Episode 7. That was the dog bone from my bowl! 3.
He could not say that he had heard what she was thinking.
“Hyunwoo, you must absolutely hide the fact that you can hear what other people are thinking. If people find out you have that kind of ability, everyone will be afraid of you.”
His father had told him to hide it, saying just that.
“When that commotion broke out earlier, Assistant Manager Park seemed odd. He kept glancing over at us, fidgeting... and you were the same, Supervisor Song. Then I suddenly remembered that yesterday, after lunch in the company cafeteria, I happened to see you with Assistant Manager Park. So I put two and two together.”
Song Gaeun was startled.
“What? You saw me with Assistant Manager Park?”
Of course he had not.
It was a lie.
He did not even know what Assistant Manager Park looked like yet, so how could he have seen them?
Besides, he had not been standing at an angle from which he could see inside Sales Team 11.
It was all made up.
He had merely heard Song Gaeun’s inner thought yesterday after lunch, that she was going to see Assistant Manager Park’s face.
But right now, Song Gaeun’s thoughts were saying this.
[How did he see us when he said he was looking around the company? We met at the coffee shop in front of the company.]
“I was looking around the area near the company and thought I might have a cup of coffee, so I went into the coffee shop, and the two of you were there.”
Song Gaeun had no choice but to believe Hyunwoo’s lie, even though he did not even know Assistant Manager Park’s face.
It was because he had been speaking about only the key points so specifically since earlier.
Even so, part of her felt relieved.
For a moment, she had wondered if Hyunwoo, the chairman’s parachute hire, had found out using some method she did not know about, but it seemed that was not the case.
She simply thought he was quick at grasping the situation.
Hyunwoo and Song Gaeun passed Sales Team 9 and stood in front of Sales Team 11.
There was a guy with thick eyebrows, a long face, and even a long philtrum, making him somehow look like a horse.
Seeing him flinch at the sight of Song Gaeun, it seemed this horse-head was Assistant Manager Park.
What a world...
If the perfect score for looks was ten, Song Gaeun was at least a 9.5, so he could not understand why she had fallen for a horse-head like this.
Did she have a thing for horse faces...
As he was briefly lost in idle thoughts, Song Gaeun glared at the horse-head with a venomous expression and opened her mouth.
“Why did you do it?”
“D-do what?”
“The Mancheon Food Distribution matter.”
The horse-head’s nostrils flared as if he might make a horse’s characteristic prrrr sound, and he looked flustered for a moment, but soon he pulled himself together.
“What are you talking about? Why are you asking me that?”
[Oh, look at this one. I didn’t think she’d say something like this here. How awkward. If she’d whined and cried, I was going to soothe her and keep the relationship going, but I guess that’s over. Tch, stupid bitch. What does she think she’s going to do...? She doesn’t even have evidence.]
At the horse-head’s inner thoughts, Hyunwoo’s eyes, which had always been calm, deepened.
Then he looked down at Song Gaeun indifferently and said,
“Let’s go, Supervisor. He says it wasn’t him.”
“H-Hyunwoo...”
“Just... let’s go.”
Song Gaeun’s face turned red, and she turned around.
With this, one more confirmation was complete.
What he had confirmed was this.
Whether the horse-head had truly stolen the proposal intentionally, and whether Song Gaeun would be coaxed over by the horse-head if things came to it.
There was no need to say twice that the guy had stolen it on purpose, and it seemed there was no need to worry about Song Gaeun either.
Because the thought Song Gaeun had just had was the same as Hyunwoo’s own.
[I want to kill him. That horse-headed bastard... I was crazy to almost date him just for his face.]
Of course, not all of Song Gaeun’s thoughts were the same as his own feelings.
She was a strange woman in some ways.
Especially her eye for people...
Still, for some reason, he felt relieved that she had not dated a guy like that.
* * *
Kim Inseop, head of Sales Department 3, downed a glass of cold water in one go and opened his mouth.
