In truth, Surim had a past of stalking that man for quite a long time. It wasn’t a serious level. Just very slightly, he had merely chased after the man.
At most, it was to the extent of making an effort to claim a window seat in the library because he wanted to see him who liked to sit and rest on the bench by the pond in front of the library. Surim would settle into a spot by the window on the second floor at dawn to study, and when the man appeared, he’d twirl his pen pretending he couldn’t concentrate well and steal glances at the man.
He’d never actually come face to face with him. The intersection where the distance was close was just once, only when he first saw him.
In fact, even if they met, there was nothing he could do. Too much time seemed to have passed to use a thank you as an excuse, and approaching without any trigger was too suspicious. But he couldn’t say “my heart beats when I see you,” could he? A man confessing to a man on campus would surely become big news. Perhaps a bulletin might even be posted saying there was a kid like this. Just imagining it made him want to vomit.
Not long after starting the feather-light stalking, Surim came to know that emotion was love.
“Um…”
Of course, it would be an impossible love. Partly because the other person was a man, but more so because Surim didn’t have the leisure to enjoy such soft and warm happiness.
Instead, Surim decided to be satisfied with just being able to see him even from a distance and make this a lifelong memory. Since they wouldn’t be able to meet again anyway after graduating from university, he’d just enjoy this sweet feeling.
But to keep encountering him like this.
He didn’t want to have delusions like wondering if it was fate. But he couldn’t stop his heart from beating. Even when he tried to look elsewhere, his gaze kept going that way.
“I don’t know if you remember, but you once pulled me out of the pond before. I was grateful then.”
“…I’ve never done that.”
“What? But…”
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
The man, who replied with one eyebrow furrowed, clicked his tongue and whipped his body around. Surim blankly stared at the back moving away toward the laboratory.
‘It’s not a mistake.’
The sight of the man with his hair fluttering in the spring breeze was impressive enough to never forget for a lifetime. The memory of that day couldn’t be a mistake, could it?
But it might not be strange at all if the man had forgotten that incident. If what was a lifesaving for Surim was a good deed no different from usual for him. Surim decided to add the word “very” to the label of “good person” he’d already attached to the man.
“That person is Manager Song Hanyeong. His rank is manager, but for various secretive reasons, he’s the person in charge here.”
“Manager Song Hanyeong…”
Song Hanyeong. So that was his name.
Surim savored the name he’d finally learned after several years and watched Song Hanyeong’s back until the end as he finally disappeared into the laboratory.
Only after Song Hanyeong had completely disappeared from view did he come to his senses and turn his head to find Lee Myeongho looking at him with narrowed eyes. Surim waved his hands in alarm.
“No, it’s not like that, he does so many good deeds he probably doesn’t remember, but what I said earlier is true. In college, he saved me when I almost died.”
“Does many good deeds… Mm. Y-yes.”
“Seeing that he doesn’t remember, I guess he hasn’t saved just one or two people.”
“Saved… Mm.”
Lee Myeongho, who rolled his eyes around, shrugged his shoulders.
“I thought you were staring because Manager Song is so handsome.”
“…Whaaat?”
Surim’s face, who stepped back in alarm, turned red in an instant.
“Ah, that’s right. You were staring because he’s handsome. Right?”
“N-no. He is handsome but…”
“Not at all. It’s written all over your face.”
Lee Myeongho, who laughed with a giggle, patted Surim’s shoulder as if telling him not to worry.
“It’s okay. When people first meet him, everyone stares entranced like Surim-ssi.”
“Did you too, Manager?”
“No, I’m not the type of person to fall for a face.”
Then was he saying this side was the type to fall for a face? Surim looked at Lee Myeongho, who slipped out alone, with narrowed eyes.
Of course, Surim was that type of person, but he felt annoyed for no reason.
“Still, he’s definitely someone who stands out.”
It was true. In this bleak research lab, Song Hanyeong was shining alone. Both his color and presence were uniquely unparalleled. As if he wasn’t human.
It was like that before too. That’s why even in complicated streets where college students bewitched by the spring breeze aimlessly wandered, Surim could find Song Hanyeong. Now it would be the same inside this research lab too.
Surim, who had been hesitating for a moment, asked carefully.
