With half his mind reflecting on his foolish self, and with the other half of his mind, he hadn’t been going to drinking gatherings for two weeks now. Instead, Seungju met with Muyeon almost every day. Wanting to listen to Baek Muyeon’s words to be faithful to himself instead of drinking gatherings—that was exactly the other half of his mind.
Anyway, Seungju didn’t dislike meeting Muyeon and spending time in physical communication with him. To be honest, he liked it.
When you spend more time together, you naturally get to know the other person better. You learn about sides of him you didn’t know well or stories you hadn’t heard. Just as he’d gotten used to Muyeon’s way of speaking when they first started dating, Seungju began to regard his various other aspects as familiar. Once he placed him on a carpet painted with the picture of a young master, everything became easier.
He’d already realized that when Muyeon asked “Why?” at random timings, it wasn’t usually to pick a fight but because he was genuinely curious about the reason. The reason why those words sounded sarcastic was also easy to understand. Because Baek Muyeon really had no manners.
The fact that he’d shown an absurdly straightforward approach when courting him before dating was also connected to that lack of manners. Muyeon was a person who had nothing to be hindered by and nothing to fear. It would be a product created by his innate personality and acquired background. Because he was smart, he could leap over complex logic built up several levels at once, and because he was confident, he could break through it head-on.
And finally, Seungju was slowly accepting the fact that for someone like him who thinks a lot, this type of partner was very comfortable. So this change in thinking was gained from Seungju’s changed daily life. Ah, if Muyeon had just been a little less ill-mannered, Seungju would have accepted him more easily.
There were also facts he’d already known but came to know even better. Things like the fact that he knows how to act cute, which is hard to associate with his ill-mannered appearance. Come to think of it, it’s natural since he only has two older sisters and is the youngest at home. When a pretty person acts pretty, Seungju had no choice but to listen to his words.
However, the biggest factor that made Seungju forgive Muyeon’s lack of manners and made him willing to spend time with Muyeon was naturally his face. And his body. And that thing.
If life after work was called the private realm, Seungju briefly assessed all those days as peaceful and lewd days. Days spent in his grave that Seungju had dug and Baek Muyeon had laid him in.
Muyeon was quite pleased with those words. He sat up abruptly from lying in bed and laughed while hitting the pillow repeatedly. Seungju had looked at that sight indifferently. While thinking it was cute that Muyeon burst out laughing at what he said, he didn’t show it.
His honest feeling was that he didn’t dislike the time spent with Muyeon. On the other hand, Seungju wasn’t very pleased with the situation he was in. It was probably because the beginning had been in the form of awkward compensation for Seungju’s wrongdoing.
Whenever his thoughts reached that point, Seungju sighed deeply enough to make the ground cave in. Starting to enjoy something that began involuntarily is always unsettling. The unsettlement resembled the bitterness felt when work dumped on you at the company turns out to suit you better than expected.
To shake off that bitterness, last night Seungju once again asked Muyeon with a plea how long this situation had to be maintained and whether he had any thoughts of stopping. It was a conversation that came up while drinking at Muyeon’s house.
There was a lot to say about Muyeon’s house too. Like all luxury villas in Hannam-dong, his house was very luxurious, wonderful, and there was never any discomfort the entire time spent there. Seungju asked the first time he went to his house. Why did he take him to a hotel when they could just hang out at home? Muyeon answered simply. Because hotels are as comfortable as home. Indeed, words that can only be said by someone whose home is like a hotel.
Moreover, at Muyeon’s house, it didn’t matter how much alcohol he drank. However, Seungju knew the adverse effects that sex and being dead drunk brought to the next day’s condition. Muyeon was quite happy at the sight of Seungju voluntarily reducing his drinking after feeling his physical limits.
Because Seungju was an alcoholic, he ultimately couldn’t hold back at Muyeon’s reaction and questioned him about how long he had to keep up this bullshit.
‘So when exactly does your anger subside, Muyeon?’
‘It’s all gone. I wasn’t even that angry to begin with.’
I knew it. Seungju gritted his teeth.
‘When did it all go away? You should’ve said something when it was over.’
‘You’re on probation right now, Seungju.’
‘I’m so dumbfounded…. You scared me like that over something you weren’t even that angry about?’
‘Including when we fought at your place.’
‘Right, you seemed pretty pissed then. What’s the difference exactly?’
