Seungju was in agony. This was exactly why he’d wanted to avoid this… But he drew on his well-trained social skills and opened his mouth.
“Why, does the Director have that great of a body?”
“Yes. It’s no joke. He’s not just handsome in the face, you know.”
“Is that so…?”
“Really, his shoulders and arms… and he’s got like eight abs. It’s no joke.”
Seungju wanted to blurt out a response. Yeah, I know.
Seungju became distressed again. If Muyeon had worked at a different company, he wouldn’t have had to see and hear such raw reactions. But if they’d worked at different companies, would the two of them have even met in the first place? It was precisely because they were at the same company that they’d run into each other and talked.
Seungju expressed his inner dissatisfaction indirectly.
“You must have looked pretty closely. How do you even know how many abs he has?”
“Oh come on, Team Leader. When it gets wet, it clings right to you, you know? The rash guard sticks to your body!”
“Even so, didn’t you look a little too hard?”
At Seungju’s retort, Kang Jihye burst into giggles. Seoyeong and Jinju, who had already picked out ice cream and finished paying, poked her. After receiving the ice cream and bobbing her head in thanks, Jihye pulled out a chair at the table where Donghyeon was sitting and sat down.
Jihye spoke to Donghyeon.
“Sunbae, did you see the Director?”
“Hm? No.”
As Seoyeong and Jinju sat down beside her, they snickered. Their expressions said they understood. Seungju realized that there had been no ulterior motive in Jihye suddenly asking him about the Director. Kang Jihye simply wanted to tell everyone she met about the amazing sight she’d witnessed. Well, of course there was no ulterior motive. Seungju was just being overly sensitive.
Right, Baek Muyeon was someone who stood out wherever he was, whoever he was with. It would be strange not to notice him. Everyone knew that. Still, it bothered him. Seungju drew on his last remaining patience.
“Jihye, you used to say I was handsome, that I should be an idol. Did you switch over to the Director?”
Jihye’s eyes went round as she looked at Seungju.
“Team Leader, while working at this company, you’ve got to take advantage of everything you can. The Director’s face is a company benefit, so we should say thank you and enjoy it.”
There was no arguing with that. Though she had no idea what thoughts had made Seungju pull such a sour face, everyone sitting around the parasol burst into laughter looking at him.
***
Today really wasn’t his lucky day. Seungju had encountered the situations he’d wanted to avoid twice already. Coming down from the shop, Seungju ran into Muyeon head-on.
At least Muyeon had Assistant Manager Jeong and Deputy Manager Kim from the Sales Team with him, so Seungju was saved. With just one scan of them, Seungju realized that Muyeon had been about to buy snacks like coffee or ice cream for the Sales Team.
Seungju awkwardly bowed his head in greeting.
“Well then, have fun.”
“Team Leader Seungju.”
Muyeon called out to Seungju just as he was about to walk past after greeting them. Assistant Manager Jeong and Deputy Manager Kim, who had already started climbing the stairs, glanced back at them. Seungju wanted to escape from this spot before they went up.
And for good reason—even Seungju had looked at Muyeon’s body first upon running into him. It was truly remarkable that when facing Baek Muyeon, his face wasn’t visible.
But it made sense. Why did even the black rash guard that the company had bulk-purchased and uniformly distributed suit him so insanely well? Wasn’t this physique just too unfair? Seungju had thought he’d gotten used to seeing it every day lately, but that had been his mistake.
The important thing was that all the Vision Factory employees had seen him like this. And they were seeing it now, and would be seeing it for at least two more hours.
His insides boiled. It was closer to anxiety and tension rather than anger or rage. Seungju once again praised the decision his past self had made. Right, it’s easier on my mind to just not see this sort of thing. And he cursed his current situation. Fuck, just because I don’t want to see it doesn’t mean I can avoid seeing it.
As always, Muyeon was faster than Seungju. He pulled a card from the phone case he was holding and handed it to the two people on the stairs.
“Just coffee for me. If there are other employees up there, ask them what they’d like and pay for it all at once.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Assistant Manager Jeong quickly took the card. Before the two had even climbed halfway up the stairs, Muyeon pulled Seungju along. Scanning the surroundings came before telling him to let go. As Seungju looked around to see if anyone was watching, he found himself already led by Muyeon around the back of the stairs and to the rear of the building.
Muyeon’s expression looking down at Seungju was quite cold. But prickly thoughts came first. It couldn’t be helped. A whirlwind was churning inside Seungju’s heart. What, why is he angry?
