The two arrived at the cafe in no time. Even from a distance, the parking lot looked packed, but Muyeon managed to find a spot. Seungju got out first and watched him park. Muyeon got out of the car and approached Seungju, who was standing in front of the shop.
“You’re a good driver, Muyeon-ssi.”
“Of course. I’ve been driving for ten years already.”
“Oh, that’s impressive.”
“My parents got me a car as a gift when I entered university, so I drove a lot.”
Of course, I thought so. I’m not even surprised anymore.
The cafe was spacious but just as crowded. They headed to the terrace. Among the people sitting, one table was awkwardly empty. As they approached it, Seungju could feel the gazes naturally drawn to them.
He looked back anew at the man standing behind him. Tall as a model and a face like a celebrity, so this wasn’t particularly surprising either. But suddenly receiving other people’s stares made him embarrassed.
“Should we order?”
“Seungju-ssi, you sit down. We need to hold the table. What do you want to drink?”
“You’re not planning to buy this too, are you?”
“Don’t worry about that. Iced Americano?”
Without dealing with Seungju, who was trying to stand up, Muyeon immediately left the terrace. Seungju, who had been half-standing awkwardly, sat down. The thought that came to him every time he met him surged up again. No matter how much money Muyeon had, it wasn’t comfortable to always be treated.
Seungju tried to think as comfortably as possible. He’s spending his own money, so why should I stop him? And sometimes it wouldn’t be bad to be treated to my heart’s content. And strictly speaking, Muyeon’s money was also the President’s money, and that was money squeezed from Seungju’s blood, so it would be okay to be treated…
Ah, no. That’s going too far. My mood’s getting dirty again. Let’s not think about work.
Just when he thought he’d been waiting a long time, Muyeon appeared with trays in both hands. Seungju moved his phone that had been on the table to make space.
“I thought you were just going to order, I was going to bring the drinks myself.”
“That would be inconvenient though.”
On the tray were not only coffee but two slices of cake as well. The fact that this man with such a small appetite ordered so much dessert must mean he wanted Seungju to eat it. “Generosity comes from a full granary” really isn’t wrong.
“I’ll enjoy this.”
“Yes, please enjoy.”
Muyeon sat down and placed his arms on the table, resting his chin on his hands. It was probably a habitual posture for him, but it bothered Seungju. Sitting like this brought their faces closer. He couldn’t be doing it on purpose, could he? There was no evidence, but he had reasonable suspicions. That made him feel good.
“How’s work these days?”
Cancel that. His mood went bad again.
Seungju stabbed the cake with the fork he was holding and replied.
“I don’t want to think about work on the weekend.”
“Why?”
Seungju pondered. Muyeon was his superior. Not just a superior, but the company owner. Technically the owner’s son, but still. It wouldn’t be appropriate to openly complain to him about dissatisfaction with the company and the exhaustion of office life in a complaining manner.
But Muyeon hadn’t just responded casually to make conversation. He seemed to genuinely not understand why he didn’t want to talk about work. So Seungju decided to just explain with a general principle.
“It’s enough for me to think about work on weekdays and during business hours. If I think about work on weekends too, I just get stressed and end up hating Monday.”
“Why, isn’t the work fun?”
“It is fun. It’s just that stress builds up.”
“What kind of stress?”
“Work stress.”
Hmm. Muyeon lowered his gaze. It was a face lost in thought. Look at those eyelashes. And that nose bridge. While Seungju was briefly captivated by Muyeon’s face, he opened his mouth.
“I don’t really understand.”
“What?”
“If work is fun, don’t you want to get really absorbed in it, immersed in it? You could be engrossed in it regardless of whether it’s a weekday or weekend.”
“That could be the case.”
Though I’m not one of those cases.
“And of course there can be stress in doing work you like, but I think it would be a manageable level. There are so many people in the world who have to do work they hate.”
Those words almost pressed Seungju’s button. It was similar to the kind of button that automatically made him curse whenever anyone mentioned the Director anywhere, anytime. Hey, when were you born that you’ve ever felt anything like stress even once? Seungju’s rationality suppressed the old-fogey-like outburst.
Instead, Seungju fell into brief silence. He’d thought this before, but Muyeon and Seungju’s perspectives on work were completely different. Muyeon’s opinion was far too naive to Seungju. And Seungju’s opinion would come across as overly cynical to Muyeon. Seungju also knew well that the reason lay in inherent limitations.
That said, Seungju didn’t want to just quietly agree with Muyeon’s words. If they were at the company right now, Seungju might have just kept his mouth shut. Because there was nothing good about running his mouth in front of a superior.
But this wasn’t that kind of situation. Seungju slowly chose his words without expecting Muyeon to understand.
“Just because you’re doing work you like doesn’t mean you have to endure all the unfair stress. If the reward and joy you get from work is 10, and the stress is 100, then the remaining 90 stays there, unable to be offset. Unless there’s compensation for that 90.”
“You receive 100 worth of stress, Seungju-ssi?”
“It’s just a figure of speech.”
“What’s so hard about it?”
