“Should I rent a car…”
Around 2 PM on a weekday afternoon, supposedly the most exhausting time for office workers. Hongdan was looking at his phone with his body curled up. Unlike his obediently fixed upper body, a calculator was spinning rapidly in his head.
The library he used to go to with Seonha was quite far from his current house.
In terms of distance alone, Yeonhwa High School was farther, but the taxi schedule from last weekend had been more grueling than expected, so this time he wanted to use a rental car. Honestly, having just eaten lunch, his desire to Lupin his salary had also reached its peak.
Bzzt-
“Whoa, shit!”
However, his efforts to become the company’s top salary thief evaporated right there with the sudden vibration. Team Leader’s fierce glare immediately followed.
“I’m sorry…”
Hongdan bowed his head sheepishly while naturally checking his phone screen. He’d apologized for now, but that didn’t revive his shattered work motivation.
He couldn’t give up on embezzling someone else’s money over just this much. Hongdan’s index finger was still on the screen. He pulled down the top bar to check the identity of the little rascal that had made him look forward to his next personnel evaluation. Honestly, he had an idea who it might be. So he’d prepared some excellent curses too.
But they all became useless.
“Uh…”
[Jung Hyeonchan] What are you doing?
[Jung Hyeonchan] Are you busy this weekend?
Because the protagonist who’d sent the untimely message was quite an unexpected person.
Hongdan, who’d been contemplating his schedule with Seonha just moments ago, was about to immediately send a refusal.
But.
[Jung Hyeonchan] I got tickets to author Jin Nahye’s book talk, Saturday at 2 PM
[Jung Hyeonchan] You’re going with me, right?
He couldn’t help but stop before even completing the first syllable of “busy” due to the two rapidly consecutive texts. And for good reason—author Jin Nahye was a writer Hongdan loved so much that he’d even bought all the short stories she’d contributed to literary magazines.
Despite being in her young mid-thirties, she never missed winning domestic and international literary awards every year. She was truly a person who best suited the title of great author. Sweeping the bestseller lists at major bookstores upon publication was such routine it wasn’t worth writing an article about, and her works were mentioned countless times as celebrities’ life-changing books.
However, despite being such an outstanding literary figure, her introverted personality meant she rarely appeared at external events. Therefore, seeing her in person was no different from picking stars from the sky. Hongdan himself had once prayed as a New Year’s wish to receive author Jin Nahye’s autograph.
In other words, he now wanted to become a shameless person who’d abandon prior commitments and such.
Hongdan kept chewing his lower lip. His heart had already tilted, but his last bit of conscience was holding his finger back. That’s when the vibration rang once more.
[YSH] Hongdan, should we rent a car and go this weekend?
[YSH] You don’t seem to like taxis very muchㅠㅠ
Fuck, did this bastard install CCTV here or something?
Even knowing it was a baseless suspicion, Hongdan looked around. Then he sent Seonha an answer with an even more determined expression than before.
[Me] They say it might rain this weekend, is that ok?
It was naturally a lie.
Hongdan, who hated rain just as much as Seonha, had checked the weather as soon as the schedule was set and had confirmed the bright sun icon several times. He trusted Seonha’s habit of never checking the weather forecast.
The answer came back not long after.
[YSH] Yeah! I’m fine with it!!
In precisely the opposite direction from his expectations.
It took less than 3 seconds for curses to burst out from Hongdan’s barely closed lips.
“Bullshit! You fucking hate rain, you bastard!”
“Reporter Choi…? What are you doing right now?”
Three seconds was also enough for Team Leader’s piercing gaze to return. Hongdan’s head naturally dropped toward the ground.
“Ah, that… an interview. I’m scheduling an interview, and this time it’s an acquaintance. Haha… I’m sorry. I’ll be careful.”
But a single nod wasn’t enough to stop Team Leader Shim’s bombardment that had already begun.
“No matter how close you are, they’re still an interviewee first, aren’t they? I don’t know if that’s the attitude for scheduling. Reporter Choi, it’s about time you shed that newbie label too. And if they’re being really difficult, just change the interviewee. What are you going to do if you force a schedule and they suddenly flake? The person who was running around two months ago saying the interviewee seemed to have ghosted them. Looking at it, Reporter Choi seems to keep forgetting this is the People Team. Should I just transfer you to another department while we’re at it?”