“It seems Manager Song Hanyeong doesn’t like me… Could the dispatch possibly be canceled?”
“Ah, that won’t happen. Surim-ssi’s transfer… no, dispatch is the director’s order.”
Then that was fortunate. It was regrettable that they’d encountered each other this way, but compared to being able to meet again, that was an extremely trivial problem.
What mattered was the fact that there would be opportunities in the future.
As if reading his mind, Lee Myeongho grinned.
“Are you anxious?”
“Yes, a little…”
“Well, it’s natural for a new environment to feel difficult. But whether you’ll run away from there or assimilate is something to decide after trying it out first.”
“I won’t run away. I like this research institute. My hyung told me to work hard at the company too.”
“Right. Actually, what can you do when the company tells you to? You have to adapt, and you’ll be able to adapt.”
Surim nodded his head. He happened to be in a new environment in various senses. At work, he’d just become a full-time employee, his workplace had changed so he’d be working among new people, and privately, hadn’t he become completely alone?
At the pain as if scratching the inside of his stomach, Surim clenched his teeth tightly.
Those were right words. It was natural for a new environment to be difficult. But he had to adapt, and surely he could.
Surim smiled with all his might.
“Yes, I’ll work hard.”
* * *
Lee Myeongho was the worst general affairs person.
Of course, he was a researcher, and he’d only temporarily taken on general affairs work by force, but still, it was too much. All the extravagant consumption behavior within the research lab had been Lee Myeongho’s choice.
The game console in the lounge, the big TV, the pool table, the expensive mattress in the sleeping room, the tremendously expensive coffee machine in the pantry, all of it.
When Surim looked at him with wavering eyes, Lee Myeongho arrogantly crossed his arms saying that was the privilege of the research lab’s miscellaneous work person in charge. It was an appearance that didn’t show a single speck of guilt.
‘Could what Assistant Manager Seong said about pretending not to see and not to hear be about this kind of thing…?’
Surim, who couldn’t hide his bewilderment, soon accepted the advice and decided to pretend not to know everything. However, even if he pretended not to know about the problematic budget execution so far, what should he do going forward?
“Who should I get approval from in the future?”
The correct answer was ‘it’s not a problem for an early career worker to worry about in the first place.’ There was no way there could be responsibility that Surim, who had just become a full-time employee, had to bear. Rather, thinking such thoughts was overstepping his authority.
…Or so he thought, but Lee Myeongho’s answer confused Surim.
“Approval? You don’t need to get that kind of thing.”
“…What?”
“Like I said, there’s no one who does that kind of thing here. I took it on because everyone pushed it away and there was no choice, and now that Surim-ssi is here, I should focus on my main work. The work… well, handle it on your own.”
“M-Manager Lee…?”
Lee Myeongho, regardless of Surim’s bewilderment, took out a card from his pants pocket and held it out.
It was a corporate card.
“Here, if you need something, just pay with this card.”
He didn’t have the courage to accept it, feeling scared. When Surim couldn’t quite accept it, Lee Myeongho forcibly pressed the card into Surim’s hand and told him the password.
“Yes, the budget is…”
“I don’t know. But you can swipe it without really worrying about it.”
“What…?”
“I secretly ordered 500,000 won worth of chocolate before and didn’t get in trouble. Actually, yesterday too, I indulged richly one last time. Since I have to part with this now.”
Surim decided to give up expectations about the man before his eyes.
Since he needed to know the standard for how to handle work going forward, it seemed better to separately visit Song Hanyeong, who was the research lab’s person in charge, to confirm later. It was definitely not ulterior motives.
As a result, the work handed over was only equipment management and pantry management. Originally, the General Affairs Team’s work was much more varied… No matter how he thought about it, the work was too little for asking to dispatch one person. It was all just miscellaneous tasks too. It wasn’t a good environment for a new employee to learn work. Except for the point that he got to meet Song Hanyeong, there was nothing good about it at all.
“There’s… almost no work to do at all…”
When Surim’s complexion darkened after finishing the handover, Lee Myeongho said urgently.
“It’s because of security! Because we can’t bring in outsiders due to security, there are a lot of miscellaneous tasks…”
“Miscellaneous tasks…”
Surim’s face sank even further at being told outright he was an errand runner. Lee Myeongho panicked and floundered.
