Team Manager Dok walked in, buzzing away with an electric razor. He can shave while walking? Saebyeok was inwardly amazed at the sight of “moving shaving” in the office, something he never expected to see.
“Ah, I’m sleepy. Let’s head into the meeting.”
“Yes, sir.”
They all rushed into the meeting room again. Today, with the team manager present, there was an even stronger feeling of reporting than yesterday.
While organizing the meeting minutes and tidying up the meeting room, Team Manager Dok suddenly asked out of the blue.
“What was your name again?”
“Shin Saebyeok, sir.”
“Shin Intern, what did you eat yesterday?”
“For breakfast, I had Korean food with braised short ribs as the main dish. For lunch, I had Korean food with spicy stir-fried pork as the main dish from the company cafeteria. And for dinner, I had Korean food with bulgogi as the main.”
Why is he suddenly asking about that?
“You ate nothing but meat.”
“I also ate plenty of vegetables.”
“Do you usually eat breakfast?”
“Yes.”
Even though he wasn’t living with his in-laws, Gong Pyeonghwa always tried to make sure he ate something in the morning. With someone putting in that kind of effort, it would be wrong not to eat it just because he wasn’t hungry…
So Saebyeok had never had an empty stomach in the morning.
“You must get up early then.”
“I try not to oversleep.”
“We’re having a team lunch today. Think about what we should eat. If you do just that, you’ve done your job for the day. Got it?”
Saebyeok had wondered why he was asking such random questions, but it turned out he wanted the youngest team member to choose the menu.
“Ah… Yes, sir!”
Saebyeok took on the responsibility and searched for popular restaurants in the area. Considering the space needed to accommodate the Overseas Sales Team 1 and accounting for individual preferences, a Korean barbecue restaurant seemed like the most reasonable choice.
He was just finishing up organizing the top three barbecue places in the area by the number of bookmarks and calculating the approximate cost when Team Manager Dok said:
“We’re having a welcoming lunch for the new employee today. Is eel okay with everyone?”
“Sounds good!”
“I like eel.”
After organizing everything in Excel… they were going to an eel restaurant.
Why did he even ask me to decide in the first place?
***
Last night, Gong Pyeonghwa, who had climbed the wall and scaled the fence with what he considered his life on the line to reach the confined castle where his husband was sleeping, was feeling confident. No one had discovered his escape.
Indeed, there’s almost nothing that can’t be accomplished with determination and physical strength. Grateful for his core muscles, which were as versatile as money, Pyeonghwa resolved to make another clean escape today.
Under the pretense of tending to the lawn, he secretly hid his shoes in a corner where they wouldn’t be easily spotted.
‘Without money, I’m too limited in mobility. I need to save up some liquid assets.’
He didn’t forget to address the shortcomings from yesterday.
There was a reason he had flexed at the department store using his father-in-law’s card. Of course, part of it was wanting to have more fun shopping with his mother-in-law…
‘Why isn’t anyone buying it? Is the price too high? No, if it’s too cheap, it might seem like a knockoff.’
He could sell them secondhand for money.
Even if he escaped and met with Saebyeok, without money, they wouldn’t even be able to find a place to sit. It meant they couldn’t go on a date!
It’s still winter and cold outside—did they think they would just hold hands and kiss outdoors? No way. What nonsense.
Even when he was a minor, surviving on allowance and investing in stocks, he never had dates like that! He always made sure to feed his date something and send them home with a little something.
‘And now I’m poor…’
He had become poor with age. He had worked hard to earn money so they could live cozily together, the two—no, the three of them.
He had diligently saved his stock dividends, charged only reasonable rents for the buildings in his name to be fair to the tenants, and had several savings accounts and investment funds. He even had a lot of foreign currency. Yet he didn’t have money for a date right now?
Of course, he had money. But at the moment, his accounts were temporarily blocked, and he had no ID, no cell phone, and no internet. He couldn’t do anything in modern society.
How could a human be so powerless in today’s information-based society? Technology was advancing, but people seemed to be regressing.
But! Love blooms even in the midst of war!
Somehow, in this dystopian Seoul where one couldn’t survive without a smartphone, they would share their love cozily!
‘But I’ll need some money for that… Should I swallow my pride and borrow from Noeul?’
With love trumping pride, Pyeonghwa was already planning to get down on his knees as soon as Noeul returned from school.
‘What time does Noeul come home today?’
After hastily mowing the lawn, Pyeonghwa rushed to his mother-in-law.
“Mother-in-law, when does Noeul finish work today?”
“Finish work?”
“No, I mean, what’s it called when school ends?”
“Leaving school?”
“I… I need to read some books. My language skills are deteriorating these days. Already I can barely speak 0.5 Korean and 0.5 English…”
Pyeonghwa lamented that he, who once got all 1st-grade rankings in language aptitude tests, could now barely manage a combined total of 1 language.
Mrs. Lee patted him on the shoulder, consoling him for his frustration at how his vocabulary had become so oriented around office worker patterns.
“Should we go to the bookstore together today?”
“Then shall we eat out?”
***
With five minutes left until the end of the workday, having completed all his daily tasks, Saebyeok had an Excel window open, pretending to work.
