PAO 86

At Assistant Manager Jang’s introduction, Seowon made eye contact with them and greeted them. Because they were people he would be working with from now on, he put on an even more affable smile.

“Hello. I’m new employee Han Seowon.”

Seowon introduced himself on his own and then looked at Junghoo. He waited quietly, thinking that once they exchanged simple greetings, he would know what to do next.

“…”

“…”

The corner of Seowon’s eye, which had been on Junghoo, began to twitch. Why aren’t you saying hello, and why are you staring at me so intently. Just as other people began to look at them strangely, Seowon was wondering if he should introduce Junghoo instead.

“I’m new employee Yoo Junghoo. We joined together.”

At his low, resonant voice, it felt as if the air had changed. As everyone was unable to take their eyes off Junghoo, Seowon sighed internally. You should have said hello sooner.

“Oh, have a seat here.”

When Assistant Manager Jang pulled out a chair, Seowon said thank you and sat down. Only after Junghoo looked down at Seowon and then went to sit across from him did Assistant Manager Jang return to his own seat. There was definitely something between the two of them, but he wasn’t sure what it was, leaving him with only a lingering sense of unease.

“Why didn’t you say hello.”

Seowon, who had decided they would use polite speech with each other at work, whispered so only Junghoo could hear.

“Why are you smiling like that.”

So that’s why he was late with his greeting earlier.

“Should I not smile then? This is a company.”

Seowon glared at Junghoo, who seemed about to display some strange stubbornness. He needed to have a peaceful company life from now on, and if Junghoo didn’t cooperate, it would affect him too.

Junghoo, who understood Seowon’s warning, let out a sigh and then nodded his head. Seowon, understanding that this meant he would accommodate him, looked at his computer with satisfaction.

He turned on the computer and was checking what was at his desk when the person sitting next to him knocked on the partition.

“Shall I help you with that?”

“Thank you.”

“Not at all. Even if it weren’t for me, Assistant Manager Jang would have helped you, but since there are two of you, I thought I could help one of you…”

When the junior staff member, whose name was Lim Yong, offered to help, Seowon’s face lit up. He thought that if they started talking like this, they could get closer more easily.

“Me too.”

Just then, feeling a presence from the side, Junior Staff Member Lim and Seowon simultaneously looked up. Junghoo, who had come to stand beside Seowon, gave them both a look with his eyes half-lowered.

“May I listen in as well?”

“Uh… sure.”

As Junior Staff Member Lim nodded, looking bewildered, Junghoo brought over a chair and squeezed it in between the two of them. Seowon, pushed aside because of this, stared blankly at Junghoo. He wouldn’t know if this was a sign of his eagerness to learn, but in his view, it wasn’t. Absolutely not.

“So this is…”

As Junior Staff Member Lim’s explanation began, Seowon set aside his suspicions about Junghoo. For now, company life came first.

Yoo Younghan, who was listening to the report about Seowon and Junghoo from the chief of staff, rose from his chair with an emotionless face and approached the window. His gaze, looking out at the city of Seoul spread out beneath the sky, was somewhat complicated.

“Are you alright?”

Seeing Yoo Younghan’s heavy-looking back, the chief of staff showed his concern.

“My son is adjusting well, so of course I’m alright.”

Yoo Younghan answered without turning around. He nodded as if he were truly fine, but in the chief of staff’s eyes, he didn’t look fine at all.

“What do you mean, you’re alright.”

At the blunt reply from someone other than the chief of staff, Yoo Younghan turned around to identify the person. The chief of staff gave a light bow and then retreated, closing the door.

“You’re here.”

At Yoo Younghan’s greeting, Han Soochul walked towards him without a word. As the distance between them narrowed, Yoo Younghan sensed something was off and only showed a surprised face after Han Soochul embraced him.

“A confession like this is rather startling.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“…”

“You endured well, hyung-nim. You’re amazing.”

At Han Soochul’s words of comfort, an expression slowly etched itself onto Yoo Younghan’s face. The furrow in his brow that had formed whenever he thought of Junghoo grew deeper, and his whitened sideburns were pushed up by his cheekbones. Yoo Younghan forcibly stopped the corners of his mouth from turning down.

“Did I… endure well.”

“Of course. Wasn’t it a time when your heart felt constricted every single day.”

Han Soochul patted Yoo Younghan’s shoulder.

“I couldn’t even stop Junghoo when he said he was going to die and left the hospital, so is it okay for me to be this happy.”

“You silently supported Junghoo’s choice. Because you endured like that, didn’t he end up becoming a respectable office worker.”

Although he was relieved that Junghoo had overcome a major crisis with Seowon’s help, the days were such that he couldn’t let his guard down. It was because he hadn’t fully recovered.

The report that his son, whom he had considered praiseworthy just for enduring well, had started his first day as a new employee had shaken Yoo Younghan.

