When dealing with manipulative b*tch, you’ve gotta use tricks that are even b*tchier.
After Jiyeon dropped the bucket on Yeonjung twice, she thought about getting angry but she didn’t for fear of damaging her image because there were so many people watching.
But Yeonjung wasn’t an idiot. She quickly realized that this person did it on purpose and thus held a grudge from then on. Whenever she encountered something that had to do with Jiyeon, she’d always open her mouth and make a few ridiculing comments.
She was too lazy to care about her.
She simply thought of her as a fly buzzing in her ears.
Time passed little by little, but the president still wasn’t back yet.
Xuanyi's promotion came through, though.
She became the deputy manager, her salary instantly doubling.
At the same time, there was indeed another person who received a promotion—
Yoo Yeonjung.
This person was directly promoted from an ordinary employee to the team leader of Jiyeon’s group.
In reaction to this result, except for Chengxiao and Jiyeon who already knew about this news for a while, everyone else was quite surprised.
But there was nothing that could be done. After all, the decision came from the top, so everyone could do was congratulate her.
She followed along and clapped a few times, then returned to finish the work at hand. When she looked up again, she saw Yeonjung carrying a bag of fruits to share with everybody.
There were a lot of things inside, such as apples, peaches, and pears, all of which were big and juicy.
But this person just had to put her hand in and choose for a long time before finally taking out two small and deflated apricots and placing them on her desk.
Yet she still put on a pretentious smile and said to her, “They’re incredibly sweet, you should try them soon.”
“I bought them just for you~”
Oh, that gave her even more of a reason to not eat them.
She smiled and placed the two apricots on the side, then earnestly thanked her, her eyes curving into a crescent and her smile especially sweet.
She couldn’t help but scorn on the inside, aren’t you trying to sour me to death?
Seeing how she still appeared good-tempered, Yeonjung didn’t see the result she wanted and suddenly retracted her smile unhappily before quickly walking away.
She seemed to be muttering something and Jiyeon roughly made it out, thinking that she probably said “just you wait”.
Seems like she was going to seek revenge against her.
Jiyeon sighed then picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip. She was indeed impulsive at that time. When she heard that person open her mouth to slander her boss, she couldn’t help but get angry and react in such an immature manner.
But she didn’t regret it. If she were to relive it, she’d probably still make the same choice.
Because she knew what this crybaby was like in reality, and she was by no means as unbearable as other people said.
She couldn’t lie to herself.
And also didn’t want to go against her heart.
“. . . . . .”
The revenge Yeonjung mentioned didn’t cause much of a disturbance in the end.
Going from an ordinary employee to a team leader, the responsibilities that came along with her change in position also expanded. Her workload increased, and she was busy adapting to this difference every day. Her free time was thus reduced, so she didn’t have much of a chance to make trouble.
If she were to use Chengxiao’s words to describe this, it would probably be that her skills didn’t match her title.
Unless she toned down and was willing to put in the effort, she was going to screw up sooner or later.
In addition, Jiyeon was still only an intern, and she didn’t have any requirements related to sales performance, so Yeonjung couldn’t target her in this direction even if she wanted to.
Aside from asking her to run errands and purposely increasing her workload, there wasn’t anything Yeonjung could do.
Jiyeon simply accepted the orders one by one in response.
And not only did she accept every order, but she also completed them to the best of her ability, to the point that no fault could be picked out.
She was thinking, let’s see who disgusts the other to death first.
—
A few days passed, and Hyunjung still hadn’t returned from the factory.
It had been so long that it almost matched the time she usually spent on a business trip abroad. There probably was some incredibly important thing to be dealt with there.
Jiyeon sighed, scrolling through her Twitter during her free time before exiting and opening kakaotalk. She decided to send Hyunjung a message asking her how she was doing. Just as she was about to click send, Yeonjung suddenly called her name from behind her.
“Jiyeonsshi! What are you doing during work time!”
Her voice was exceptionally loud.
She finally caught a fault to point out.
Jiyeon's expression froze, and after she adjusted herself, she finally turned around.
“Sorry,” she smiled, apologizing in a serious tone, “I’ll get back to work immediately.”
She didn’t wait for her to say anything else and stood up, holding documents in her hand as she went to the Documentation Department.
Yeonjung was about to break a tooth from clenching her teeth too hard as she watched her leave. Her expression also became uglier than before.
But as though suddenly remembering something, she returned to her usual appearance.
“. . . . . .”
_
Jiyeon was so busy processing documents that she forgot the time, and when she looked up again, the office was nearly empty. And saw that Yeonjung hadn’t left yet.
Did the sun come out from the west today?
