7. Current (1)
Friday morning had finally dawned. Though the long, endless week was drawing to a close, the shadows under Mun Dawon’s eyes had only grown darker.
Two nights ago, Seo Eungyu’s lips had appeared in her dream, biting and sucking at hers, and last night, she’d dreamed of being chased by a voice whispering desperately.
“Haaaahm…….”
Even so, a massive yawn burst from her; despite her diligence in getting to work by half past seven. In the empty office, she yawned to her heart’s content without bothering to cover her mouth, then gulped down a coffee with an extra shot.
While checking the emails that had piled up overnight, her eyes suddenly turned toward the office entrance. Beyond the opaque automatic door, a familiar silhouette was visible.
The door slid wide open to both sides, and Seo Eungyu entered, carrying the cold wind on his coat. The man stared holes into her as he cut across the partitions toward her.
It was Mun Dawon who broke their silent exchange of gazes first. She bowed her head slightly in greeting, then turned back to her monitor. Whether from the dream’s influence, her heart beat faster than when she was alone.
“Have you eaten breakfast?”
The tender voice coming from right beside her rang unusually loud in the quiet office, making her want to shrink into her collar. Seo Eungyu’s unpredictable attitude weighed heavily on her shoulders.
She was exhausted.
“I ate—”
“I know you didn’t.”
Mun Dawon forced strength into her eyes, heavy with drowsiness, and shot a glare at the seat beside her. The man smiled as if he’d expected as much.
“You never eat breakfast.”
“Don’t speak informally to me.”
“Making a fuss over nothing.”
Having removed his coat, he rested his arm on the headrest of her chair. The man’s sudden closeness made her posture go rigid.
“Let’s go eat breakfast together, Deputy-nim.”
“Where could we go at this hour?”
She pulled her chair forward and asked back sullenly. She could distinctly feel the gaze boring into the back of her head.
“The cafeteria.”
“I don’t usually eat breakfast.”
“But you ate things like cereal and toast at the training center.”
He remembered every little thing. Mun Dawon only pouted her lips and didn’t reply. Ignoring him was the best course of action.
“I heard they started serving simple sandwiches for breakfast this week too. Let’s go down together and eat.”
It was tempting news. But she didn’t want to eat with Seo Eungyu.
“I’m a bit busy. Please go eat by yourself, Section Chief-nim.”
The man standing behind her bent at the waist to peer at her monitor. His face was right beside hers. The bridge of his nose, a sharp straight line, and his red lips were visible from the corner of her eye. She held her breath.
“Understood.”
Seo Eungyu, seemingly convinced by her excuse, stepped back neatly. She watched him grab his employee ID and slip out of the office again. Only after confirming his retreating figure could she finally exhale deeply.
Mun Dawon took a sip of coffee and furrowed her brows. The strong caffeine kept flowing into her empty stomach, bringing a stinging sensation. Perhaps it felt worse because Seo Eungyu had mentioned toast just earlier. On top of that, she seemed to be slightly hungry.
Her gaze moved to the clock at the bottom of her monitor.
* * *
Ten minutes later, Mun Dawon craned her neck and looked around at the cafeteria entrance. Seo Eungyu was nowhere in sight, perhaps having already eaten and left. A man of his large build was impossible to miss, so she decided to eat at ease from now on.
After tapping her employee ID at the kiosk, she broke into a bright smile the moment she reached the serving counter. Besides Korean food, ham and cheese toast, salad, cereal, and scorched rice porridge were all prepared. Just looking at the filling spread made her want to pledge loyalty to the company.
Having taken cereal and scorched rice porridge too, she carried the heavy tray to a corner and settled in. Today, her stomach wouldn’t growl before it even turned eleven.
“Looks like your busy work is already done?”
A tray with Korean food was placed across from Mun Dawon, who had just been about to raise her spoon. Her face beginning to flush, she slowly lifted her gaze.
Seo Eungyu raised an eyebrow and sat down across from her. His sharp eyes swept over the food filling her tray.
“I ran into the planning team leader on the way to the cafeteria and was chatting when I saw Deputy-nim walking quite energetically.”
While he took a spoonful of bean sprout doenjang stew, she only stared at the surface of the golden-brown toasted bread. Her ears burned.
“You seemed to be looking for someone in front of the cafeteria. It wasn’t me, was it?”
“It wasn’t.”
Having quickly denied it, Mun Dawon scooped up her cereal before it got soggy. To keep Seo Eungyu from speaking to her, she also crunched away at lettuce and eagerly ate the buttered toast. Finally, she warmed her stomach with scorched rice porridge.
“I didn’t know you liked scorched rice porridge too.”
She had been drinking straight from the soup bowl and set it down with a hollow cough. Forget when she’d said she didn’t eat breakfast—she’d eaten so ferociously she might have been starving for days. Her skirt felt tight enough to make her waist uncomfortable.
“All done?”
“Yes.”
