He couldn’t know whether it was truly pure coincidence that they entered the same company, or if it was his will. Because their circumstances were different, Wooyeon didn’t ask separately. And when another four years passed from that, he was already sitting in the position of executive director. For an ordinary case, it was a career and age where he couldn’t even attach the title of assistant manager, but since Jeonghan wasn’t a typical case to begin with, it wasn’t surprising.
However, even though he had anticipated it, he couldn’t adapt to it. He knew he was a young master from a great household, but even Wooyeon only learned then that he was TH’s successor.
Wooyeon, who let out another deep sigh, gathered the materials that had spilled at his feet. He was already someone far away, but now he was even more distant. If it were someone else, they might have dreamed of a Cinderella story with him, but Wooyeon had already faced too much reality to have such thoughts.
“Assistant Manager Seo, what are you doing there?”
Assistant Manager Yoon, who belatedly came out of the office, asked in a rough voice. He was a team member who hadn’t been with Planning Team 2 for long, having previously worked in the HR team.
“Ah, I bumped into something while coming out.”
“Looking at you, you’re quite clumsy.”
With a short tsk, Assistant Manager Yoon picked up a file and made an expression as if doing a favor. Wooyeon received it and bowed to Assistant Manager Yoon.
“With such a pretty face, hm?”
When Assistant Manager Yoon kneaded Wooyeon’s shoulder a couple of times, the corners of Wooyeon’s eyes, who was straightening his back, flinched. It seemed like an action without much meaning, but whether it was truly without any intention was something one couldn’t know.
“What are you doing, aren’t you getting on?”
Assistant Manager Yoon, who had already gotten into the elevator, shouted toward Wooyeon. Wooyeon had no choice but to board the elevator with him.
The elevator that swallowed Assistant Manager Yoon and Wooyeon descended at a fast speed. Assistant Manager Yoon, who was leaning diagonally in the corner of the elevator, looked over Wooyeon. Their positions were the same, but he was three years older than Wooyeon and was a company senior.
“But, does Assistant Manager Seo have a lover?”
“……No.”
“Why? You’re so pretty.”
“……”
He was at a loss for words. Wooyeon hadn’t expected to be tormented at the company with the same content he had been tormented with throughout school. Fortunately, with good timing, the elevator stopped with a mechanical sound. Wooyeon got off the elevator, inwardly relieved.
Even while heading to the conference room without saying anything, Wooyeon had no choice but to hear Assistant Manager Yoon chattering.
“Assistant Manager Seo, why do you think Assistant Manager Seo doesn’t have a lover?”
“I wonder.”
“No, tell me in detail. Are you the type who believes in fate or something?”
“My family is struggling. I’ve been continuously studying and working, I had no time to meet people.”
The image of Jeonghan’s face briefly flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t designate him as a lover. Come to think of it, he had never properly dated in his life. There was someone with whom he had shared everything like dating, but the fact that it couldn’t be dating made Wooyeon feel sad.
“Does that make sense? Don’t pretend you don’t have one.”
“I really don’t.”
“What style do you like?”
“You should enter the meeting now.”
His gaze persistently followed Wooyeon. They were already in front of the conference room. When Wooyeon stopped walking, Assistant Manager Yoon also stopped walking while facing Wooyeon.
“Then let me just ask this one thing. Are you into women or men?”
“……Assistant Manager Yoon.”
Wooyeon didn’t understand why he had to be in a bad mood before an important meeting with such an unproductive conversation. When Wooyeon looked at Assistant Manager Yoon with sharp eyes while holding the conference room doorknob, Assistant Manager Yoon smiled and folded his arms.
“Wow. How can I enter a meeting being scared of Seo Wooyeon?”
“……”
“You’re going to completely devour your senior, huh? I thought you were cute.”
Assistant Manager Yoon, who saw Wooyeon’s hardened expression, unfolded his arms and overlapped his hand on top of Wooyeon’s hand and opened the conference room door. At the suddenly entangled hands, Wooyeon pulled his hand away with a displeased expression. Even though it was earlier than the scheduled meeting time, inside the conference room, employees from the client company SNK Chemical and TH’s representatives were already there.
“I’m sorry for being late.”
Wooyeon bowed and handed the materials to the section chief. And as soon as he found a seat and sat down, Wooyeon’s gaze met with someone he also knew.
“Hello.”
The hair that had been long and straight was cut short to below her ears, but her clear eyes still remained in Wooyeon’s mind. The face that stood up from the seat and offered a handshake to Wooyeon was smiling confidently.
Chu Seonyoung, who had been Jeonghan’s ex-girlfriend, was there as an SNK Chemical employee.
* * *
“Sunbae, you’re still the same. You don’t seem to have changed at all.”
Chu Seonyoung, whose hair had gone from long to now short below her ears, sipped the coffee still remaining on the table as she spoke. A ring sparkled on her slender fingers holding the coffee cup. The other employees had all left the conference room after the meeting ended.
“I heard you got a job at a foreign company. I didn’t know it was a Japanese company though.”
