Bang!
A large hand shoved itself through the almost-fully-closed gap of the elevator doors. The force was so violent that the elevator itself shuddered. Executive Director Hwang, apparently thinking the elevator was plummeting, let out a sharp gasp and grabbed the railing on the wall. Munyeong stared blankly at the doors being forced back open, his face like someone who had just seen a monster. Or more precisely — he stared, dumbstruck, at Yeon Haejeong, who had just pried the doors back open by sheer force.
“What the — what do you think you’re—”
Executive Director Hwang, flustered to match Munyeong, was stumbling over his words and couldn’t even form a complete sentence, when that voice opened with an ominous calm.
“Get off.”
“……”
“Now.”
The command was directed precisely at Munyeong. Executive Director Hwang, who hadn’t yet fully grasped the situation, blinked vacantly and then looked back and forth between Yeon Haejeong and Munyeong, words faltering.
“I… I’m not sure why you’re doing this, but this fellow and I currently have unfinished business, so—”
“What was stolen?”
Yeon Haejeong immediately turned his head and looked at Executive Director Hwang at a sideways slant. As that ominous gaze landed on him, Executive Director Hwang hesitated before answering.
“…It’s, a fountain pen…… Surely you’re aware of it. The one Chairman specially ordered — the gold-embossed one…. You know it too, don’t you, Managing Director? Our company’s founding anniversary—”
“Ah, that tacky-as-hell thing.”
“…Pardon?”
“Father had only three made — one for me, one for hyung, and one for Yeon Chayeong. He’s the type who likes that sort of thing. Anniversaries, commemorative gifts, romance, sentiment — all that.”
“……”
“But I thought it was too tacky to accept, so I turned it down. Who walks around these days with a gold lump engraved with a founding anniversary inscription. Who even commemorates when their company was founded anymore. It’s not just excessive — it’s tacky. So I told him to throw it to whatever stray dog was passing by. And it ended up with you?”
The elevator doors tried to close again and Yeon Haejeong blocked them with his arm, then leaned his whole body against them. In that position, he stared fixedly at the other man at an angle. There was a peculiar, unhinged gleam lurking in those relentlessly watchful eyes, and Executive Director Hwang, rattled, took an unconscious step backward.
“That… I wasn’t aware of that….”
“Then it was originally mine, and I — the owner of the item — couldn’t care less whether it gets stolen. So would you kindly shut up now?”
“Pardon…? No, but that was something I received directly from the Senior Managing Director……”
Executive Director Hwang clearly found his blunt manner of speaking unsettling, and couldn’t hide the way his face went stiff with bewilderment.
“I said to throw it to whatever stray dog was passing by — I never said to give it to Yeon Chayeong.”
“……”
“Ah — for fuck’s sake, hard to tell who the real thief is.”
Yeon Haejeong tossed the words out as a mutter, but loudly enough that it was clearly meant for everyone to hear. As Executive Director Hwang stared at him with a face drained of color, Yeon Haejeong stared back with a shameless, threatening expression that said so what are you going to do about it. The moment the tables turned, Executive Director Hwang’s face went dark. His lower lip was quivering with what looked like indignant rage.
“Get off.”
Yeon Haejeong issued the low command once more toward Munyeong, who was still rooted to the spot. The firm gaze that came with it said the obstruction had been dealt with, so move quickly. Munyeong, who had been watching the whole exchange in a daze, had no choice but to follow the order.
“Go inside and wait.”
Yeon Haejeong gave Munyeong another command — Munyeong, who was standing awkwardly with the eyes of everyone around him on him. Perhaps embarrassed by all the onlookers watching this with expressions ranging from astonishment to fascinated curiosity, Munyeong didn’t hesitate and moved his feet. Yeon Haejeong watched Munyeong’s retreating figure growing smaller in the distance — fleeing like he desperately wanted to hide — and only then turned his head back to look at Executive Director Hwang.
“Hey.”
The casual call made Executive Director Hwang’s pupils widen in shock. No matter how adversarial their relationship, they were both executives, and there were basic courtesies between them — being addressed that way was a serious breach of propriety. It was the kind of thing that could draw comments from above if it came out wrong.
