SMBM 06

Chapter : 06

Contract Signing

“Deputy Manager Min Chaekyung?”

Since Chaekyung didn’t respond, he called her again.

Hearing her name in his low voice, Chaekyung widened her eyes and looked up at him.
With an authoritative gaze, Kang-woo handed her a document folder.
Chaekyung accepted it.
He brushed past her without even looking back.

Only then did the startled Chaekyung finally exhale.

“Deputy Min, he really is handsome, right?”

Wookyeong beside her approached with a small admiring whisper.

“…….”

“I’d be shocked too, honestly.”

Apparently, Wookyeong assumed Chaekyung’s reaction came from being struck by his good looks.

He definitely recognized her.
Though she told herself there was no way he wouldn’t, thinking about the future made everything go dark.
No matter how hard she chewed her lip and thought, it was no use.
Being assigned to his department made things feel hopeless.

Chaekyung couldn’t focus on work after returning to her desk.

More than once, she zoned out mid-task.

Individual interviews for the new department moved quickly, and the expressions of those who returned didn’t look bad.
But as her turn approached—organized by rank—Chaekyung grew even more tense.

Because the interviews were scheduled around the Vice President’s timetable, they couldn’t all be done in a day.
That only made her nerves worse.
The longer the wait, the more her mind spiraled.
Better to get it over with—this was torture.

At last Chaekyung was standing outside the Vice President’s office door, taking a breath.

Just as she raised her hand to knock, the door swung open.

Startled, she froze mid-gesture and stared blankly up at Kang-woo.

He looked at her with an expressionless face.

“Move.”

“Huh? Oh—yes.”

She hurriedly stepped aside. Kang-woo passed her, handing documents to his secretary.
He walked into the office with practiced ease.

He didn’t look back as he entered.

“What are you waiting for? Come in.”

“Yes.”

Chaekyung snapped back to herself and stepped inside, closing the door.
Before turning, she sucked in a breath.

He was already seated, flipping through the stacks of documents covering his desk.

His office, decorated only in white and black, was spare to the point of emptiness—but that only amplified his presence, filling the room.

Chaekyung walked up to his desk, but even then Kang-woo silently scanned papers, ignoring her completely.

His nonchalance, as if her presence didn’t matter, made it even harder to breathe.

“Sit.”

“Yes.”

He had summoned her, yet treated her like air.
She sat stiffly at the conference table where he jerked his chin—sitting on pins and needles.
She even wondered seriously if she should quit.

Her mind tangled and unraveled into bizarre thoughts.
The longer she sat abandoned in his office, the harder she worked to organize the knot tightening in her head.
Even the air felt suffocating.

Eventually, the thread she struggled with knotted beyond repair with one sentence from Kang-woo.

“Min Chaekyung.”

“Yes!”

“So that was your name. I should’ve asked that night.”

“…….”

Eyes wide, Chaekyung turned toward his desk.
Why would anyone ask the name of a one-night stand—or feel obliged to give it?

Reclining in his executive chair, Kang-woo stared holes into her.
He dropped his fountain pen with a sharp clack.

“If I’d known sooner, I wouldn’t have bothered with these tedious interviews.”

“…….”

“Because of Min Chaekyung alone, I wasted two whole hours of my packed schedule interviewing eight team members. And I still have three more to go. How do you plan to compensate me?”

His tone made it clear he was annoyed by merely thinking of it.
His sharp eyes skewered her.

Chaekyung frowned, unable to understand why she was to blame.

“Why should I compensate you?”

She felt no reason to back down.
It was a consensual one-night stand; she owed him nothing.

Cornered like a rat that turns and bites, Chaekyung’s attitude flipped into boldness.
She almost stopped caring.

“Because those interviews started because of you.”

He walked over and sat across from her.
Leaning back, elbow propped on the armrest, he rubbed his lips with a finger.
His deepening gaze measured her as if calculating what to do with her.

Kang-woo let a picture-perfect smile curl his lips.
The sunlight at his back made his handsome face even more blinding—overlapping with memories she didn’t want.

Her mind kept replaying that night no matter how she tried to push it away.

“I don’t understand why that’s my fault.”

“No? So it doesn’t matter to you.”

“What do you mean, Vice President?”

