Chapter 27: Story 3. Chapter 27.
Shin Kim was printing out the documents relevant to the meeting he had with Seulgi today. Meetings with other marketing companies could be tedious and stressful. The creators often talked too much, and their presentations were usually of low quality.
Team Leader Soojin grabbed her forehead with a grimace and gestured Seulgi and Shin to prepare a request form. It appeared that they were going to be working late tonight.
Shin looked at the photocopier blankly when suddenly, Seulgi asked him, “Did you have a fight with Assistant Manager Woojin?”
“… Pardon?”
This wasn’t the first time he was asked this question, so it wasn’t that Shin was surprised. The workplace was a funny thing. Everyone seemed uninterested in each other, but they constantly gossiped about one another. Shin felt tired, so when he sighed, Seulgi looked up at him. She wasn’t wearing much makeup, and it made her look younger and more innocent.
She mentioned, “My neck hurts because I keep having to look up to talk to you. You are very tall.”
“I will take that as a compliment.”
“I meant you are unnecessarily tall.”
Seulgi was one of the rare people who seemed to dislike Shin Kim. Everyone usually liked him, both women and men. He was a popular guy. He knew very well that it was mostly because of his good looks, and also his social skills.
But Seulgi was a bit different. Ever since Shin had his first lunch with Woojin, he could feel an obvious dislike from her. The only person Seulgi looked at with warmth was Woojin Choi. Shin thought that her distant and cold nature was both her strength and weakness.
Shin replied, “You are very nosy and blunt, aren’t you?”
“I was just stating the facts.”
“I meant that I didn’t have a fight with Assistant Manager Woojin Choi.”
Shin and Woojin never acted familiarly with each other in front of other people in the office. All they did was have lunch a few times, but it seemed that their co-workers were very curious about their relationship.
Seulgi frowned as she grabbed the copies and stapled them together. Shin looked at her and pushed his hair back in annoyance. It was getting hot in the copy room.
Seulgi said to him, “I have never seen Assistant Manager Woojin let someone spend time with him.”
“…”
“I meant it as a compliment.”
“But he lets Assistant Manager Jihoon Kang hang around him too.”
Whenever Shin saw Jihoon smile at Woojin, he felt his stomach twisting into an ugly knot. Jihoon was good-looking and had great fashion sense. He was rather popular with everyone as well.
Shin hated the fact that Jihoon showed so much care towards Woojin. For example, today at lunch. After that night they met at the lobby, Shin asked Woojin several times to have lunch together, but Woojin rejected him every time. According to Yeonwoo, Woojin was under a lot of stress because of work. But today at lunch, he was walking with his colleagues outside the office when he spotted Woojin and Jihoon at the rice porridge restaurant.
Jihoon Kang was smiling at Woojin happily, and it made Shin very angry.
He was jealous.
‘I can’t believe I’m feeling this way…’
He wasn’t a child anymore, but he still couldn’t help feeling impatient.
Seulgi asked, “I didn’t realize that men can be possessive of each other as well, huh?”
“…”
“I don’t know why you brought up Assistant Manager Jihoon Kang just now.”
“I was just making a point that I’m not getting special treatment from Assistant Manager Woojin Choi.”
Shin realized that he made a mistake; he suddenly felt very cold. When he looked hurt, Seulgi said to him, “In Assistant Manager Jihoon’s case, it’s more like a one-sided love.”
“…”
Sometimes, people’s unconscious choice of words could be surprisingly and unintentionally accurate. Shin’s eyebrows furrowed; he didn’t mean to do that, but he couldn’t help it. It was becoming a bad habit to show his emotions so easily.
Seulgi explained, “It has been like this since they first started working here. Assistant Manager Woojin isn’t a very noticeable or memorable person.”
“… Really?”
Shin thought to himself, ‘Isn’t he actually someone who stands out a lot?’
At least to Shin’s eyes, Woojin was very conspicuous. Perhaps at first it was because of the way Woojin stared at him, but not anymore. Whenever Woojin was nearby, Shin felt strange. The round shape of Woojin’s head… Slim line of his shoulders… Everything about him grabbed Shin’s attention. Woojin was definitely his type.
Woojin often wore dark-colored suits. As if it were custom made, the clothes fit him perfectly. Shin knew these were off the rack, yet they still looked like they were made especially for Woojin’s slender body.
Seulgi continued, “And Assistant Manager Kang is the opposite. He is very noticeable, so I think the fact that they seemed to be friends surprised everyone…”
“…”
“Ever since the beginning, Assistant Manager Kang took care of Assistant Manager Choi. When Assistant Manager Kang moved to the policy department from another team, there was even a rumor that he did it for Assistant Manager Woojin.”
“That sounds like an obsession.”
Seulgi laughed at his words. She asked, “You know what there is a business trip that requires someone to travel abroad next week, right?”
“Yes.”
“You should ask our team leader to send you.”
“…Pardon?”
He did see the notice of looking for a volunteer. It appeared that the policy department asked someone from the marketing team to accompany them. When Shin’s eyes widened, Seulgi began to walk back to their room and replied, “I have a feeling there will be a lot of female workers in the meetings that will take place on this trip.”
“And what does that have to do with anything?”
“Just do a good job. Make sure you get us a lot of new clients.”
Seulgi smiled at him, but she still looked somewhat bitter. Shin was confused. He didn’t know what to make of this. All he could do was grab the rest of the copies and return to his seat.