Since Muyeon had postponed resolving things his own way as long as possible, he had no intention of actually carrying out what he’d just said. But Hyeondo, who didn’t know that, gulped mid-sip of water. He cleared his throat, nearly choking. The gazes of Hyeonyeong’s husband, Hyeonyeong, and his great aunt landed on him in succession. Hyeondo waved his hand with a smile. I’m fine. Please continue eating.
Once the family had circled back to their conversation that had started with the baby’s gender and moved through prenatal care to postpartum care centers, Hyeondo turned to look at Muyeon.
“Muyeon.”
“Yeah.”
“Ever since you started working at the company, you’ve been trying to control your temper, meet new people, and change so much…”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I was really moved by that…”
Of course you should be. Muyeon laughed through his nose. Hyeondo continued without losing his serious tone.
“But when you say things like that so seriously, I get confused wondering if your old habits are coming back out.”
“I was joking.”
“I’ll let you fool me just this once.”
“So, isn’t there another way?”
“Well.”
Hyeondo’s throat still seemed uncomfortable as he drank more water. He stroked his chin with his hand as he spoke.
“Well, you could try cajoling and soothing. You could try having a serious conversation. And if the conflict still isn’t resolved… normal levels of appeasement and threats… a little reward and punishment… But still, talking it out would be best, right?”
“That sounds good.”
“Muyeon, you didn’t just pick out only the words you liked, did you?”
“No.”
“Alright, well… try various things.”
At Hyeondo’s words, Muyeon smiled brightly.
“Right, I should try everything. You never know until you try.”
***
When Seungju came to work Monday morning, he heard depressing news. He looked at Team Leader Yoon from Team 5 and said,
“The Director’s farewell party.”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t not go, right?”
“Right.”
“Is the President coming too?”
“Yeah.”
Seungju let out a sigh that came from deep within. Team Leader Yoon shrugged his shoulders. Seungju barely managed to nod.
“Yes, understood. Where’s the location?”
“The youngest team leader has to start looking for it now.”
Seungju ended up grimacing. Team Leader Yoon chuckled. Find some candidates and post them in the group chat. Seungju barely managed to nod.
Seungju turned to face his monitor and tried to change his mindset. Right, I’ll never see him again anyway, so a farewell party is nothing. The thing with the Director is over now anyway. I can just huddle in a corner seat, drink some alcohol, and leave.
Actually, ever since Seungju had confronted the Director about the evaluation issue, their relationship had become very cold. The Director no longer called Seungju over every chance he got to chew him out, and he no longer gave Seungju errands or menial tasks whenever he was bored.
From the Director’s perspective, it could be that he was thoroughly ignoring Seungju to make him read the room and grovel, or it could be because his own nose was three feet long being pressured to transfer. Or perhaps he had achieved enlightenment and let everything go.
Of course, the Director’s thoughts no longer mattered to Seungju. He thought of Muyeon’s words. Don’t think about people you dislike. Especially when the day of liberation from that person is right around the corner.
Anyway, thanks to the Director ignoring him, Seungju had been free lately. Thanks to that, his heart was light coming to work. He thought this company was actually bearable. It was like those days under Team Leader Kim from Team 2, who had gotten him moderately pissed off. After briefly considering whether he was romanticizing the past, Seungju concluded that Team Leader Kim was still better than the Director.
And now the future might get even better. Of course, what Baek Muyeon would be like as Director remained to be seen. But Seungju had often observed Muyeon’s work attitude at meetings and external appointments. And he had given Muyeon quite a good evaluation.
It would be a lie to say he had no worries at all, but hope and anticipation greater than worry filled Seungju’s heart. In the end, Seungju smiled slightly in happiness.
Come to think of it, this was also thanks to Baek Muyeon. Although he’d given hints and been harsh several times telling him to separate public and private matters, ultimately Seungju also benefited in the professional realm from that guy’s “I’ll find a way” stemming from Muyeon’s private desires.
Looking at the private side as well, anyway, the fact that they got past the conflict or crisis that almost happened last week was because Muyeon had shown considerable generosity. But somehow that guy had come all the way from his house to Sadang. He remembered Muyeon dropping him off at home by car, but he couldn’t remember what happened before or after that at all.
Anyway, Seungju was thinking of repaying Muyeon somehow in both the private and professional realms. But if he were to do something, what on earth should he do? It was a difficult problem. Giving a gift, buying him a meal, taking him somewhere—the answers Seungju could come up with didn’t seem like very effective solutions. Baek Muyeon had too much money to do anything.
Seungju wrote up the week’s work schedule, searched for dinner gathering locations in between work, and rolled thoughts about Muyeon around in his head. The answer didn’t come easily. Even when eating with Donghyeon, who contacted him saying everyone in the Production Department except him had gone out for external appointments, Seungju kept thinking.
