Chapter 234: Chapter 228
“Got it, Jungsu.”
Jungsu tried to take her back home, but she felt he was a burden for some reason.
She took a taxi back home.
She was totally absorbed in Hyunwoo on her way back home.
Is my relationship with Hyunwoo okay now? What about my future? And what about our future?
Suji imagined her life with him after she got married.
It would be an affluent life. But at the same time it would be an empty life as if one part of her heart was broken apart.
Suji let out a sigh silently. And then she shook her head.
I shouldn’t be weak-spirited like this. It depends on me to change him. If I try hard, he would change, too.
Suji thought about how to change his attitude. She wanted to make him antsy at the mere mention of her name.
There was only one answer. It was to show him the best of her loveliness.
He said he even worked during the weekend. Would he feel happy if I brought him a lunch box that I prepared personally?
Definitely. He would be deeply moved, she thought.
Imagining he would feel happy, she just felt good about it. She looked bright again, who had a sullen face a moment ago.
Hyunwoo had not stopped by the Ani & Funny office in a long time. As he was so busy with the business of KOVE DREAM these days he couldn’t go there.
But today he had some business to take care of. The students were supposed to submit their assigned animation work by today.
“Did all of you submit? Anybody who has not yet submitted?”
They were silent at his question. When Hyunwoo counted the submitted works, it was 42, all told. Fortunately, each team completed its own animation work and submitted by the deadline.
It had been exactly two months since the open contest on the short animation story was closed.
The reason Hyunwoo gave them such a long period of time was because of Tuti & Angelica. It took a lot of time for them to render the stories submitted by the fans of Tuti & Angelica into animation works.
The 42 works that the students completed would be sent to the Vietnamese branch, where they would make them into webtoons first and rank them.
The grand prize and the best work would be awarded 10 million and 5 million won respectively, and ten meritorious works would be awarded 3 million won each.
The students were not given a break just because they completed the works because the open contest on the animated movie story was closed on the same day. That’s why Hyunwoo gave them two months of working time.
Unlike the short story, the contest on animated movie story didn’t attract many entries, totaling less than 200.
Animated movie work was gigantic, compared with the short animation story. Hyunwoo divided the 42 teams into ten units, each comprised of four members.
The students had a tense expression on their faces. Though they expected it when Hyunwoo announced his plan on the open contest, they were jittery when they were actually divided into ten units for the work.
In Hyunwoo’s mind, however, that was not very difficult work because they would use the same characters as those of Garbage World and the storyboard was already there.
And if the whole length of the story was less than one hour when rendered, they would only need to do the first ten minutes because it would be enough to attract the attention of the audience.
Their work would go through such a process so that only the best entries could be produced as animated movies.
“Okay, guys. Select the entries you like. Let me give you exactly one month.”
“Got it,” answered the students in a strong voice.
After assigning them to the new task, Hyunwoo turned to Kyongsu.
“Anything special you can report to me?”
“Not really. Everything is going on well.”
If that was the case, he had no reason to stay longer at the Ani & Funny office.
He immediately left the office.
Watching him leave the office like that, Yu Zuung made a sullen expression. She had been looking at him for some time, but he didn’t case a glance at her.
Though she knew he was busy with KOVE DREAM Blue business, she had the impression that he was avoiding her excessively.
Was it because of what happened in Vietnam? If that’s true, I’m really embarrassed.
She wanted to get along with him comfortably. Though she was intensely attached to him deep inside, she had to hide it. After all, she could not possess him.
But she could be just content with getting his attention. She could naturally leave him if she found a more attractive man than Hyunwoo someday.
Until then, she wanted to get along with him well.
How can I make him feel comfortable toward me again?
There would be no silver bullet. She might have to make steady efforts to win over his heart again.
Oh, I’ve a good idea. Let me stop by KOVE DREAM this weekend to cheer him up. Maybe I can help him in one way or another when I get there. Or I can just stop by to have a light lunch with him.
***
Suji was in a rush in the kitchen early on Saturday morning.
Mrs. Kong looked at her with a curious look and said, “How come you are preparing gimbap (laver rice rolls)? Are you going on an outing?”
“I would like to give them to Hyunwoo.”