“Why did you do that?”
Yang Gyeonghun could not say anything.
If he said without evidence that Jin Seonghun had stolen the proposal, he could instead suffer a counterattack.
“Were you pissed off because you were late to the party and lost your temper?”
“...”
“Pathetic bastard... Team Leader Jin joined three years after you. But he became team leader before you did. I understand how you must feel. But the more that happens, shouldn’t you be thinking of working harder and beating him with skill? Tsk, tsk. Losing your mind and showing everyone your lowest side... Aren’t you ashamed in front of the kids?”
Yang Gyeonghun flinched.
He barely swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.
“Do you know why that bastard became team leader before me? Because he stole my proposal. Eight years ago, back then, the bastard who became team leader by stealing my proposal was this very bastard!”
Yang Gyeonghun could not say that either.
It had happened long ago, and there was no evidence for this either.
But it was certain that Jin Seonghun had stolen the proposal.
That was the kind of bastard he had always been.
A bastard who lied, schemed, and stole from his colleagues without feeling the slightest pang of guilt.
Kim Inseop, head of Sales Department 3, said,
“I asked the secretary’s office, and they said the president will be back in two days. I have no choice but to report it as is that day, so keep that in mind.”
“Wh-what are you going to report?”
“What else? I’ll have to say you submitted a late proposal and lost your shit over it.”
“...”
“You can go.”
The face of Jin Seonghun, smiling slyly with his slit-like eyes, shimmered in Yang Gyeonghun’s pupils.
* * *
The atmosphere in Sales Team 9, which had been brimming with passion that morning, had completely turned into a gutter.
Kim Byeongjun, the person who had planned the proposal, said it was all right, but Yang Gyeonghun was dispirited all day.
Naturally, he could not focus on work.
After forcing himself to endure until quitting time, he went to a chicken restaurant near the company.
It was not a company dinner.
He simply felt awkward going home and went to drink, but the team members filed in after him.
After downing beer one glass after another, Yang Gyeonghun opened his mouth.
“Kuh— The world really is fucking shitty, isn’t it?”
Kim Byeongjun answered.
“That’s just how the world is.”
“I really wish someone would flip this shitty world upside down. Seriously.”
Hyunwoo, who had been eating puffed snacks, said indifferently,
“Even if they did, nothing would change. No matter how much the world changes, people don’t.”
“Keuk, yeah. Newbie, you said it well. No matter how much the world gets flipped upside down, people don’t change. Bastards like Jin Seonghun will keep playing dirty tricks and keep climbing higher and higher. And I’ll keep becoming a squid, sitting here drinking and whining like this.”
Song Gaeun looked as if she might cry.
“Why are you saying that, Team Leader? Things will go well for you from now on. Team Leader Jin will definitely be punished.”
They had already said that because of Song Gaeun’s mistake, Kim Byeongjun’s proposal had ended up with the other side.
Yang Gyeonghun had gotten angry for a moment, but after learning it had not been intentional, he let it go, and Kim Byeongjun himself accepted it coolly, saying it was something he could fully understand.
However, just like Hyunwoo, he simply could not understand why Song Gaeun had felt attracted to that horse-head.
“Punished? You think Jin Seonghun will be punished?”
“He should be. Someone like that.”
A bitter smile formed around Yang Gyeonghun’s mouth.
“Keuk, bastards like that don’t get punished. If anything, they get rewarded... They’re that sly.”
Before long, the chicken came out, and Yang Gyeonghun’s drinking pace sped up as well.
Quickly getting drunk, Yang Gyeonghun stared quietly at Hyunwoo with slightly unfocused eyes.
He really hated being stared at like this by drunken, half-lidded eyes.
“What is it?”
“You... I know you’re the chairman’s parachute hire.”
Song Gaeun jumped in surprise.
“Team Leader!”
“You said even the president knows, didn’t you?”
