his voice as a rule.
The trouble started with her flippant talking.
She told her best friend about Hyunwoo paying Junga's tuition fee.
The teacher overheard it by chance.
"If Junga finds out about it, she will give up her tutoring. He really helped Junga out of pure kindness."
"Got it. Let me keep it a secret to Junga. However, I should know him as a teacher. Based on that, I can judge whether she can receive the money or not. It's all for Junga's sake. So, please tell me who he is."
The teacher persuaded Songhee with a soft voice and kind eyes.
Only then did Songhee tell him while her eyes trembled.
A dim evening.
Bang Sungho looked around. There were old apartment buildings of the same size and shape all around the place. Among them was one that stood out for its ageing shape.
It was the same as the address written on the memo.
"Here it is."
Bang Sungho looked at the apartment again and tilted his head.
Didn't he pay Junga's tutoring fee of 310,000 won without any conditions? That meant he was financially set, but his apartment didn't support this.
Of course, Bang couldn't make a judgement of the man based on his apartment.
Maybe he could own several apartments like this one.
At that moment, he heard a beautiful woman's voice.
"Oh my god, sir."
Bang turned his head reflexively.
Was it because it was dimly lit? A stunningly beautiful woman who had a slender shape was standing before his eyes.
Bang was dumbfounded at that moment. She had called for Bang and was approaching him with an angelic smile.
"Sir, don't you remember me?"
"Who are you?"
"It's me, Nami. Yu Nami."
"Yu Nami?"
Bang Sungho's mouth fell open at that moment. If Yu Nami was her name, he had been her homeroom teacher three years ago.
Despite her extremely poor family condition, she always stayed in the top 1% of the students at school. Thanks to her hard work, she was admitted to Korea's best university. Smart and beautiful, he remembered her vividly.
However, there was something weird about her. Though she was beautiful, she wasn't that far. Given her deep makeup, she was very different from her past self In short, she was a stunning beauty.
"I didn't know you were so beautiful like this ."
She smiled and wrapped her face with her hand as if she was shy.
"Thank you, sir. What brought you here, by the way?"
When she asked, Bang thought he had met the right person because he remembered that Jang Hyunwoo was supposedly a famous person in this area.
He had heard that any knowledgeable person in the neighborhood knew him.
If that's the case, Yun might know him, too.
"Do you happen to know Jang Hyunwoo?"
"Brother Hyunwoo? Of course, I know him. What about him?"
"Ummm...You should keep this a secret from everybody, especially Junga and her parents."
What Bang Sungho was worried was that Hyunwoo might have a wicked motivation about her. He thought Hyunwoo might ask Junga for something absurd under the excuse of paying for her tutoring fee.
Having heard him out, Yu smiled, covering her mouth, and said conclusively, "You don't have to worry about it at all. Actually, I had the same financial help from him when I was in high school."
"You, too?"
Yu nodded her head. She recalled an episode about the most difficult times when she had wanted to die. It dated back to three years ago, her second year in high school when Bang was her homeroom teacher.
Yu's family was in a very poor condition financially.
When her father lost his job, the family didn't have an income.
At the time, Yu was an excellent student who was among the top five students in school. If she stayed her course, she could be easily admitted to the trade department of Seoul National University that she dreamed about so much.
However, her situation was overturned. Her family couldn't pay for her private tutoring fee.
Even though she was a top student, she felt tutoring at the private academy was clearly different from her studies at school. What was more troublesome was her declining will. When she stopped going to the private academy, her aspirations for studying stopped too.
It was at that time that Hyunwoo held out a helping hand. Just like he did to Junga, he paid for Yu's tutoring fee without letting her know.
Yu Nami regained her strength. As bad luck often brings good luck, she studied really hard and finally got admitted to the trade department of Seoul National University as its top applicant.
"And he never asked me for anything since I went to college. Rather, he tried to keep it a secret to the end. If my friend hadn't told me about it, I wouldn't have found it out even now. He just helped me because of his pure heart."
Bang was nodding his head before he knew it.
If what Yu said was true, Hyunwoo was literally a 'saint.' He just felt ashamed of himself to suspect Hyunwoo even for a moment.
Yu repeated once more, "Hyunwoo brother is never the type of person who would approach her with wicked motivations, so rest assured."
"I just can't believe that there is such a great guy even these days. What a wonderful man!"
"Since you came this far, would you like to see him? I know his cell phone number."