“Even if Managing Director is the Chairman’s son, to speak that way—”
“I’m a bastard too.”
“…Pardon?”
“But you’re a—”
The lips that had started the sentence came to a halt, pressing shut, working in ugly, restrained spasms. He was clearly holding back a surge of furious profanity with everything he had.
The sight of him chewing down on his words like some kind of thug made Executive Director Hwang swallow his own in alarm. The pallor that had washed over his face at being humiliated by someone so much younger was not quick to fade. And compounded with that humiliation was a primal fear at the killing intent in those eyes — his eyelids trembled involuntarily. Just as he was trying to work out, somewhat belatedly, what he had done wrong, a low, muttered voice cut back into his ear with a chilling edge.
“Me.”
Yeon Haejeong stepped inside and pressed the pad of his finger against Executive Director Hwang’s forehead, pushing down hard. It was a well-shaped hand, beautiful overall — but every knuckle was solid, and the hand itself was the size of a man’s face. With a gesture that was threatening by its very nature, he pressed slowly, steadily against the other man’s forehead and forced it back, speaking one word at a time with deliberate, loaded force.
“Don’t. Insult. Someone’s.”
“……”
“Parents. When they. Have none.”
He drove each syllable home with full weight behind it, and then shoved the forehead roughly away in one hard push. The force of the blow sent Executive Director Hwang’s head cracking against the wall behind him.
“The fuck — watch your head.”
“……”
“Guy’s already an idiot — what happens if more of his brain cells die. You want me to take responsibility?”
Thud — Executive Director Hwang, the back of his head slammed against the wall, let out a strangled groan and doubled over, clutching his head. The fight had drained out of him; he hunched his body and let out an aggrieved sound.
“What — what is this?! Even if you are the Managing Director, I am — I’m the Senior Managing Director’s — the Senior Managing Director’s man. Even so……”
“You not getting it?”
He narrowed his brow to something dangerous. At the ugly, contorted look on his face, Executive Director Hwang’s mouth snapped shut. His eyes, strained and genuinely frightened now, were visibly trembling — and in that moment, a low murmur pressed against his ear with an eerie resonance.
“I don’t lay a hand on him either.”
Haejeong pulled his fist back for another strike — then stopped it dead in midair. He remembered the argument he’d just had with his hyung over company matters, and realized that if he made things any worse from here, there’d be no containing it — so he held himself back with every ounce of restraint he had. His nails dug into his clenched palm. The veins at Yeon Haejeong’s temple rose blue as he forced himself to stop. Knowing full well that this alone had already made things bad enough, Yeon Haejeong kicked the interior of the elevator hard as a release, then stepped out and walked away in long, purposeful strides. As Yeon Haejeong crossed back through the lobby and headed toward the office, every front desk employee and every secretary stared with hands over their mouths in shock.
The employees instinctively sensed that another incident had just emerged that was going to set the company community board on fire.
“Are you an idiot?!”
That was the first thing out of Yeon Haejeong’s mouth as he flung the office door shut behind him. Munyeong, who had been standing around in a daze, startled and turned his head toward where Yeon Haejeong was.
“……”
But he couldn’t manage any response and just hesitated. He didn’t know what to say. His head was a mess — should he thank Yeon Haejeong, or should he ask why he’d done it. Yeon Haejeong had clearly pretended not to see him at first. He had clearly caught that characteristically cold look in his eyes.
“Can’t hear me? I said are you an idiot. Why were you just standing there letting yourself get hit like that?!”
Yeon Haejeong’s face was flushed red. His neck had gone red too, as though the anger was too much to contain. Munyeong stared at every bit of it with blank, uncomprehending eyes, his lips opening and closing wordlessly.
“Stealing, my ass. From someone who wouldn’t even glance twice if you threw money in his face.”
Yeon Haejeong was still apparently not done, chewing curses to himself as he kicked the shelf hard. Munyeong could not understand any of it. Why Yeon Haejeong was this angry. Why he was angrier than Munyeong himself was. Why he was wearing that face full of indignant rage…
“Don’t you dare go near that bastard’s room from now on. I’ll talk to Section Chief Jo separately — don’t go anywhere near there, cleaning or otherwise. You hear me?!”
