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Who has the accounting data we organized last year? Ah, Section Chief Lee took it to look at it a moment ago. I see. I need to compare it with the original file, so please give it to me as soon as it comes back. Yes, Team Leader.
-Hello, Eunseong? Are you listening to me?
“Ah. Yes, yes. I’m listening, hyung.”
Choi Eunseong, who had been staring blankly at the people busily immersed in their work with the lights still brightly on despite it being after office hours, straightened his posture with a start.
Having been on the call for over ten minutes, the mobile phone pressed against his ear was hot. Jang Yeonhu’s soft chuckling tickled his ear.
-You must be very tired. It’s hectic, isn’t it?
“Not at all… It’s not like I’m doing any real work, so what would I be tired about?”
Even when he was at Yeonhu’s company, the tasks assigned to a mere intern weren’t particularly important, but the law firm was different. With the security of litigation-related materials and, above all, the need for basic professional expertise to handle tasks smoothly, all Eunseong had done in the past two weeks was photocopying and organizing the office.
Today too, he had refused the staff’s consideration that the intern student probably wouldn’t have much to do and could leave early, choosing instead to stay and at least keep his seat warm.
Though he wanted to be more proactive in helping with work, he remembered the last time his eagerness had led him to neatly organize scattered printouts on a desk, only to cause trouble. Something about manually sorting documents without access to the original files.
The junior attorney, who had been with the firm for less than six months, had sighed heavily in front of Eunseong with an expression of extreme frustration, but then turned away saying, “For Attorney Han’s sake, I’ll let it slide just this once,” before leaving abruptly.
Attorney Han, Attorney Han. He was sick of hearing about this Attorney Han.
He genuinely wanted to work hard… but after making repeated mistakes, he gradually found himself stepping back from tasks, pretending not to notice and just smiling innocently before going home—which was equally exhausting.
Choi Eunseong would rather be scolded. Scolded until the tears came out, and then properly taught how to do the job—that would be more comfortable. For some reason, every employee in this office was so intimidated by the title of “Han Jaekyung’s acquaintance” that they didn’t dare to say a single critical word to Eunseong. This was completely different from how the problematic Attorney Han himself showed not a speck of interest in him.
-How late do you think you’ll be staying today?
“Hmm, let me see… They said earlier they’d work a bit longer before heading home. Probably a little after ten?”
-What about Jaekyung?
“Attorney Han is…”
Eunseong was about to unconsciously reply that it would probably be around eleven, but he pressed his lips together and let his words trail off.
Han Jaekyung here, Han Jaekyung there. That man, who had been on his mind from the beginning, now filled Eunseong’s world, making his presence known.
-Eunseong?
“Um, I’m not sure either. I’m sorry.”
-No. What is there to be sorry about?
“I overheard you talking earlier, and it seemed like your boyfriend was coming to pick you up.”
Though it was a rather roundabout expression, he deliberately brought up this unnecessary information hoping to divert Yeonhu’s interest away from Han Jaekyung.
-Really? Jaekyung has to work tomorrow too, what is that Moon Yeonu thinking…
But this attempt failed as well. Though he wasn’t particularly dense, Yeonhu invariably acted like a complete fool who couldn’t tell a sickle from a giyeok when it came to matters involving Han Jaekyung.
“Hyung! The deputy manager is calling me, I have to go!”
-Sorry. I’ve been keeping a working person on the phone for too long.
“I’ll call you when I’m done.”
-Okay, talk to you later then.
Though no one was calling him—he was just standing guard in the break room like a scarecrow—Eunseong hurriedly ended the call. He simply didn’t want to continue the conversation with Yeonhu, who kept worrying about Han Jaekyung.
Though they were bound by the fancy title of “lovers,” Jang Yeonhu and Choi Eunseong had met on an uneven playing field from the start.
A powerful attraction where even being the same gender wasn’t an obstacle. Eunseong had accepted it as a romantic destiny, and firmly believed that Yeonhu felt the same.
He was a man who had paid off not only Eunseong’s student loans but also all the private loan debts left behind by his father, whose face was now just a blur. Although Eunseong had guessed that Yeonhu’s family was well-off, he never imagined he would be the heir to the Woojin Group, and Yeonhu had stood firmly in front of him before the chairman, as if such a background didn’t matter.
Such a man. A man who said he could abandon his family and honor for me. Only when it came to the matter of one person, his close friend since childhood, did he act like a completely different person, resolute and firm.
Being in the position of only receiving, Eunseong couldn’t utter a word of complaint to Yeonhu. The only thing he stubbornly insisted on was not wanting to receive more money, but who would have thought that the result of that stubbornness would come back as Han Jaekyung’s assistance?