Mrs. Kong smiled in satisfaction. In the past, she felt upset about her daughter getting close to Hyunwoo, but she didn’t feel that way now. She felt there was no better candidate to be her groom.
The more she saw him, the more she thought he was an excellent man. Be it KOVE DREAM, Ani & Funny or N&C Korea, he was running businesses very well.
Besides, he was a man of character. Though he made lots of money and huge profits, he never assumed the air of a rich person. And he was always well-mannered.
She was now convinced that she could leave her daughter’s future to him entirely. She felt ashamed of herself because she once tried to judge him only by his educational background and his job.
“By the way, how come you are preparing so much gimbap?”
“How can he eat gimbap alone? I want him to share it with his staff there.”
Actually, she was lying. Mrs. Kong heard there were as many as 100 staff with KOVE DREAM.
She pretended not to notice it, of course.
“Can I help you?”
“No thanks. I would rather prepare it by myself.”
“Hoho. Okay then,” said Mrs. Kong with a laugh and left the kitchen.
Suji carried the heavy lunch box with gimbap and headed for KOVE DREAM. She didn’t let him know in advance she would be visiting. He would be greatly pleased with her surprise gift.
In the meantime, Hyunwoo was up to his ears in taking care of orders.
When he heard Suji stopped by, he came out of the warehouse, soaked with sweat and dirt.
“How come you are here?” asked Hyunwoo.
“Don’t say ‘how come’. I stopped by to have lunch with you.”
She raised the lunch box that she prepared by herself.
He scratched his head at that because he hurriedly came out in the middle of work. He still had lots of work to finish in the warehouse.
“What are you doing? Just go and wash your hands. No matter how busy you are, you have to eat.”
That’s true. He had to have lunch, of course. But it would take at least an hour for him to have lunch with her. He couldn’t afford to slack off now. But he couldn’t let her go coldly.
“Wait a minute. I was in the middle of work. Let me wrap it up. Just give me ten minutes.”
“Sure, let me wait.”
He rushed back to the warehouse. She took a walk around the warehouse to kill time.
At that moment, a small car approached KOVE DREAM.
Looking around here and there she noticed the car. As it was a red car, it naturally attracted her attention. It looked like a young beautiful woman was driving it.
The car stopped and the door on the driver’s side opened. A young woman in sportswear got out.
At that moment Suji’s eyes popped out as the woman was familiar to her. She was none other than Yu Zuung, who was staying in the guestroom of Hyunwoo’s house. She put on the same sportswear she wore when running with Hyunwoo in the morning recently.
What surprised Suji more was she was holding something in her hand.
Obviously, it was a lunch box.
In fact, Suji was a bit worried deep inside. Yu Zuung was so beautiful even in her eyes. No matter how insensitive Hyunwoo might be to a woman’s appearance, he was most likely attracted to her stunning beauty.
Besides, Yu Zuung was residing right next to him. Also, she had a special relationship with him as a boss and an employee. In particular, he took care of her and protected her.
Though Suji didn’t doubt his affection for her, she suddenly began to suspect him when she noticed Yu Zuung’s lunch box.
Suji hid herself before she knew.
Hyunwoo was seen running out of the warehouse, to whom Yu Zuung waved her hands.
Momentarily, he seemed surprised and looked around at the same time. Apparently, he was looking for Suji.
Yu Zuung seemed to sense Suji’s presence, too. More surprised than him, she looked around, hiding the lunch box behind her.
Only then did Suji appear before them, pretending not to have seen them.
“Oh, my god! You must be Yu Zuung.”
“Hello? I didn’t know you’re here,” said Yu Zuung quickly. She took pains to stay calm, but she found it hard.
Hyunwoo was as embarrassed. He was worried Suji might misunderstand. He wanted to make some excuses to defend his position at the moment.
In the meantime, Suji began to ask Yu Zuung.
“How come you’re here?”
“Oh…I thought Hyunwoo was very busy these days, so I just stopped by to see if there was anything I can help him with…” she stammered. Apparently she was embarrassed.
“What is that stuff in your hand?”
“This one? This is…”
Yu Zuung could not answer easily because she knew that only a sweetheart could hand a lunch box to her lover. Besides, Suji was also holding a lunch box in her hand.
Suji asked again, “Did you bring the lunch box here to eat with Hyunwoo?”