Chapter 18

After filling their stomachs with a hearty meal of homegrown vegetables and spicy stir-fried pork, the office workers promptly rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

While the trio of men struggled with waterproofing the rooftop, the trio of women had already finished restoring the outdoor faucet area.

Assistant Manager Choi and Department Head Go headed into town to buy ingredients for dinner, while Officer Jung stayed behind to watch over the cement that hadn’t dried yet. The plastic bathroom stool she sat on was surprisingly comfortable beneath her.

“Ah. This is nice.”

It was the kind of peaceful afternoon that naturally brought out such a sigh.

A sweet breeze drifted by, and dazzling sunlight filtered through the haphazard branches overhead. Every now and then, the sound of a cultivator’s engine carried over the wall. Even the pungent smell of paint and cement that hadn’t quite dried had its own charm.

The grasshopper, drunk on spring, hummed a little tune. Then, just as she began wondering how the worker ants were faring up on the roof—

“Officer Woojung.”

At the affectionate call, she immediately lifted her head.

“Ta-da!”

“Wow!”

A single pink rose suddenly appeared before her, accompanied by a cute little sound effect. Woojung looked back and forth between the flower and Ha Yun-sang, whose round smile was as full as the flower’s clustered petals, and let out an overwhelmed whimper.

“Assistant Manager…….”

Perhaps her reaction had been a little too heartfelt, because Yun-sang laughed awkwardly and waved his hand, insisting it was nothing. Then he leaned in and quietly added that he’d secretly picked it from a branch hanging over the neighboring house’s wall.

Woojung looked up at him and smiled shyly. It was as though the air itself smelled pink. Surely, the warmth she felt wasn’t entirely due to the weather.

“Um, Assistant Manager.”

Sniffling, Woojung cautiously opened her mouth. Her fingertips, which had been gently rubbing the stem, came to a stop.

Now that she’d called out to him, she suddenly remembered Kim Ju-shin, her personal master instructor. He’d told her not to do anything beyond what she was instructed to do. He’d even glared at her with those sharp, menacing eyes.

But this was an exception, wasn’t it? They weren’t at the office.

“It’s just…… well, you know……”

What was going on between him and Assistant Manager Im from the Support Team? Why were there rumors about them? Why had he picked her a rose? And had there really been no ulterior motive behind that secretive vanilla latte?

She was still trying to decide which of these questions she could actually bring herself to ask when—

“What was it that you wanted to ask?”

“……”

A long shadow tilted over her as if it were about to swallow her whole, accompanied by a languid voice. The shade gave her eyes some relief from the sun, but the smiling face belonging to the shadow was every bit as uncomfortable as ultraviolet rays.

It was ridiculous how she was acting like she’d been caught doing something terribly wrong and was anxiously gauging her junior’s reaction. That kid made mistakes and caused accidents every single day. Still, she decided to back down for now. He’d gone out of his way to help her, and she didn’t want to pull rank on him. Besides, he wasn’t exactly the kind of person who’d be put in his place just because she tried.

Ha Yun-sang, however, saw things differently. Straightening from his bent posture, he fixed Kim Ju-shin with a cold stare. He looked like he wanted to reprimand the intern for barging into a conversation between his seniors.

The intern, for his part, didn’t even spare the irritated assistant manager a glance. His gaze, which had been fixed on the face smiling sourly at him, shifted to the rose in her hand.

A dying flower from someone else’s yard.

So that was it. That was why he’d been peeking over the neighboring wall. He’d wanted to pull that kind of stunt all along.

Ju-shin rested an elbow on his knee and casually brushed his eyebrows, as he often did. Then he crouched down in front of Woojung, his expressionless face emerging from beneath his cap as a smile spread across it.

“Were you pulling weeds?”

His voice was clear and bright. Woojung hadn’t caught his meaning and responded with a confused, “Huh?” So he pointed his chin toward her hand.

“Why are you holding trash?”

“……Huh? Ah, this is—!”

“Disgusting.”

“……”

An unexpected cold wind swept through the sunlit yard.

Even though she hadn’t eaten anything just then, it felt as though her throat had closed up. She needed to explain that there was no way this could be considered trash, or brush it off by saying he’d taken his joke too far. But she couldn’t get a single word out and could only shake her head from side to side.

“Guess it looks like trash to you, Kim Ju-shin.”

A voice heavy with restrained anger cut through the silence.

“I gave it to her.”

Ju-shin rose to his feet with an “Oof.” Woojung stood up along with him, having witnessed the interest that had crept onto those lips of his—the lips that were like a ticking time bomb.

“Really?”

Ju-shin widened his eyes in surprise and demurely brought both hands to his lips.

“Trash?”

He silently added a little Why? to the question, his eyes sparkling.

“……”

What was wrong with this guy? Had prolonged exposure to the paint fumes finally scrambled his brain? Woojung’s jaw had dropped slightly in shock, but she managed to pull herself together and mechanically force out a laugh.

“Ahahaha. You’re such a kid! What a joke! Hahaha.”

Creak, creak. With no clever way out of this, she had no choice but to rely on her terrible acting skills again. He’d gotten the attention he’d wanted, so all she had to do now was come up with a natural excuse and make her exit.

That was all she needed to do.

“Department Head Go, she— Whoa!”

