NAME 56

He exhaled a breath thick with lingering sleep, wrapped his arms around Seowon’s upper body, and buried his face in the nape of his neck.

“Team Leader?”

“You’re being noisy. Just stay still for a bit.”

His tone was firmly annoyed. Like an adolescent boy grumbling because he didn’t want to wake up, he muttered unintelligible words. The breath brushing up and down his neckline was ticklish. He buried his nose completely near Seowon’s pheromone gland and breathed.

“Please stop. This is uncomfortable.”

“We’re in a relationship where this much is allowed.”

“What on earth are you…?!”

Pheromones wafted out intensely. His body odor, concentrated throughout the night, was thick and sticky. In response, a sweet scent rose from Seowon’s body as well.

“You don’t have to do it today.”

Having received an overflow of his pheromones last night, Seowon’s body was in a state of full charge, to use a battery metaphor. To the point where he wouldn’t need to receive that bastard’s therapy before work for the time being. However, Baek Kanghyun’s arms wrapped around his back remained as they were. Held in an awkward posture, Seowon’s waist began to ache.

“Why?”

“… Just because.”

He asked despite the fact that there was no way he didn’t know the reason. Seowon wiggled his body to get up. But Baek Kanghyun instead put strength into his arms and took a long, deep breath. Along with his lungs inflating grandly, even his ribs heaved.

“We’ll be late at this rate.”

“I know. I’m getting up.”

“Are you always this unable to wake up?”

“Not really, it’s not usually like that.”

Only after repeating that he was getting up about three or four times did Baek Kanghyun finally let Seowon go. Then, rubbing his disheveled face with his hand, he sprang up and headed straight for the bathroom.

Seowon stared at the messy bedding in silence before starting to tidy it up. Even though he had stayed over in a way that felt like forced charity, it was true that he had slept comfortably. He thought he should do at least this much.

“… .”

As he did it, he became quite focused. He placed the four pillows side by side in a pretty shape and smoothed out the blanket so there were no wrinkles. He felt good looking at the well-ordered bed, which looked like a hotel room someone had just checked into.

‘There’s a certain satisfaction in tidying up.’

He turned around after finishing tidying the surroundings, and Baek Kanghyun was standing there. Having completely finished his preparations for work while Seowon tidied the bed, he looked exactly as he always did in the office. Seowon was momentarily lost for words at his neat and sharp appearance, which looked like a well-honed blade. Standing vacantly in front of Seowon, he too said nothing.

“I just… thought I should tidy up.”

“… .”

“It’s a sort of reward for letting me stay.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course, I know this isn’t enough. Since you said you’d charge a high price.”

He turned his head to avoid the man’s gaze that was staring fixedly at him. His eyes happened to land on the clock. It was exactly 30 minutes before 9 o’clock. Seowon’s heart began to race.

“Team Leader, I’ll be heading out now. It’s getting very late. I’ll see you at the office.”

He bowed his head politely and hurriedly turned away. Was there a bus that went directly from here to the company? It would be a simple matter if he could search on his phone, but since that wasn’t possible, it was difficult to grasp the situation.

Once he got to the stop, there would be a route map, so he could just look at that.

Seowon’s steps toward the entrance were hurried. And Baek Kanghyun followed behind Seowon. The car key hanging on his finger spun lightly in the air once.

“Want a carpool?”

He asked while Seowon was sliding his feet into his shoes. It was a temptation far too sweet to refuse, so Seowon hesitated instead of saying no immediately. As if reading Seowon’s inner thoughts, he said with a faint smile.

“Let’s just say it’s a sort of reward for tidying the bed.”

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

“Assistant Manager Jeong, did the meeting yesterday end well?”

“Ah… yes. It ended well.”

Thanks to Assistant Manager Seo Jiyeon, he was reminded of the Haewang Industries meeting that he had completely forgotten. Also of the Haewang President who had acted indecently toward him at the dinner.

The work had progressed to the point where they just needed to stamp the contract, but in his heart, he wanted to scrap the whole thing. However, the process of finding a new company and coordinating conditions again was so cumbersome that he didn’t dare attempt it. Furthermore, Seowon, being a mere Assistant Manager, did not have such authority.

