Episode 187. End of the Short-Term Project
“Chief! No, Director! Congratulations on your promotion!”
“Thank you. I'll be counting on you going forward, Team Leader Seon.”
The two leads shook hands. Everyone around them applauded in celebration.
A crisp call of “cut” rang out. It was the finale of *In My Office*, which had traced a tumultuous love curve like a stock graph.
A happy ending for all. Everyone got promoted, everyone got married, and My Asset Management had risen to become the number one company in the industry.
Not a bad level of completion. Though how much the editing would support it was another matter entirely.
And so today, having wrapped filming all the way to the final scene, the entire production crew of *In My Office* moved to a meat restaurant.
Getting this many people seated all at once wasn’t easy.
Once the venue was finally set in order, the chief director raised his glass.
“Everyone! Anyone without a glass? Grab yours quickly!”
The table became busy. Ordinarily, the youngest—me—would be filling soju glasses to the brim, but a familiar hand entered my field of vision.
Gu Jahwan was sitting next to me.
I tried to get up smoothly, saying I’d go fill some glasses, but from afar, the director’s toast rang out.
“I’ll lead the toast. To our stocks!”
“To the upper limit!”
The brief toast wishing for stocks to hit the upper limit ended, and glasses began clinking from all directions.
This is somehow similar to the Hanpyeong Industries toast. “Let our company go bankrupt!” was the line. For the record, I made that one up.
Moving seats seemed out of the question, so I gave up on everything and toasted with the people at our table.
“Iwol, you worked hard on your first project.”
“Not at all, everyone took such good care of me that I was able to adjust quickly!”
The senior team members under Team Leader Ji filled my glass to the brim. They must love me too much. It’s overflowing, really.
*Still, Gu Jahwan is the lead. Isn’t it a bit off that they’re taking care of me first?*
In a situation where I couldn’t help but be mindful of others, I threw caution to the wind and downed the soju in one go. The alcohol scent stung my nose.
“You sure did.”
As I carefully tried to set down my glass, Gu Jahwan spoke.
And he thrust the bottle opening toward me.
“Iwol, you worked hard.”
Encouragement?
From Gu Jahwan? To me?
He’s not the type to care about what people think.
Until recently, he’d acted like he’d die if he couldn’t pick a fight with me, but lately he’d been strangely avoiding making trouble. Maybe even he realized he’d crossed the line.
“You don’t want to drink with me?”
“Not at all. I’ll gladly accept!”
Gu Jahwan filled my glass. To about the three-quarters mark. A glass just right for give-and-take, with no malice behind it.
“May I pour you one as well?”
“Sure.”
Gu Jahwan emptied the remaining soju and held out his glass. I filled it to the same proper amount in return.
With alcohol flowing, people quickly grew rowdy. Only I grilled the meat with part-timer-like skill amidst the strange atmosphere.
It was Ha Seomyeong, who had come from another table to greet us, who broke the awkward silence.
“So our team members were all here! Thank you all so much for your hard work!”
“Seomyeong, where were you? Our whole team was here, and we almost felt slighted that you were the only one missing.”
“I sat at a table with my family. No matter what, family comes before work, right?”
“Ah, that table didn’t take their son-in-law Ji or something!”
“Don’t even mention it. That man cheated with someone from work and is on the verge of divorce.”
Off-the-record jokes flew back and forth nonstop. Only the (former) Ji family son-in-law, the prospective adulterer Gu Jahwan, quietly picked at his meat.
“Our youngest, Iwol, worked hard too! Now that I won’t see you often, what should I do about my disappointment? Do I have to wait until Spark’s comeback?”
“Oh, then we’ll have to make a comeback quickly.”
“Promote on music shows for about eight weeks. You have to ride the drama buff.”
Ha Seomyeong said with a serious face. Truly an industry senior. He knows well how not to miss an opportunity.
“Would you like a drink too, Gu Jahwan?”
Ha Seomyeong asked his partner, who had caused quite a lot of trouble but had at least wrapped things up properly in the end.
“Let’s.”
Everyone applauded the和解 shot—not of friendship, but of reconciliation—between the main couple.
That man Gu Jahwan has finally come to his senses. Feeling oddly satisfied, I tossed back another glass of soju.
* * *
The company dinner was long. Really, really long. Perhaps because I’d grown accustomed to sending off Spark—which had minors in the group—early ever since becoming an idol, it took some time to adjust to a company dinner racing toward dawn.
“Iwol, you’re holding up well?”
“I’m drinking slowly, that’s all. Are you alright, Assistant Director?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
The assistant director struggled to pick up noodles with a single chopstick. It looked like another person would be sent home soon.
In my head, I wanted to go home too.
No one was forcing me to drink. But the problem was that ever since I’d gone home midway from a company dinner only to get a U-turn call from Department Head Nam, my legs refused to move whenever I tried to leave early.
The food was tasty, but since I was putting on muscle, I couldn’t eat freely. So all I could do was drink at a moderate pace and put in face time—make my presence known.
When I thought about how I connected with Nyuri so that Jeong Seongbin could appear on Nae Ga Jang, how Polo took a liking to me so I got to appear on the radio, and how Ha Seomyeong took care of me more often at Teacher Eun’s request…
…my conclusion was that since I never knew what opportunity might come next, I had to keep putting in face time.
So far, so good. My tolerance meant I wouldn’t get knocked out by alcohol, and quite a few people had left already.
The problem was….
“Iwol, you’re a heavy drinker.”
“Is that so? I haven’t been to many drinking gatherings, so I wouldn’t know, haha.”
“Are you going to the third round too?”
“If my seniors go, I have to go too!”
