#39
**
Manager Cha, stepping into the conference room alongside Mun Heeseong, looked at Yoo Shinju spinning around in a conference chair, melting into it, the way one would look at a bratty little kid. This advertising meeting was on the larger side. The other party was a conglomerate. Serving as an ad model for conglomerates was something that had happened many times, but this time it was a company that maintained a top-tier ranking even among the conglomerates.
Baekil Group. A place that, without exaggeration, could be said to command every business in South Korea right now. On top of that, the scale and the money on the line were staggering, enough that it wasn't a marketing team-leader-level person but the head office's executive director moving to attend the meeting in person.
Even so, seeing the person in question so utterly relaxed, Manager Cha couldn't help but sigh. On top of that, no matter how much Yoo Shinju was topping the charts, he was the type who drew a lot of gossip, so in a situation where the other party was this big, things weren't unconditionally in their favor.
“They've arrived. Sit up straight.”
Manager Cha shoved aside Yoo Shinju's legs, which he'd even propped up on the desk.
“They sure got here fast.”
Yoo Shinju answered indifferently.
“Heeseong, go buy some coffee, would you?”
Manager Cha handed over the corporate card as he made the request. Mun Heeseong received the card with both hands and left the conference room. Yoo Shinju watched Mun Heeseong, who behaved so courteously and without complaint, for a moment, then deliberately looked away.
Leaving the conference room and heading for the lobby, Mun Heeseong hesitated in front of the café for a moment. He'd run plenty of coffee errands, so choosing from the menu wasn't hard. But an unexpected obstacle appeared. Mun Heeseong, who in truth hadn't been out in the world for very long, actually found quite a few things difficult. The hardest was keeping up with the civilization of this cutting-edge era. Of course, once he'd encountered something a few times he picked it up quickly, but the machine before him was a first-time experience.
“...ki... osk.”
Mun Heeseong mumbled the instructions posted on the little placard. He did press the screen for now, but he was slow, and the line behind him gradually started to grow longer. There was a separate staff member, but with lunchtime nearly upon them they looked busy, so it was hard to call one over. Faced with getting stuck for the first time, Mun Heeseong's expression turned serious. The meeting would start soon, and he needed to get back on time so as not to disrupt it. Thinking about that made him anxious, and it seemed to slow him down even more.
“...Um.”
At that moment, a very cautious voice slipped in. A polite, remarkably neat voice.
“If... it wouldn't be an imposition.”
“...”
“Would it be all right if I helped you?”
At the courteous, well-mannered, thoroughly considerate question, Mun Heeseong flinched. This kind of goodwill and kindness was unfamiliar, and the reaction came out automatically. At his brief hesitation, the other man opened his eyes wide and took a step back.
“...Ah, if you'd rather not...”
“No. Could... you help me?”
Toward the man who was trying to withdraw, worried that he'd overstepped, Mun Heeseong brought out the difficult request. At that, the man smiled gently and skillfully touched the screen.
“Would this be the one you want?”
A calm air, a polite and gentle manner of speech, even a kind gaze. This man was a type of person Mun Heeseong had never seen in his life. Someone full of goodwill with no reason behind it. Someone you could feel that about without even exchanging more than a few words. Uncharacteristically, Mun Heeseong hesitated before nodding.
“...Yes. Thank you.”
“Not at all. If you give me the card, I'll pay.”
Mun Heeseong handed him the card. Receiving the receipt and card the man passed back after smoothly finishing the payment, Mun Heeseong offered his thanks again.
“Thank you.”
“Ah, not at all. It's not like I did anything so impressive.”
“Thanks to you... I didn't get lost.”
“I'm glad. I was a little lost at first too...”
The man hurriedly waved his hand, insisting it was nothing, and replied with a kind smile. Waiting for the coffee side by side, Mun Heeseong couldn't quite rein in his wandering gaze and kept stealing glances. Tidy clothing, a clear-cut impression. Is he an actor with this company? Mun Heeseong wondered for a moment. His looks were striking enough to make one think so. He wasn't a flashy sort of handsome, but he was a man whose clean-cut impression stood out especially.
“...”
“...”
After that, no conversation passed between the two. Mun Heeseong wasn't sociable enough to keep up small talk, and the man didn't seem like the chatty, talkative type either. The word dignified suited him.
The coffees came out almost at the same time. Each of them gathered up four cups all the same, and walked toward the same place. They each showed their pass to the staff all the same, and when they stood in front of the elevator, no matter how they tried not to look at each other, they couldn't help it.
“...Seems we're going the same way.”
Mun Heeseong spoke, rather awkwardly. The man must have found it strange too, because his eyes rolled for a moment before he smiled awkwardly.