Floating, aimless words made her anxious.
She couldn’t control her expression, worried her real feelings would show.

“If I call you out in front of everyone, you’re fine with that?”

“Why are you doing this to me?”

She asked seriously—curious yet increasingly uneasy about being entangled with him.

“You really don’t know why?”

“No. I don’t.”

Kang-woo rose and walked to his desk.
He returned and placed eight 50,000-won bills in front of her.

Recognition hit instantly—they were the bills she left in the suite.

“You gave me your first time. Never been paid for sex before.”

“Paid? What?”

“What else would you call this?”

His voice was low and dry.

“That’s… not what it meant.”

“No? Then what.”

Even flustered, she tried to explain, but he cut her off decisively.

“You went all the way to a suite with me—at an expensive hotel.”

Saying the words aloud made her flush with embarrassment, but she had no choice.
He had completely misinterpreted her actions.

“So?”

“I was the one who suggested the one-night stand.”

“So it was worth only 400,000 won?”

“…….”

Heat rushed up her face.
Never had she imagined discussing something so explicit in an office.

Kang-woo crossed his arms, staring without a blink.

“Then let’s calculate properly.”

“W-What? How…”

“Consider the 400,000 won the deposit.”

“What?”

“L Hotel’s suite costs 8.2 million for one night. Can’t do the math?”

“What are you—”

“As you can see, I have more than enough money.
I’m saying I don’t want the remaining 7.8 million won in cash.”

Her mouth went dry.
The man who had once felt like an illusion now stood before her, too real—too close.

“If not money… then what…”

The first thing that flashed through her mind was that night.

Don’t tell me he wants me to pay with my body…?

Her pulse spiked as dread washed through her.

No matter how she tried, her thoughts tangled again.

“What are you imagining? Your face is red and you’re breathing like that.”

He mocked her, amused.

“Turned me into a horny dog that night, and today you treat me the same?”

“How can you say something like that?”

Chaekyung forced down the feeling of being seen through, meeting his eyes squarely.

“You shoved me into the role of the worst bastard. So pay me back another way.”

“What do you want?”

“Your time.
Whenever, wherever I want it—Min Chaekyung’s time.”

Chaekyung stared speechlessly, and he added—dangerous smile widening.

“Except sex.”

That only confused her further.

“My… time? Why would you need that?”

“That’s for me to decide.”

While she sat stunned by his strange logic, he slid a sheet of paper toward her.

Chaekyung looked down at the blank A4 paper, dazed.

“A contract makes things clear.”

“You seriously think this makes sense?”

“Give me one reason it doesn’t.”

He sighed like he found her tiresome, leaned back, and watched her lazily.

Every time he slowed the pace—immersed in calm control—her lungs tightened.
His quiet voice filling the space tensed every part of her.

“Need me to spell it out?”

“…….”

“You made the proposal, so you pay the suite cost. Correct?”

He wasn’t wrong.

She had suggested that night—and left money.
There was nothing she could say.

Besides, she would have to work under him; pushing back would only drag her into his rhythm.

“You’re sure you won’t demand anything unreasonable?”

She couldn’t bring herself to repeat sex aloud.

“Of course not. I don’t force unwilling women.”

His tone left a strange aftertaste—and no room for escape.

Chaekyung straightened her spine, resolve forming.

“All right. I’ll write it.”

Awkwardly, she lifted the blank sheet.
Kang-woo dictated what to write in proper contract terms.

Chaekyung added a clause of her own, cleared her head, reviewed everything carefully.

“If you have additional clauses, please review and let me know.”

She handed over the page—now filled like a real agreement.

Kang-woo read it seriously.
Anyone walking in would think they were signing a business deal.

It didn’t feel real.
It was hard enough seeing him every day—now she’d owe him her time at his call.

After Chaekyung signed, she passed it to him.
He signed immediately and held up the contract.

“Shall we notarize it?”

“No need.”

“Fine.”

He smiled coldly.
Chaekyung found herself staring without thinking.

Was it guilt? Lingering affection?
Or something else entirely—she couldn’t tell.

Bow, step back, and leave—
but his voice rooted itself in her spine.

“Wait quietly until I contact you.”

She turned—and his gaze pinned her in place.