Chapter 22

When they went to buy lunch at the cafe on the 1st floor, unlike the impatient and foolish Seung-Jae who would always gulp his drink down before he even got back to his seat, Na-Yool had planned to slowly savor it at her desk after she neatly ate her sandwich. But for some reason, she was nervous.

“So, did you hear? How much? What? Where?”

“I told you, I did not hear anything. I just saw you.”

“……”

“If I did, I wouldn’t be asking. Why would I want to hear it twice?”

She’s acting weirder that usual… Seung-Jae mumbled to himself but he feared that Na-Yool might hear him, so he closed his mouth.

However Na-Yool had no time to scold her subordinate for his insolence. Her mind was too busy repeating at least 20 times how fortunate it was.

“Well done.”

Seung-Jae squinted his eyes as he was unsure how to interpret her compliment. He stared at Na-Yool with suspicion – she had on a wild, fake smile.

“From now on too, keep living with your ears closed, Seung-Jae.”

“What? For real, what is it?”

“Nothing, really. What does the President always call me to discuss? Don’t you know best?”

“ ‘Did you use Paint to make this?’ ”

“That’s what he asks you, you idiot.”

“I’m sorry. We always hear it together, so I got confused.”

“Anyway, that guy, every time he sees me…” A weird image briefly scaring her not to talk more flashed in her head once again, but she decided to forget it.

What was I doing in front of that kid, really…

“…he is either abusive or spiteful. That’s all there is to it.”

“Well, maybe the President is acting this way because Ms. Na-Yool is particularly trustworthy… who knows.”

Without any knowledge of how dirty her mind was right now, Seung-Jae looked at Na-Yool with naive eyes. The casual lunchtime conversation had quickly turned into a soppy, comforting session.

“After all, it is all thanks to you that our team is doing great despite Mrs. Kang-Hee and Mrs. Ye-Eun’s absence.”

At least he knew. How unexpected of that artistic albatross…

Na-Yool looked at Seung-Jae with a puzzled expression. As he interpreted her staring into who-knows-what kind of meaning, Seung-Jae put his hand on her shoulder with an even more serious face.

“You handled the work of three people all by yourself…”

Including you, it’s actually four though…

As Seung-Jae endlessly sympathized with her, Na-Yool kept the words to herself, but it was true nonetheless. In any case, the conversation flow was not bad. At this rate, Seung-Jae would soon forget about the incongruous scene of Kwon Si-Jin and her standing side by side.

“Of course, you tend to be a bit conservative, so your designs can sometimes lack appeal but…”

No doubt the Na-Yool from Friday night would have snorted at the mention of ‘conservative’ and just let it go. The current Na-Yool sighed and glared at the conceited artist who slammed her in a roundabout way.

Surely, it had never crossed his mind that it was all thanks to this ‘lack of appeal’ that even his work could be stomached.

“… but I sometimes really respect you.”

“… What exactly is it that you ‘sometimes respect’?”

“The fact that you don’t look like it but give your all to get things done. That kind of… tenacity? Resolved spirit?”

“Seung-Jae… You’re comforting me right now, right?”

“You covered for me when I messed up.”

“That’s right.”

“You stayed up all night in my stead to work on the proposal rejected by the President.”

“I did. You really have a lot to thank me for.”

As Seung-Jae nodded silently, Na-Yool burst into laughter and tapped his hand that rested on her shoulder.

“… Ms. Na-Yool, thanks to me you got a lot of incentive so you should be thankf…”

“Thank you for nothing. I don’t even have time to spend said incentive.”

“At times like this, we should end it nicely thanking each other.”

“Why should I thank you when I’m grateful for nothing? How can you be so shameless?”

Na-Yool shook her head and slapped his hand off her shoulder. Seung-Jae flinched and grabbed it in pain.

“Ow! It hurts.”

“Zip it.”

“Isn’t this workplace violence? From a senior to a subordinate…”

“Lee Seung-Jae, you’re still rambling. Again.”

“Even if I ramble, I’m good-looking. And that’s all there is to it.” answered Seung-Jae insolently as he entered the office, and he clung to Na-Yool. His nice and cheeky smile suited a student more than a company employee.