“Yes, thank you for the delicious meal.”
“If you’re grateful, let’s drink together often from now on.”
“Yes… Yes? That would be an honor.”
Was that last line too servile? But it was sincere. Seungju recalled the wish he’d had not long ago. It would be nice if we could even become friends.
Had he thought that on Monday? Only three or four days had passed, yet here they were sitting alone together, drinking, and even making plans for next time. If everything goes according to plan like this, it’s actually ominous. Seungju forcibly suppressed the grin that was about to spread across his face again.
“That’s just a work relationship answer, right?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Are you really okay with it?”
“Yes. Please invite me often.”
“I will. I like you, Team Leader Seungju.”
Seungju ended up smiling after all. Yeah, I like you too. His social self output the response “Thank you,” but due to the slight buzz from alcohol, the rubble of the walls this man right in front of him seemed to have broken down, and the feeling of having risen to the stratosphere, he chose the voice of his true feelings. Seungju asked while bringing his glass to his lips.
“What do you like?”
“That you’re cute.”
Seungju spat out the alcohol that was halfway down his throat.
As a result, Seungju achieved Sojeong’s objective. Because he made Muyeon laugh to his heart’s content.
However, when Seungju, who’d choked on the alcohol, started pouring out tears and snot, Muyeon became very flustered. Eventually, he stood up from his seat, took out a handkerchief from his breast pocket, and pressed it against Seungju’s eyes. A man who carries a handkerchief around—is he a unicorn?
The fluttering excitement and surprise were crushed by the misery of having shown such an ugly sight in front of this man. Seungju shed a few more tears, not because of choking but because of sadness. Fuck, I was trying to look good.
While paying the bill, Muyeon turned to look at Seungju.
“I’ll take you home.”
“No, I can catch a bus right in front here.”
“Don’t refuse. I feel bad.”
“I’m the one who should be sorry.”
Actually, Seungju wasn’t sorry. The fact that he choked was entirely because of Muyeon’s bullshit. Muyeon’s way of speaking seemed to be more due to his innate nature than the influence of having backing that allowed him to say whatever he wanted without filtering. Suddenly telling a subordinate that they’re cute or whatever—you’d have to be a bit crazy to do that.
The probability that it was flirting still remained, but Seungju deliberately ignored it.
Whether Muyeon knew that Seungju was trying to think of him as crazy or not, he shook his head and said firmly.
“Get in the car.”
“Yes…”
What ultimately convinced Seungju, who had been being modest, was Muyeon’s face. When he put on an expressionless face, it became scary enough to make you obey.
Seungju, who was stepping out of the restaurant, suddenly raised his head.
“General Manager, you can’t drive after drinking.”
“Ah, that.”
Muyeon didn’t answer separately. When the restaurant door opened, a person who had been sitting on the bench outside stood up.
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Yes.”
The man received the car keys from Muyeon. He opened the driver’s seat door, and Muyeon, who followed behind, opened the back seat door.
“Get in, Team Leader.”
Seungju, who had been staring blankly at this, came to his senses. Right, Baek Muyeon is the president’s son. However, he didn’t know he even had a personal driver. When the hell did he call the driver? Anyway, he’s amazing. Seungju followed him and got into the car.
In the car, Muyeon didn’t say much. Thanks to that, Seungju also quietly kept his mouth shut. Since his studio apartment wasn’t far from the company, they arrived quickly.
“Um… please stop in front of that crosswalk over there.”
“You don’t need to go all the way to your front door?”
“No, it’s fine. It’ll be hard to back the car out of the alley.”
“Okay, get home safely.”
“Yes, thank you. Please get home safely.”
Muyeon nodded once. Seungju closed the door and bowed his head toward him through the window in greeting.
The car departed right away. Seungju stared at it for a long time until the car disappeared.
The crosswalk light turned green, but Seungju didn’t cross the street. Instead, he just stood there blankly.
Unlike the excited dinner gathering, the quiet stillness inside the car and the cold spring night air brought him some kind of emotional ventilation. He fell into slightly depressed thoughts.
That is, the thought that the person he’d fallen for was someone he could never be with.
There was realistic, material evidence for that—expensive cars, personal drivers. Those were things that would never exist in Seungju’s ordinary life. People like that and Seungju’s world were different. For a moment, Seungju recalled the president’s face and shuddered.
The emotional reason was also simple. Kind actions and warm words couldn’t be evidence of feelings. Some people could easily do such things without any feelings at all. Seungju knew this better than anyone.
So even if he’s curious about who I’m close with, even if he says he likes me, I shouldn’t get too excited.
Seungju raised both hands and buried his face in them. The smell of alcohol pooled in his hands. He ran his hands down his face and sighed.