There was still no reply from Pyeonghwa.
Could he only contact him at night?
Just in case, Saebyeok sent one more email.
As soon as the clock struck the hour, another prompt message to leave work on time came flying in from Executive Director Gong Jeong.
Saebyeok tucked in his chair and shouldered his bag.
Even if he wanted to work more, his superiors were quick to chase everyone out as soon as it was quitting time. If he felt guilty about leaving while everyone was busy and offered to help, a phone call would come in immediately.
Asking why the intern hadn’t left yet. Calling their team exploitative. Questioning if their department was doing all the company’s work.
When the boss of the “exploitative” company called directly, the underlings had no choice but to send him home, regardless of how much work there was. Only Saebyeok was caught between his conscience and his father-in-law, having to be mindful.
Fortunately, today everyone seemed to be leaving on time as the monitors were turned off.
“Heading home? Take care. Have a good weekend.”
“I’ll be leaving first, sir.”
Saebyeok bowed politely to Team Manager Dok. He’d heard the manager was a strange person, but he didn’t seem that eccentric.
But since it’s the weekend, he won’t be able to check his email… That should be fine, right?
…Should, should be fine? Is it fine? Right, Pyeonghwa?
Should I go to work on the weekend? Should I? Should I deliberately leave my bag behind? Should I do that, Pyeonghwa?
Saebyeok naturally went back into the office, placed his bag on the chair, and left again.
“Hmm? I don’t see the bag I bought Shin Intern. Did he leave it behind?”
He was caught immediately.
“What’s this, an intern who comes out to meet the Executive Director? The Chairman is waiting, so grab your bag and come out quickly. Now.”
Hyung, you’re kind of unlikeable.
Saebyeok apologized repeatedly with a smile that didn’t reach his heart. Inside, he was punching Gong Jeong.
It should be… fine, right? Believing that it would be okay since he had sent one more email just in case, Saebyeok left work with Gong Jeong.
***
“Noeul, no date today? Or have you already been on one and don’t need another?”
“I’m going to training camp starting today… Wait, how did you know I met someone?”
“Because you came back covered in pheromones. You’d better spray some deodorizer before your father-in-law finds out.”
Noeul sniffed dubiously, as if she couldn’t believe it. Of course, there was no way she would smell like that. Noeul was a beta.
“Pheromones? How would they get on me?”
“That kid is obsessively clingy. Marking you as theirs with kisses all over.”
Noeul’s face turned bright red.
“Now that I’ve told you about the deodorizer, lend me your phone… Oh! Father-in-law is here!”
Leaving a confused Noeul behind, Pyeonghwa dashed away.
With reflexes like a dog that jumps up from sleeping on its back in the living room at the sound of footsteps outside the door, Noeul also followed behind Pyeonghwa, amazed.
And indeed, not long after, her father returned home.
“Father-in-law! Welcome home!”
Pyeonghwa took his bag and chattered away, following closely beside him.
No matter how much that parasite-like man clung to him, Chairman Shin was confident that he would never give a piece of his heart to that swallow-like Pyeonghwa.
He thought that this upstart might be able to steal the hearts of his wife and son, but he didn’t stand a chance with him.
“Today I went to the bookstore with Mother-in-law during the day. And Mother-in-law, would you believe…”
“Ah, don’t.”
What story? Don’t do what? Why are you looking at me like that? Chairman Shin felt like jumping out of his skin with curiosity about what his wife had done at the bookstore earlier today.
“Fine. I want to tell you, but I’ll restrain myself.”
Since when did you have such patience to restrain yourself? Chairman Shin wanted to shake that thief-like man.
“So tonight’s dinner is braised chicken. With thin glass noodles, not thick ones! Braised. Chicken. Boneless. Braised. Chicken. Braised-Chicken.”
What’s the connection between these sentences?
Chairman Shin liked the food his wife prepared, but braised chicken itself was just okay. He was so curious about what had happened to the two of them, or more precisely to his wife, during the day when he wasn’t there.
He was extremely curious about what wind had blown to make her prepare braised chicken. He didn’t dislike it, but he didn’t particularly like it either, so why? Why go out of the way?
“Then I’ll get everything ready for dinner!”
Pyeonghwa put down the bag neatly and bowed courteously.
Mrs. Lee fanned her reddened face with her hand and laughed awkwardly.
“Public Seobangie is so… playful… Um, go change your clothes quickly.”
Why, why is she embarrassed? What happened? Why won’t she say anything?
They weren’t a couple who talked much to begin with, but today his wife’s reticence was particularly vexing.
By the time he had changed into home wear and returned, the dining table was filled with a warm, cheerful atmosphere.
“…so that’s why we’re having braised chicken today.”
“Really?”
“That’s what I’m saying. I saw your school lunch menu had fried chicken cutlet today. Is braised chicken okay?”
“Fried chicken and braised chicken are different, so it’s fine.”
“Right?”
When did they become so close? They did seem to be going out together at night a lot lately…
They say one mudfish can muddy the waters, and that was exactly what was happening here. It hadn’t even been a week since that swallow moved in, yet the atmosphere at the dinner table had already changed.
“Dear, please eat.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