Yoo Younghan, who was sorting through his overwhelming emotions in Han Soochul’s arms, spoke.

“Shall we have lunch in the company cafeteria?”

It was his hope that even if he couldn’t go visit his son, it might be alright to run into him by chance.

“There’s no reason we can’t.”

Han Soochul smiled and gave him encouragement.

“There’s a company cafeteria, or we can go out. As long as we don’t go too far, most places are partnered with us, so you can just pick one and go.”

At Junior Staff Member Lim’s explanation, Seowon looked at Junghoo as if to ask what he wanted to do. Junghoo gave a small shake of his head, and Seowon understood it meant he didn’t mind either way.

“I’d like to try the company cafeteria today.”

“In that case, shall we all go together? The cafeteria here is famous for being delicious.”

Excluding the section chief who had not yet returned, the entire Marketing Team 2 moved together toward the elevator. The elevator, which had already gone down after carrying a load of people, came back up, but it was also quite full, so they couldn’t get on.

“Looks like we’ll have to take the next one.”

“Everything here is great, but the one downside is that the elevators are packed as soon as it’s lunchtime.”

At Junior Staff Member Lim’s frank assessment, Assistant Manager Jang gave him a look.

“On their first day of work, it wouldn’t be enough to tell them only good things, so why are you saying stuff like that.”

“They should know it all the more since it’s their first day. It’s the same as cramming yourself into a packed subway during rush hour.”

“Still, our situation is better than other places. So there’s no need to think of it as only a bad thing. We can eat like this, or we can order delivery.”

While Assistant Manager Jang was adding an explanation for Seowon and Junghoo so they wouldn’t misunderstand, the elevator stopped twice more before just going down.

While Seowon was waving his hands to say they were fine, Junghoo stared intently at the elevator. Then he turned around, looked at the elevator in the back, and pointed at it.

“There are six of them, so why isn’t one being used?”

“Ah, that one is… it’s sort of been tacitly designated for the executives to ride? It’s not that only executives have to use it, and it is used in emergencies, but from a regular employee’s perspective, it’s uncomfortable to ride together.”

There might be people who wanted to get on the executives’ good side, but not everyone was like that. So, saying that one was kept free, Assistant Manager Jang pointed at the floor indicator.

“Here it comes. I think we’ll be able to get on this time.”

Assistant Manager Jang’s prediction was correct. The doors opened, and seeing the spacious interior, Junior Staff Member Lim gave a happy thumbs-up.

“You really can’t ignore experience. Now, this way…”

Junior Staff Member Lim pressed the open button and looked for the new employees, but precisely those two had disappeared. As he looked around for them, Staff Member Kim Taejun shook his head.

“They already took the executive elevator.”

“Really? They should have said something. We could have gone together, why did you just let them go.”

It was only tacitly designated as the executive elevator; there was no rule against using it. He felt sorry that he hadn’t been able to take care of them, thinking they must have taken it because it was their first day and they couldn’t bear being hungry.

“I would have ridden with them if it were just an ordinary situation, but it wasn’t an ordinary situation.”

Staff Member Kim Taejun pulled Junior Staff Member Lim onto the elevator.

“Not an ordinary situation?”

“The chairman was on it.”

“Ah…”

Then you can’t get on.

Two people were added to the elevator that had been carrying only three: the chairman, Yoo Younghan; Han Soochul, who had decided to go to the company cafeteria with him; and the chief of staff.

Seowon only gave Han Soochul a nod in the mirror and did not turn around. Since Junghoo wasn’t acknowledging his father, he just stayed still.

“Flexible work hours system.”

At the words Junghoo uttered while looking at the descending numbers, Seowon pondered what he meant before asking.

“Are you talking about making commute times flexible?”

“Yes.”

“Why that, all of a sudden?”

“Flexible lunchtime system.”

“Flexible lunch…”

Seowon trailed off while repeating Junghoo’s words. Only then did he seem to understand what he was talking about. And also why Junghoo wasn’t acknowledging his father.

“I thought it would be good to have something like that.”

“I agree. It did feel like a waste to wait for the elevator for over ten minutes.”

Before long, the elevator stopped on the 2nd floor where the cafeteria was located, and the doors opened. Seowon gave a light nod and got off with Junghoo.

Yoo Younghan, who had not yet gotten off, belatedly pointed at Junghoo.

“Did he just nag me?”

As in, why hadn’t he staggered the lunch hours?

“It seems that way.”

Han Soochul did not deny it. And he offered a small comfort to the dumbfounded Yoo Younghan.

“Still, you got to see him looking healthy, so isn’t that alright.”

A little nagging…

5th day of work. Seowon wore a very satisfied smile.

“It was a good decision to come to Chungil.”

He acted shamelessly, as if he had forgotten that he had excluded it from his list of potential employers.

“You like it that much?”