Yeonjung, who always did the least work possible, actually put in some effort today.
Confusion gradually rose in her heart, but she disliked this person too much to think any further.
She quickly sorted out the documents on her desk, and to prevent this person from trying anything, she also carefully locked all the important files in her drawer.
She stood up, turned off the computer, and got ready to leave. But Yeonjung suddenly stepped forward and grabbed her arm.
Her narrow eyes thinned into a straight line, her lips slowly opened, and with a dagger hidden beneath her smile, said, “Shall we talk?”
“Work has already ended.” she turned around after hearing her words, then also smiled. “We can talk about work tomorrow.”
“It’s not about work.” Yeonjung shook her head, and by habit, reached her hand out to twirl her hair, deep meaning behind her smile. “It’s a personal matter.”
“There’s even less of a need to talk about personal matters.” Jiyeon looked at her and raised a brow. “And I don’t think there are any personal matters between us to discuss.”
After speaking, she turned around to leave.
“Kim Jiyeon!” Yeonjung became anxious and stretched out her hand to grab her again.
She raised her phone and placed it in front of her, speaking loudly, “Look at what this is!”
The atmosphere quieted and Jiyeon turned her head around. She glance at it and was suddenly shocked in place.
Appearing on the screen turned out to be the chat history between Yeonjung and President Wang from the Domestic Trade Department.
Although it was just a glance, Jiyeon still noticed many sensitive words.
“Baby.” “My dear.” “Love you.”
No matter which word it was, they all pointed to one conclusion—
The relationship between Yeonjung and President Wang was not simple.
Her heart suddenly shook.
“Are you surprised?” she retracted her phone and stood in place, looking at her. “You didn’t expect that, right?”
“Why else do you think I got promoted? Did you think I was easy to bully?”
She gradually got nearer as she spoke, raising her hand and gently adjusting Jiyeon’s collar, the smile on her face obvious. “You shouldn’t have opposed me. I know you want to defend President Kim, but . . . you should first know your place.”
“President Wang entered the company a lot earlier than President Kim. Even if he only mentions something once, President Kim must listen to him. You’re just an intern, how much could you possibly be worth in her eyes? If something happened to you, you think she’d come out and protect you?”
“I think President Wang will be finishing work soon. Shall we wait and see?”
—
Yeonjung had left, and except for Jiyeon, there was nobody else around.
Sun rays filtered in through the spaces between the window blinds, layering over her body warmly and beautifully with a sense of comfort.
But at this moment, Jiyeon was in a sour mood.
She underestimated Yeonjung. She guessed that there might be someone behind this person, but she never expected it to be a powerful figure like President Wang. What she said was right. President Wang was highly qualified and capable. Her boss would be forced to respect him. Against such a person, she had no chance of winning. Jiyeon's mind suddenly fell blank.
There was also a guess that gradually emerged from the bottom of her heart. When President Wang returned, she might be targeted to the point she’d be forced to voluntarily resign.
If that were the case, she should’ve talked back a bit more just now. Saying only “the higher you fly, the more miserable your fall” was not enough for someone like Yoo Yeonjung.
All sorts of things suddenly flashed through her mind.
She tugged at the corners of her mouth irritably, then finally took her phone out.
She didn’t know what exactly she wanted to do and simply clicked around the icons on her phone screen over and over again.
Clicking in, then exiting, clicking in again, then exiting again.
After repeating this an unknown number of times, a notification from her kakaotalk suddenly rang. She raised her hand and clicked on it. It turned out to be from the crybaby—
“The matter is almost over, I’ll be back in the next few days. The food at the factory is horrible, and since you happen to owe me one, you should treat me to a meal when I return.” She also said, “Don’t think about turning back on your words ah, Kim Jiyeonsshi.”
She couldn’t help but pause for a few seconds.
What was this? She was so busy yet didn’t forget about the whole thing with the favors and even took the initiative to ask to be treated to a meal.
Could this crybaby be any more childish? She really couldn’t be any older than two-and-a-half years old.
She suddenly wanted to laugh.
But while the corners of her mouth twitched, they didn’t rise in the end. Instead, her heart sank.
And for some reason, tears quietly rolled down without her noticing.
She hadn’t cried for so many years . . .
She sighed, stretched out a hand, and pulled out a few sheets of tissue paper, wiping away the tears from her face. She then lowered her head, raising her hand and slowly typing an “okay” in the text box.
She stood up, took a deep breath, and put on her bag as she went to take the elevator, still feeling mixed emotions.
But what she thought this time was mainly about the president.
You need to come back early then.
She thought as she walked forward.
You might not see me anymore . . .
_____________________________________