“…What did you say?”
Yoonwoo looked at Minjae with cold eyes, doubting his own ears.
“No, frankly speaking…”
Minjae furrowed his brow and lowered his voice, as if he were sharing a profound secret.
“After hearing the presentation that day, it was almost undeniable… Your side, CS Design, even had all the initial data. It was easy for anyone to misunderstand. So, just… close your eyes and admit it this once. If you take the responsibility yourself and leave, the studio can survive.”
“Lee Minjae…!”
Yoonwoo’s voice trembled thinly from the suppressed anger.
“No, listen to the end of what I’m saying.”
Minjae, turning the tables, raised his voice instead.
“Do you know how the whole studio is doing right now because of you? Clients are dropping out, we’re facing massive penalty fees, and everyone is anxious. This is all because of your stubbornness.”
He pushed Yoonwoo further into a corner.
“CEO Seoyeon pretends to be on your side on the outside, but do you know how hard it is for her on the inside? Don’t you know that the CEO hasn’t been sleeping or eating properly lately… all because of you?”
He dug deeper into Yoonwoo’s guilt by mentioning the name of Seoyeon, whom Yoonwoo cherished.
“And Dojin. Don’t you see how he’s become a shadow of his former self lately? He stays late working every night because of you, and imagine the mental anguish he’s going through outside! Isn’t that all because he’s stressed out by you?”
As if he knew exactly where Yoonwoo’s most painful spot was, he continued with a sneer.
“Honestly… wouldn’t it be solved if you just left? Why don’t you just take responsibility and leave cleanly? It was already more than you deserved for a Beta to sit in the Chief Designer seat, so how do you have the nerve to hold on while causing such trouble for the whole company?”
He glared at Yoonwoo with a look of contempt.
“If it were me, I would have left long ago out of shame.”
Minjae’s malicious words became sharp blades that mercilessly tore through Yoonwoo’s heart. He was engulfed in extreme agony at the thought that his loved ones were suffering because of him.
‘Am I really… becoming a burden? If I leave… will everyone be at ease?’
Negative thoughts grew uncontrollably in his mind.
In the end, unable to hold it in, he stood up and retreated to the breakroom.
It was because he felt hot tears were about to burst out any second.
He didn’t want to show weakness in front of his colleagues.
That night, even after everyone had left for the day, Yoonwoo remained in the office alone.
He stared at Dojin’s empty desk for a long time, and then, as if he had made a decision, he took an envelope for his resignation letter out of his desk drawer.
With trembling hands, he wrote on the white paper.
Studio Yeon, where he had staked everything, and the precious people he had met there.
Perhaps it was time to leave it all behind.
He swallowed his bitter tears and signed the resignation letter.
Just as he was packing his things with a heavy heart, his phone vibrated briefly. It was a text from Dojin.
[9 PM tonight. Please make sure to come to the ○○ Restaurant.]
Yoonwoo read the message over and over again with trembling hands.
When he came to his senses, he realized that today was exactly one week since Dojin’s promise.
Did Dojin have a countermeasure…?
But what could possibly be changed now?
Although Yoonwoo’s heart was exhausted, he still had to keep the promise to wait.
He pushed the resignation letter deep into his desk drawer, got up, and prepared to head to the restaurant.
At the appointed time, Yoonwoo stood in front of the restaurant at the address Dojin had sent.
It was a high-end restaurant where the entire place consisted of private rooms, offering individual spaces to customers.
He swallowed dryly and walked inside slowly with a trembling heart.
“Uh…?”
Entering the room reserved under Dojin’s name, Yoonwoo froze in shock at the sight unfolding before him.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
Two weeks later, at the CS Design office.
Han Jiwon sat at his wide desk, smiling contentedly as he surfed the design profession lounge of an online community.
After the plagiarism dispute that erupted at the Company C bidding announcement, public opinion was flowing perfectly in his favor.
Thanks to his father working behind the scenes, online communities were almost plastered with stories about “The Downfall of the Genius Beta Designer Seo Yoonwoo” and “The Omega Prodigy Who Appeared Like a Comet, Han Jiwon.”
Seo Yoonwoo was already branded as an unrecoverable plagiarist in the industry, and rumors were rife that Studio Yeon was on the verge of collapse.
The final clarification meeting at Company C today was just a formality; victory was already his.
