#049
The first day at work is always awkward. You can’t do much, and you’re not given any real work either. If it were a new place of employment, you’d try to figure out the work, but for Hwi-kyung, this was his third time at BK International.
It’s hard to forget the processes of a place you worked at for over a year until recently, even if you briefly worked as a housekeeper. Hwi-kyung had even logged into the company’s cloud program that Moon-chul hadn’t taught him about.
Even though he tried to find work to do, no new tasks arose, so he was inevitably idle. It was the perfect time to steal wages by slacking off, but unfortunately, Hwi-kyung had long since stopped wage theft due to his fourteen regressions.
“Hwi-kyung.”
“Yes?”
“If you’re free, could you help me look at the schedule?”
It was fortunate that Moon-chul, realizing how idle Hwi-kyung was, gave him the task of scheduling for the entire afternoon. The team leader scolded Moon-chul for giving work to the new hire, but Hwi-kyung was just grateful that Moon-chul gave him something to do.
He might have ended up just staring blankly at the monitor until it was time to go home. While the first day is usually like that, Hwi-kyung had found wasting time at work wasteful since his sixth cycle.
Doing any kind of work helps keep distracting thoughts at bay. When idle, all sorts of thoughts kept creeping in. Unlike Gyo-ha, Hwi-kyung tended to have a lot of mental noise, so he needed to periodically immerse himself in simple tasks to reduce this noise.
Kang Moon-chul seemed surprised that the new hire, who had appeared thoughtless, was working better than expected. After lunch, his expectations for Hwi-kyung seemed to have lowered, but when Hwi-kyung accomplished a hundred tasks after being taught just one, Moon-chul’s vitality returned as if water had been given to a wilting flower.
“That’s right, you learn workplace skills gradually. Having a good head for work is the best asset in a company.”
Hwi-kyung inwardly felt sorry for Moon-chul as he watched him encourage him. Having a good head for work is the best asset? That wasn’t something Manager Kang, who ended up shouldering all the HR work while trying so hard to be good at workplace relations, should be saying.
Still, it was fortunate that he easily gained Kang Moon-chul’s favor. Hwi-kyung’s supervisors usually liked him. Hwi-kyung was a new hire in name only, a 54-year veteran who could do everything well without being taught, like an original soup restaurant.
Any Korean would have no choice but to adore Hwi-kyung as a subordinate. He perfectly accomplished any task given to him without hesitation, so how could they dislike such a godsend?
“The only advice I can give you as a senior is to get along well with the team leader.”
“……”
“Since you’ve joined, I hope we can work together for a long time.”
It was warmer and kinder advice compared to the previous cycle. In the thirteenth cycle, Hwi-kyung had been a new hire showered with Park Bong-joon’s love before Kang Moon-chul could give any hints, so he never had the chance to hear such advice.
Hwi-kyung let Moon-chul’s words about “working together for a long time” go in one ear and out the other. He couldn’t stay at BK International for more than a year. Since he had defied Park Bong-joon from day one, he might be forced to regress within a week if he was unlucky.
However, he couldn’t outright say, “I don’t really want to work here for long.” Even if he had taken on the concept of a bold new hire, Hwi-kyung was ultimately weak to hardworking people like Kang Moon-chul.
“Manager.”
“Yes?”
“I look forward to working with you.”
Manager Kang Moon-chul, the clueless bear and the HR team’s performing bear, smiled brightly at Hwi-kyung’s words.
“Having you here, Hwi-kyung, makes things a bit easier.”
Despite the change in Hwi-kyung’s entry timing, Kang Moon-chul’s reaction didn’t change much. Probably even after several regressions, Moon-chul would output similar words in the next cycle.
Perhaps the act of ousting Park Bong-joon from BK International itself was meaningless. After all, when he regressed, Park Bong-joon would start as the HR team leader in the fifteenth cycle too.
But Hwi-kyung decided not to consider this moment a waste. In this cycle, for the first time, Jung Hwi-kyung was moving for the sake of others, not himself.
* * *
Gyo-ha was extremely worried about Hwi-kyung, who had re-entered BK International.
He was prepared for another regression, so waking up in his studio in America for the fifteenth time wasn’t scary. Although it was troublesome to repeatedly give up his degree and return to Korea, at least in the fifteenth cycle, Hwi-kyung wouldn’t run away from him.
Perhaps next time, he could sort things out a bit faster and move Hwi-kyung’s grandmother to a better hospital before Hwi-kyung focused all his efforts on winning the lottery.
“Executive Director.”
“……”
“Executive Director!”
Gyo-ha raised his head, startled by the voice calling out to him. He had been so deeply engrossed in contemplating Hwi-kyung that he only just realized someone was standing in front of him.
Yoon Se-young, an employee from the marketing team, was standing in front of Gyo-ha holding approval documents. She could have just left them, but Se-young consistently approached him like this.
