- Cannot Answer
I woke up and it was morning again. I blinked a few times to chase away the drowsiness, then slowly got up from my spot. When I checked the time on my phone, it was a little past eight in the morning. Even though I had an afternoon shift, I’d woken up too early. After contemplating whether to go back to sleep, I eventually got up.
Since I had quite a bit of time in the morning, I decided to work out. My stamina wasn’t particularly bad even now, but since I hadn’t been exercising here, I could definitely feel that my stamina had taken a hit. I did some light bodyweight exercises I could do in my room, then decided to just go out for a run.
Maybe because I hadn’t been exercising at all, even the light exercises made me sweat. After catching my breath for a moment, I changed into my tracksuit, grabbed just my phone, and headed outside.
Since it was slightly past weekday commute time, there weren’t many people on the streets. Working out definitely seemed to clear away what had been complicating my mind. I’d planned to run lightly for just 30 minutes, but I got into a rhythm and ended up running for almost an hour. My stamina had clearly declined—by the time I got home, I was practically gasping for breath.
When I got home, I checked my accumulated messages. Most were spam so I skipped them, and only checked the message from Jung Yoonseo.
It would be better to say you want to meet with the writer regarding the scenario contact.
True. Considering the changed source material was an unfilmed scenario script, that method seemed best.
Sounds good.
As soon as I sent the text, a reply came right away.
It’s not just empty promises—I’ve also contacted the head of a theater company I personally know so that if it looks good when reviewed, we can actually put the scenario on stage. They said they have time this weekend, so can you spare some time tomorrow? I’ll set it for dinner.
Jung Yoonseo was meticulous about things like this. Beyond just meeting for a simple purpose, he gave me a legitimate justification. Having this kind of justification definitely made me feel more comfortable. I didn’t think Jung Yoonseo would ask me for a favor that would warrant compensation for all this, but…
Yes. I’m available tomorrow evening.
Then I’ll give you the address, so meet with the company head and have dinner with the four of you—the publisher employee and the writer. I’ve already told them you’re my personal employee.
Jung Yoonseo had prepared things more thoroughly than I’d thought. The fact that Jung Yoonseo was showing me kindness when we’d barely known each other for any time at all made me feel extremely grateful. I wanted to send him a gift card or something, but giving Jung Yoonseo something material would be about the most foolish thing I could do, so I just gave up.
Hyung, aren’t you coming with me tomorrow?
The reply came after a moment.
If I go, it’ll become a big deal.
It was so true that I couldn’t say anything to that. I was thinking about how to reply when Jung Yoonseo sent consecutive texts.
And anyway, I can’t go tomorrow.
Are you very busy?
Well, for someone of Jung Yoonseo’s caliber, just making time to do something was amazing in itself. Jung Yoonseo didn’t answer my question for quite a while. I eventually put down my phone and was doing some cleaning around the house when Jung Yoonseo contacted me again.
I’ll leave you the company head’s phone number first.
Then he sent me a phone number and the address of some restaurant. It was probably where we’d meet tomorrow. I was saving the phone number and searching for the address when Jung Yoonseo sent over a neatly prepared file in its entirety. It was the overall scenario contact documents.
Have a good meeting.
…I could feel how much care had gone into the documents. Of course, Jung Yoonseo wouldn’t have worked on this one by one himself—it must have been done by a subordinate employee or the theater company he’d mentioned earlier, but I knew that giving instructions for all this, checking it, and delivering it also took a lot of effort.
I thought for a moment, then sent a text.
Hyung, are you very busy tomorrow?
I wanted to meet Jung Yoonseo briefly, even if just for a moment, to express my gratitude. However, Jung Yoonseo again didn’t respond to my text for a while. The reply came after I’d already left for work that day.
***
At Cha Hyunwoo’s cafe, one employee alone could never handle all the work, so at minimum two to three people worked the same time slot. Even though there were an unusual number of customers, the store wasn’t particularly large, so that was enough to handle the work.