While drinking coffee next to Donghyeon smoking a cigarette after the meal, Seungju asked him.
“Hey, Donghyeon.”
“Yes.”
“When you need to treat your girlfriend, what’s good?”
“A wallet? A bag? An expensive meal?”
“Ha… I guess it would be something like that?”
“Well, it’s not like you can write love coupons like when we were students.”
“Love coupons? What era are love coupons from? Wow… you’ve gotten pretty old too.”
“Not as much as you, Team Leader.”
Seungju raised his fist jokingly. Donghyeon didn’t even blink. Seungju sighed and looked up at the sky. At this rate, it would be hard to hear anything helpful. This was because Seungju absolutely did not want to provide the additional information to his coworkers that his lover was filthy rich.
Since he didn’t want to add wings to the rumor that he had a lover, Seoyoung, Dawon, and Hyeonha were naturally excluded from the list of counselor candidates. Looking through his group chat list, Seungju made a sound of realization. Ah.
Come to think of it, there was Yoon Hyeondo.
He couldn’t remember exactly when, whether it was because too much time had passed or because he’d drunk too much alcohol, but anyway, he had once heard in passing that Hyeondo had dated someone with a lot of money.
Hey, the person our senior dated wasn’t just rich, they were super wealthy. Team Leader Cha’s voice from when they’d been together at that gathering replayed in his head. Seungju started sending a message to Hyeondo.
[Senior… want to get a drink this week or next week??]
Yoon Hyeondo immediately replied.
[Sure. How about this Wednesday?]
Absolutely yes.
***
In the evening, he had a dinner appointment with Muyeon. Muyeon said he’d wait with his car parked a bit away from the company. Seungju had leftover work and left about 20 minutes late.
When he opened Muyeon’s car door, Muyeon smiled sweetly. He’s pretty no matter what.
“You’re here?”
“Sorry I’m late.”
“It’s fine. Is there anything you want to eat?”
“What about you, Muyeon?”
“You know I don’t eat much.”
That’s true. Seungju thought for a moment. What should I eat to get a reputation for having eaten well? Oh right, I can’t spread rumors. After thinking briefly, Seungju opened his mouth.
“Soju? Beer? Wine? What’s good?”
“…You’re starting by choosing the type of alcohol?”
“When I’m confused about what to eat, that’s the best way.”
“Then let’s go with soju.”
“Alright, then let’s have soju with dakhanmari. There’s a place I go to often in my neighborhood.”
“Okay, then.”
Muyeon starts the car. Seungju glanced at him and said,
“I thought you’d nag me today too about looking for alcohol.”
“Haha… drinking with me is fine.”
“Yeeees, I see…”
“That place you go to often—who did you go with?”
Every line that comes out of his mouth has such context. At the faint air of obsession, Seungju just smiled. The way he tries to hide it is just cute.
“School friends. They all live far away in different places, and somehow my neighborhood became the midpoint.”
“I see…”
A moment of silence arrived. Muyeon briefly opened the window, then closed it once the air inside the car was refreshed. After that much of a gap, Muyeon opened his mouth.
“Did you date when you were in school?”
“What?”
Seungju turned his gaze from looking out the window. Coming at him out of nowhere was Baek Muyeon’s specialty anyway. Seungju thought about how to answer, rolling words around in his mouth for a moment before giving up on evasion. Well, it’s an awkward topic, but there’s nothing to feel guilty about saying.
“I did. Twice.”
“Same major?”
“No. Just one of them.”
“So that’s why you didn’t do much major activities.”
“……”
He didn’t know Muyeon would remember such a trivial story. Seungju’s heart softened a little. Having someone remember even small things was a good thing anyway. Muyeon continued.
“I was wondering if you were still connected with those school friends you said you still meet.”
The reason for opening and closing the window and then suddenly asking about ancient romantic history that was old enough to be fossilized was ultimately this. He’s worried about my ex-lovers, that’s what it is. By Baek Muyeon’s standards, with phone calls coming at all hours from people he’d dated before, it was a reasonable question. The fact that his petty, meticulous jealousy seemed cute first meant he was done for anyway. Seungju answered obediently this time too.
“Not connected. That bastard went to America.”
“You killed him?”
Another brief silence arrived. Seungju burst into laughter. He slapped his thigh and laughed gleefully. It was the first time Baek Muyeon’s completely off-the-mark comment had been this funny.
Wiping away the tears that had leaked out a bit, Seungju said,
“Ah… that’s really funny. It would’ve been nice if I’d killed him, but I didn’t. Well. I don’t care if he’s eating and living well now.”
“You’re generous, Seungju.”
“What do you mean, me?”