“Your expression doesn’t look great? Did something happen? Aren’t things okay with the Team Leader lately?”

“No, work is… nothing happened. I’m just tired from going to a meeting after a long time.”

“Aha… It must have ended late. I thought it would end early and you’d have gone home quickly.”

Seowon finished the conversation with her with a smile instead of an answer. Then he glanced at Baek Kanghyun’s empty seat. Having arrived at work with Seowon, he had gone out as soon as he entered the office and had not returned even though it was almost lunchtime.

‘Where did he go?’

Since the Team Leader was absent, everyone seemed idle all morning. Seowon also didn’t have anything particularly urgent to do, so he spent his morning tidying his desktop and enjoying some light web surfing. He also found a place where same-day phone repair was possible and made a reservation. Because his phone wasn’t working, the inconveniences were one after another.

“Are you back?”

With about 10 minutes left before the start of lunch, Baek Kanghyun finally returned to the office. However, his appearance was quite different from the morning. His hair was slightly disheveled, his face was flushed red, and he was even huffing his breath slightly.

“Team Leader, is something the matter?”

It seemed Seowon wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Because Manager Park asked after him first in a worried tone.

He swept a glance over the office and sat down at his desk without a single word in reply. While he headed toward his seat, his eyes briefly met Seowon’s, but that was all.

“Let’s have a brief meeting.”

And with exactly 5 minutes left until lunch, Baek Kanghyun declared a meeting. It was the worst situation for an office worker, but because the atmosphere he exuded was unusual, no one could raise an objection. Seo Jiyeon muttered with a long face.

“I have an appointment, I’m doomed.”

Seowon, who had reserved a phone repair, felt the same way.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

“I have decided not to contract with Haewang Industries.”

“What?!”

At Baek Kanghyun’s bombshell declaration, everyone asked back in startle. For work they had labored over for nearly a month to be canceled. Not just Seowon, but the faces of the other employees were a sight to behold.

“Team Leader, could we possibly hear the details of what happened? It’s work we put quite a bit of effort into, so it’s flustering for it to suddenly turn out like this.”

For once, Manager Park took the lead and asked. He likely felt a sense of responsibility as the party who had recommended Haewang Industries. Baek Kanghyun’s cold eyes turned toward Manager Park. Seowon, who had handled the practical work, also waited for Baek Kanghyun’s answer in tension.

“I cannot work with a company whose ethics are questionable.”

“Eth, ethics? Is there some problem there?”

Manager Park fumbled through the materials on Haewang Industries as if he couldn’t believe it. To Seowon’s knowledge, Haewang was a solid mid-sized company with excellent audit results. Could it be that they manipulated audit data or something? Or window-dressing settlement? While various possibilities came to mind, the incident with the President yesterday suddenly occurred to him.

‘Surely… it can’t be, right?’

For merely his sexual harassment—no, one should absolutely never think of it as “merely,” but anyway—it made no sense to give up a project prepared for a month because of that.

Seowon tried to erase the “what if” assumption and listened calmly to the conversation between Baek Kanghyun and Manager Park.

“Team Leader, how about reconsidering? We went through quite a bit of trouble coordinating this. Places that meet our conditions as well as Haewang are rare. If it’s not a major problem… .”

“It is a major problem. There is no room for reconsideration. I have also finished a general discussion with Taegang, who was in second place.”

“Al, already?”

Manager Park asked back in surprise. Seowon was equally surprised, so he moved his gaze, which had been on the table throughout the meeting, to him.

‘… !’

And his eyes met directly with the man’s. His black eyes, sparking with blue electricity, seemed to be speaking. That this was all because of you.

His heart went cold. The question “Why on earth?” grew in size rapidly.

“I know everyone worked hard during that time… but anyway, that’s how it turned out. I’m sorry for bringing this up right before lunch. Please go ahead and eat for now.”

After finishing the five-minute notification-style meeting, he was the first to leave the conference room. Manager Park was dazed, and the expressions of the other employees were also quite bad. Seowon’s state was not much different from Manager Park’s. This was, I mean, no matter how much I think about it… excessive interference and an irrational act.