“N-no…”
Hongdan bowed his head even more. All he’d gained from working at the company were lighter knees and neck. If he had to pick one more thing, it would be the lesson that briefly humbling himself was more efficient than maintaining pointless pride.
Fortunately, Team Leader Shim was someone the so-called “feather-light pride winning theory” worked on. The bullets subsided sooner than expected.
“If you can’t even keep the basics, at least water the plants on time. What did the plants that can’t even talk do wrong?”
“Yep.”
Others might wonder what the hell that sudden outburst was about, but the words “at least water the plants” coming from Team Leader’s mouth was a closing declaration meaning “I’ll nag up to here, so handle the rest well yourself.” Knowing this well, Hongdan stood up from his seat happily.
Having fulfilled his assigned duty and quickly returning to his desk, Hongdan picked up his phone again with the tumbler straw in his mouth. Actually, he’d long since finished the water in the tumbler, so the straw was a kind of gag.
[Me] I checked the website and they’re having some event that day so it seems like it’ll be a bit hectic
[YSH] The event space and archive are far apart so won’t it be okay if we go early?
[Me] Uh yeah but it’s a bit hard to wake up early on weekends..
[YSH] I’ll wake you up! I’ve been waking up well lately, right haha
[YSH] Is 9 o’clock okay?
“Grr sss (this fuck).”
He wondered if Yeon Seonha had always been this good at talking.
Come to think of it, that guy had deceived him for three whole years. Hongdan could never have beaten Seonha at lying from the start. Hongdan ultimately decided to come clean honestly.
[Me] Hey
[Me] I’m really sorry but
[Me] Can’t we just go to the library another day?
[Me] I want to go somewhere with a friend that day
Worried it might get cut off, Hongdan showed off a columnist’s dazzling typing speed, sending them in succession. However, for some reason, the response from the other side was delayed.
He’d been replying sharp as a knife this whole time, why is he suddenly taking his time now?
Hongdan anxiously wiggled his fingers. Of course, even if he was refused, he had no intention of backing down easily. In his head, he was already thinking of thousands of repertoires to implement when Seonha threw a tantrum saying no.
Was he scribbling the weakest one among them on a Post-it? The phone he’d set face-down vibrated briefly. Excited, Hongdan rattled his chair loudly.
But soon Hongdan’s shoulders quietly sank after checking the screen.
[Jung Hyeonchan] Why no answer? You’re not refusing, right, surely
[Jung Hyeonchan] Hey, it’s Jin Nahye?
“Who doesn’t know that (who doesn’t know that, damn it)…”
He too was doing his utmost efforts, but his friend who couldn’t understand this fierce battle felt cruel. While pressing the keys one by one to convey that emotion, saying he’d give an answer within today, three familiar consonants appeared at the top of the screen.
[YSH] Okay
[YSH] But I don’t want to eat dinner alone so come around then
[YSH] Thanks for being honest with me
“Yes!”
“What, again?”
He ended up receiving Team Leader’s attention for the third time just today, but Hongdan’s mouth didn’t know how to close. Rather, it curved into an even bigger arc.
Hongdan shook his phone and laughed vigorously.
“I got the interview, Team Leader! I got it just right, haha!”
“What else… Reporter Choi, why are you so out of it today?”
“Oh, it’s an amazing interviewee.”
He didn’t stop there and even threw in a cute wink. It was something unimaginable if you knew Hongdan’s usual image at the company. Team Leader Shim didn’t add any more words and just let out a chuckle. Even that sounded like a blessing for him to Hongdan.
But for now, he decided to calm his excitement. He had to quickly reply to Hyeonchan. If by any chance the ticket had been passed to some other guy in the meantime, he’d probably resent the world quite a lot.
Hongdan straightened his posture and turned on the screen with a reverent heart. Then the chat window with Hyeonchan he’d been looking at just moments ago appeared right away. Huffing pleasantly through his nose, Hongdan deleted the half-written sentence. Then he sent the message he’d wanted to write all along upon seeing the name “Jin Nahye.”
[Me] Of course I’m going!!!! I totally wanna go I fucking want to go so baddddd