Muyeon put down his glass and moved to Seungju’s side. He sat on the sofa and naturally wrapped his arm around Seungju’s shoulder. His hand swept over the shoulder then wrapped around under the armpit and the side. Seungju looked at Muyeon while squirming. What is he trying to say to be clinging like this? Muyeon opened his mouth.
‘You rejected Park Dawon properly.’
‘……’
‘That’s why I let you off easy.’
Muyeon leaned his head on Seungju’s nape. It would be a lie to say the sight of him crumpling his large body and sticking closely to Seungju wasn’t cute. Seungju confirmed that Muyeon sitting side by side couldn’t see his expression, then smiled with the corners of his mouth raised.
‘When does probation end?’
‘Hmm, about 15 years.’
Seungju ended up laughing out loud.
If he’d known that Baek Muyeon’s clinginess would be repeated at the company the next day, he would have held back his laughter until the end.
The biggest change that occurred in Seungju’s social realm, not the private realm that happened after work, was naturally the replacement of the Planning Division Director at the department where he worked. Director Lee Yongjin, who had served as Vision Factory’s Planning Division Director for nearly ten years, was transferred out, and General Manager Baek Muyeon, who had been in charge of the Sales Team, was promoted to Planning Division Director.
There was also a reaction that it was too much to be promoted to Director within half a year of joining the company, even if he was the President’s son. But such gossip floated around for a few days then disappeared. There were more opinions that it didn’t matter when if it was going to happen anyway. People who had suffered from Director Lee’s tyranny said they’d welcome him even if he were the President’s grandson, not son.
The change was not small but not big either. There was no change to the work being done. Except that new work came to Seungju. At the first meeting, Muyeon requested a handover regarding the overall history of what products came out from the Planning Division and why, and the confirmation process of what methods were used to produce those products. The team leaders unanimously agreed that it would be good for Seungju to be in charge.
This was work that absolutely required seniority. So it would be right for Planning Team 1 to take it. But Team Leader Shin backed out.
‘Our team is soooo busy preparing seasonal products.’
Team Leader Kim from Team 2 also chimed in.
‘Team Leader Seungju went on external appointments together since when the Director was a General Manager, and has done various things seeing each other’s faces, so he probably knows the General Manager’s tendencies well and can inform him well by matching accordingly.’
Team Leader Yoon from Team 5 also nodded.
‘And originally this kind of thing is done by the youngest.’
Ah, here Seungju felt betrayed. Team Leader Yoon Minyeong, who had been the youngest team leader for several years, had come to have the mindset that it was natural to dump minor chores on the youngest.
So Seungju was organizing all the products that had come out from the Planning Division in the past seven years and briefing Baek Muyeon whenever he had time. Once a meeting started, the minimum was an hour. Of course, broadly speaking, this was very necessary work for the entire department since the new head’s understanding of the department was increasing. However, limited to just Seungju’s situation, he was already busy but constantly felt like his time was being stolen, so it wasn’t very pleasant.
Today’s meeting was completely wrapped up in the morning with about 20 minutes left until lunchtime. The conference room was reserved until noon, so it could be said they’d used the time quite efficiently. While Seungju was organizing several product samples and printed data, Muyeon was reviewing the meeting notes he’d taken.
“Team Leader Seungju.”
“Yes.”
“Come here for a moment and look at this.”
“Yes.”
Seungju got up from the seat where he’d been facing Muyeon and walked around the table. He pulled out the chair next to him, sat down, and looked at the laptop monitor.
“Are these and this item from the same factory?”
“Ah, they were the same until the year before last, but we moved this to another place.”
“Why?”
“What was it… The factory that originally manufactured this item didn’t match the schedule. The unit price did go up a bit, but this was also almost a seasonal product, so if we delayed production, there was no point in launching it.”
“I see, got it.”
Muyeon wrote down what Seungju told him. Seungju was scanning through the contents Muyeon had organized filling the monitor. It’s more meticulous and neat than I thought. Whether he knew Seungju’s evaluation in his heart or not, Muyeon added,
“Thank you.”
“For what…”
The reason Seungju trailed off wasn’t anything else. Because Muyeon turned his head and put his lips on Seungju’s cheek. Seungju’s eyes widened.
“Fuck, what are you doing?”
“Is it bad enough to curse?”
Muyeon asked back, pretending to be sullen. Seungju snorted.
