NAME 16

But immediately, the cell phone began to hum and vibrate. Team Leader Baek Kanghyun—the letters appearing on the screen seemed to carry an agitated shout.

‘If you don’t answer, I’m coming after you.’

Remembering the text he had sent just a moment ago, Seowon had no choice but to press the call button.

“Yes.”

— Why did you just hang up on me?

“…Is there something you need?”

He deliberately didn’t say he was sorry or that he had done it because he was startled. Seowon switched the phone to speaker mode and gently placed it on the floor. Then he climbed onto the bed and sprawled out. He intended to give half-hearted answers regardless of what Baek Kanghyun said.

— I’m looking at the planning proposal you submitted earlier. I called because some questions came up while reviewing it.

“Which part…”

Seowon had avoided the call thinking Baek Kanghyun was going to talk about useless things, but fortunately, it was about work. To think he had come to consider working after hours a relief. Seowon straightened his disheveled posture and listened to his voice.

— You always seem to apply the same analysis methods. Is it because that’s the only thing you know?

He decided to immediately retract his thought about it being a relief… His insides twisted at the sarcasm that treated him like an idiot. Suppressing his surging emotions, he spoke in the calmest tone possible.

“I simply choose what is appropriate for the specific project.”

The conversation cut off abruptly following Seowon’s answer. Whoooo—a heavy breath was exhaled into the phone. Meanwhile, Baek Kanghyun’s cynicism continued.

— Why is a person so clumsy? Is this your first day in society?

“I don’t know what you mean by that.”

— Your superior calls and you hang up without a word, and then you make it obvious that you’re displeased just because I gave some feedback. I really don’t know how you became the Excellent Employee of the Month.

“That is!”

Seowon bit his lip and covered his mouth with his hand, terrified that even his breathing might be heard. He never showed such a clumsy side to anyone else. It was only with Baek Kanghyun that he acted this way.

— Assistant Manager Jeong, surely you didn’t think I called for personal reasons, did you?

He asked with a hint of a sneer. Seowon couldn’t answer “no” immediately.

“I’m sorry. I will be careful.”

— Who couldn’t say they’re sorry after already causing trouble? Assistant Manager Jeong, are you playing with me?

“The one playing… is you, Team Leader.”

— What?

The energy contained in that single word was extraordinary. Seowon bolted upright and poured out the words he had been holding in his heart.

“I didn’t know you called because of work. To be honest, I thought you called because of the pheromone partner thing. That’s why I didn’t want to answer and why I hung up immediately.”

It felt like the words came out better since he wasn’t looking at his face. Seowon changed his mind and decided to vent everything since it had come to this.

“I’m not being partners with you, Team Leader. I hate it. It’s because you are not my taste, Team Leader. Honestly, you said I wasn’t your taste either. Don’t tell me, Team Leader, do you like me?”

As soon as he spat out the last sentence, he thought, ‘Oh no.’ His fever-ridden head throbbed, and his cheeks burned as if they were on fire. Sentences that hadn’t passed through rational thought slipped out of his mouth at will, eventually crossing the line.

— Are you saying this while in your right mind?

“No.”

Seowon answered without hesitation to Baek Kanghyun, who asked back mockingly. There was no way he could dare to act like this to a Team Leader while in his right mind. Seowon let out deep sighs and buried his head in his pillow. The shock cleared his head a bit. At the same time, he realized what he had just done.

“I’m sorry.”

Ha, I’m truly screwed, he lamented internally. As his headache intensified, pheromones sprayed from the nape of his neck like a fountain. Seowon’s cozy nest was quickly filled with the sweet scent of pheromones.

— Look at this. You cause trouble and then act like this again. Ha… my head hurts because of Assistant Manager Jeong.

“It’s not that, I!”

— That’s enough. Let’s talk tomorrow.

At his voice firmly cutting him off, past events naturally came to mind again. Since all they did when they met was have sex, even for Seowon, who was new to dating, it felt a bit strange and not normal, so he had once cautiously asked him.

<Sunbae, can’t we talk a bit?>

<Forget it. Let’s talk tomorrow, no, next time.>

He had barely managed to pull at the sleeve of the man who was leaving after satisfying his desires, but the man had smiled smoothly and waved him off. He couldn’t even dare to ask when “next time” was. For fear that he might hear the man say let’s stop, or don’t contact me anymore.

