“The Director matter feels light now, right? As long as you’re not involved, you don’t care what he does or where.”
“That’s right. I don’t really care anymore. Well, as long as the farewell party this week ends safely…”
It wasn’t modesty. Looking at the essence of an attitude that could be expressed as magnanimity, the truth is different from that. In the end, Seungju couldn’t resist the Director in the way he thought was proper. The Director’s resignation wouldn’t have happened without the cheat key of being the President’s son. For developments and conclusions he couldn’t do anything about with his own power, Seungju ultimately chose to let go and just let them flow by. So that’s the same as a kind of giving up, not magnanimity or the proper sublimation of emotions.
And that was one of the things Seungju was best at.
“If it were me, I’d really say I’d kill him…”
Muyeon muttered quietly. Seungju burst into laughter again as if he’d heard another funny joke.
It was around when they’d finished eating all the chicken from the dakhanmari and started boiling the noodles. They were on their second and a half bottle of soju. Muyeon filled the glasses and opened his mouth.
“What are you doing Wednesday?”
“Ah, I have plans.”
“What plans again?”
“With a senior I know.”
“What are you meeting for?”
This grilling… Seungju showed his teeth in a smile. I’m meeting to worry about what to buy to offer you. But he couldn’t say that. He vaguely glossed over it.
“Just having a drink after a while. Oh, Muyeon-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Is there anything you want?”
“Why?”
It was a question that came from thinking it would be faster to just ask him directly rather than racking his brain separately while also changing the conversation. Rather than choosing something he didn’t like at all or giving something with no interest or use, even if it reduced the fun of surprise, it seemed better to give what the other person wanted.
The reasons Seungju thought he should give Muyeon a gift were too long to explain in detail. Seungju just smiled and said.
“I’ve received too much…”
“If you say it’s to pay me back, it’ll kill the mood, so just receive it as a gift from the heart?”
“When you respond like that, it kills my mood.”
Muyeon laughed.
“Never mind. Don’t squeeze blood from a flea.”
“This is saying you know my whole salary, right? My pride is hurt.”
Though he mixed in a joke, half of it was sincere. It’s not like I want to have no money. Muyeon answered.
“Seungju-ssi should receive more.”
“……”
“Of course, you declined yourself.”
For the first time in a while, Baek Muyeon was really annoying. Seungju narrowed his eyes and glared at him. Muyeon smiled and raised his glass. Seungju grumbled as he toasted and emptied his glass.
Putting down his glass, Seungju said.
“Then isn’t there even something trivial?”
“There isn’t.”
“……”
“I just need Seungju-ssi.”
And then Baek Muyeon smiled. The bright smile was as pretty as always. However, Seungju felt something a little different in that smile, like he had once before.
Maybe if it had been a while ago, he wouldn’t have known. But they had grown considerably closer, and so Seungju had come to know Muyeon a bit better. Things like when he taps the car steering wheel with his fingers, how he hides the intent of his words with a soft voice. Or what his trivial speech habits or habits are when sending messages.
Some things are unfamiliar and some things are lovable. And the current thing is very slightly, or perhaps a bit more than that, the kind that makes his heart ache.
Until now, Seungju thought it came from the many distances between Muyeon and himself. However, now he thought that distance might be between the mask Muyeon wore and his true appearance.
Because that sparkling smile resembles intoxication rather than complete satisfaction. That face that is so proud of himself for saying such things.
***
Seungju arranged to meet Hyeondo in Gangnam.
‘Is there anything good to eat in Gangnam?’
To Seungju’s question, Hyeondo answered cheerfully. Yeah. There isn’t.
Still, they found a suitable shop for drinking and eating. Seungju, who confirmed the shop’s location, glanced at the clock. It was a little past five-thirty. Another long day was finally over.
Having roughly finished the day’s work, Seungju was writing his work log while thinking about how to respond to the message Muyeon had sent. However, other miscellaneous thoughts came to mind first. The thought of how this guy manages to send messages so diligently in his spare time when he must be busy.
