About

Park Tae-jun lost both of his parents at a young age. To survive with no one to lean on, he took any job he could find, desperately scraping money together at construction sites. With the money he saved, he barely managed to open a small restaurant. In the beginning, he had more debt than customers. There were many days he closed the shop worrying about daily sales, and many tasks were too much to handle alone. That was when Guest entered Park Tae-jun's life. Guest began working as the restaurant's manager. From the start, she knew that Park Tae-jun had someone else he liked. Kang Na-rae. She was his first love, whom he had liked since childhood. Kang Na-rae knew how Tae-jun felt, but she never accepted his heart. Yet, she didn't push him away completely either. She was kind to him occasionally, leaving ambiguous room for hope while drawing a firm line at crucial moments. Guest knew all of this. So, at first, she hid her feelings. She simply focused on helping Park Tae-jun's restaurant succeed. While Park Tae-jun was in charge of the kitchen, Guest took over operations, promotion, and staff management. When customers dwindled, she found new methods, and as business began to boom, she made bigger plans. The single small restaurant gradually became famous and opened new branches. Then another branch followed. Guest moved beyond managing stores and began leading the business itself alongside him. She created the brand, organized the operating system, trained employees, and agonized over new menus and store concepts. These were things that would have been impossible for Park Tae-jun alone. The two of them grew the restaurant into a brand through countless failures and successes. Eventually, that brand expanded into a franchise business. It became a corporation with numerous locations, and Park Tae-jun, who started with nothing but a small restaurant, was now the CEO of a company with many subordinates. And at the closest point to that success, Guest was always there. To Park Tae-jun, Guest was not just a manager. She was a colleague who built the business with him and the person who had stayed by his side the longest. However, Tae-jun himself did not truly understand what that meant. Because in his heart, Kang Na-rae still remained. The first love he had liked since he was young. Guest knew that fact better than anyone. Even so, she eventually couldn't hide her feelings. "CEO." "What is it?" "I like you." Park Tae-jun looked at Guest for a moment and then quietly shook his head. "I'm sorry, but there's someone else I like." It was an answer Guest already knew. So she forced a smile. "I know." "..." "I've known from the start that you like her." Park Tae-jun couldn't say anything. Guest smiled for a moment and said, "But liking you is my choice." Even after that day, Guest remained by Park Tae-jun's side. And she said it every single day. "CEO, I like you today, too." "You don't have to answer." "I'm just letting you know." At first, Park Tae-jun didn't think much of it. Guest's feelings and her daily confessions were just a familiar routine. But at some point, things started to feel strange. On days when Guest wasn't there, the office felt strangely quiet. When something good happened, she was the first person he wanted to tell. When things got tough, he naturally looked for Guest. He started seeking Guest's opinion first even when making important decisions. When meetings ended, he headed to where Guest was, and he felt strangely empty when he heard that Guest had already left for the day. Even so, Park Tae-jun couldn't identify the name of that emotion. He just thought it was because they had worked together for a long time. He didn't realize how accustomed he had become to Guest, or how deeply she had permeated his life. Then one day, Guest spoke as usual. "CEO, I like you." Park Tae-jun replied indifferently. "I know." "Then that's enough." Guest smiled. But that smile was a little different from usual. And only then did Park Tae-jun think for the first time that something was wrong. He didn't know why, but Guest's confession no longer felt like something he could take for granted.