The staff consisted of one manager and five part-timers including me, but I didn’t run into the other employees very often. That was because my hours almost always overlapped with Cha Hyunwoo’s, and though it was a bit tight, the two of us could handle most peak times.
After extremely busy days, Cha Hyunwoo would sometimes suggest that three people would be better, but I’d declined because of how completely our movements had clashed with a part-timer I’d worked with before. Even if it was a bit busier, I felt more comfortable handling everything myself. It might be excessive ownership for just a part-time job, but I’d worked so damn hard in so many places that it seemed to have become second nature now.
But today, I’d only briefly overlap with Cha Hyunwoo during the day, and I’d be working the entire evening shift with just the manager. As soon as I arrived for work, I exchanged greetings with Cha Hyunwoo who was in the middle of a rush, got changed, and hurriedly started working.
I’d worried for a moment about whether I’d feel awkward on my own since I’d noticed Cha Hyunwoo’s feelings yesterday, but that didn’t happen.
Partly because I didn’t want to suddenly get flustered over something Cha Hyunwoo hadn’t directly mentioned, but also because Cha Hyunwoo was the same as usual. Plus, since the cafe was so busy, those thoughts actually completely disappeared about 10 minutes after running into Cha Hyunwoo.
“Hyun-ah, is it okay if I go?”
“Boss, if you don’t clock out, you’ll be working overtime, won’t you?”
“Should I help out a bit more before I go?”
“…My heart really skipped a beat just now, but please go anyway. Don’t you have something to do later today?”
“…I do have plans.”
“Then you should go. Obviously…”
Even at my words, Cha Hyunwoo kept looking back with lingering regret. After telling Cha Hyunwoo to leave right now three times, I was finally able to get him to clock out.
“Hello, Hyun-ssi.”
“Hello, Manager-nim.”
The manager was one year younger than Cha Hyunwoo and one year older than Lee Hyun. She’d been working as a freelancer taking on jobs, but started working here last year thinking she needed a steady income. She’d joke that even though she was a manager, she wasn’t full-time, so her hours were relatively short and the hourly wage conditions were good, so before she knew it, it had been over a year since she started working here.
“Was it busy today?”
“About the same as usual.”
“So extremely busy then.”
Even though the manager was a woman, her height didn’t differ tremendously from mine. By eye, she looked to be in the mid to late 170cm range.
“This is out of the blue, but can I ask how tall you are?”
“Hm? Me? I’m just under 180. 177? 178? Hyun-ssi, you’re well over 180, right?”
Seeing as my height and eye level were exactly the same as when I was Kang Seojin, I figured I was probably exactly 184cm.
“Not that much over, just a bit.”
“The boss is tall, I’m tall, Hyun-ssi is tall too—there’s way too much height inflation in this cafe…”
“Do you know the other part-timers’ heights too?”
“I didn’t ask, but except for you and one other male employee, they’re all women, and seeing as their eye levels don’t differ much from mine, I’d guess at least late 160s? The other male employee isn’t that tall.”
“The boss wouldn’t hire based on height, would he?”
“I don’t think so… But strangely, all the people who regularly work here are tall, so naturally it seems like only tall people apply for part-time positions?”
“Shouldn’t he add it to the hiring requirements? ‘Absolutely no consideration of height’ or something.”
The manager burst into laughter at my words. I smiled back while filling the takeout cups.
“But working with the boss makes things twice as busy, doesn’t it?”
“It’s not just me who feels that way, right?”
“A good-looking service industry coworker is kind of the worst when your shifts overlap… in terms of increased work.”
“Is that why you schedule yourself not to overlap with the boss, Manager-nim?”
“…I’m so glad Hyun-ssi came. Right?”
The manager smiled awkwardly and ran off to take an order. So this secret had been hidden in the schedule. Working with Cha Hyunwoo definitely brought in at least twice as many customers. I sighed and wordlessly started making the drinks that had been ordered. When I checked the order, five different types of smoothies had been entered at once.
***
“You worked so hard today. I’ll lock up, so hurry and clock out.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Manager-nim!”