Song Gaeun shook Yang Gyeonghun’s arm.
“What’s gotten into you, Team Leader!”
“What, I can’t even say this much to a new hire? If that’s how it is, then to hell with it—I’ll just write my resignation.”
“······.”
“Hey, newbie.”
“Yes.”
“Let me ask you one favor.”
“······.”
“Do something about this. I don’t care whether that son of a bitch Jin Seonghun gets promoted or gets a bonus, but we have to get Assistant Manager Kim’s proposal back. Don’t we? Assistant Manager Kim, this guy, he’s got talent. He can’t end up like me. I know it’s not really right for me to say this to you, but use some of your connections. Whether it’s with the chairman or the president.”
A strange silence settled over them.
Song Gaeun shifted helplessly in her seat, and Kim Byeongjun merely watched as though it were someone else’s business, a faint smile playing around his eyes.
Hyeonu quietly stared at Yang Gyeonghun’s slightly reddened eyes, then put a few pieces of puffed rice into his mouth and chewed.
From his words, and from the thoughts behind them, Hyeonu could tell many things.
He had once been stabbed in the back just like this, his proposal snatched away by Jin Seonghun, the former leader of Sales Team 11.
And as a team leader, he felt terribly sorry and wronged that his subordinate’s proposal had been stolen.
That was why, in his drunkenness, he had even gone so far as to say this.
Even though, in a situation like this, there was nothing that could be done even if the president or chairman were moved to act.
Hyeonu drained his beer.
“Khaa······.”
With everyone quietly watching him, he opened his mouth.
“It’s true that I came in as the chairman’s parachute hire, but I’m not in a position or relationship where I can say something like that to him. To be honest, I’m a squid just like you, Team Leader. Whether you believe me or not, I have no backing and no power.”
“······.”
“But I agree with what you said, Team Leader—that we have to get Assistant Manager Kim’s proposal back. We can’t just sit still after being wronged. If you actively take the lead, then I’ll gather every ability I have and do my utmost as well.”
Silence flowed between them.
It was because the words were a bit much for a new hire to say.
But the atmosphere did not turn bad.
One corner of Yang Gyeonghun’s previously gloomy mouth rose all the way up to his cheekbone, and Kim Byeongjun’s smile seemed to deepen a little as well.
“You’re saying we should get Assistant Manager Kim’s proposal back ourselves?”
“We can’t just sit around hoping someone else will help us. You have to protect what’s yours yourself. Even a mutt hates it when another mutt comes into its territory.”
Song Gaeun briefly wondered why Hyeonu kept comparing things to mutts, just like he had earlier in the copy room.
A strange smile settled around Yang Gyeonghun’s eyes.
“Can barking solve anything? I’m asking if you have a way.”
“I don’t know yet, but we should at least bark first. Who knows, they might get startled by the barking and make a mistake. If they do, then we should bite them by the throat. Make them let go of the dog bone they’re holding. That dog bone was originally in our bowl, after all.”
“Bite them by the throat? Kekeke, not a bad picture. The picture of biting that bastard Jin Seonghun by the throat······. Keuk, let’s have a drink first.”
They all clinked glasses and drained their beers.
Everyone in Sales Team 9 listened closely to Hyeonu, but they did not expect much.
This was merely a drinking party.
A drinking party where, if they spoke recklessly in their cups and vented their anger, it had served its purpose.
At a drinking party like this, a new hire who knew nothing had acted bold.
There was no need to think too deeply about it.
It would be nice if things turned out the way the newbie said, but when had the world ever worked like that?
There wasn’t even any evidence······.
They were just words to go with the snacks.
But Hyeonu thought differently.
It was an opportunity to be acknowledged as a team member, not as an unlucky parachute hire.
First, he had to be acknowledged by them in order to receive a good evaluation and become a full-time employee.
In other words, this was the first gate of his social life.
He wanted to make a decent start.