Chapter 59

Every time she leaned down to inspect lower, she would halt, struck with growing doubt at how comical she might look. But she was far from being done, and what could she do about it anyway.

Although she had no choice but to look for her belongings naked, she felt a clear sense of shame at her own predicament. And even more so as she did not find any of them.

“……”

Out of options, Na-Yool opened the dressing room and picked out a T-shirt that did not look expensive. Wearing the T-shirt on, she examined the inside of the dressing room in awe. Everything was perfectly ordered to a tee as if arranged by a machine. Even if a housekeeper did the cleaning, there was no trace of a person handling it carelessly. Na-Yool clicked her tongue at the cold bloodedness of her boss.

The sight was fitting of a merciless pervert. Or rather, the excessive neatness reinforced the pervy image she had of him… To Na-Yool, who every single day had to come back to her messy studio way smaller than this room after working overtime, this lifestyle truly felt stern.

“You’re already up?”

“……”

“I thought you would sleep until tomorrow.”

Somehow, the ‘already’ in his question sounded like a ‘finally’. Na-Yool wondered if the reason she now heard Si-Jin’s words differently was because of her ears, or because they were twisted in the first place.

Concluding it might be a bit of both, she was about to leave the bedroom when she stopped and turned around. Si-Jin, sitting at the table while looking at his tablet PC, was not even paying attention to her.

“…What about my clothes?”

“In the washing machine.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It indeed seemed that a fairly loud noise of the machine in its drying stage could be heard in the distance. Stopped in her tracks just as she was ready to snap at him and ask where he had hidden them, Na-Yool replied awkwardly.

“……There was no need to. Thank you.”

“It reeked of cigarette smell.”

“Ah, it must have.” Na-Yool confirmed spiritless, as the smell probably had impregnated her clothes at the bar.

Her gaze wandered for a moment, taken aback by this thoughtful yet unusual and unnecessary kindness, and finally settled down. Strangely, she could not even look at Si-Jin’s face. And that, despite the fact that he was not even looking her way either.

“So I reported it.”

“What?”

At Na-Yool’s astonished interjection, the eyes scanning the tablet PC slowly shifted towards her. She flinched again, rooted on her spot. Ah, that perceptive monster. Her own gaze slid sideways. It was hard enough to look at him when he was not looking at her, let alone now that he was!

……But a report? Did he just say he reported it?

“It was such a big business, yet there was not a single ‘no-smoking indoor’ sign in sight, assholes were smoking at every table like it’s normal while the employees just let it slide. They probably wanted to be reported, else why would they.”

“……”

“So I did them the favor.”

His words carried a falsely considerate follow-up, something along the line of “since they so desperately ask for it…”, or maybe “they were in a pinch, so what else should I have done?”. Together with a contemptuous smile.

It was not a bad thing, he was not wrong either, and for that matter it could even be considered a good deed in the public interest. Nevertheless, Na-Yool could not help but picture words floating around his smug face and be conscious of how unsuitable they were.

Kwon Si-Jin, civil complaint, report to local authorities… She did not dare imagine that rascal filling a complaint with the Dasan Call Center (T/N: Seoul’s citizens helpline to file civil complaints)

However the rascal himself did not seem to find it incongruous.

Na-Yool replied awkwardly:

“…That, it was a wise decision, Mr. President. But on which accusation…?”

“Even if these bastards want to die happily after smoking anywhere as they freaking please, is there any reason for me to let them reduce my lifespan?”

“There is not. There isn’t, but…”

His damn vulgarity despite making the face of an extremely mature man resurfaced, not giving her a chance to forget about it. Na-Yool discarded it with a usual discomfort, and suddenly recalled an ironic fact.

“…Did you not use to smoke as well before, Mr. President?”

Not recently, but in the past. She was convinced she had seen him several times standing in the smoking room of the building where Ethical Communications was located. Si-Jin’s expression was one of someone wondering how on earth did she know about it, so Na-Yool elaborated.

“I have seen you a few times in the building’s smoking room.”

“You sure have a great memory.”

Did it instead sound like a “you sure have a great interest in me” because of her guilty conscience regarding her past unrequited love, or did it have no deeper meaning? Fearing that she might voice her thoughts out loud, she tried her best not to think about anything. Fortunately, Si-Jin did not pay any mind, as though he did not mean anything special.

“It’s been quite a long time since I quit smoking. And even when I was, I did not smoke where it wasn’t allowed.”

“Still, since you were a smoker before, if it was not for me, you would not have felt so bothered by it, so why…”

The following of her words was obviously “why do you have to go to such lengths”, or “as an ex-smoker, do you really have any right to file a complaint”, and Si-Jin was very well aware of it. He raised his eyebrows along with a sidelong look.

“Isn’t it illegal?”

When will you realize these words do not suit you, Mr. President. And the ineluctable sense of incongruity felt by the one hearing them…

“…You have unexpectedly great concern in the public interest, don’t y‒…”

“And it pisses me off.”

The clear-cut additional argument briefly left Na-Yool at a loss for words.

“Seeing bastards smoking makes my stomach churn.”

“But you were a smoker too bef‒…”

“So my stomach fucking hurt.”

“What?”

“Therefore, I report it without fail.”

I can’t smoke, so how dare you smoke in a public place? Ah, such selfishness of preventing other jerks from smoking since he could not do so himself, shining brightly under the pretense of public contribution!

Si-Jin again beamed a smile, with the same expression of one’s being satisfyingly done with getting rid of troublesome things. His usual naughty spirit and wickedness were sparkling through.

“From now on, be pickier about where you drink. Either go to a nice place that will not fill up your nose with such a filthy smell, or drink at home safely. Of all places, why do you have to be a regular customer of this kind of dump.”

“……”

“Actually, just drink at home. You’re so helplessly stupid and defenseless when you’re drunk, it’s too easy to eat you up.” While saying so, Si-Jin’s sharp eyes simultaneously fell on her exposed legs. Strangely enough, standing in front of him made her feel like an herbivore in a documentary. Basically, a prey that was about to get devoured.

Forgetting even about her previous bewilderment, Na-Yool once again swiftly avoided his eyes.

“…I usually don’t have time to go to places like that after work. Thanks to someone.”

“Who was that busy person who actually made time to have a dinner party?”

“That, it was not me who wanted to go—”

“Call it a ‘team dinner party’, but isn’t it just you and that bastard? Is your subordinate the one taking decisions for you?”

“There was a reason for it. But how do you know about it?”

“Do you think that’s all I know?”

“…Then what else?”

“So you two are dating?  It’s quite the talk in the company.”

“Excuse me, what?”

Si-Jin shrugged his shoulders and walked to the kitchen. Na-Yool strode behind him. Without looking back, he continued:

“Anyway, next time I won’t go anywhere you say you’re going. I would rather choose it myself. At least I’ve got a better eye for things.”

“Wherever that is, there will be no more reason to go to that kind of place together. Yesterday I really just lost my mind… but that’s not the problem.”

“You sure jump ship easily.” Si-Jin observed lightly with a faint but not quite sarcastic tone. Na-Yool paused in perplexity. Talking with him, the conversation always ended up jumping off topic.