They returned their trays to the dish station and left the cafeteria side by side. But since it was the time when more employees were arriving for work, Mun Dawon walked one step apart so as not to appear as though she were accompanying Seo Eungyu.
He turned his head and looked at her with eyes harboring a faint smile. She avoided his gaze by pretending to admire the paintings on the wall. Perhaps eating even the scorched rice porridge had been too much; her stomach churned.
“Oh, Sunbae-nim!”
Jeong Juhwan, an assistant manager waiting for the elevator, spotted her and ran over waving. She greeted him while glancing at her superior, who had been unintentionally snubbed.
“You’re early today.”
“I applied for flexible hours today.”
Mun Dawon signaled frantically with her eyes for him to greet his superior, but the junior only grinned cluelessly. How could he not see this large man?
The smile in Seo Eungyu’s eyes as he watched from behind deepened. That look wasn’t entirely warm, making her want to stomp hard on her junior’s foot. The junior who’d been thoroughly scolded just yesterday was digging his own grave once again.
“Sunbae-nim, aren’t you going up to Seoul this week either? I managed to get totally impossible-to-find musical tickets—”
“Section Chief, you’ll be taking the stairs, right?”
She had no choice but to cut Jeong Juhwan off. Seo Eungyu’s eyes widened slightly for a moment. Soon, a smile rose to his face, contrasting with the dark-colored hallway tiles.
“Yes, let’s do that. Hello, Assistant Manager Jeong Juhwan.”
“Ah, hello, Section Chief-nim…….”
Jeong Juhwan greeted him in a shrinking voice. He had no tact but was basically kind, so she felt sorry for him again seeing his sulking expression.
They walked toward the emergency stairs beside the elevator. As she followed behind Jeong Juhwan, Seo Eungyu suddenly cut in front.
“Deputy-nim, you go in the back.”
“Excuse me?”
Mun Dawon turned around with a bewildered face. Jeong Juhwan, herself, and Seo Eungyu had been about to climb the stairs in a line when her superior sent her to the very back.
What on earth is this…….
The man placed his hand on Jeong Juhwan’s backpack and tapped it as if to tell him to go. The junior looked back with a confused face, but there wasn’t much she could do either.
The junior and superior went up the stairs in turn. Seo Eungyu stood at the very back and gestured with his eyes toward her lower body. Her gaze followed.
My lower half? Was he talking about her skirt?
She looked down and gasped sharply. The skirt was knee-length, but a run in her black stockings stretched from behind her knee to her thigh.
Mun Dawon nodded to show him she understood. She bit her lip and climbed to the third floor with awkward steps. And the moment she arrived at the office, she took out the spare stockings she’d kept in her drawer and rushed to the restroom.
Why did so many embarrassing things happen in front of Seo Eungyu? She let out deep sighs as she changed her stockings. She clearly wasn’t compatible with him. Otherwise, these things couldn’t keep happening to her one after another.
She sincerely hoped the torn stockings would be the last incident of the week. She earnestly wished to hole up in her warm home and sleep soundly through the weekend.
* * *
To prevent the misfortune of being urgently called into work over the weekend, Mun Dawon raised her concentration to the maximum until just before leaving work. Thanks to that, she was able to pass through the company main gate before six-thirty.
Since most employees who had come down to the Innovation City returned to Seoul on Fridays, the parking lot of the studio where she lived was completely empty. She finished parking leisurely and came up to her room at 6:58.
“Maybe I’ll have chicken for the first time in a while.”
Without even changing, she plopped down on the room floor and opened the delivery app on her phone. Since it was Friday evening and deliveries were bound to be backed up, she needed to order in advance.
Just then, her phone suddenly vibrated. Startled, she nearly dropped it. A name that should not have appeared at this time showed up at the top of the screen.
[Section Chief Seo Eungyu]
“Huh, why, what the…….”
While Mun Dawon hesitated, the vibration stopped. No message arrived telling her to call back. She forgot her hunger and stared blankly at the darkened screen. Her face, half its makeup worn off, reflected palely.
I shouldn’t ignore my superior’s call though…….
Ahem. She coughed a few times and brightened the screen again. After tapping the screen a few times, she pressed firmly on Seo Eungyu’s number in the missed call list.
While the ringtone connected, her neatly trimmed nails scratched anxiously at the floor. Her heart clenched as if someone were wringing out a wet mop.
“The customer is not answering. You will be connected to voicemail after the beep.”
But to her dismay, Seo Eungyu didn’t answer. Her hunger had faded in the meantime. She got up to take a shower first.
But then the phone she’d placed on the floor vibrated again. She hurriedly snatched it up. The name she’d expected was on the screen.
[Section Chief Seo Eungyu]
“Hello.”
Mun Dawon answered without even a moment to catch her breath. A slightly breathless sound mixed in.
—Dawon.
One thing was clear: the man hadn’t called for business. She held her breath and waited for what came next.
—Want to eat chicken?