If it was going to be like this, it might have been better to accept the living expenses when hyung offered to help…
“You’re crazy, Choi Eunseong. What are you thinking?”
Eunseong quickly shook his head and lightly patted his cheeks with his palms. It seemed he had become sensitive from excessively worrying about adapting to the new workplace.
“Hey, intern student. You’re still here?”
“I was wondering if there might be any small errands you need done.”
“That’s perfect timing. Sorry to ask, but could you go to the café on the first floor and buy some coffee? Just put it on the Finance Team 2 account.”
“The menu…”
“All iced Americanos. Oh, and make one decaf.”
“Yes, I’ll be right back.”
It was much better to do something than to just sit around wasting time. Eunseong stood up eagerly and set off.
As he walked out, he noticed that most of the offices along the law firm’s long corridor had lights on, like a night train. Everyone was busy processing work as if every minute and second was precious.
Eunseong felt self-conscious, and his chest sank with a chill as he felt utterly insignificant.
“Six iced Americanos, please. One decaf.”
“How would you like to settle the bill?”
“Please charge it to Finance Team 2.”
“Finance Team 2… Oh, the one with that handsome attorney! His name was… what was it again?”
“…Attorney Han Jaekyung?”
“Yes! Yes, that’s right, him!”
Now even the staff at the café on the first floor of the building were talking about Han Jaekyung. Even though he wanted to mistake it for someone else, it was impossible to be mistaken. Looking back on his two weeks of work experience, even if he searched with washed eyes, there was only one handsome attorney in Finance Team 2, and that was Han Jaekyung.
Han Jaekyung was a more positively famous figure than expected. To the extent that Eunseong’s initial impression of him as just a good-looking idler, reinforced by the series of events that followed, now felt pathetically mistaken.
Though not as solid a lifeline as the Woojin Group heir, how many young attorneys had parachuted into this law firm over the years?
From the daughter of a sitting Supreme Court Justice to the grandson of a famous politician, and even the law firm representative’s nephew. There had been quite a number of people who held their noses high from the beginning and wore attorney badges, but from what Eunseong had heard, none had made such rapid and definite progress as Han Jaekyung.
A tenacious character who rarely let go once he bit into something, clear results that had elevated the company’s average winning rate, and clients lining up saying they wouldn’t entrust their cases to anyone but him.
He seemed like someone a hundred billion light-years away from Eunseong, who couldn’t even distinguish between materials that could be organized and those that shouldn’t be touched, ruining the work.
Until Jang Yeonhu and Han Jaekyung, who seemed like people from another world, had dropped right in front of him, Eunseong had been quite proud of the life he had lived and of himself.
True, there were some shabby aspects due to economic hardship, but hadn’t he lived diligently without despair? He had studied until his nose bled to get into a good university, so it seemed like if he just endured a little, just a little bit more, there would be a day when sunshine would reach even a mouse hole.
The old apartment of about seven pyeong that he rented with his grandmother. The worn-out suit he had bought with great determination as he began his job search in earnest. The rough knuckles with calluses and worn-out fingerprints from consecutive part-time jobs.
These were never things to be ashamed of or hidden. They were proud medals of a life lived intensely.
But when he realized that the t-shirt Jang Yeonhu casually gifted him far exceeded the price of a month’s part-time wages. When dining with Yeonhu at restaurants with complicated menus where he didn’t even know how to use the tableware. Eunseong would unconsciously think about wanting to hide somewhere.
Under the bright light, the truth was revealed all too clearly: the medals he had cherished were in fact so shabby and so unsightly.
Unlike Eunseong, Han Jaekyung naturally fit into the seat beside Jang Yeonhu as if he had been born that way, as naturally as breathing. Only someone who has experienced it would know how humiliated Eunseong felt whenever the two casually rattled off stories that only they knew during meals together.
That’s why Eunseong wished that Han Jaekyung was a complete pauper with no substance, completely empty. A pauper who, when Yeonhu’s shadow was removed from that shining person, would be no different from his shabby self.
“Here are your six Americanos.”
“Thank you.”
“Ah, and… I added a bagel chip for Attorney Han Jaekyung. Please! Please make sure to give it to him. Okay?”
There’s no other meaning, it’s just that he used to come at least every other day but hasn’t been around lately, so this is just customer management, so please tell him to come by, you must.
Even while handing over the coffee carrier, the employee chattered away in a bright voice. Eunseong just nodded without saying anything.
Painfully reminding himself that the only shabby pauper was himself alone.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