"No thanks. I confirmed he's not wrong-minded, and that's enough."
"Please wait a moment, sir. I haven't seen him for a while. Let me contact him after naming you as an excuse."
****
One week passed. It was a nightmarish one week. Although he moved around the office to find work to do, he didn't do so for more than 30 minutes out of his work hours.
Sitting at his desk was like being on pins and needles. He would have felt it much more comfortable to go out for some manual work outside until his body was crushed.
Of course, he didn't just do nothing while sitting at his desk. Whenever he could find available time, he read books on the shelf. In the evening, he gave up his chauffeur job and focused on understanding his job.
On weekends, he used to go mountain climbing as a ginseng digger as a rule, but he skipped it this week. He confined himself to the library to gain some basic knowledge that could help him understand his job.
But it was meaningless. He couldn't understand it no matter how hard he tried to understand the regulations and practical papers.
"What the heck is a freight maintenance number and B/L number? Oh my god, I've got headache! What is this so complicated?"
But he wasn't disappointed. Given that other people gained the necessary knowledge by studying several years while paying a high college tuition, it would be absurd for him to gain the knowledge so easily.
Then on Monday, the team leader made a bombshell announcement.
"Starting next week, I'll assign some work to the new hires, so get ready."
In fact, it couldn't be called a bombshell announcement because it was only natural that the new employees who got hired would be assigned tasks.
Hyunwoo had been expecting it. The reason they treated new hires as invisible beings was because they wanted to give them some time to understand their jobs.
However, two weeks of time wasn't enough for Hyunwoo. He couldn't understand the basics of accounting and trading terminology, let alone figure out his job.
After all, it was his colleagues who got hired at the same time that he had to turn to. Whenever he ran into a new term, he approached and asked Min Suji.
"Suji, what is a freight maintenance number?"
Her character was nice and forthcoming like her appearance.
Though it was a very difficult term, she explained to Hyunwoo until he completely understood it.
"Then what is a B/L number?"
"It's bill of lading. Bill of lading is a legal document between a shipper and a carrier that details the type, quantity, and destination of the goods being carried…"
Min Suji taught him calmly and in a detailed manner like a professor was giving a lecture to students. She looked like the most beautiful and kind-hearted professor.
However, the problem was the student. No matter how well the professor taught, the student couldn't understand at all.
Still, she devoted a lot of her time to teaching Hyunwoo. As long as he wanted, it looked like she could devote her time all day long.
However, he couldn't let her do it because he was sorry. He couldn't take away her time indefinitely just because he wanted to.
Also, she was too beautiful for him to ask questions without feeling a burden. If she hadn't been beautiful, he would've asked comfortably. Because she was so beautiful, he might give others the impression that he was trying to make advances on her.
Actually, Hyunwoo did feel tempted. At first, he asked her questions out of pure heart, but he felt naturally attracted to her before he knew it when he looked at her answering his questions.
In particular, the smile in her eyes was a fatal attraction. She had a born smile in her eyes. Even when she answered casually, her eyes were folded like crescent moon, making a smile in them.
Because of that, none of the male employees in the purchase department could take their eyes off her. Even the married team leader sometimes would take a look at her, captivated by her beauty.
Was it because of this atmosphere in the office? When he tried to ask Min this and that, his superiors immediately gave him the eye.
"Hey, just ask for a lecture, won't you?"
"Min Suji would feel great because she would get paid a salary and a lecture fee too. Hahaha"
Nonetheless, he couldn't ask Oh Sangho.
Unlike Min, he was very icy toward him. When Hyunwoo asked, he answered, but it was with reluctance. Also, he would tell Hyunwoo off at the end of his answer.
"Invoice? It is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer. Don't you know such a basic thing?"
Of course, he couldn't understand it. If he had understood it easily, he wouldn't have gone to the trouble to ask. Certainly, Oh wasn't the kind of person he could rely on.
"Oh, I see. Thanks."
After all, it was a problem Hyunwoo had to solve by himself.
Given such a situation, Hyunwoo had to agonize over it.
Do I need to attend a private academy? Is there an academy where I can learn quickly in one week?
Never before had he been more desperate to seek someone's help than now.
At that moment, his cell phone buzzed.
"Who? Yu Nami? I've not seen her in a while. Hello?"
"Oh, brother! How are you?"
"Haha… I just get by. How about you?"
"I'm doing fine as usual. Where are you now? Can I see you for a moment if you're at home right now?"
"Sure. Where should I go?"