“…”

The area around his heart ached. Seeing as his chest still felt tight over what happened back then, the existence of Baek Kanghyun seemed to be trauma itself to Seowon. Although the 30-year-old man seemed more serious than back then, his inner core hadn’t changed much. He was arrogant because he knew too well how great he was, and thus he looked down on ordinary people like Seowon.

At that time, he had even thought he wanted to get revenge on him. But Seowon soon hit the wall of reality and couldn’t even manage a proper breakup, let alone revenge.

After passing through such deathly painful times and living well while forgetting it all, why did he appear in my life again?

“Understood… then.”

After screaming his head off, he was burning with fever. His consciousness quickly became distant. The end of his voice was tattered like a frayed ribbon. He felt the deep part of his throat swell up significantly. Surely he hadn’t caught a cold too? A cold while being unable to control pheromones. It was a terrifying combination just to imagine.

— Then…

Baek Kanghyun’s voice was barely audible. Seowon opened his eyes for a moment and then closed them again. His vision was dizzy as if he had just gotten off a roller coaster. With the single thought that he had to hang up the phone first, he flailed his arms and finally managed to grab the cell phone. He said he would hang up and roughly swiped down on the phone with his palm.

“I’m going to die.”

Just when he thought things had been quiet for a while, it was like this again. In the past, he rarely had a fever this high, but high fevers became frequent after Baek Kanghyun arrived.

It needs to go down at least by tomorrow morning… A Heat isn’t coming on like this, is it? The doctor told me to definitely spend it properly this time, but who would I spend it with? Is it really only Lee Jaehwan?

“Damn it…”

He felt unpleasant that he had to have sex to survive, while others did it for pleasure or because they were in love.

“Baek Kanghyun, you crazy bastard. Just because your face is slick… Bad bastard, a total son of a bitch with a huge cock…”

He seemed to have grumbled more after that, but his memory was faint. He couldn’t change his clothes or shower, and his head ached as if it were going to spill over, so he couldn’t even dream of getting up.

Maybe the fever will go down a bit if I just sleep.

Seowon squirmed like a grub and pulled the duvet over his head. He placed the cell phone he had roughly tossed on the floor by his head and buried his face in the pillow.

I have to turn off the room light…

While thinking that he wished someone would turn off the light, he fell into a deep sleep.

“Good morning.”

“Assistant Manager Jeong, good morning.”

By some great stroke of luck, the fever had broken. The antipyretic he had taken after waking up in the middle of the night to turn off the light seemed to have worked. After taking the medicine prescribed by the hospital on top of that, his condition had recovered quite a bit.

“Did you work until late yesterday?”

“No, it wasn’t that late. I left before 8:00 PM.”

“That is late! Please go home early today, Assistant Manager Jeong. Your complexion looks really bad.”

“I’ll have to do my best to make that happen.”

Seowon took sips of an Americano with two extra shots as he prepared for battle. Baek Kanghyun’s seat was empty, as if he hadn’t arrived at work yet.

It’s almost 9:00 AM, what’s going on?

He watched the seat, thinking it would be great if he didn’t show up at all since things were like this.

‘If Baek Kanghyun doesn’t show up…’

“Team Leader, good morning!”

But Seowon’s sweet imagination didn’t even last a minute. Because Baek Kanghyun was walking boldly into the office.

For a very brief moment, their eyes met. He thought the man would surely avoid his gaze this time too, but Baek Kanghyun didn’t avoid it at all and slightly crinkled one eye. As if he were looking at something very pathetic.

‘What… is it?’

He’s been acting strange since yesterday, has he completely lost it today?

Seowon tilted his head and drained the remaining coffee in his tumbler in one go. He was checking new messages appearing one after another on the monitor screen when a KakaoTalk window popped up in the middle. Seowon clicked the window without much thought.

[Team Leader Baek Kanghyun: 08162342.mp4]

The sender of the KakaoTalk was Baek Kanghyun. Having sent only a file without any explanation, he also sent a short message.

[Team Leader Baek Kanghyun: See you in the small conference room.]