Wasn’t the fact that he was thinking such thoughts already proof that he’d fallen for him?
***
“Do you need a team member?”
At the end of the interview, General Manager Mu asked. Seungju kept his mouth shut for a moment.
The result of the interview wasn’t bad. He was to get back the greeting card work that Team 4 had been doing. On top of that, it was slightly sad that all kinds of paper products like stationery, diaries, and notebooks all came to Seungju at once. Because those were items that required constantly churning out new products, which meant endless deadlines. Still, the reason the interview result wasn’t bad was because Team 3 took all the dolls and toys that Seungju had found terrible.
The answer to whether he needed a team member was obviously yes. Of course, adjusting to the newly changed work while training a new team member could be overwhelming. But having one more pair of hands or not was a world of difference. It wasn’t something that needed deliberation.
What Seungju was thinking about was the concern that requesting personnel from General Manager Mu might be seen as a challenge to the Director. Already at the first meeting, Seungju had brought the meeting materials that the Director had rejected. Moreover, General Manager Mu had liked them.
Thanks to that, the meeting atmosphere didn’t completely fall apart, so even though he’d also benefited from it, the Director tore into Seungju like crazy. Who do you think put you in that position, yet you dare to take the General Manager’s side?
In the midst of this, if General Manager Mu assigned Seungju a team member, the Director might go crazy. The Director going crazy was something Seungju welcomed, but he didn’t want to take the fallout from it.
But the temptation of the former, which could achieve both the objectives of increasing personnel and screwing over the Director, was too great. He hated the Director who had made him a team leader in name only to make him do menial work, yet talked as if it were some tremendous privilege. He hated him so, so much.
In the end, Seungju opened his mouth.
“Yes. I need one.”
“Alright. I’ll keep it under consideration.”
“Thank you.”
With Seungju being the last, the long interviews between General Manager Mu and the planning team leaders all came to an end. Muyeon began to put away his notebook, pen, and laptop. Seungju, who had gathered his own belongings first, waited for him briefly. Having stood up a step before Muyeon, he opened the conference room door. When he held the handle and waited for Muyeon, the corners of Muyeon’s mouth lifted in a smile.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Behind Muyeon, Seungju smiled silently without hiding it. Yeah, good is good.
The reality check that had visited him last night flew away when he saw Muyeon’s face this morning. Actually, when he woke up in the morning, he’d already forgotten more than half of it. After working at this hopeless company, Seungju had learned not to think long about hopeless problems. Thanks to that, he could at least endure under the Director.
The most tragic thing for Seungju was that the Director also knew about Seungju’s personality of writhing in pain but soon surrendering with a feeling of desperation. So he’d torment him right up until the point a person goes crazy.
Seungju really didn’t want to get caught by the Director today. Because it was Friday. So when he returned to the office and sat in his seat, he was careful not to make eye contact with the Director.
The Director, who had been thoroughly excluded from the interviews between General Manager Mu and the team leaders, looked obviously in a foul mood. He stood up from his seat as soon as it became 6 o’clock. Seungju, who had finished his work early by organizing the interview results and had been meaninglessly going back and forth between the portal site and the intranet, listened to the sound of the Director organizing his seat. And pitifully, he was startled in the next moment.
“Let’s all see each other at the restaurant. Seungju, let’s go.”
“What? Yes.”
The Director briskly left the office first. Seungju hurriedly turned off his computer while muttering curses inwardly. When there were company dinners or field work, Seungju sometimes served as the Director’s driving shuttle. Seungju, who stood up with his bag, made eye contact with Muyeon sitting across from him.
He thought he’d turn his head away right away, but Muyeon stared intently at Seungju. While slightly tilting his head.
What does that mean? But there was no time to think deeply about it. Seungju bowed his head to him in greeting and left the office.
***
“What did General Manager Baek Muyeon say to you?”
“He said he’d like me to be in charge of paper products including greeting cards. He said he’d transfer the dolls and toys to Team 3.”
Seungju continued reluctantly answering the Director’s interrogation in a sullen voice. Just a moment ago in the interview, Muyeon had ignored the Director’s personnel authority, yet now Seungju was blabbing to the Director about matters that Muyeon hadn’t even fully decided on or announced, which didn’t sit well with him. He felt pangs of conscience as if he’d become a bat, sticking to this side then that side.
“Even if he’s the president’s son, he shouldn’t meddle like that when he doesn’t know much about planning work. Don’t you think so?”
“Yes…”
He felt that way even more listening to the Director blatantly hoping for him to take his side. Does this crazy bastard think I’ll be on his side even after tormenting me like that?
