Chapter 74

The cellphone had stayed silent for a while, when another “ti-ling” ringed. Na-Yool immediately checked the notification, but it was an invitation message for a game. She lowered her phone with a sullen face and stared at the station in the distance. At some point, Seung-Jae’s blabbering had moved to a ‘I have such a stupid friend’ topic. Na-Yool unconsciously gave a cold answer.

“…He shouldn’t have done something embarrassing in the first place. How angered must have the girlfriend been to berate him this way?”

“I did not say otherwise. So, he should live more mindfully from now on.”

“It starts with you, too. Isn’t it ‘birds of a feather flock together’, after all?”

“What do you see me as? I am different.”

“Even different, there will be similarities.”

“Maybe we were like that in high school, since we were kids. I could not throw him away, and he would not listen either…”

“Even so, is he nice?”

“I think so.”

“Seems like he isn’t very kind to women though.”

Na-Yool caught him off guard, but Seung-Jae smiled brightly.

“Ms. Na-Yool, I swear I am different.”

“I’ve been told to be even more careful of people who smile like you do.”

“By whom?”

“My mom.”

Seung-Jae chuckled loudly like he had heard a very funny story. Na-Yool shook her head.

“Anyway, men are the problem.”

“Women sometimes also are, too.”

“How could something that is ‘sometimes’ the problem compare with what ‘always’ is?”

“You are right. It is all the men’s fault.” Seung-Jae flatly agreed while nodding.

“So, always live while doing some self-introspection. You’re a man, after all.”

“You are really good at saying whatever you want.”

“Right? I don’t even need to drink.” Na-Yool proudly said, and Seung-Jae blocked the bursting laugh coming out with the back of his hand, trying to compose himself. Then, with a lingering smile on his face, he wondered if she had chosen such words on purpose. A thought suddenly came to mind, and he asked:

“By the way, how about a blind date?”

“What do you mean, ‘by the way’? That’s totally unrelated.”

“Ah. Anyway.”

“If it’s one of your friends, I’m not interested.”

“How do you know it is my friends?”

“It’s a common trick. You talk about your friends then bring up the subject out of nowhere. ‘Hey, come to think of it, don’t you want to meet my friend?’ Just like this.”

“Such great insight, I am impressed!”

Seung-Jae shook his head with exaggerated admiration. Na-Yool, even though she responded casually, was inwardly feeling relieved and grinned.

Indeed, as if Seung-Jae liked her! As expected, it was all the delusion of the coworkers who liked to ship their young male and female colleagues. Who would offer to arrange a blind date to the person they like?

“What’s wrong with my friends though? There are a lot of good guys.”

“Then you shouldn’t have mentioned that pathetic friend, don’t you think?”

“Not him. Not that kind of guy. There really are many good ones.”

“No thanks. They are still your friends.”

“Wow, that is unfair. Are you not overly distrustful?”

“If they’re your friends, aren’t they a bunch of punks? Going to clubs every day, playing around…”

“Ms. Na-Yool, the first time you met me was already over a year ago. If you have known me that long, it is time for you to realize how sincere I am.”

“Let’s drop it. I’m too sane in mind to date your friends.”

“You don’t look so at all though.”

“… Is that a barb I’m hearing?”

Seung-Jae shrugged, in no hurry to deny. In a slight fit of irritation, Na-Yool was about to playfully keep berating him when, with a suddenly straight face, he asked:

“Are you dating someone new recently?”

There was the actual barb. In an instant, the unexpected words were like a slap on Na-Yool’s face. As soon as she realized what expression she was making, she immediately steadied herself.

And scolded herself for straight up thinking about Si-Jin.

Me, dating? Not a chance…

“Or is there anyone that you like?”

“How could there be? I don’t even have the time to go home and sleep.”

“It has always been so, yet you had time to meet with that weird ex of yours, did you not?”

“……”

“Exactly how the hell…”

Seung-Ja did not end his sentence, but his expression spoke for itself. Na-Yool shook her head sideways.

“That’s why, didn’t I break up? He said he was sick of me not having time.”

“If the other party does not have time too, then it should be fine.”

“Even more reason to not date, you mean! How could both parties meet when they both lack time?”

“But if they are from the same company…” Seung-Jae’s voice faded out in a muffle. On the other hand, Na-Yool tried her best to conceal her skin crawling. She could not get caught. Never. She shook her head in rebuttal with a more determined look than ever.

“You know how much I hate office dating.”

“… I do. I’ve heard it over and over, so I know.”

“ ‘If it doesn’t end well’…”

“I know, I know. ‘It is only the woman who will lose out’.” Seung-Jae muttered, ending Na-Yool’s familiar words. It was just one of the trivial topics she always shared with Seung-Jae, and though her thinking remained the same, her heart twinged as if something had triggered her conscience.

No, not yet…

She had not yet done anything wrong to feel triggered. Because she was not dating that person, after all. He neither had the intention to, nor did she, just a casual relationship…

…even dirtier and weirder than an office romance.

And promiscuous…How in the world did it turn out this way? Na-Yool entered the station overcomed by the self-contradictory shame that she has been recently feeling every other day. With each step she took down the stairs, it felt like an additional stone of shame was stacked on her.

“Who else do we have? All decent people are married.”

“There is me. A very decent guy.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

“Well… There is Kang PD too, and that guy from the accounting team, Jang…”

“Jang Yoon-Ho?”

“I haven’t seen him, but Min-Young said he was kind of good-looking.”

“I could do with that.”

When Na-Yool seemed to agree, Seung-Jae nodded with a not so willing expression and added:

“Strictly speaking, there is also the President.”

“……”

Could it be said he had kind of hit the mark?

To be exact, Si-Jin had nothing to do with the topic brought up by Seung-Jae. He was no different from the others.  Na-Yool wanted to terminate her brain for always getting ahead of itself with all the wishful thinking, blatantly disregarding the facts.

“Are you crazy? Lee Seung-Jae, you really don’t hold back!”

“Honestly, appearance-wise, there is no one worthier than him in our company. This face, this height… Wow, who knows when he even finds the time to workout…”

Though Seung-Jae seemed to acknowledge Si-Jin, it was strictly limited to his looks, condemning Si-Jin’s intense lifestyle in passing. Na-Yool nodded her head as if deeply agreeing to those same limited points.

“That nice looking shell didn’t fool me for more than a month.”

Of course, she kept it a secret that, instead, Si-Jin looked even more alluring now. And that she had started to grow fond of the inside of the shell as well, which she previously hated so much. In addition, she kept getting a good feeling about him as she got to know him, and felt pathetic and about to lose her mind over that fact.

“Indeed, since you have been a bit bullied by the President…” muttered Seung-Jae as he looked at Na-Yool with a sorry face.