“Seems so.”
The moment they boarded the elevator that arrived with a mechanical chime and pressed the floor, the man pressing alongside him stopped short. When their two puzzled gazes met in midair, both of them opened their mouths with rather flustered faces.
“...Are you going to the twelfth floor?”
“Ah, yes.”
With even the floor being the same, an even more sheepish air passed between them. The man drew back, faltering. Mun Heeseong watched the rapidly climbing indicator, then presently gave the man a sidelong glance. There were a few conference rooms on the twelfth floor, but seeing them overlap like this, the thought occurred to him that the man might be an employee on the other party's side.
While he carried on the idle thought that such coincidences did happen, the elevator arrived quickly. The moment the doors opened and he stepped into the hallway, an unfamiliar man who'd been standing in front of the conference room was approaching this way with a face full of irritation. Taller than Mun Heeseong, a build similar to Yoo Shinju's. And a flashily beautiful man whose air was rather different from the man beside him.
He'd thought all his life there was no face prettier than Yoo Shinju's, yet he stopped short for a moment at looks that were no less remarkable. As the man crinkled that fine face like a demon and strode quickly forward, Mun Heeseong instinctively clenched his fist. But the man's aim wasn't him. To be precise, he shoved past Mun Heeseong, who'd come out ahead, without treating him like a person at all, and headed for the man behind him. That fearsome face suddenly went soft, and he shouted as if throwing a tantrum.
“Where did you go?!”
Though he was the bigger of the two, somehow it looked like he was clinging to the kind man, the way one hangs on. Shoved by the man's force, Mun Heeseong ended up spilling all the coffee he was holding. Because of that, coffee splashed onto the man's clothes and soaked them too, yet all his attention was fixed on the kind man.
As always, Mun Heeseong, without any particular reaction, indifferently brushed off his soaked hands and clothes.
“Oh, what do we do... Are you all right?”
But while the very man who'd shoved him showed no interest, it was the kind man who hurried over with a flustered face. He quickly pulled a handkerchief from his coat and dabbed at Mun Heeseong's wet clothes.
“I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry.”
At a loss, the kind man bowed at the waist over and over.
“What are you doing right now.”
But finding that sight extremely displeasing, the beautiful man forcibly pulled his bowing companion upright.
“Why are you bowing your head?”
“...Haejeong.”
“And who told you to go buy coffee. I told you to stop doing this kind of thing.”
The beautiful man snatched the coffee from his companion's hands and threw it into a nearby trash can.
“Come on, that's...”
At the man's act of just chucking it away, the kind man clutched his forehead as if his head hurt.
“Secretary Ju handles all of that. You know that...”
“You think I called you over to do errand-boy grunt work?”
“He's sick, what am I supposed to do. I'm the one who agreed to cover just the field work today...”
“So stay glued to my side, then. Vanishing like that. And not even answering your phone!”
“Ah... I had it on silent, so I didn't know. Sorry.”
“Answer my calls no matter what happens. Answer even if you've got no hands. Answer even if you're dead.”
“Just calm down, Haejeong...”
At the man's utterly unreasonable attitude, the kind man was at a loss and looked troubled, then, meeting Mun Heeseong's eyes, apologized politely again.
“I'm truly sorry.”
“Im Munyeong.”
“Haejeong, he got all soaked because of you...”
“I got soaked too!”
“You pushed him.”
When the man called Im Munyeong calmly soothed him, the other looked full of complaints but soon shut his mouth. Then he ran a long, rather violent gaze over Mun Heeseong.
He'd shown behavior in which not a shred of decorum or manners could be found, yet his appearance was more refined than anyone's. A well-tailored suit, dress shoes on his feet, neatly styled hair. Anyone could tell he was clearly upper class, yet in him not a speck of formality could be found. Just like a certain someone...
“How much do you want.”
Before the thought could even land, the man tossed out the words bluntly. At the disjointed remark, Mun Heeseong thought for a moment, then silently just brushed off his clothes.
“...No. It's fine.”
Just from his appearance, one could tell tactfully that he was someone high up, so Mun Heeseong merely stepped back the way he always did.
“don't go changing your story behind my back later. Say it.”
At the man's rude behavior, a strange sense of déjà vu came over him. He really did seem just like someone...
“...I said it's fine, so...”
Mun Heeseong replied vaguely, as if it were a bother, and picked up the spilled takeout cups. Such tyranny had no effect on Mun Heeseong at all. If anything, it was annoying at most, but never something that made him feel humiliated. He was only wondering whether he'd have to go back again since the coffee had all spilled, when, at that very moment, the closed conference room door clicked open.