After the Director left, General Manager Mu rising to the new Director position was a foregone conclusion. Naturally, the atmosphere of the entire company was slowly changing so that General Manager Mu could focus more on the store operations he’d been in charge of from the beginning. From market research to product planning matching the opening concept, the Planning Division’s work was gradually flowing into the Sales Team. There was also talk that they would transfer an entire team from the Planning Division to the Sales Team to have them plan limited products.
Thanks to that, the Sales Team people were experiencing exactly the hell of handovers that had swept through the Planning Division a while ago. Assistant Manager Jeong, who would take over the Sales Team after General Manager Mu left, was suffering the most. He sadly worked overtime while appealing for increased personnel.
General Manager Mu alone had leisure in that asura field. Seungju wondered if that was the leisure the President’s son could enjoy, or if there was perhaps another reason. Dawon testified.
‘General Manager Mu works well.’
Yeah, so that’s why he doesn’t work overtime and has time to contact me whenever he’s bored even during work hours. Of course, that’s just saying—he’s definitely busy. And Seungju had no intention of denying Muyeon’s devotion in showing care between his busy moments. He focused on Muyeon’s message again.
[Should I take you there]
Of course, it would have been nice if he changed up his repertoire of offering to take him places.
It would be convenient to catch a ride in Muyeon’s car. However, Seungju worried about the possibility that Muyeon and Hyeondo might somehow run into each other. Precisely, if Hyeondo asked who the man accompanying him was, he feared the chain of rumors that would go from him to Sojeong, and then to Seoyeong and Dawon. If that happened, there might be talk at the company that Seungju and General Manager Mu play around well together after work.
People are less interested in others than you’d think. Even gossip for the sake of interest, once consumed as gossip at one gathering, isn’t well remembered. However, topics about Muyeon have too high a level of interest at this company. That’s not just gossip—it’s a story that could make the company’s stock price fluctuate. Team leaders and above receive company stock, even if just a pinky fingernail’s worth, when they get their assignments, so it’s not someone else’s business for Seungju in many ways.
So Seungju decided to decline this time too.
[No]
[Why?]
[I can go by myself]
Muyeon didn’t reply for a moment. Seungju started organizing his desk. He washed his tumbler, and when he returned to his seat, there was a message from Muyeon.
[You’ll call, right?]
Well, that’s not a difficult thing. Seungju answered right away.
[Yes.]
***
“A gift for a rich lover.”
Seungju first fed Hyeondo quite a bit of alcohol. He drank just as much himself. Trying to speak sober, he remembered what he’d told Hyeondo before. He worried it might sound like bragging about his newly dating lover being handsome and rich. So he kept pouring alcohol, hoping Hyeondo’s judgment would blur so he could focus entirely on his own experience.
After mixing soju with calamansi and drinking a bottle each, Seungju began. Hyeondo was rubbing his stomach, saying at this rate he’d have a hole in it tomorrow.
“Senior, the person you dated before was rich, right?”
“Well, not exactly…”
“Come on. I’ve heard things.”
Hyeondo smiled slightly and refilled the glasses. Seungju started chewing on dried snacks. The two emptied their glasses again. Hyeondo put down his glass and opened his mouth.
“Sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be helpful in that regard.”
“Why?”
Seungju immediately regretted the cold response that left his mouth. Am I becoming like Baek Muyeon? Hyeondo shook his head with a completely unconcerned face.
“Because I never did anything for that guy. I don’t remember.”
“You’re saying you had a relationship where you only received from your lover? I don’t believe it, so don’t make excuses. You don’t remember?”
“No, well, that guy had too much money for that…”
Hyeondo waved his hands. Seungju ignored it and poured more alcohol. It wasn’t just a ruthless action to achieve his purpose. It was fun to feed Hyeondo alcohol and watch him struggle. This was probably how those three women who fed him alcohol like crazy last week felt.
After another bottle of soju ended, Hyeondo started talking more, perhaps getting a bit dizzy. Thanks to that, Seungju could listen with great interest to Hyeondo’s words about how he learned for the first time how many expensive watches exist in the world, within the common ground of dating a rich lover.
Seungju, who had been consuming time and alcohol as if entranced, returned to the main point much later.
“So, Senior just received all of that.”