With a thin squeal, her slender body suddenly tipped sideways. Her foot had gotten tangled in a hose coiled like a snake.

The two men standing on either side of her reached out almost simultaneously. Ju-shin caught her securely around the waist, while Yun-sang’s hand failed to touch her at all, grasping nothing but empty air.

That wasn’t the end of it.

Swoooosh!

The lever pressed under her foot unleashed a powerful jet of water, punishing the person who had stepped on it.

“Ah! That’s cold!”

Woojung was drenched in an instant, looking like a drowned rat. Water dripping from her face, she blinked blankly for a moment before bursting into a hearty laugh.

“……”

Was there seriously something wrong with her head?

Ju-shin tilted his head and looked at her with utter disbelief before shoving the deficient girl, who was giggling despite having been doused with water, toward the house.

“Go change your clothes and come back out.”

“If I dry off in the sun……”

“If you dry off in the sun?”

“Um…… I’ll be all nice and fluffy?”

“……”

She didn’t even have a change of clothes…….

While she scratched her wet head, a large hand pushed her back again.

Forced to take a step by the sheer momentum, Woojung glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes carried a silent message: Please don’t cause any trouble while I’m gone.

Kim Ju-shin smiled sweetly and flicked the back of his hand toward the outside, motioning for her to leave. In other words, I’ll handle things myself, so get lost.

Once the powerless mediator had left, only a heavy silence remained.

Ju-shin gazed at the tiny footprints trailing along the path she’d taken, then let out a disbelieving snort.

Jung Woojung. Everything about her is ridiculously cute. It’s annoying as hell.

For someone who was supposedly annoyed, he looked rather pleased with himself.

At least, until Ha Yun-sang interrupted him.

“Kim Ju-shin.”

His name was called stiffly, followed by an irritated chuckle.

“Don’t you think you’re going a little overboard for someone who’s supposed to be looking after their senior?”

“You slept with Assistant Manager Im, didn’t you?”

His tone was indifferent, completely at odds with the content of his question. His gaze remained fixed on the tiny footprints.

“……”

“Wow, seriously? I was just taking a shot.”

Did I hit the mark?

At his playful attitude, Yun-sang’s brows drew together in a most satisfying frown. Ju-shin curled his lips into a sly grin.

Just as I thought. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Not far away, he could see Jung Woojung talking with Department Head Go’s mother. She smiled innocently, bowed several times in greeting, then accepted something from the older woman and went inside the house.

“See, the thing is……”

The eyes that had been intently following her were now half-hidden beneath lowered lids.

“I joined the company just for Jung Woojung.”

So……

“Could you cut me some slack, even if I go a little too far?”

That was his answer to Yun-sang’s remark that he was going overboard while looking after his senior.

Ju-shin slowly turned his gaze toward him and flashed a radiant smile at his strangely contorted face.

Ha Yun-sang fell silent.

How had he found out about the private matter involving Assistant Manager Im from the Support Team? And what did he mean by saying he’d joined the company because of Jung Woojung?

He couldn’t make sense of any of it. For now, silence was his best option.

By then, Jung Woojung had finished changing and was hurrying along in Department Head Go’s three-stripe slippers instead of her wet sneakers. She noticed Kim Ju-shin’s lips twitch when he spotted her leopard-print underpants, but she didn’t care.

Her first priority was to separate those two men.

“Intern Kim Ju-shin!”

What kind of act was this supposed to be? Her voice rang out in a commanding reprimand, but her attempt at acting tough fell flat. The woman approaching him planted her hands on her hips, pushing her flat stomach out as far as it would go.

“Come with me!”

Oh, how terrifying.

Ju-shin responded halfheartedly and walked ahead of her, making her order to follow him rather pointless.

Woojung gave Yun-sang an awkward smile and told him she was going to take the intern aside for some training. She even defended Ju-shin, asking him to be generous and overlook the intern’s mistakes since he was still new and didn’t know much yet.

When Yun-sang silently nodded, Woojung bent at the waist and gave him a playful half-salute. Then she hurried over to Ju-shin, who was waiting by the entrance.

Watching them walk away, Ha Yun-sang began sorting through the questions in his mind.

Ju-shin had joined the company because of Jung Woojung. They didn’t seem to have known each other before…… but he could look into that later.

One thing was certain: Kim Ju-shin had feelings for Jung Woojung that went beyond those of ordinary coworkers.

And that meant Woojung was the perfect means of punishing the insolent intern who thought even rank didn’t apply to him.

A means of punishment.

That was where the true face behind the kind and considerate Ha Yun-sang showed itself. For the sake of his goals, he had no qualms about using someone’s romantic feelings as a tool.

He was as capable as he was ambitious, making him an excellent senior for an intern to learn from. But he was also deeply narcissistic and wanted everyone to like him. With so many people envying him, he was extremely sensitive about anything he considered his being taken away.

He had no intention of truly committing to anyone, yet he offered just enough encouragement, smiles, and attention to keep them from letting go of hope.

Kim Ju-shin’s description of him as a lowlife fisherman was remarkably accurate.

By then, the once-clear sky had grown slightly overcast. The sun was sinking behind the undulating mountain ridges.

“I wanted to cherish you, Woojung.”

The words were muttered in an ominous voice.

The rose lay abandoned on the concrete, its delicate petals pressed against the ground. It was now little more than trash.