“Do you have any idea how much I missed you?”
Deputy General Manager Kim draped his arm naturally over Munyeong’s shoulders and spoke in a familiar tone. It was a somewhat uncomfortable closeness, but since there weren’t many employees who bothered to talk to him, Munyeong always felt grateful and answered compliantly without pulling away.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, nothing. When you were around, there wasn’t a single thing that bothered me — but lately everything’s been irritating me—.”
“Ah…. I see. I’ll be more thorough.”
“Especially the bathroom. There are piss stains just sitting there.”
“Yes. I’ll make sure to clean it properly.”
Seeming pleased with Munyeong’s respectful attitude, Deputy General Manager Kim stayed put without leaving, turning a paper cup of instant coffee mix in his hands as he kept talking.
“I heard you were assigned upstairs for a while?”
“…Yes?”
“Upstairs. Where the Senior Managing Director and the Director are.”
“Ah…. Yes.”
Munyeong wondered how he’d come to know that, but didn’t ask and simply answered without pressing further.
“So, was there anything interesting?”
“What do you mean by….”
“I mean the new Senior Managing Director.”
“…….”
“His personal life, his personality — there’s been a lot of talk. Did anything happen with you?”
Munyeong stared back with a mildly blank expression, not quite catching the intent of the question, and Deputy General Manager Kim seemed frustrated enough to give up dancing around it and opened his mouth again.
“No, I mean — just the other day he came up behind me and kicked me out of nowhere.”
“……What?”
“He’s a complete lunatic. I was seriously about to report him for workplace violence, held myself back by a thread. Did anything happen to you?”
Before saying the word “lunatic” he checked that no one was around, then leaned in and whispered it quietly.
“People who pull that power-trip crap on employees really should have it all aired out in public.”
“…….”
“If anything happened to you, go ahead and tell me everything. I’ll spread it all around for you.”
“…….”
“That way he’ll finally know the shame of it and be taken down a notch.”
Munyeong watched Deputy General Manager Kim quietly as he spat out his words without restraint, his face full of malice. He knew Yeon Haejeong was awful. He knew about the power trips, knew about the scene-making — but he alone knew something else. That as awful as he was, there was never no reason behind it, and that he wasn’t quite as terrible as everyone else believed. And bad as he might be, Munyeong had absolutely no desire to hand over fodder to someone who was working this hard to tear another person down out of spite.
“…Nothing happened.”
Munyeong said it firmly, and Deputy General Manager Kim responded with a “Really?” and let his disappointment show. Munyeong gave a polite bow and excused himself first. At his suddenly stiffened demeanor, Deputy General Manager Kim furrowed his brow and watched Munyeong go with a puzzled look, but Munyeong felt too uncomfortable to do anything but quicken his pace.
Munyeong stepped out of the break room and into the sprawling open office where dozens of employees sat. They all looked busy without exception. People holding animated conversations over their desk phones, trading talk of business; others buried under stacks of documents and lost in thought; others still, huddled together in teams having heated meetings — all of it swept into Munyeong’s field of vision at once. He liked seeing this. It felt like watching a world he didn’t know. And there was something in him that longed for a world he couldn’t have.
He looked on for a brief moment, then pulled his cart and began to make his way down the hallway again. But the peaceful atmosphere inside the office was gradually turning loud and chaotic. Starting from the entrance, employees began whispering among themselves, and some even shot to their feet to bow. The rising commotion drew Munyeong’s gaze toward its origin point — and there, from the far end, he caught sight of the source of it all, bearing down like an enraged bull. Munyeong stopped in his tracks, his expression startled.
It was none other than Yeon Haejeong, eyes blazing, feet hitting the floor with heavy thuds as he came. The sheer force of him bearing straight down with eyes locked onto Munyeong made Munyeong step back without even meaning to.
“Hey!”
In an office of eight teams, in front of dozens of watching employees, Yeon Haejeong hollered and called out to Munyeong. At the booming shout, Munyeong flinched visibly, his whole body giving a startled jump.
