Chapter 81: A Sudden Shift In Atmosphere

'It seems that I was mistaken about you, Director Kang.'

These words kept on echoing inside Ji-Won's mind, unexpectedly making him feel pleased. 

"I see." Ji-Won replied simply, a smile unexpectedly tugging at his lips.

Then he turned his head to look sideways, not knowing what else to say. 

They remained quiet again. But this time, it was less stifling and uncomfortable than before. It appeared that the earlier event had helped with easing the tension between them.

Even though Ji-Won was still feeling slightly baffled, after knowing what kind of opinion Su-Jin had harbored about him, he couldn't help but sigh. It appeared that his character was indeed quite difficult to understand. But despite all that, he could sense that the distance between them had somehow gotten slightly smaller. 

Just then, Ji-Won heard Su-Jin's voice again.

"Is the campsite far?" she asked with a smile.

Looking at her, she was evidently feeling chattier than before. For some reason, she was no longer that scared of him. 

On the contrary, after just seeing his sickly state Su-Jin was hit by the sudden realization that this person called Kang Ji-Won was actually a human being, and not the Demon King she believed him to be. Despite his cold and unapproachable facade, Ji-Won could also be weak and in need of comfort, which made him seem more agreeable in her eyes.

"Not that far." Ji-Won replied. Glancing at his watch he continued. "It's usually a forty minutes' drive until there. The roads are good and if we don't encounter too much traffic then we should get there in about half an hour."

"Ah, I see. I can't wait to get there."

"You may say that now, but you might not be so happy tomorrow evening." Ji-Won said with a small smile.

"Why? Aren't Sports Days usually fun?" Su-Jin asked in surprise, then she couldn't help but continue to speak excitedly. "To be honest, I have always wanted to take part in a company's Sports Day. Whenever I heard someone talk about it, I would feel jealous."

"Is that so?" Ji-Won hummed in response. 

He gave Su-Jin a long glance, then turned his head to the side.

"They can be fun, I guess. Nevertheless, going out for an entire weekend and spending many hours outside doing all sorts of physical activities can be very tiring as well." Ji-Won replied with a small shrug.

Hearing his reply Su-Jin let out a chuckle.

"Oh, if it's just that, then it's alright. I may not be a full-fledged sportsy person but I can handle the effort." 

Saying this, Su-Jin grinned sideways at Ji-Won. After a short break, she added another sentence. 

"By the way, I had a lot of fun yesterday at the orphanage."

She sounded quite casual, but inside she was feeling slightly nervous.

In fact, Su-Jin had been wanting to say that for quite a while now. She never would have expected to get the chance to do it while on their way to the resort, especially after such an incident happened on the road, but she was very happy nonetheless. 

Hearing Su-Jin's unexpected words, Ji-Won paused for a bit. Then, remembering the children and their excitement, his face broke into a genuine smile. 

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"I'm glad to know that." he said softly. "The children seemed to enjoy your reading very much."

"Not at all. I'm afraid I must have bored them to death." Su-Jin retorted with a sheepish smile, waving her hands about in the air.

Ji-Won turned his eyes to look at her and spoke in a reassuring tone.

"No, that's not true. On the contrary, from what I've seen, they looked quite engrossed in the story. It's difficult to make them sit still for so long, but you managed to capture their attention." 

Ji-Won sounded so earnest and serious, his gaze was so intense and genuine, that Su-Jin suddenly felt overwhelmed. Her cheeks began feeling rather hot.

She smiled and was just about to retort with a joke in order to hide her embarrassment, when her thoughts unexpectedly took a different turn. All of a sudden her eyes widened.

"Director Kang, how do you know what the kids looked like when I was reading to them? During that time weren't you outside playing soccer?" Su-Jin blurted out.

Being unexpectedly called out on it, Ji-Won's smile faltered and he gulped loudly. 

In his haste to reassure Su-Jin that she did a good job with the children, it appeared that Ji-Won let slip something he didn't wish for her to know. 

Yesterday, while she was still reading to the children, he had stopped playing soccer at some point. After sending everyone inside to take a break, he spent some time walking around the backyard by himself. As he reached the windows that showed the room where Su-Jin was, Ji-Won stopped and peeked inside. 

He saw the children sitting in a circle on the floor, with Su-Jin in the middle. She was bent over a book, reading passionately while the little ones were listening attentively. 

With the glass between them, Ji-Won couldn't hear Su-Jin's voice. But even so, he could see the fascinated stares the kids were giving her. Their eyes were wide open, their entire appearance brimming with enjoyment.

Thinking about it now, Ji-Won remembered how he himself had become fascinated by Su-Jin. At that very moment, he kept staring at her, feeling a mixture of emotions surfacing. 

Until then, he had always seen her look apprehensive while around him. Thus, finally being able to watch her genuine smile as she slowly turned the pages of the book made Ji-Won feel oddly content. 

But he couldn't tell her that, now could he? Therefore, he had to improvise.

"Uhm…" Ji-Won began, feeling his mind straining to find a suitable answer. "I saw them afterwards and they looked very happy. I imagined you must have done a good job to make them look so pleased." 

As he finished, Ji-Won kept stealing sideways glances at her, hoping that Su-Jin would believe his words.

To Ji-Won's relief, it seemed that Su-Jin bought this explanation, because she slowly nodded.

"I see. Then, if that's the case, I would be happy to do it again." 

Internally, Ji-Won exhaled a long breath. Outside, though, his appearance was calm as though he was at work explaining some trivial things to an employee.

"The company only holds these compulsory activities once every three months, but employees can always go and volunteer to go in their free time as well. We don't stop anyone who wants to contribute to this cause." he stated simply.

Su-Jin seemed satisfied with his answer. She beamed up at him, looking positively bright and happy. 

However, her next words turned Ji-Won's mood to 180 degrees.

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