…the fact that Gu Jahwan had been pointlessly clinging to me since earlier.
I had no idea why he was doing this. It makes people uncomfortable.
*Looks like he’s had a lot to drink.*
His face was flushed, and he kept subtly making conversation, but since I couldn’t figure out his intentions, it only grated on me.
*If I ask whether he’s going to the third round, he’ll throw a fit asking why he’s my senior. If I don’t ask, he’ll curse at me for ignoring a senior who asked….*
Caught between a rock and a hard place. I was thinking of just pretending to be drunk and collapsing when Gu Jahwan fell quiet.
After hesitating for quite a while, Gu Jahwan finally spoke.
“Follow me.”
With those words, Gu Jahwan left the restaurant.
I thought he’d reformed, but was he calling me out to pick a fight again? Or to threaten me to never set foot in the industry again?
Either way, it didn’t matter. After experiencing Department Head Nam and Yu Hansu, fear no longer existed for me.
I gave Ha Seomyeong a heads-up, saying, “Senior Jahwan called for me, so I’ll step out for a moment,” and headed outside.
Gu Jahwan, who had been smoking, saw me come out and asked.
“You smoke?”
“No.”
“You look like a heavy smoker, though.”
I’d heard that a lot. Though more people said I looked like I’d smoke cigars rather than cigarettes, but I didn’t know what the difference was anyway, so forget it.
Hearing that I was a non-smoker, Gu Jahwan stubbed out his cigarette on the floor.
Just then, a van pulled into the alley.
The passenger window rolled down, and someone revealed their face.
“Jahwan, have you been waiting long?”
“Not really. Just open the car door.”
It seemed to be Gu Jahwan’s manager.
He was probably going to put me in the car and dump me somewhere.
I should have quit jujitsu classes as soon as possible. Or followed Choi Jeho to action school at least….
“Iwol.”
Unlike me, who was hesitating and bracing myself, Gu Jahwan first leaned his upper body into the car.
Then he rummaged inside and took something out, handing it to me.
“Take this.”
It was a structured shopping bag.
*Is this one of those… fill this bag with cash if you don’t want to be forcibly boarded onto a distant-water fishing vessel?*
But if that were the case, there was something inside.
I opened it, extremely wary, to find a top and bottom of clothing individually wrapped in plastic.
“Why this….”
“You threw away your pants.”
A certain day suddenly came to mind. The day Gu Jahwan had sent me on a meaningless errand and the remaining drink had soaked the hems of my pants.
I peered into the heavy shopping bag and asked.
“But there’s a top here too?”
“The staff said it suits you and gave it to me like that. Just wear it.”
So, is this an apology right now? An apology for sending me on that useless errand that day?
“I was going to give it to you when you went home, but the kid drinks too well for his age.”
So that was why he’d interrogated me about whether I was going to the third round.
I had thought he wasn’t the type to stay at company dinners, but he’d stayed oddly long.
The material looked expensive, but I didn’t bother to voice it. I was the one receiving an apology, and I had no desire to put on false modesty.
“Yes, I’ll wear it well.”
“Good.”
Gu Jahwan answered while staring at the distant mountains. He looked awkward.
Gu Jahwan said he’d go say his goodbyes and exchanged a few words with the manager.
In the meantime, out of habit, I picked up the cigarette Gu Jahwan had stubbed out.
“What are you doing? It’s dirty.”
“It’s fine, it’s just a habit.”
Of course, it’d be most ideal if the one who threw it away picked it up. But I didn’t want to be the type to walk past something that could cause a fire.
“Give it here.”
“What?”
“I said give it, I’ll take it and throw it away!”
Gu Jahwan snatched the butt from my hand. Then he stomped briskly into the restaurant, and somehow managed to say his goodbyes and come back out with his coat in just thirty seconds.
Without so much as a goodbye, Gu Jahwan got in the car and left.
I stared blankly at the shopping bag in my hand.
I’d received an apology from someone who had no promotion on the line, hadn’t been publicly criticized, and wasn’t afraid of future repercussions. He had realized his mistake and acted of his own volition.
*So they do exist. People who know how to reflect.*
I was surprised. The feeling was strange.
But I didn’t hate it.
If the story had ended here, it would have been truly beautiful and happy, but unfortunately, the ill-fated relationship between Gu Jahwan and me did not end in front of the meat restaurant.
Because Jeong Seongbin, who was sharp about clothing brands, recognized the price of the clothes I’d received and turned pale like someone having a choking fit.
“Is this an expensive brand? I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s very expensive. It’s a brand that entered Korea around the year before last, and the price of one pair of socks here is….”
Hearing Jeong Seongbin’s muttering, I called Gu Jahwan directly.
And without pausing for breath, I said, “Yes, Gu Jahwan? I believe a pair of gold-plated pants has arrived, but the pants I wore that day were ordinary ones. I’m not someone who seeks great gain from small opportunities, so I will return them.”
I’d assumed he’d bought something at a level that wouldn’t be regrettable for a celebrity’s finances. I was the one receiving the apology, so I thought there was no need to fawn over it, saying “Oh my, such nice clothes….”
But this wasn’t it. The price of the clothes exceeded my common sense. If I didn’t set this straight immediately, it would definitely cause trouble later.
— I figured you’d do this, so I removed all the tags. Just wear them.
“If you give me your account number, I’ll….”
— You’d buy those pants with your own money? Would you even wear them?
I couldn’t. Maybe if I dressed Choi Jeho in them for his commute once in a while.
— Sleep.
The call ended.
Leaving behind the heavy scent of alcohol and an expensive new set of clothes, *In My Office* came to an end just like that.
Kim Daeri Hates Idols