“It disappeared right after you finished cleaning — that’s a fact.”
Director Hwang’s furrowed brow twitched as he pressed his finger hard into Im Munyeong’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, but…… I truly didn’t touch it.”
“Ha, you really don’t give up, do you. If you keep this up, innocent people are going to get dragged into it too — is that fine with you?”
Director Hwang jabbed his collarbone repeatedly and shoved Munyeong back, step by step. At the sight of him holding others hostage to make his case, Munyeong let out a silent sigh. Every time something went missing or got stolen, people always pointed at him first. It had been that way in school, and here he was, more than ten years later, and it was still the same.
“……I truly didn’t see it either.”
Munyeong lowered his head like a guilty man and told the truth. He told the truth, and he had no guilt — and yet Munyeong wore the posture of a guilty man with the ease of long habit. Secretary Ju, watching from a distance, had been debating whether to step in for what felt like the hundredth time. Losing a personal item was unfortunate, but using that as reason to detain a subordinate without a shred of evidence was a form of workplace violence. It was the kind of thing that, if reported to the human rights commission, would get someone summoned by the audit team immediately.
But the other party was a director — a full executive, and a considerable one at that. No matter that she was the secretary assigned to assist the Senior Managing Director, directly confronting an executive came with a significant burden of risk. And yet she couldn’t stand back quietly either, not when Munyeong was being subjected to this completely without fault. What weighed on her more was how natural he looked lowering his head like that — as if it were something he was well-used to doing. Not from a professional standpoint, but from one human being to another.
“You’re really going to deny it to the very end, huh. Fine. You.”
Director Hwang suddenly seized the tip of Munyeong’s ear with a tight grip. Clutching the outer ear as if to crush it, he abruptly began dragging Munyeong along.
“Let’s just go to the police station. Huh?!”
“Ugh——. W-wait, please.”
At the sight of him actually putting his hands on someone’s body, every employee watching reacted with visible shock. They all stood around with horrified expressions but no one moved to intervene.
“Please let go.”
Munyeong pleaded with an anguished face. His composed, polite manner only made Director Hwang crease his brow more aggressively.
“‘Please,’ he says. Do you think you’ve earned the right to say that? You?”
“……Please.”
“Enough of that. If you were the only one who entered my office this morning, the culprit is you.”
“……I really didn’t——”
“Who’s going to believe someone like you. At your age, mopping floors in a place like this.”
“……”
At words that cut him down just the same as always, Munyeong went quiet. When it got to this point, there was nothing left to say.
“Don’t you feel anything, seeing people your age here?”
“……”
“Some people mop floors. Others ride the coattails of a major corporation and go from strength to strength.”
“……”
“And on top of that, stealing on the side.”
“……”
“If I were you, I’d have died of shame.”
As the words kept escalating, Secretary Ju, unable to listen any further, was about to step in — when:
“……I’m, I’m not…… ashamed.”
Munyeong, who had been quietly taking it all in, spoke slowly and softly. It was a contradiction to his compliant attitude and his cowed bearing — and Director Hwang let out a scoffing laugh.
“What?”
“……I’ve thought that the people who work here are impressive, yes.”
“……”
“……But that I should be ashamed…… that’s something I’ve never…… thought.”
He was subdued, without confidence — but Munyeong spoke with a kind of detachment. He had been dismissed and compared to others more times than he could count, but regardless of what might happen to him for saying this, he wanted to make the truth known. Not once — not for a single moment — had he felt shame about doing this kind of work at an age when he was supposed to be spreading his wings and making his mark. His dream was to do his best with whatever circumstances he was given, and because of that, even if he weren’t a janitor but a slave in a Joseon-era nobleman’s household, he would still hold his head up.
“So you’re saying you’ve still got your pride, is that it?”
“……”
“Pathetic wretch. Really. Hey. What exactly is so great about a thief that you’ve got the nerve to stand tall. Standing tall. Huh?”
Director Hwang flicked his fingers against Munyeong’s forehead contemptuously, pressing harder each time. With each jab came more force, and Munyeong’s head jolted sharply.
“Director, that’s going too far——”
Just as Secretary Ju could no longer hold back and moved to intervene — ding. The quiet chime of the elevator arriving rang out. But Director Hwang, standing right in front of it, had already stopped hearing anything — and kept pouring out his contempt.
