05
He bit his lip once and lowered his head. Just as he grabbed the doorknob to leave, a hand reached out from behind and slammed the door shut.
Jo Junghyun’s heart pounded violently at the sudden situation, leaving him unable to make a sound.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I thought I saw a bug, but I was mistaken.”
Jo Junghyun, still hunched over, slowly turned around to look at the man who was apologizing in a voice that didn’t sound sorry at all.
“B-bug?”
“Yes. I thought it was a mosquito.”
“…But it’s winter…?”
“Ah, so it is.”
Ji Seunghyeok calmly spoke while looking down at Jo Junghyun, with one arm resting against the door.
At this point, it was hard to tell if he had genuinely mistaken something or if he was doing this on purpose.
Jo Junghyun knew Ji Seunghyeok was tall, but seeing him up close like this, he realized how large his build was too. He had only extended one arm, yet Jo Junghyun felt trapped. He could only blink several times.
With no ambient noise and complete silence, the situation felt incredibly awkward.
Feeling like he should say something, Jo Junghyun’s lips began to move when suddenly, he noticed a scent. It was different from the pheromones he was familiar with. But it was an extremely pleasant fragrance. For a brief moment, he was entranced by the scent and fell into a daze.
“…Ouch!”
Suddenly, he received a forehead flick.
Jo Junghyun pressed one hand against his forehead while staring at Ji Seunghyeok with wide, round eyes.
“Wake up and get out.”
He had only been dazed for a brief moment, but Ji Seunghyeok had noticed. Or perhaps he had been so out of it that it was obvious. Too embarrassed, Jo Junghyun felt heat rush to his face. Ji Seunghyeok lowered his arm and opened the door for him, watching him with a very natural sequence of movements.
Jo Junghyun, flustered, bowed his head slightly and went outside.
There was a click as the door closed.
Jo Junghyun sat on the sofa, put down his kimbap, and put one in his mouth.
In the silence of the empty office, only the crinkling sound of the kimbap’s foil wrapping could be heard. While chewing his food, he glanced at Ji Seunghyeok’s office, but couldn’t see inside due to the blinds.
Although his words were cold, Ji Seunghyeok’s actions had allowed Jo Junghyun, who had nowhere to go, to stay in the office and had even given him kimbap when he might have missed a meal.
Actions spoke louder than words.
Actions, not words…
Although he had received that inexplicable forehead flick at the end, other than that, Ji Seunghyeok hadn’t done Jo Junghyun any harm. No, come to think of it, wasn’t that also for Jo Junghyun’s benefit? He had bought kimbap for Jo Junghyun out of concern that he might miss a meal and told him not to do that in the future.
“…”
From every angle, Ji Seunghyeok was being quite lenient with Jo Junghyun.
It had been a long time since he’d eaten properly made kimbap with tightly packed ingredients, rather than triangle kimbap. Thanks to it, his stomach felt unusually full. He sighed contentedly as he drank lukewarm water from the water purifier.
While running errands around the office, quitting time had come and gone, and even the staff member on night duty had gone to sleep.
Jo Junghyun lay on the sofa wrapped in a blanket.
It was cold, but it was incomparably better than staying outdoors. The building’s bathroom had hot water, so there was no discomfort when washing up, and in a pinch, he could even warm his frozen hands there.
The leather sofa, which had been cold, was gradually warming up with Jo Junghyun’s body heat.
Jo Junghyun was looking at job search sites on his phone when he couldn’t resist the weight of his closing eyelids and soon fell asleep.
At some point, someone shook him awake. When he lifted his heavy eyelids, Ji Seunghyeok came into view.
“…Huh!”
Jo Junghyun tried to jump up with a gasp, but his body, stiff from the cold, didn’t react quickly. Wondering if he had missed an alarm, he checked the clock on the wall and saw that Ji Seunghyeok had arrived 30 minutes earlier than usual.
“You’re early today?”
“Follow me.”
“Pardon?”
After finishing his sentence, Ji Seunghyeok went inside, and Jo Junghyun sluggishly got up. It was difficult to move quickly as his body was stiff from the cold. His joints felt creaky from the cold, but that sensation soon disappeared.
Thinking that Ji Seunghyeok might have some task for him, Jo Junghyun entered the CEO’s office. Before he could ask anything, Ji Seunghyeok took off his coat and nodded toward the inner sofa.
“Sit.”
“What? Yes…”
What could he be planning to ask him to do, telling him to sit on the sofa? Jo Junghyun sat down carefully but with a straight back, looking at Ji Seunghyeok.
“Sleep here.”
“…Uh, what?”
“It’s cold outside, so sleep here.”
Jo Junghyun froze. He never expected to receive such an offer.
“N-no. I… I need to wake up Mr. Park Hyunju in 30 minutes.”
“I’ll wake you up on time, so sleep.”
“…”
Jo Junghyun couldn’t answer and mumbled incoherently.
The space heater must have been turned on as the air quickly began to warm up. Perhaps because the office was smaller than the outer office area, it warmed up quickly. Sitting in such a warm place made his eyes begin to close.