“Wh— why….”
Munyeong stammered, his face pale with alarm, his mouth opening and closing.
“You—!”
Yeon Haejeong pointed a finger at Munyeong and raised his voice, looking like he was on the verge of exploding. Munyeong could feel not just the surprised stare of Deputy General Manager Kim, who had followed him out of the break room, but every pair of eyes in the place turning their way.
“You—, you little—!”
He shook with what seemed like something urgent to say, his face twisting up hard. That fine face of his was contorted, and the onlookers only watched with greater interest. Munyeong faced him with an expression that said he genuinely had no idea what was going on.
“Wh— what….”
When Munyeong asked in confusion, Yeon Haejeong curled the pointing finger back into a fist, clenching it tight, and ground his teeth.
“You—!”
“…Yes…?”
“So then, you——, you——!”
Having come all the way up to him, he couldn’t get the words out, struggling and swallowing it down, biting hard on his lip then releasing it over and over again. He was even pointing his finger directly at Munyeong, his whole body trembling. At the sudden and inexplicable outburst, Munyeong, wondering whether he’d done something wrong, called out to him cautiously with a bewildered look.
“…Senior Managing Director…?”
The moment he met those blank, bewildered eyes, the man — who had been seething so intensely his veins looked ready to burst — suddenly raked his hands roughly through his own hair. As if he might suffocate from frustration, he mussed his hair into complete disarray and muttered a low curse as though talking to himself.
“Ha—, …shit….”
Something about him looked flustered and lost, and Munyeong studied him with concern as if asking if he was alright.
Whatever it was that brought him all the way down here to do this — whether something serious had happened — Munyeong carefully ventured the question with a note of worry in it.
“Is there something you… w-want to say to me…….”
He ground his back teeth and glared at Munyeong with displeasure. His gaze, loaded with discontent, sullenness, and every manner of prickly feeling, fixed itself on Munyeong as he snapped back irritably.
“…No.”
“…Pardon?”
“What would I have to say to someone like you — nothing! Absolutely nothing!”
Having stormed over as though he had something monumental to say, he shouted the exact opposite. He even worked himself up into anger over it, erupting with a yell.
Then, glaring at Munyeong until the very last second, he let all his temper fly — and walked right past him. He headed toward Deputy General Manager Kim’s direction, who had been watching the whole scene with keen interest. More precisely, he had been walking to the opposite side of Munyeong, and it just so happened that Deputy General Manager Kim was standing there. But Yeon Haejeong, never one to miss an opportunity, fixed Deputy General Manager Kim with a terrifying look and shoved his shoulder as hard as he could as he passed.
“Ugh!”
With the difference in height and size, Deputy General Manager Kim went flying sideways like a feather. He grabbed his stricken shoulder and looked up at Yeon Haejeong passing by with a dumbfounded expression. He looked so stunned he’d forgotten to breathe. With all the employees having risen from their seats to watch his rampage, Yeon Haejeong roared at them savagely before making his exit through the other side of the office.
“What are you all staring at, are you here for a show?!”
And then he kicked the door open on his way out — leaving every single employee in the office standing there slack-jawed. Deputy General Manager Kim, having been caught in the crossfire for no reason, was fuming with an aggrieved look on his face, muttering “That, that crazy bastard….” Munyeong himself was the most flustered of all. He had absolutely no idea what Yeon Haejeong had been so furious about. He wondered if he’d made some mistake somewhere — and then, beyond that, whether there had even been anything worth coming all the way down here to lose his temper over. Those questions stirred up inside him, but there was no way to ask.
[Parking Lot.]
A summons came around the time work was ending that day. It had been a while since there’d been any contact, and Munyeong had half-wondered if the interest and whims had run their course — but apparently not.
I’ll wrap this up today too. Munyeong made up his mind alone, then gathered his things and headed for the parking lot. When he came down to the executive parking lot, Yeon Haejeong was there, leaning against his car and chain-smoking an e-cigarette. With an expression that made it very clear he was in a terrible mood.