“What are you thinking about? Our team leader said you need to check this by tomorrow.”
“Please leave it on the desk, and I’ll review it and respond by email.”
“Aw…”
“Do you have any other business?”
Se-young opened her mouth with a rather excited face.
“Our team is having a dinner today, can’t you join us?”
“……”
“The team leader told me to ask you this too.”
Yoon Se-young, who joined BK Entertainment at a young age after graduating from a vocational college, had a vibrant personality to match her pretty face. Her personality was so lively that the marketing team leader openly doted on her as the youngest, leading her to behave casually even with far senior superiors.
Although she was good at her job, her lack of boundaries led to a not-so-great reputation within the company. It was inevitable that rumors circulated about her not getting along with female colleagues and cozying up to male employees, especially male superiors.
Gyo-ha was so uninterested in Se-young that he didn’t even know what rumors were circulating about her. Due to his naturally kind nature, he had handed her the corporate card a few times when she ran coffee errands, but that was all.
Whether Se-young showed interest in him or not, Gyo-ha had no energy to pay attention to her. In the past, he might have accommodated her to some extent, but now he was busy chasing after Jung Hwi-kyung.
“Tonight is difficult. I have prior plans.”
“Is that so? That’s too bad.”
“Yes. Now, please leave.”
Despite Gyo-ha’s dismissal, Se-young hesitated for a moment. At BK Entertainment, they shared one floor of the office with other teams, so it wasn’t a good look for Se-young to be in his personal office for long.
“Please leave now.”
An unusually cold tone flowed from Gyo-ha. It was because he suddenly remembered Hwi-kyung, who had suffered from a scandal with him in the thirteenth cycle.
At the repeated dismissal, Se-young bowed slightly and left Gyo-ha’s personal office. Looking back, Hwi-kyung had been uncomfortable with Se-young’s friendly attitude like this, even though he had no reason to be.
Was that really jealousy?
Until quitting time, Gyo-ha kept thinking about Hwi-kyung while signing approval documents. If Hwi-kyung knew this, he would have nagged, “Work! Do your work!”
But Gyo-ha couldn’t help being constantly aware of Jung Hwi-kyung. What could he do about his thoughts? Hwi-kyung should stop acting in ways that made him worry.
Gyo-ha, who had arrived late but left his seat right on time, hurriedly went down to the underground parking lot. In the end, he couldn’t do anything properly all day because he was thinking about Hwi-kyung.
At the time Gyo-ha hastily drove his car towards BK International, Hwi-kyung was sitting in the company cafe after leaving work early.
He wanted to rush out of the company and go home immediately, but he couldn’t coldly reject Lee Gyo-ha, who kept sending crying emoticons via messenger, asking to let him drive Hwi-kyung home.
He had decided not to drink more than three cups of coffee a day… Having had one cup in the morning, one after lunch, and now one while waiting for Gyo-ha, Hwi-kyung was achieving the grand slam of caffeine addiction, a virtue of modern people.
Lee Gyo-ha disliked Hwi-kyung smoking and didn’t like him drinking a lot of coffee either. He would nag Hwi-kyung about caffeine addiction while drinking Americanos that tasted like dishwater every day himself.
Jung Hwi-kyung found this terribly unfair. Coffee aside, I smoke because of you! I could have been smoke-free if you hadn’t acted so terribly in the thirteenth cycle! If you hadn’t kissed me…
Remembering the kiss with the orchid pot in the background, Hwi-kyung’s ears quickly heated up like a teenager experiencing first love.
Gyo-ha wasn’t the first to show interest in Hwi-kyung. Over his long years, Hwi-kyung had attracted quite a lot of people. Objectively speaking, Jung Hwi-kyung was a decent catch. Not only his face, but as the cycles repeated, his salary also kept rising without knowing a peak.
But despite all those courtships, Lee Gyo-ha was the first to break through Hwi-kyung’s iron fortress and suddenly rub lips with him. It wasn’t normal to have his first kiss only after the fourteenth regression cycle.
In Jung Hwi-kyung’s experience, not becoming an employed person was a more fatal problem than being a virgin until thirty. The reason he could remain unmoved even if someone stripped in front of him was because Hwi-kyung had a huge disqualifying factor called ‘regression’.
For Gyo-ha, things like kisses or dating probably weren’t a big deal. Considering he didn’t say much even after seeing Hwi-kyung’s system window, it was clear that Gyo-ha didn’t dwell on mere kisses.
Hwi-kyung crumpled the empty paper cup. He couldn’t believe he was still concerned about this. He should coolly brush it off like Gyo-ha, saying “This level of kissing? It’s common in America,” but as a Korean, Hwi-kyung found it difficult.
“Oh? Who do we have here.”
However, Hwi-kyung’s anguish didn’t last long.
“Isn’t this my brother’s lover?”
Tragically, it was because Lee Sung-ha discovered Jung Hwi-kyung before Lee Gyo-ha did.
