NAME 58

‘Is he not here?’

The office was empty. I thought Baek Kanghyun would definitely be here… Did he go to eat lunch? I felt embarrassed about the extra sandwich I had bought.

Seowon placed his coffee and the two sandwich bags on the desk and sat in his chair. Then, he took out one sandwich and tore open the wrapper. As for the remaining sandwich, he figured he should either eat it for dinner or throw it away….

“… .”

He took a bite of the sandwich, but his eyes kept drifting toward the remaining bag. His gaze then naturally connected to Baek Kanghyun’s empty seat.

Since I already bought it, should I at least leave it on his desk?

Seowon headed toward his desk, holding a sandwich in one hand and the sandwich bag in the other.

“Assistant Manager Jeong, what are you doing?”

Baek Kanghyun appeared right at the moment he was putting the bag down on the desk. His sleeves were rolled up, as if he had just come from the restroom. Seowon quickly tried to snatch the bag back and hide it behind his back, but Baek Kanghyun was much faster.

“What are you hiding? What is this?”

“I-it is nothing.”

“Weren’t you putting it on my desk?”

There wasn’t even time to say no. Like an eagle targeting its prey, he snatched the bag from Seowon’s hand. Then he opened the bag and pulled out the contents. The sandwich, which was quite large and thick to Seowon, looked very small in his hands.

“Is this for me to eat?”

“… Yes, well. Since you didn’t eat breakfast either.”

I expected him to be sarcastic, but he wasn’t at all. He even laughed pleasantly, unwrapped the sandwich, and took a huge bite right then and there. Seeing a man who looked like he would only eat with a knife and fork chewing the bread with his cheeks puffed out was quite human.

He must have been quite hungry, as he devoured the large sandwich in an instant. Seowon dazedly watched the vivid sandwich mukbang happening in front of him before quickly returning to his seat. Then he ate and drank his own share of the sandwich and coffee.

[Team Leader Baek Kanghyun: How much is this one?]

A message popped up in the middle of the monitor. The sandwich cost 5,800 won, but he knew Baek Kanghyun wasn’t asking for the price. After a short deliberation, Seowon sent a reply.

[Assistant Manager Jeong Seowon: How much are you going to value it at?]

If there is a tip for difficult questions, it is to answer a question with a question. It wasn’t exactly a good method, so he didn’t use it often, but in this situation, he had no choice.

[Team Leader Baek Kanghyun: Where did you learn the bad manners of answering a question with a question?]

He immediately grasped Seowon’s shallow trick and criticized him. Then he sent consecutive messages.

[Team Leader Baek Kanghyun: I am willing to value it highly. However, you cannot use this to cancel out the debt for letting you stay over last night.]

As expected, he was flawless. He didn’t want to exchange any more unproductive messages over a single sandwich. So, Seowon acted crazy and wrote a ridiculous reply to send to him.

[Assistant Manager Jeong Seowon: My phone is broken. A new cell phone would be nice.]

The reply arrived as soon as the notification showed that Baek Kanghyun had checked the message. However, Seowon closed the message window immediately without even properly reading the reply.

‘Are you crazy?’

Because it was obvious it would be that kind of response.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

The afternoon was very busy. Since the project intended for Haewang was now being done with Taegang, there were countless things to look over.

The complaints from the Sales Team 3 members, who had to redo work they had finally finished from the very beginning, were no small matter. In particular, Manager Park’s mouth was pouting all afternoon with no sign of receding. However, no one dared to express their dissatisfaction to Baek Kanghyun, who had the Chairman behind him.

Redoing a task had the disadvantage of being tedious, but it also had the advantage of being familiar. Since it was work that had to be done anyway and he felt partially responsible, Seowon concentrated on his work even harder than usual. He wanted to reduce his sense of debt in this way.

“Assistant Manager Jeong, let’s talk for a moment.”

While everyone was working with their mouths tightly shut as if dead, Baek Kanghyun called Seowon. When he called as a boss rather than a partner, Seowon didn’t feel very nervous. This was because the man, who had a persistent side as a partner, was quite clean when it came to work. Of course, he had nitpicked for no reason before when Seowon didn’t follow his words, but after becoming Seowon’s partner, he rarely criticized just for the sake of criticizing.