“I was in the Japanese department when I went to foreign language high school.”
Wooyeon glanced cautiously. Just like when they were in school, Seonyoung had acted casually toward Wooyeon even after that incident.
“But TH Chemical…… Sunbae, are you still seeing Kwon Jeonghan by any chance?”
“Uh……?”
Seonyoung pressed down on her temple with her fingertips a bit irritably.
“Ha, Kwon Jeonghan, that crazy psycho bastard.”
Along with the start of the second semester, the fact that Jeonghan and Seonyoung’s relationship had ended spread throughout the entire college of commerce and economics. Because they were a couple that attracted so much attention, the news of their breakup inevitably became the subject of much gossip.
Wooyeon trembled each time, recalling that incident which had become the main cause of the breakup, but Seonyoung never opened her mouth about it. Even feeling relieved about that felt guilty toward her. However, he wasn’t shameless enough to openly thank her for it.
Seonyoung seemed to recall the old days and let out a deep sigh, then drank her coffee again.
“Don’t tell me you’re really, still seeing him?”
“……That is.”
What did the ‘seeing him’ that Seonyoung mentioned mean? While Wooyeon hesitated, Seonyoung spat out words like a machine gun.
“I’m really saying this thinking of sunbae, but that bastard is really a psycho.”
At Seonyoung’s unexpected reaction, Wooyeon only blinked. Inside the paper cup that Wooyeon held, the coffee created ripples. Ripples also arose in Wooyeon’s heart.
“Honestly, the craziest one is Kwon Jeonghan, but back then I hated sunbae and everything, so I just let it pass without saying anything.”
For some reason, Seonyoung seemed to assume that Wooyeon was dating Jeonghan back then and now.
“While doing that with sunbae, he shamelessly told me he was in the club room, really.”
“Uh……?”
What does that mean? Whether he didn’t understand or didn’t want to believe it, his mind felt like it had stopped.
“He had no intention of hiding it at all. At that level, didn’t he just tell me to show it to me? Completely crazy bastard.”
With an expression of disgust, Seonyoung poured the rest of her coffee into her mouth. Had she drunk too much caffeine? Suddenly, with his heart pounding loudly, Wooyeon couldn’t even look at Seonyoung.
“What do you mean by that……”
“You really don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“……”
“Maybe sunbae didn’t know. Honestly, I saw that sunbae wasn’t in your right mind back then, so I know.”
Wooyeon wasn’t the type to fake such things, but above all, Wooyeon at that time appeared to Seonyoung’s eyes to be in an almost unconscious state. That was also the reason why Seonyoung didn’t particularly blame Wooyeon.
“Back then, I couldn’t get in touch with Kwon Jeonghan all day, so I thought it was because of exam studying. Even when we met, there were often times when I couldn’t contact him, so I didn’t think much of it. But in the evening, I briefly got a message reply saying he was at school, so I asked where. He didn’t even lie and said the club room. Since it had been a while since I’d seen his face, I excitedly went to the club room, but sunbae was completely naked, and that bastard was holding such a sunbae. That’s why I broke up with that bastard. Sunbae, you didn’t know?”
“……”
“When I came in, that bastard looked at me and smiled. He didn’t even pretend to be surprised. Isn’t that completely psycho? He didn’t touch me with a single finger while we were dating. Ah. Just that one time at the MT when we kissed, that was also him being your dark knight, right? That was the first and last. I thought something was strange. Ha, and I didn’t even know. And then he shamelessly pretended to be dumped to others, it’s really so annoying.”
As if absurd even thinking about it again, Seonyoung pushed back the hair that had fallen forward and let out a hollow laugh. When Wooyeon said nothing, Seonyoung let out a short sigh, looked at her watch, and stood up.
“Whether sunbae believes my words or not is sunbae’s freedom but…… Anyway, I think I should get going now.”
“Uh, yeah.”
As if coming to his senses only then, Wooyeon stood up. The forcibly pushed chair made a clanking metal sound.
“Then if there’s a chance next time, let’s see each other again, sunbae.”
“Uh…… yeah, be careful going.”
When Seonyoung, who greeted him with a smiling face again, left the conference room, Wooyeon’s body sank onto the chair with a sigh.
* * *
The vast river embracing the large city was getting soaked in rain beyond the floor-to-ceiling window decorating one side of the wall. Wooyeon was curled up on the sofa, with a book on his knees, staring blankly at that sight.
Under the darkened sky and pouring rain, the churning river water and the lights of the bridge crossing it were intertwined. In front of a scenery where he didn’t want to think about anything, Wooyeon fell into thought.
“What are you thinking about so much?”
When Jeonghan placed tea on the table and sat beside Wooyeon, Wooyeon’s body shook. Jeonghan stretched out his arm and naturally embraced Wooyeon’s body. Heat rose as if it were natural at the body temperature pressing close.
It had already been a month since rejecting Jeonghan’s marriage proposal. As if such a thing had never happened, Jeonghan and Wooyeon’s relationship had returned to square one. It seemed like only Wooyeon was still bothered by that incident.
