After that, they drank another bottle of soju. Thanks to that, throughout his commute the next morning, Seungju had to struggle to remember his conversation with Hyeondo the night before. Sitting at his office desk, he eventually roughly organized the conversation from last night due to his hangover and hatred of going to work.
Mm, so anyway, it’s not a bad situation even if I just go straight ahead, right?
Drinking coffee on a day like this would kill his stomach with heartburn. No, Seungju was already half a corpse. As if trying to shake off his hangover and fatigue, Seungju kept rubbing his eyes. Eventually, Seungju secretly left the office before the Director came to work and headed to the convenience store. And he bought two cans of pear drink. He also bought a chocolate bar to forcibly raise his blood sugar and get his brain working. And he worked while pouring the drinks into his ice-filled tumbler and drinking them. This was the best for hangovers.
Thanks to that, Seungju, who looked somewhat human in the afternoon, was able to take the work the Director had ordered. He politely called the Director.
“Director, if you let me know when you’re available, shall I book a conference room?”
“Hm? Did you finish what I asked yesterday?”
“Yes, shall I show you now?”
“Oh, yeah. Come here and sit down.”
What is this bastard trying to pull by making me sit here and report in front of everyone? Seungju obediently sat down. He spread the printouts on the table and turned the laptop screen so the Director could see it well.
Surprisingly, the Director listened to Seungju’s report very well. Until Seungju almost mistook this as a real carrot. When the story wrapped up, he gathered the printouts and said.
“Good work, I’ll keep these. But are you busy enough to proceed with all this?”
“It’s a bit tight right now, but considering the production period and launch timing, it seems possible.”
“Okay, got it. You can go.”
Seungju bowed his head while holding his laptop. Returning to his seat, he was turning his stiff neck this way and that when his eyes met Muyeon’s. Muyeon gestured with his eyes. What?
And a message flew over.
[You drank yesterday, didn’t you?]
Wow, he’s really a ghost, a ghost. How did he know? He felt embarrassed to be caught as a drunk who drank recklessly despite having to go to work the next day.
On the other hand, he felt good. Even in the morning his breath smelled of alcohol, but the Director didn’t notice. But Muyeon somehow found out, though he didn’t know how. Yeah, I guess he is interested in me.
[Yes I had a drink]
[With who?]
[I drank with company people]
[Until what time?]
[I don’t remember well but when I got home it was around midnight or one?? Why??]
For a while there was no reply. Seungju turned off his phone screen and looked at his face reflected in the dark screen. Did I look that wrecked? Was he curious because I looked too much like I’d been drinking all night?
The suddenly cut-off conversation felt awkward, so Seungju wrote and deleted messages several times trying to add something. Why do you ask… Does it show that I drank all night… But somehow they all didn’t seem like the right answer.
Seungju just deleted the message he was writing and closed the window. He must be busy. General Manager Mu isn’t the Director, so he wouldn’t be messaging ding-dong all during work hours.
It was almost close to quitting time. There was a sound from the office door. And the atmosphere slowly quieting down from the seats of people sitting near the hallway spread all the way inside. Seungju didn’t even lift his head but knew what it was. The President had visited the Planning Division for the first time in a while.
The President walked slowly down the hallway, warmly scanning the sight of employees concentrating as if they’d be sucked into their monitors. The Director stood up to greet the President.
“Oh my, President. If there’s anything, I would have come up.”
“Yeah, no. I came to visit after a while.”
The President pulled out a chair from under the table where Seungju had also sat earlier and sat down. The sight of the President overlapping with General Manager Mu’s face right behind him was quite surreal to Seungju.
And this was exactly why the seat Seungju occupied was like hell. Whenever the President occasionally came, he had to watch the terrible sight of the Director fawning over him from the closest spot without any filter. And he had to be in a ready state and endure whatever sparks flew. Seungju was already taking deep breaths in his heart.
The Director called Seungju.
“Team Leader Seungju, I’ll ask you for coffee.”
“Yes, shall I bring hot ones for both of you?”
“President, is hot okay with you?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Seungju jumped up and walked to the break room. He was cursing inwardly. So this was also one of the reasons Seungju’s seat was shitty. The point that regardless of what important work Seungju was doing, he had to attend to the President and Director at any time. The Director was the Director for specifically pointing out Seungju to bring coffee, but the President was also the President for not even pretending to stop him.
However, if he got worked up over every little thing like this, he couldn’t work at this company. Seungju tried to empty his head. Let’s not think about anything.
Jung Haeun, the Planning Division’s administrative staff, followed behind him as he entered the break room. She closed the break room door behind Seungju and said.