“Do your parents know? That you’re working like this and stealing on the side?”
Munyeong’s head lurched once more — and by then, the elevator doors were already half open.
“They must be weeping tears of blood, don’t you think?”
This time it wasn’t a finger but a palm that shoved against Munyeong’s temple like a slap. The force sent Munyeong stumbling — and as he crumpled toward the floor, he realized whose feet he had fallen at. Right above the hand he’d put out to catch himself: a pair of sleek dress shoes, not a speck of dust on them.
“Welcome back, Senior Managing Director.”
The first to notice his arrival was Secretary Ju — and the first to let out a quiet, inward groan was also Secretary Ju.
She had a feeling that Yeon Haejeong was not going to be pleased about this situation — or more precisely, about the situation that had Im Munyeong caught in the middle of it. Next to register was Director Hwang. As it happened, he shared a floor with Yeon Haejeong — the most outspoken and troublesome figure at Baekil Group — and had been keeping a low profile around him for some time. When Yeon Haejeong was around, Director Hwang did his best to exist as invisibly as possible. But that approach didn’t suit him at all. He had found something to pin on someone, so he had been venting while Yeon Haejeong was away.
“Hm…… It seems your conversation with the Vice Chairman has concluded.”
The moment he saw Yeon Haejeong, Director Hwang’s expression shifted — something uncomfortable flickering across it — and he opened his mouth with strained composure. The humiliation he’d suffered in the meeting room earlier was still clearly festering. Then Director Hwang glanced down at Munyeong, collapsed at his feet like an inconvenience, and gave him a dismissive kick to shove him aside. Munyeong shifted his body awkwardly and, without thinking, looked up.
And met Yeon Haejeong’s characteristic cold gaze, looking down at him.
Munyeong had meant what he said — he had never been ashamed of himself. No matter how much others scorned him or looked down on him, he alone had always stood clean in his own eyes, and so he had never felt shame — but. In this one moment, he wanted to disappear. Being caught like this, in this state, by Yeon Haejeong — it was enough to make his stomach lurch and the tip of his nose burn hot with something mortifying in a way he couldn’t explain.
Munyeong accepted Secretary Ju’s steadying hand and quickly got to his feet. And just as he turned to flee the scene, Director Hwang snatched his arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“……Ha.”
“Ha ha, Senior Managing Director. This rat has been sneaking in and out of our office stealing things, and he’s finally been caught.”
Director Hwang turned to Yeon Haejeong and laid out the situation in his most measured tone. He was stringing together justifications and excuses for his own behavior. At the same time, his grip on Munyeong’s arm tightened.
“You may want to check as well, Senior Managing Director — just in case anything has gone missing on your end.”
Not a single word from Yeon Haejeong throughout this entire chaos. He merely swept his gaze around the room in one blank, indifferent pass. And the last place that gaze came to rest was on Munyeong, head bowed low. His uniform was a crumpled wreck — likely from being grabbed by the collar and shaken — and his hair was disheveled as though it had been wrenched at. Yeon Haejeong took in each detail, one by one, then turned and walked forward with the same expressionless face as always. Across the lobby where everyone stood watching, past Im Munyeong standing there motionless, and toward his own office.
“……”
Reading Yeon Haejeong’s implicit intention to ignore this matter entirely, Director Hwang’s expression turned all the more triumphant as he seized Munyeong’s ear again.
“Follow me.”
Director Hwang dragged Munyeong along and jabbed at the elevator button repeatedly.
Unlike the sharp pain from before, Munyeong felt almost nothing now. He had held out the faintest hope. Just for a brief moment, he had let himself imagine something absurd. The person who had supposedly gone out of his way to bring medicine when he heard he was in pain — the person who had reportedly sent Section Chief Jo all the way over with a gift because he heard he was hurting — hearing those things had made Munyeong entertain, just for a fleeting second, a completely ridiculous notion.
“Today won’t end with just you.”
“……”
“I’ll be holding the supervisor above you accountable too. Make sure you know that.”
Director Hwang raked Munyeong over with a look of contempt and dragged him once more into the now-open elevator. Unlike before, Munyeong went without resistance. He just wanted this commotion to be over quickly. He just wanted to disappear somewhere Yeon Haejeong wasn’t. Munyeong stared with hollow, lifeless eyes at the silver doors sliding shut. And then —