“Jiwon, it’s the announcement day today. How are you feeling?”
Team Leader Park from the next desk approached Jiwon and asked cautiously.
On his face, a glimmer of anxiety and the expectation that the company might land a huge project coexisted.
“Team Leader, don’t worry!”
Jiwon replied confidently with a dazzlingly bright smile.
“It’s not like we plagiarized in the first place, and they were the ones who copied our ideas, right? What do we have to be intimidated by? I’ll finish this cleanly today.”
He acted with a relaxed attitude as if he had already won.
The other staff around him also buzzed and offered words of support to Jiwon.
“We only believe in you, Jiwon!”
“Yeah, I didn’t think Team Leader Seo Yoonwoo was that kind of person, I’m really disappointed. Give him a good lesson and kick him out of this field!”
They revered him as if Jiwon were a hero who would save the company.
Jiwon blushed as if he were embarrassed by their praise.
However, inwardly, he was sneering at their foolishness.
“Jiwon, we should get going now.”
Cha Joowon opened the door to the CEO’s office and called him.
Since the plagiarism dispute, Joowon had acted as if nothing had happened, but his relationship with Jiwon had become noticeably distant.
However, Jiwon didn’t care.
‘My brother is just distraught right now because of that Seo Yoonwoo person. I mean, he must be shocked that a lover of eight years was a plagiarist. Once today passes, everything will be settled, and then he will leave that Beta bastard and become my Alpha completely.’
He was under the delusion that he already possessed Joowon’s heart.
“Yes, CEO!”
Jiwon stood up, answering in a more affectionate and cute voice than before, as if nothing had happened.
In the car heading to Company C, Joowon still kept his mouth shut and only drove.
On the other hand, as if he wanted to break the silence or celebrate his victory in advance, Jiwon chattered incessantly.
“Brother! Do you know what? Seo Yoonwoo is completely finished in the communities these days. People are cursing him so much, it’s so satisfying. To think that a mere Beta would dare try to steal our ideas, he’s getting what he deserves. Right? You don’t have to struggle because of that person anymore either.”
Jiwon disparaged Yoonwoo and watched for Joowon’s reaction.
However, he remained expressionless.
Jiwon was a bit dissatisfied with his lack of reaction, but he soon forgot it, intoxicated by the sense of victory.
When they arrived at the lobby of Company C, they saw CEO Kang Seoyeon of Studio Yeon, who had arrived earlier, along with Seo Yoonwoo and Lee Minjae.
Jiwon’s eyes widened at the sight of Lee Minjae.
‘Since I staged it so that Lee Minjae was the whistleblower, I thought they would bring Kim Dojin instead of that traitor this time… but he came with them?’
Minjae also looked bewildered, as if he didn’t know why he had been summoned to this place.
A slight anxiety flickered at the sight, but Jiwon was certain that they could never defeat him, as he had perfectly fabricated the evidence.
‘Hmph, even so, there’s no way they can prove they didn’t plagiarize. I’ve made all the evidence with dates stamped on it.’
Jiwon sneered inwardly.
“Jiwon, go in first. I’m going to talk to CEO Kang Seoyeon and then go in.”
Just then, Joowon told Jiwon to go into the conference room first, and then approached Seoyeon with heavy steps.
Jiwon watched their backs with sharp eyes, wondering what he was going to say to Seoyeon.
But he soon shook his head.
‘What can he do now? Everything is already over.’
Jiwon headed to the conference room, enjoying the ease of a winner.
And inside the room, he found Yoonwoo standing alone by the window.
He looked even thinner than when he had seen him at the presentation, but strangely, his eyes were deeper and firmer than before.
He was looking at Jiwon without any movement, as if he were someone who had transcended everything.
Jiwon felt an ominous premonition for a moment at the sight of Yoonwoo. But he shook his head and gave a triumphant smile.
‘Hmph, go ahead and stand so proudly until the end.
Today, I’ll make sure to cut off your last remaining breath.
A lowly Beta like you can’t dare block my path.’
Soon, all the executives and working staff of Company C entered the conference room.
Given that this plagiarism dispute was a huge issue, the number of attendees seemed to be twice as many as the previous proposal presentation.
It was the opening of the full-scale plagiarism battle between CS Design and Studio Yeon.