“This is a matter already coordinated with Taegang. So you can reflect it.”

“Already?”

“I finished the agreement this morning. We adjusted the amount and the ratio… We will have a meeting this weekend and proceed directly to the contract.”

“That fast? When did you do all this… .”

“I hurried as much as possible.”

I could guess the reason why Baek Kanghyun was away from his seat all morning. Still, it was unbelievable that he had coordinated all these things in just 3 or 4 hours.

“I felt bad for making everyone do the work twice. I do have that much of a conscience. So everyone, let’s stop scowling and work. It’s not like I feel comfortable either.”

He spoke loudly enough for everyone else to hear and smiled faintly. Only then did the atmosphere, which had been frozen all afternoon, slowly soften. Seowon also felt much more at ease. It was impossible, yet he felt like he had received something like consideration from Baek Kanghyun.

“And Assistant Manager Jeong, prepare yourself because you’re going on a business trip this weekend.”

“… Yes?”

However, that feeling was shattered into pieces before it could last long, due to Baek Kanghyun’s order to accompany him on the business trip.

“I just told you. We’re going to have a meeting with Taegang over the weekend and even do the contract. I’ve scheduled the meeting for Saturday morning. We will go down immediately after finishing work on Friday.”

“It sounds like you’re saying we’re going for 2 days and 1 night.”

“Exactly. Please reserve the plane tickets to Busan and the hotel.”

To the pale-faced Seowon, he spoke nonchalantly and smiled.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

In the end, I couldn’t buy a new cell phone. This was because even the mediocre phones sold at the company welfare mall were much more expensive than expected, making me hesitate to pay. If I had welfare points, I would have bought it with those… I regretted the points I had used up at the beginning of the year.

However, it was impossible to live without a cell phone. After debating whether to buy a used one or use an old spare phone lying around at home, I chose the latter. Using something someone else used felt uncomfortable, and it seemed like there would be a sale if I waited just a little bit, so I decided to endure with the outdated phone until then.

“I’m tired.”

Friday morning, Seowon woke up earlier than usual. While packing for the 2-day, 1-night business trip, sighs kept coming out. It was hard to understand why he had to accompany him all the way to Busan. There were many people who could go, like Manager Park, Assistant Manager Kim, or Assistant Manager Lee, so why him… Moreover, Manager Park had even volunteered, saying he would go.

<Team Leader, please go with me this time. I think it might be better for me to go rather than Assistant Manager Jeong.>

<No. I don’t want to make someone with a family suffer until the weekend. I will go with Assistant Manager Jeong.>

<No, but still… .>

But Manager Park’s strong plea didn’t work on Baek Kanghyun at all. Seowon concluded that he must have chosen him because he was easier to order and push around than Manager Park, who was older than him.

[Come to the parking lot before work]

On his way out of the house with his business trip luggage, a message came from Baek Kanghyun. It seemed he intended to have the pheromone exchange they had skipped for the past few days. I was already worried about the 2 days and 1 night I would spend with him. Seowon sent a short reply: [Yes].

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

As soon as Seowon arrived at the company, he went straight down to the underground parking lot. Baek Kanghyun’s car was always parked in the same spot, so it wasn’t hard to find his car at all. Usually, if an employee wanted to use the company parking lot, they had to pay expensive parking fees and compete for a spot, but Baek Kanghyun was different. He had his own dedicated spot. He enjoyed the privilege that other department heads did not, naturally, for the reason that he was a close associate of the Chairman.

Knock knock.

Seowon lightly tapped on the passenger side window of Baek Kanghyun’s car and immediately opened the door. As soon as he did, Baek Kanghyun’s pheromones wafted out. His entire body trembled with the welcome sensation of the Alpha pheromones he hadn’t felt properly in a few days. Seowon hesitated for a moment before carefully getting into the car and closing the door.

“… Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

When meeting him in the car in the morning, the greeting was done in the American style. It was chosen because it was less friendly than “Hello.” Anyway, because saying nothing would be a bit much.

However, doing the bastard therapy after a long time felt very awkward. To the point where his breathing, which should have slowed down naturally, kept getting tangled.