“Team Leader, I’ll do it.”
“No. He asked me.”
“Then let’s do it together.”
In the break room, there was a coffee machine exclusively for the Director and President. Seungju checked if there were enough beans and then operated the machine. Haeun took out paper cups and stuck coffee sticks into each cup one by one.
“You’re working hard.”
At Haeun’s careful words, Seungju looked down at her. She had the talent of answering the phone ice-cold and became annoyingly picky on receipt submission days, but was generally quiet otherwise. So she and Seungju weren’t on terms to talk privately either.
Even someone like this was feeling pity for my pitiful state. Seungju felt even more miserable. He smiled sadly.
“No, everyone’s working hard.”
“Next time the Director asks for coffee, come to me.”
“If the Director sees you bringing coffee instead of me, he won’t just say something to me, sparks will fly to you too, Haeun-ssi. It’s okay.”
Seungju poured coffee into the paper cups. He transferred the cups onto a small wooden tray. Haeun opened the door. Seungju smiled slightly and greeted her.
“Thank you.”
Haeun also bowed her head and returned to her seat. Thanks to her small kindness, Seungju gained the strength to bring the coffee. Otherwise, he might have pretended to trip and hit the Director’s face with the coffee.
“Thanks, Team Leader Heo.”
“Not at all.”
It was when Seungju returned the tray to the break room and came back to his seat. The atmosphere between the Director and President was rarely harmonious. Looking closely, printouts and samples were spread out on the table. Ah really, if he was going to do that, he should book a conference room. Seungju tried to manage his expression but couldn’t stop his eyes from hardening a bit.
The fact that the Director’s seat was so open like that was also one of the parts Seungju hated. Wouldn’t it be okay for someone at the Director’s level to have an independent office? Why does that bastard always sit there and loudly boss people around, interfering with others’ work?
However, Seungju soon had no choice but to harden not just his eyes but his entire expression. What was spread on the table were the reports Seungju had brought earlier. And the Director was saying such things without even looking at Seungju.
“I prepared this for reference at the board meeting, but it was organized so well that I thought it would be okay to show it a bit early. Especially for these, if we pass production directly to that packaging factory, they say they’ll even do the blueprints there.”
What the Director was pointing at was the sample photos Seungju had brought earlier. The President was nodding.
“Since Team 3 has been talking with that factory continuously, it’s also possible to proceed directly with them.”
“Really? It’s not bad. For now, tell them to get a quote. We need to see the quote to make a decision.”
“Yes, understood. Then for now, I’ll tell Team Leader Jeonghyeon to look into the quote.”
Why Team Leader Kim’s name was coming up here in a conversation using Seungju’s report. It became clear now what the Director’s real intention was behind the fit he was going to throw. Seungju slightly lowered his head and sat in his seat. Looking at the monitor, messages were already exploding. There were more than one or two senders. The group chat room was already blowing up.
Seeing that, he finally felt the reality of what had happened. Even without pressing to look, he could tell what it said from the preview content.
Isn’t the Director crazy? He’s openly giving what Seungju did to another team?
That’s what I’m saying.
Seungju scrolled down the chat list. There was still no answer from Muyeon. He lifted his head. And glanced at Muyeon, who had his eyes lowered scanning the monitor. Only Muyeon was aloof by himself as if he didn’t care at all what was happening in the office.
Even the energy he’d gained from Haeun’s kindness earlier was all drained. Seungju slumped his shoulders. He felt hurt. Maybe he should have drunk today instead of yesterday. He thought.
I want to quit.
***
“It’s not like the Director doing this is a one or two-day thing. I’m fine.”
“……”
No one could easily respond to Seungju’s soulless, hollow words.
In the end, Seungju drank again today. Sojeong said she drank too much yesterday and her condition hadn’t recovered so she couldn’t come. Instead of Sojeong, Seoyeong, the second-in-command of Design Team 3, joined. Bae Donghyeon, the youngest from the Production Team, also came. Park Dawon maintained her spot yesterday and today. Stagnant water indeed.
Dawon filled Seungju’s glass with alcohol and said.
“Well, when I was still in the Planning Division, there was also a time when Team 1 took all the seasonal products and tore them up between Teams 3 and 5. And then when they complained, they came to Team 1 to complain? No, if you gave it to Teams 3 and 5, you should look for it there.”
“Before I became team leader, there was a time when they threw something Team 2 had been working on halfway to Team 1 to finish. Right? Back then I really thought we’d both die.”
The Director’s fits were longstanding anyway. Seungju knew all the Director’s methods, techniques, and patterns, but knowing them didn’t mean he didn’t get worked up. Seungju let out a deep sigh.