Seungju realized that going round and round, they’d ended up back at the question Muyeon had thrown at him earlier. The words “how’s work these days.” No, I mean, I said I don’t want to talk about it.
But Seungju lost. He sighed and said.
“What do you think it is?”
At Seungju’s barbed words, Muyeon didn’t answer for a moment. His brow narrowed and his lips jutted out. The displeased expression was somewhat comforting. Seungju laughed briefly and smoothed over the atmosphere.
“It’s manageable. It would have been more manageable without the PT.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I’m doing it alone.”
“Now that you mention it, why are you a one-person team, Seungju-ssi?”
“It’s not like there haven’t been cases like mine in the office. Like when someone of the right seniority to be promoted is immediately available, or when a project requiring a team-sized scale comes down so you need to split teams… Then they create a one-person team first and use outsourcing or something like that.”
“How long have you been a team leader, Seungju-ssi?”
“About four months now. Around that.”
“That’s when I joined.”
“That’s right. The Planning Division also reorganized departments to match the establishment of the Sales Team. There was some movement from the Planning Division to the Sales Team then.”
“I know. Kids like Dawon.”
Seungju nodded. Muyeon tapped his cheek with the hand supporting his chin.
“Then why are you still working alone?”
“Why do you think?”
Once more, at Seungju’s barbed retort, Muyeon widened his eyes this time. His eyes were so big that they looked threatening even when opened just a little wider. Seungju swallowed without realizing it.
“There are a lot of problems. We need to fill the position quickly.”
“That’s true, but… where would we pull people from right now? The other team leaders will absolutely refuse to give up team members. Then we’d have to either hire interns or post a job opening for experienced workers, and whichever it is, it’ll easily take a month until the selection period ends. In the meantime, I just have to think I’m dead and work myself to death.”
“I see, that must be hard.”
As if he finally understood, Muyeon nodded. Would have been nice if you’d been like this from the start.
“I was going to think more about filling the position, but if it’s needed, I’ll proceed a bit faster.”
“Thank you.”
“You said you didn’t want to think about work. You’re answering like you do at work?”
“You’re the one who brought up work first, General Manager.”
“Hey, I can ask a bit.”
And I told you to call me Muyeon-ssi. Muyeon laughed briefly. Seungju laughed as if drawn in by him.
***
When they left the cafe, it was nearly sunset. The two returned to the city center again. Although it had gotten warmer, after continuously facing the outside breeze on the shaded terrace, even though they’d just been sitting, he was more tired than expected. On the way back, both Muyeon and Seungju became less talkative.
It was when they got close to the place where Seungju had first met Muyeon today. Muyeon opened his mouth.
“How was today?”
Seungju paused. Should he speak honestly or not? He soon made up his mind. There was no reason not to be honest.
“It was good.”
“Really?”
“It was good. But…”
“But.”
The car that had been stopped at the light started moving. Crossing the crosswalk, the subway station exit closest to Seungju’s house appeared. Muyeon stopped the car by the roadside.
“Just, something I was thinking.”
“Yes.”
Was it an illusion from wishful thinking that his voice seemed a bit tense? Or was it real?
“Just… I think you and I are very different in many ways, Muyeon-ssi.”
“In what ways?”
“Just… family relationships too, and tastes are different. Things like our thoughts about work too.”
“So you don’t like it?”
“No.”
“That’s a relief.”
Muyeon tilted his head. Seungju stared at him intently. The conversations that occasionally broke off. The differences in lifestyle and taste felt in trivial places. His perspectives standing on the extreme opposite side.
Before getting close to him, Seungju had worried about other things. Their vastly different social status and the resulting relationship. Superficial things like being attracted to an outwardly superior man and, at the same time, feeling small himself. So he’d also thought that he should give up on a pipe dream from the start and just like an ordinary person instead.
But now Seungju could see something more important than that. The real differences that arose because his and Muyeon’s lived environments were so different from each other. How each little thing underlying their backgrounds had made the worlds they lived in so different.
And perhaps the distance between those worlds was so vastly far that it could never be narrowed. Like planets that never orbit on the same path.
But Seungju didn’t want to leave that distance as it was. He didn’t want to dismiss as useless the energy spent on heart and effort, for reasons like it being too overwhelming to run toward as he’d been trained by the company and society, or perhaps being a futile endeavor.
The impulse to get closer was probably because this man had devoted his attention to him today. It would be even better if it was sincere.
“Yes. So, saying it was still good… is real.”
“Then shall I confirm one thing?”
“What?”
Muyeon reached out his hand. He gently brushed back the hair above Seungju’s eyebrow.
Some premonition approached at his gesture.
The man’s hand holding his cheek was cold. The body temperature devoid of warmth automatically made him think it was pitiful. The unrealistic face drew closer. Seungju half-closed his eyes. Because it would be a waste not to look at that face.
Their lips touched lightly. A fleeting moment passed, and their lips separated again.
“How is it?”
There was no reason not to be honest.
“It’s good.”
“Then we’re the same.”
Seungju smiled. And this time he himself kissed him again. A bit deeper. When the wet mucous membrane inside the dry lips touched, goosebumps rose.
These were moments that needed no doubt.