Muyeon immediately spoke.
“You saw my message, right?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you reply?”
“Company people are everywhere. I’m even scared to open messages.”
“You didn’t reply because you’re trying to avoid me, right?”
Seungju flinched. How did he know I was avoiding him? Seungju thought, desperately trying to deny his own behavior from just moments ago when he’d run into him head-on and tried to escape as if nothing had happened. At the same time, he recalled the history of never once having beaten Baek Muyeon.
When Seungju didn’t answer, Muyeon pressed again.
“Were you going around with Donghyeon from the Production Department?”
“Yes.”
“It hasn’t even been a month since that incident and you’re already sticking close to another company person? What if something happens?”
“What incident…? Park Dawon?”
“Well what else is there?”
Muyeon’s eyes gleamed strangely. Hmm, this wasn’t picking a fight—he genuinely seemed curious about what had happened. And if there had been another incident, he’d catch them all at once and crush them.
Of course there was no other incident. Seungju was dumbfounded by Muyeon’s assumption. And in the midst of that, he got angry again. Hey, worry about yourself. You…
“No, there’s nothing. But… Dawon and Bae Donghyeon are different cases. What could he have going on that you’re glaring at people like that?”
“Whether the cases are different or not different is uncertain.”
“You’re good at talking, anyway. There’s nothing like that, so you worry about yourself, Muyeon.”
Muyeon scoffed. He spread both hands and said,
“How am I supposed to do any better than this? I check in on you through messages, I greet you when I see your face. I do everything that you don’t do at all.”
That mouth of his… If only he couldn’t talk, he wouldn’t be so annoying… On top of that, it was irritating that it was the truth anyway. Seungju narrowed his eyes and looked up at him.
He wanted to tell him that wasn’t the problem, but right now it seemed like nothing would come out nicely. But he also didn’t want to say something childish like “figure out what the problem is yourself.”
As his thoughts reached that point, Seungju became aware that what he was doing now was childish enough. Acting hasty with an anxious heart, avoiding him here and there. Being on edge at other people’s words.
The strength drained from his body.
That office romance might be easy for you, but it’s not like that for me. That I hate seeing other people—not just anyone, but specifically company people—looking at you, and that having to pretend like it doesn’t bother me is painful. And most of all, that I hate myself for not being able to say all of this honestly.
There was no way he could say all those things. Once again, thoughts about his own lack of courage came to Seungju.
But now wasn’t a situation where he could think deeply about that. There was no telling when someone might come and see them. Thinking that made everything even more exhausting. Seungju shook his head.
“Let’s talk in a bit.”
“How long is ‘a bit’?”
“Later, at night.”
Muyeon made a displeased expression. But in the end, he nodded. Seungju gave a drained smile.
***
Originally, Vision Factory’s workshop recreation always included a talent show segment where new employees had to sing, perform skits, or dance. It was a time everyone loathed with a shudder.
Spending two days and one night with company people—especially the annoying President and the terrible former Director—wasn’t bad enough, they even had to perform tricks. It was chilling. Every year, new employees seriously planned to break a leg or get food poisoning before the workshop.
That outdated culture quietly disappeared a few years ago. It was probably the year when the story of some company that tormented employees regardless of whether it was night or weekend to make them practice for the talent show became a hot topic on the internet and made the news.
That summer, a record-breaking typhoon came. The Vision Factory workshop scheduled for the day the typhoon was raging was canceled that morning. The company magnanimously announced a day off instead of work attendance for all employees. The following year, after a one-year gap, when the workshop schedule resumed, the talent show segment had quietly disappeared.
Come to think of it, that day off ended up being deducted from our annual leave anyway. Really, thinking about the company’s tactics of giving illness then medicine makes any affection that was forming just drop away. Chatting about such topics, Seungju was heading to the outdoor terrace with Donghyeon for dinner.
When they reached the terrace where people were already noisily settled in their seats, Seungju stopped. Because all the members of his assigned group raised their hands high to welcome him.
“Team Leader! Sit here.”
“Come on over.”
Seungju looked at the empty chair prepared for him, then shifted his gaze to the table next to it, right behind that chair. And his eyes met Baek Muyeon’s.
If you sat near the Director, it would be difficult to talk comfortably or make noise. So everyone probably filled the seats starting from as far away from the Director’s seat as possible. Having waited quite a while for Donghyeon, who said he’d smoke a cigarette first, Seungju was among the latecomers, so his choices were inevitably limited.