Jo Junghyun’s eyes snapped open when he felt like he was about to drool.
“…Huh?”
He didn’t remember covering himself, but he was using Ji Seunghyeok’s long coat as a blanket. Jo Junghyun swallowed and pushed the coat aside. That’s when he noticed light coming in through the window.
Thinking he was supposed to wake up Park Hyunju, he jumped up in a panic.
“You’re awake? Don’t worry, I woke up Park Hyunju.”
Just then, Ji Seunghyeok’s voice came from behind.
“What? No, I, uh, no…”
“I said I’d wake you up on time, didn’t I?”
“No, that, I thought you meant you’d wake me up?”
Jo Junghyun stared with his mouth open at Ji Seunghyeok, who spoke calmly.
“Are you done with that?”
Ji Seunghyeok didn’t answer Jo Junghyun’s question and changed the subject. Not immediately understanding what he was asking, Jo Junghyun asked back.
“The coat. If you’re done with it, give it back.”
“Ah, yes…!”
Jo Junghyun picked up the coat, walked over, and handed it to Ji Seunghyeok with both hands. For someone who had asked for it, Ji Seunghyeok didn’t take it right away. His eyes, which had been looking at the coat, turned to Jo Junghyun.
“Was it warm?”
“Yes. Very. Ah… th-thank you.”
“It feels nice to get a bow after poking you in the side.”
Only then did Ji Seunghyeok take the coat that Jo Junghyun was holding. Maybe it was just his imagination, but it seemed like the corners of Ji Seunghyeok’s mouth turned up slightly. Ji Seunghyeok stood up from his chair and put his arms through the coat.
“Have you been sleeping like that all along?”
“Pardon?”
“Why aren’t you using the night duty room?”
“No, the employees need to use that room. And I don’t even work here.”
“…”
Without saying anything more, Ji Seunghyeok adjusted his coat.
His attitude seemed to be conveying something, making Jo Junghyun feel preemptively guilty and quickly add:
“I guess it’s inconvenient for me to be like this in the office. I’ll go somewhere else soon.”
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
“What? No, not really… but I’ll find a job if I look hard enough.”
“Don’t waste your energy and just stay. I only asked because you were sleeping in the cold.”
Ji Seunghyeok left the office without listening to Jo Junghyun’s response. It was as if he was in a trance.
Strangely, today Ji Seunghyeok’s words sounded kind. Wondering if it was just his imagination, Jo Junghyun scratched the back of his neck and let out a small exclamation, “Ah.”
His speech pattern had changed slightly.
Before, his sentences had ended with “-imnida,” but today, for some reason, they ended with “-yo.” Though it was just that small change, Ji Seunghyeok’s words felt much friendlier.
“Ah, this is no time for that…!”
Just as Jo Junghyun came to his senses and was about to open the door to leave, Park Hyunju came in. In his hand was a transparent plastic package containing a flat green cup.
“Take this. Be careful, it’s hot.”
“What? Oh, th-thank you.”
After handing the plastic to Jo Junghyun, Park Hyunju said:
“I didn’t buy it. The CEO asked me to get it for you. Thank him.”
“Ah… Yes. Yes…”
Jo Junghyun mumbled a response, rolling his eyes.
“Also, there’s nothing for you to do here, so eat that and rest a bit.”
The man seemed to have finished what he wanted to say and went back outside.
Sitting on the sofa, Jo Junghyun opened the yellow lid of the cup and saw that the contents were soup. With a dazed expression, he looked down at the soup before using the disposable spoon to take a sip. The savory, slightly salty soup was very warm.
* * *
Jo Junghyun met Ji Seunghyeok again around noon the next day.
Since yesterday, the employees had stopped trying to give him tasks, so he was perceptively and efficiently cleaning up various things on his own.
Fortunately, today he had a job interview scheduled at a place with a decent hourly wage, so he felt more at ease than usual. He had a good feeling even when setting up the interview by phone. It was a bit strange that the store owner asked for a photo of him first when he called to ask if they had any positions available, but since it was explained as a pre-interview procedure, he hurriedly went to the bathroom and sent a front-facing photo. After that, the store owner spoke to him in an extremely friendly manner and scheduled an interview.
Since they mentioned that accommodation and meals could be provided at the store, if all went well, today might be the last day he’d have to run errands for the office employees.
Jo Junghyun shared this news with several employees who had been kind to him, and they all encouraged him to do well.
“Have this.”
“No, really, it’s fine.”
“You like instant coffee, don’t you?”
“Ah, well… Then I’ll drink it.”
Park Seokyoung reluctantly accepted the paper cup that Jo Junghyun was offering.
At that moment, Ji Seunghyeok opened the door and entered the office. Park Seokyoung exclaimed, “Oh no,” and pushed the paper cup aside, trying to hide it.
Jo Junghyun watched Ji Seunghyeok, who had briefly glanced at him before entering his office, and soon followed after him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
